THE INTERNATIONAL DOCKWORKERS COUNCIL (IDC) GOES BEFORE THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND WITHDRAWS FROM THE SECTORIAL SOCIAL DIALOGUE ON PORTS
- IDC demands that the European Commissioner take a clear and official position on the Spanish Decree Law that threatens to wipe out over 6,000 dockworker jobs, and asks whether the European Commission defends the use of public funds to pay for the destruction of stable employment on the docks.
- The IDC calls an international day of strike action in solidarity with Spanish dockworkers on March 10, which will see three hour stoppages in European ports and one hour stoppages in ports across the rest of the world.
- IDC affiliates confirm that ports in neighboring countries will not be used for the unloading of Spanish cargo during upcoming dockworkers’ strikes in Spain.
- If the conflict drags on, IDC will coordinate solidarity actions outside Spanish embassies around the world and investigate ways of targeting all Spanish foreign trade.
IDC, March 2, 2017. Brussels. In an international expression of support for the current plight of Spanish dockworkers, International Dockworkers Council (IDC) General Coordinator Jordi Aragunde travelled to Brussels yesterday to tell the European Commission (EC) that the IDC was withdrawing from its Sectoral Social Dialogue process. The IDC has also demanded that the European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc take an official and unequivocal position on the Spanish government’s Decree Law, a proposal that would see the collective dismissal of all of Spain’s current 6,000 plus docker workforce, instead of leaving the matter in the hands of lower ranking European Union (EU) technocrats. The IDC has also questioned the Commission as to whether it agrees with Spanish Government plans, as set out in the Decree Law, to use public funds to pay for the destruction of stable employment on the docks.