Labour
EMF Demand Common Shipping Plan
By Steve Matthews, Lloyd's List 29/6/09
Jun 30, 2009 - 8:10:51 AM

THE European Metalworkers Federation (EMF) is demanding a common European strategy for the future of shipbuilding in Europe.

The trade union organisation’s shipbuilding committee is seeking urgent action to protect the industry in the face of the global economic and shipping crisis which has seen newbuild orders dry up.

European shipbuilders are seen as particularly vulnerable due to relatively high costs compared with Asian competitors. Several yards in Germany have already gone into bankruptcy while others have laid off workers. The EMF contrasts this with the state support being received by yards in China and South Korea.

“European shipbuilding has been exemplary in recent years in developing a common approach and a common European industrial policy programme: LeaderSHIP 2015,” said EMF general secretary Peter Scherrer. “The absence of a European response to this crisis is staggering. Retreating behind national borders now would put the future of shipbuilding in Europe into serious danger.

EMF Shipbuilding Sector Committee chairman Heino Bade: “Without a common European strategy for shipbuilding thousands of jobs will be lost and industrial capacity will be destroyed. Europe cannot risk losing such a strategic sector, its know-how, its highly skilled workforce and its capacity to provide green products for green transport solutions.

The union argues that the future of shipbuilding in Europe is at stake.

“We cannot and will not accept that Europe loses this important industrial sector.”

The EMF and its member organisations were willing to play their part in developing a common European strategy for the shipbuilding sector, the unions said.

“We are calling on companies, shipowners, the European shipbuilders’ association, national governments, the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council to act now,” the union said.

The EMF declaration, issued in Berlin and representing trade union representatives from France, Italy, Germany, Finlan, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and UK, calls for a European strategy that includes no redundancies this year or in 2010, intensification of research and development, developing new markets in environmental protection and implementation of the LeaderShip 2015 project.

The EMF statement says that qualified and skilled workers, who were already in short supply, must be retained.

A surge in precarious forms of employment such as fixed-term contracts, temporary agency work and outsourcing must be avoided.

Social standards for workers in the European shipbuilding industry must also be agreed and implemented. Principles of corporate social responsibility should contribute to the sustainable development of shipbuilding in Europe and lead to a harmonisation of working conditions in European yards.

Source: Ocnus.net 2009