Dock workers at India’s Port of Jawaharlal Nehru called off their two-day strike on Tuesday, following tense negotiations between port management and union leaders. Unionized workers walked off the job on Monday morning after a crane operator sustained severe injuries in a dockside accident.
Port officials said striking workers returned to work on Tuesday evening and normal operations were restored at the state-owned terminal.
Nehru, India’s largest container gateway, handles almost 60 percent of the country’s containerized traffic. It handled 3.95 million TEUs in fiscal 2008-09 ended March 31, down from 4.06 million TEUs the previous year.
In other news, labor federations representing dock workers at the Port of Cochin agreed to defer their indefinite strike plan that was scheduled for May 13.
The decision came after local government authorities invited union leaders for conciliatory talks.
Strike threat was earlier issued by a consortium of trade unions to protest the implementation of a new manning scale rule, which under directives from the Shipping Ministry called for a cut in the workforce handling vessel operations and equipment.
Port officials insist that such operations now require fewer manual laborers, given the mechanized-handling process.
Container handling at Cochin suffered from frequent labor disputes in recent months, jeopardizing measures initiated by port management to boost traffic volumes. The unrest also raised doubts over the viability of its new transshipment container facility being developed by DP World.
Port officials said striking workers returned to work on Tuesday evening and normal operations were restored at the state-owned terminal.
Nehru, India’s largest container gateway, handles almost 60 percent of the country’s containerized traffic. It handled 3.95 million TEUs in fiscal 2008-09 ended March 31, down from 4.06 million TEUs the previous year.
In other news, labor federations representing dock workers at the Port of Cochin agreed to defer their indefinite strike plan that was scheduled for May 13.
The decision came after local government authorities invited union leaders for conciliatory talks.
Strike threat was earlier issued by a consortium of trade unions to protest the implementation of a new manning scale rule, which under directives from the Shipping Ministry called for a cut in the workforce handling vessel operations and equipment.
Port officials insist that such operations now require fewer manual laborers, given the mechanized-handling process.
Container handling at Cochin suffered from frequent labor disputes in recent months, jeopardizing measures initiated by port management to boost traffic volumes. The unrest also raised doubts over the viability of its new transshipment container facility being developed by DP World.