Dockers across Europe assert solidarity with Spain’s port unions

Dockers across Europe assert solidarity with Spain’s port unions

http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/8313

21/12/2012

European unionists have expressed their solidarity with Spain’s dockers after they made a declaration at a meeting in Barcelona last week.

The unionists were attending the European dockworkers’ conference on 11 December, organised by Spanish unions affiliated to the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) (the ITF’s European arm) and the International Dockworkers’ Council.

At the meeting, which ETF members from 10 European countries attended, participants made a declaration in support of Spain’s dockworkers.

They joined them in their appeal to defend the system for organising and recruiting dock labour currently in place in Spanish ports, which is being threatened as a result of processes opened up by the European Commission (EC).

These could undermine social protection and employment continuity. Delegates also denounced the fact that the EC had set about a country-by-country strategy to implement a neo-liberal economic model. European dockers are determined to take a stand against this.

In the declaration, participants made a number of demands including an end to the EC’s unilateral strategy “which, involving no social dialogue, will result in the ongoing deterioration of stability and productivity at European ports.”

They called on port operators’ organisations, shipping companies and port authorities to embrace social dialogue as the best method for improving productivity and competitiveness in ports, particularly as they affect dockworkers’ labour.

They also agreed to establish a joint IDC-ETF liaison committee to develop a strategy that would defend union rights and collectively negotiated conditions across European ports.