EU LOBBY FIRM ‘BUYS UP’ EU MARITIME OFFICIALS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: july/august 2010 :: RMTnews 11 C orporate accountability campaigners are worried that a PR outfit that lobbies the European Union on maritime issues has "bought up the top of the EU's maritime department lock, stock and barrel". The alert came as Maltese EU commissioner Joe Borg, responsible for EU maritime affairs and fisheries until last year, gets set to start work with Fipra, a PR consultancy actively lobbying on maritime issues, whose main office is about 100 yards from the commission's headquarters in Brussels. The commission gave Mr Borg the green light to work at the firm recently, claiming that his “activity falls outside the scope of his portfolio during his time in office". Mr Borg will join his old colleague John Richardson, a former director in the European Commission's maritime and fisheries department, who in 2008 became Fipra's "maritime policy and diplomacy special advisor". During his time at the commission, Mr Richardson headed the task force that drafted the EU's 2007 Integrated Maritime Policy, which deals with competition, employment and environmental standards in the sector. Of the Corporate Europe Observatory, the EU transparency watchdog, sharply criticised the developments, noting that Fipra has not even signed up to the commission's own lobbyist registry. "Fipra appears to have bought up the top of the EU's maritime department lock, stock and barrel," he said. A total so far of six of the 13 EU commissioners who retired earlier this year have now gone on to work for banks, lobbying firms, insurance companies and airlines. Fipra's own website and the activities of the two men in question indicate there is an intimate connection between their old and new roles. Mr Borg while still commissioner was already rubbing shoulders with Fipra people, speaking at the company's annual conference in Malta last year. The Maltese maritime flag is now the second largest in Europe after Greece and the seventh largest worldwide. The manner of Mr Borg's recruitment also sheds light on his approach to the Fipra role. Fipra's Ukko Metsolo, who is married to Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas, a legal attache in the Maltese mission to the EU, indicated that Mr Borg used personal connections to fish for a job with the lobbying firm. SEAFARERS’ HELPLINE In this issue of RMT News shipping members will have a leaflet about a confidential debt helpline dedicated to seafarers. R MT joined the International Transport Workers Federation in condemning shipowners’ demands to water down rules on rest hours. The international seafarers’ organisation also expressed concerns about a reduction of training requirements for watchkeeping engineers. The ITF supported an increase in the minimum rest hours to 77 hours a week and 10 hours a day with a maximum 14 hours between rest periods, bringing the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) into line with the International Labour Organisation Maritime Labour Convention. However, the International Chamber of Shipping persuaded delegates at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) meeting in Manila to allow exceptions to meet ‘short term’ operational requirements. Unions pointed out that such exceptions posed a risk of seafarers suffering fatigue affecting their own and the vessels’ safety. ITF seafarers’ section assistant secretary John Bainbridge said that the ITF would continue to oppose flexibilities in hours of rest above those agreed. “Any agreement for seafarers to work 98 hours per week in the Year of the Seafarer is not sending out a message seafarers will by comforted by,” he said. The ITF was also disappointed that the convention did not address fatigue or enhance skill standards and even reduced the minimum training requirements for watchkeeping engineers from 30 months to 12 months by stealth. EU LOBBY FIRM ‘BUYS UP’ EU MARITIME OFFICIALS UNIONS ARGUE AGAINST LOOPHOLES IN SHIPPERS REST RULES