There hasn't been anything like this for decades: the ports in northern Germany were to be shut down for 48 hours because Verdi wanted it that way.

"We are having the proportionality of the strikes legally checked," the employers said promptly - and in fact several labor courts in northern Germany were involved in the matter.

The decisions from Hamburg are not yet available.

However, several applications for an injunction were rejected by the labor courts in Bremen, Oldenburg and Wilhelmshaven.

"The employers were of the opinion that the strike was illegal," said a spokesman for the Bremen labor court.

Accordingly, the employers criticized the lack of a strike decision by the union and an insufficiently specific call for industrial action.

In addition, they stated

that the common good is being disproportionately burdened and impaired and that an arbitration procedure should have been carried out.

But the judges had a different opinion.

Susanne Preuss

Business correspondent in Hamburg.

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Even after seven rounds of negotiations, the union had not come to an agreement with the employers as to the extent to which port workers' incomes should increase in the future.

Most recently, the collective bargaining parties made a final attempt at agreement on Wednesday afternoon.

But while the talks were still going on, customers were already being warned by the shipping companies that handling in the German ports would be severely restricted from Thursday and that there would probably be some chaos around the ports.

Because the supply chains have been extremely strained since the beginning of the corona pandemic, any further disruption to processes has significant consequences.

The port operators HHLA and Eurogate have long since rented additional space to stack containers, the storage duration of which is now often counted in weeks.

danger of losing meaning

A 48-hour strike is "irresponsible," commented chief negotiator Ulrike Riedel from the Central Association of German Seaport Companies (ZDS), pointing out that employers had already offered a 12.5 percent increase in income.

"With this offer, a two-day strike can no longer be called a warning strike," she emphasized.

The "final offer" of 12.5 percent plus for a period of 24 months referred to by the ZDS relates to container shipping, in other companies (e.g. for car transport or bulk goods loading) the proposed increases are lower.

According to the association, the permanent improvement in income is eight percent.

This goes "noticeably beyond the limits of the companies," warns Riedel.

The ports are primarily in competition with Rotterdam and Antwerp, but are also increasingly competing with Polish ports: "We see the danger that cargo will go somewhere else in the long term and that the German seaports will therefore continue to lose importance," said Riedel.

Verdi insists on negotiation

Because the negotiations are clearly deadlocked, arbitration is needed, Riedel explains the position of the employers.

"In view of the great importance that the seaports have for supplying consumers and the economy, I urge Verdi to finally agree to arbitration so that we can come to a solution."

Verdi, on the other hand, insists on clarifying the collective bargaining conflict through negotiation and is demanding a wage increase of 1.20 euros per hour for the 12,000 employees at the seaports and an “actual inflation adjustment of 7.4 percent” over a period of twelve months.

"The employer's offer unilaterally distributes the risk of price developments, especially in the second year, on the shoulders of the employees," says Verdi negotiator Maya Schwiegershausen-Güth.

The offer offers “no protection for all employees against real wage losses”.

While around 1,000 port workers protested for better pay in Bremerhaven on Thursday, a large rally was planned for Friday in Hamburg, followed by a demonstration train from the train station to the city center of Hamburg, stopping at Ballindamm, among other places, where the Hapag-Lloyd shipping company has its headquarters .

Verdi also called on strikers from Bremen and Lower Saxony to take part in this protest action.