Five unions at Major Ports have called for a nation-wide strike from August 28 mainly against delay in concluding bipartite wage negotiations and settlement
With Red Sea crisis continuing to disrupt global supply chain, a strike planned by 18,000 employees at the 12 major ports from August 28 at could have a cascading impact on the trade.
It is being planned at a crucial time when products like leather and apparel are being dispatched to global markets for Christmas and New Year sale.
Any delay in dispatch could hurt exporters badly and buyers may not give orders next year, said an official of a leading apparel company.
Every day ₹125 crore would be lost due to the strike, which is against the inordinate delay in concluding the Bipartite Wage Negotiations and signing the settlement.
The existing Settlement, signed on August 30, 2018 expired on December 31, 2021. The new settlement should have taken effect from January 1, 2022, said T. Narendra Rao, General Secretary, Water Transport Workers’ Federation of India (CITU), one of the five associations that has given the strike call.
In 2023-24, the 12 major ports handled a total volume of 783 million tonnes of cargo. This translates to 2.3 million tonnes of cargo every day, said Rao. All essential services like containers, coal, iron ore and containers cannot move in and out of the major ports, he added.
The other four associations are All India Port & Dock workers federation (HMS)(Kulkarni); All India Port & Dock workers federation (HMS)(Shanthi Patel); Indian national Port & Dock workers federation (INTUC) and Port, Dock & Waterfront workers federation (AITUC).
“We are not begging for anyone’s generosity or for alms, but struggling to keep our rights and privileges upright,” said Rao. He added, “32 months have lapsed and still the Government and the Port Management are following a very lethargic and cruel attitude towards the employees and the pensioners of all Major Ports.”
The strike will add fuel to fire to the already suffering by the trade due to the Red Sea crisis that led to supply chain issues, said S Nataraja, Secretary, The Chennai Custom Brokers’ Association,
Vessel berthing & sailing will be stopped since port employees can operate tug boats to pull and push vessels in to berth and out of the berth respectively.
General cargo, dust cargo, bulk, break bulk categories will not handle. All container terminals are private berths and receipts, delivery will not be affected but berthing and sail out of vessels will not happen, he said.
Ishwar Achanta, President, The Federation of Association of Stevedores, said stoppage of work at major ports will lead to diversions to minor ports, who will jack up handling charges as demand will rise dramatically.
“We cannot afford any disruption to our work which will have far reaching and cascading effects, leading to loss of livelihood for the 20,000 dock workers and more than 200,000 stevedores, engaged in this vital segment of the Port industry in addition to huge losses to the Nation’s economy and exchequer,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Indian Ports Association has called for a meeting of President & General Secretary of all the Major Port workers federation on Tuesday in Delhi to discuss about the strike. Similarly the Bipartite Wage Negotiation Committee is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
“However, it is reiterated that the strike will be commence on Wednesday at 6 am at all the Major Ports,” said Rao.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
