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Said ElHairechThe criminal Court of First Instance in Rabat, Morocco, has sentenced trade union leaders Said Elhairech and Mohamed Chamchati each to 2 1/2 years of imprisonment.
Elhairech is the general secretary of the Moroccan Ports Union, part of the International Trade Federation-affiliated L’Union Marocaine du Travail trade union, and chair of the ITF Arab World regional committee. He has been sentenced by the Moroccan court for “obstructing freedom of action,” regarding his work on behalf of crews stranded by the cessation of operations of the Comarit-Comanav ferry company, which he undertook at IFT’s request. He will appeal.
Chamchati, the general secretary of the Moroccan merchant seafarers’ union, was also arrested in June 2012 on charges linked to the cessation of operations of the Comarit-Comanav company. In November 2012, he and others were released without charge. However, now he too has been sentenced to prison.
From the Journal of Commerce
Office clerical workers in Los Angeles-Long Beach late Wednesday approved a tentative contract that had been negotiated by their officers but was later rejected by several of the union’s bargaining units.
John Fageaux, president of International Longshore and Warehouse Unit Local 63, and Stephen Berry, lead negotiator for the Harbor Employers Association, released a joint statement confirming that the long saga that had been under way since negotiations began in the spring of 2010 had finally reached a successful conclusion.
More at the Journal of Commerce
From the Montreal Gazette:
Longshore workers in Montreal’s Old Port voted Wednesday to accept a new collective agreement that will increase their wages by a maximum of 12 per cent over the next six years.
Fifty-six per cent voted in favour of the contract, just two months after the last contract expired.
In a statement, union president Denis Wolfe said it was the quickest settlement in the history of union negotiations.
Salaries will increase one per cent in the first year, two per cent in the next four years and between two and three per cent in the final year. Work shifts were also adjusted in order to improve traffic in the port, Wolfe said.
Source: Portland IWW
Source: Anchorage Daily News
Source: Digital Journal
Source: Huffington Post
Source: Times Union
AFP reports: Millions of Indian workers were expected to join a two-day nationwide strike starting Wednesday in protest against ‘anti-labour’ economic reforms introduced by the embattled Congress government. The government’s ‘big ticket’ reforms include opening retail, insurance and aviation sectors to wider foreign investment, hiking prices of subsidised diesel used by farmers and reducing the number of discounted cooking gas cylinders.
Cargo handling operations at some government-owned major ports were hit on Wednesday as workers joined the two-day strike called by central trade unions.
The worst affected was the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, the country’s largest container hub. All the three terminals at the port, including the two private terminals were idle with workers staying away, said a senior port official.
There are six vessels already berthed and they will have to idle till the workers resume duty, he said.
Port officials said there only 20 per cent of labour reported for duty.
More at the Hindu Business Line
IBT reports that ‘a strike at the Port of New York and New Jersey supported by longshoremen at other ports along the East Coast and the Gulf Coast would affect about 35 percent of U.S. imports.’
From International Business Times:
Even if ILA members approve the master contract, it only goes into effect if local contract issues specific to individual ports are resolved, issues that include work rules and pensions. None of the local negotiations are as challenging as those of the Port of New York and New Jersey, where labor costs are vastly higher than at other U.S. ports. Negotiators have given themselves until March 1 to agree on tentative local pacts, according to the Journal of Commerce.
The talks aren’t going well, according to a person familiar with the talks, who said there were two reasons for the lack of progress.
One reason has to do with the fact that the USMX was unable to achieve any cost reductions for its members in the master contract.
Another possible reason has to do with pressure on the ILA from the AFL-CIO to take a tough position in local negotiations, the industry source said.
Read the details at IBT
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