– The official toured the facilities alongside company employees to learn more about aquaculture and the work carried out at the plants.

Talcahuano, November 21, 2022. The Undersecretary of Human Rights, Haydee Oberreuter, visited the Blumar Salmon and PacificBlu plants upon her arrival in the Biobío Region to advance the human rights and business agenda, among other government activities in the field.

“It has been very interesting to receive this invitation to meet the workers in their environment. I appreciate the willingness of the people responsible for the company who have provided us, in the case of Blumar, with their integrated report and human rights policy. I see great value and interest in being able to advance in the framework of understanding between human rights logic and business; there are very interesting advances in the dialogic and participatory work format developed with those who represent workers”, said Haydee Oberreuter.

She added that “we are fully committed to contributing to advance in the knowledge of a daily practice of human rights so that the company is better each day and a contribution to society as a whole”.

The official was received by Blumar’s Human Resources Manager, Raúl Hermosilla, who highlighted the open-door policy that the company maintains. “We want to be known firsthand, to know the work and commitment we have made, through concrete actions, to advance on current challenges, such as gender and human rights policies. We are very proud of it. Everyone is welcome”, said the executive.

Subsequently, the undersecretary and her delegation were accompanied by Blumar Salmon Plant Manager, Pierre Chlipalski, to tour the facilities located in Talcahuano, where they were able to see advances in technology, the specialized work of employees and the safety conditions under which work is carried out.

Paola Sanhueza, President of the Blumar Salmon Union, highlighted the visit and noted that “this is a very important milestone, it is the first time that a Human Rights Undersecretary visits a processing plant, I believe the situation warrants it. Our mission is to invite the authorities to get to know us, in order to dispel myths and move forward with the necessary job stability”.

Sergio Vera, President of the Federation of Chilean Crew Members and PacificBlu leader, said that some time ago, after participating in a seminar on human rights, they detected an existing information gap, so they approached the Undersecretary in order to arrange an invitation to learn about the current state of the labor world in the fishing sector. “We seek to continue working with the support of the authority and achieve recognition of our working conditions”, he stated.