The Swedish Dockworkers’ Union has decided to move forward with the strike at APM Terminals Gothenburg scheduled to start yesterday, despite the already launched mediation process in the dispute between the parties.
The strike, which will start at 4pm and last for 24 hours until 4 pm on May 18, will affect the activities at the Gothenburg site, APM Terminals said in its latest update.
The terminal operator added that “an overtime ban will be executed between May 17 at 7 am – 4 pm and May 18 (between) 4 pm and midnight.”
Furthermore, the union plans to go through the strike action announced earlier, which would stop all operations at the terminal for 24 hours on May 24 at 4 pm.
In addition to the strikes, the union also left notice of an overtime blockade eight hours before and eight hours after each strike.
The inability to reach an agreement on the dockworkers’ demands with the employers led to the industrial action after several rounds of talks.
Namely, the Swedish dockworkers asked for a separate collective agreement and a decision on how many persons can participate in a negotiation, as well as resolving other issues related to job satisfaction at the terminal.
Launched on May 11, the mediation discussions at national level between Hamnarbetarförbundet of the Swedish Dockworkers’ Union and Ports of Sweden started after the unions and APMT failed to reach any progress on their talks that protracted for weeks.
However, the process has come to a grinding halt as “the parties’ positions remain some distance apart,” APM Terminals said.
As a result of the industrial actions, the flow of goods through the terminal has been significantly impacted, APMT added.
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