ROTTERDAM PORT UNION AND EMPLOYERS TO MEET
Dutch port and transport union, FNV,
agreed to an employers' request to reconvene abandoned peace
talks tonight to try to end strikes that have disrupted
Rotterdam's general cargo sector for the past six weeks, a
union spokesman said.
    Talks broke down Thursday when the union walked out after
employers tabled their final offer to end the strikes which
started January 19 in protest at planned redundancies of 800
from the sector's 4,000 workforce, starting with 350 this year.
    The employers' invitation to restart the talks comes on the
day a deadline set by Minister of Social Affairs Louw de Graaf
for a resolution of the dispute expires.
    De Graaf said if the dispute had not ended by today he
would withdraw the 10 mln guilder annual labour subsidy to the
sector.
    No comment was immediately available from the employers'
organization.
 Reuter
