US embassy cable - 05DJIBOUTI987

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DJIBOUTI 000987 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF, AF/E, DRL AND EB; 
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2015 
TAGS: ELAB, ECON, PREL, PGOV, ASEC, SCUL, DJ 
SUBJECT: PORT STRIKES: FOLLOW-UP WITH DPI DIRECTOR 
 
REF: DJIBOUTI 965 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Erinn C. Stott 
 
1. (C) Summary: Ambassador, DCM and Pol/Econ met with Dubai 
Ports International (DPI) General Manager, David Hawker, at 
Ambassador's request 2 October to discuss the recent problems 
with strikes at the Port. Hawker offered clarification for 
many points of misinformation that had been circulating 
around town, including the reasons for the dismissal of 36 
union workers. Hawker stated the first strike was 
deliberately scheduled for President Guelleh's absence to 
attend the U.N. General Assembly and coincided with absences 
of himself and several other key Ministers. He said once the 
Ministers of Transport, Labor, and the President returned it 
was discovered that the strike did not adhere to several 
requirements in Djibouti's labor code and therefore was 
technically an illegal strike. Hawker said this was the 
reason for the dismissal of 11 strike leaders, in addition to 
disturbing the peace, following the strike of September 14th. 
The 11 strike leaders that were arrested were charged with 
"incitement to rebellion." The cases of the strike leaders 
were forwarded to the National Prosecutor and were heard by 
the court on October 2nd, where they were found not guilty 
and released from custody.  The 167 strikers  arrested during 
the September 24th were held at the Nagad Detention center 
for 48 hours and then released. Meanwhile, DPI announced 9/28 
that it had merged with DPI Terminals to create a single new 
global port operator called DP World. End Summary. 
 
2. (C) David Hawker, General Manager of DPI, discussed the 
port strikes with Ambassador, DCM and Pol/Econ Officer 
October 2nd to clarify some of the misinformation circulating 
around town. Hawker explained the strike had been originally 
planned for September 14th, the day he was to return from 
vacation. At the time of the strike planning, none of the 
Ministers involved in strikes and labor disputes were present 
in country. President Guelleh was also absent attending the 
U.N. General Assembly. The Prime Minister was called in to 
negotiate, a week long mediation was set and everyone 
returned to work. After the return of the Ministers involved 
in strikes and labor disputes, it became apparent that the 
Port Workers' Union (UTP) had not followed all of the 
Djiboutian Labor Code regulations for holding a strike, 
including the requirement of strike pre-notification. This 
made the strike technically illegal. It was for this reason, 
Hawker said, that the 11 ringleaders were dismissed from 
their positions at the port. 
 
3. (C) Later on the 14th, the 11 strike leaders returned to 
the Port and physically blocked the entrance of buses 
bringing night-shift workers. This created a large public 
disturbance, and the Director of National Security, Hassan 
Said, Director of the Port and Free Zone Authority, 
Abdourahman Boreh, and the Police came out to control the 
scene. A very heated discussion ensued, according to Hawker. 
The strikers did persuade 138 people to stop work. After the 
situation got very heated, Boreh asked Hawker to remove all 
expatriates at the port because the Police were going to 
round-up the strikers. One hundred sixty seven persons were 
subsequently arrested and taken to Nagad Detention Center, 
where they stayed for two nights. All of the persons arrested 
refused to give their names to the Police. Hawker mentioned 
that his office was able to determine who was at Nagad by 
waiting until the next shift and seeing who was absent. 
 
4. (C) The following morning, September 15, the decision was 
made at the Port to terminate those among the strikers with 
extremely poor work records - excessive absenteeism etc. This 
resulted in an additional 25 dismissals. Hawker said for 
these 25 people, the illegal strike and public disturbance 
was a last straw since they already had accumulated enough 
violations to warrant termination. He added that all of these 
individuals are in process of receiving their severance 
package, as required by Djiboutian law. Hawker said after the 
strike, he, Abdourahman Boreh, and Houssein Kassim, the 
Port's Human Resources Director, explained on Radio 
Television Djibouti (RTD) that the strike had been illegal 
and the persons dismissed were dismissed under to Djiboutian 
law. The crew from RTD then asked to interview port workers 
about the strike. Their interviews, according to Hawker, 
showed the majority of the Port workers were not in favor of 
the strike. Hawker said the conclusion had been drawn that 
the strike was not related to Port activities at all, but was 
a political statement by the opposition timed for when 
President Guelleh would be out of town. He added that it was 
a confirmed fact that the 11 strike leaders were members of 
the opposition. 
 
5. (C) Hawker added that DPI has regular meetings with the 
trade unions with their own legal representatives in 
attendance to decipher Djibouti's labor code. He said during 
these meetings union representatives have preferred to 
continue pulling out obsolete laws, repeatedly sticking to 
one item, and that the meetings never got anywhere. A meeting 
was finally arranged to discuss the 12 major points raised in 
previous meetings. The two sides, management and labor, went 
point-by-point through the list discussing each one. DPI 
agreed to eight in full and two with modifications. Two other 
points were refused outright. These two points were the only 
demands made during the strikes. 
 
6. (C) One of the two points that DPI refused to accept was 
worker entitlement to a "prime de panier" (food stipend) 
under certain circumstances. At issue is language in the 
Djiboutian labor code which states "If service is longer than 
8 continuous hours, the worker should get 'prime de panier.'" 
Hawker said that on this point, DPI agreed that certain 
classifications of workers, by nature of their work, needed 
to work shifts of 10 or 12 hours. These include tug boat 
crews and some dock crews. Hawker said the crews that work 10 
or 12 hours shifts are already receiving overtime and a food 
stipend and have not complained about the work arrangements. 
The UTP, Hawker said, wanted this clause to apply to the 
Security crews as well. DPI refused because the security 
crews only work 8-hour shifts. 
 
7. (C) The second of the two points was language in the labor 
code that stated an employer could not force anyone to work 
longer than 8 hours per day. Hawker commented that the 
international standard for port shifts is 12 hours on, 12 
hours off. The Port of Djibouti agreed to having 10 hours on, 
14 hours off to keep changes of tug crews and dock crews to a 
minimum - increasing the efficiency and safety of the port. 
If DPI agreed to the unions demand to institute 8-hour shifts 
across the board, it would have to hire more people and 
change shifts three times a day, reducing the cost 
effectiveness of the port and slowing the average time to 
dock a ship. Hawker commented that DPI had to hire an 
additional tug to cover Doraleh Port. This tug and its crew 
was hired from Dubai and costs 50 percent less than a tug 
with a Djiboutian crew. He added that the tug crews are happy 
with the arrangements as they stand and are getting their 
overtime and food stipends. 
 
8. (C) Hawker said he believed the demands from the union for 
8-hour shifts were only a ploy to create more jobs and to 
make sure no particular section got paid more than another. 
He also added that all changes DPI has implemented since it 
took over management of the Port have been done with the full 
and prior knowledge of both President Guelleh and Port and 
Free Zone Authority Director, Abdourahman Boreh. Any major 
changes he has proposed have been first cleared by Guelleh 
and Boreh before implementation to avoid anything that might 
appear political. Hawker commented that President Guelleh has 
made the decision that the tradition of using the Port as a 
place where anyone well-connected and in need of a job can be 
put on the payroll must end and the Port should be run 
efficiently like any other business. 
 
9. (C) Hawker said Djibouti Port is currently operating 
without a union, because all of its leaders were dismissed in 
the strikes. He said in Dubai, which prohibits all unions, 
DPI runs without unions and manages to keep workers happy. He 
added, however, that without a union management has to stay 
more attuned to its employees needs, but this can be done 
efficiently. 
 
10. (C) Hawker also explained some of the other changes DPI 
has implemented. He told Ambassador that prior to DPI's take 
over, absenteeism and accidents were through the roof. With 
new policies like dismissal after seven unexcused absences 
within a certain time period, and complete prohibition of 
khat chewing on port grounds, has greatly decreased 
absenteeism and accidents. Other methods used to resolve 
preventable accidents have included the requirement and 
conduct of medical exams for employees. Hawker said it was 
discovered that a large portion of port workers were diabetic 
and were not aware of it. This resulted in accidents when 
diabetics would black out driving fork lifts and other heavy 
machinery and either fall out of the vehicle or crash into 
something. DPI has made sure that diabetics on the payroll 
receive proper medication. DPI is also providing glasses to 
those workers with poor eyesight, another condition that can 
cause accidents if not corrected. (Note: In a separate 
meeting with DCM, Hawker noted that offering eye exams made 
port authorities aware that a significant percentage of port 
workers, including supervisors, are illiterate. This has 
resulted in some reassignment of personnel. End Note.) Hawker 
said the Port will open a clinic on its grounds as soon as 
the Organization de Protection Sociale (Social Security 
Service) gives the Port a physician. He added the Port would 
like to employ an expat physician with extensive health and 
safety experience at the clinic to double as both physician 
and Health and Safety inspector. Hawker hopes that this will 
reduce fake sick days. 
 
11. (U) Hawker took advantage of the meeting with Embassy to 
brief on the merger of Dubai Ports Authority and DPI 
Terminals. He said the single new global port operator 
created by the merger, DP-World, will lead to more efficient 
internal management out of Dubai and the company's greater 
commercial viability. He said the merger creates one of the 
largest port operators in the world but is not expected to 
impact in a significant way general operations of ports in 
Djibouti. 
RAGSDALE