Hamburg's Harbor is Redesigned and Expanded - Container terminals largely cease operations due to worker strike
Workers at Hamburg's container terminals launched a warning strike last Friday, bringing operations to a halt. Verdi, the union representing the workers, revealed that turnout in the initial strike during the ongoing collective bargaining round was high. The strike commenced around 5:30 am and was anticipated to continue through late evening.
This move comes after unsuccessful negotiations between Verdi and the Central Association of German Seaport Employers (ZDS) in Wilhelmshaven on Wednesday and Thursday. Verdi hopes to ratchet up pressure on employers by initiating the warning strike. A total of 11,000 workers are concerned about this negotiation, with 6,000 of them situated in Hamburg.
The terminals of companies like Hamburg Port and Logistics AG (HHLA) and Eurogate suffered from this disruption. An HHLA representative told dpa that most of the company's affiliates at the Hamburg location would join the strike. This includes the container terminals Burchardkai (CTB), Altenwerder (CTA), and Tollerort (CTT). "These terminals are expected to be almost completely shut down today due to the strike," the spokesperson said. Five massive container ships, including the 400-meter-long "HMM Helsinki" with a cargo capacity of around 24,000 standard containers (TEU), were tied up at the Eurogate terminal and the CTB terminal on Friday afternoon.
The terminals had planned to restore production in the late evening and had additional steps slated for the weekend to balance out the shutdown triggered by the strike. Among these measures are prolonged truck inspection operating hours and more night shifts for train inspection.
Maren Ulbrich of Verdi defended the warning strike, arguing that the offer from the employers was inadequate. According to her, it amounts to just a real wage raise for the workers, and the social component is woefully insufficient. "Employees need a significant raise in their wages to cover skyrocketing living expenses," she explained. In addition, Ulbrich emphasized the need for wage disparities between different employee groups to be lessened.
ZDS had initially provided a 2.5% wage increase timed for June 1, an additional 60 cents per hour, and a shift premium bump to 2.50 euros. The third round of negotiations is scheduled to take place on June 17 and 18 in Hamburg. Verdi is calling for a retroactive wage hike of three euros from June 1 and a corresponding adjustment of shift premiums for employees with year-long contracts. "This is meant to ensure that, in particular, lower-wage groups receive noticeably higher salaries, which have been hard hit by inflation over the years," Ulbrich asserted.
