PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

The benefits of a healthy maritime sector to an island country cannot be overestimated. Unemployment is heading for three million and the government should invest in training opportunities for seafarers which offer a stable and exciting career, especially for those being denied significant career opportunities by a Tory-led coalition that regards youth unemployment as a price worth paying for their kamikaze attack on public spending. The government is constantly telling us about their success in increasing the number of apprenticeships for young people. There were 457,200 apprenticeships in 2010-11, a welcome 63 per cent increase on the previous year, but the vast majority of these new apprenticeships were in business administration and retail, and a record number of apprentices are over 25 years old. Whilst the National Apprenticeship Service will target specific sectors in the future, the acute lack of training opportunities in the maritime sector is fuelling a crisis in recruitment. For example, there were 4,000 deck, engine room and general purpose UK ratings in 2011, a 22 per cent drop since 2002. One of the few training schemes still offering a route into the maritime industry is provided by public sector ferry company Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) which operates lifeline services to communities on the Northern Isles and off the West Coast of Scotland. However, as RMT members will be aware, the SNP government is threatening to privatise the more lucrative CalMac routes. Not only would this be disastrous for communities and CalMac employees, it would also jeopardise one of the few providers of a meaningful training programme for people, particularly the young unemployed, looking for a career at sea. The Westminster government could do more to make shipping companies benefiting from the Tonnage Tax train more UK seafarer ratings in return for the tax break they enjoy. In a speech at a recent Chamber of Shipping dinner, the Shipping Minister Mike Penning stated: “We have no intention whatsoever of touching the Tonnage Tax.” But he gave the game away when he also said in the same speech that he will “find more money” for the Support for Maritime Training (SMaRT) programme. The need for a campaigning union in the maritime sector is highlighted in the ongoing campaign to end pay differentials aboard all UK flagged vessels working in UK territorial waters. At present some EU and non-EU nationals can and are paid inferior rates by shipping companies. Whilst the Tory-led coalition has introduced regulations to ensure that the Race Relations Act 1976 applies on these vessels, they are a pale imitation of the last Labour government’s proposals which Penning has chosen to drop. The Parliamentary group will work with the union to highlight where these new regulations are failing to protect vulnerable seafarers and we would welcome testimony of RMT members who witness such exploitation. The group will also support the union’s efforts to apply the National Minimum Wage to UK-flagged vessels working in our territorial waters. A working group was set up at the end of the last Labour government and the Minister is trying to kick this into the long grass. We won’t let him and will raise this at the group’s meeting with Mike Penning on March 8. We need more jobs from the maritime sector, not just in Hull but all over the UK. Being part of a fighting, well organised union can make this happen and I am proud to work with RMT to get a better deal from the maritime sector which is over indulged by this government. Karl Turner MP for Hull East SAVE OUR SHIPPING RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2012 :: RMTnews 9 The proposals in both McNulty and Rail 2014 mean that both staff and passengers are set to suffer while railway companies are allowed to extract huge profits from the industry. This is in addition to the £11 billion extracted from the industry in England and Wales since privatisation and £74 million in dividends that has been siphoned from Scotland’s railways in the last four years. Together with sister unions, RMT plans to step up the campaign with local meetings across Britain hosted by trades councils. Many trades councils have indicated that they are keen to hold the meetings in response to a recent letter from the union. A further nationwide day of action is organised for March 21. Contact your branch if you are able to help with handing out postcards on the day. A full list of stations where there will be activity will be published on the RMT website in the run-up to the day. Get up to date news on the campaign to Save Our Railways at www.rmt.org.uk Parliamentary column EARLY DAY MOTION 2299 IMPACT OF THE MCNULTY REVIEW ON RAIL PASSENGERS AND WORKERS That this House is concerned that the proposals of the Government- commissioned McNulty review of the railways will worsen passenger services through the loss of thousands of frontline workers from trains, stations, ticket offices and safety-critical infrastructure and operational roles; is further concerned that the review proposals for greater commercial freedom for train operating companies will result in higher fares, cuts in services and more crowded trains; believes that proposals to break up Network Rail will increase the complexity and inefficiency of the railways, and ignores lessons from railways in European countries which have generally achieved lower costs and fares through a more unified structure; and urges the government to use its forthcoming rail White Paper to deliver an expanding railway system, with affordable fares and proper staffing levels, operated as a public service which puts the needs of passengers, the economy, manufacturing and the environment before commercial considerations. John McDonnell MP