ACT ON SWANLAND ‘MISADVENTURE'

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2014 :: RMTnews 22 VICTORY: Stena reps meet with RMT national secretary Steve Todd R MT has forced Stena to drop plans for pay cuts and extended working hours as part of its plans to reduce overall costs in the Irish Sea by 10 per cent. Earlier this year Stena launched plans for pay cuts, a return to working 26 weeks as opposed to the present 24 weeks, cuts in the sick pay and a cheaper crewing model. RMT national secretary Steve Todd said that the union refused to enter negotiations and warned that any such draconian measures would be met with a ballot for industrial action. Following extensive negotiations Stena withdrew plans to cut pay and increase working hours. “Our aim is to protect the current terms and conditions of the current workforce and that includes time off and no pay cuts. “We also want jobs for future generation British and Irish seafarers on Stena vessels in the Irish Sea,” he said. Steve Todd warned that decent jobs are under threat due to cheap undercutting by unscrupulous employers in the Irish Sea, such as Irish Ferries and Sea Truck. “The lack of willingness by both the Irish and British governments to implement the national minimum wage is also very unhelpful. “The union is lobbying for the enforcement of the minimum wage and the equality act. “This is long overdue and is painstaking, but we are getting somewhere with the government telling us that there will be targeted enforcement now,” he said. STENA STEPS BACK R MT called for ship owners to be brought to account after a jury returned a verdict of misadventure on six Russian sailors who died when the cargo ship MV Swanland sank off the Welsh coast. Just two of the eight-man Russian crew survived when the Swanland, a flag of convenience vessel, sank in November 2011 as it carried quarry stone from Llanddulas, near Colwyn Bay. The inquest in Caernarfon heard that only one body was recovered and a post-mortem examination showed he had drowned. Tony Brown from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) told the jury that an abandon ship drill was not conducted regularly. RMT called for those responsible to be prosecuted and for the government to take action to prevent any repetition. RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash said that the MAIB report into the avoidable sinking of the Swanland in the Irish Sea should have shamed the government and the international maritime industry into urgent action but the practices that led to the events back in 2011 still continue to this day. "This rusting death trap of a vessel had been flagged out to the Cook Islands and allowed to dodge the most basic of safety and maintenance regimes. "RMT continues to call for corporate manslaughter charges to be laid against those who sent these lads to their deaths, an end to flagging out and the dodging of safety regulations and action by the UK government to end the scandal of the ships of shame sailing out of British ports and in British waters,” he said. RMT national secretary Steve Todd said that a repeat of the disaster was just waiting to happen and warm words and lip service would achieve nothing. “The only answer is decisive and hard line action,” he said. ACT ON SWANLAND ‘MISADVENTURE'