For the first time in decades, port workers have paralyzed the handling of ships. Now the strike is supposed to start again on Thursday. The scope for an agreement in the collective bargaining conflict is becoming narrow.
In the deadlocked conflict over the wages of dockworkers, Germany’s largest seaports are again threatened with a standstill – this time even for 48 hours.
The Verdi union has asked employees to stop working on Thursday from the beginning of the early shift until Saturday morning. This was confirmed by Verdi negotiator Maya Schwiegershausen-Güth on Wednesday of the German Press Agency.
Negotiations are still ongoing
“But before that, we’ll negotiate again,” said the trade unionist. According to a spokesman for the Central Association of German Seaport Companies (ZDS), both sides wanted to explore online on Wednesday afternoon whether the collective bargaining conflict could still be resolved without renewed industrial action. The port workers had already paralyzed the handling of ships twice in June, most recently on June 23 for 24 hours.
Due to the corona virus, there has been a lot of confusion in the global traffic of container and cargo ships for a long time. The renewed warning strike that has been threatened threatens to bring the processes on the quay edges even more out of step. According to the latest calculations by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), more than two percent of global freight capacity is now stuck in traffic jams in the North Sea. Around 20 freighters are currently waiting to be dispatched at anchorages in the German Bight, most of them bound for Hamburg.
After six unsuccessful rounds of negotiations, the scope for a peaceful agreement in the wage conflict has become very narrow. Verdi has so far rejected arbitration, as proposed by the employers.
Arbitration is not yet in sight
Verdi went into the collective bargaining round for the around 12,000 employees in the 58 collectively bargained companies in Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Bremen with the demand for an increase in hourly wages of 1.20 euros with a collective bargaining term of 12 months. In addition, the union in full container companies demanded an increase in the annual allowance of 1,200 euros from the previous 3,338 euros, via which Verdi wants to achieve an unspecified “actual compensation for inflation”. According to earlier Verdi information, the package of demands would mean a pay increase of up to 14 percent, depending on the wage group.
A week ago, the employers improved their offers again and put a new “final offer” on the table, the volume of which the ZDS estimates for container operations at 12.5 percent and for conventional operations at 9.6 percent – albeit with a term of 24 months. “There can’t be more and there won’t be,” said the ZDS spokesman.
Among other things, hourly wages are to increase retrospectively from June by 1.20 euros (in the car envelope by 90 cents). The allowance in container operations should increase by 1,500 euros or in conventional operations by 750 euros. In addition, employees in container companies should receive a one-time payment of 700 euros. What remains controversial is how things will continue afterwards. From June 2023, hourly wages and allowances should increase by a further 3.1 percent, according to ZDS. In view of the uncertain development of inflation, Verdi wants to have the opportunity to renegotiate. (dpa)