Called jointly by the Coordinadora, Union General de Trabajadores (UGT), and Comisiones Obreros (CCOO), the stoppage took place the morning after an international steering committee of delegates from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, the US, and Liverpool had met in Paris.
The Spanish unions demand the reinstatement of the sacked Liverpool men and seek a negotiating framework to guarantee workers in Spain would not be thrown on the scrap heap in a scramble for business.
The action, carried out from 10 to 11 am, was supported totally in the Canaries, Andalucia (including Seville), Cataluna, Baleares, Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia, Asturias and Gahcia. In Bilbao the strike had 95% support. In Algeciras, 100% of the 1000 dockers stopped work, affecting 2 container vessels.
In Cadiz, 7 boats were affected. According to site committee president Jos‚ Dominguez, the protest also aimed to warn the Administration of fears that the Liverpool events could be repeated in Spain. Dominguez told the press that the European Union sought to eliminate any form of public sector dock work and so privatisation of the Spanish port operations sector is in the wind.
In Tarragona where all 210 dockers supported the strike, Eusebi Penalver, national delegate of the Coordinadora international section, advocated a boycott of all shipping companies using the port of Liverpool to show total opposition to the attitude of Mersey Docks and Harbour Company.
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