European dockworkers will strike on November 17th
I found the Lloyds List article A battle too far for the unions to be pathetic - especially the part about ship-owners licking their lips - they are always doing it and always will.
The fact is, that the very first time the IDC Directive Working Committee met with the Commission, we pointed out that the problems to which the ship-owners and shippers referred, real or envisaged, should be dealt with on a “case to case” basis. This is the way by which the Maastricht Treaty of the European Union stipulates that such problems should be dealt. It’s called the Principle of Subsidiarity and means that violations, problems, rule-making and so on, should be resolved at the lowest possible level. The Treaty has sufficient rules governing employments rights, rights to market access, free competition etc to make a directive superfluous. We stated that we were more than willing to help negotiate any problems where and when they arose.
As I said in my previous posting, we are fully aware that ship-owners will always be on our backs whatever the outcome. We have nothing to be ashamed of so we are more than willing to meet them in court if we can’t sort out case by case agreements. If they want to play it rough then well just have to go a few rounds with them - it wouldn’t be the first time.
As for Mr Grimaldi, nobody is refuting his right (in Italy anyway) to lick whatever part of his anatomy he wishes, nor paint his own house or even his own ships if he wants to. I wonder though what his local restaurant owner and the chef and the waiters would say if he went into their kitchen with his own steak and demanded to use their stove and frying pan? Then sit down (of course, now really licking his lips) at a made-up table, asking where they keep the salt and pepper?
I always read Lloyds List; I find it a usually to be good source of correct information. In this case however I think we can do without their advice.
By the way, the latest is that the discussion in Parliament will probably be on the 18/11.
Fraternally.
Peter Shaw
Swedish Dockworkers Union.
Lloyds’ List
Tuesday November 04 2003
UNIONS hoping to sink the European Union port services directive in Strasbourg this month should think twice before exercising their considerable muscle.
Organised labour has mounted an aggressive campaign against the controversial elements of the legislative package, which will become law if approved by Strasbourg parliamentarians on November 17.
While dockside realities vary from country to country, workers feel the directive eats away at their right to lash and unload vessels. Northern European ports, several of which have not known industrial action in decades, went out on strike last month in an attempt to pressurise the European Parliament into making last-minute concessions.
The parliament’s representatives, meeting within the EU’s `conciliation procedure, ‘ opted to compromise in an eight-to- seven vote. The result was so close that there are still concerns the compromise will not be ratified when the package goes to the parliament’s plenary session later this month.
While hardliners are no doubt hoping the legislation will fall at this final hurdle, they might be worse off if it does. If the vote goes the wrong way, the European Commission will immediately initiate legal challenges against ports which support dockside monopolies, we hear.
Certain shipowners are licking their lips at the chance to support action against the most high-profile perpetrators, such as Antwerp. Emanuele Grimaldi, of ro-ro specialist Grimaldi Naples, talked openly last weekend of his desire to be the first to challenge these monopolies, which infringe the Treaty of Rome. “I should have the right to work my ships in the same way that I have the right to paint my own house,” Mr Grimaldi said.
Port bosses, including those in Antwerp, admit privately that the union monopoly would probably not pass the test if taken to court.
They insist, however, that everything can be negotiated. The unions react well to dialogue and have done so for many years, they point out. Owners are unlikely to leave the negotiating table unsatisfied if they simply agree to sit down and talk.
The port services directive is already the result of six years of painful compromise. Its text pleases no-one entirely, but it is a working document and represents a step forward. We hope that it is approved on November 17. Instead of striking, unions should be lobbying in favour of the package. The alternative will be legal challenges they cannot win.
