Two major Russian shipping ports to go on strike

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Oct 2007

Dockworkers at two of Russia's largest ports, Tuapse and St Petersburg, will go on strike in November if their demand for higher pay is not accepted, the ports' and trade union officials said on Monday. The results of the negotiations between the workers and the ports' management are expected to be announced by Nov.1.''Trade union organisations decided to initiate a strike from Nov. 5,'' the website of the Black Sea Tuapse port, used for shipments of refined oil products and other cargoes, announced on Monday.Tuapse's dockers are demanding an increase of their salaries by 20 percent, and threaten to hold an open-ended strike, a source close to the port administration told Reuters.The port annually exports 14.5 million tonnes of fuel oil, gas oil and gasoline from the Tuapse Refinery, owned by Russia's largest oil firm, state-controlled Rosneft.It also ships 5.5 million tonnes a year of grain, coal and ferrous metals from Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), Russia's fourth-largest steel maker, which has a 69.5 percent stake in the port.Dockers in the Sea Port of St Petersburg, controlled by NLMK's billionaire owner Vladimir Lisin, threaten to go on strike on Nov.13, the port's union said.''We demand our salaries are raised by 30 percent,'' head of the port's trade union Alexander Moiseyenko told Reuters.The Baltic's port, which is used for shipments of coal and metals, is a part of bigger Port of St Petersburg, shipping other cargoes as well.The Sea port of St Petersburg shipped 11.7 million tonnes of cargo in 2006, or a fifth of all goods load by bigger Port of St Petersburg. The strike will not affect refined products shipments by the Port of St Petersburg.The smaller port's dockers last striked in 2005, causing exported goods to decline.Average wages for dockers in St Petersburg, according to the Port Authority, were over 33,000 roubles ($1,332) per month, and over 35,000 roubles in Tuapse.