RMT slams latest seafarer pay rip off

RMT slams latest seafarer pay rip off

6 June 2019

RMT Press Office:

OFFSHORE energy union RMT today raised alarm over the billion pound bonanzas for offshore wind farm owners when seafarers in the supply chain are being discriminated against and paid below the National Minimum Wage.

OFFSHORE energy union RMT today raised alarm over the billion pound bonanzas for offshore wind farm owners when seafarers in the supply chain are being discriminated against and paid below the National Minimum Wage.

RMT General Secretary, Mick Cash said:

“Huge dividends are being paid out and hundreds of millions in bond funds are being raised off the hard work of employees in the offshore wind farm sector.

“At the same time, my members are being excluded from work on a range of vessels where basic pay rates can be as low as £3.60 per hour for a twelve hour day.

“ Investment in the sector is welcome but this blatant inequality cannot continue – our seafarers are the key to our future economic health and the employment standards that apply to workers on land should apply to UK Ratings and Officers, including those in the offshore wind supply chain.

“I will be raising these issues with ministers at a meeting in Parliament next week.”

Ends


Notes to Editors

1. Seafarer pay on the UK registered Edda Passat, working from Grimsby to the Race Bank Wind Farm can fall well below the NMW – a Polish Steward working on the Edda Passat earned a basic rate of £3.60 per hour for a 12 hour day.

2. The Race Bank Wind Farm is 50% owned by Danish wind farm giant Ørsted. Other major shareholders in the Race Bank Wind Farm include Macquarie Group, a subsidiary of which owns Condor Ferries, a low-cost operator between Southern England and the Channel Islands that also employs seafarers on pay rates below the UK legal minimum.

3. Danish firm Ørsted (formerly DONG Energy) has raised £900m by issuing bonds on their offshore wind work over the next 15 years, including 15 offshore wind farms on the UK Continental Shelf. https://www.birminghampost.co.uk/manufacturing/orsted-secures-900m-build-out-16348288

4. According to annual reports, Ørsted has issued dividends to shareholders worth £1.2 billion (by June 2019 exchange rates) since 2017. https://orsted.com/en/Investors/IR-material/Financial-reports-and-presentations#0
5. Government policy, as stated in the Maritime 2050 document published 24 January 2019 is “…to extend the protection [of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998] to all seafarers on all vessels working on domestic trade in UK territorial waters or on the UK continental shelf. Applying the legislation to all seafarers working in these waters, regardless of their nationality and the flag of the vessel they are on, will allow UK seafarers to compete more fairly for domestic jobs, while increasing the protection for all seafarers in our waters.” This is in response to the 2018 recommendations of the Legal Working Group on Seafarers and the NMW. RMT was represented on the Legal Working Group.

 

 

 

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Tagged with: offshore wind farms, seafarer, ratings, national minimum wage