Dockers’ unions have vowed to resist plans to deregulate Europe’s ports, warning the authorities against pushing through proposals that erode hard-won workers’ rights, increase the use of casual labour or undermine safety standards.
“This type of deregulation will not be countenanced by the world dockers’ movement. In a global industry, maintenance of standards and trade union rights is a global issue, not just a national or regional one,” Paddy Crumlin, president and dockers section chair of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), said in a statement.
The dockers are concerned governments in Europe are seeking to introduce deregulation ’by stealth’ similar to the European Union’s previous ’port package’ bills that were twice defeated by union action in 2003 and 2006.
"We defeated it then and we will defeat it now,” pledged Terje Samuelsen, chair of the European Transport Workers Federation (ETF) dockers’ section.
Two-thirds of Europe’s external trade, by value, passes through the continent’s ports.
Dockers unions mobilized mass protests and strikes that shut down ports around Europe over the last month and eventually persuaded the European Parliament to vote down the two previous port packages proposed by the EU’s executive office.
The European Commission is preparing a new ports initiative in 2013, and the unions have served notice that they will again mobilize to oppose proposals that undermine the rights of dock workers.
The warnings were issued after a conference held on 25 September on European ports policy hosted by the EC in Brussels.
Speaking at the conference, EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas suggested the new proposals will again seek to liberalize port labour regimes in the name of increased efficiency.
"Today’s many bottlenecks are often due to low efficiency and sometimes due to restrictive labour and other non-competitive regimes operating inside the port," he said.
"It is vitally important that ports are able to compete efficiently and globally against rival ports, both to the north and south of the European Union."
Kallas said the Commission would try to find compromise that offers "adequate guarantees of social protection," ensures that ports employ only qualified personnel and avoids social dumping. However, he gave a clear signal that a further attempt at liberalization was on the way.
"On labour issues...some of the practices are highly restrictive and amount to what is, in effect, a ’closed shop’ where service providers may not employ personnel of their own choice," he told the conference.
"These practices are restrictive, leading to monopolies and higher prices."
The ETF fears the European authorities will attempt to follow the example of Portugal, where dockers have been holding a series of strikes and demonstrations against labour reforms and cost-cutting at ports introduced following the bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund and European Union.
“Portugal can be considered as a laboratory for the European ports policy," warned Samuelsen at the ITF Maritime Roundtable meeting in Casablanca.
"Several measures put forward by the Portuguese government correspond perfectly to the proposals that can be expected across Europe."
Dockers in ports around Europe have held stoppages in solidarity with the Portuguese strikers.
The European Commission argues EU-wide rules are needed because the labour situation varies widely at European ports distorting competition between them.
Only eight of the 27 EU nations have ratified the International Labour Organization’s 1973 Dock Work Convention that commits signatories to encourage permanent or regular employment of dockers and to grant priority of employment to registered dockers.
Just nine have ratified the ILO’s 1979 Occupational Safety and Health (Dock Work) Convention.
The concern from dockers’ unions is that any attempt to harmonize rules across Europe will lead to a downgrading of rights and standards to the lower levels.
