Major strike called off after last minute pay offer – which should have come nearly three years ago.
Dockers working across India’s 12 major state-run ports have called off an indefinite strike scheduled to start today – Wednesday – after accepting an 8.5% pay rise, improved conditions and pensions.
The pay offer, backdated to January 2022, came the day before 20,000 workers were due to take strike action which would have coincided with congestion at ports in Europe and Asia, and had a major impact on regional and global trade.
International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) affiliate, the All-India Port and Dockworkers’ Federation (AIPDWF), was one of six federations due to take indefinite strike action to secure a new deal on pay and conditions.
The five federations involved in the strike planning, in addition to AIPDWF, were: All-India Port and Dockworkers Federation (Workers); Water Transport Workers Federation of India; India National Port and Dockworkers Federation; The Port, Dock and Water Front Workers Federation of India; Bharatiya Port and Dock Mazdoor Mahasangh.
ITF President and Dockers’ Section Chair, Paddy Crumlin, said: “We’re delighted that our brothers, sisters and comrades in India have finally won the pay offer they waited for nearly three years to receive.
“They shouldn’t have had to wait this long and fight against such unfair and unjust practices to get what was theirs by right.
“India’s port system and whole economy depends on its dockers. And the dockers have been proven to be right in securing their fair and just demands.”
Dockers’ demands for a new settlement were first submitted in September 2021– three months before negotiations were due to take place via the Bipartite Wage Negotiation Committee (BWNC). But up to Tuesday this week, after 32 months and seven meetings of the BWNC, the demands had still not been met.
The system of bipartite wage negotiation was introduced to the Indian port sector in 1993, specifically to create a fairer process for addressing revisions of wages and conditions, alongside pensions. The BWNC itself was established in March 2021.
The leaders of the coordinating committee of the union federations said that interference from the Ministry of Shipping was key to the delays: while the bipartite system is specifically designed to comprise port management and class three and four workers – as opposed to class one and two officers – the Ministry of Shipping has aligned with an officers’ federation demand to ensure inclusion of officers’ representatives in negotiations.
In a letter to the Chairman of the Indian Ports Association (IPA), the unions said they were “shocked” and called the officers’ federation request “embarrassing” and “unheard of” in negotiations for class three and hour workers.
The strike was averted after a meeting on Tuesday between the six federations, the IPA and the Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, with a commitment made by government to finalise the settlement within 15 days.
A joint statement released after the meeting said: “The nationwide indefinite strike called by six federations of port and dock workers from August 28 is deferred consequent on a Memorandum of Understanding between the Chairman of the IPA, the MD [managing director] of IPA, and representatives of the six federations.”
Picture source: Reuters.
