Juarez, 69, heads the dock workers' union at the San Martin port outside Rosario, one of the world's largest agricultural hubs. Although relatively small, his union blocked Argentina's main grains ports last year, strangling shipments for days.
Exporters are bracing for the union's yearly demands for steep salary increases. Should negotiations falter, protests could flare up again and their impact will be magnified as the corn and soy harvests ramp up in March and April.
"We won't let exporters take advantage of us," Juarez told Reuters recently at a bar near the national Labor Ministry in Buenos Aires. "Dock workers are strong as steel, they're ready for a fight."
Hefty wage demands have become common in Argentina in the last five years as annual inflation surged, hitting around 25 percent in 2010, according to private estimates.
Juarez wields a regional monopoly on ship-loading because he is head of the area's dock workers' cooperative, as well as the union. The cooperative comprises about 700 stevedores and generates millions of dollars in revenue.
Born to low-income parents, he began toiling as a dock worker in Rosario at the age of 17.
After 42 years leading the union, Juarez has become known for his hardball negotiating and a paternalistic attitude typical of the country's union bosses, who are often criticized as being heavy-handed.
Following a week-long strike in January that included the dock workers, grain companies now face weeks of tough wage negotiations with Juarez as part of annual salary talks.
"They need to share the wealth a bit," Juarez said, referring to major global grains exporters operating in Argentina, such as Cargill, Bunge and Louis Dreyfus.
Argentina is the world's No. 3 soybean exporter and a major supplier of corn and wheat. About 80 percent of its soyoil and meal is produced around Rosario, located some 180 miles (300 km) north of the capital, Buenos Aires.
The country's grains and oilseed exports bring in some $20 billion a year.
"We move the riches that leave the country," Juarez said. (Reuters)
