SHIPPING NEWS

SHIPPING R MT members at Royal Fleet Auxiliary have won parity in annual leave with their officer colleagues after a long and hard-fought battle. The union argued that it had no problem with officers receiving higher rates of pay in respect of their qualification and responsibility. However, all RFA members spend the same time away and staff should receive the same leave as quality time with loved ones is of equal value regardless of rank or status. RMT national secretary Steve Todd said that the union had argued for a number of years in respect of this claim and recalled that industrial action was taken by members to achieve it. He said that many reports had been produced, most notably the Perkins report, which agreed that leave entitlement for ratings should be improved. However, he said that the only problem is that there had been no suggestion of how this would be achieved and how it would be paid for. “The offer which our members are currently being asked to vote on is seen as the least costly in achieving this goal and will be the latest in a number of goals achieved over the last four or five years,” he said. An outline of what has been achieved for RFA members over the last few years is below: • Introduction of the RFA allowance which recognises the unique role of RMT members undertake in RFA which has increased all recent pay settlements • 20 per cent increase in station allowance • the introduction of Significant Operational Tasking Allowance • Reduction in the qualifying period for over-tour allowance from 30 days to 15 days and regulations for tour lengths Steve Todd reported there were a number of other improvements that have been made but there is still much more to do. “We must keep up the momentum in what is obviously our biggest employer of ratings. “Not only will this increase in annual leave and improve things for the existing RFA membership, it will also create more employment for our unemployed members,” he said. The next big hurdle for RFA ratings is the introduction of sponsored reservists, not to be confused with the Royal Navy reserve. The introduction of this seems inevitable although there is much work to be done and discussions are at an early stage. If accepted, this will be purely voluntary as members will have the opportunity to decide if they accept sponsored reservist status. The biggest benefit to RMT members is that if an individual accepts SR status, they will automatically receive the protection of the Geneva Convention in the event that their ship is captured in a warzone. In this case members would have to be treated as legitimate prisoners of war rather than war criminals. RMTnews :: january 2006 :: www.rmt.org.uk 20 Improved leave and conditions at Royal Fleet Auxiliary Dover Shipping branch secretary, Malcolm Dunning and chair Chris Fuller present a cheque for £15,000 to Trevor Goacher, Secretary to the Merchant Seaman’s War Memorial Society. The cheque, on behalf of Dorset solicitors MacLachlan, represents a proportion of fees from the signing of Compromise Agreements during the re- structuring of P&O Ferries at Dover. Donations via Dover Shipping over the last eighteen months to Springbok now total £25,000. SPRINGBOK WINDFALL MORE LEAVE: HMS Manchester takes fuel from RFA Wave Knight in the Caribbean