Nov. 30, 2015—Container workers at the Port of Rotterdam have voted to hold a series of 24-hour strikes in December and January in protest at possible job cuts, threatening to freeze the movement of goods through Europe's largest port.
Niek Stam, leader of the FNV Havens union, said in a statement that members of the union had voted in favor of the strikes to back their demand for guarantees of no layoffs for the coming nine years.
Major container employers ECT, APMT and RWG have rejected that demand in contract talks, which have been running since April.
"The employers have said that they think that demand is not realistic, something of a different era," said Sjaak Poppe, a spokesman for the Port of Rotterdam, which is brokering the now-stalled talks and which has been asked by the employers to speak on their behalf.
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