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Negotiations in the Ivory Coast have meant that the strike that was taking place by dock workers in the country’s two major ports of Abidjan and San Pedro have been suspended after the government have agreed to negotiate a settlement to the dispute.
From the 17th to 20th December, both of the ports were blocked, with up to 600,000 tonnes of cocoa beans anticipated to be handled at the gateways by mid-January. Vessels had been trapped at the berths due to the strike action as they were already at the berths unloading cargo.
However, Reuters reports that workers and their representative, the union FNADCI, have agreed to suspend industrial action in favour of a negotiated settlement to pay claims and demands for better working conditions.
Pierre Guigrehi a FNADCI official said: “We have resumed work. We want to give the negotiations a chance to succeed so we have suspended the strike for the moment.”
One of the dockers' demands was for the government to respect a 2019 agreement to pay them three euros ($3.40) per hour, in line with international standards.
The union has said that the agreement made in 2019 to increase wages from €1/hour to €3/hour to bring Ivory Coast dockers into line with international standards has not been honoured.
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