May 23 - Spanish labour reforms have been described as "a betrayal of Spain's dockworkers," by International Transport Workers' Federation's (ITF) president and dockers' section chair, Paddy Crumlin.
The port liberalisation decree, which was rejected earlier this year during March, was criticised for the impact it would have on labour conditions for dockers, with trade unions calling for strike action.
Terje Samuelsen, chair of the dockers' section of the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), commented: "This decision risks bringing into place a plan to aggressively and destructively liberalise port labour. It doesn't even have the excuse of being in line with European Union rules - it goes recklessly beyond them. Unions are being forced into strike action. They will be supported by their trade union colleagues everywhere - the repercussions of this vote will spread far and wide, beginning with the ETF congress in Barcelona next week."
