KARNATAKA: Unionised dockworkers held a 24-hour strike yesterday (2 September) disrupting operations at India’s 11 state-owned major ports, including Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP), the largest in the country.
In particular, the state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal (JNPCT) ground to a halt as port workers participated in nationwide action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s labour reforms. However, according to an industry source, who requested anonymity, operations at JNP’s two privately operated terminals, the APM Terminals-run Gateway Terminals India (GTI) and the DP World-run Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT), proceeded as normal.
JNPT chairman Neeraj Bansal told the Press Trust of India (PTI) that “for the container terminal operated by us, we had prepared a contingency plan and offloaded all the cargo in advance itself”, ahead of the strike. He said that around 1,400 workers at the port, a majority of them handling operations at its own terminal, did not report to work while 300 officers were at port.
The other ports affected included India’s third largest – Chennai, Kandla, Cochin, Tuticorin, Vizag and Kolkata. Meanwhile, operations were due to proceed as normal at India’s private ports including Pipavav and the country’s second largest, Mundra. In a statement by the All India Ports & Dock Workers’ Federation (AIP & DWF), its president, Shri S. R. Kulkarni, criticised the government for its “ongoing move to convert the major ports as companies even without taking the working class into confidence”.
He also “expressed serious concern at the illogical move of the government in leaving the major ports with their limited infrastructure to compete with the gigantic non-major ports in the private sector.”
Port workers were angered by finance minister, Arun Jaitley’s budget earlier this year, which featured a pledge to “corporatise” the country’s state-owned ports, although shipping minister, Nitin Gadkari, later denied that privatisations would happen. Workers also cited pension benefits and the method of hiring contracted labour as reasons for protesting. This follows widespread disruption in August, where GTI’s operations were suspended because of a strike by contracted RTG operators.
An expected 150m Indians, belonging to 10 major unions, were expected to be on strike yesterday in industries including banking, manufacturing, construction and coal mining.
