Global daily news 16.10.2014

***Coast Guard, Maritime Community, Issue Ebola Precautions

BY JOHN C. MARCARIO, Special Correspondent

ARLINGTON, Va. — As Ebola fears begin to grip the United States with the first documented cases in this country, the maritime community began taking precautions for a possible outbreak months ago.

In August, the U.S. Coast Guard, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, issued the bulletin “Ebola Safety Precautions” that outlined a series of steps that vessel owners and stakeholders should be aware of.

The bulletin, issued by the Inspections and Compliance Directorate in Washington, said the Coast Guard will review all notice of arrivals to determine if a vessel has visited a country impacted by Ebola virus outbreak within its last five port calls. If it has, the ship will be inspected.

The bulletin said vessel masters should inform Cost Guard boarding teams of any ill crew members and local industry stakeholders should be familiar with the Vessel Quarantine and Isolation protocol for sick people onboard.

The Coast Guard bulletin also reminds vessel representatives that they are required to report sick or deceased crew or passengers within the last 15 days to the Centers for Disease Control.

Other maritime organizations have issued similar warnings or instructions.

“The maritime community needs to be aware of the disease and the risks of transmission and take appropriate action, following the guidance issued by World Health Organization [WHO],” said Natasha Brown, a spokesperson for the International Maritime Organization.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation issued its own warning for the shipping community in August, saying unauthorized personal should not board vessels while it’s at port and ship masters should give careful consideration to granting any shore leave while in an Ebola impacted port.

Lee Peterson, a communications specialist at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., one of the busiest in the country, said he is confident the Coast Guard, and maritime community, would be able to protect local port complexes by monitoring ships and possible issues before they arrive in port.

“This is a serious threat, but our security partners and health agencies have had experience with other diseases — Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and H1N1 [Swine] flu,” he said.

Although Peterson said his port does not get many ships from West Africa, but he was informed by the service that it will screen crews coming from that area.

To date there has been no confirmed cases of Ebola on a maritime vessel.

As of Oct. 8, there have been 8,400 cases of Ebola resulting in 4,033 deaths according to the WHO. A vast majority of those have occurred in West Africa. A man in Texas — who returned recently from Liberia — died Oct. 8 from Ebola and two hospital workers who treated him have been diagnosed with the disease.

 

FROM USILIVE:

 

Rotterdam by night. Photo: Wikipedia Commons

ITF and FNV call for dialogue on Rotterdam’s future

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) and the FNV Bondgenoten trade union repeated their call today for urgent dialogue on the future of the port of Rotterdam, which is facing potentially damaging overcapacity.

The two organisations spoke out following a two day meeting that brought together the ITF dockers’ section secretary and FNV Bondgenoten dockers’ section members from all the container terminals in Rotterdam to examine the impacts of automation and overcapacity on the existing terminals and workforce.

Niek Stam, national secretary of the Bondgenoten dockers’ section, explained:

“We used cargo handling data collected by members at all the terminals to model possible scenarios resulting from the opening of the new highly automated terminals APMT Maasvlakte 2 and Rotterdam Gateway (RGW). The results are startling: as many as 1,000 jobs could be at risk if shipping lines move their business to the new terminals in the coming years.”

He continued: “The FNV is calling on the port authority and companies in Rotterdam – both terminal operators and shipping lines – to start a serious dialogue on how we can work together to mitigate the human cost of the combined impacts of these two serious issues. We welcome further detailed data from these parties to make the modelling as accurate as possible, as this would help to identify the problems and potential solutions.

“Another matter of major concern is the lack of willingness by RGW to engage with the union to discuss access to the new terminal, recognition and a collective agreement. FNV has long standing relationships with all the other terminal operators in Rotterdam and has signed collective agreements with them. It is simply asking RGW to respect trade union rights and the standards that have been established and agreed with other employers in the port. The union is reaching out to the four shipping lines that hold 80 per cent of the stake in RGW, as well as DPW to start discussions on a memorandum of understanding on these issues. It will be writing to these companies shortly with its proposal and has also sought the assistance of the ITF in opening dialogue with these companies.

Paddy Crumlin, ITF president and chair of the ITF dockers’ section, added:

“The ITF attaches great importance to good relations and a decent level of employment in the Port of Rotterdam. If those were lost there it would be a tragedy for good industrial relations and set a terrible example for other ports. That’s why the ITF is backing our colleagues in the FNV and supporting them in their quest for a collaborative and successful process of dialogue and problem solving.”

FROM THAILAND NATIONAL NEWS BUREAU:

***GLP Roadmap should be enforced together with strong regulation

 

 

 

BANGKOK, 15 October 2014 (NNT) - Mr. Maurizio Bussi, Acting Director of the International Labour Organization (ILO) country office for Thailand told a recent GLP Roadmap Workshop that Thailand was on the right track to promote transparency of the Good Labor Practice through the collaboration of all parties concerned. However, he said, a GLP roadmap was just a starting point as it was not a cure-all remedy to every labour problem. A successful GLP roadmap would also need strict inspections of labour, freedom of migration and fair and equal treatment to labour.

The workshop was held by the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare. Its participants were from many parties such as the employers, the Department of Fisheries, the Federation of Thai Industries, and child-protection organizations. Mr. Sanan Boon-ngok, President of the International Transport Workers’ Federation Coordinating Committee of Thailand (ITF – Thailand) proposed that the employers should be forced to comply with the GLP roadmap, rather than a voluntary option. They should also be discouraged from making bulk employment contracts which did not protect workers.

Mr. Phot Aramwattananon, President of the Confederation of Thai Fishery Product Manufacturers stated that if Thailand adopted the GLP in earnest, there would be more multi-national workers interested in working in Thailand, and then, the long-standing labour shortage could be solved.

- See more at:

GLP Roadmap should be enforced together with strong regulation

FROM SEAFARER TIMES (PHILIPPINES):

***ITF and FNV call for dialogue on Rotterdam’s future

Submitted by Helmsman on Wed, 10/15/2014 - 22:43

15 October 2014
ITF and FNV call for dialogue on Rotterdam’s future
15 October 2015 received via email

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) and the FNV Bondgenoten trade union repeated their call today for urgent dialogue on the future of the port of Rotterdam, which is facing potentially damaging overcapacity. The two organisations spoke out following a two day meeting that brought together the ITF dockers’ section secretary and FNV Bondgenoten dockers’ section members from all the container terminals in Rotterdam to examine the impacts of automation and overcapacity on the existing terminals and workforce.

Niek Stam, national secretary of the Bondgenoten dockers’ section, explained: “We used cargo handling data collected by members at all the terminals to model possible scenarios resulting from the opening of the new highly automated terminals APMT Maasvlakte 2 and Rotterdam Gateway (RGW). The results are startling: as many as 1,000 jobs could be at risk if shipping lines move their business to the new terminals in the coming years.”

He continued: “The FNV is calling on the port authority and companies in Rotterdam – both terminal operators and shipping lines – to start a serious dialogue on how we can work together to mitigate the human cost of the combined impacts of these two serious issues. We welcome further detailed data from these parties to make the modelling as accurate as possible, as this would help to identify the problems and potential solutions.

“Another matter of major concern is the lack of willingness by RGW to engage with the union to discuss access to the new terminal, recognition and a collective agreement. FNV has long standing relationships with all the other terminal operators in Rotterdam and has signed collective agreements with them. It is simply asking RGW to respect trade union rights and the standards that have been established and agreed with other employers in the port. The union is reaching out to the four shipping lines that hold 80 per cent of the stake in RGW, as well as DPW to start discussions on a memorandum of understanding on these issues. It will be writing to these companies shortly with its proposal and has also sought the assistance of the ITF in opening dialogue with these companies.

Paddy Crumlin, ITF president and chair of the ITF dockers’ section, added: “The ITF attaches great importance tos good relations and a decent level of employment in the Port of Rotterdam. If those were lost there it would be a tragedy for good indsutrial relations and set a terrible example for other ports. That’s why the ITF is backing our colleagues in the FNV and supporting them in their quest for a collaborative and successful process of dialogue and problem solving.”