With Red Sea crisis continuing to disrupt global supply chain, a strike planned by 18,000 employees at the 12 major ports from August 28 at could have a cascading impact on the trade. It is being planned at a crucial time when products like leather and apparels are being despatched to global markets for Christmas and New Year sale. Any delay in despatch could hurt exporters badly and buyers may not give orders next year , said an official of a leading apparel company. Every day ₹125 crore would be lost due to the strike, which is against the inordinate delay in concluding the Bipartite Wage Negotiations and signing the settlement. The existing Settlement, signed on August 30, 2018 expired on December 31, 2021. The new settlement should have taken effect from January 1, 2022, said T. Narendra Rao, General Secretary, Water Transport Workers’ Federation of India (CITU), one of the five associations that has given the strike call.
