APRIL 2022
The Scottish Mariner The shipping newsletter for
members
Inside This Issue An update from Gordon Martin, Regional Organiser - P2 CalMac Job Vacancies - P7
Graham Wallace on the benefits of RMT membership - P8 Alex Gordon on the P&O Scandal - P11
BLOCKADE CAIRNRYAN FRIDAY 29TH APRIL RMT will be blockading Cairnryan port on Friday 29th April at 2pm to send a message to P&O. Busses will be leaving our Glasgow office at 12 noon. Email l.dobbin@rmt.org.uk to book your place.
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Regional Organiser's Update Gordon Martin
Thursday 17th March 2022 will go down in history as one of the worst days in recent trade union history as the bandit capitalists at P&O unceremoniously sacked around eight hundred seafarers including a considerable number of RMT members. With nothing more than crocodile tears and warm words with no action from the Tory Government at Westminster its clear that RMT will have to continue to lead the fight to ensure legislation is tightened up and changed to ensure no other employer feels emboldened enough to ever try again to do what P&O have done to their loyal and hard working workforce. Our members in Belfast shipping branch have with assistance from the trade union movement in Northern Ireland2
held a couple of high profile demonstrations at Larne and Ihave no doubt further events will be held in Larne which will be supported in every way possible by the Scottish Regional Council. In Scotland we have held two high profile demonstrations at Cairnryan and also targeted a scab agency who are part of the supply chain used by P&O namely Clyde Marine Recruitment. All three of these demonstrations have had between one hundred and two hundred people from across the trade union movement in attendance as well as a number of politicians from RMT Holyrood Parliamentary Group and beyond. Our next planned event at Cairnryan is on Friday 29th April where we will be blockading the port. Its absolutely essential that as many RMT maritime members-
as possible attend all future events against the disgraceful actions of P&O as your industry is under attack and everything possible must be done to fight the bandit capitalists or other sectors of the industry will suffer a similar fate. Don’t leave it to others – get involved now.
CALMAC RMT launched “ A People’s Calmac” in Oban on March 25TH with passengers and crew as well as passers by being leafleted by RMT activists and discussions with many people about our Unions vision for Calmac going into the future. At this moment in time its clear to me that certain sections of the Scottish media as well as some political figures have an outright anti Calmac agenda CONT. THE SCOTTISH MARINER
and we hope to counter some of this anti public ownership rhetoric with a positive keep Calmac public with a better governance regime which should include workforce and islander representatives on the board at Calmac making it more responsive to the needs of the people who use the service and the workers who deliver it in very often difficult circumstances.
STENA LINE Our docker members at Stena Line VT1&2 in Belfast gave a magnificent response to management intransigence by voting unanimously for strike action and action short of strike action when management refused to honour contractual commitments in relation to lieu days for working bank and public holidays. In the course of a few short years we have seen these workers going from having no union in place to becoming an integral part of RMT with high density level and in Alex Thompson a representative who works tirelessly on behalf of his members. The dockers, or Port Service Operatives, make up a fairly significant part of our membership at Stena Line in Loch Ryan
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Port and Belfast and in a similar manner to Alex at VT1&2 Peter Bacon does a fantastic job as our representative at VT4 as does Gordon Hyslop at Loch Ryan Port.
TARGE TOWING Over the course of the last few months I have been working closely with some key contacts at a company called Targe Towing in the east of Scotland and we have seen a significant increase in membership. I am hopeful that by the time the next edition of the Scottish Mariner is distributed to members Targe Towing will be yet another company in the maritime sector covered by a collective bargaining agreement with RMT. I hope you enjoy this edition of the Scottish Mariner and I hope you and your family and friends keep safe and well and I hope to see you soon on ships and ports visits. Gordon Martin Regional Organiser gordon.martin@rmt.org.uk 07884 655 217
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"Membership our strongest hand" Brian Reynolds, RMT Convenor at CalMac on how everyone can help organise their vessel
The last few weeks have been a difficult time for seafarers the disgraceful actions and disregard by P&O ferries towards their employees their families and communities and total disregard to the law and the parliaments that have responsibility to hold law breakers to account. As we are all aware the summer season for our ferry sectors has arrived and many seafarers will be joining vessels as either seasonal staff or agency staff and soon hopefully apprentices will be joining the vessels also. It is vitally important that all new starts and returning seafarers are made aware of the benefits of being a member of the RMT and are offered the opportunity to join the ratings union, so please have that discussion with any new members of your crew. High density of RMT is the strongest tool we have at the negotiating table. This has proved to be factual at discussions over pay, pensions and many other issues over many years. I can't recall a time when the cost of living has been so high and spiralling out of control with no sign of easing and as always it's us, the workers, who are expected to bear the brunt of these costs.
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To offset the burden on incomes we need the strongest hand we can possibly have as we discuss wages at future pay talks and without a doubt high density of membership will give us the best chance of a positive outcome So, the message is clear the attacks have started, and they are going to keep coming in weeks months and years ahead. Be part of the fight-back by joining your colleagues at planned demonstrations whenever you are on your time-off And pass on this copy of the Scottish Mariner to a work mate. If they are not a member, ask why and encourage them to join. Best wishes to you all and solidarity to the sacked P&O workers. Brian Reynolds RMT Calmac Coordinator
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The view from the Branch Graham Wallace, Glasgow Shipping Branch Secretary, writes:
Dear members, welcome to The Scottish Mariner. As we move toward full restrictions being lifted from the Covid pandemic, I hope you are all well. While we move forward, remember that the Covid is still prevalent and to take care of yourself and your loved ones, family and friends. It’s being a trying time for all employees and companies alike. First and foremost, we look at the recent incredulous sacking of 800 P&O seafarers and no matter how much the unscrupulous P&O ferry Company try to sugarcoat it as a redundancy or a necessity because they were haemorrhaging money in the business. It was a sacking in the most cowardly and despicable way that broke all employment 5
laws of this country. It has taken the UK ferry business to the bottom of the barrel and goodness help us all if other companies follow suit. In the race to the bottom (Social Dumping), P&O have finally got there with the help of parliamentary legislation that the Unions have been fighting to get changed for years. (If only we could replicate the 1966 National Union of Seaman strike!) No matter how much we castigate this capitalist Tory Government for letting it happen, don’t forget nothing was done to tighten or change the legislation or rules of the Merchant Navy Industry for the seafarers when Labour was in power and under the nose of former Merchant Seaman and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott (Cheers Comrade).
This is why it is important that we campaign and fight to keep Calmac in public ownership. This SNP Government has asked EY to look into the future of Scotlands ferry services and to produce a report which also includes the options of UNBUNDLING - breaking up routes into smaller packages which could lead to the possibility of privatisation. Could you imagine the impact on seafarers, their families and local communities if this happened and an unscrupulous company like P&O won the contract for these routes? To me it does not bare thinking about, and I ask that the employees of Calmac, the public and communities throughout Scotland campaign against any form of privatisation of Scotland’s ferry services, not just Calmac. And food for thought is that in 2004 when Labour was in Government in Scotland, they looked at possibly privatising Calmac, and the SNP and the other political parties were vehemently against it. So why now would SNP want to give away Scotlands Lifeline Ferry Services to the hands of the Capitalist companies to fill the coffers of their shareholders? THE SCOTTISH MARINER
Why give away the most important transport hub of our nation into the hands of privateers and shareholders? Scotland’s crown jewels of transport in public ownership must be protected. Just look at the fiasco of Scotrail which has had its tender cut short and taken back into public ownership, for the time being, and this also must never go back into the hands of profiteers.
There is nothing new in the conception of an integrated transport system, it has been spoken about and debated many times over the years. What would be new is the action to instigate it. End the talking and actually do something about it. Sit round a table, draw up a plan and put it into action. In the meantime:
Transport in Scotland should be run for the public. That includes Bus, Rail & Ferry. Profits must be re-invested into the transport infrastructure for improvement, building an integrated transport system that will serve the commuting public and ultimately, help reduce the carbon emissions by removing reliance on the car as the preferred mode of transport.
DON’T GO P&O !! KEEP CALMAC ON THE GO !!
In Solidarity, Graham Wallace Glasgow Shipping Branch Secretary
Spanish Blockade Runners Memorial The RMT Glasgow Shipping Branch was delighted that the lifting of Covid restrictions allowed for a rededication of this fine Memorial. Designed and sculpted by Frank Casey and initially unveiled on the 2nd March 2019, the memorial is in honour of the seafarers who gave their life in order to help the Spanish citizens stand and fight against the fascist regime of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Brian Reynolds, the Branch Chair, opened the occasion and welcomed our members, friends and comrades to the Memorial. Frank Casey and Mike Arnott were guests of the branch and spoke about the history behind this memorial - remembering the Seafarers who lost their lives and the ships that were sunk while trying to get food and supplies to the Spanish Citizens in their desperate time of need during the war. 6
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Richard Leonard MSP, RMT's Scottish Parliamentary group convenor, writes on Ferguson Marine and P&O
Whether it’s the probe into the CalMac ferries affair or the scandalous sacking of 800 workers by P&O, seafarers have been in the spotlight recently and need solidarity. On the ferries, I have been asking questions of ministers around the decision to award the work to Ferguson Marine, and what commitment is being made to greening the routes and training the staff. So far the answers have been less than satisfactory. Alongside being convenor of the RMT parliamentary group, I also chair the Parliament’s Public Audit Committee, which will be taking evidence in the coming weeks on where responsibility lies for the four7
year delay and two and a half times over budget ferries construction contract. The attack on seafarers by P&O and DP World is an unlawful attack on innocent people’s jobs and livelihoods. It is also an attack on their trade union rights and their civil liberties. There is an old trade union saying that “an injury to one is an injury to all”, which is why people are looking to us in the labour movement to lead a fight back: politically and industrially. Because if one employer can get away with it there will be a queue of others waiting to join them. The newspapers talk about what’s going on at P&O as redundancies.
Let’s be clear, they are not redundancies they are sackings, plain and simple – the jobs are still there. What we’re witnessing in our ports – including at Cairnryan, where I have been privileged to address RMT and Nautilus demonstrations and blockades in recent weeks – is a strike. But it’s not a strike by the workers, it’s a strike by the owners against their own workforce and these local communities. Let us never forget that we’re talking about here is a public transport system. It should not be in the hands of a private enterprise, run for the fiduciary benefit of shareholders and wealthy executives. It should be in public hands, run by and for the people. CONTTHE SCOTTISH MARINER
So our demand to the company is loud and clear: reinstate the 800 workers who have been sacked. Our message to the public and to freight hauliers is: boycott P&O, do not give them your business and show them we stand with these workers and their unions. And our call to the Scottish Government is this: cancel the contracts with P&O and bring this vital public service into public ownership. I was honoured to be asked to take over from my old friend and comrade Elaine Smith as convenor the RMT Parliamentary Group after she stood down at the election a year ago. Elaine is a hard act to follow but I will do everything I can to stand up for you and RMT members inside and outside parliament, in your workplaces and your communities. You have my 100% support and solidarity. We shall not be moved. RICHARD LEONARD MSP CONVENER
CalMac Vacancies Calmac Ferries have excellent seagoing career opportunities and are currently looking for : Permanent Dual Purpose Ratings (also known as GP Ratings) Permanent and Temporary Motormen Seasonal Catering Ratings Seasonal skippers for the Small Ferry fleet
Further information on Terms & Conditions can be found on the Calmac website under corporate using this link: https://www.calmac.co.uk/careers/careers-at-calmac Or contact CalMac via email: vacancies@davidmacbraynehr.co.uk
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Graham Wallace, Glasgow Shipping Branch Secretary, on the benefits of RMT membership. As Branch Secretary of the RMT Glasgow Shipping Branch, it is my duty and the duty of the branch committee as it is with any RMT union member, to actively encourage recruitment and retention within the union and bring to the attention of members and non members alike the advantages of RMT union membership. RMT has a dedicated group of full-time officials and volunteer activists that put a lot of their own time into the running of the Branch and the union. The Glasgow Shipping Branch has a dedicated committee of various shipping grades, who are union reps and activists dedicated to the cause of fighting for members rights and to help them improve their standard of living by fighting for better conditions of employment and maintaining terms and conditions which already exist with your employer. Education is a proven way of improving your standard of living
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as it helps you to achieve other opportunities within your workplace and the company you work for or to enhance your employment opportunities with other employers. As a member of the RMT Glasgow Shipping Branch your education is important to us as it helps you to progress with your career. The RMT education facilities in Doncaster are excellent for personal development and learning about the functions of your union. Benefits of Union Membership also include the following entitlements: Reduced Contributions are payable for members who earn less than £23,600 per annum, this also takes into account seasonal staff and Zero Hour Contracts and Agency Workers. Accident Benefit is payable to members who have an accident at work. Retirement Benefit is payable to any member who is retired at or after the normal retiring age.
A death grant is payable upon the death of the member and will be paid to the person nominated by the deceased or the nearest relative. Demotion Compensation (Demotion Through Injury or Ill Health) is payable to any member who is permanently downgraded as a result of illness or injury. Orphan Benefit (The Orphan Fund) is payable to any child of a member when the member or the members spouse dies as defined in clauses 5,6 and 7 of the orphan fund rule. Legal Assistance is instituted at the discretion of the Executive committee. Should any member be injured when proceeding to or from home or abode or any road or rail accident, there shall be entitlement to legal assistance and legal proceedings may be instituted on such member’s behalf, or in the event of the death of a member, in the interests of any dependants, for the obtaining of damages or compensation for THE SCOTTISH MARINER
Inpersonal injuries, damage or loss sustained by the member or dependants. Having given you an insight into the branch and the benefits of the union, it is vitally important that you as a member contribute to the branch activities. You can do this by joining us at Branch Meetings in the Glasgow Office, but also as we move on and full restrictions of Covid are lifted you can join in on the meeting via Zoom if you are unable to attend in person. We also have other activities throughout the year which members can join and have an input to. For example, this year's May Day Parade will take place on Sunday 1st May, 2022 and it will be a Mayday Festival. It will start at George's Square, moving off at 11.30 and end at Kelvingrove Bandstand where the rally will take place. We have a number of excellent speakers and two bands, The Bluebells and GABO on the day. We will also have stuff for children as well. This is a serious but fun family occasion also and I hope to see you there behind the RMT Glasgow Shipping Branch Banner.
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The Branch needs younger members to bring to the fore their ideas for the future, as you are the future and the Branch needs your fresh insight on how to progress, and what topics are important to you, other than industrial workplace disputes and grievances. We need a strong union membership on board the vessels and you should discuss this with your ship colleagues, find out who is not a member and encourage them to join the RMT Union. What has happened at P&O is not the end of it, this is a serious race to the bottom. P&O are paying rock bottom wages and other shipping companies have to compete with that and to turn a blind eye and think it won’t happen to me is naivety at best. It’s a sad day when you are not in a union and cross a picket line and then living with “scab” cloud over your head for the rest of your career. So come and join us and have your say. Protect your T&Cs May’s Branch meeting has still to be confirmed. GRAHAM WALLACE
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"All reactionaries are paper tigers" Alex Gordon, RMT National President, writes on the P&O scandal
On 17 March 2022 P&O Ferries informed 800 workers their contracts of employment were terminated on grounds of redundancy with immediate effect. Since P&O’s St Patrick’s Day massacre our trade union has mobilised and campaigned in support of our sacked seafarer members from Cairnryan to Dover and from Hull to Liverpool and Larne. RMT’s Scotland Regional Council mobilised at Cairnryan and at Govan outside the offices of the Clyde Marine Shipping Agency. Politicians and media accustomed to attacking trade unions, turned their fire for once on P&O’s Chief Executive, Peter Hebblethwaite and his boss, the Sultan of Dubai (owner of DP World) as representatives of ‘the unacceptable face of capitalism’. P&O’s grotesque pre-scripted Zoom call to its staff announcing plans to replace trade union organised crews with agency labour attracted public derision and anger.
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There is widespread disgust at P&O’s business model that aims to replace UK ratings with superexploited labour from the lowest wage economies in the world. RMT General Secretary, Mick Lynch spoke publicly about the racism inherent in P&O’s ‘flexible’ business model where the further workers are transported from to crew vessels, the less they are paid. In P&O’s global value chain, Eastern European workers are used to undercut UKbased ratings and officers, while Filipino and Indian workers are used to undercut them even further. P&O CEO Peter Hebblethwaite told the House of Commons Transport Select Committee that agency crews would earn ‘on average’ £5.50/hour. Recruitment ads from CSM Baltic, a subsidiary of Colombia Shipmanagement read: “No seafarers’ documents are needed, just previous experience in hospitality institutions.” The ads say that stewards will work eight weeks
on (12 hours per day), eight weeks off. One advertisement offered rates of pay of £1.81/hour. The race to the bottom is real. But what makes the case of P&O so critical is that workers recognise that if Peter Hebblethwaite and the Sultan can flout the laws on redundancy, on statutory consultation, on maritime safety and on the minimum wage without consequence, then P&O’s model could be imposed on any factory, depot, or office in this country. The history of maritime employment law in Britain and Europe shows European ferry operators have used EU liberalisation directives and rulings from EU institutions such as the European Court to facilitate 'social dumping' and the race to the bottom in ferry workers' pay, terms and conditions.
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In October 2003, Viking Line, a Finnish ferry company, gave Finnish Seamen's Union (FSU) notice of intention to register The Rosella in Estonia to employ Estonian crew, at a lower pay than in Finland. In November 2003, FSU requested support from the International Transport Workers' Federation in London. ITF called on affiliates to boycott all Viking Line vessels. FSU called a strike. In 2004 Estonia joined the EU. Viking Line brought court proceedings in London requiring the ITF to withdraw its boycott and sought an order against FSU not to infringe Viking's 'right of establishment' under EU law (Article 43 EC) - the right of firms to relocate to any EU member state. The Court of Appeal in London deferred to the European Court on whether EU rules on 'freedom of establishment' applied. The European Court held that Article 43 EC applied to collective action by a trade union against an employer and ruled that registration of vessels must not form an obstacle to 'freedom of establishment'. And then there was Irish Ferries. In August 2005, Irish union SIPTU discovered agency staff employed on Irish Ferries, MV Normandy - brought in to replace unionised directly employed labour - paid €3.57/hour for 12-
hour shifts, 7 days a week, with no holiday pay. A Latvian worker worked 84-hour weeks over a 2month period earning just over €1/hour - just above the Latvian minimum wage of €0.71/hour, but far below the Irish minimum wage of €7.65/hour. Directly employed unionised crews on MV Normandy previously earned €10-11/hour. The MV Normandy sailing between Rosslare and northern France - registered in the Bahamas and flying a 'flag of convenience' was formerly an Irish-registered ship.
crews on its Irish Sea vessels and reflag its vessels to Cyprus. Vessels are managed on a contract basis by Dobson Fleet Management, a shipping agency based in Cyprus. Personnel are Dobson employees.
'Wildcat picketing' took place at French ports such as Cherbourg in protest at the outsourcing of crew on the MV Normandy to the employment agency, Dobson’s, based in Limassol, Cyprus.
The LRC also put pay and conditions on MV Normandy into binding arbitration and gave Irish Ferries a 3year no-strike) clause.
A stand-off started on 27 November 2005, with security guards bringing agency staff on board vessels. Irish Ferries ships were laid up in Welsh and Irish ports for weeks. A national protest march by Irish trade unions in Dublin on 9 December 2005 saw an estimated turn-out of 100,000. Ireland's industrial disputeresolution institution (Labour Relations Commission) drew up proposals following an intervention by the National Implementation Body (a highlevel industrial relations 'troubleshooting' body under Ireland's social partnership arrangements. Under the imposed settlement, Irish Ferries got permission to outsource -
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Irish Ferries secured cost savings of approximately €11.5m/year. New entrants on Irish Ferries vessels were paid Irish national minimum wage of €7.65/hour, based on a 10-hour day, 2,433.3 hours worked per year giving an annual salary of €18,615. New entrants work two months on and one month off.
There was a joke that Irish trade unionists used to tell around that time. Q. How do you make a Celtic Tiger run away? A. Ask it for a pay rise. The business model of Viking Line, Irish Ferries and P&O is rejected by the vast majority of peoples of this country who want to live in a society where maritime safety and decent union negotiated rates of pay and conditions prevail. All allegedly powerful reactionaries are merely paper tigers because they are divorced from the people. The Sultan of Dubai is a paper tiger. He will be overthrown. Alex Gordon, RMT National President 29 March 2022 THE SCOTTISH MARINER
Branch Awards Glasgow Shipping Branch would like to congratulate and thank the following members for their commitment and continued support to the union over the years and hopefully many more in the future. Left: Donald (DJ) MacDonald - Onboard Service Manager at CalMac - 40 year award.
Right: Congratulations to Senior Catering Rating at Calmac. Christina Campbell & Bosun Billy Black at Calmac, both 40 years service.
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Branch Awards Left: 2nd Steward at Calmac Donna Maxwell 25 year and Senior Catering Rating Maria Martin 10 year. Below: S1a at CalMac, Chris Gibson
Left: Angus John (AJ) MacLeod, Engine Watch Rating, at Calmac. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate AJ on achieving his engineering ticket and getting a fulltime position as a 3rd engineer.
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Useful Contacts GLASGOW OFFICE 180 Hope Street Glasgow G2 2UE 0141 332 1117 ABERDEEN OFFICE 106 Crown Street Aberdeen AB11 6HJ 01224 582 688
ABERDEEN SHIPPING A3@RMT.ORG.UK BELFAST SHIPPING Danny McQuaid B7@RMT.ORG.UK GLASGOW SHIPPING Graham Wallace glasgowshipping@rmt.org.uk OBAN SHIPPING John McDonald obanshipping@rmt.org.uk
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