European dockers demonstrate with a 24 hour strike
On 6 November, European dockers belonging to the Internaitonal Dockworkers Council (IDC) carried out a strike against the European Commission’s Proposed Directive “Market Access to Port Services” which aims to deregulate cargo handling and to give employers a free hand in hiring labour. This decision was taken after several months of struggle aimed at modifying the Directive.
The countries participating in the strike were:
The CGT Ports and Docks National Federation, the largest in France, informed us that all French ports were stopped for 24 hours, with the exception of Dunkerque which operated at 60% capacity.
All dockers belonging to the Swedish Dockworkers Union carried out a 2 hour strike, from 12:00 to 14:00, after the union was threatened by the Port Employers Association and a favorable judgement, issued on 6 November, allowed only a 2 hour strike.
The Swedish Transport Federation asked its affiliates to perform the work of those on strike, a request refused by its own dockers who showed solidarity with the Swedish Dockworkers Union.
Both the Dockworkers Union of Piraeus, affiliated to the IDC, as well as the Federation of Loaders and Unloaders of Greece united for the 24 hour strike. The solidarity of the Greek Federaction meant that all Greek ports stopped work, from the smallest port with 4 dockers, to the biggest with 1800.
In Spain the State Coordination of Sea-Workers (Coordinadora), the largest union, called the strike in almost all Spanish ports, with the exception of:
Various Portuguese unions united in a 4 hour stoppage (from 8:00 to 12:00), including the unions affiliated to the IDC:
The Portuguese ports which halted were: Sines, Funchal. Lisboa, Figueira da Foz, Horta, Ponta Delgada y Praia da Vitória.
We can conclude that the European dockers strike on 6 November was an absolute success.
Teresa Alert
8 November 2001
