Argentine grain workers plan 48-hr strike over wages

* Union says grain workers throughout country to down tools * Argentina is big exporter of soybeans, wheat and corn

(Corrects to say workers handle grains, no dockworkers)

BUENOS AIRES Aug 8 (Reuters) - Argentine grain workers plan to strike for 48 hours to demand higher wages this week, their trade union said on Sunday.

Members of the URGARA union, which represents workers that check quality of grains before they are loaded onto ships, will down tools starting on Monday, the union said in a statement.

"This strong measure is to press for a dignified raise for workers in the stock sector ... What we're asking for is fair. There are no excuses. They have won a lot of money in the past years," Alfredo Palacio, the union's general secretary, said in the statement.

URGARA says large grain exporters have profited from a recent boom in grains prices as well as improved weather conditions after a drought hit output during the last two seasons, and workers should be paid more.

Argentina is among the world's top suppliers of soybeans, wheat and corn.

Grain workers threatened to strike and block port shipments in June, but called the plans off to resume negotiations with exporters. [ID:nN11120110]

In May, URGARA union members halted operations at a grains plant in the port of Ramallo, near the agricultural port city of Rosario, where almost 80 percent of the South American country's grains and oilseeds exports are loaded.

They briefly blocked the entrance to a plant near the grains port of Bahia Blanca, in the south of the country, and protested outside a nearby factory owned by Bunge (BG.N).

Strikes and labor have surged in Argentina this year, mainly due to high inflation, which is fueling pay demands from unions ranging from truck drivers to public school teachers.