SHIPPING NEWS

RMTnews :: march 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 14 SHIPPING T he process of putting Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services out to tender, as demanded by EU rules, has cost the Scottish taxpayer more than a staggering £17million. The figure is more than half the annual subsidy for CalMac, which was the only bidder to run more than 20 Clyde and Hebrides routes after V-Ships to pulled out of the process. The Scottish Executive claimed that it had no choice but to go ahead with the tendering process under EU competition law. The figures break down to a cost to the executive of more than £2 million and £15 million to CalMac itself to cover the cost of preparing to defend itself against private competition. RMT said that the tendering of lifeline ferry routes had been a colossal waste of money that could and should have been invested in more and better services. The union argued that in the wake of the decision of V-Ships to pull out, the tendering process should have been abandoned altogether and CalMac left to get on with providing an accountable public service. "We warned not only that tendering was unnecessary, but that the process itself would only divert precious public money away from investment in more and better ferry services," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. Bob said that it spoke volumes that the private sector has cried foul over the building into the tender of protection for lifeline services, jobs, pay and pensions. RMT had put pressure on the Scottish Executive to protect the jobs, pay and conditions of existing Caledonian MacBrayne workers. The union has also been pressing the Scottish Executive to guarantee the continued employment of all existing Caledonian MacBrayne staff following tendering, irrespective of who wins the tender. "The hard reality is that private-sector's supposed ability to conjure up savings is an illusion achieved simply by slashing services and cutting jobs, pay and conditions, and the public ends up paying more for less,” Bob said. The tendering exercise was supposedly aimed at improving services and getting better value for money, but even before it started there were ample warnings, from Jeannette Findlay at Glasgow University and others, that the reverse was the most likely outcome. The Scottish Executive was warned that even if CalMac won the tender there would be significant and unnecessary costs associated with the fragmentation and wasteful extra tiers of management created by the process. "The current publicly-owned and publicly-accountable set-up offers the best value for the public's money - but we didn't need a costly tendering process to confirm what everybody already knew," Bob said. RMT and the Scottish TUC have pressed the Scottish Executive to build in safeguards for trade union recognition and to guard against a two-tier workforce. The union will also continue to campaign against calls to re-open the tendering process for CalMac ferry route T he Chamber of Shipping has agreed to an increase in the number of ratings to be trained under the revised structure of the tonnage tax scheme, which has been the subject of discussions within the Shipping Task Force. At the current time shipping companies entering the tonnage tax scheme have no mandatory commitment for UK ratings training. However, companies have to train one cadet for every fifteen officers employed. The Chamber of Shipping advised the Shipping Minister that shipping companies should now be allowed to train two ratings instead of one officer to fulfil their minimum training obligation as an alternative option. This clearly falls short of a mandatory commitment for the training of ratings but is nonetheless a step in the right direction and is due to the relentless campaign RMT has fought on this issue. The Department of Transport will have to agree to change the scheme and amend the Minimum Training Obligation, but the union hopes that this can be done without too much delay. In addition, the union has been having a separate dialogue with Clyde Marine and Maersk regarding voluntary training commitments for ratings. This has also assisted the union campaign by defeating Chamber of Shipping arguments that no commitments could be made on ratings training. MAERSK The union has also held discussions with Maersk, which were facilitated by Gwen Prosser MP. The company has agreed to train twelve ratings and guarantee their employment. The company wish to formerly approach the Department of Transport to seek their approval and to facilitate a scheme whereby other companies can run similar projects in return for financial support. TONNAGE TAX TRAINING BREAKTHROUGH CALMAC TENDERING 'COST MILLIONS'