Dockworkers took industrial action on 30 October in an international campaign against arms shipments and for better working conditions, with a participating Italian union saying the mobilisation would reach 113 ports in 22 countries and regions across five continents.
USB said more than 25 port-worker unions would take part. Its programme combined full-day strikes in several countries with shorter work abstentions elsewhere, as well as demonstrations and pickets, setting out different forms of participation.
The union listed 24-hour strikes in France, Italy, India, Greece and Turkey. In Morocco, Cyprus and other ports, it said workers would abstain from work for periods of up to two hours.
The announced scope therefore covered more than full-day stoppages alone. A port’s inclusion in the mobilisation did not, under the programme described by USB, mean that workers there were expected to stop work for the same length of time.
In France, the action included a call for a 24-hour strike at major ports. That call formed part of the wider international mobilisation, which brought together opposition to arms shipments and demands for improved working conditions.
Disruption at Greek ports
In Greece, the walkout disrupted cargo operations at Piraeus, while ferry services to Greek islands were suspended. Ships remained docked at several Greek ports as dockworker action and a separate strike by seafarers took place on 30 October.
The Piraeus dockworkers’ action was part of the international campaign. The seafarers’ strike was a distinct action over pay, working conditions and safety, although both contributed to the disruption affecting Greek ports and ferry services.
The disruption covered both cargo handling and ferry travel. While the action at Piraeus affected the movement of goods, the suspension of services to Greek islands meant the effects of the day’s stoppages also extended to ferry connections.
Greece was among the countries where USB had listed a full-day strike. The disruption there took place within a broader programme that also provided for shorter work abstentions, demonstrations and pickets at other participating ports.
The figure of 113 ports in 22 countries and regions was the scale of participation announced by USB. The differing arrangements it outlined meant the international mobilisation was not presented as a uniform 24-hour stoppage across every port involved.
Pay, conditions and safety demands
The campaign combined opposition to arms shipments with demands concerning workers’ employment conditions. Participants sought pay rises and better working conditions, placing those workplace demands alongside the campaign against the movement of arms through ports.
Another demand was the right to have doctors on vessels crossing war zones. Participants were seeking that right alongside improvements in pay and conditions, making provision for medical care on those crossings a specific part of their demands.
The separate seafarer strike in Greece also concerned safety, as well as pay and working conditions. Those shared themes did not make it the same action as the Piraeus dockworkers’ mobilisation, even though the stoppages coincided and affected shipping services.
USB’s programme encompassed both strike action and participation through demonstrations and pickets. Its list of full-day stoppages covered five countries, while the shorter abstentions it described included Morocco and Cyprus as well as other ports.
The mobilisation’s stated reach was international, while the disruption in Greece affected cargo operations and ferry services. The wider campaign’s demands combined opposition to arms shipments with calls for higher pay, improved working conditions and the right to have doctors aboard vessels crossing war zones.
