Dockworkers in 10 countries rally for locked-out IKEA Teamsters

Dockworkers in Norway support locked-out IKEA Teamsters

Dockworkers at 10 ports around the world are rallying today to support IKEA Teamsters who've been locked out of their jobs for seven months by IKEA in Richmond, Canada.

According to the Teamsters press statement,

The dock workers, members of 11 unions that belong to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), carried banners that read “Dockers Solidarity with IKEA Workers/ITF.” 

Dock workers held rallies at ports in Sweden, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Canada. To view photos from the rallies, visit www.IKEAHurtsFamilies.com. 

Dockworkers in Belgium support locked-out
IKEA Teamsters

“IKEA’s actions are inexcusable,” said ITF representative Peter Lahay. “IKEA has put its workers on the street for seven months purely for retaliation. These workers exercised their legal right to vote down IKEA’s demands for a discriminatory wage system and cuts to family health care benefits. Now, IKEA is holding the workers hostage while they stand outside in the winter, at Christmas time.”

IKEA's abuse of its Teamster workers and their families is receiving global press attention. An international delegation traveled to Richmond to assess the situation and has reported its findings in Sweden. The company, which purports to be family friendly, cannot be happy with the attention.

The Tyee in Canada recently reported, for example,

"IKEA management at their store in Richmond has adopted a radical anti-worker

agenda that opposes unionization campaigns and encourages union decertification." 

Solidarity from dockworkers in Japan 

That's how a union-sponsored, European-based fact-finding commission describes the lengthy, ongoing dispute between IKEA management and unionized workers at the iconic Swedish furniture retailer's Richmond, B.C. location. 

The commission, which held B.C. hearings on the dispute in early November, issued its scathing final report this week, titled "How IKEA Is Hurting Families."

Let's hope our brothers and sisters can go back to work soon. Solidarity!

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