Union targets Rotterdam terminal in protests

Automated terminal contends workers do not want collective bargaining agreement.

   A union is targeting a new container terminal, Rotterdam World Gateway (RWG), in protests.
   RWG is a consortium consisting of terminal operator DP World and four shipping lines: APL, MOL, HMM and CMA CGM.
   On Friday, Jan. 16, RWG said dockworkers from other terminals blocked the entrance to its facility, preventing RWG employees and suppliers from entering the terminal.
   Today, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) said that over the weekend workers refused to unload containers at the ECT terminal, another terminal within the Port of Rotterdam, because the containers were loaded at RWG.
   RWG said Saturday evening, Jan. 17, the first commercial test vessel was handled at RWG and more than 150 containers were discharged. After discharge, approximately half of the containers were loaded onto a barge on Sunday.
   ITF said the containers were loaded Sunday onto the vessel Alsvin at RWG, in what was believed to be a test operation. When it moved to the ECT terminal in Rotterdam to discharge them, longshoremen refused to unload them.
   In the months ahead, RWG said it will be receiving commercial test ships more regularly, allowing the terminal to further increase volume and functionalities. In the second quarter of 2015, RWG will be ready to welcome the first weekly liner service.
   The discharge and loading operations at RWG are automated, with ship to shore cranes placing containers on lift automated guide vehicles. The electric AGVs transport the containers to the terminal’s automated stacking cranes.
   ITF called for all-party talks on the future of the port of Rotterdam, saying “RWG, unlike other companies at the port, refuses to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with port workers, who are represented by the FNV Havens union.”
   ITF President and Chair of the ITF dockers’ section, Paddy Crumlin, stated “Rotterdam is a giant among the world’ ports and should be a model of good industrial relations. It is notable that all the operators there bar one have signed agreements with the union representing its workers.”
   RWG said the demonstrations are aimed at forcing it to sign a collective labor agreement.
   The terminal said it “has a uniform labor agreement that meets at least the standards of other terminals. In other words, there is no competition with regard to terms of labor. Among RWG employees, there is a complete lack of support for entering into a collective labor agreement through the union. Only a small minority of RWG employees are trade union members.”
   RWG said it has entered into individual employment contracts with its employees “allowing the employees more space for individual growth. This provides the employees with the same rights and guidelines listed in the various collective labor agreements at the surrounding terminals. RWG employees therefore fare absolutely no worse than they would at adjacent terminals in the port of Rotterdam.”
   It also said that it has “outsourced its dockers work to renowned businesses within the port of Rotterdam. These businesses, amongst others, ILS and Unilash, do have a collective labor agreement. Thus, dockers work at RWG is done by dockers who fall under a collective labor agreement.”