European dockworkers plan multiple strikes next week

European dockworkers plan multiple strikes next week    The International Transport Workers’ Federation said on Wednesday (Sept. 3) that dockworkers will carry out a series of strikes, work stoppages, information meetings and other labor actions across Europe next week.
   The dockworkers will protest against the European Commission’s port liberalization directive, which will allow seafarers on board vessels to carry out cargo-handling operations for the first time in Europe.   
   The union federation said that actions such as two-hour work stoppages are planned next week in The Netherlands, Germany, Cyprus and Belgium. “Other countries participating include Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Malta and Poland,” the union federation said.
   Full details for all countries participating in the labor actions are not yet known, according to the federation.
   Seafarer volunteers and the federation staff will also leaflet the crews of ships visiting European ports to tell them of what the federation regards as “the dangers of ships' crews undertaking the dangerous cargo-handling work normally done by trained dockers.”
   Union port workers will rally under the slogan “Leave it to the Professionals. It's Our Work!”
   Unions are also planning a rally against the proposed European directive in either Brussels or Rotterdam on Sept. 29.
   “A 24-hour port strike is now scheduled to take place in Belgium on that day and work stoppages will be held in other European countries,” the federation said.
   David Cockroft, secretary general of the International Transport Workers’ Federation, said the proposed directive “would enshrine in law the very kind of dangerous de-skilling and casualization that endangers the lives of everyone concerned.”
   The federation has opposed the proposed self-handling practice since the port directive was first discussed. In January, thousands of dockworkers across Europe took part in protests against the directive.
   The European Commission has denied that its directive would undermine safety.