ZENKOKU-KOWAN WINS FIGHT TO PROTECT WORKING CONDITIONS IN AKITA PORT:  The National Council of Dockworkers’ Unions of Japan has won a victory in its campaign to protect job security and working conditions in the face of deregulation in the Japanese port industry.  As a result of deregulation, any company can enter the stevedoring business.  However, unions have so far prevented newcomers who have tried to use non-union workforces.  A recent attempt by Noshiro Transport in Akita port was met with strong resistance by Zenkoku-Kowan which organised a series of protests.  The company finally gave in and withdrew its application to enter the stevedoring business.

REGIONAL SOLIDARITY HELPS WIN PAY PARITY FOR NZ DISTRIBUTION WORKERS: At the end of September, distribution workers in New Zealand, who were locked out by their employer won their fight for pay parity, after public and union backing forced a management rethink.  Members of the National Distribution Union (NDU) and of the New Zealand Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union ratified the terms of a three-year settlement with supermarket operator Progressive Enterprises. During the dispute, ITF affiliates across New Zealand and Australia (the parent company, Woolworths, is Australian) organised solidarity action and made donations.  These included the Maritime Union of New Zealand, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, Maritime Union of Australia, and the Rail Tram and Bus Union and Transport Workers’ Union. 

SEAFARERS VICTORIOUS FOLLOWING SUPPORT FROM ILWU: In September, 18 Filipino seafarers on board Panamanian-flagged M/V Endless began four days of strike action in the port of Long Beach, California, in protest over outstanding wages. Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the maritime community in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach supported their protest. ILWU members working in Long Beach also honoured the picket line by refusing to handle the bulk carrier’s cargo.  The vessel’s Greek owner was in breach of the terms and conditions of an ITF collective agreement covering the seafarers and following fraught negotiations, the owner agreed to pay a total of US$227,000 to the crew and repatriate them, promising that they would not be blacklisted.  The case demonstrates once again that dockers’ solidarity is at the heart of the ITF’s flag of convenience campaign and dockers’ support makes all the difference in helping seafarers to win the money that is rightfully theirs.

2.  HEALTH AND SAFETY

WRONG BOLTS ON BAYPORT CRANES: According to a Houston Chronicle article in September, inspectors checking the construction of the Port of Houston’s new Bayport container terminal discovered 1,440 bolts of the wrong kind on each of the four huge container cranes.  Nearly 6,000 bolts that had fallen below specifications were therefore being replaced.  The Port Executive Director pointed out that had the problem bolts gone undetected, they could have posed a safety problem once the terminal began operating.  The Chinese company that built the cranes, the Shanghai Zenhua Port Machinery Co. is replacing the bolts at no extra cost. 

SHIPPERS ARE FLOUTING DANGEROUS CARGO RULES: International surveys have revealed that shippers are not complying with dangerous cargo rules for seaborne containers. As many as one out of every three boxes could be violating these regulations, with cargo being mis-described either deliberately or accidentally.  In a survey in which 25,000 containers were opened to check, 32% were found to breach rules on hazardous cargoes to the extent that their movements were halted. The claim was made by James McNamara, President of the National Cargo Bureau in the US and a delegate to the International Maritime Organisation’s dangerous goods sub-committee in September.  He said that too few people were speaking about these problems even though seafarers were losing their lives as a result of misdeclared cargoes.  Container safety is also clearly an issue of concern for dockers. 

3.  INDUSTRY TRENDS

PORT SECURITY: The Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006  (SAFE Port Act) became law in the USA in October.  In addition to providing port security grants, the bill also mandates accelerated implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential card for workers at the country’s ports and the hiring of additional customs inspectors. It also provides for installation of radiation detectors in the country’s 22 largest ports by the end of 2007 and implementation of a pilot project to move toward non-intrusive inspection of all US-bound containers.  The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are apparently due to receive more scanners including mobile radiation detectors to check containers for nuclear materials as trucks leave the harbour.  However, critics argue that the containers should be screened when they arrive at the terminals not when they leave.  The need to screen containers on arrival has consistently been highlighted by unions, not just in the US, but elsewhere.

In Canada, the ITF-affiliated Syndicat des débardeurs representing dockers in the Port of Montreal sent open letters to American and European port and shipping partners in October drawing attention to the fact that hundreds of empty containers were entering the Port of Montreal everyday without inspection, posing a significant threat to the port and anyone doing business with it.  This was the consequence of a decision by Montreal Gateway to eliminate, as a cost-saving exercise, the inspection of empty containers at the entrance gate to the terminal along with the security-cleared staff positions that performed this function.  The union is concerned about the detrimental effect this move will have on the reputation of the port, and on relationships with US and European partners. It appears that either governments are still failing to grasp the simple fact that dockers play a crucial role in securing ports from terrorist threats, or the neo-liberal imperative to cut-costs and weaken unions remains a higher priority on their agendas than security. 

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