UK dockworkers join forces in sympathy strike against Ørsted — EnergyWatch

Ørsted’s London headquarters was visited on Friday by a group of disgruntled dockworkers who went on strike against the company in sympathy with their colleagues in their US counterpart, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), writes the International Dockworkers’ Council (IDC) in a statement.

According to the statement, the dockworkers belong to the UK’s leading union, Unite the Union.

”Our ILA colleagues will have whatever support they need from Unite the Union for as long as it takes. Ørsted now needs to wake up and smell the coffee before this global dispute escalates out of their control,” says Unite the Union’s general secretary, Sharon Graham.

The now ocean-crossing conflict between the dockworkers and Ørsted started back in September when the Danish utility signed collective bargaining agreements with a different union than the one traditionally responsible for dockworkers on the US East Coast.

This immediately prompted the IDC, led by the ILA, to send a letter of protest to Ørsted, accusing the energy giant of union busting, where wage agreements are made with workers outside of the unions.

And now the British dockworkers from Unite the Union have taken to the streets.

Unite the Union is specifically unhappy that Ørsted’s US division, according to them, has not negotiated the agreements in good faith and has broken its promises to the dockworkers. In addition, the union points out that Ørsted has signed 20-year contracts with shipping companies that are counterproductive to the work of the unions.

”We’ve come here today to support our brothers and sisters in the ILA and their struggle against Ørsted, who are trying to construct a wind farm off the northeast coast of the United States. The members of the ILA have got the right and a jurisdiction over the handling of the cargo,” says Andy Green, board member of Unite the Union and coordinator of the European branch of the IDC.

ShippingWatch has reached out to Ørsted to hear how they respond to the criticism. Ørsted has not responded before the article was published. In September, the company stated in a written response to Stockwaveinsights:

”Ørsted has already created hundreds of jobs for union members in the US. We’ve led the way with our agreement with NABTU – an agreement that helps skilled workers transition to the offshore wind industry.”

(This article is provided by our sister media, ShippingWatch. It was translated using DeepL with additional editing by Kristoffer Grønbæk)