Who has the upper hand? The collective bargaining conflict in the German seaports is coming to a head. Ships are piling up in the North Sea, and in Hamburg the police are reporting criminal offenses during the warning strike by port workers.
The berths are full, but the container gantries are folded up – (almost) nothing works anymore in the port of Hamburg and in other German North Sea ports. The men and women working in the port are also on a warning strike this Friday – and their industrial action is likely to have a massive impact on the supply of goods. In the Hanseatic city, the police have now used violence against strikers – previously there should have been criminal offenses from the demonstration train.
The labor dispute is – of course – primarily about money. On the one hand there are the approximately 12,000 port workers with their trade union ver.di, on the other hand the handling companies and their central association of German seaport companies (ZDS). For decades, the collective bargaining conflicts in the German ports could be resolved largely without a hitch, and there were no labor disputes. The fact that the warning strike, which ended on Saturday morning, meant that people hadn’t worked for around 80 hours shows how escalated the dispute has become.
Dispute over money in German seaports
The union is demanding 1.20 euros more per hour for the employees in the 58 affected companies in Lower Saxony, Bremen and Hamburg, inflation compensation of 7.4 percent and an increase in bonuses. According to the ZDS, it offers a calculated salary increase of up to 12.5 percent, but over two years, which, given the current inflation, would be tantamount to a reduction in real wages. Although certain professional groups in the German seaports can already achieve an annual income of up to 100,000, as the “Hamburger Abendblatt” recently calculated, this is by no means the case for everyone. The employees are not satisfied with the ZDS offer. “The employers are not sufficiently meeting our demand for real inflation compensation with the offer now available,” says ver.di negotiator Maya Schwiegershausen-Güth.
The consequences of the deadlocked negotiations: strike and anger. Thousands of dockers marched through Hamburg on Friday with shouts of “We are the port”. According to the police, bottles were thrown at police officers from the train and pyrotechnics were ignited. When a suspected perpetrator was arrested, demonstrators are said to have expressed solidarity with the person concerned. The police used pepper spray and ten were injured. A verified video recording also shows the use of batons. Two people were reportedly arrested.
Strike by port workers leads to ship jams
The escalation of the labor dispute can be felt not only on the road, but also at sea. Dozens of ships are now dammed up in the German Bight, waiting to be unloaded in the ports of Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Bremen, Emden, Wilhelmshaven or Brake. The walkout in the seaports comes at the wrong time for the port logisticians. Due to the corona virus, there is already a great deal of confusion in the global traffic of container and cargo ships. The warning strike is now throwing the processes at the quay edges even more out of step. This further exacerbated the tense situation.
However, at least some relaxation is in sight: After a settlement in the Hamburg labor court, the warning strike must be ended on Saturday morning, and work may not be stopped until the end of August at the earliest. Labor courts in Bremen, Oldenburg and Wilhelmshaven, on the other hand, had rejected applications for injunctions from several port logisticians to stop the warning strike.
Sources: , , , , DPA news agency
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
