Operations workers at Ashdod port initiated last week disruptions and sanctions in a dispute with the port management on the workers’ financial demands
As a consequence of the industrial action a number of ships could not be loaded or unloaded.
Reuven Zuck president of Israel Chamber of Shipping said following the announcement of the labor dispute that “The strike is a gross violation of the labor agreements under which the workers committee undertook industrial quiet for five years. These sanctions are sending the Ashdod Port back to time that we’d all prefer to forget. It harms the port’s achievements and its opening to international lines and commercial ties with large multimodal shipping companies and international shippers.”
As a result of the strike action it was made known that tensions between Ashdod Port’s management and workers intensified in recent months. The port's operations workers claim that management is not honoring agreements.
Shuki Sagis Ashdod Port Company CEO said last week: “This strike is an illegal wildcat strike which violates industrial quiet that is basis of the ports reform agreement signed by both the workers and the General Federation of Labor in Israel”.
It is understood that the industrial action contravene the Ashdod Port workers committee’s commitments to preserve industrial quiet under the ports reform agreement.
The sudden industrial actions taken by the workers are known to have severely affecting the port’s daily operations and its reputation among its customers.
On Thursday morning the port went back to normal when operations workers returned to their jobs.
