Spain’s more than 6,000 stevedores went on strike Monday, paralyzing the country’s 39 cargo ports, after workers and company bosses failed to agree on job protections following an EU-mandated liberalization of port services.
Nearly all the highly-unionized dockworkers took part in the walkouts, according to the government and the workers.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative cabinet in May approved a liberalizing reform which eliminates the requirement for loading companies to join a port consortium and in the long term ends the monopoly of unionized workers to provide loading and unloading services.
The bill was later ratified by the Spanish parliament. After the reform passed, workers demanded job protection from employers. A compromise was reached two weeks ago under which companies offered job guarantees in exchange for wage reductions, but the two sides have since backed away from their initial deal.
