The Polish affiliated dockers’ union Solidarność has concluded a lengthy dispute with the Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT) Gdansk as the parties signed a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).
The new agreement is valid until March 31, 2019, and covers pay rates, hours of work, holidays and general conditions for 600 workers at the new terminal in northern Poland.
“The signing marks the end of a bitter three-year dispute between the port and its workforce that has included complaints from the union over victimisation and harassment by the employer and the firing of union leaders,” ITF said.
The global trade union community has supported the workers with demonstrations at DCT Gdansk and in other European countries targeting the bank that owns the port, Macquarie, ITF added.
“A change in management at DCT Gdansk was overdue and now we are hopeful that dockers there can have better standards that are consistent with those in neighbouring countries,” ITF dockers’ section vice-chair, Torben Seebold, said.
DCT Gdansk is currently engaged in expansion projects as a second terminal is due to open next year, with its workforce increasing to 1500 workers, to meet the growing demand for deep-sea services in Central-Eastern Europe.
In 2015, the Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT) Gdansk, which became operational in June 2007, handled over 1 million TEU.
During the year, two container shipping alliances, 2M (Maersk Line and MSC) and G6 (APL, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, MOL, NYK, and OOCL), started visiting the terminal.