Dockworkers strike at over 100 ports worldwide against arms shipments

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Dockworkers worldwide strike against arms shipments and to demand better working conditions – WTOP News wtop.com

Dockworkers across more than 100 ports in Europe, the Mediterranean and North America walked off the job on Friday, in an international strike against arms shipments and port militarisation. Unions in France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Turkey and Morocco issued a joint call demanding an end to wars in the Middle East — including Gaza — and an end to what they describe as the militarization of ports.

The statement from the unions insists that ports must not be used to move weapons, ammunition, military equipment or troops. In Greece, unions called a strike at Piraeus, the country's largest port; Giorgos Gogos, president of the Dockworkers Union of Piraeus Port Authority, said workers refuse to be participants in any war or to let their ports serve as hubs for military material. Protesters outside Istanbul's Haydarpasa port displayed a banner reading "No to war, no to armament!" In Italy, demonstrations were planned for Genoa, Trieste and Gioia Tauro, timed to a nationwide general strike; the transport disruption there proved smaller than expected after the government ordered transport workers back to their posts — a reminder of which side of the labour dispute the state occupies. France's CGT ports and docks federation struck for a day at Le Havre, Marseille, Dunkirk and Rouen, objecting to militarized port facilities under European policy and to the French government's own budget proposals.

The immediate economic impact is limited. Marcus Baker, global head of marine, cargo and logistics at Marsh, judged a 24-hour strike unlikely to significantly disrupt global trade, though it could bite into perishable and time-sensitive cargo. Judah Levine of Freightos noted it would worsen congestion at ports such as Genoa, where vessels already wait one to two days for a berth. A separate seafarers' strike over pay and safety kept ships docked and disrupted ferry services — a wage dispute running on the same day as the disarmament one, with the two sets of demands sharing a picket line but not a timetable.

That overlap is the strike's unresolved question. Supply chains already strained by Middle East tensions, canal restrictions and shifting tariffs now face a work stoppage whose stated purpose is to raise the cost of moving materiel through civilian ports. States regulate shipping lanes, sanction exporters and draft procurement budgets, but the loading itself passes through workers whose consent is purchased per shift. The unions promise conditions will improve; whether the refusal to handle arms survives its own wage settlement will be decided at the next round of bargaining.