THE VIKING LINE CASE

www.rmt.org.uk :: december 2006 :: RMTnews 13 SHIPPING T he important Viking Line case began when the Finnish company wished to re-flag the vessel Rosella under the Estonian flag and replace Finnish seafarers with Estonian nationals on lower pay and conditions. The ITF and the Finnish Seamen’s Union (FSU) sought to defend its members threatened with dismissal by taking strike action, as allowed under the Finnish constitution. Trade unions in Scandinavian countries have far greater freedom to take action in their own country than UK workers. However, Viking Line responded by taking an application to a London Court (where the headquarters of the ITF are based) to defend its right to flag out to any third party within the European Union, based on EU rules which grant EU businesses the freedom to relocate within the EU. The ITF and the FSU appealed to the Court of Appeal and successfully argued that the right to relocate business operations within the EU must be weighed against the rights of unions under national legislation to take collective action. The two legal judgements contradict each other so the matter is presently before the European Court of Justice and the result will become part of EU legislation. Its outcome will be very important for the future ability of seafaring unions and the ITF to take collective action to defend social standards on board ships. The ITF and the FSU has no problem with other EU nationals working on board vessels trading from their country but maintain that the normal collective agreement and Finnish law applies. forced to intervene in the case of the BUE Rona, a British flag vessel where the Romanian crew had been forced to pay $1,000 for getting their employment and air fares to the vessel. ABs were working on the vessel for a fully consolidated rate of $900. On the basis of their working hours of 12 hours per day, seven days a week, their earnings were around $2 per hour. CAMPAIGNING RMT led calls for the establishment of a small steering committee which would oversee a renewed campaign. The union would have preferred to see this up and running immediately but such a decision will have to gain the approval of the ETF Maritime Transport Committee. However, due to lobbying work by the RMT delegation, the committee is likely to be formally approved at its next meeting before the end of the year. Conference also discussed the European Crewing Directive which failed to gain approval from all the member states. The ETF has called upon affiliates to lobby individual state governments regarding the decline of European maritime skills and to proactively lobby the European Commission so that a new proposal is tabled as soon as possible. RMT will play its full part in this campaign and action has already taken place around UK ports, under the co- ordination of the ITF, following the targeting of problem vessels with support from other affiliates. RMT also recently reminded the government of its previous support for a Crewing Directive and the union will continue to lobby hard on this matter. However, more support will be needed from other states if the directive is to be resurrected by the European Commission. THE VIKING LINE CASE