Europe-wide dockworker strike planned for June 29

The International Dockworkers’ Council labor union said its members will conduct a two-hour labor strike as a show of solidarity with dockworkers in Spain.    Seaports across all of Europe could potentially suffer sizable losses in productivity for a couple of hours one day next week as members of the International Dockworkers’ Council will launch a two-hour labor strike as a show of solidarity with dockworkers in Spain who are currently involved in an ongoing dispute with the Spanish government.
   Spanish labor and employers are battling over reform measures that the nation’s parliament approved May 18 regarding the hiring of longshore workers. Dockworkers in that country held a 48-hour strike June 14 and 15 following a breakdown in talks between they and employers regarding the safeguarding of 6,000 jobs. Future 48-hour strikes in Spain are a strong possibility, the workers have indicated.
   The pan-European strike is set for 10 a.m. to noon Thurs., June 29 at ports in Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal, the UK, Spain, Slovenia and Sweden, according to the International Dockworkers’ Council.
   Under May’s parliamentary action, rules that govern Spain’s ports were changed so that Spanish port loading services are open to market competition and companies are allowed to hire freely.
   In a June 19 statement, the International Dockworkers’ Council, which represents members in 41 countries overall, said that Spanish dockworkers “are now forced to defend their jobs because of the deplorable situation created by the Spanish government, which has unilaterally imposed a legislative decree that, while achieving the consent of the European Commission, has never been agreed to by Spanish dockworkers.”
   “This stoppage has been called for two main reasons: to support the struggle of Spanish dockworkers in their conflict with that nation’s government; and to fight the ultra-liberal model of the European Union that goes against the interests of workers and trade unions,” the IDC said in the statement explaining its motives for the labor action.