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Campaign set to challenge discrimination and improve working conditions on European vessels
8 November 2006
The ITF and its European arm, the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) have launched a major campaign to tackle the poor working conditions and discrimination facing seafarers on European vessels.
The campaign was announced yesterday at this week's European ferry conference in Brussels, Belgium, attended by, among others, trade unionists from 17 European countries, employers, officials from the European Commission and members of the European Parliament. They gathered to address the uncertain future of the EU ferry sector.
Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, Joel Decaillon, a number of MEPs and other policy-makers expressed their full support for the initiative.
Highlighting the campaign’s key focus, delegates discussed the discriminatory wages and conditions on some EU-flagged vessels, the potential loss of the EU maritime skills base and how decent working conditions can only be guaranteed if seafarers are included in much of the social regulations that protect shore-based workers.
“Having alerted policy-makers on many occasions about the impact of casualisation on European seafarers’ working conditions, trade unions could lose patience. If the soft approach does not succeed, we will consider taking a stronger approach," said Eduardo Chagas, ETF General Secretary. "We must remove the concept that seafarers are third-class citizens.”
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