Valencia stevedores accused of being overpaid

Currently, the average salary is around €90,000 gross, but can rise to as much as €140,000. This compares to a judge’s average national salary of €55,000 and around €57,000 for a clinician.

Labour costs now account for around 60% of total handling costs, with a Valencia stevedore taking home three times more than a counterpart in Sines (Portugal) and twice as much as those in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro, the association claims.

The position on salaries came to light following the breakdown of negotiations aimed at establishing a new collective bargaining agreement between the port and the stevedores.

According to the Association: “For the port of Valencia to maintain its competitiveness and avoid the 20% decrease in traffic that has occurred in recent months, it is necessary to reduce all those positions that don’t really add value to operations and needlessly increase costs to customers.”

Meanwhile, shipping line MSC is seeking to achieve a reduction in €18m per year in costs whenever its vessels call at Valencia.