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Collective agreement for dock workers in India sets benchmark for all contractors
24/06/10
Port drivers in India have signed a ground-breaking collective agreement following lengthy negotiations between their contractor employer and an ITF-affiliated union.
The port drivers working for the largest contractor in Maersk’s GTI terminal in Mumbai, represented by the Transport and Dock Workers’ Union (TDWU), today signed a collective agreement with Allcargo. Behind the scenes pressure was exerted by the ITF and Maersk-APM Terminals. The collective agreement represents a major breakthrough for the workers who have been in a prolonged battle to achieve union representation; a number of contractors in the terminal have responded to union organising with violence.
The TDWU first sought support from the ITF in 2007 after drivers in one of the other GTI contractors, SC Thakur, were kidnapped and beaten for attempting to join the union. Following talks with the ITF, Maersk eventually informed contractors they they were expected to respect workers’ right to join a union; a joint ITF-Maersk workers’ rights panel established the clear wish of the drivers to be represented by the TDWU. Nevertheless, resistance by the contractors continued. The signing of the agreement by Allcargo, the largest of the three contractors on the site, means, however, that the drivers’ right to union representation is now firmly established.
Stuart Howard, ITF assistant general secretary, said: “The global dialogue with the ITF Maersk network steering committee prompted Maersk to commit to a basic respect for international labour standards and to address what was happening with its contractors in Mumbai. The company has been prepared to take a responsible approach, to insist that its contractors should accept basic labour standards and to work with us to achieve this for these workers.
“The agreement sets a benchmark to which all contractors in all the terminals here should be working; Casby and Thakur contract workers will now rightly expect the same rights. We will also be looking at DPW, which currently also outsources port driving to non-union contractors.”
The TDWU already plans to expand its organising activities in the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust terminal area and has established an additional office to coordinate an organising drive.
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