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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2019 :: RMTnews 15 RMT held protests this month calling for an end to Condor Ferries paying poverty wages on its ships. Condor is contracted by the Jersey and Guernsey governments to operate lifeline ferry services between Portsmouth and Poole and the Channel Islands and its contract is up for renewal this year. RMT is calling on trade unionists, politicians and the public in Jersey, Guernsey and the UK to support the protest in pursuit of the union’s demands for: • A Living Wage employer (£9.75 per hour), as a minimum on lifeline Channel Island ferry services. • Recognition for RMT to collectively bargain for seafarer ratings. • Register all UK-Channel Island ferries in the Red Ensign Group. • Binding targets for Seafarer apprentices over the life of the next contract. The protests were part of RMT’s SOS 2020 campaign which is calling out companies’ profiting from the exploitation of seafarers, including Condor Ferries’ owners, the Australian bank Macquarie who extract a management fee under the current contract with the governments of Jersey and Guernsey. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that that UK and Channel Island seafarers cannot and should not have to compete with poverty pay rates on these ships of shame. “Scandalously low pay in the shipping industry has driven a fall in UK ratings of over 60 per cent since the 1980s. “Yet there are 87,000 ratings jobs in the UK shipping industry, with demand forecast to grow in the coming years. RMT is fighting to enable domestic seafarers to compete for these jobs by enforcing Minimum Wage legislation and ending nationality based pay discrimination. “In addition to disgracefully low wages, 81 per cent of Channel Islanders in 2016 were dissatisfied with Condor Ferries, the result of rising fares, safety incidents, service cancellations, delayed freight supplies and exploitative employment practices. “This is no way to run a lifeline ferry service for the public, government and businesses of the Channel Islands, and we look forward to debating these matters with them,” he said. CONDOR PROTESTS DEMAND FAIR EMPLOYMENT Union demands an end to social dumping on Condor ferries running services between the UK and Channel Islands