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The past two weeks have been turbulent ones at the Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT) in Jordan, with industrial action leading to violent clashes between police and striking workers. At one point tear gas was used by the police and the terminal was obliged to halt all operations for 9 days.
On December 10th however, ACT announced that the General Trade Union for Port and Clearance Workers had ceased what it claimed were ‘illegal’ industrial actions.
In a statement ACT said it regretted any inconvenience caused to shippers and shipping lines and would waive any port storage charges for the period from December 1 to December 9. It will also grant an extra 7 days free time on containers which had to be loaded onto the next vessel, because the planned vessel had to omit Aqaba from its schedule between December 1 and December 9 and waive any charges resulting from such delays.
Vincent Flamant, Chief Commercial Officer, at ACT, says, “We hope these efforts will be taken as a token of our appreciation for valuable support during this difficult period and would like to reassure all our valued customers of our full commitment to abide by Jordan’s Labour Laws and Labour Court ruling.”
The dispute has centered on plans for a new standard 8 hour shift system at ACT, which has been resisted by certain sections of the workforce. ACT says the changes are needed to meet market requirements and further improve productivity.
