The Port of Rotterdam’s dockworkers voted on Monday to support a series of 24-hour strikes at the port in December and January to voice their opposition to potential job cuts which may bring the European’s biggest port to a standstill.
FNV Havens union said that the strikes are aimed at preventing redundancies that are likely to occur once the two fully-automated container terminals at Maasvlakte become fully operational.
According to the union, in the gloomiest scenario up to 700 jobs out of the existing 4,000 could disappear by 2017.
Union head Niek Stam is asking for all employees who were on permanent employment contract in January this year to have a guaranteed job until 2024 in addition to extension of the special policies for older workers.
Talks on dockworkers’ demands with container operators began in April this year, however a solution has not been reached yet.
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