|
***Thailand ‘on trial’ over food industry exposé victimisation
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has described Thailand as being ‘on trial’ for allowing a company to prosecute a human rights defender who exposed modern day slavery in its canned fruit and fishing industry. The ITF is demanding that charges against Andy Hall, a UK citizen who is due to stand trial in September on charges of criminal defamation, be dropped.
The criminal and civil cases were brought against Andy Hall by Thailand’s Natural Fruit Company following his research into the company’s operations for the report Cheap Has a High Price, published by the Finnwatch NGO ( www.finnwatch.org). That report exposed smuggling of migrant workers along with the use of child labour, forced overtime and violence against workers. ITF acting general secretary Steve Cotton stated: “Andy Hall’s investigations into the fruit and fish industries in Thailand helped expose shocking abuses there to a worldwide audience. He should be praised, not prosecuted. Thailand’s attorney general must act now to disallow this case, which is an example of blatant victimisation of someone for no greater crime than telling an unacceptable truth.”
He continued: “This legal case attempts to shoot the messenger and leave the true offender untouched. Thailand must address the unforgiveable abuses being allowed to take place on its lands and waters, and also ensure the right to freedom of opinion.”
ITF president Paddy Crumlin added: “Thailand itself is on trial. Its failure to act has rightly led to it being downgraded by the US government over human trafficking. If ever a country needed to allow defenders of human rights to identify problems, it’s this one. This impending trial is a national and international embarrassment and should be called off immediately.”
The ITF believes that Thailand should:
· Ratify and implement ILO conventions 87 and 98, respecting workers’ fundamental rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining
· Ratify and implement ILO Work in Fishing Convention No. 188
· Ensure that all companies operating in Thailand and benefiting from Thai resources and employment markets work constructively with trade unions and workers’ organisations
Source: Press Release
FROM MACROBUSINESS:
Posted by Houses and Holes in Australian LNG at 9:19am on July 18, 2014 | 1 comment
Prices of spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) for August delivery to Asia plummeted 26.5% year-over-year to an average $11.365 per million British thermal units (/MMBtu), the lowest monthly average since April 2011, the latest Platts Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) for month-ahead delivery showed. The drop came as supply continued to outweigh demand.
The data reflects the daily Platts JKM for August assessed between June 16 and July 15, and is expressed as a monthly average. The average Platts JKM for August fell year-over-year, and 12.2% month-over-month, despite the start of the traditional peak summer demand season in northeast Asia.
“High inventories resulting from a warmer than expected winter, coupled with the lower end- user demand, have left most buyers in Asia amply covered by their term contracts, reducing the appetite for spot cargoes,” said Stephanie Wilson, managing editor of Asia LNG at Platts, an energy, petrochemicals and metals information provider and a premier source of benchmark price references.
The $1.05/MMBtu fall for August delivery marked the fifth consecutive month of decline since the JKM hit an all-time high of $20.20/MMBtu for March delivery on the assessment date of February 14 2014, Platts data shows. Since then, the JKM has dropped more than 47%.
The August 2014 JKM was the lowest since April 2011, when the average price was $9.961/MMBtu. The daily spot JKM was assessed at $12.075/MMBtu at the start of the August 2014 assessment period and lost $1.05/MMBtu by month’s end to $10.70/MMBtu. This is the lowest daily spot price seen since March 11, 2011 when the JKM was $9.90/MMBtu. The spot JKM had spiked to $10.95/MMBtu on March 15, 2011 in the wake of the Great Eastern Earthquake and resulting Fukushima crisis in Japan.
“The ExxonMobil-led Papua New Guinea integrated LNG project has been seen as a bearish factor on the spot market,” Wilson said. “The added supply has contributed in part to pushing down spot prices. With Korea Gas still long on cargoes and a potential restart of Kyushu’s Sendai 1 and 2 nuclear reactors in Japan looming, sentiment looks bearish in the near term.”
The price of fuel thermal coal – a possible competing fuel – was lower by 3.9% on a month-over-month basis, while fuel oil was up by 0.2% over the June 16 to July 15 assessment period.
So, supply is already crimping prices at the margin, even accounting for seasonality. Not good news for Australia’s overpriced magnificent seven projects, though they are protected by oil-linked contracts for now.
Bizarrely, Shell is talking up further investment. From The Australian:
“The (LNG) demand is there and we very much like investing in an OECD country that is so well placed geographically and in terms of capability, and which we know well because we have been here for more than a century.”
…“Labour productivity, in my mind, is below par…But Australia does have a lot of infrastructure, capability and experience in the industry. It’s a bit of a tight labour market but labour is, in principle, available.
“I still think Australia has the edge and we are keen to invest more in it.”
“In my mind there is some long-overdue thinking of restructure and consolidation at Gladstone that needs to happen,” he said.
“We can be a very relaxed and strategic player in that game and for me, all options are open.”
One very obvious question we might ask is: if it’s all going so swimmingly then why is there a need for restructuring? It’s not just labour inefficiency, it’s massive capital inefficiency as well and that does not bode well for more investment. Then there is this from the US about Gorgon where Shell is a large stakeholder:
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has called on the US Securities and Exchange Commission to scrutinise recent apparent misrepresentations made by Chevron regarding the company’s largest upstream development, the Gorgon gas project in northwest Australia.
The ITF argues that Chevron has not provided adequate disclosure about the risks, timing and cost of the Gorgon project. At present Chevron continues to project a mid-2015 completion date for the Gorgon project, which represents the single largest component of the company’s total capital expenditure and exploratory budget.
However, other project owners and customers have signalled they are planning further delay. Chevron is the lead partner on the Gorgon project with a 47.3 percent interest, Exxon-Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell each hold 25 percent each and Osaka Gas, Tokyo Gas and Chubu Electric have 1.25, 1 and 0.417 percent respectively.
The ITF’s concern follows a long history of sudden and suspicious delay announcements by Chevron relating both to Gorgon and other projects.
Not just a war of words?
FROM LLOYD'S LIST:
***Three crew hurt in Port Hedland bulker blaze
Interested in this topic?Set up a custom email alert and we'll tell you everytime we write more like this.
The fire is thought to have started in the engine room of Marigold while it was berthed at Finucane Island, Port Hedland.
Vessel had been reported before for fire-related deficiencies
THREE crew members on board 1990-built, 207,250 dwt bulk carrier Marigold have suffered burns from a fire understood to have started in the engine room.
One of the three crew members, who include two Burmese and a South Korean national, is understood to be in a serious condition.
The registered owner of the Panama-flagged vessel is Tiger United SA. Its beneficial owner is Korea Line.
At the time of the incident, Marigold was berthed at Finucane Island, Port Hedland.
According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, the vessel has previously been the subject of reported fire-related deficiencies.
As recently as April, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority noted deficiencies with “fire doors/openings in fire-resisting divisions” and “cleanliness of engine room” when Marigold was at Port Walcott, Western Australia.
In March 2014 and October 2013, the AMSA noted deficiencies with fire-dampers while Marigold was at the Western Australian port of Dampier.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is expected to begin an investigation into the casualty tomorrow.
Marigold is chartered by BHP Billiton.
This is the second serious shipping incident near Port Hedland in recent weeks.
A 27-year-old Indian seafarer had his foot severed after it became entangled in a rope while he was working on a Liberian-flagged bulker, which was also on charter to Fortescue Metals Group.
International Transport Workers Federation co-ordinator Dean Summers has been quoted in the Australian media about pressures being placed on workers to meet ever-increasing demand to move iron ore volumes.
FROM THE ETUFs
18 July 2014
EU Parliament Youth Resolution is a step,
not a solution
The six sectoral European Trade Union Federations (ETUFs), uniting over 30 million workers and organisers through the “Enough of their crisis – back to our future” campaign, appreciate the fact that the newly elected European Parliament has dedicated itself to addressing youth employment as a matter of utmost urgency.
The European Parliament sent a welcome, yet smokeless signal by adopting a resolution on Youth Employment during its last session before the summer break. The ETUFs welcome the Parliament’s call to swiftly implement the European Youth Guarantee and increase the funds allocated to this important initiative, as well as the request to extend the programme to all young people under 30 years of age. The proposals to establish a legal framework introducing minimum standards for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee and including the reduction of youth unemployment as objectives under the European Semester process are equally appreciated.
However, certain elements that have been included in the resolution entail some deplorable perspectives for young workers and remain a reason for concern as regards to the Parliament’s capability to deliver a solution. Recommendations that suggest deflecting from the pressing problem of youth unemployment by demanding an ever increasing degree of mobility and flexibility from young workers, or by trying to oblige the families of young people to cover their expenses in case of unemployment, are bound to fail and create social hardship. Instead, the EU Member States and enterprises throughout Europe must finally come through on facilitating the access of young people to the labour market and quality jobs, training programmes and apprenticeships.
The ETUFs therefore regard this Parliament resolution as just one step along a long road that needs to be travelled. The effectiveness of these initiatives will have to be measured against the backdrop of the EU’s success in overcoming the crippling effects of austerity policies on labour markets, public spending and economic growth throughout Europe that have particularly disadvantaged young workers. The numerous initiatives by the European Council, the Commission or the Parliament have yet to deliver a functioning solution for young workers and job-seekers.
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
