RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: july/august 2013 ::
RMTnews
SHIPPING NEWS he union has been notified that both the MV Beachy Head and the MV Longstone RO/RO Ministry of Defence ships will both be either laid up or sold at the end of the year, leading to the loss of around 70 of both ratings and officers jobs. This is despite receiving assurances that all six strategic RO/RO ships that were purposebuilt through a PFI initiative would remain in service for the foreseeable future and in particular the two condemned vessels on commercial charters were safe until the end of the current charters. RMT is angry and frustrated that no alternative work will be sought for these ships and the MoD order is just to dispose of them without any thought or consideration for those seafarers who will now face unemployment, some with no prospects at all of gaining further employment at sea. Serious questions need to be asked of the MoD and a set of questions are being tabled by RMT’s Parliamentary Group to the Minister.
T
I have not met one seafarer working there who was not told that there was up to 25 years work on these ships and now after just 12 years, you’re finished, gone, disregarded. An absolute disgrace by any standard and all they can offer is a measly small increase over and above the statutory minimum redundancy payments. That is not acceptable and RMT is demanding more, but more importantly the union wants the company to look for suitable alternative employment for those seafarers. If by chance the ships are sold the union wants TUPE to apply so no-one loses their jobs. Discussions are well underway and the company is seeking volunteers following our demands that there should be no compulsory redundancy. The union wants four weeks per year of service, plus notice and a substantial payment for any retraining and if the MoD can’t pay all the redundancy then Bibby’s and the other four companies in the syndicate will need to dip into their profit that
they have made from the ships over the last 10 or 12 years to improve the package. I will be keeping members up to date with any progress and arrangements are being made for ship visits to keep members informed. RFA RMT’s pay submission has been made to the RFA for an increase in rates of pay from July 2013 although I am sure we are going to be told, yet again, that they are restricted by government austerity measures. It is clear now that the only way we will get anything over and above government pay restrictions is to take action. On a brighter note, I have just sighted an RFA Fleet bulletin, obviously from the Commodore’s Office, which states “we are to be reassured that the MoD spending review is not expected to see any further reduction in RFA personnel. The RFA is one of the few areas of defence that will actually grow over the next few years with more people needed to man the new additional ships
as the Tide Class Tankers are introduced and additional opportunities that the future manning of Solid Support work will bring”. In addition the Commodore assures us that the work related to the RFA Value for Money study and RFA Future Development programme have put RFA in a good position to argue against any further reductions. They are well on their way to achieving the 10 per cent savings that are required and bench marking against civilian shipping and the Royal Navy prove that RFA is a “lean organisation that is delivering its mandate”. Watch this space. RMT national secretary Steve Todd
RECORD TURNOUT FOR DURHAM GALA ore than 150,000 people poured into Durham for the 129th annual Miners' gala in July. Striking RMT Tyne and Wear cleaners joined the crowds on the first day of two weeks of action to demand a decent pay rise. Hundreds of banners and marching bands wound through the city, watched by cheering and applauding hordes. Trade unionists and their families rallied in the gala field calling for the Con-Dem coalition to be defeated and demanding that the Labour Party fight austerity not appease it. RMT general secretary Bob Crow addressed the crowds with a call to the trade union movement to create a new
M
26
political project to challenge head on the pro-business, antiworker agenda of the three main political parties. “RMT was expelled from the Labour Party almost a decade ago and in that time we have actually increased our political influence as we have had the freedom to back candidates and parties who demonstrate clear support for this trade union and its policies. “The Labour Party cannot sneak into government by default, our job is not to prop up the political class behind this racket, our job is to sweep it away,” he said. Durham Miners' Association general secretary Dave Hopper described the gala as "the best I have attended in my 28 years as a union official".