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Ferry firms sign up to labour code, but will it be enough ask unions

[ July 25, 2023   //   ]

Brittany Ferries’ chief executive Christophe Mathieu, and president Jean-Marc Roué signed a voluntary charter to protect the rights of seafarers on the English Channel on 24 July. The ceremony was hosted by French shipping minister Hervé Berville, and UK maritime minister, Baroness Vere.
The charters are a complement to laws mandating minimum wages for sailors on ferries operating cross-Channel routes – in the UK, the Seafarers Wages Act was and, in France the loi Le Gac sur le dumping social and which recently passed the final stage of the legislative process.
The laws follow P&O Ferries’ unannounced sacking of 800 loyal seafarers in Dover 16 months ago.
In a message to customers, Mathieu said: “It was a cynical exercise that punished those who had worked so hard to keep essential goods and services moving during the Covid crisis. Many had also served this company loyally for decades…Others have operated a low-cost model for many, many years and this situation has created real tension for those of us who believe in doing the right thing. Because their staffing costs are far lower than ours, they are able to compete on a completely different playing field. That is plain wrong.
“But the winds of change are blowing. I am delighted to say that, thanks to the determined actions of governments in France and the UK, another nail has been hammered into the coffin of this practice we call social dumping.
“Would you prefer to travel on a ship staffed by seafarers who work a pattern of one-week-on, one-week-off to ensure they are properly rested? Or are you happy to travel on a vessel staffed by exhausted, poorly-paid galley slaves, who have been working solidly for months without a break?”
Condor Ferries, Stena Line and DFDS have also signed up to the charter, he added: “I salute them all for their refusal to join in a race to the bottom, choosing instead to aim for the highest bar. Until social dumping is finally a thing of the past, I hope many more customers – freight and passengers – will turn their backs on those making a fast buck on the misery of their staff.”
However, the European and International Transport Workers Federation questioned whether a voluntary code of conduct would be sufficient to enforce standards in the sector. ETF general secretary Livia Spera said: “This agreement is a step forward in the right direction. But we need mandatory standards and sectoral collective bargaining rights. The ETF is calling for the adoption of mandatory seafarer employment standards on European shipping routes, underpinned by sectoral collective bargaining rights, where they do not currently exist.
“The solution proposed by France and the UK is based on a voluntary agreement by companies to follow the ‘rules.’ This is not enough, as it does not force companies to be compliant and it does not establish enforcement mechanisms.
“What is more, this agreement will not unpick the effect of P&O Ferries’ attack on its own workforce in 2022, when the company unlawfully dismissed 800 seafarers and violated their rights.”
Spera said that the UK-France bilateral agreement and the voluntary charter will be unable to prevent such cases happening in the future.
She added that it remained to be seen if P&O Ferries, Irish Ferries, crewing agents and other shipowners would decide to comply with the agreement.
International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) General Secretary Stephen Cotton commented: “We need to see strong laws supporting decent wages and conditions. And when laws are broken, we need to see swift enforcement and prosecutorial action taken by states,” he said.
Cotton said the voluntary charter would not stop the sector’s slide into another round of cost-cutting and wage slashing, because some companies had made it their strategy to ignore community standards and even break the law.
He questioned why Irish Ferries and P&O Ferries were still permitted to operate despite not paying UK or French national minimum wages. “We need to see a response from P&O Ferries and Irish Ferries to this initiative,” Cotton said. “How these rogue companies respond to today’s news will tell us a lot about whether voluntary charters are really going to be enough to stop the bad behaviour we’ve seen in recent years.”

Logistics UK policy advisor Ellis Shelton, commented: “While the newly announced Seafarers Charter is an encouraging step forward, it only operates on a voluntary basis. In the view of Logistics UK, seafarers – who are the lifeblood of international trade – must be protected by a minimum legal requirement that ensures they are paid and treated fairly.”

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