The EU’s Market Access/Port Services Directive is, at bottom, merely another version of the same old song rendered by the chorus of those who would stand to gain if all of the world’s achievements on behalf of workers were reduced to the lowest common denominator.
It is sung the same tune as the GATS MARITIME TRANSPORT OBJECTIVES MARCH the NAFTA NOCTURNE and so many other oldies but baddies.
For the ILWU gang, some of whom may not be too familiar with it, I’d like to suggest some further online reading:
Here you will find the shippers’ summaries of individual Parliament Members’ opinions and their comments about the directive’s potential deleterious effects on fair competition (in this case, regarding Jarzembowski’s recommendation to exclude cargo handling from the directive).
Because of the directive’s concentrated attention to competition and the employer’s right to hire whomever the hell he wants and because of the glaring lack of attention to safety, wages and working conditions, many labor organizations are uniting to oppose the thing.
A couple of examples not previously mentioned: the European Maritime Pilots’ Association (EMPA): www.fedepiloti-porti.it/empa.htm
the UK’s Transport and General Workers’ Union (T&G) www.tgwu.org.uk/tgonline/newsrelease/pr0146.htm
The directive’s most enthusiastic and unqualified support seems to come from some ship owners. But then again, the ECSA (European Community Shipowners’ Associations) put “the abolition of outmoded labour practices” on their list of “basic principles”. They, quite consistently, also state that attacks on WTO rounds and GATTS negotiations “from numerous fractions in the civil society” are “probably partly based on legitimate concerns. . . but largely on what appear purely emotional grounds.”
Peter mentioned the splendid opposition being mounted by the Spanish Longshore Union, Coordinadora Estatal De Trabajadores Del Mar. Some background might help ILWU members better understand that organization’s position within that country and (especially) how it contrasts with our own position in the United States.
First, we must appreciate that, in Spain, privatization is still an ugly word – NOT the status quo. The Spanish longshoreman essentially works under two documents: a (national) General Framework Agreement and a local (Port) agreement.
The General Framework Agreement is negotiated by three parties:
a. the Puertos del Estado (which we would call a national port authority),
b. the Asociation Nacional de Empresas Estibadores Y Consignatarias de Buques (a national owners’ organization) and
c. the Union
The port agreements are negotiated between the Union and a Sociedad de Estiba (literally translated: stevedoring society) in each port. These stevedoring societies function and relate to the union in much the same way as the PMA does with the ILWU. There is, however, a very major difference in their make-up. The majority interest (51%) in each Sociedad de Estiba is state capital. The companies make up the other 49%.
Obviously, any measures that would so much as upset that longstanding balance would be grave concerns to the trade union within such a system. The potential effect of this directive is much more serious than that.
Regardless of the original intent and despite the controversial matter of the inclusion or exclusion of cargo handling from the directive, this undertaking begins to undermine the authority of (and thereby to threaten the survival of) the very structures within which the Spanish Union and many other European Unions represent workers in our industry. Therefore, it threatens the survival of the unions, themselves and we must consider this the proverbial “injury to all.” Their fight is our fight. It always is, really, isn’t it?
The frustrating, but unavoidable, facts are that the higher the shit gets stacked against us, the more we need to shovel together and. . . the stack gets higher and higher all the time.
To paraphrase an oldie but goodie: (with utmost respect to the memory of Violeta Parra) Caramba y zamba la cosa. . . ĦQue vivan los estibadores!
frats, ole
