***Transport unions form task force to fight for seafarers’ rights
rade unions affiliated to the International Transport Workers Federation across Africa have established the first regional task force aimed at securing them more say in offshore oil and gas sectors.
ITF seeks to campaign against human right abuses against seafarers among companies which fail to comply with the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, which offers global regulations, alongside existing international conventions on safety at sea, marine pollution and seafarers’ training and certification.
Global Offshore Task Force Group chairman Norrie McVicar while addressing delegates from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Madagascar, Egypt and Kenya said the campaign also aims to promote decent living and working conditions in the shipping industry, prevent exploitation and unfair competition.
“The establishment of the African Regional Offshore Oil and Gas Task Force Group (AROTFG) will also help uphold principles of association and the rights to fair terms of employment among member states,” he said.
ITF Regional Secretary for AfricaJoseph Katende said the development of the task force is a historic event meant to send signals to governments and hydrocarbon industries that African workers were tired of excuses that deny them avenues for developing their skills and seeking job opportunities on their own continental shelves.
It was agreed that all African Maritime countries venturing into oil and gas exploitation agreements with multinational companies without unions must ensure relevant training and jobs.
Mr Katende said that most foreigner investors benefit from the oil sector while the nationals remain out of reach due to ‘lack of skills’.
“It will be an extremely sad episode for Africa if after all oil and gas is gone, we are left behind poorer in the midst of environmental degradation usually caused by oil and gas exploitation,” he said.
The acting secretary general of the association, Stephen Cotton, applauded the developments in the region and asked the Nigerian Government to take charge and review its regulations in the industry.
He said there was clear abuse of wavers system which undermined training and job opportunities for the seafarers.
FROM THE ETF:
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PRESS RELEASE
EUROPEAN TRANSPORT WORKERS’ FEDERATION
FEDERATION EUROPEENNE DES TRAVAILLEURS DES TRANSPORTS
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Brussels, 14 October 2013
DON’T MESS WITH AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT JOBS
IN EUROPEAN SKY!
IN EUROPEAN SKY!
ETF demands a social dimension inside the Single European Sky
Today, Monday 14 October 2013, over 200 air traffic management (ATM) staff delegates from across Europe demonstrate in front of the European Parliament in Brussels, following the call of the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF).They protest to express their disagreement with the new package on the Single European Sky (SES), called SES2+, adopted last June by the European Commission. They call the European Parliament to stop dogmatic liberalisation of the ATM industry. They say “Enough is enough” and “No” to a SES that jeopardizes jobs in Europe.
The new package adopted by the Commission finds little support from the Member States as more and more countries reject the proposals of the Commission. The ETF expects that the European Parliament will also freeze the SES2+.
“We oppose a SES based on market principles, top-down approach and cost reductions, which would jeopardize safety and the number and quality of jobs” said François Ballestero, ETF Political Secretary. “By organising this demonstration, the ETF refuses that the public service role of the ATM industry in Europe is put at risk by unbundling support services (MET, CNS, Training, AIS), which, in many countries, are part of the core business of the Air Navigation ServiceProviders (ANSPs)”.
In addition, the ETF is of the opinion that a structural mandatory separation between supervisory andservice provision is not needed. The real need is to achieve the already existing SES2 package, adopted in 2009, which requires some additional time.
“We also reject a performance scheme dominated by unrealistic targets and forecasts, which destabilizes the economic viability of a majority of ANSPs, and by cost reduction that mainly aims to cut on jobs” added Riccardo Rubini, Chair of the ETF Air Traffic Management Committee. He continued: “We are in favour of a SES that respects and creates jobs, improves the working conditions and maintains the collective agreements”.
ETF affiliates from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Slovakia and UK are participating to the Demonstration.
For further information, please contact François Ballestero, ETF political Secretary, f.ballestero@etf-europe.org – tel: +32 474916979
FROM ALL ABOUT SHIPPING
***ITF and ETF back Sofia airport workers
Aviation, ITF, Labour Disputes — By admin on October 11, 2013 at 8:34 AM
The ITF HQ’s in London
The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) and the ETF (European Transport Workers’ Federation) today pledged their support for workers at Sofia airport.
The two organisations are sounding the alarm after receiving information allegETFing that the management of Sofia Airport has been ignoring workers’ internationally agreed labour rights on the freedom of association – as well as their rights to information, consultation, protection, and to conclude a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
According to the ITF- and ETF-affiliated Federation of Transport Trade Unions in Bulgaria (FTTUB), collective bargaining negotiations with the airport management began in July 2013; however, management has categorically refused to discuss provisions on the protection of union members. In the meantime, many workers have been laid off.
The FTTUB also reports that outsourcing of cleaning services has also begun without any proper consultation and despite opposition to the move. Necessary protections, including job and benefits guarantees, have not been provided, and the new employer is now cutting wages and annual leave entitlements. The Federationgoes on to report that the new employer aims to eliminate social benefits and shorten the probationary period significantly. Employees fear that they will be faced with the choice of resigning ‘voluntarily’ if they do not agree to work for the new employer under these new conditions.
The FTTUB states that, determined to fight for their rights and in line with national legislation, the workers started the procedure for initiating a strike by collecting signatures, but these were then torn up by management representatives, and that the airport workers believe they are under threatbecause of their trade union membership.
ETF civil aviation secretary François Ballestero commented: “These are serious allegations of behaviour that has no place in a country such as Bulgaria. We, as the ITF and ETF, call on the airport management to: respect the Bulgarian labour code and the European Social Charter; cease any violation of workers’ rights of association; negotiate a new collective agreement in which staff’s rights and interests are protected; and immediately terminate the tendering procedure for cleaning services, which is dramatically at variance with established norms of consultation and protection of employees’ rights and conditions.”
ITF civil aviation secretary Gabriel Mocho added: “We clearly declare our support for the workers of Sofia Airport and their union the FTTUB. Unless these issues are immediately addressed we will have no choice but to commence action by filing a complaint to the International Labour Organization (ILO).”
The ITF represents over 620,000 aviation workers worldwide, and the ETF represents over 250,000 aviation workers in Europe. To find out more visit www.itfglobal.org andwww.itfglobal.org/ETF.
***Action week unites workers worldwide
ITF — By admin on October 6, 2013 at 7:43 PM
The ITF HQ’s in London
6 October 2013 – Road, rail and other workers will be raising local and national issues that concern them this week as part of a worldwide ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) action week running from 7 to 13 October.
The action week gives workers and their unions the chance to take local issues to national governments and beyond. Its campaign theme is Transport workers fighting back – Organising globally!
Activities will take place in an A to Z of countries ranging from Angola to Zanzibar, along the way taking in: Barbados, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, India, Ivory Coast, Germany, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Liberia, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Nepal, Russia, Senegal, Sweden, Thailand, Togo and the USA. They will range from driver training to awareness raising, and holding demonstrations to lobbying for health and safety measures for armoured car drivers.
The action week will also run in tandem with three important international daylong events. The first is the World day for decent work on Monday 7 October. Organised by the International Trade Union Confederation to stand up for union rights and decent work, this annual event is now in its seventh year. For more details seehttp://2013.wddw.org.
The second event is the action day organised by the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF, the ITF’s European arm) against the European Commission’s planned Fourth Railway Package, which risks seriously undermining safety in a relentless push for liberalisation of European rail networks. This event will feature activities in countries including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Poland – for more details see www.itfglobal.org/etf/etf-3777.cfm.
The third event is an action day on Monday 7 October 2013 involving dockers and their unions that is designed to put pressure on DPW (Dubai Ports World) to listen to its workers and engage with unions. For more details seewww.itfglobal.org/campaigns/campaigns-3821.cfm.
Mac Urata, ITF inland transport sections secretary, commented: “This action week brings together not just rail and road workers and their unions, but also all those participating in the World day of decent work, the DPW action day and the Railway package day – all in one huge event.”
To find out more about the action week and its history and to find daily updates on how it is progressing or download materials about it, visit www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/actionweek2013.cfm
FROM THE RMT:
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FROM THE MTWTU:
В этом году совместилась ежегодная неделя действий работников автомобильного транспорта и железных дорог, и единая кампания прошла с 7 по 13 октября, когда трудящиеся вместе со своими профсоюзами воспользовались возможностью и донесли до правительств своих стран и международной общественности требующие действий насущные проблемы. Тема их кампании: Транспортники дают отпор – организуемся глобально!
Мак Урата, секретарь секции внутреннего транспорта МФТ, пояснил: «Эта неделя действий является продолжением той успешной работы, которая была проделана с 1997 года, когда впервые прошла неделя действий автодорожников, и с 2005 года, когда началась неделя действий железнодорожников под лозунгом «Безопасность прежде всего!». Работники автомобильного и железнодорожного транспорта объединились, и также объединили усилия их профсоюзы, сформировав единую широкомасштабную кампанию. Кроме того, неделя действий специально приурочена к трем важным дням действий: Всемирному дню действий за достойный труд по инициативе МКП, Дню действий ЕФТ против четвертого пакета железнодорожных реформ Еврокомиссии и Дню действий работников компании Dubai Ports World (DPW)».
Неделя действий будет прошла по всему миру, от Анголы до Занзибара, и к ней присоединились Барбадос, Бенин, Буркина Фасо, Камерун, Канада, Индия, Кот-д’Ивуар, Германия, Япония, Корея, Латвия, Либерия, Мали, Маврикий, Марокко, Непал, Россия, Сенегал, Швеция, Таиланд, Того и США. Среди запланированных мероприятий состоялись – профессиональная подготовка водителей, повышение уровня знаний и информированности, проведение демонстраций и лоббирование политиков по вопросам охраны труда и техники безопасности водителей бронированного дорожного транспорта.
FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:
Controversial Liberian shipping registry a top donor to McAuliffe gubernatorial campaign
By Matea Gold and Alice Crites, Published: October 13
The largest in-state corporate donation to Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial campaign was made by a Vienna-based company whose low profile belies its influence on global trade: It runs Liberia’s shipping registry, overseeing nearly 13 percent of the world’s commercial fleet.
The Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry (LISCR) contributed $120,000 to McAuliffe’s gubernatorial bid, placing it among the top 20 donors to his campaign — beating out even former president Bill Clinton, who gave $100,000 to his longtime fundraiser, the former Democratic National Committee chairman.
Scott Bergeron, LISCR’s chief executive, said the donation was a personal gesture by its chairman, Yoram Cohen, a friend of McAuliffe’s.
McAuliffe spokesman Josh Schwerin said the candidate and Cohen “met in the last two years and have never done business together.” He declined to say how they know each other.
Located in an unassuming brick office park off Leesburg Pike, LISCR operates the second-largest shipping registry in the world, certifying and inspecting nearly 4,000 vessels that fly the Liberian flag.
The company is a frequent target of organized labor, making it an odd ally for McAuliffe, who enjoys robust union support. As an open registry — known as a “flag of convenience” — it does not require a ship’s owner or crew to be Liberian, attracting vessels seeking lower taxes and wage requirements than in their home countries. Seafarers’ unions view the system as a means for ships to skirt labor regulations and mask their true ownership.
Flags of convenience “are generally unaccountable, nontransparent, secretive, and almost never there when real action needs to be taken to protect those working on their vessels,” David Heindel, secretary-treasurer of the Seafarers International Union, the largest North American union representing merchant mariners, said in an e-mail.
LISCR also played a controversial role during the bloody regime of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, whose war crimes conviction by the U.N. Special Court for Sierra Leone was upheld last month. As a major source of revenue for Liberia when Taylor was in power, the company came under close scrutiny by both the United Nations and U.S. officials, who were concerned about how the revenue it turned over to the government was being used, according to interviews and public documents.
“We were worried about them contributing to a regime doing bad things,” said John W. Blaney, who served as U.S. ambassador to Liberia from 2002 to 2005.
Bergeron defended the company’s safety and labor standards, noting that the Liberia is on a U.S. Coast Guard list of top-quality shipping registries.
“We’re a very proactive organization looking at the best interests of the public when it comes to global shipping,” he said.
Bergeron said LISCR worked closely with international and American officials when Taylor was in power and assisted with the investigation of the warlord.
“We opened all the books, shared all the financial information, to ensure that we as an organization were doing all the right things,” he said.
LISCR’s two $60,000 donations to McAuliffe mark a rare foray by the company into domestic politics. Until now, LISCR had made just one political contribution in Virginia — in 2002, when it gave $5,000 to then-representative Thomas M. Davis III (R), according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks campaign finance. LISCR’s donations to McAuliffe were first reported by the Talking Points Memo Web site.
Bergeron said the company has no business interest in the state, although he serves on the Virginia Port Authority board as an appointee of Republican Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, a post he could lose under the next governor. Bergeron said the contributions had nothing to do with his appointment, adding that Cohen made the donations without telling him.
“Mr. Cohen and Mr. McAuliffe are friends,” said Bergeron, who also said he did not know how they know each other. “Mr. Cohen decided to contribute to his campaign, and he did so through the company.”
Cohen was out of the country and did not return requests for comment. His investment firm, YCF Group, owns agriculture, shipping and telecommunication companies that operate in 15 countries. He has made occasional political donations over the years, largely to Democrats, according to federal campaign-finance records. Most recently, he gave $1,000 to Virginia Republican George Allen’s Senate campaign in 2005.
“This is a Virginia company whose CEO is also a McDonnell appointee,” Schwerin, the McAuliffe spokesman, said.
Liberia’s shipping registry has been administered by an American company since its inception after World War II, when former secretary of state Edward R. Stettinius Jr. helped set it up as a way to steer revenue to a staunch U.S. ally in Africa. A company founded by Stettinius, eventually known as International Registries Inc. (IRI), ran the registry until Taylor rose to power.
After Taylor was democratically elected in 1997, his administration hired Washington attorney Lester Hyman to be its U.S. counsel, according to foreign agent registration records filed with the Justice Department. Among Hyman’s tasks: to replace IRI, which by then was also running the Marshall Islands shipping registry, a rival flag.
Taylor “wanted to get another group that he thought would play fair,” Hyman said.
Hyman, who was paid more than $600,000 by Liberia, ended up getting the concession himself after he formed LISCR with Cohen, a business consultant he knew through his law firm. Taylor signed off on the agreement in 1999 and LISCR took over the registry the following year.
During Taylor’s regime, the registry provided Liberia a steady source of revenue, even as the United Nations placed new sanctions on the country and evidence built that Taylor was backing a rebel group waging a vicious war in neighboring Sierra Leone.
“Shipping was a key piece of the Liberian government’s revenue at a time when there was state-sponsored military activity in Liberia and throughout the region,” said Benjamin J. Spatz, a fellow at the Truman National Security Project, who recently served as a consultant to the U.N. Panel of Experts on Liberia.
In 2001, the panel reported that LISCR had wired nearly $1 million to a company tied to illegal arms dealing the previous year. The payments, made at the request of Liberian officials, were used to purchase weapons in violation of a U.N. arms embargo, according to a report to the U.N. Security Council.
LISCR officials said the company was not aware where the money was going and discovered the payments during an internal audit, which it then reported to the United Nations. The firm refused subsequent requests by Liberian officials to wire payments to nongovernmental accounts.
Still, U.S. lawmakers were concerned that revenue the company provided directly to the government was also fueling the violence. During a hearing before a House panel in 2002, then-Rep. Duncan L. Hunter (R-Calif.) asked Cohen what he made of charges that money from the registry went, in Hunter’s words, “to maim people, to kill people, to be involved in arms transactions.”
“The way we look at the situation is that we work under a very, very difficult set of circumstances,” Cohen responded.
“I say you do,” replied Hunter. “Especially if you have to think about it too long.”
In an interview, Bergeron said the company tried to find ways to monitor how the government used the revenue LISCR collected on its behalf, but concluded it had to turn over the money.
“The agreement that governs our operation is a matter of Liberian law,” he said. “Options weren’t available to us.”