FRENCH UNIONS WIN CONCESSIONS

T he French government backed away from fully privatising the state-owned Marseilles-based SNCM ferry company last month following protests that blocked the country’s main Mediterranean oil port of Marseille. As a result, French seafarers, led by the biggest ratings’ union the CGT, voted by 519 votes to 73 to resume work following a strongly-supported 24-day stoppage. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said the state was prepared to keep a minority stake in the SNCM ferry company, shifting policy the day after ordering 50 military commandos to storm a ferry occupied by protesting seafarers. Unions, political parties and the public were appaled when the government dispatched the commandos in Puma helicopters to seize the Pascal Paoli car ferry. A sympathy strike by shipworkers at the Fos-Lavera oil terminal near Marseille also lasted three days before the government made the offer. The deal means that for the first time for over 150 years, SNCM’s top management will come from the private sector and transport privateer Connex becomes one of the operator’s owners. The decision to end the strike also came a day before the Marseilles commercial court, backed by the government, was due to declare the operator bankrupt with the loss of 2,400 jobs. Although the government wanted a 100 per cent sell-off, union negotiators forced it to back-down and clinched a deal in which the state retains 25 per cent of the equity with the workforce awarded a further 9 per cent. The two together have minority rights and will be able to influence decisions. The majority 66 per cent shareholding goes to two investment funds: Butler Capital Partners will take 38 per cent of SNCM and Connex (a subsidiary of Veolia) 28 per cent. CGT Marseilles branch leader Jean-Paul Israel said that his members would “remain vigilant” with regard to the new owners and the future of SNCM. “The struggle does not end here,” he stressed. About 400 jobs will go, but there will be no compulsory redundancies. SNCM will not be split up and will retain its 10 vessels, which undertake crossings to Corsica and North Africa. The privatisation process is expected to be completed at the end of January. SNCM’s problems began in 1996 when it lost the sole right to serve Corsica from the French mainland and were undercut by SNCM rival, Corsica Ferries France(CFF). This private company operates under an Italian flag and uses cheap labour. SNCM operates under the full French flag with 100 per cent French crews. The ferry privateer then won a challenge in the European Union courts against the right of SNCM to receive state aid from the French government to run the service. French seafarers celebrate as they receive the news that fellow trade unionists were being released from a Marseille courthouse. Corsican Workers Union leader Alain Mosconi and Felix Da Gregorio led a group of striking seafarers that commandeered the ferry "Pascal Paoli" amid protests over plans to privatise the company. French police commandos swooped onto the deck of the ferry and took it back to mainland France. French unions win concessions over ferry privatisation RMTnews :: december 2005 20 DOCKERS PROTEST AGAINST EU DIRECTIVE Thousands of dock workers from across the EU took to the streets in Brussels recently in a demonstration against the resuscitated port directive, rejected two years ago by the European Parliament. The directive aims to ‘liberalise’ all phases of dock work, from crane operation to the running of dock canteens, and will give ship owners the opportunity to replace skilled dock workers with cheaper, unqualified labour and agency staff. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “At a time of heightened security and draconian ‘anti-terror’ laws, it seems incredible that Brussels is fighting to allow ship owners employ unscreened and poorly paid agency workers”. Following some minor alterations, the port directive, one of the most controversial and disputed EU proposals in recent years, has been put forward again.In July 2003, around 3,000 Belgian dock workers were met with waves of tear gas and a shower of anti-riot bullets as they demonstrated in Brussels.