30 August 2016
ITF backs Nautilus International in fight to stop Boskalis cutting and downgrading seafarers' jobs.
The International Transport Workers' Federation has pledged solidarity with Nautilus NL/FNV Waterbouw – its Dutch affiliate – in its fights to stop maritime and energy giant Boskalis sacking skilled seafarers and downgrading the quality of jobs.
The company plans to cut 650 jobs worldwide, including 150 in the Netherlands, and scrap 24 ships despite making EUR440 million profit in 2015 and EUR148 million in the first half of 2016.
In the Netherlands, Fairmount Marine - a wholly owned subsidiary of Boskalis – is attempting to replace permanent seafaring officers with lower paid nationals by outsourcing its entire ship management and crewing to Anglo Eastern.
So far Boskalis and Fairmount have refused requests from Nautilus NL/FNV Waterbouw to see the financial data that the company says justifies its plan.
ITF maritime coordinator Jacqueline Smith said: "Boskalis continues to make a healthy profit, so it is clear that this is another case of crude social dumping – using highly vulnerable workers to do skilled work for low pay. The company plans to use this attack on seafarers to cut salaries, but with no regard for the impact on workers. The ITF is fully behind Nautilus NL/FNV Waterbouw in opposing and exposing these actions, which are bad for workers and bad for good business.
General secretary of Nautilus International Mark Dickinson said: "If there has to be redundancies as a result of declining volumes of work, then Boskalis should show us the financial data proving this. Then we can work with the company to ensure that the workers affected are redeployed - something that should be easy for a global company like Boskalis that employs more than 80,000 people. Until they do this we will fight this proposal and we welcome the backing of the ITF."
ENDS
For more information contact Andy Khan-Gordon on tel: +44 (0)20 7940 9282 / +44 (0)77 1135 6964. Email: khan-gordon_andy@itf.org.uk
THE INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT WORKERS' FEDERATION (ITF): ITF House, 49-60 Borough Road, London, SE1 1DR. Tel: +44 (0)20 7403 2733. Fax: +44 (0)20 7357 7871. www.itfglobal.org.uk. Twitter: https://twitter.com/ITFglobalunion. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ITFglobal
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