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.