INTERNATIONAL NEWS

INTERNATIONAL NEWS RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2010 :: RMTnews 22 EU DEMANDS ITALIAN FERRY SELL-OFF Italy has been told by the European Union to privatise the country’s 76-vessel ferry company Tirrenia di Navigazione, Europe’s largest operator. Pressurised by the European Commission, the sell-off starts with the privatisation process for Toremar, the first of Tirrenia’s five regionally based operators. Toremar’s eight vessels link the Italian mainland with islands off Tuscany. The other subsidiaries comprise Naples based small island operator Caremar,14 vessels, Sardinia based Saremar, seven ships, that links the island to Corsica and nearby islands, the 23 strong fleet of Siremar connecting Sicily with the Aeolian Islands, Lampedusa, Pantelleria and the Aegadian Islands and Tirrenia’s 22-vessel Adriatic Division with connections between the Italian mainland and with Albania. Privatised Tirrenia Group companies will operate under 8- 12-year public service concessions. Italy’s Ustica Lines and Moby Line, France-based Corsica Ferries and Argentinian operator Buquebus are among have already shown interest in Toremar’s sell-off and could be joined by Veolia Transport. Applications must be lodged by March with the successful candidate selected in September. Ratings unions say they will react when they see the conditions of the sell-off and the effect on members’ jobs. FRENCH RAIL UNIONS STRIKE FOR JOBS France’s four main rail unions have united to take action against plans to axe 3,600 jobs this year. The powerful CGT rail workers’ union, UNSA, SUD and the CFDT have called a 24-hour strike on 3 February for jobs and conditions, to counter management’s restructuring plans and in defence of French Rail (SNCF) as a public service. The day of action could be the start of more action as the SNCF “only negotiates if it is compelled to”, said CGT general secretary Didier le Reste. The unions say that the SNCF, which has reduced its workforce by 21,500 jobs in the last seven years. The action follows stoppages in December and pressure on the SNCF to boost its share of rail freight following the European Commission’s opening of domestic freight routes to market competition in April 2006. GREEK RATINGS' UNION FIGHT SOCIAL DUMPING The powerful Greek seamen’s union, the Panhellenic Seamens’ Federation (PNO), has launched a campaign of industrial action against the employment of low- paid Romanian in the latest case of social dumping in the shipping industry in Europe. The Greek/Italian Minoan Lines’ newest vessel plans to employ 50 low-paid foreign seafarers on the Cruise Europa, delivered to the Grimaldi group subsidiary in 2009 and the largest on Greece-Italy routes. While the operator is following the trend of European-based operators to pay foreign seafarers less than Greek nationals, it is also infringing on Greek legislation on the crewing levels that must be assured by the country’s seamen. The Greek association of coastal trading operators is campaigning against the national rules, citing the recent bankruptcy of three ferry companies: GA Ferries, SAOS Anen and Kallisti Ferries. VEOLIA BIDS TO COMPETE WITH SNCF Rail group Véolia Environment is in talks with Italy’s state- owned rail operator Ferrovie dello Stato to operate high- speed trains in France from then beginning of 2012. The probable first route would link Milan and Paris. Trenitalia is the first foreign operator to have requested slots in France after the European Commission introduced EU ‘open access’ rules for international rail passenger routes last month. This will also allow Trenitalia to compete with French Rail (SNCF) by operating with a stop in France before Paris, in this case in Lyons although private passenger transport in a foreign country will not come into effect until around 2015. Veolia is also looking possible competition with Eurostar between Paris and London, which would also include the Paris-Lille section. And a Brussels – Paris service via Lyons, also in competition with the SNCF. POLISH HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS DEMAND JUSTICE The last remaining Polish victims of the transport trains that took millions to Nazi death camps have mounted a claim for compensation after learning that Germany’s state rail company is planning to run again on Polish rails. Some 7,000 survivors are demanding compensation from Deutsche Bahn for the profits of the company’s European expansion, which was made possible by the deregulation of rail competition under EU rules from January 1. CHINA BUILDS HIGH- SPEED RAILWAY China Railway High-speed (CRH) trains begins running in western China this month, linking XiAn in northwest Chinas Shaanxi province with Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province. The new train completes the 505-kilometre journey in 1 hour and 48 minutes at a speed of up to 352 km/h, cutting the travel time from the current six hours. The line, part of a major east-west railway artery between Xuzhou and Lanzhou, cost about £4 billion.