RMT SAYS NO TO SOCIAL DUMPING AT SEA

As part of a week of action against discrimination, RMT’s noisy, good-natured and colourful march was met by Belgian police in full riot gear and a water cannon, which barred the way to the parliament building. Inside the building, RMT national secretary Steve Todd was outlining the union’s concerns to European Union officials – and the one European Parliament member who bothered to turn up. Among the demonstrators were workers from Caledonian MacBrayne, whose lifeline Scottish ferry routes were put out to tender in a pointless and damaging process prompted by EU regulations. That process cost taxpayers £17 million that the union and the vast bulk of public opinion said should have been spent on improving services. “Social dumping by bosses who replace organised crews with cheap, super-exploited overseas labour has been made worse by European Court of Justice rulings that make effective strike action to defend jobs illegal,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow told an impromtu rally held in front of riot police. “On top of that we have EU regulations that insist on putting ferry services out to tender and we are demonstrating to defend services and jobs, against legalised discrimination and for seafarers’ rights “The billions our governments are paying to bail out bankers and privateers should be going directly into services run in the public sector for the benefit of all. “Working people across Europe need to protect their public services and this is not the last word, but the first,” Bob said. “Since the Irish Ferries dispute in 2005, when unionised Irish crews were replaced with unorganised low-paid east European labour, we have stepped up our campaign alongside colleagues in unions across Europe,” national secretary Steve Todd said. “Our campaign aims to highlight the role being played by the EU regulations and the ECJ rulings in undermining services and jobs and attempting to make strike action to defend them illegal. “We will continue to campaign for effective action by the UK government to ensure that decent minimum employment standards are imposed on UK-flag shipowners, but the key remains to organise maritime workers and demand our rights,” Steve said. RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: november/december 2008 :: RMTnews 17 RMT SAYS NO TO SOCIAL DUMPING AT SEA RMT seafarers and supporters from across Britain demonstrate in Brussels against ‘social dumping’ and European Union rules that threaten jobs and services