INDIA's waterfront unions appear to have agreed to defer a nationwide dock strike for a week scheduled for Monday, March 9.
This occurred after a meeting of the All India Port and Dock Workers' Federation, the Port, Water Transport Workers' Federation of India, the Dock and Waterfront Workers' Federation and Indian National Port & Dock Workers' Federation.
This resulted from talks with India's chief labour commissioner, who appealed to union leaders to allow until March 16 to hold further consultations on the workers' list of demands.
"On March 9, a meeting is scheduled with officials of the Indian Ports' Association; on March 12 with the Shipping Secretary; and on March 13 with the chief labour commissioner," a union leader said.
"If the negotiations are positive, the strike may be called off," he said.
The strike was called to exert pressure on the government to stop reforms of publicly owned major ports, reported Newark's Journal of Commerce.
Dockers are fearful government reforms announced by the Modi government involve more private capital and eventually will lead to full privatisation of a national waterfront that employs 50,000.
India's 12 major state-owned ports account for roughly 75 per cent of the nation's total container cargo, with cumulative throughput reaching 6.58 million TEU from April 2014 through January 2015, the first 10 months of fiscal year 2014-15, up from 6.12 million TEU for the same period in the previous year.
PORTS
06 March 2015 - 20:47
India's dockers' to call off Monday strike until talks held with state officials
INDIA's waterfront unions appear to have agreed to defer a nationwide dock strike for a week scheduled for Monday, March 9.
PORTS
06 March 2015 - 20:47
India's dockers' to call off Monday strike until talks held with state officials
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