NO TO SOCIAL DUMPING!

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2012 :: RMTnews 16 RMT has repeatedly warned that the government’s so-called ‘light touch’ regulations in the Equality Act leave seafarers vulnerable to exclusion on the grounds of nationality and increases the scandalous practice of social dumping. Despite new legislation, trumpeted by the European Union, massive scope remains for the shipping industry in the UK to continue paying lower wages to seafarers from non-EU countries, and to continue recruiting crew members on that basis. The specific case of Condor Ferries confirms that shipping companies are not deterred by the new regulations to impose pay discrimination. By employing Ukrainian seafarers on £2.35 per hour (£28.12 per day for a 12 hour shift) on routes between Portsmouth, Weymouth or Poole and the Channel Islands, Condor Ferries provide the latest example of seafarers being recruited on grounds of their nationality so they can be paid well below minimum wage and how the company can maximise its profits at the expense of UK seafarers. International Transport Workers’ Federation maritime co-ordinator Stephen Cotton described the practice as ‘utterly scandalous’ designed to pay seafarers way below the minimum wage. RMT president Alex Gordon told local media at the demonstration that social dumping was creating shameful conditions where workers were paid rates as low as 75p an hour as ‘captive foreign labour’ by companies based in the UK. “These practices are killing employment opportunities for British seafarers. “We see millions out of work and yet British seafarers will not be able to gain employment because of this race to the bottom,” he said. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the political elite was allowing their wealthy mates running the shipping companies to benefit from social dumping that dodges normal employment regulations while the EU turns a blind eye. “Social dumping is a mechanism seized on by rotten employers to batter down wages and conditions,” he said. RMT national secretary Steve Todd said that the fight against social dumping was a priority for the union. “We will step up the campaign to turn the spotlight on the shameful practices that this Con Dem government continues to legitimise in the British shipping industry,” he said. NO SOCIAL DUMPING: RMT Portsmouth branch joint chair Mick Stubbs and vice secretary Ian Boyle leafleting the port NO TO SOCIAL DUMPING! RMT protest in Portsmouth and Southampton against social dumping in the shipping sector which allows ‘captive’ foreign workers to be paid just 75p per hour