PIRAEUS — Dockworkers went on strike on Friday across Europe and beyond, disrupting shipping and ferry services in protest at the use of ports for arms shipments and at seafarers killed in wars from the Gulf to the Black Sea, according to Reuters. The action covered 113 ports in 22 countries.
The strike was originally called in Italy, France, Greece, Spain’s Basque Country, Turkey and Morocco, and it was backed by more than 25 unions. On Friday, major hubs taking part included Piraeus in Greece, Valencia and Algeciras in Spain, Le Havre in France, Genoa in Italy, Tangier Med in Morocco and Nhava Sheva in India.
Workers are also demanding pay rises and better working conditions. They want doctors on board vessels that cross war zones, a demand unions link directly to the deaths and injuries suffered by crews at sea in recent months.
Union figures cited in the protest point to a sharp rise in attacks. Unions said there were 28 attacks on vessels in the Gulf in the first 21 days of October, a record since the Iran war began. In the Black Sea, they counted 570 confirmed attacks so far this year, with 40 seafarers dead and hundreds wounded. Overall, seafarer casualties were put in the hundreds.
In Piraeus, Greece’s main port, cargo work was disrupted and ferries to the Greek islands were suspended. About 3,000 dockworkers and seafarers joined the action there, making it one of the most visible stops in the strike.
The protest also reached India. The Water Transport Workers’ Federation of India said about 15 Indian seafarers had died as a result of the Iran war, and that many others were stranded.
A group called ‘No Harbour for Genocide’ said the protest would halt some 52,000 containers and snarl cargo worth $2.8 billion. Reuters said it could not independently verify that claim, and it is reported here as the group’s own figure.
Friday’s strike builds on an earlier joint position taken by port unions. In May 2026, unions from more than 35 European countries published the Istanbul Declaration, which demanded that ports not be used to transport weapons to war zones.
For the unions, the two sets of demands are linked. The ports taking part are used for regular cargo and passenger travel, as the suspended ferries from Piraeus showed, as well as for the arms shipments the workers are protesting against. That is why a one-day action across so many hubs, from Europe to Morocco and India, was meant to be felt far beyond a single port or a single country.
The walkout brought together two sets of demands that unions say are linked: a refusal to handle the movement of weapons through civilian ports, and basic protection for the seafarers whose ships cross the waters where those wars are being fought. With ports affected across 22 countries in a single day, the action disrupted cargo and passenger travel well beyond any one country, while talks on pay, conditions and safety remain unresolved. Read the original report at Reuters.
