CARE FOR SEAFARERS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2021 :: RMTnews 14 The Seafarers Hospital Society (SHS), Yale University and Lloyd’s Register Foundation has told shipping companies that they will need to create a culture of care if they are to adequately address the health and welfare needs of seafarers. Reporting on the early findings of their study of maritime worker health initiatives, Dr Martin Slade, Director of Yale University Maritime Research said: “Seafarers need to feel safe and be able to express themselves without fear of reprisal. They need to be looked at as people not just a source of profit. “When they finish their tour they are at their highest risk of suicide, not just while they’re on board, but just after they leave the ship too. “So the culture of care needs to be holistic - on board and on shore, involving not only the crew but their families as well,” he said. Dr Olivia Swift of Lloyd’s Register Foundation highlighted a further five key messages for shipping companies emerging from the research so far. They are: get the basics right for food, water, accommodation and recreation; minimise bureaucratic workload and undue pressure by automating or moving some aspects ashore, look at what can be done to address fatiguing and intensive port calls; consider the potential to reduce contract length and address the impact of no change crew clauses on seafarer health and welfare. “No crew change clauses have been an issue over the last year during COVID and many of the companies participating in our research felt they should be refused when signing agreements with charterers. While acknowledging the difficulty in potential implementation and the financial risks taken by charterers, many of the study’s respondents felt that responsible companies should turn down business with a charterer if the terms were not conducive to good psychological wellbeing for seafarers,” said Dr Swift. These and other emerging issues are part of a larger ongoing study looking at the effectiveness of the various maritime worker health initiatives taken by shipping companies, charities and the wider maritime sector to keep seafarers healthy and safe. Ismael Cobos Delgado of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) said: “It has been, and continues to be, a very challenging time for the whole maritime community. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to place immense physical and mental pressures on the world’s two million seafarers. Hundreds of thousands still face extended times at sea, with tours of duty stretching many months beyond their contracts. Unable to go to shore, repatriate and join ships, and without access to medical care, seafarers face a humanitarian crisis that puts at risk the safety and the future of shipping”. To watch a video on the subject go to: www.seahospital.org.uk NATIONALISE THE RAILWAYS, CUT FARES AND RAISE WAGES The government is propping up a failing private sector, helping them to extract profits from our railways at public expense, even as stark reality forces them to nationalise ever more of the network. The price of this dogma is that in the pandemic year, around £1.3 billion will leave the industry in profits to the private sector that will not be reinvested in the railway. Instead of being siphoned off overseas by foreign investors or shuffled off into tax havens, this money should be spent on the railways. Staff costs in 2019-20 were £3.1 billion. If the government were to take the TOCs back into public ownership as their ERMAs expire, the TOCs’ profits from this year would be more than enough to pay for an inflation-matching pay rise for all staff (£149 million). RMT has called for the ROSCOs to be nationalised and for the government to directly procure and own trains. However, the government could introduce a Windfall Tax on their pandemic dividends. The ROSCOs pay on average, £260 million a year in dividends, an obscene amount in itself. A Windfall Tax of 50 per cent on all their dividends above this figure would raise around £345 million, enough to fund a cut of 3.6 per cent in rail fares (measured against fare income in 2019/20 which was £9.5 billion). A 100 per cent Windfall Tax would raise £690 million, enough to fund a 7.2 per cent cut in rail fares. TABLE 6: NETWORK RAIL OUTSOURCING PROFIT LEAKAGE Network Rail spending, (£m) Profit leakage (£m) Financial Year 2019-20 Operations and support 2117 0 Maintenance 1737 0 Renewals (outsourced) 2908 174 Enhancements (outsourced) 1824 109 Finance costs 2105 Other 360 TOTAL 11051 284 TABLE 7: PANDEMIC YEAR PROFITS – WHOLE SYSTEM ROSCO dividends £950 million TOC profits £175 million Network Rail sub-contracting profits £174 million Total £1,229 million TABLE 5: PANDEMIC PROFITS BY TOCS AND ROSCOS ROSCO dividends £950 million TOC profits £175 million Total £1,125 million CARE FOR SEAFARERS Culture of care is key to seafarer health and welfare