***Top 10 in regulation
A year of lively debate about the future constraints on shipping
1. The European body politic
THE European political apparatus has moved to the top of this year’s regulatory top 10 for its carrot-and-stick approach.
The huge and seemingly multi-tentacled bodies of the European Union have had huge impacts on shipping over the past year, whether for redesigning infrastructure projects to improve transport chains and shipping, or in developing its own recycling regulations.
There is also the development of a carbon dioxide monitoring tool, apparently under a global guise, but workable on a regional model.
Most recently, Brussels has announced an investigation into anti-competitive behaviour by the largest container lines.
All these developments show that the EU triumvirate — Parliament, Council and Commission — is flexing its muscles.
2. The shipping lobby
IT HAS been a year of stronger rhetoric as shipping organisations’ members demand more for their money — and, perhaps because these bodies are also under immense pressure from pending regulations, they need to be seen to be doing more.
The lobbying efforts of the International Chamber of Shipping are rippling across the shipping industry as chairman Masamichi Morooka and secretary-general Peter Hinchliffe tackle a legislative tidal wave.
Over at BIMCO, new president and chairman John Denholm and secretary-general Angus Frew have yet to make their mark but are engaging with their audience.
Intertanko, meanwhile, is re-emerging as a more focused lobby group, managing director Katharina Stanzel putting her energies into critical tanker-related issues such as charterparty terms.
3. International Maritime Organization — Koji Sekimizu
THE International Maritime Organization secretary-general Koji Sekimizu has started to make himself heard this year.
His recent statements about Northern Sea Route transits, his blog and his oblique comments about the future role of the IMO indicate he has started to claim his ground in shipping’s regulatory debates.
In recent speeches, Mr Sekimizu has addressed the role of the IMO in achieving sustainability goals, suggesting the UN organisation plans to work for the first time with ports and other actors in the shipping sphere.
4. IACS — Roberto Cazzulo
CHAIRMAN of the International Association of Classification Societies Roberto Cazzulo is promising to tackle the challenges facing operational performance.
Mr Cazzulo, the chief operating officer of Italian classification society Rina, has voiced his commitment to harmonising the common structural rules and to bringing containerships into these guidelines.
5. Federal Maritime Commission — Mario Cordero
MARIO Cordero took over from Richard Lidinsky as chairman of the US Federal Maritime Commission in April, weeks before the world’s top three container lines unveiled plans for a huge vessel-sharing agreement.
This will place regulators on the front line as they decide whether such an extensive joint fleet operation will benefit customers, or whether it is anti-competitive.
The FMC chairman took the initiative in making that judgment, proposing a summit of global regulators from the US, Europe and China to consider the plan.
The FMC’s investigation will be watched closely, as the proceedings will be transparent and with a fixed timetable.
6. Global Shippers’ Forum — Chris Welsh
CHRIS Welsh is a newcomer to the list of most influential people involved in regulation, but over the years, he has been a pivotal figure in several landmark events.
The secretary-general was at the centre of some major industry developments, leading the campaign by cargo interests to reform maritime competition law in Europe so container lines no longer benefited from anti-trust immunity.
Brussels banned the conference system in 2008. Since then, Mr Welsh has worked to establish a worldwide network of shipper organisations through the Global Shippers’ Forum.
7. US Coast Guard — Admiral Robert J Papp Jr , and US Environmental Protection Agency — Gina McCarthy
US LEGISLATORS make a habit of doing their own thing, creating added complexity in a shipowner’s world, especially when it comes to environmental regulations.
Yet there is reason to celebrate the final rules on ballast water regulation from the US Coast Guard (Commandant Adm Papp) and the environmental protection agency (administrator Ms McCarthy) .
Without the need for a convention to be ratified, these rules — and the more stringent requirements over the technology — offer more certainty and reassurance for shipowners sending tonnage to US waters.
These rules are part of the US’ new requirements, known as the Vessel General Permit. Other requirements include vessels entering or working in US waters to use biodegradable lube oils.
8. The Northern Sea Route Administration
NEW rules for Arctic activity in Russia may offer more transparency, but they have yet to deliver the transits that Russia has bragged it can secure.
9. Hong Kong government — Christine Loh
CHRISTINE Loh is the Hong Kong government official charged with developing a plan for the Pearl River emission control area.
Ms Loh, the under-secretary for the environment, is also overseeing the draft legislation for an environmental law regarding vessels burning low-sulphur fuel. That is to be presented to Legco, Hong Kong’s legislative body, this fiscal year.
10. International Transport Workers’ Federation — Stephen Cotton
STEPHEN Cotton has finished his first half-year as acting general secretary at the helm of the International Transport Workers’ Federation, setting out an agenda that includes extending the organisation’s reach to the forwarding and warehousing sectors, which are essential to global supply chains.
Mr Cotton is on good terms with many shipowners and terminal operators who share the ITF’s commitment to reasonable levels of pay and safe working conditions, and aims to put those relationships to good use as the ITF takes on new campaigns.
One such campaign is its support for Walmart employees fighting for better pay and benefits. Mr Cotton is urging shipowners whose vessels carry Walmart cargo to confront the US retailer about its employment record.
***Workers federation calls for careful consideration of P3
Friday 20 December 2013, 17:18
by Damian Brett
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ITF president and dockers’ section chair Crumlin
ITF raises concerns over safeguards to protect employment and labour standards
THE International Transport Workers’ Federation has called for careful consideration and consultation over the proposed P3 Network of Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co and CMA CGM.
The ITF said its main concerns regarding the tie-up, which will span the Asia-Europe, transpacific and transatlantic trade lanes, centred on labour standards.
ITF president and dockers’ section chair Paddy Crumlin said: “The ITF’s primary concern is obviously the effect that this agreement could have on workers, and many of our affiliate unions see the collective power of the P3 carriers as a significant threat to their industry if there are no safeguards in place to protect employment and labour standards.
“Our experience is that where economies of scale similar to those suggested here are achieved in the industry, the benefits are not passed through the supply chain to contractors, customers or the workforce, but retained within the company accounts or in shareholder dividends. This proves no real benefit to the economy.”
The P3 proposal is currently coming under scrutiny from regulators in Europe, China and the US.
The US Federal Maritime Commission has already delayed the effective date of the network in the US by submitting a series of questions to the P3 carriers.
If it had not submitted the questions, the proposals would have become effective on the US on December 8, although the carriers had no plans to actually launch the network until the second quarter of 2014.
A new 45-day review period will begin as soon as the carriers submit their responses to the questions.
Earlier this week, the US Federal Maritime Commission held a meeting of regulators from the US, China and Europe to discuss shipping line alliances.
***TMT crew have been abandoned, argues ITF
Monday 09 December 2013, 09:15
by David Osler
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The ITF is assisting crews from at least five TMT-linked vessels around the world.
Union federation is working with five Nobu Su-linked vessels
THE International Transport Workers’ Federation is assisting crew from at least five TMT-linked vessels around the world, according to a spokesperson for the global trade union grouping.
The case garnering most publicity is Donald Duckling , which is still being held in the port of Tyne after being detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on November 12 with 12 deficiencies including four grounds for detention.
Seafarers on the 43,866 dwt woodchip carrier, built 1997, have been reduced to catching fish off the side of the ship and cooking them on open fires on deck. A supermarket chain has donated a 20kg bag of rice and a local workplace has provided a television for entertainment, according to a local newspaper.
The ITF has asked for the vessel to be declared abandoned within the meaning of the International Maritime Organization guidelines. That would put the onus on flag state Panama to repatriate the crew.
The position under the Maritime Labour Convention is apparently untested, but may entail obligations for the P&I clubs involved.
ITF officials are also providing assistance to the crew of the 1990-built, 98,624 dwt crude tanker Iron Monger 3 , alongside in the UAE, and the 2011-built, 317,000 dwt crude tanker E Elephant in Oman.
Assistance is being rendered to the crew of 2011-built vehicle carriers A Ladybug and B Ladybug in Malta, where lawyers are involved, according to the ITF.
“Some of the [TMT] vessels are trading and we received no complaints from crew members, but other crew we have assisted regularly, and now we are assisting those crew members who replaced them,” the spokesperson said.
“It’s an ongoing process and we are dealing with the ships on a case-by-case basis.”
Representatives of TMT, controlled by Taiwanese shipowner Nobu Su, did not immediately return telephone calls or emails requesting comment.
Creditor banks for the company, which entered Chapter 11 earlier this year, have recently disposed of loans on the secondary market.
FROM PORT NEWS:
***Dockworkers urged to support 13 January action week for Port of Lisbon
The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) and International Dockworkers’ Council (IDC) have pledged their support in a meeting on 17 December, for dockworkers in Lisbon who have been under prolonged attack from their government and employers, the ETF said Monday in a media release.
Working conditions for Portuguese dockworkers, particularly those at the port of Lisbon, have been deteriorating since the government adopted the new Port Law on 1 February this year. The ETF and IDC heard reports that the bargaining process has been frozen, and that employers have attempted to establish a new labour pool of non-union workers to replace existing professional dockworkers. On top of this, 47 dockworkers at Lisbon port have reportedly been dismissed with no rightful reason.
The ETF and IDC promised to support the union in tackling these deteriorating conditions, particularly to press for social dialogue, an end to union-busting, and the reinstatement of the 47 dismissed dockworkers as key aims for the campaign. Both organisations and the ITF see the Portuguese situation as part of a bigger challenge faced by dockworkers all over Europe. European legislation and infringement mechanisms have been used to try to undermine national laws and dockers’ conditions elsewhere including in Spain and Greece. More recently, the Belgian government has also come under pressure.
The campaign will pick up during the week of 13 January, when dockworkers across Europe are due to take action at their local Portuguese embassy. Affiliates are urged to show their support for the workers in Lisbon and their determination to defend the rights of dockworkers across Europe by seeking to meet with the head of the embassy and staff responsible for labour relations to highlight the concerns above.
FROM PEOPLE’S WORLD:
***Port workers in 10 nations taking on IKEA
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by: Mark Gruenberg
December 19 2013
RICHMOND, B.C. (PAI) – Port unions in 10 nations, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, demonstrated Dec. 17 against multinational furniture giant Ikea’s lockout of 350 Teamsters workers from its Richmond, British Columbia, store since May 13.
The protests, arranged by the London-based International Transport Workers Federation, occurred in Tokyo, Rotterdam, Holland, Vancouver, B.C., Gothenburg, Sweden, Helsinki, Finland, Kristiansand, Norway, Aarhus, Denmark, Felixstowe, Britain, Zeebrugge, Belgium, and Sydney, Australia.
They follow a detailed report on the Swedish-founded, Dutch-owned firm’s mistreatment of the workers, issued last month by the ITF and UNI, another global union confederation. Representatives of the locked-out workers also told their stories that month to Swedish media on a trip there to challenge the $36 billion company.
Ikea locked out the workers after they rejected company demand for a 2-tier wage system and an end to family health care benefits. “The report calls on Ikea to end its lockout and end its use of anti-union lawyers at the bargaining table,” the union said.
An international fact finding commission concluded “Ikea Richmond has fallen short in a number of ways with local norms, practices and laws and global standards set by Ikea.” It recommended that Ikea management in Richmond end the lockout and return to the bargaining table, with no preconditions.”
“Attempts to circumvent the Richmond work force’s rights to association and collective bargaining mirror practices reported by Ikea workers about management in Turkey, Vietnam and Bangladesh,” the report adds.
“Ikea must…break with the radical anti-union agenda in Canada and ensure its legal counsel follows the global standards of Ikea,” the report says. And Ikea should work with UNI on a “global framework agreement” for its worldwide labor relations, “confirming its commitment to social dialogue and the right to association and collective bargaining,” the report adds.
“Long-serving workers” in Ikea’s Richmond store report that relations slid rapidly downhill starting with a 3-week 2007 strike management forced. Before, there was “a culture of social dialogue and respect between management and the unionized work force.” The workers beat back management’s demand for the 2-tier wage system.
Since settlement of that strike, “relations have deteriorated” as managers avoid resolving even minor issues. The union has had to file 18 workplace grievances in the last three years, compared to seven grievances from 1995-2010. Turnover at the top hasn’t helped, as Ikea imported outside managers not familiar with either Ikea or the cooperative culture of the Richmond store. It also hired the anti-union law firm.
“Access to the building by union representatives was restricted. There were new problems with membership applications, dues check-off, chronic mistakes in seniority lists and unresponsiveness to calls and emails from union representatives,” the report adds. And unionized workers at Richmond were isolated from contact with non-union Ikea workers at the firm’s other 11 Canadian stores.
FROM THE KOREA TIMES:
***Qatar Airways discriminates against female employees
By Kim Jae-won
Qatar Airways has drawn criticism for its discriminatory employment policy which bans female crewmembers from getting married during their first five years with the company, industry sources said Tuesday.
According to aviation industry officials, female crewmembers employed by the Middle East airline must sign a contract with discriminatory clauses. Some of them read: “You cannot marry for five years after being employed,” and “You are required to obtain prior permission from the company, in case you wish to change your marital status and get married.”
Qatar Airways’ Seoul branch admitted that the company has such rules, but declined to comment on the issue saying it is not authorized to do so.
According to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), which represents about 4.5 million transport workers in 150 countries, employment contracts of the airline have additional discriminatory clauses related to its female employees.
One requires its employees to notify the company the day they learn they are pregnant.
Another controversial clause reads: “The employer shall have the right to terminate the contract of employment from the date of the pregnancy. Failure of employee to notify the employer, or the concealment of the occurrence shall be considered a breach of contract.”
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said that such clauses are a clear violation of the Korean Labor Standard Law which protects female employees from abuses by employers.
“It does not make sense at all. I cannot understand how a company can ask an employee to marry or not. This is a violation of human rights as well as discrimination against women,” said Park Chan-hyung, a ministry official.
According to the law, an employer cannot fire a female employee during her maternal leave and within 30 days after the leave. An employer also cannot let a pregnant employee or a female employee who gave a birth within a year work in a harmful or insecure environment.
The ITF claimed in September that at least 70,000 employees who work for the three largest carriers in the Gulf ― Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways ― “do not enjoy the basic labor rights, including freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.”
“The fact is that these companies are making a fortune from the efforts of hardworking staff who, undefended, can be discharged and deported on a whim,” ITF President Paddy Crumlin said in a statement.
FROM FAIRPLAY:
***Indonesian and Australian diplomacy hits new storm
A diplomatic rift between Indonesia and Australia threatens a new wave of ‘boat people’ and overstretched SAR services. Zoe Reynolds reports
Illegal arrivals on Australian beaches or intercepted en route from Indonesia doubled at the height of an Indonesian maritime stand-off in November 2013, according to Australian customs data.
It could have been much worse. “The 13 marine authorities tasked with handling people-smuggling should not comply with Australia’s wishes,” Vice-Admiral Bambang Suwarto, executive director of the Maritime Security Coordinating Board, told the Jakarta Post.
The head of Indonesia’s Immigration, Law and Human Rights Agency, Rustanov, insisted: ‘‘We have no business with Australia. Let boat people head there.”
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, announced on 20 November: “We have co-ordinated ocean patrols. I have asked that these be suspended.”
It all started on 3 November when The Guardian newspaper of the UK and Australian national broadcaster ABC published documents from US ‘whistleblower’ Edward Snowden exposing alleged Australian spying.
Jakarta demanded an apology and, virtually simultaneously, publicly rejected a boatload of about 60 asylum seekers who were rescued by an Australian ship off Java in Indonesia.
Of six migrant boats rescued by Australian vessels, Indonesia has refused the past three requests for transfers, said Agus Barnas of Indonesia’s Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs.
Jakarta was angry not only because Canberra seemed to have been caught monitoring telephone calls involving the Indonesian president and his wife, but also because the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, would not apologise for his government agencies’ activities.
To observers in the region the storm had been brewing for several months – ever since opinion polls in Australia found that stopping boat people was a vote winner.
The Australian government adopted a policy of ‘turning back the boats’, ‘buying back the boats’, and paying Indonesian villagers to spy on behalf of the Australian government.
Indonesia said it was alarmed and offended by Canberra’s policy. Attending an ABC forum in Jakarta, IHS Fairplay noted talk of 1960s Konfrontasi-style hostilities. Konfrontasi was a term for the undeclared war against the Malaysian federation that saw Indonesian soldiers confront Malay, Australian and other Commonwealth troops along the Kalimantan border.
Maritime experts have said Canberra’s policy could breach the Law of the Sea.
Towing back boatloads of refugees could be interpreted as an act of piracy in some circumstances, former Australian defence chief Admiral Chris Barrie told ABC. “A right to board is very much constrained under international law,” he said.
Speaking to IHS Fairplay, one senior maritime expert confirmed that unless the flag state was contacted or the vessel was unseaworthy, Australia’s policy could breach the UN Law of the Sea Convention and SOLAS.
When Abbott’s conservative government was elected in September, however, Canberra sent its navy to rescue foundering vessels inside Indonesia’s search-and-rescue (SAR) zone but outside Jakarta’s territorial waters. It then sought to transfer those rescued back to Indonesia.
With record numbers of people of various nationalities leaving Indonesia this year on fishing vessels, aiming to seek asylum in Australia, resources in Australia were strained and Indonesia’s SAR service was overwhelmed.
National SAR agency Basarnas was ill-equipped to carry out almost any blue-water rescue beyond the 12-mile limit of Indonesia’s territorial waters, The Australian reported.
Canberra expanded its A$38.4M ($34M) aid by A$4.42M for additional SAR activities under a maritime defence co-operation pact established in 2012.
This provided for the exchange of officers between Basarnas and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), use of the Inmarsat IMO-approved satellite system to communicate with merchant vessels for maritime safety, a rescue co-ordination centre, joint SAR exercises and enhanced technical ship tracking capabilities, according to the AMSA annual report.
Basarnas was, according to Hikmahanto Juwana, professor of international law at the University of Indonesia, becoming “a paid agent tasked with handling Australian problems.
“The Corruption Eradication Commission [an Indonesian agency] should investigate the possible transfer of illegal funds from the Australian government,” he told the Antara news agency, raising new tensions between the governments. While Indonesia stands to lose a lot of maritime support and other Australian aid if the rift widens, an Australian government source told IHS Fairplay that important joint maritime terrorism projects, vital for Australia, were also at risk.
“Unless the Australian government gets its act together, things are going to unravel,” another official told IHS Fairplay.
In correspondence with the IMO, IHS Fairplay clarified that Indonesia was responsible for its own SAR zone covered by the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue. However, it is “rarely clear cut” who transports asylum seekers, said an IMO representative, who added: “Ultimately, this was one for the countries concerned to settle.”
“Indonesian SAR in the region should not be interfered with or influenced by any political pressure,” the head of the Indonesian Shipowners’ Association Carmelita Hartoto told IHS Fairplay.
“Its obligation should be based on human rights and safety of life. Instead of taking advantage, Australian search and rescue should work hand in hand with Indonesian search and rescue to save asylum seekers and bring them to a safe and neutral area under UNHCR [the United Nations Refugee Agency].”
Union sources, however, have laid the blame squarely with Indonesia. “Even a wooden boat or ship less than 300dwt has to get a permit from the harbourmaster for the safety of the ship and certification of the crew to carry people on board,” Hanafi Rustandi, Asia Pacific chair of the ITF, told IHS Fairplay. “Indonesia has to take responsibility.”
Where the newly elected Abbott government was widely seen to have erred, however, was in regard to the so-called ‘Agreement Between the Republic of Indonesia and Australia on the Framework for Security Cooperation’.
The treaty includes bilateral co-operation to enhance maritime safety and implement security measures, stressing “mutual respect and support for sovereignty [and] territorial integrity”.
Indonesia is currently the world’s 16th-largest economy by GDP, and is forecast to become the 7th largest by 2030, outperforming Australia, now ranked 12th.
Any failure by Canberra to acknowledge Indonesia’s future standing, its past maritime
might and its strong nationalist traditions against colonialism would probably have adverse consequences for Australia.
Jakarta has proposed a new code of conduct between both countries, which Canberra has accepted, but relations remain tense as 2013 draws to a close.
In Jakarta’s eyes, Australia is on a good behaviour bond.
***ITF pays tribute to Mandela
Mandela meeting Pat Geraghty in 1990 (MUA)
The International Transport Workers’ Federation paid tribute to the ‘global legacy’ of Nelson Mandela on his passing today.
ITF President Paddy Crumlin said while Mandela would be always remembered and celebrated for his leadership of the movement to bring justice and freedom to the South African people, he will also be remembered as a rallying cry for international solidarity.
Crumlin, who is also national secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia recalled how dock workers and seafarers in Australia, the UK and Denmark supported the anti-apartheid movement with an oil embargo as well as rolling bans on South African shipping.
In Australia seafarers on tugs would hold 24-hour stoppage before bringing Safocean vessels into port; dockworkers would stop for 24 hours before stevedoring the vessels and linesmen would delay its departure in each and every port the vessel visited.
“Mandela himself made note of the support of maritime workers when meeting with former Seamen’s Union of Australia secretary Pat Geraghty in 1990 after his release from prison,” Crumlin said in the ITF statement released today. “He spoke of the impact of the campaign on them from behind the walls of Robben Island saying ‘We knew what you were doing and it was very important in people’s minds.’”
“While our hearts are heavy today with the passing of this great, generous and humble leader, we are also grateful to have walked with him and his comrades along the path they took in the long struggle for justice,” he said
FROM AUSTRALASIAN BUS AND COACH:
***International agreement
Date: 08.12.2013
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) have signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding with the combined vision of promoting the development of high quality public transport globally.
The ITF and UITP have agreed to work together to promote the development and expansion of public transport worldwide as a motor for sustainable growth and the creation of green jobs as well as environmental protection in reducing congestion and pollution.
The two organisations also agree to represent the interests of public transport employers and workers in international organisations to promote the high quality employment that public transport offers in urban areas.
“This is the first time we have signed such an agreement with an international trade union federation and it is therefore of great importance to UITP,” says UITP Secretary General Alain Flausch.
“Investing in public transport infrastructure and services creates direct jobs but is also a fantastic generator for wider business activity and indirect jobs for city economies”.
ITF Acting General Secretary Steve Cotton says the memorandum of understanding signals the opening of a new phase in the federations relationship with the UITP that is based on building fairer, more sustainable public transport worldwide.
“This signing dedicates both bodies to the cause of public transport systems that are accessible, safe and good for all those who use and work on them.”
UITPANZ is the Australia and New Zealand branch of UITP.
FROM DIGITAL JOURNAL:
***Teamsters Join Delegation Calling On IKEA To End Lockout
PR Newswire
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2013
IKEA Workers Travel from Canada to Sweden to Present Report on Union Busting at IKEA in British Columbia
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Since May 13, 2013, more than 300 Teamsters have been locked out from their jobs without pay at IKEA´s store in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. A representative from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters joined a delegation in Sweden this week to ask IKEA to end the abuse of its workers and stop the lockout.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/IBTLOGO)
The delegation traveled to Sweden to highlight the findings of the report, “How IKEA is Hurting Families: Report on the IKEA Lockout in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.” The report outlines the findings of an International Fact-Finding Commission formed by UNI Global Union and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) at the request of Teamsters Canada.
The report describes how far IKEA has departed from its original Swedish values. IKEA has locked out more than 300 workers at its Richmond store for more than six months because the workers exercised their legal right to vote down IKEA’s demands for a wage system that discriminates against workers and forces many workers to give up family health care benefits. The report calls on IKEA to end its lockout of workers and return to the bargaining table in good faith immediately. The report is available in A4 size (http://bit.ly/1iXdd8K) and in U.S. letter size (http://bit.ly/19hJUYy).
The delegation to Sweden is comprised of: Keith Austin, a locked out IKEA Richmond store worker; Grant Coleman, Teamsters Canada; Peter Lövkvist, Nordic Transport Federation; Erin van der Maas, International Transport Workers’ Federation; Tim Beaty, International Brotherhood of Teamsters; and Mathias Bolton, UNI Global.
“IKEA is holding 300 families hostage,” said Keith Austin, a 27-year IKEA employee at the Richmond, B.C. store who traveled with the delegation. “The company is refusing to let us return to work until we surrender many of our rights. It is unconscionable that this multi-billion dollar corporation has locked us out of our jobs. I came to Sweden to ask IKEA why it has hired notoriously anti-union lawyers to sit at the bargaining table in Canada and pretend to negotiate while our families suffer at Christmas time.”
Yesterday in Stockholm, the delegation provided the report to Lars-Anders Häggström, president of Handelsanställdas Förbund (Handels), the trade union representing workers in IKEA Sweden.
“We are not asking for more. We want to go back to our jobs and to negotiate,” Austin said. “But we refuse to accept the sweeping and humiliating deteriorations the company is trying to force us to accept. More than 300 of us refuse to surrender to IKEA’s threats, despite the harsh economic conditions we’ve experienced during the lockout.”
The Commission found that IKEA Richmond has fallen short in a number of ways with local norms, practices and laws and global standards set by IKEA. The report concludes, “IKEA Richmond’s management has abandoned the stated values of the ‘IKEA family’ by adopting a radical anti-worker agenda that opposes unionization and encourages union decertification.”
The report also calls on IKEA Canada to ensure its legal counsel follows IKEA’s own global standards. In 2010, IKEA changed its outside legal counsel to the anti-union law firm Fasken Martineau. IKEA workers and their representatives at Teamsters Local 213 in Vancouver, B.C. identify this change in legal counsel as one of the key drivers of the company’s new, divisive management approach to labor relations.
ITF will make an appeal to its member organizations for solidarity actions on December 17. Teamsters Canada is considering legal action and may file a case with the ILO and the OECD.
“IKEA has clearly violated its own code of conduct, as well as international labor standards,” said Peter Lövkvist, general secretary of the Nordic Transport Federation and chair of the international fact-finding commission on the IKEA lockout in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. “Locking out and intimidating workers, and hiring lawyers with histories of attacking workers and unions – behavior I witnessed personally in Canada – none of this is acceptable. In Sweden, IKEA would never treat its workers this way or disobey international conventions on labor rights.”
More information is available at www.IKEAHurtsFamilies.com.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.
SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1636337#ixzz2pcWybtFJ
FROM THE TIMES OF SWAZILAND:
***STRIKING SWACAA EMPLOYEES SAY: ‘FLY AT YOUR OWN RISK’
13/12/2013 04:34:00 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE
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(L-R) SWACAA employee, STAWU SG Simanga Shongwe, National Organiser and IR Officer Wandile Nkambule do the toyi toyi yesterday in Matsapha.
MATSAPHA – The Swaziland Transport and Allied Workers Union (STAWU) has sent a warning to passengers to use airplanes at their own risk.
This follows the downing of tools by certain staff members from different departments at the Swaziland Civic Aviation Authority (SWACAA) yesterday demanding a 15 per cent salary increment.
STAWU Secretary General (SG) Simanga Shongwe claimed that they have been communicating with the International Transport Federation (ITF) Regional Officer based in Kenya, claiming it was unsafe to fly into the country.
“The regional office in Kenya reports to the head office in London and to the International Civic Aviation Organisation (ICAO), so the information we have sent will reach the two International organisations’ headquarters. We have sent emails to the regional office which was forwarded to London warning people to fly to the country at their own risk.”
“We are saying this because the people who are qualified to operate the equipment controlling an aeroplane to land safely are on strike, demanding a 15 per cent salary increment,” he said.
Shongwe said a person who was responsible to operate the equipment should possess a licence and it should be active and valid.
Shongwe said they also gave the employer a 24-hour notice about the strike. He, however, said their main goal was not the strike.
SWACAA Marketing and Corporate Affairs Manager Sabelo Dlamini confirmed that some departments within the authority were on strike.
He said they wanted their salaries increased by 10 per cent on top of the five per cent that they were given by management.
Dlamini said the company was not aware of any communication between the workers and other international organisations, stating that they had not received anything from any organisation concerning reports that were sent by STAWU.
He said there was a standard way of communicating between all airports in the world and ICAO. He said they use a mechanism called NOTAM. He said ICAO and people all over the world depend on NOTAM information to know if everything was going well in the world’s airports.
“NOTAM was created to facilitate a free flow of information between airports and ICAO so that every person or airport can know the state of other airports.
This mechanism replaced phone calls and emails because previously terrorists used to provide false information when they wanted to conduct their operations,” the manager said.
He said they were not sure if the ICAO and ITF would regard the information that was allegedly sent by STAWU.
He said the only thing he could confirm was that as an organisation they reported the situation at Matsapha airport to ICAO through NOTAM.
“The only concern that ICAO asked us was if we had a contingency plan in place to make sure that planes land safely.
Luckily, we have that plan including making sure that supervisors and managers have valid licences to operate the tower among other appliances,” Dlamini said.
He said supervisors and managers were also forced to be in possession of a valid licence because they were responsible to train the staff.
He said they could not train the staff if they do not have the licence.
The manager said some of the junior staff members were not members of the union and they were at work.
He also said he was made to believe that some workers who were members of STAWU were also at work because they were against the strike.
FROM THE NUPGE:
***Global solidarity as unions at international ports support locked-out IKEA workers
Dock workers held rallies at ports in Sweden, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Canada to support locked out IKEA workers.
Washington (17 Dec. 2013) – In a global act of solidarity hundreds of dock workers at 10 ports around the globe are holding rallies to show their support for the 350 Teamsters who have been locked out from their jobs without pay for seven months at IKEA’s store in Richmond, British Columbia.
The dock workers, members of 11 unions that belong to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), carried banners that read “Dockers Solidarity with IKEA Workers/ITF.”
Dock workers held rallies at ports in Sweden, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Canada. To view photos from the rallies, visit IKEA Hurts Families.
IKEA holding workers hostage at Christmas time
“IKEA’s actions are inexcusable,” said ITF representative Peter Lahay.
“IKEA has put its workers on the street for seven months purely for retaliation. These workers exercised their legal right to vote down IKEA’s demands for a discriminatory wage system and cuts to family health care benefits. Now, IKEA is holding the workers hostage while they stand outside in the winter, at Christmas time.”
Fact-finding Commission presents findings in Sweden
Last month, an International Fact-Finding Commission formed by UNI Global Union and the ITF held hearings on the lockout. The Commission released their findings in a report, “How IKEA is Hurting Families: Report on the IKEA Lockout in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.” The report calls on IKEA to end the lockout and return to the bargaining table in good faith immediately. The report is available here.
Last week, a representative from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters joined a delegation of locked-out workers and international labor leaders who traveled to Sweden to call on IKEA to end the abuse of its workers and stop the lockout.
In Stockholm, the delegation provided the report to Lars-Anders Häggström, president of Handelsanställdas Förbund (Handels), the trade union representing workers at IKEA Sweden.
IKEA in Canada should adhere to companies own global standards
The report also calls on IKEA Canada to ensure its legal counsel follows IKEA’s own global standards. In 2010, IKEA changed its outside legal counsel to the anti-union law firm Fasken Martineau. IKEA workers and their representatives at Teamsters Local 213 in Vancouver, B.C., identify this change in legal counsel as one of the key drivers of the company’s new, divisive management approach to labor relations.
“IKEA has clearly violated its own code of conduct, as well as international labor standards,” said Peter Lövkvist, general secretary of the Nordic Transport Federation and chair of the international fact-finding commission on the IKEA lockout in Richmond, B.C.. “Locking out and intimidating workers, and hiring lawyers with histories of attacking workers and unions – behavior I witnessed personally in Canada – none of this is acceptable. In Sweden, IKEA would never treat its workers this way or disobey international conventions on labor rights.”
More information
IKEA Hurts Families
Facebook page Teamsters Local 213
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada’s largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE
FROM THE RMT:
Offshore union RMT reissues call for full public inquiry as Fatal Accident Investigation into 2009 helicopter disaster open in A
Transport and offshore union RMT today issued a renewed call for a full public inquiry into helicopter safety as the Fatal Accident Investigation into the 1st April 2009 North Sea helicopter disaster that cost 16 lives opens in Aberdeen today.
General Secretary Bob Crow said:
“While the Fatal Accident Investigation has a role to play it cannot enforce justice or hold anyone to account and is no alternative to the full public inquiry into helicopter safety that RMT has been calling for with the support of the TUC. RMT does however hope that the FAI can answer some of the many question that the relatives, friends and work colleagues of those who lost their lives have been asking. That is why the union is supporting the families at the investigation today.
“The FAI process has been proven to be far too slow and since the 2009 disaster that is under investigation today there have been three further incidents, one of them fatal, and the families and colleagues of all those whose lives have been impacted by the helicopter safety issue have waited far too long for justice. Unfortunately, the FAI cannot deliver that justice and once again we call on the First Minister, Alex Salmond, to throw his weight behind the RMT campaign for a full public inquiry into the whole subject of helicopter safety and the broader issue of working conditions in the offshore industry .