New warning strikes by dockers have begun
Created: 07/14/2022, 07:31
The container ship CMA CGM Zheng He (back) of the shipping company CMA CGM docks at the container terminal.
© Christian Charisius/dpa
In the conflict over the wages of the port workers, warning strikes by the Verdi union began again on Thursday morning in all important North Sea ports.
Early shift employees in Bremen and Bremerhaven have stopped work since 6 a.m., as Verdi district manager Bremen-Northern Lower Saxony, Markus Westermann, told the German Press Agency in the morning.
Hamburg/Bremen – The work stoppages are planned until 6 a.m. on Saturday morning.
The warning strike has also begun at the port of Hamburg, said the trade union secretary in the transport and maritime economy department at Verdi Hamburg, Stephan Gastmeier.
"The colleagues have moved into their posts." The strike is also planned until Saturday morning.
This threatens Germany's largest seaports to come to a standstill again - this time even for 48 hours.
The Verdi union has asked workers to stop working by Saturday morning.
According to Verdi negotiator Maya Schwiegershausen-Güth, the warning strikes will affect not only Hamburg, by far the largest German seaport, but also Emden, Wilhelmshaven and Brake.
Previously, the Central Association of German Seaport Companies (ZDS) and Verdi had not been able to reach a tariff compromise acceptable to both sides in a seventh round of negotiations lasting more than eight hours.
Both sides are negotiating for around 12,000 employees in 58 collective bargaining companies in Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Bremen.
The port workers had already paralyzed the handling of ships twice in June, most recently on June 23 for 24 hours.
The effects of the warning strike on the handling of container and cargo ships are likely to be significant and the loading and unloading of ships will largely come to a standstill.
This will exacerbate the already tense situation with a ship jam on the North Sea and the processes at the quay edges are likely to get even further out of step.
ZDS negotiator Ulrike Riedel called the call for a strike "irresponsible" in view of the disrupted supply chains to the detriment of consumers and companies.
dpa
