I hope that this update provides you with an overview of many of the areas that your union is involved. Our membership continues to grow generally, however there are some areas that need greater support to be better organised and more effective, but in order to do this we also need members to become more actively involved, becoming involved in your unions work in specific areas, such as pensions, equalities, health and safety, mental health and young members is a good way of becoming actively involved and helping us to become stronger. Whilst your convenor and myself are often seen around the ports and onboard the vessels it is also important that members understand how we function as a union, and the importance of your branch. Our rule book sets out the primary role and objective of each branch as the recruitment, retention and organisation of transport workers within its delegated sphere of influence. Your branch should be visible to members with invites to regular meetings and correspondence etc. If you are unsure which branch you belong to then please get in contact.
I would like members to discuss how we improve and evolve as a union, what do you believe the union should focus on as priority in your workplace, in your port, on your vessel and within your sector.
A MESSAGE FROM YOUR NATIONAL SECRETARY STENA CONVENOR COLUMN
By Michael Hobson
Sitting silent and complaining won’t change anything and only through dialogue will we strengthen our arguments. But you are the union, and you have a fundamental role to play in our future direction at your employer and within the sector. As your national secretary I would like to understand the priority of each workplace, and this could differ from vessel to vessel, port to port or even shift to shift. That’s fine. It’s better to have differing priorities than no priorities on our industrial journey to be better organised.
Lastly, I would like to recognise and thank the hard work of all the reps in your workplace, who carry out the most important function in our union, who are front and centre of everything we do, who face the difficult questions, often in emotive environments about what is important to you. We are all guilty of being judgemental or developing an opinion at times without being in possession of the full facts and your reps have demonstrated in recent years a willingness, quite often when nobody else is willing to take up the position of campaigning on behalf of you and your colleagues to improve in every area of your workplace that matters and ensuring that you go home safely to your family at the end of shift. Whilst we continue to develop and evolve, just remember that we cannot do this without your contribution and support.
Look after yourself and look out for your colleagues.
Regards, Darren Procter
Members will have seen me regularly visiting ships and ports in the Irish Sea and North Sea offering support to individual members and promoting the union within the workplace. Over the last 12 months I have visited every vessel and every port within the Stena network to meet with members directly and take up issues that are impacting individual members directly, this may include payroll issues, individual grievances, concerns relating to job description/role, directing them to required information such as RMT legal services or company policies.
Working with the national secretary and being visible in all locations is a fundamental part of our organising strategy and we are seeing growth not only in membership numbers but also in our collective strength and our ability to stand up and challenge issues within the workplace.
In my role I work closely with local HR and reps to address issues as quickly as possible and offer support to reps on cases etc but it’s vital that in the first instance members should actively engage with your local rep to assist with issues. I believe that engagement has improved since I have been in the role and we are now seeing a more structured approach to local meetings, although some have been cancelled due
to being able to release reps these are being arranged, and we are hoping to overcome these barriers going forward. I would also point out that we don’t have to wait for quarterly local meetings to raise issues as our objective is to deal with your issues, either individual or collectively as quickly as possible.
For those members who may not be familiar with my role, which was introduced in April 2024, the focus areas of the convenor position include but are not limited to:
• Ensuring that employees are aware of the importance of workplace representation, collective bargaining, and channels of negotiation between both parties.
• Delivering an improved focus on health, safety and mental wellbeing.
• Recognising and communicating the barriers in place to improving the work environment of RMT members.
• To promote and help implement improved equality, dversity, and inclusion at Stena Line.
• To monitor the effectiveness and coverage of company policies and procedures.
• To develop an understanding in areas of investment for career training and personal development for Stena line employees to ensure upskilling and progression are visible and achievable.
• Coordinate and assist in the implementation of key focus areas for the company and RMT, including but not limited to the furtherance of working groups involving RMT industrial representatives.
Should you or any colleague wish to contact me feel free to do so on 07506 015505 or stenaconvenor@rmt.org.uk
2026 pay update
Whilst seafarers and port workers eventually agreed on two separate deals, with seafarers accepting a twoyear deal and port workers accepting a one-year deal, the caveat for seafarers was that if October RPI is above 3.25% then we would reconvene negotiations. It looks highly likely that this will be the case, and we are seeking to arrange pay discussions for the end of November for port workers and probably seafarers too given the RPI forecast.
Equalities
As part of the last pay deal, it was agreed to introduce equality reps into the workplace and to date we have received applications from members interested in becoming an equality rep from our seafarer membership following a circular to members. We will shortly be doing the same for port workers and then set up a meeting to develop a network of equality reps across the ships and ports.
Health Cover
Following the acceptance of the pay offer members will see an improvement to cover in Westfield Health (or a similar provider) from bronze to silver, improving the benefits on offer to you and your colleagues. We are seeking workshops during the winter months to give greater awareness of what is available to you and your family through this cover to ensure that members fully understand the benefits and how to access the platform.
Port layouts
A common theme amongst our port members is concerns in relation to port layouts, with some ports expanding, others encountering operational changes and others recognising that the changes in freight traffic have presented concerns regarding traffic management, lane boundaries and safety concerns around signage and/or road markings. We have raised these issues, and various ports have individual challenges but it is clear that this is a national agenda, with no short term solution and one that we must ensure that our representatives are fully involved in.
Payslips
Payslips continue to be a mystery to some, particularly when additional payments are made. A comment that was made to us recently was “I’m a docker not an accountant”, with the point being made that payslips are not easily understood and often contains a payment and then a deduction for the same value causing confusion. This has been an ongoing issue for some time, and the introduction of a new system was supposed to simplify this. We will continue to raise this matter and pursue an easy-to-understand payslip format.
PENSIONS
As a union we have a clear focus on improving pensions year on year. Irrespective of age all members are encouraged to save for retirement and benefit from the (minimum of) 6% that your employer is putting into your savings pot (pension fund). I have received several comments from members that they were disappointed that the company removed a multi-year pensions’ strategy from the last pay offer.
I am pleased that members are disappointed by this, because it’s important that you recognise the importance of improving pensions so that members can afford to retire and that we do not have pension poverty following loyal employment to Stena Line. This will continue to be a part of our strategy to improve terms of employment in line with our maritime pensions campaign.
Future jobs and skills
Cancer screening
As a union we must ensure that we are discussing the impact of green technology, digital innovation, automation and Artificial Intelligence utilisation within the ferry sector and how this may impact the roles of our members within Stena Line. We cannot simply ignore potential implications we must be organised and discuss what impact direct and indirectly does this have on our current roles, and what are the future projections for jobs roles and job security. This must be on local agendas nationally and we must be discussing this within your respective workplaces.
The company have recently initiated cancer screening for employees and whilst it there has been a couple of teething issues it is being rolled out to more locations with three tests available now, bowel, prostate and ovarian cancer testing. We will seek an update on the uptake and success of this project and report back in a future publication but as we as a union are continually pursuing improvements to welfare support from your employer we would encourage all members to sign up for this and if its not available in your workplace, let’s find out why not and when it will be available to you and your colleagues.
TUGMASTERS
We have relayed our concerns to various levels of management across the port network in relation to concerns that our members have regarding the new Terberg Tugmasters and the service agreement in place to maintain them.
We are informed that conversations have been taking place at the highest levels regarding our shared concerns and we will hopefully see progress in the coming weeks or seek an update from the company.road markings.
We have raised these issues, and various ports have individual challenges but it is clear that this is a national agenda, with no short term solution and one that we must ensure that our representatives are fully involved in.
Absence from the workplace
There still appears to be a lack of awareness of policies in place at Stena Line that allow employees to take time off from the workplace, some with pay and some without. This lack of awareness is not just from rank-and-file members but also from management.
I have identified a list below for ease of reference and details of these can be found on Stena life app or you can request more details from your workplace rep or line manager of the “ready reckoner” which identifies example situations and time off that is available. This list includes:
• Dependent care leave
• Carers leave
• Parental leave
• New Parent leave (Maternity / adoption leave)
• Paternity / New Parent leave
• Neo natal care leave
• Time off for specialist medical or emergency dental appointments
• Bereavement leave (immediate family)
• Bereavement leave (non-immediate family)
• Parental bereavement leave
• Safe leave
• Reservist leave
• Time off for public duties
Social media postings
I have raised concerns surrounding the increasing use of passengers using mobile devices to record within the workplace, the majority of which is positive and identifies the great work of you and your colleagues. However, there is an element of individuals who are recording in the workplace, often aggressively. There is no training being given about how to deal with this and I want to se greater support for when members find themselves in the positions.
BULLYING WITHIN THE WORKPLACE
As a union we will not tolerate bullying and harassment within the workplace, which comes in many forms and has a detrimental impact on those on the receiving end of abuse.
We have recently created a specific poster for maritime workplaces, and I would ask members to think about actions within the workplace and report and support colleagues who you think may be subject to any kind of abuse.
Welfare committee spending
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This issue has come up on a couple of vessels, so I believe that it’s important to offer a point of clarity. A position that both RMT and Stena Line management share. The spending of welfare committee funds is to be determined by the representatives of that committee. The administration and ordering of requested items is to be carried out by shipboard management. If crew want fridges in cabins, barber chairs, golf simulator or a crib board and it has been determined by the welfare committee representatives then that is what should be ordered. If management onboard want something then they have available budgets that can be used, but that money is for the benefit of all.
JOIN RMT TODAY
Seafarer variable rates of pay
I have written to Stena Line in relation to hourly rate of pay of variables, due to utilising a formula of pay over 13 hours as opposed to a 12 hourly calculation for permanent employees. We believe that the company is dividing a daily rate of pay by 13 to account for one hour’s leave each day of a completed full shift resulting in a lower hourly rate of pay.
Uniform working group
In recent years several concerns have been raised about uniform, including PPE. This varies from fitting, quality and suitability and as such the company has approached your convenor to establish a working party that involves members from all the various grades where we have members. If this is something that you have a view on or an opinion, then get in contact with Michael Hobson.
Pay rate differentials
We have identified various inconsistencies in rates of pay of members employed in the ports and onboard vessels. This varies with some being paid 0.25p less up to 6p per hour less per hour with no rationale as to why this is the case. This will be a matter of further discussion at our next planned JNCC (national meeting) in November. In the meantime we would encourage and member with a concern to contact payroll directly but also advise your convenor, Michael Hobson if any concerns regarding this matter. Michael’s contact details can be found within this publication.
Aggressive passengers and freight drivers
This is a matter of huge concern to me as your national secretary, I believe we have normalised and accepted poor behaviour by a minority of the travelling public. I am engaged with your employer over these issues, and we have seen increases in aggression and drunken behaviour on some routes from freight drivers whilst some routes have had recent well documented examples of unacceptable behaviour from passengers. We must be asking what can be done prior to passengers/freight drivers entering the port, what communication are they receiving/should they receive prior to entering the port/boarding the vessel? What sanctions are currently handed out to those that don’t treat our members with dignity and respect and what communication is received by the workforce to update them on actions taken by the company following an incident? We must be ensuring that every incident is logged on docmap and incidents reported to your RMT representative to escalate to myself. There are many moving parts with these concerns, given that we have seen evidence of alcohol consumption in ports, drunk drivers attempting to board vessels, and whilst we know that this is not acceptable it continues to occur, and we will continue to raise this matter, which is why it’s important that we have evidence of any such incidents so that we can produce quality arguments to your employer.
Accident reporting
Are you aware of the system in place in your workplace for reporting accidents? Is it a book or is it a digital system. If no accidents are recorded correctly then this could impact any future claim that you may have for sickness or a tribunal claim. I would encourage all members to familiarise yourself with the process on your vessel or within your port of reporting accidents correctly and always ask for a copy of the entry or evidence of the entry.
MEMBERSHIP BENEFIT SPOTLIGHT
Your RMT membership entitles you to £5,000 of free cover which pays out if you should die because of an accident:
• Cover lasts for 12 months – annually renewable and always free
• Guaranteed acceptance for UK residents aged 18-69
• This policy is underwritten by Stonebridge International Insurance Ltd
Members can visit the RMT website for more information or contact the company directly by calling 0800 033 4184 for further information. Terms and conditions apply.
