Teamsters takes Maersk protest to Danish Embassy
Workers who belong to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and other unions plan to picket the Danish Embassy in Washington and 22 Danish consulates Friday in an effort to pressure Denmark’s A.P. Moller conglomerate to improve treatment of port drivers at the U.S. division of Maersk Sealand, the company’s liner shipping company.
The Teamsters accused Maersk Sealand of “threatening, intimidating and terminating” port truck drivers who express interest in joining a union.
The Teamsters, which has been trying for years without success to organize independent shuttle drivers, said members from other industries would participate in the protests along with dockworkers and others in the labor community because the freedom to organize is a fundamental issue for all workers.
Union leaders in cities such as Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles and New York hope to meet with Danish diplomats and call on the government to pressure Maersk to adhere to labor conventions adopted by the United Nation’s International Labor Organization. A union official said there was no way to gauge turnout ahead of time, adding it would vary from city to city.