Aqaba Port Strike Ended

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) reports that port workers at the Aqaba Container Terminals (ACT) facility in Jordan run by APM Terminals have ended their strike after reaching a deal with the company’s management.

Workers represented by the ITF-affiliated General Union of Port Workers went on strike last week over contract changes and ACT management’s failure to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement due since July, the ITF says in a press release.

According to the ITF, almost as soon as the strike began police raided the site and arrested 150, including the union’s leaders.

The union maintained the strike, ultimately winning its case, including the company’s waiving all penalties imposed during the strike, in particular rescinding 23 sackings; and a renewed commitment from the Jordanian government to have its grievances addressed by the national Labour Court, according to the ITF.

Paddy Crumlin, ITF president and chair of the ITF dockers’ section, said: “Everything about this affair smacks of pre-preparedness: sudden provocative contract changes, refusal to negotiate, then as soon as industrial action is taken in response, a sudden police raid and the arrival of strikebreakers.

It looks a lot like an attempt to break the union. Well, the result has been the opposite – the union has won and has been made stronger.”

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Press Release; Image: APM Terminals