The European dockworkers gathered around the International Dockworkers Council (IDC) have reiterated in Paris their intention to continue defending their jobs against the threat of the possible approval, on the 17th of November, of the EU’s Port Services Directive. The dockworkers will go on a strike which will start precisely on the 17th, and in some countries it will last up to 48 hours. The strike will be followed by a demonstration right in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where thousands of dockworkers will travel from all over the continent.
The terms in which the Directive is going to be approved establish self-handling as a main factor. These terms have been widely rejected by the totality of the groups working in the ports, in a wave of solidarity that has succeeded in crossing borders generating an organised movement of defense of the dockworker profession. The concept of “self-handling” would allow the shipping companies to work without professional dockworkers triggering an increase of labour accidents, raising the price of the services and reducing free competition. The directive wouldn’t respect at all the original spirit of the European Union.
The 17th of November is the date chosen by the European Parliament to celebrate their Plenary Session. The 626 euro MPs who form the Plenary will have to choose wether to approve or reject the Directive, in the meantime the dockworkers will demostrate outside the Parliament. The IDC pleads for the rejection, understanding that the present structure of the Directive only defends the interests of a reduced number of transnational companies and seriously harms those of the immense majority of European citizens.
The meeting of the IDC celebrated in Paris was attended by representatives of France, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus and Sweden, although its presence in Europe extends to Bulgaria, Denmark, England and Greece, for this reason a massive following of the strike is predicted in the main European ports. These days the contacts between the different Union organisations in Europe will intensify to obtain the maximum support for the actions on the 17th.
