CARING FOR ORPHANS OF SEAFARERS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: november 2007 :: RMTnews 19 SHIPPING NEWS In 1868 a group of Liverpool ship-owners, led by James Beazley, sponsored a project to provide an institution to care for the large numbers of orphaned children of deceased Merseyside seamen. The sponsors had long been concerned how best to help the families of Merseyside men lost at sea or who had died as a result of an accident or from natural causes. Records show that in 1866 the number of seamen serving on British Merchant vessels totalled 196,371 and a staggering 4,886 died during that year, 2,390 by drowning. The overall project was such an outstanding success that in early 1869, the Liverpool Seamen’s Orphan Institution came into being and a temporary building in Duke Street Liverpool was commissioned to house the first children. TODAY Today there is no longer an orphanage, but still a need. The work of the Institution continues today from offices in Liverpool to approve grants, consider financial aspects and formulate plans to implement the purpose of the Institution. There is a small team who put into practice the decisions taken at the committee meetings and the secretary, Linda Gidman pays regular visits to families throughout the UK to learn of the many educational successes the beneficiaries have achieved. It has become clear that despite government payments there is a need for the Institution in helping to resolve the fears and anxieties of widows suddenly faced with the daunting task of raising a family without adequate financial resources. The Royal Liverpool Seamen’s Orphan Institution is there to help you with each application considered on its own merit. You have nothing to lose by making that application and we know the children will have everything to gain. For further information contact; The Royal Liverpool Seamen’s Orphan Institution 3 Ground Floor Tower Building 22 Water Street Liverpool L3 1AB Telephone: 0151 227 3417 Email: enquiries@rlsoi-uk.org Maritime trade unionists from more than two dozen countries gathered at the London headquarters of UK ratings’ union RMT recently for a session of the International Transport Workers Federation’s International Ratings’ Forum. Campaigns to defend and improve maritime safety standards, skills, pay and conditions, and to resist social dumping and counter the threat posed by flags of convenience were on the forum’s agenda. “As Britain’s ratings union, we are proud to host this important gathering of the global family of maritime ratings’ unions,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. “Attacks on maritime workers’ rights, casualisation, erosion of skills and agreements and social dumping are global problems that require a global trade-union response, and the ratings’ forum has a key role to play,” Bob Crow said. “Co-operation and solidarity among maritime unions are crucial in countering the increasing attacks our members face around the world,” said forum chair Carl Tauson of Swedish union SEKO. RMT national secretary Steve Todd said that the ratings’ forum gave unions the opportunity to discuss common problems globally and to see what could be done collectively to resolve them and to put a stop to the race to the bottom. CARING FOR ORPHANS OF SEAFARERS The Royal Liverpool Seamen’s Orphan Institution has been looking after the children of seafarer’s for 140 years and it is still going RMT HOSTS INTERNATIONAL RATINGS’ FORUM Unions from around the world discuss joint work for safety, skills and maritime standards