Dockers in the port of Rotterdam have been taking industrial action over pay and conditions, following an employer decision to cancel collective bargaining negotiations. Led by the FNV Bondgenoten union the workers who lash and secure cargo have been on strike since 8 March. On 12, 13 and 14 March, they held meetings in front of the port’s Delta terminal and Uniport, where they distributed leaflets to workers employed in Hutchison Port Holdings’ ECT terminal and the APM terminal owned by the AP Moller-Maersk Group. These companies are customers of lashing and securing service companies ILS and Matrans Group. The workers on strike are in particular protesting over Matrans Group’s plans to pay lashers employed after 2006 less than colleagues who were employed earlier; meanwhile, ILS is requesting lashers to work more flexibly.
English: http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/5783
Dutch: http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/nieuws/nieuwsarchief/2011/maart ...
This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.