docks
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in transport and distribution around the world.
Oakland dockers honour anti-war picket lines
Oakland Port anti-war and labor protesters close SSA terminal for the day. ILWU 10 & ILWU 34 members refuse to cross lines.
Dozens of anti-war protesters including the leadership and many members of the Oakland Education Association (OEA) joined the picket lines this morning and in the evening of the SSA (Stevedoring Services of America) shipping terminal in Oakland, California to protest the war and the lack of funding for schools in Oakland.
Italy: Dockers strike after death at work
Dockers across Italy are striking today after a docker was killed yesterday in Genoa.
The 40 year old was crushed by a falling pallet weighing two tons. The three main unions (Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl, Uil-Trasporti) called the strike after his death, demanding stricter application of safety regulations.
1995: The French pensions strikes
A short history of the massive strike movement against welfare reform in France in 1995.
During November and December of 1995 France was gripped by the largest strike movement the country had seen in recent years. After three weeks of strikes workers forced a government climbdown over the issue of changes to pensions of public sector workers.
France: Marseille dockers win strike
Marseille dockers agreed to go back to work on Saturday after the Port of Marseille agreed that workers hired for the new gas terminal would be employed directly by the docks rather than allow GDF (Gaz de France) to use its own staff.
The 18-day strike was brought to and end with the CGT union claiming victory after the Port Authority agreed to hire five new full-time workers for the new terminal.
Strikes across Israel
There have been strikes across Israel this week, including at Ashdod Port, the Bank of Israel and numerous schools and universities.
Workers at the Bank of Israel began an indefinite strike on Tuesday, however the strike ended at 3am this morning after a deal was struck between the Bank of Israel Governer and the Ministry of Finance Director of Wages Eli Cohen.
Israel's Ashdod port wildcat strike ends
A two-day wildcat strike in defiance of bosses and unions at the Ashdod port ended on Friday with a return to work.
The action was seemingly a mirror of a similar struggle at the port reported on libcom.org last year.
Port2port.com reported that the port workers committee decided at midnight on Tuesday 30 January to exercise a labor dispute declared three weeks ago. The strike ended 2 days later and the workers reurned to work on Friday
Israeli bosses demand legal action against general strike
An almost total shutdown of Israeli industry following a general strike has been threatened with legal action after The Manufacturers Association and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce have asked the National Labour Court to end the strike.
The Manufacturers Association and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce (FICC) appealed to the National Labor Court Wednesday morning to order an end to the general strike in the public sector called by the Histadrut and to invite all relevant parties to an urgent discussion on the matter. The Association estimated that the strike would cost the economy NIS 500m.
Cargo shipping halted by Dutch wildcat strike
Stevedoring ground to a halt yesterday at one of Europe's biggest commercial shipping companies following the second day of wildcat strike action over working hours by dockers in the Netherlands.
The International Herald Tribune reported that movement of containers at the European Container Terminals (ECT) — usually up to 70,000 per week — nearly came to a standstill because of the lack of workers, said the company's director, Jan Westerhout.
"We are trying to keep truck treatment alive, but there is hardly anybody at work," he said. "Throughput is almost frozen."
Sailors end strike and win back pay
Eighteen Filipino sailors striking over $360,000 in unpaid back pay ended their strike yesterday in Long Beach, California.
An inspection by union officials on Labor Day showed that the sailors had only been paid half what they were owed. Longshoremen at the port refused to load the Endless, a 760-foot cargo ship with petroleum coke during the period of the strike, refusing to cross the picket line.
1987: Puerto Real shipyard strike
The history of a large strike of shipyard workers in Spain against closure. An important feature of this strike was not just the high level of militance but the active involvement of the local community and the directly democratic way the struggle was organised.
In
1987, the shipyards in Puerto Real were to be shut down by the governing Thatcherite
"Socialist" Party, PSOE. However, a militant strike and solidarity
of local people saved the yards and won huge gains for the staff. In this
not only did the great determination and ingenuity on the part of the workers
