***Polar Star’s crew ‘needlessly entangled’
By BILL POWER Business Reporter
LEGAL FUMBLING left 27 crew members and a ship’s captain stranded in Spain under unacceptable conditions aboard the expedition vessel M/V Polar Star, a spokesman for the International Transport Workers Federation said Wednesday.
"The situation with the crew aboard Polar Star in Las Palmas is becoming increasingly and needlessly entangled," national co-ordinator Peter Lahay said in an interview fromVancouver.
Lahay said the crew and the ship would be safe and secure by now had authorities followed procedures prescribed under international maritime law when the ship was seized, instead of rushing ahead with a receivership.
"These laws exist . . . to prevent crews from being abandoned all over the world," he said.
Layhay said the matter will now tumble about unnecessarily in the courts on both sides of the Atlantic.
"There is a vast body of maritime law out there to protect crews in situations just like this. Ships are regularly arrested for one reason or another," he said.
He said the appropriate process when ships are seized is for the secured creditors, in this case TD Bank of Canada (owed about $4.6 million), and Norway’s Sparebank 1 SMN (owed about $750,000), to step forward and cover the lost wages and return the crew to their nations of origin and recover the costs later in a procedure clearly outlined in maritime law.
The problem now is the crew members will have to wait until the case settles for about $300,000 in lost wages when they get home.
It is also a bad situation for the ship, as there is a good chance it will be left without a maintenance crew while the process drags through the courts.
Lahay said lawyers representing the federation and the crew were proceeding with a lien against the ship in Spain, as required under international maritime law, for wages owed the captain and crew after the Nova Scotia Supreme Court placed Karlsen Shipping Ltd., the owner of the ship, in receivership May 18.
Court appointed receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd. reported Wednesday that it is working to repatriate the captain and crew to their countries of origin.
"As the vessel will not be operated by Karlsen Shipping, given the receivership, this is the most appropriate action and the desire of the captain and crew," said David A. Boyd, the trustee in the receivership.
Boyd said representatives of the receiver in Las Palmas met with the captain and crew and were managing their current needs and making travel arrangements. He said options on the future of the vessel were under review.
Karlsen Shipping president Martin Karlsen declined comment.
The expedition-tour company began to founder after Polar Star, its principal asset, suffered hull damage in the Antarctic in January.
Spanish authorities seized the ship when the company could not pay its $1.4-million repair bill.
Capt. Jacek Lisiecki circulated a plea for assistance on behalf of his crew via email last week.
Communications with the captain and crew have been hampered since the vessel is without electricity and without its Internet connection.
According to the union there are 27 crew members aboard Polar Star with Capt. Lisiecki. Eighteen are from the Philippines, eight are from Poland and two are from the United States.
FROM EUROPOLITICS (BELGIUM):
***RAIL PACKAGE RECAST : EURO DEPUTIES CAUTIOUS ON UNBUNDLING
26 May 2011
The European Commission will indeed propose, in 2012, "a new structure" for railway infrastructure managers and transport operators, which "could go as far as complete unbundling," confirmed Enrico Grillo Pasquarelli, director for land transport at DG MOVE. Yet even if the Commission thinks that "this is the simplest way to avoid conflicts of interest," it does not wish to impose such "unbundling" or separation for the moment. Pasquarelli made these remarks to the European Parliament's Committee on Transport (TRAN), on 24 May, which debated a report by Debora Serracchiani (S&D, Italy) on the recast of the Union's railway legislation.
The rapporteur proposes to impose a complete unbundling of the two functions immediately in order to break the close ties that still exist between infrastructure managers and certain incumbent rail transport companies. This would imply a fundamental reorganisation of railways in several European countries (see interview in Europolitics 4206).
The question is what support Serracchiani will find among her colleagues. A number of them prefer to await the verdict of the EU Court of Justice, to which infringement cases against 13 member states have been referred concerning the independence of infrastructure managers. Ramon Tremosa i Balcells, shadow rapporteur for the Liberals, takes that view: "At this stage, the ALDE group does not support total unbundling," he said, mentioning "the absence of a connection between competition and organisational structure". This absence of a causal relationship was mentioned by many, even though MEPs said the opposite in a resolution adopted in June 2010, barely a year ago.
The discussion by MEPs took place against the backdrop of protests by trade unions. Around 1,000 rail workers from 15 European countries - according to figures provided by the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) - had gathered outside of Parliament. Their slogan: No separation - No fragmentation - For integrated rail companies'.
Serracchiani seems to be engaged in an uphill struggle. MEPs do wish to be more ambitious, however, on the independence of national regulators. Acting as the policemen of railway systems, regulators guarantee non-discriminatory access in states. The European Commission intends to strengthen their independence and most MEPs underlined this as the key point for ensuring the proper functioning of rail. The rapporteur goes further, proposing to create a European network of regulators as the first step towards setting up a European body of regulators.
The deadline for tabling amendments is 30 May, after which the report will be examined in committee in June and put to the vote in July. It will go before the plenary in September.
FROM THE AUSTRALIAN:
THE 1997-98 waterfront dispute shook the foundations of Australia's industrial relations system.
At its heart was the desire by Patrick Stevedores, supported by the Howard government, to improve productivity on the nation's wharves by boosting the movement of containers.
Research by the Bureau of Industry Economics showed that Australian wharves shifted fewer than 18 containers an hour compared with 30 an hour in more efficient docks overseas such as Singapore.
Patrick's then chief Chris Corrigan, who throughout the storm maintained the air of an implacable accountant, led the fight to get rid of established work practices that were preventing the industry from becoming profitable, competitive and efficient.
His opponent, Maritime Union of Australia secretary John Coombs, fighting to retain a comfortable workplace for his members, was as passionate as Corrigan was dispassionate.
The atmosphere between the two men when they met for a televised debate on the dispute was described by its moderator as venomous.
In April 1998, Patrick sacked its workforce of about 2000 and locked the wharfies out of the docks. Security guards with dogs moved in to guard the wharves and keep out MUA members, who carried union cards enabling them to work in what was effectively a closed shop. The dispute became a test of the Howard government's new Workplace Relations Act.
Point man for the government was Peter Reith, who was privvy to Patrick's tactic of bringing in non-union labour to break the strike.
In late 1997, Corrigan hired former army personnel and arranged for them to be trained in Dubai, a plan that came unstuck when Coombs enlisted the help of the International Transport Federation.
But the National Farmers Federation helped train non-MUA workers, including some New Zealanders, to move containers on Melbourne's Webb dock.
Picket lines were set at the gates of Patrick's wharves and Coombs accused the government and Corrigan of trying to engineer the MUA into industrial action so that it could be taken to the Federal Court.
Scuffles broke out on the picket line in Melbourne, Corrigan's Sydney home was vandalised and the MUA went to the courts. But it was a losing battle for the MUA and Coombs was forced to negotiate with Patrick to ensure workers' entitlements were preserved.
In the wash-up, many wharfies took redundancy, Patrick Stevedores became a profitable company whose shares rose 800 per cent during the next two years and the Howard government claimed vindication for its industrial reform measures. Corrigan remained at Patrick until it was taken over in 2006. Coombs retired in late 2000.
FROM THE SINGAPORE BUSINESS TIMES:
Qantas pilots to vote on going on strike
(SYDNEY) International pilots with Australia's Qantas yesterday prepared to vote on whether to strike, in what would be the first industrial action by the carrier's long-haul crew in 45 years.
The pilots' union has asked the government's workplace relations tribunal, Fair Work Australia, for permission to hold a ballot of its members on taking action after failing to agree on pay and conditions with the airline.
'To say that we have not taken this action lightly would be a massive understatement; Qantas pilots have not taken industrial action since 1966,' said Australian and International Pilots Association president Barry Jackson.
He said that pilots were concerned about the future of the airline and their own job security, adding that the union was against any move by Qantas to send work offshore as it attempts to revive its non- performing international business.
'Simply put, we believe that when someone purchases a Qantas ticket on a Qantas flight, they are entitled to a Qantas pilot in the cockpit,' he said in a statement. 'Whilst our international competition flourishes, Qantas has been left to wither on the vine while management eyes low-cost expansion in Asia.
'Qantas is now left with an ageing fleet, a limited route network and costs which have been cut to the point where it is affecting the product delivered.'
A Qantas spokesman said that the carrier was disappointed at the move, which could see a ballot of about 1,700 long-haul pilots on what kind of industrial action should be taken. Mr Jackson said that this could include two-day stoppages.
The airline spokesman said: 'We are extremely disappointed that the pilots' union are prepared to go on strike causing significant disruptions to our customers rather than engaging in sensible and reasonable negotiations.'
Pilots have been negotiating new wages and conditions for more than eight months, and say that the issue of job security is core to their claims.
National carrier Qantas has admitted that its international business is loss making and in need of a shake-up, but has refused to confirm that it will build a new service out of Asia.
The airline is battling rising fuel costs, greater regional competition and a soaring Australian currency that is hurting holiday travel to long-haul destinations such as Australia.
The pilot's complaints follow threats by Qantas engineers to down tools this month after their talks on pay and conditions stalled.
The Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association later called off any strikes for another four weeks due to 'some fairly well-spread reliability issues with the airline at the moment'. Qantas dismissed the comment as a bargaining ploy. -- AFP
FROM FAIRPLAY DAILY NEWS:
Six held over suspected pirate ransom
SOMALI police have reportedly arrested six foreigners who flew into the capital Mogadishu with $3.6M in suspected piracy ransom money.
Three US citizens, two Kenyans and one Briton were detained, along with two aircraft, a police spokesman told the BBC’s Somali service.
The AFP news agency quoted a security official as saying that one plane flew into Mogadishu, where the money was to be transferred to another aircraft that would have delivered it elsewhere.
Somalia has not had a strong national government for more than two decades, during which money laundering, piracy and militant groups have thrived, the BBC pointed out.
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