Dockworkers Global Strike to Halt Militarization of Ports

TRIESTE, Italy (10-30) – Dockworkers on this International Day of Action objecting to the “militarization” of European and Mediterranean ports today held strikes across the region bringing cargo handling to a halt at 111 ports. Striking workers, activists along with several hundred students shut down the Port of Trieste for more than an hour while rallying on numerous issues. Across Europe 40 other port blockades halted operations as workers protested in France, Greece, the Basque Country, Turkey, and Morocco in North Africa under the rubric “Ports for Peace – Jobs with Dignity.”

The port blockades, described as one of the largest coordinated international strikes in history is intended to send the message that workers refuse to participate in warfare and genocide by disrupting the military logistics networks and to end the use of commercial ports as “instruments of the military machine.” In compliance with the May 2026 Istanbul Declaration published by unions at over 35 European ports, they are demanding “that port facilities not be used to transport weapons destined for war zones nor be transformed into military bases serving NATO, the United States, or the European Union” with a special focus on “the genocide against the Palestinian people and the US-Israeli war of aggression in the Middle East and against Iran.”

In Italy, the grassroots 100,000-member strong Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) along with four other unions organized the general strike and called for all sectors of the country to participate in support of their blocking military shipments to Israel for its genocide in Gaza.

The unions have declared bluntly that “We do not load death. We do not transport bullets, bombs and missiles so children can be killed. Workers will not pay for the war economy, inflation, armaments and the profits of the monopolies.” They have also expressed “Full solidarity with the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela and Sudan.”

Other issues to be resolved revolve around worker safety, cargo transparency, decent wages, reduced working hours, fair pension provisions and a stop to the implementation of the “highly automated port.” This concept is being promoted by internation shipping and container transport companies, which would require fewer union workers in favor of “semi-automated crane systems, driverless transport vehicles and automated container storage planning to increase efficiency and simplify processes.”

The morning blockade at the Port of Trieste saw operations come to a halt as 5,000 people flooded into the main entry point of the normally busy port as a heavy police presence stood nearby. Before departing on a march across the city, the crowd heard from several speakers on a variety of issues, including “housing expenses and soaring rents - increases in energy costs and household utility bills,” along with the inflationary impact of escalating fuel prices. All issues which resonate with working-class people from across Europe and around the world.

Other topics broached by speakers were the continual erosion of public worker’s salaries due to high inflation and increased energy costs and the government’s preference, in claiming that there are no available funds, while spending public funds on “armaments rather than essential services.” Additionally, there were calls for an end to fossil fuels and in ending military propaganda in school curriculum.

To illustrate the issue of misplaced spending the Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI) handed out a broadsheet showing the cost of various military armament and how many new schools and hospitals could be constructed instead, for the equivalent of the billions of Euros being spent by the government. As an example, one Eurofighter jet aircraft could fully fund 25 schools and two hospitals. An obscene misuse of public funds that was reflected in numerous handmade signs carried by protesters.

After rallying, the crowd marched across the city carrying signs along with Palestinian and union flags while chanting loudly and clapping to, “Siamo tutti antifascisti” (we are all anti-fascists) and in calling for an end to the Genocide in Gaza.

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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