RECOGNITION DEAL AT VATTENFALL WINDPOWER

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2021 :: RMTnews 6 R MT has won a union recognition deal for collective bargaining at Vattenfall Windpower in Barrow-in-Furness after the union gained 100 per cent membership. The organising drive began after Vattenfall embarked on a harmonisation programme which involved reducing holiday entitlement, incorporating public holidays into the off-shift and therefore unpaid and unpaid breaks which were rejected by the workforce. RMT regional organiser Daren Ireland said that an improved deal was achieved and working with the union’s Liverpool Shipping branch the workers showed tremendous solidarity by sticking together in unity, despite management threatening to fire and re-hire these workers. Following this victory the union made an application for recognition through the statutory process via the Central Arbitration Committee which was accepted. “Negotiations commenced and a voluntary recognition agreement has been concluded between RMT and Vattenfall, which gives collective bargaining for pay, hours and holidays and the agreement gives two industrial and and health and safety representative, the nomination process is now underway. “This now gives service leaders, offshore technicians, warehouse, offshore planning workers union bargaining power at the Ormonde offshore windfarm, to improve pay and conditions as well as health and safety in the offshore sector,” he said. R MT has slammed government proposals for tonnage tax reform announced in the Budget which made no reference at all to jobs or training for UK ratings. The government will introduce a package of measures to reform the tonnage tax regime from April 2022 to attract ships to register in the UK. These reforms aim to see more shipping companies basing their headquarters in the UK. The extension will also cover cruise companies, ships that lay cables for wind farms and scientific research vessels. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that the tonnage tax was already a bad deal for British ratings but the Brexit vote had given the government the chance to amend state aid schemes like Tonnage Tax to directly benefit ratings and maritime communities, reversing the long term decline seen in seafarer jobs. “Instead, the Chancellor is choosing to compete with flags of convenience like Cyprus, Malta and Singapore which operate tonnage tax schemes that openly drive down seafarer pay and conditions to levels that UK seafarers cannot be expected to compete with.  "Only 75 ratings have been trained on ships that qualify for the UK Tonnage Tax whilst shipowners from around the world have received over £2.165 billion in tax relief since the scheme was introduced. But this is not just about training. Only 13 per cent of ratings working in the UK shipping industry live and spend their money in the UK. " We can understand why the scheme is to be extended to growth areas in shipping and decarbonisation but without mandatory links to apprenticeship training and permanent employment for British seafarers, the Tonnage Tax scheme will continue to benefit the world’s wealthiest shipowners at the expense of seafarers and their families in this country.  "This is economic madness for an island nation emerging from the pandemic and magnifies the worst impacts on seafarers from EU membership. “We need a system of cabotage laws based on the Jones Act in the USA to put seafarers at the heart of UK shipping, not a complete capitulation to global capitalism,” he said. RECOGNITION DEAL AT VATTENFALL WINDPOWER WHERE ARE THE TONNAGE TAX JOBS?