HANDS OFF SCOTTISH FERRY SERVICES

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2010 :: RMTnews 13 RMT general secretary Bob Crow met with Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently to press for increased funding for seafaring ratings training. He told the Prime Minister that urgent help was needed to boost ratings training. The proposals for increased training support for seafaring ratings and officers were presented as part of a UK Shipping Industry training document that has now been with the Department for Transport since 2007. Representatives from all sides of the UK Shipping Industry were in attendance at the meeting, together with Parliamentary Group members Gwyn Prosser MP and John McDonnell MP, and the Prime Minister has promised to respond within a month. The Prime Minister indicated that the Industry proposals may have a place alongside other initiatives on apprenticeships and job creation programmes. The document has arisen following pressure from the union for concessions relating to the tonnage tax. At the current time shipping companies entering the tonnage tax scheme have no mandatory commitment for UK ratings training. However, for officers companies, have to train one cadet for every fifteen officers employed. The proposals would mean that shipping companies can train two ratings instead of one officer to fulfill their Minimum Training Obligation as an alternative option. The joint document also includes a request for enhanced training support for companies that agree to train and employ UK seafarers, ratings and officers, for a minimum period of time. Seafarer members will receive a campaign postcard with this magazine (above) and are urged to send them directly to your MP. Cards can be obtained from regional and shipping offices, or you can e- mail s.yandell@rmt.org.uk at Head Office. RMT is setting up a series of meeting in Scotland in May as part of the campaign against proposals to break up the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network, currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne. The union will use the meeting to spell out the case for the retention of the existing life line ferry network. RMT is also concerned for the future of other ferry services, such as the Northern Isles arising from the review of Scottish ferry services by the Scottish government. RMT has consistently opposed tendering of ferry services on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network and will continue to do so. At the current time Caledonian MacBrayne operate the routes but there is no guarantee for the future with the Scottish Executive continuing to bend to the will of the European Commission and the implementation of the EU maritime regulations. PRIVATISATION Under these rules, RMT members are faced with the immediate threat of privatisation by default through the possible fragmentation of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network. RMT General Secretary Bob Crow and National Secretary Steve Todd have already met with Scottish government officials to express concerns over the way the review of Scottish Ferry services is taking place. Civil servants have commissioned consultants to examine how ferry services are currently operated and how these services should be organised. It is possible that additional ferry services might be recommended, but the consultancy work being undertaken by Professor Alf Baird University of the Transport Research Institute at Edinburgh Napier University is also examining the structure and existing networks of ferry services, including the Clyde and Hebrides, and the Northern Isles. RMT has made a detailed submission outlining arguments for the retention of the Clyde and Hebrides network direct to the Scottish government: • The existing network provides important economies of scale and gives flexibility through redeployment of tonnage. • Services are run on the basis of needs for local communities and businesses rather than profit • Cross subsidy enables the routes that may be profitable in the summer to subsidise the rest of the network • Caledonian MacBrayne provides important training opportunities for ratings at a time when training in the UK Shipping Industry has dwindled to alarmingly low levels. • The company remain an important employer for not only the UK shipping industry but also within the island communities and passengers value the existing service. • The introduction of any new operators onto the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network could be very serious for the retention of Scottish maritime skills in the event that new companies sought to exploit the lack of employment regulation in the maritime industry and replace local seafarers with low cost foreign nationals. • The current workforce arrangements are not costly as portrayed by the critics, the Clyde and Hebrides services are provided on a lean and mean service of 13 ships that guarantee reliable ferry services to island services. • The employer has a stable workforce underpinned by a collective bargaining agreement and a workforce that understands the value of lifeline services to fragile island communities. • The European Commission has now approved the existing network so there is no reason for the Scottish government to contemplate fragmentation within the Scottish Ferries review. SAVE OUR MARITIME SKILLS HANDS OFF SCOTTISH FERRY SERVICES RMT steps up campaign against the break up of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network, currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne