Rotterdam dockworkers start 24-hour strike

Rotterdam dockworkers start 24-hour strike Port workers at the large container terminals, bulk terminals and general cargo terminals of the port of Rotterdam started a 24-hour strike this morning.
   The Europe Combined Terminals and A.P. Moller Terminals facilities in the Dutch port were caught in the strike. Two unions, the FNV and CNV, called for the 24-hour strike, a port of Rotterdam spokesman said.
   FedEx Trade Networks said in a customer advisory that port and dock workers are joining with other Dutch labor groups to protest deteriorating work conditions, as well as government plans to discourage early retirement.
   In a letter to affiliated unions in the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium written Sept. 10, the International Transport Workers’ Federation had requested that port workers in Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom support the strike action in the Netherlands. “Our Dutch affiliate has asked us to ask you to support the strike action on Sept. 20 by refusing to handle ships and cargo, which originally would have been handled in one of the Dutch ports,” said Kees Marges, dockers’ section secretary at the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
   The unions believe the Dutch government proposals and draft legislation “will complete a process of the complete destruction of the Dutch type of welfare state and the famous Dutch consensus model,” the International Transport Workers’ Federation said.