PRESIDENTS COLUMN

www.rmt.org.uk :: may 2006 :: RMTnews 25 We live in an island country, so you would assume that as we are heavily dependent on our shipping for our trade. You would think it may also be in our interest to have well- trained and well-paid seafarers – both officers and ratings. Apparently not, as our seafaring ratings numbers have fallen from 30,000 to about 9,000 over the last twenty-five years and during that period there have also been reductions in officers. Greedy shipowners have been dismissing UK ratings and replacing them with low paid foreign national seafarers. As a maritime union, we are not against foreign nationals. However, we are against the exploitation of foreign nationals on pittance wages and poor conditions that undermine the welfare of seafarers of all nations. These injustices are perpetrated by unscrupulous shipowners who use flags of convenience and any other method purely to make massive profits. For example, shipowners are exempt from the Race Relations Act of 1976, allowing them to exploit foreign national seafarers that they recruit abroad. It has also recently come to light that a new interpretation on the national minimum wage only applies to UK seafarers on board UK ships when they are in UK internal waters, which is not for long. Such an interpretation renders minimum wage legislation useless, but it allows more profit for shipping bosses. Another major problem for our seafaring members is that the document “Charting a New Course”, drawn up with the incoming Labour government in 1998, has not been fully implemented. The document outlined a series of measure to address the decline of UK ship and UK seafarers.The most important was the Tonnage Tax regime where shipowners would benefit from a beneficial tax concession depending on the size of companies, provided they train and employ UK seafarers. However, since 2001 the percentage of UK seafarers recruited has reduced from 80 per cent to 41 per cent, and so the taxpayer appears to be adding yet again to shipowners profits. RMT is continually battling by industrial and parliamentary means against these attacks and to try to achieve justice for our seafarers. Last month our RMT-sponsored MPs Kate Clark, Lynda Riordan and John McDonnell forced an adjournment debate to strongly press our case. The reply from the shipping minister left a lot to be desired, so the struggle continues. SOLIDARITY Our brother and sisters in the United States who work on the New York transport system are facing a huge battle at present. Following a recent industrial action to press for better pay, pensions and conditions, the US government declared the strike illegal and the president of the local Transport Workers Union has been imprisoned and the workers fined wages. So, I would urge branches to send protest letters to US Embassy against this injustice and any other means of expressing solidarity. Finally, a recent government report on money lending revealed how working people are being exploited by loan sharks who are extracting massive profits through outrageous interest charges. I would remind RMT members that, if you require a loan, the RMT Credit Union is the best place to get it without being ripped off. TONY DONAGHEY President’s column An island nation needs shipping Last month the Great Western, Great Western Link and Wessex Trains franchises merged to form the new Greater Western franchise. Services will be operated by the First Group for a planned 10 years. Almost immediately after the new franchise was formed First Greater Western (FGW) proposed a series of damaging service reductions to take effect from the December 2006 timetable. The proposed cuts included: • Reductions in calls at Westbury, Tiverton Parkway and Totnes by London services • Small stations between Didcot, Oxford and Banbury to close on Sunday, with calls reduced during the week • Calls at Ivybridge on the Plymouth to Totnes service reduced from 10 to 3 each way and at Saltash and St Germans from 12 each way to 6. • Calls at Melksham cut from five to two each way • Liskeard – Looe services reduced from 13 each way to eight • Services on the St Ives branch cut from 26 each way all year round to 25 in the summer and 16 in the winter • Patchway station to close on Sundays • Cuts on the Severn Beach Line with through services past Avonmouth replaced by a bus To compound the proposed cuts, press reports said that FGW was planning to remove dozens of train carriages from their services in order to save money in rolling stock leasing charges. It costs around £100,000 per annum to lease each carriage. This is despite, for example, the fact that the now wound-up Wessex Trains recently reported that usage on its branch lines had risen between 16 per cent and 40 per cent over the past few years. PUBLIC OUTCRY The proposed service cuts have been met with a wave of protests and meetings have taken place across the South West with RMT, passenger groups, and local rail campaigners all calling for the retention of the services. Early last month, FGW announced it was prepared to look again at their proposals and reinstate some. However, the axe still looms over branch and rural lines in Cornwall. Doubts also remain over suburban services in Bristol and Plymouth and it appears that FGW and the DfT Rail Group have been unable to agree which services should be retained. With Alistair Darling predicting 30 per cent growth over the next two decades, all existing services should be retained and the Secretary of State should be planning for growth. FIRST GREAT CUTS AT WESTERN