Dockers union wins collective bargaining battle over breaks – work

The rules in the collective agreement of dockers are quite clear: “The length and location of the rest stops must be determined in advance.”

But several times in 2020, port operator APM Terminals has neglected to tell employees when today’s outage will be. A clear breach of the collective agreement recognized by the company itself.

Therefore, APM Terminals, after negotiations, compensated the port workers who did not receive the information, and paid compensation for transportation for breach of the collective agreement.

Here the story would have ended – if not for the situation in the port of Gothenburg much more complicated. There are two collective agreements here.

After a long period of notable disagreements in the port of Gothenburg, the Swedish Ports Employers’ Organization and the Port Workers’ Union signed a collective agreement in 2019. At the same time, they already had, for many years, an agreement with transport.

two collective agreements

Since then, APM Terminals has had two group agreements, one with transportation and a new one with the port workers union, of which most port workers are members.

The dispute now settled in AD relates to whether APM Terminals should also pay compensation to the dockers’ union for breaching the collective agreement. The two conventions have exactly the same wording regarding advance information about breaks.

The company believes that this is the first agreement to be signed, i.e. those with the carrier.

On the other hand, the Dockers Union believes that the fact that the agreements are exactly the same in substance means that the company is bound by both agreements, as they can be applied at the same time.

M: You shouldn’t act differently

The Labor Court is now ruling that the port workers union deserves compensation. The agreements are so coordinated that it does not mean that the employer has to act in different ways towards different unions when it comes to breaks. So they cannot be considered contenders, according to the court.

This meant that the port company was obligated to inform the members of the two unions in advance of breaks.

Since they also violated this obligation towards the members of the dockers’ union, they must pay SEK 50,000 as compensation for the breach of collective agreements.

– The Labor Court has stated that the collective agreement cannot be tampered with, and both agreements must be followed in these cases when there is no conflict between them. It is of course important that there will be financial consequences for employers trying to terminate a collective agreement they have signed, Martin Berg, president of the dock workers union, said in a press release.