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Source: AFL-CIO

From the Journal of Commerce:
The European Commission on June 20 decided to refer Spain to the European Union Court of Justice regarding its rule on hiring port labor in several Spanish ports.
Currently, cargo-handling companies in these ports, including the ports of Barcelona, Algeciras, Valencia and Bilbao, are not allowed to resort to the market to employ their staff. Instead, the rule requires cargo-handling companies to participate financially in the capital of private companies, which in turn provide them with the required workforce. Only when the workforce proposed by these private companies is not suitable or not sufficient can the cargo-handling companies freely hire staff from the market.
As a result, cargo-handling providers from other EU countries wishing to establish themselves in Spanish ports may be discouraged from doing so because of these restrictive labor practices, which violates EU treaty rules on freedom of establishment, the EC said.
More at the JOC

No deal, no work. That’s the ultimatum from hundreds of works in charge of sailing Matson ships to the state.
The clock is ticking for the company and crewmembers to reach a new contract. But with 10 days left, the union says talks are severely stalled.
Sailors and Marine firemen are putting the pressure on Matson Navigation Company to negotiate a deal now.
On July 1, 1,600 workers could hit the picket lines. About half of them Hawaii are crewmembers. If they do, Matson says it would shut down shipping to Hawaii.
Matson brings in three ships a week to Hawaii, loaded with about 1,300 containers per ship, everything from cars to food to flooring.
In a statement, Matson says it “…feels that there is sufficient time remaining to work out an agreement. We do not anticipate any disruption to our service.”
The unions say the major sticking point in negotiations is that Matson wants workers to take a pay cut so the company can buy two new ships at a price tag of $200 million a piece.
From KHON

Source: Raw Story