Contract negotiations for up to 11,000 port workers at Germany’s main seaports have broken down for a fourth time, with union ver.di launching a formal strike ballot that runs until the evening of October 1, 2026. A representative group of members polled in mid-September rejected the latest proposal from the ZDS, the Central Association of German Seaport Operators, which had offered a 3.4 percent wage increase over 12 months, retroactive to August 1, along with a container-handling allowance of 416 euros and 200 euros in additional holiday pay. The union had originally demanded an 8.2 percent hourly wage increase in a one-year contract when talks began in late July.
The dispute covers roughly 11,000 employees at tariff-bound port companies across Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven, Emden and Brake. If at least 75 percent of participating members vote to reject the employers’ offer and back indefinite industrial action, ver.di’s Federal Collective Bargaining Commission will decide whether to declare negotiations failed and initiate open-ended strikes, a significant escalation from the warning strikes already staged, including a 48-hour stoppage in early September that disrupted major container facilities such as HHLA’s Altenwerder, Burchardkai and Tollerort terminals in Hamburg as well as Eurogate’s operations.
Source: Container News — https://container-news.com/german-port-workers-reject-wage-offer-as-indefinite-strike-vote-begins/
Tags: Germany, Port of Hamburg, Labor Dispute, ver.di
