Irish hauliers threaten to strike at Dublin port
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• Meetings were being held this week to prevent a haulage strike in Dublin port today (16 December). Hauliers claim shipping companies are not listening to them as container handling delays in the port cause long queues and lost time, which is not being paid for.
The problems are being blamed on shippers who open their depots at different times and have no common paperwork system for the collection and return of containers.
The dispute is backed by the Irish Road Haulage Association which headed off a mass strike by hauliers last weekend. "We are guiding them in their negotiations," says IRHA National Secretary Ciaran Dowling, but he warns that some shippers are dragging their heels over
discussions. "Mid-November was set as a date for a stoppage and postponed," he adds. "One of the companies even said they could not meet hauliers until after Christmas."
Ruling out a blockade, Dowling says: We are suggesting that hauliers say to their customers that they are not happy with conditions and to s4 they through the port every year, cannot work until it is resolved." representing 60% of Ireland's Two million CVs pass international trade.