Today (14 Nov.) the European Parliament voted for confrontation instead of dialogue in the European Port Industry. By 250 votes in favor and 271 votes against (14 abstentions) the EP voted against an amendment which aimed to delete cargo handling from the draft text for a directive. Pilotage was voted out the draft text.
Next important phase is the process leading to a decision by the Council of European Ministers of Transport. Port workers unions all over Europe now should start (or continue) to influence their own national governments and their own national transport ministers.
This process will be discussed at a meeting of the Dockers Section Committee of the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) on the 20th of November. I expect that in one stage, approaching a meeting of the Council of Ministers which will discuss the Directive, unions all over Europe will again make it clear that they do not want this directive.
The most effective way to organise this European wide opposition (in addition to what needs to be done on national level) is to organise, if and when necessary, so called lightning strikes (or workstoppages), every day another strike in another port. And each strike should be a surprise notably for the shipping lines and shippers who are the big supporters of the current text of the directive and thus of the so called selfhandlers. By organising strike actions in this way and not by organising one or two or even three full strike days in all ports on the same day, trade unions and workers will be able to continue for a very long period this disruption of the just-in-time schedules of the shipping lines. They will no longer be able to guarantee their customers (shippers) the date and time their ships call certain ports.
In the 70s and 80s we had very good experience with this model in Rotterdam. It drove the shipping lines and terminal operators mad, as they could not plan. At one stage they begged us to call for an all out strike on all terminals, so they could advise shipping lines to divert their ships to other ports, which they could not do because each strike lasted perhaps 4 or 8 but maximum 12 hours and even for a delay of only 12 hours (or perhaps only 8 or 4?) ships are not diverted to other ports.
By using this model on EU level the chaos could be much bigger and the costs for the unions and workers much lower. This model of lightning strikes also offers the opportunity that unions belonging to different international organisations or not belonging to an international organistion, can participate in the action without formal structural cooperation and with respect for each internal decision taking procedure.
What follows now is the media release of the EP.
Georg JARZEMBOWSKI (EPP-ED, D)
Report on the proposal for a European Parliament and Council decision on market access to port services
(COM(2001) 35 - C5-0078/2001 - 2001/0047(COD))
Doc. : A5-0354/2001
Procedure : Codecision procedure (1st reading)
Debate : 13. 11. 2001
Vote: 14. 11. 2001 (292/233/32)
Parliament has substantially amended this proposal, which is designed to open up access to port services, in two key areas: the transparency of public funding in European seaports and the range of port services to be covered by the directive.
The House adopted amendments tabled by the EPP-ED, PES, Greens/EFA and UEN groups designed to ensure fair competition among and within European seaports, introduce financial transparency and lay down clear rules for uniformly assessing public funding for seaports, seaport systems and port undertakings. MEPs believe care must be taken not to discriminate against publicly-owned seaports or seaport systems and port undertakings. Since the Commission was not willing to lay down guidelines for state aid in seaports, Parliament introduced a new article formulating the principles for state aid applying specifically to seaports.
It was decided that public funding of port infrastructure accessible to all users on an equal footing and of user-specific measures sold or rented at market prices or financed on the market participant principle in the case of publicly-owned ports or port services would not constitute state aid. However, public funding should always require notification and approval by the Commission.
A majority in Parliament also felt that pilotage should not be included in the list of services covered by this directive. For obvious reasons of maritime safety, national public authorities must continue to be responsible for regulating pilotage.
Press enquiries:
Ton Huyssoon
(Strasbourg) tel. (33) 3 881 74005
(Brussels) tel. (32-2) 28 42408
e-mail: region-press@europarl.eu.int
