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RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: november/december 2010 :: RMTnews 6 U nions representing hundreds of workers at the Isle of Man Steam Packet have launched a campaign against social dumping on ferry services to the mainland. Steam-Packet workers lobbied the Manx parliament for intervention to protect local jobs and services from attempts by Estonian-registered Mezeron Shipping to drive out the world’s oldest operating ferry company. Tesco wants to use Mezeron’s freight ships Kurkse and Kalana, which pay rock- bottom wages, to undermine long-standing, negotiated arrangements with the Steam Packet company. Trade unionists also converged on the Port of Liverpool building at Pier Head to demonstrate in support of the Steam-Packet campaign and against shipowners employing seafarers on rates below the minimum wage. The 180-year-old company maintains a vital lifeline to the island and employs 350 permanent staff and a further 150 seasonal staff. Its Isle of Man service runs from Liverpool and Heysham to Douglas or, during winter months, from Heysham on Mondays to Fridays and from Birkenhead on Saturdays and Sundays. Its freight revenues have for many years cross-subsidised passenger fares and the company does not receive any operating subsidy from either the Manx or UK governments. Any reduction to passenger services will not only impact on jobs but also will have a damaging knock-on effect on the Manx economy through a significant reduction to tourism and industry, with an impact on local taxis, suppliers and support services. RMT general secretary Bob Crow joined the workforce and fellow shipping union Nautilus in a meeting in Douglas with the island’s minister of Infrastructure to put the case for intervention to defend jobs against social dumping. “It is a scandal that there is now an orchestrated attempt to undermine the viability and the future of the Isle of Man Steam Packet, putting more than 300 island jobs, plus many more that depend on the continuation of the service, on the block,” he said. L ondon Underground fleet maintenance staff launched a work to rule last month after voting by nearly 90 per cent for industrial action. Staff will only process vehicle maintenance instructions, and will not carry out higher grade working or co-operate with staff movements away from home locations. Fleet maintenance staff voted by 88 per cent in favour of industrial action over safety-critical cuts that have ripped up tube maintenance schedules leaving brakes and other equipment in a lethal state of disrepair. The action comes on the day that a shortage of functioning trains caused chaos on the Metropolitan and Victoria Lines and after a finance-driven extension of maintenance schedules on the District Line led to the withdrawal of the entire fleet due to cracking of key parts. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the union had warned repeatedly that LU/TfL’s cuts plans were playing fast and loose with safety and will turn the tube into a death trap. “It is a scandal that the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, and his transport officials have chosen to ignore those warnings. “The anger of our members who carry out the safety-critical function of maintaining the tube fleet at the cuts being imposed from above is reflected in this massive vote for action,” he said. The closure of District Line services, and the shortage of rolling stock on other lines, has been a damning indictment of London Underground’s cuts plans which has rammed home the consequences of ripping up the rule book on fleet maintenance. UNIONS STEP UP FIGHT TO SAVE ISLE OF MAN STEAM PACKET TUBE FLEET MAINTENANCE STAFF FIGHT SAFETY-CRITICAL CUTS FAULTY: A faulty coupling on the District Line