Port workers and seafarers carried out on Friday (the 30th) a coordinated strike at 113 ports across 22 countries, in a move that disrupted cargo operations and maritime transport at major logistics hubs in Europe, North Africa, and Asia.
According to Reuters, the workers protest the use of ports for transporting arms destined for conflict zones and denounce the growing number of deaths and injuries among crew members in wars ranging from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea.
The strike brought together unions from more than 25 organizations and affected terminals in cities such as Piraeus, Valencia, Le Havre, Algeciras and Genoa, as well as the Tangier Med ports in Morocco and Nhava Sheva in India.
Among the demands are higher wages, better working conditions and the right to have medical teams aboard vessels crossing conflict zones.
“We will not work for their wars and we will not become fodder for their cannons,” Apostolos Kypraios, head of the Greek union of merchant navy engineers, told Reuters during a protest at the port of Piraeus,
The unions say that seafarers have paid a heavy price for the intensification of international conflicts. In a statement, the Greek PENEN said that hundreds of workers in the sector have been killed or severely injured in recent years.
According to the group, in the first 21 days of October alone there were 28 attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the highest number since the start of the war involving Iran. In the Black Sea, the unions tally 570 attacks on ships this year, with 40 dead and hundreds of injured.
The protests had a direct impact on the operation of several ports.
In Greece, cargo operations were halted in Piraeus and ferry services to the country’s islands were suspended after about 3,000 workers joined the strike. In India, union representatives said that around 15 Indian seafarers died as a result of the war with Iran, while others remain aboard vessels due to navigation restrictions.
Activists from the movement “No Harbour for Genocide” also participated in the protests, campaigning to prevent the shipment of military cargo to Israeli ports. The group estimates that the mobilization could affect approximately 52,000 containers and cargo valued at US$ 2.8 billion.
Besides security concerns, workers say they are feeling the economic effects of the conflicts. According to union leaders, rising prices of energy and essential goods have reduced the purchasing power of the workforce in several countries.
The strike comes months after port unions from more than 35 European countries released the Istanbul Declaration, a document calling for port facilities not to be used for transporting arms destined for war zones.
