2023-09-21 13:47:02
HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) – Following protests by dockworkers of the Hamburg terminal operator HHLA against a participation by the shipowner MSC, the world’s largest container shipowner has ensured compliance with all social standards. The social partnership experienced with trade unions and all employees is of great importance to MSC and constitutes one of the main strengths of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), an MSC spokesperson said in Hamburg on Thursday. “We will be a reliable partner for all employees and have concluded a legally binding agreement with the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg on maintaining all employee rights.”
A week ago, on Wednesday, the city of Hamburg and the container shipping company MSC announced that the Swiss company was to acquire a stake in HHLA. Currently, the city owns about 69 percent of publicly traded HHLA. This should in future be jointly managed as a joint venture, with the city holding 50.1 percent of the shares and MSC 49.9 percent.
According to information from Verdi, around 2,500 people, mainly HHLA employees, took to the streets on Tuesday to loudly protest these plans. From their point of view, the arrival of MSC is a sale of the port. As an integral part of critical infrastructure, HHLA must be managed by public authorities. The protesters also repeatedly pointed out that there was virtually no participation in decisions at MSC.
HHLA employees received support from Verdi’s federal congress in Berlin. The approximately 900 delegates adopted a resolution in which they condemned the Senate’s “nocturnal and nebulous action”, as Verdi said on Thursday. The document states in particular the following: “We view the participation of shipping companies in port companies with a generally critical eye, as these links increase pressure on working conditions, tariffs and jobs.” At the same time, workers would become more vulnerable to blackmail if shipping companies used volume transfers as a measure of social conflict from employers.
MSC stressed that the company takes these concerns very seriously. At the same time, the shipowner promised to strengthen the importance of the port of Hamburg, create growth and guarantee employment within the HHLA by transferring at least one million standard containers (TEU) from 2031. “As the world’s largest container shipping company, with more than 180,000 employees and stakes in 70 terminals worldwide, we wanted to make Hamburg a central hub,” the spokeswoman said./ klm/DP/nas
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