Source: SeafoodSource
Wednesday’s strike by 10 million disgruntled workers in Spain grounded fishing and selling activity in the port of Vigo and brought the city’s airport to a near standstill.
Protesters in Spain and across Europe, including Belgium, Italy and Greece, took to the streets to demonstrate against new austerity measures proposed by the European Commission.
In Vigo, heavy picketing by unions near the port and minimal services at Vigo Peinador Airport halted the movement of seafood, vehicles and people involved in Vigo’s fish auctions.
Defending the strike, dockworkers said: “Businesses and the self-employed are very justified, and if, for whatever reason, we lose one month’s pay, we prefer to stay at home. And, anyway, the fish will wait in the sea.â€
In the hours preceding the strike, a couple of inshore boats were ready to offload their catch but were held up, and the product was not sent to auction but stored in refrigerators.
Typically, Vigo auctions between 130 and 150 metric tons of seafood daily, unloaded from three or four vessels from Gran Sol and around a dozen coastal boats, according to port officials.
According to the Vigo Port Authority, dockworkers did not respect the minimum services required for stevedoring nor did they register any unloading taking place yesterday. It’s estimated that 47 percent of port staff supported the strike.