ITF and ETF affiliates have unanimously passed an emergency motion during their section conference in Cape Town.
Comisiones Obreras and UGT members walked out at 8am this morning (Monday 5 June) in an ongoing dispute over government plans to liberalise port labour across the country. The conference sent this message of support: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8qp6Y3S918
Port operators have forced unions into the strike after refusing to agree a guarantee on working terms and conditions to all pool workers in Spanish ports.
ITF president and dockers’ section chair Paddy Crumlin said: “This dispute is representative of the worldwide attack on dockers and of union busting efforts dressed up as ‘progressive reform’. Port liberalisation of this kind is short sighted and damaging and we won’t accept it. We encourage all of our affiliates to take every action within the legal framework of their country to support Spanish dockers whenever requested by our Spanish brothers and sisters.”
Vice chair of the dockers’ section Torben Seebold added: “This liberalisation doesn’t benefit Spanish ports, Spanish workers or Spanish communities. These plans are aggressive and destructive and we together will fight back.”
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