Rotterdam port lashers to suspend strike from Monday

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Hundreds of striking lashers in the port of Rotterdam will suspend their walkout for at least five days from Monday morning, as union leaders and employers try to reach agreement on a new wage deal, a court said.

The strike by the workers, whose job involves securing cargo on container ships, started on Wednesday and has caused a backlog of container ships at Europe's largest port.

Companies operating in the port asked a court on Saturday to halt the strike, which has been joined by all of the approximately 700 lashers active in the port, meaning no container ship has been able to load or offload since it began.

During the court hearing, the FNV union and the lashing companies agreed to start a new round of talks on Sunday morning, with the strike to be suspended from 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Monday until the same time on Friday.

The court said late on Saturday the strike could be resumed if no agreement was reached by then. The companies would then be allowed to ask for a court ruling on the strike.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer;Editing by Helen Popper)