NAUTILUS P01 OCTOBER 2010.qxd - Nautilus International

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10 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | October 2010 NEWS Unions agree to fight cuts General secretary warns that poor will be hardest hit Trade union leader Brendan Barber, centre, leads a protest against public spending cuts Picture: Andrew Wiard PBritain could become a ‘darker, brutish, more frightening place’ if the government presses ahead with plans for massive cuts in public spending, TUC leader Brendan Barber warned in his opening speech to Congress. The apparent determination of ministers to impose the cuts ‘will not only devastate the services we rely on, but do untold damage to our economic prospects,’ he said. Mr Barber said nobody could deny the depth of the recession, but there was a viable alternative to the measures being drawn up by the government to reduce the deficit. ‘Let’s be clear about this: cuts always hit the poorest, most vulnerable, most disadvantaged people,’ he pointed out. Mr Barber said ministers must be aware that what they take apart now could take generations to rebuild. ‘Decent public services are the glue that holds a civilised society together, and we diminish them at our peril. ‘Cut services, put jobs in peril, and increase inequality — that is the way to make Britain a darker, brutish, more frightening place.’ The TUC leader rejected claims that unions are simply set on confrontation and are just pursuing narrow self-interest. ‘No one takes industrial action lightly,’ he stressed. ‘We are at the heart of our communities, passionately concerned to defend the integrity and the quality of the services we provide.’ Unions need to win the intellectual battle by showing that there is a better way to reduce the deficit, Mr Barber argued. ‘One that not only avoids savage cuts, but is more likely to work as it avoids the risk of the double dip.’ The TUC wants to see a realistic timetable — rather than expect the damage done by a bubble that grew for decades to be put right in just four years. ‘Ministers must make clear that if the economy goes into reverse, then they will stop the medicine whose side-effects are killing the patient,’ Mr Barber added. He urged union members to enter ‘the great debate’ about the economy and build ‘a diverse, dynamic and progressive alliance’ to demonstrate that there is a genuine alternative to cuts and austerity. The first day of the conference was marked by a series of speeches condemning the government’s plans to make spending cuts totalling more than £80bn over the next four years. Delegates voted in favour of a motion calling for a coordinated campaign to oppose the cuts and to defend jobs, pay, pensions and public services. 1st CLASS MARITIME TRAINING IN KENT • 45 MINUTES FROM LONDON • Individual courses tailored to suit company requirements, including on board training. For further details, please call 01322 629600 or visit our website at www.nwkcollege.ac.uk/smol Election win for Dickinson Nautilus general secretary DMark Dickinson, above, has been re-elected to serve for a further year on the TUC’s ruling body, the general council. He secured 481,000 votes in the ballot for the 11 seats on the general council that are reserved for smaller unions. His share of the vote was the third highest of the 16 union officials standing for election. ‘I am delighted by the result and will continue to take advantage of this opportunity to ensure that the voice of seafarers is heard loud and clear at the highest levels of the union movement,’ Mr Dickinson said. ‘Over the past year, the TUC has given us invaluable support in progressing our campaigns on maritime skills, training and employment,’ he added. ‘It has helped us to lobby government on other issues, including pay and conditions and piracy, and to make sure that political attention is focussed on maritime matters.’ Survey shows what the workforce thinks ANautilus assistant general secretary Paul Moloney chaired a fringe meeting that saw the launch of a new report that seeks to shape the debate about the future of trade unions. Published by the Unions21 organisation, the report is based on the results of a YouGov survey of more than 2,220 workers, detailing their attitudes towards their jobs, management and trade unions. The survey showed that despite an increasingly difficult work environment, there remains a strong positive commitment to work. Twothirds of respondents said that their job is interesting and enjoyable, while six out of 10 feel loyal to their organisation. However, 70% said their job requires them to work very hard and more than 40% said they never seem to have enough time to get their work done. Just over 60% described relations between management and staff as excellent or good, although only 13% of respondents overall were very satisfied with the influence they have over organisational decisions that affect their job or working life. The survey showed that unions are rated most highly for protecting workers against unfair treatment and for knowledge and understanding of the employer’s business. Contrary to the impression often conveyed in the media, the majority of respondents across all sectors said management and unions usually Bankers ‘let it slip’, governor tells Congress Trade unionists are right to be Fangry at the financial sector’s responsibility for creating the economic crisis, Bank of England governor Mervyn King told Congress. ‘We let it slip — we, that is, in the financial sector and as policy-makers — not your members nor the many businesses and organisations around the country which employ them,’ he admitted. ‘But it was the real economy that suffered and the banks that were bailed out. Your members, and indeed the businesses which employ them, are entitled to be angry.’ Warning that the consequences of the financial crisis will continue ‘for years to come’, Mr King said lessons will have to be learned. ‘We cannot just carry on as we are,’ he told delegates. ‘Unless we reform our economy — rebalance demand, restructure banking, and restore the sustainability of our public finances — we shall not only jeopardise recovery, but also fail the next generation.’ The governor told the conference that a range of measures are required to avert a similar crisis in future, including reducing imbalances in the world economy and radical reform of the financial sector, with stricter regulation of banking. ‘The costs of this crisis will be with work together, and that there is a strong preference for this type of approach. Mr Moloney told the meeting that the findings were very supportive of the work undertaken by trade unions in many different workplaces, and that there was considerable support for some of the things unions do — even from non-members. ‘The survey should give comfort to unions and shows that we remain as necessary today as at any time in the past,’ he added. ‘There is a role for unions to work with the good employers, so they are not undercut by the bad ones. This is very much Nautilus International’s approach and we have done a lot of work in the ferry sector to identify and target bad employers as a way of protecting better companies.’ Mervyn King was only the second Bank of England governor ever to address the TUC Picture: Andrew Wiard us for a generation,’ he concluded, ‘and we owe it to the next generation to seize this opportunity to put in place the reforms that will make another crisis much less likely and much less damaging.’ He warned that the government risked plunging Britain back into recession if it did not make cuts to reduce the national deficit. Paul Moloney speaks at the TUC Picture: Andrew Wiard HEAPHY MCCARTHY & CO Acountants & Taxation Consultants IRISH TAXATION SERVICES FOR IRISH SEAFARERS Specialising in: Completing tax returns annually Tax planning services Establishing Individuals residence and ordinary residence Remittance basis of taxation reviews Reclaiming UK National Insurance Irish PRSI reviews Seafarers Allowance claims Medical Card applications Contact us for more info: 021 4642928 info@heaphymccarthy.com
October 2010 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 11 NEWS TUC backs asbestos call Seafarers face increased risks of exposure to deadly material despite rules intended to outlaw its use onboard ships, Council member tells Congress PNautilus International has secured the unanimous support of the TUC Congress for its campaign to secure tougher controls against the threats posed by asbestos on ships. Delegates at the TUC’s annual conference in Manchester voted in support of a Nautilus motion expressing concern at the continued presence of asbestos on ships — despite international rules, introduced in 2002, that sought to prevent its use. Council member Captain Stephen Gudgeon — a serving shipmaster — moved the motion and told the meeting of evidence showing that the regulations are being broken with impunity. Nautilus had been horrified to find the deadly material in more than 3,500 parts onboard a newlybuilt ship last year, he said, and one classification society recently revealed that asbestos had been detected on 95% of ships checked in the last four years. ‘The problem even affects ships that have been certified as asbestos-free — sometimes because they have been built with the material present in components, and sometimes because the substance has been introduced through spare parts,’ Capt Gudgeon warned. ‘Shipping is the most International of all industries, and our worry is that asbestos is still being commonly used in more than 100 countries around the world,’ he said. ‘More and more ships are being built in new shipbuilding nations where asbestos use is taken for granted, and we have been told of ships being contaminated after asbestos fire blankets were used during welding work in foreign ports.’ Capt Gudgeon said seafarers face higher risks than workers ashore because ships serve as their homes as well as workplaces for long periods and they do not have rapid access to specialist advice and support if asbestos is discovered. They also face a very real risk of exposure to asbestos during repair or maintenance work and big efforts need to be made to raise awareness among crews, shipowners and regulatory authorities. Shipboard asbestos also poses a risk to demolition workers, Capt Gudgeon pointed out, and they often work in developing nations with little protective equipment and poor safety standards. He told how the Australian government has recently taken a stand against non-compliance by refusing entry to vessels containing asbestos — and said other governments should be encouraged to do the same. ‘For shipping, sadly, asbestos is not a thing of the past — it remains a problem of the present and of the future. In 2010, the maritime industry is still, on a daily basis, responsible for exposing its workers to asbestos and thus creating victims for decades ahead,’ he added. ‘It’s just not good enough, and we need your support to ensure that our members — and seafarers worldwide — are properly protected and do not continue to inherit the deadly legacy of this material.’ Supporting the motion, Barrie Worth of the Prospect union said it was appalling that seafarers were being threatened by asbestos 25 years after the government banned the use of blue and brown asbestos. ‘We share Nautilus’s alarm at the continued use of asbestos on ships and the apparent criminal activity that enables ships to be certified asbestos-free when they clearly are not,’ he added. Capt Stephen Gudgeon speaks on asbestos Picture: Andrew Wiard Nautilus warns of threats to RFA’s status AHands off the Royal Fleet Auxiliary! That was the message to the government as delegates to the TUC conference unanimously backed a Nautilus motion opposing any moves to downsize or commercialise the vital work carried out by the service. Moving the motion, RFA officer Martin Troman — pictured right — explained how the RFA has, for more than a century, provided essential strategic seaborne support for the armed forces. ‘With more than 750 officers and 1,450 ratings on its books, the RFA is now the biggest single employer of British merchant seafarers and — as a result of the long-term decline of the Merchant Navy — has become increasingly important in providing a pool of skilled and experienced UK seafarers and a fleet of ships that can be relied upon at a time of national crisis,’ he added. Mr Troman said the RFA could demonstrate a remarkable record of success in war and peace. ‘From providing support to military campaigns such as the Falklands and the Gulf Wars and supporting the UN in Bosnia, to proving humanitarian relief in Iraq, Haiti and Mozambique, protecting ships from piracy off Somalia, and helping to combat drug smuggling in the Caribbean, the RFA delivers time and time again.’ But despite this, Mr Troman said the RFA is repeatedly coming under pressure — both from commercial companies hoping that parts of its work will be privatised and from Treasury cost-cutting. Concerns had been heightened by another ‘value for money’ review and by reports of Martin Troman moving the RFA motion Picture: Andrew Wiard what the government is considering as part of its strategic defence review. ‘There are good grounds for fearing that ministers will be lured by the siren calls of short-term savings from commercialising some cherry-picked parts of our services,’ he added, ‘and we’re also seriously concerned about the desperate delay in building new ships to replace single-hull tankers that, under international maritime pollution regulations, really shouldn’t be at sea any more.’ Mr Troman said the UK’s economic and strategic wellbeing is as reliant upon the sea as it ever was, and he urged the conference to support Nautilus in seeking to ensure the RFA can continue to play a pivotal part in protecting maritime trade. ‘I have completed over 40 years’ service in the RFA, so it is not my future that I am speaking for,’ he added. ‘My concerns are for future generations to be given a similar opportunity of a long and fulfilling career at sea, for the future of the UK shipping industry as a whole, for the future strategic well-being of our island nation and for the long-term role of the RFA in helping to achieve all these aims.’ RMT delegate Mark Carden said RFA seafarers had consistently displayed professionalism, dedication and bravery, and it was important that the unique and specialist role of the service is safeguarded. Privatisation of the RFA would devastate employment of British seafarers and undermine the government’s maritime policies. Alan Dennis, of the PCS union, praised the ‘fantastic work’ undertaken by the RFA and said it was a disgrace that its seafarers were being treated so badly after all their hard work and sacrifice. He said it was appalling that the RFA is exposed to ‘a constant onslaught’ of reviews, often by very highly paid consultants, and warned that the strategic defence review was nothing more than a ‘job cuts and asset sales exercise’. We've more experience in the field of distance learning than any other maritime sector provider. Working with education and training providers to deliver seafarer-focused opportunities for qualityassured personal and professional development. Supporting seafarers is our strength Find out more at: marine-society.org 202 Lambeth Road London SE1 7JW Telephone 020 7654 7050 Email ms@ms-sc.org A charity registered in England and Wales 313013 and in Scotland SC037808
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