DUTCH PORT UNION CALLS OFF GENERAL CARGO STRIKES

  Dutch port and transport union, FNV,
  has called off the strikes against planned redundancies that
  have hit Rotterdam port's general cargo sector for the past
  eight weeks, strike leader Paul Rosenmuller told a mass
  meeting.
      The decision followed yesterday's ruling by an Amsterdam
  court preventing the sector's employers continuing with current
  plans for 350 redundancies this year until the court sits again
  on May 7, Rosenmuller told a meeting of the general cargo
  sector's 4,000 workers today.
      The court ruled the employers had made a mistake in the
  complicated legal procedure for obtaining official permission
  for the redundancies, and therefore could not proceed.
      "There is no need to continue the strikes for the moment now
  the immediate pressure of redundancies has been lifted,"
  Rosenmuller said.
      But he added that the strikes, which began on January 19 in
  protest against plans for 800 redundancies by 1990, could
  resume at any time before May 7 if the employers made any moves
  to re-apply for permission for the redundancies.
      SVZ labour relations manager Gerrard Zeebregts said they
  would be meeting their lawyers today with a view to re-applying
  for this permission next week in the hope of gaining approval
  for the redundancies within a month.
  

