Dispute Halts Panama Canal Construction

Thousands of workers have walked off the construction site at the new Panana Canal locks, demanding payment of back wages and better working conditions.

“Work is completely paralyzed, on the Pacific and the Atlantic side," Saul Mendez, head of the National Union of Workers in Construction and Allied Industries, the largest in the country, according to an Agence France Press report.

The canal is in the midst of a US$5.25 billion expansion that will double its capacity when completed in 2014. The largest element of the expansion project is the US$3.2 billion construction of the locks by the United Group, a consortium of Spain's Sacyr, Italy's Impregilo, Belgium's Jan de Nul and Panama's Constructora Urbana. The union is demanding that the consortium pay back wages as well as raise the minimum wage of thousands of workers on the site, according to Mendez.

The United Group denied the allegations, saying in a statement that it "fully complies with the pay and working conditions" agreed upon with the workers and that it is "very respectful of Panamanian regulations." However, the union said that there had been "errors in the incorporation of data" on the part of a local contractor that distributes wages and said the consortium is working on fixing the problems. 

Photo shows view from the Panama Canal’s Atlantic Locks webcam. Courtesy of Panama Canal Authority.