RMT DEMANDS INCLUSION OF SEAFARERS IN MINIMUM WAGE

www.rmt.org.uk :: april 2006 :: RMTnews 13 R MT called on the government to close legal loopholes that deprive most seafarers working on vessels in UK waters of the protection of the minimum wage. Merchant seafarers are presently only covered by the minimum wage while employed on a UK-registered vessel serving in UK ‘internal waters’, which effectively excludes most ratings from minimum-wage protection. Internal waters’ are interpreted by the government only as river estuaries and the straits between the mainland and islands just off the coast, although the UK has jurisdiction over ‘territorial waters’ 12 miles offshore. “It is an absolute disgrace that even UK- registered vessels, benefiting from the millions handed out in Tonnage Tax relief, can pay wages below the UK national minimum wage while in UK waters,” national secretary Steve Todd said. “Even with the welcome increase, the minimum wage is far too low, yet UK employers are sticking two fingers up even at that sum and routinely paying seafarers as little as £2 an hour. He said that foreign nationals on UK ships are already discriminated against through an outrageous exemption from the 1976 Race Relations Act which allows bosses to pay super-exploitative wages – a loophole the government has promised, yet so far failed, to fix. “Allowing ship-owners to duck the minimum wage as well amounts to a blank cheque for exploitation. “At the very least the government should change its interpretation of ‘internal waters’ to include all UK territorial waters, so that at least seafarers working on UK-registered vessels qualify for the minimum wage. “Far better that all vessels, regardless of the flag they fly, should be bound by UK employment law while they are in UK waters,” Steve said. The union has called on governments to work together to find ways of ensuring that maritime employers can no longer avoid observing minimum employment standards just because their workplaces happen to float on water. RMT WELCOMES DECISION TO GIVE CALMAC ORKNEY AND SHETLAND ROUTES RMT DEMANDS INCLUSION OF SEAFARERS IN MINIMUM WAGE R MT welcomed the news last month that Caledonian MacBrayne has been named as preferred bidder for ferry services to Orkney and Shetland currently run by NorthLink. However, the union also renewed its call to the Scottish Executive to abandon its “expensive, wasteful and completely unnecessary” policy of putting Scotland’s lifeline ferry routes out to tender. “It is good news that the Orkney and Shetland routes will be taken over by a publicly owned company with which we have constructive industrial relations,” said national secretary Steve Todd. “The tendering process being followed by the Scottish Executive is wasteful, expensive and wholly unnecessary, and RMT will continue to campaign for CalMac to be allowed to run Scotland’s lifeline ferry services as a publicly owned and publicly accountable company,” he said He said that NorthLink members had been through the cruel and unnecessary process of tendering twice in the last five years, not knowing who their employer will be or even if they will emerge from the process with jobs at all. “Now that this latest period of uncertainty is over our priority will be to work to ensure that their jobs, terms and conditions are protected,” Steve Todd said. SHIPPING