Labor Court News

Striking workers shut down Israel's two main ports, leaving dozens of cargo ships stranded on Thursday in protest against the creation of competing foreign-run docks.At least 17 ships were waiting to unload at Ashdod port, with another 14 lined up to come in.

'Garnishment' is the legal term relating to the collection of a monetary judgement on behalf of a claimant from a defendant. In the Philippines, this routinely occurs before the case has concluded and is central to the UK P&I Club Members' many concerns relating to crew claims in this jurisdiction. The International Group Personal Injury Sub-Committee's - Philippine Working Group (on which the UK P&I Club's Tony Nicholson sits), has been monitoring the prejudice caused to owners & employers for a number of years, in addition to seeking to educate all interested stakeholders about the need for an equitable solution, to this continuing problem.

A bomb exploded on Tuesday at the main power station of Brazil's top port of Santos but the port suffered no interruption in power, said the port authority Codesp. "The main power station collects energy from the regional grid and powers nearly all the port's operations. Energy supply was uninterrupted and police are investigating the nature of the bomb," said a Codesp Port Authority official. Santos, Latin America's largest port, has been in the midst of a dockworkers' strike since last Tuesday. A local labor court declared the strike an act of civil disobedience on Friday and ordered the workers back on the job. A high-tension power line tower that brings electricity to ship terminals at Santos was sabotaged early Monday morning, at which time a portion of the port shut down until 6 p.m.

According to an AP report, Irish Ferries PLC rejected an Irish Labor Court recommendation and plans to continue with widely criticized plans to replace more than 500 employees with cheaper workers from Eastern Europe. The struggling operator of car ferries between Ireland, Britain and France did not accept the court's nonbinding ruling, which called on Irish Ferries to honor its 2004 wage-pact agreement with the two labor unions involved. According to the report, Irish Ferries claims to have faced unprecedented adverse trading conditions driven by rising fuel costs and a decline in car-based tourism, and sees its cost-reduction program as the only course of action.

According to an Irish Independent report, the Labor Court will hold hearings into the dispute over Irish Ferries' plans to replace its seafaring staff with cheaper labor from eastern Europe. Talks between company management and the main union SIPTU broke down last month and the row is now threatening the future of social partnership. Irish Ferries is allowed to replace its workers with cheaper crews from abroad because Irish labor laws do not apply on the seas. It is planning to pay its new crews less than the minimum wage and give them less favorable working conditions than those currently in existence, according to the report. The company claims the move is necessary to protect its profitability in the face of increased competition. Source: The Irish Independent