RMT takes SOS 2020 campaign to Scottish Labour Party Conf

21 February 2017

RMT Press Office:

RMT takes Save Our Seafarers 2020 campaign to Scottish Labour Party conference.

MARITIME UNION RMT will be leafleting delegates at the Scottish Labour Party conference on Saturday in a bid to win further support for the Save Our Seafarers 2020 campaign.

RMT’s SOS2020 campaign aims to stop the race to the bottom in the maritime sector. The collapse in the number of UK seafarers in recent decades, when numbers fell by over 60%, is directly linked to the widespread practice of crewing vessels with seafarers on pay rates below the UK minimum wage.

The union’s cooperation with the Scottish Labour Party has previously notched up a number of successful joint campaigns in the maritime sector including securing the future of public sector operator Caledonian MacBrayne and forcing the SNP Government to apply the National Minimum Wage on Seatruck freight vessels working on the Northern Isles Ferry Service contract. Also, joint campaigning has secured a full review of ferry service procurement resulted from joint representations to the Scottish Government and the European Union regarding a Teckal exemption for lifeline ferry services.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:

“The SOS 2020 campaign calls for a level playing field which would end the brutal exploitation of migrant workers and provide training and job opportunities for young people in the shipping industry.

“Island nations depend on a resilient maritime skills base for economic self-sufficiency and this profit-driven decline is both dangerous and avoidable.”

Ends.