All parties will now move onto negotiations for the fifth framework agreement – a national-level collective bargaining agreement – with the aim of improving the competitiveness and productivity of Spanish ports. Those talks are expected to begin next week.
Following this breakthough the unions have called off planned strikes in the port companies that are part of ANESCO and which have decided to engage in meaningful negotiations. Concerns still remain, however, about the future for dockworkers in the smaller ports in Spain.
ITF president and chair of the ITF dockers’ section, Paddy Crumlin, commented: “A strong, unified union movement – very visibly backed by hundreds of ITF dockers’ unions worldwide – has secured a promise of 100 per cent employment and the commencement of serious talks designed to keep Spain’s ports safe and prosperous. We will closely monitor how these negotiations progress and what happens with the workers in the smaller Spanish ports. Dockworkers in Spain have fought hard for this progress, but the struggle is not yet over against union-busting. We will stand with our Spanish comrades until the end.”
Read the joint statement by unions and Anesco (in Spanish) here.
