Dockers may boycott ships to protest against EU port liberalization
The London-based International Transport Workers’ Federation said that port workers may boycott ships if the European Parliament does not amend the European port liberalization directive.
“If the directive in its current form becomes law then port workers will have to find lawful ways to resist the unregulated free for all it will usher in,” said Kees Marges, secretary of the dockers’ section at the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
The union federation fears that the liberalization law proposal, as it stands, will lower employment standards and safety in European ports. The directive will open up dock work in European ports by allowing “self-handling” of cargo operations by seafarers, bypassing the use of registered dockworkers.
Commenting on future union action if the law is adopted without amendments, Marges said: “One way of drawing on the ITF’s more than 50 years of experience in dealing with flags of convenience in shipping may be to establish minimum standards for port operations, with workers in other ports choosing whether or not to handle the cargoes of ships which use ports of convenience.”
This action may be considered at a dockers’ section conference of the federation in July next year, he said.