Solidarity Rally/Speakout In SF-Hands Off Spanish Dockers/Smash Deregulation/Union Busting

Solidarity Rally and Speakout In SF-Hands Off Spanish Dockers And Smash Deregulation & Union Busting
Friday March 10, 2017 12:00 noon
Spanish Consulate San Francisco
1405 Sutter St.
San Francisco, CA

Initiated By UPWA.info
Endorsed by Labor Rising

Spanish Government Declares War on the Wharfies of Spain-International Day of Action March 10 To Support Spanish Wharfies
https://www.transportworkers.org/node/2751
• IDC encourages affiliated members to reach out to/hold demonstrations at embassies abroad.
No. 78 – Tuesday 1 March, 2017
FELLOW WORKERS
The Spanish Government is hellbent on attempting to destroy the most MILITANT and principled industry organised workers in Spain – the Spanish Dockers.
We must stand shoulder to shoulder with our Spanish
brothers and sisters. I urge all member to read this leaflet from the IDC and to fight for the dockers of Spain and when the Branch calls on you, to support our fellow comrades. WE DO IT AS ONE!
IDC Response to the Royal Decree to Reform the Spanish Port System
February 27 2017. Last Friday, the Spanish Minister of Public Works announced his plan to reform the Spanish port system. He will enact a decree issued by the Court of Justice of the Union European Union, a modification which will result the sacking of 6,500 dockworkers. The plan is to fire Spanish dockworkers at a rate of 25% of their full strength each year, which means an absolute extinction of their employment within three years. Sacked dockworkers are to receive a severance packages of only 20 paid days per year worked.
"The Spanish Government threatens the growth of the Spanish economy and seeks to make the dockworker profession disappear from national ports," rules Jordi Aragunde, IDC General Coordinator.
The Spanish port workers ́ union Coordinadora Estatal de Trabajadores del Mar – CETM plans to hold industrial action in the ports of Spain for 12 hours during each of the following days: The days 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, and 24 of March, 2017.
It remains for IDC to raise support to resist this modification of the Spanish Port System. Following the Emergency IDC ZCO Meeting in Algeciras, Spain on February 28, 2017, IDC decided to take the following actions:
1. A unified action of solidarity with Spanish Dockworkers as they strike on March 10, 2017. All European Ports are to suspend work from 12:00pm-3:00pm, and all other ports outside of Europe are to suspend action from 12:00pm - 1:00pm.
2. IDC will stage a walk out of the Sectoral Social Dialogue on Ports Meeting at the European Commission on March 1, 2017.
• IDC will meet with ITF to collaborate in a joint action in support of Spanish dockworkers.
• IDC will work to ensure ports neighbouring Spain will not receive re-routed cargo turned away form Spain due to industrial actions [in Marseille, FOS, Lisbon (IDC); and Tanger (ITF)].
• IDC will ask Lisbon to hold actions in Sines to avoid further conflicts.
• At the end of March, if no changes have occurred, IDC will organize differential treatment/boycotts of strategic Spanish export cargo.
• IDC encourages affiliated members to reach out to/hold demonstrations at embassies abroad.
• IDC will continue to offer support to /Coordinadora/ and work to show Spanish dockworkers that they are not alone.
• IDC will make the situation in Spanish Ports priority for all IDC Zone Coordinators, who will be responsible for coordinating actions in their respective regions.
IDC supports Spanish Dockworkers in their struggle to defends their professions and protect their families from looming insecurity.
WE WILL NEVER WALK ALONE AGAIN!
In solidarity,
Jordi Aragunde
IDC General Coordinator

Spanish Dockworkers to Face Massive Layoffs?
https://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/212198/spanish-dockworkers-to-face-massive-layoffs/
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Image Courtesy: Offshore and Home Trade Seamen's Welfare Trust
At least 6,500 Spanish dockworkers could be laid off according to the recently announced plan by the country’s Minister of Public Works to reform the port system.

Inigo de la Serna, the minister, aims to launch a decree issued by the European Union Court of Justice to reform the Spanish Port System, which would result in firing Spanish dockworkers at a rate of 25% of their full strength each year.

This means an absolute extinction of their employment within three years, according to the International Dockworkers Council (IDC). Dismissed dockworkers are to receive severance packages of only 20 paid days per year worked, IDC explained.

“The Spanish Government threatens the growth of the Spanish economy and seeks to make the dockworker profession disappear from national ports,” Jordi Aragunde, IDC General Coordinator, stated.

“Spanish ports are growing. The workers’ wages are also growing… and the Ministry of Public Works intends to act on a decree that prevents the country’s economic recovery,” Aragunde added.

Following the decree, the minister revealed he will not seek dialogue with trade unions to determine how to best carry out the mandatory reform of the Spanish Port System.

The announcement came as a surprise to many, including the Spanish trade union Coordinadora, as the minister’s actions are a “stark contradiction” to the platform maintained by his predecessor Ana Pastor, who always sought sector consensus of both interested companies and unions before enacting changes that would inevitably affect both, IDC said.

As explained by IDC, de la Serna’s decision to resist dialogue and assume an authoritarian attitude towards the inevitable implementation of a new Spanish Port System is viewed by port workers as a deliberate attack on their livelihood.

“We feel cheated,” Antolín Goya, General Coordinator of Coordinadora, said, adding that the minister refused to provide any documentation about the new legislation to the trade union and that he insists on verbal communication only.

“Since Brussels will only work officially with the Spanish government, de la Serna’s refusal to share these documents means that he is dictating the terms of this plan himself,” according to IDC.

“We have met with the European Commissioner for Transport, and we know that the Spanish Government´s approach to this law is much more severe for workers than the actual decree suggests” Goya noted.

Spanish trade unions are expected to raise support from other groups to resist the modification of the country’s port system.

With the support of the International Dockworkers Council, Coordinadora plans to initiate union actions across Europe to demand “clear channels of communication and a seat at the table for port workers” to be able to discuss the implementation of the new system.

Total War In Spanish Ports! Assemblies of stevedores in different ports (Coordinator)
http://www.naucher.com/es/actualidad/guerra-total-en-los-puertos-espanoles/_n:5931
TOTAL WAR IN THE SPANISH PORTS!

Assemblies of stevedores in different ports (Coordinator)
PEOPLE OF THE SEA MARITIME ADMINISTRATION PORTS MARITIME ENVIRONMENT PORT COMMUNITY
DANIEL MOLERO 02/03/2017
BLOG: "TRAMONTANA WIND"
The main representatives of the port stowage sector met yesterday in ministerial headquarters with the holder of the Portfolio of Development, Íñigo de la Serna. After the meeting, this morning there has already been a halt and slowdown of activity in the main ports of the Spanish system ... and what remains. "We will defend the jobs by all means. We tried it through the dialogue and they deceived us ": are words of Antolín Goya, leader of the Coordinating union, the maximum exponent of the workers.

A series of historic mobilizations in Spanish ports are expected to be a miracle (or a rectification by the minister) ... and it will not be just a stoppage in activity. It will go beyond even the Spanish borders.

The minister has said "No" to the workers' register. It wants to make the Companies of Estiba (Sagep) disappear to transform them into Temporary Work Enterprises whose workers can be hired for a certain newspaper ... and all through the arbitration of the Port Authorities that, although belonging to the framework of Development, are not of Agreement (at least the big three - Algeciras, Valencia and Barcelona) in which they endorsed the dead.

In short, inactivity in Spanish ports could paralyze the economy of the country because of the ineptitude of some ... with supposed hidden interests ... and all when the Spanish ports closed 2016 at the stroke of historical records in moving goods

De la Serna, has been badly advised by the President of Ports of the State, Jose Llorca and by the Secretary of State (and husband of one of the ideologues of the conflict, cousin-by the way-of a stevedore), Julio Gómez-Pomar; He told the workers, in a strict way, that the Government intends to reform the Spanish port system unilaterally and via Decree Law, with publication in the Council of Ministers before the end of March. And although it says to have parliamentary consensus the truth is that it does not have supports. And, at least, the PSOE should give its approval to carry it forward and become law.

From the dialogue agreed with her predecessor in office, Ana Pastor, nothing at all. From listening to the comments of companies and workers - who agree on the main points of the reform - nothing at all. The minister is protected in Brussels. He says that they will finalize Spain if the reform is not approved ... and it does not lack reason.

What they do not say from the Ministry is that the European Commission agrees with the workers in that any legislative changes that affect the working environment should be agreed with employers and unions. Nor does it say that Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc pointed out weeks ago to Antolín Goya himself that the Judgment must be strictly complied with, but not that this way is unilaterally agreed by a particular government.

According to Goya, "We feel cheated." More clear, impossible. For the coordinator general of Coordinadora, "they want to impose a Decree Law in which they say that there is no room for any modification, they do not provide the document, all communication is verbal. The minister puts Spain to the dictatorship of the officials of the Commission because, he says, Spain can not legislate in port matters except under the terms that authorize it in Brussels, including, including restrictions on collective bargaining that "although they do not consider it Necessary ".

In fact, the reality is that what the Spanish Government proposes is based on conditions far more radical than those sought by Brussels ... and much more than the judgment of the Luxembourg Court itself.

It should also be recalled that a recent regulation approved by the European Parliament "excludes stowage from European legislation to allow each Member State to legislate freely on it." For the time being, and returning to Spain, the Socialist Party seems to disagree with the one-sidedness of a 'decree'. They also believe it is necessary to dialogue with the parties and reach a resolution agreed to the conflict before it is a reality ... but seeing the instability in the PSOE and that its current responsible is a man of straw or know what they will do.

For now neither PSOE nor PNV, let alone the Catalan parties or We can, know the content of the 'decree'. Obviously neither do workers nor companies. Everything is done with secrecy and treachery ... but be careful, they did the same thing two years ago ... when from NAUCHERglobal we uncovered the whole network and had to withdraw. Anyone knows if it could happen now.

For now neither PSOE nor PNV, let alone the Catalan parties or We can, know the content of the 'decree'. Obviously neither do workers nor companies. Everything is done with secrecy and treachery ... but be careful, they did the same thing two years ago ... when from NAUCHERglobal we uncovered the whole network and had to withdraw. Anyone knows if it could happen now.

For the time being, the dialogue with the Government was broken and "in the face of the authoritarian attitude of the Minister", in the words of Antolín Goya "we will initiate mobilizations and union actions to reestablish communication, demand from companies the culmination of the negotiation effort developed, and expose To parliamentary groups the error of an imposed norm that destabilizes a sector and destroys jobs. We will defend our profession by all means. We see no other way out. We are thousands of families who live in this sector, thousands of workers we have managed to build it to release figures that beat records year after year and we will not allow them to eradicate us from the equation, only to enrich the few that are obeyed by governments , At the expense of working in indecent conditions ".

¡GUERRA TOTAL EN LOS PUERTOS ESPAÑOLES!

• GENTE DEL MAR

• ADMINISTRACIÓN MARÍTIMA

• PUERTOS

• ENTORNO MARÍTIMO

• COMUNIDAD PORTUARIA

DANIEL MOLERO 03/02/2017
BLOG: "VIENTO DE TRAMONTANA"
Los principales representantes del sector de la estiba portuaria se reunieron ayer en sede ministerial con el titular de la cartera de Fomento, Íñigo de la Serna. Tras el encuentro, esta mañana ya ha habido paralización y ralentización de la actividad en los principales puertos del sistema español... y lo que queda. “Defenderemos los puestos de trabajo por todos los medios. Lo intentamos a través del diálogo y nos engañaron”: son palabras de Antolín Goya, líder del sindicato Coordinadora, el máximo exponente de los trabajadores.

Se prevén, de no mediar milagro (o de una rectificación del ministro), una serie de movilizaciones históricas en los puertos españoles… y no se tratará sólo de paros en la actividad. Irá más allá incluso de las fronteras españolas.

El ministro ha dicho "No" al registro de los trabajadores. Quiere hacer desaparecer las Sociedades de Estiba (Sagep) para transformarlas en Empresas de Trabajo Temporal cuyos trabajadores puedan ser contratados para un determinado jornal... y todo mediante el arbitraje de la Autoridades Portuarias que, aún perteneciendo al entramado de Fomento, no están de acuerdo (al menos las tres grandes -Algeciras, Valencia y Barcelona-) en que les endosen el muerto.

En suma, la inactividad en los puertos españoles podría paralizar la economía del país por culpa de la ineptitud de algunos… con supuestos intereses ocultos… y todo cuando los puertos españoles cierran 2016 a golpe de récords históricos en movimiento de mercancías

De la Serna, ha estado mal asesorado por el presidente de Puertos del Estado, José Llorca y por el Secretario de Estado (y marido de una de las ideólogas del conflicto, prima –por cierto- de un estibador), Julio Gómez-Pomar; les dijo a los trabajadores, de forma taxativa, que el Gobierno pretende reformar el sistema portuario español de forma unilateral y vía Decreto Ley, con publicación en el Consejo de Ministros antes de que acabe el mes de marzo. Y aunque dice tener consenso parlamentario lo cierto es que no tiene apoyos. Y, al menos, el PSOE debería dar su beneplácito para llevarlo adelante y que se transforme en Ley.

Del diálogo pactado con su predecesora en el cargo, Ana Pastor, nada de nada. De escuchar los comentarios de empresas y trabajadores –que están de acuerdo en los principales puntos de la reforma- nada de nada. Se ampara el ministro en Bruselas. Dice que multarán a España si no se aprueba la reforma… y no le falta razón.

Lo que no dicen desde el Ministerio es que la Comisión Europea está de acuerdo con los trabajadores en que cualquier modificación legislativa que afecte al entorno laboral debería ser pactada con patronal y sindicatos. Tampoco dice que la comisaria de Transporte, Violeta Bulc, señaló semanas atrás al propio Antolín Goya que la Sentencia debe cumplirse de manera estricta, pero no que esta manera sea la que unilateralmente acuerde un Gobierno en concreto.

Según Goya, “Nos sentimos engañados”. Más claro, imposible. Para el coordinador general de Coordinadora, “quieren imponer un Decreto Ley en el que dicen que no hay margen para modificación alguna, no facilitan el documento, toda la comunicación es verbal. El ministro pone a España al dictado de los funcionarios de la Comisión porque, según dice, España no puede legislar en materia portuaria sino en los términos que le autoricen en Bruselas, incluso, incluyendo restricciones a la negociación colectiva que, “aunque no la consideran necesaria”.

De hecho, la realidad es que lo que plantea el Gobierno español parte de condiciones mucho más radicales que las que pretendería Bruselas… y mucho más allá de lo que dice la propia sentencia del Tribunal de Luxemburgo.

Recordar, además, que un reciente reglamento aprobado por la Eurocámara “excluye a la estiba de la legislación europea para permitir que cada Estado miembro legisle libremente sobre ella”. Por lo pronto, y volviendo a España, el Partido Socialista parece que está en desacuerdo con la unilateralidad de un 'decretazo'. También creen necesario dialogar con las partes y llegar a una resolución pactada al conflicto antes de que éste sea una realidad… pero viendo la inestabilidad en el PSOE y que su actual responsable es un hombre de paja cualquiera sabe qué harán.

Por lo pronto ni PSOE ni PNV, ni mucho menos los partidos catalanes o Podemos, conocen el contenido del 'decretazo'. Evidentemente tampoco lo tienen los trabajadores ni las empresas. Se hace todo con sigilo y alevosía... pero cuidado, ya hicieron lo mismo hace dos años... cuando desde NAUCHERglobal destapamos todo el entramado y lo tuvieron que retirar. Cualquiera sabe si ahora podría pasar lo mismo.

Por lo pronto, roto el diálogo con el Gobierno y “ante la actitud autoritaria del ministro”, según palabras de Antolín Goya “iniciaremos movilizaciones y acciones sindicales para restablecer la comunicación, exigir de las empresas la culminación del esfuerzo de negociación desarrollado, y exponer a los grupos parlamentarios el error de una norma impuesta que desestabiliza un sector y destruye puestos de trabajo. Defenderemos nuestra profesión por todos los medios. No vemos otra salida. Somos miles las familias que vivimos de este sector, miles los trabajadores que hemos logrado construirlo para que arrojen cifras que baten records año tras año y no permitiremos que nos erradiquen de la ecuación, solo para que se enriquezcan los pocos a los que obedecen los gobiernos, a costa de trabajo en condiciones indecentes”.