REMINDER: European Maritime Day and Condor Ferries protest, Poole 18th May

Circular No: NP/070/17

TO ALL BRANCHES AND REGIONAL COUNCILS.

Our ref: S1/1/17

10th May 2017

Dear Colleagues

REMINDER: European Maritime Day and Condor Ferries protest, Poole 18th May

Further to circular no. NP/053/17 of 4th April 2017, I write to remind and encourage members to attend the RMT SOS 2020 Day of Action in Poole on Thursday 18th May, to highlight sub-minimum wage pay at local employer Condor Ferries and to protest against the continued undermining of jobs, training and skills for domestic seafarers across the UK and European shipping industry.

The first stage of the Day of Action will be to leaflet from 8am, the European Maritime Day 2017 event ‘The Future of our Seas’, at Lighthouse Arts and Conference Centre, 21 Kingland Rd, Poole BH15 1UG. The Shipping Minister has withdrawn from the speakers due to a General Election being called but David Dingle of Carnival Cruises, who also Chairs the Maritime UK lobby group will be speaking, along with shipping industry representatives and maritime policy makers from the UK and across Europe. A list of speakers and programme of events for the European Maritime Day event is available here: https://tinyurl.com/lvwwkrs  

The second stage of the Day of Action will be a demonstration against seafarer exploitation and poverty pay, at the head office of Condor Ferries, Condor House, New Harbour Road South, Poole BH15 4AJ. According to the latest information, the hourly rate of pay for Ukrainian seafarers working on Condor Ferries’ fleet from the UK is as low as £2.40, which ruthlessly exploits those seafarers and excludes their UK colleagues.

The costs of attending the SOS 2020 Day of Action in Poole, including accommodation are legitimate forms of Branch expenditure. Overnight accommodation in Southampton and Bournemouth should be considered, owing to the regular rail connections between those cities and Poole.

I would be grateful if you could bring the contents of this circular to the attention of members in your branch and you will be kept updated with further developments.

Yours sincerely
 
Mick Cash
General Secretary