Freight News, Sea

Workers stage strike at Tilbury stevedore

[ May 27, 2014   //   Chris ]

Workers at Tilbury-based, Swedish-owned paper handler, SCA Logistics are staging a 48-hour strike in protest over new zero hours contracts. The Unite trade union says it fears the permanent workforce could be replaced by lower paid agency or casual workers.
Unite regional officer Jane Jeffery said move would turn the clock back 50 years “to the bad old days when you had to rely on the tap on the shoulder to see if you had work for the day in the docks.”
Unite says that a collective agreement is in place which allowed a certain percentage of agency workers, but this was being severely undermined by the ongoing replacement of permanent trained dockers by more agency/casual staff.

The strike will only hit vessels being serviced by SCA Logistics at Tilbury.

Tags: SCA Logistics, Tilbury, Unite