Europe's Ports Dockworkers Strike over EU Cargo Bill
As the world's top exporter, Germany has profited handsomely from the effects of globalization. Shipping turnover has exploded in recent years amid steadily rising demand from booming China. Normally Hamburg's port is buzzing day and night. But on Wednesday, Germany's largest harbor stood still as dockworkers joined an estimated 50,000 of their counterparts at ports across the continent for a 24-hour strike.
According to the Associated Press, thousands of German stevedores took part in the strike that hit the North Sea port of Bremen as well as Hamburg. "Not one crane is moving," Verdi union spokesman Uwe Schroeder said, referring to the cargo cranes used to move the massive shipping containers filled with everything from heavy machinery to commodities. Elsewhere in Europe, both Antwerp and Rotterdam -- the region's biggest ports -- were also affected to varying degrees by the strike.
The EU wants to liberalize cargo handling in order to end monopoly operations prevalent in many of Europe's ports in an attempt to lower costs, improve efficiency and encourage investment. But dockworkers fear that doing so would eliminate jobs, lower wages and hurt safety -- especially if cut-rate Asian shipping firms moved into the region. Others believe it could lead to chaos if ship crews were allowed to unload their own cargo.
"In our opinion, Port Package II will lead to higher costs for port operators and their customers," said Burkhard Lemper, from Bremen's Institute for Shipping and Logistics. "On top of that, it will worsen efficiency and cause a reduction in investment."
The strike over the cargo loading liberalization plans highlights the growing conflict faced by Europeans struggling to come to terms with the increasingly complex impact of globalization. On the one hand, EU dockworkers have benefited immensely from increased port traffic as foreign trade -- in particularly with Asia -- has surged. But now faced with potential competition from abroad for their own jobs, understandably upset workers do all they can to pull up the proverbial drawbridge.
Dockworkers are planning massive protests in the French city of Strasbourg on Monday, when the European Parliament is set to debate the port liberalization bill.
