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          Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Sep-Oct 2008 
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Campaign against cargo self handling hots up24 July 2003
The International Transport Workers' Federation today warned Kees Marges, ITF Dockers' Section Secretary, announced the intensified campaign at the annual convention of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) in Puerto Rico. He said that dockers' unions around the world have agreed unanimously to take action to strengthen their opposition to any threat to dock work. More than 20,000 port workers in Europe went on strike earlier this year in protest at the EU's planned liberalization of European ports and Mr Marges will predict more action if the proposed Ports Directive is approved at a EU Council meeting on 9 September. "The unrest in January was only a warm up for our campaign against the destruction of secure employment in the docks," he will state. "We have brought forward a strategy to mobilize 400,000 port workers." The action was approved by a meeting of the ITF's affiliated dock workers' trade unions in London this week. Unions are angered by what they see as encroachment on dock work by self handling on ships, for example by securing and unsecuring containers, and by cargo owners using untrained casual labour inside port terminals. Political demonstrations against legislative threats to dock work will be matched by weeks of campaign action in ports and the targeting of particular shipowners or shippers. The ITF is also alerting its worldwide force of inspectors to make sure that agreements preventing cargo handling on board ship are being observed. Delegates to the Dockers Section meeting heard that charterers were attempting to bypass agreements by making cash payments to seafarers for securing cargo on entering and leaving port. MF Mr Marges will stress that dockers' unions are preparing for a long battle against self handling on board and in terminals, particularly if the EU ignores pressure to modify its plans to allow cargo owners to recruit non-union, unskilled and casual labour for dock work. "If the directive allows self handling by seafarers and in terminals, then there will be long-term problems all over the world," he predicts.
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