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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2019 :: RMTnews 14 RMT’s campaigning in the Irish Sea turned to ‘low-cost’ operator Seatruck in Liverpool last month with a protest at the company’s depot at Brocklebank Dock as the union steps up the fight for pay and workplace justice. Seatruck operate 76 freight sailings a week on three Irish Sea routes, Liverpool-Dublin, Heysham-Warrenpoint and Heysham-Dublin. Seatruck’s fleet carry 20 per cent of all freight moved on the Irish Sea, with ro-ro-freight volumes up 10 per cent in 2017. Larger ships have been moved onto all three routes this year to increase capacity. This growth saw post-tax profits of £9.4 million in 2017 and Seatruck has paid out a whopping £23.5 million in dividends in the last three years to shareholders in its Danish parent company, Clipper Group. Seatruck’s ferries, registered in Cyprus or the Isle of Man, are crewed with EU seafarers on rates of pay below the National Minimum Wage, as low as £3.78 an hour for Ratings working right weeks on four weeks off. By contrast, in 2017 Seatruck’s highest paid director received a 17 per cent pay rise to over £304,780. Crew working for the company do not receive a pension and are required to undertake lashing work which should be carried out by dockers. Unsurprisingly, Seatruck do not recognise UK or Irish trade unions for collective bargaining purposes Despite this fundamental attack on jobs, pay and trade union rights in the Irish Sea ferries industry, Seatruck was awarded ‘Business Model of the Year’ by Mersey Maritime in 2017. RMT general secretary Mick Cash called for trade union recognition and for the National Minimum Wages in UK and Ireland to be applied and enforced in the Irish Sea. “It is clear we need to better protect seafarers’ pay rates and to enable UK and Irish Ratings to compete for work on Seatruck and other Irish Sea operators in a maritime market which is expected to continue growing after Brexit,” he said. SUPPORT UK AND IRISH JOBS