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Northern Europe action to secure decent conditions for seafarers
4 June 2007
The ITF and its affiliated unions will today launch a week-long probe into working conditions on board vessels operating across northern Europe.
During the ITF week of action, which runs until 8 June, ITF inspectors, dockers and union volunteers will investigate ships to establish and enforce decent conditions on board. The inspections will target both flag of convenience vessels and those flying a national flag.
The operation will include checking conditions, recovering owed wages, and seeking to establish ITF agreements to protect vulnerable workers. There will be a particular focus on vessels run by Compañía Suramericana de Vapores (CSAV) and Leonhardt and Blumberg (L&B) as well as on ferries and ro-ros operating in the Irish Sea.
Participating countries are: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, the UK, and Norway.
Steve Cotton, ITF Maritime Coordinator, commented: “This is a new kind of week of action. It’s an intensive, week-long offensive that also adds three distinct elements into the objectives of securing labour rights and quality shipping. These include paying attention to the Irish Sea, where recent cases have shown that a rush to the bottom, led by a few operators, could seriously harm their more socially responsible competitors. We will be looking at CSAV, with whom we have an ongoing dialogue, as part of our attempts to persuade them of the benefits of co-operation. We will also be engaging L&B, whose Chief Executive Officer, Frank Leonhardt, had long boasted that he would take on the ITF and never sign an agreement; since then an ITF campaign has rather changed his mind on that, and he’s signed 20.”
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