“This is a betrayal of Spain’s dockworkers, and even of its national interests. What we’re looking at here is a piece of cynical horse-trading by political parties who don’t care what the effect will be on the human beings who work in these ports.“
He continued: “We warned back in February* that the government was tearing up the rule book with a callous disregard for jobs, Spanish prestige and international conventions, and what the consequences would be. The will now face a unified front of the world’s dockworkers supporting their Spanish colleagues.”
Terje Samuelsen, chair of the dockers’ section of the ETF (European Transport Workers’ Federation), commented: “This decision risks bringing into place a plan to aggressively and destructively liberalise port labour. It doesn’t even have the excuse of being in line with European Union rules – it goes recklessly beyond them. Unions are being forced into strike action. They will be supported by their trade union colleagues everywhere – the repercussions of this vote will spread far and wide, beginning with the ETF congress in Barcelona next week.”
*See www.itfglobal.org/en/news-events/press-releases/2017/february/itf-spanish-port-plans-beyond-belief
ENDS
For more details please contact
ITF: Sam Dawson. Tel: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260. Email: dawson_sam@itf.org.uk
ETF: Koen Reynaerts. Tel: +32 2 285 46 69. Email: k.reynaerts@etf-europe.org
