International pressure sought against EC’s port liberalization
The International Transport Workers’ Federation, based in London, said its the Dockers Section Committee will call unions within and outside the European Union to support a campaign to oppose the European Commission’s second attempt to liberalize European port services.
The Dockers Section Committee believes the impact of the proposed European directive on market access to port services is not just limited to European dockers’ unions, and has “significant future implications for dockers around the world,” the federation said. “Therefore, the campaign to Stop Ports Package 2 should be an international one.”
The proposed European directive, or the “Ports Package 2,” would allow “self-handling” by the land-based personnel of shipping companies and by seafarers, thereby taking work away from dockers, who currently have a monopoly. “The draft legislation ' reflects the European Commission’s dogmatic commitment to liberalization and competition,” the International Transport Workers’ Federation said.
The union’s dockers committee also expressed concern over recent developments in New Zealand and in El Salvador.
It criticized what it regards as “the unacceptable practices in Lyttelton, New Zealand, where in a clear move to drive down the working conditions and wages of dockers, Lithuanian guest workers have been imported and accommodated in converted containers to do jobs on the waterfront.”
The International Transport Workers’ Federation called on the New Zealand government to take urgent measures to address this situation.
The federation also said its Dockers’ Section Committee supports the U.S.-based International Brotherhood of Teamsters in their effort to secure an independent enquiry into the recent murder of Gilberto Soto, who was in El Salvador to organize harbor truck drivers.