ITF release: ITF welcomes partial victory as ICTSI signs new agreement with PNG dock workers at Lae and Port Moresby

 

24 April 2018

ITF welcomes partial victory as ICTSI signs new agreement with PNG dock workers at Lae and Port Moresby

The International Transport Workers' Federation has welcomed a new union agreement that reinstates pay and conditions for workers at two union ports in Papua New Guinea, but concerns remain over the future of 213 workers still without a contract.

 

The PNG Maritime and Transport Workers' Union (PNGMTWU) has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Philippine port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) following months of local, worker-led protest and international pressure.

 

ITF president and chair of the ITF dockers' section, Paddy Crumlin, cautiously welcomed the agreement and congratulated the union and its members, but he raised concerns over the future of the 213 workers still without a job offer at Port Moresby.

 

"This Memorandum of Agreement is a significant victory for workers who were looking down the barrel of a 50 per cent wage cut," Mr Crumlin said.

 

"The ITF congratulates the PNGMTWU and its members for digging in and demanding the pay and conditions that PNG dockworkers have fought for over decades.

 

"However the ITF remains concerned that 213 workers are still without a contract after receiving termination notices from the former concession holder at Port Moresby. The transition of these jobs to the new Motukea terminal needs to be urgently addressed by ICTSI."

 

The signing of this agreement shadows months of disruption, following the awarding of concession agreements to ICTSI for the operation of PNG's two major ports in October last year, which had meant a cut in pay and inferior conditions for workers.

 

"The ITF and its affiliate PNGMTWU have drawn constant international attention to this dispute and forced ICTSI to guarantee pre-existing wage rates, industry conditions and protections after the company had cut wages back to the legal minimum," Paddy Crumlin said.

 

"Trade unions across the world will now be watching to ensure that ICTSI honours all of its commitments in PNG, by protecting the jobs of existing dockworkers on decent pay and conditions."

 

Mr Crumlin said it was important to note that the new agreement also recognises the PNGMTWU as representative of the workforce and provides a mechanism to resolve disputes.

 

"This sits in sharp contrast to ICTSI's industrial relations practices elsewhere in the world. For this to be real progress ICTSI must extend this respect for workers' across the entirety of the company's global operations," Mr Crumlin said.

 

"The ITF is prepared to work with ICTSI to progress the fundamental rights of all workers across its global network, to end the exploitation of its global workforce, recognise trade unions and stop undermining the wages, conditions and safety of its workforce." 

END
For more information:
Luke Menzies, ITF Asia Pacific | +61 433 889 844 | menzies_luke@itf.org.uk

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ITF release: ITF urges Hutchison Ports to improve global health and safety operations following a serious workplace incident in Australia

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ITF urges Hutchison Ports to improve global health and safety operations following a serious workplace incident in Australia

23 April 2018

The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) urges Hutchison Ports to address a pattern of serious health and safety incidents across their global operations, as a dockworker remains in a critical condition following workplace collision at the company's Port Botany terminal.

The 55-year-old dockworker, and member of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), fell seven metres from her cabin to the concrete below. She remains in an induced coma in hospital after undergoing emergency brain surgery at a Sydney hospital.

The ITF's Executive Board met in London last week and passed a resolution 'strongly urging Hutchison Ports to address a pattern of serious health and safety incidents across their global operations.'

'Hutchison Ports [must] correct its safety record and mitigate any further risk to its workforce and ensure involvement of union representatives', the resolution said.

Paddy Crumlin, ITF President and MUA National Secretary extended the best wishes of the international trade union community.

"We extend our thoughts to our member, her family, and say to them, and workers in Hutchison terminals globally, this only strengthens our resolve to make sure that every dock worker comes home safely to his or her family.

"This is the latest case in a pattern of serious health and safety incidents that have occurred recently in Hutchison terminals. In the past 18 months in the Asia Pacific region alone, there have been four fatal incidents at Hutchison's JICT terminal in Jakarta.

"Reports that MUA officials were not allowed on site, and that Hutchison has failed its obligations under local laws due to a lack of consultation with Health and Safety Representatives in the lead-up to this tragic accident, are highly concerning.

"Hutchison is the biggest stevedore in the world and has an obvious responsibility to its global workforce to meet occupational health and safety requirements."

The ITF, and affiliate unions, are calling on Hutchison to correct its safety record and mitigate any further risk to its workforce.

Torben Seebold, Vice-Chair of the ITF Dockers' Section and Maritime Coordinator in ver.di added: "The ITF and our affiliate unions, will be contacting Hutchison management to insist they turn around their recent record on workplace health and safety.

"A safe workplace for all transport workers everywhere around the globe is a top priority for the ITF. Workplace injuries and deaths are preventable.

"This incident again demonstrates that dock work is still extremely dangerous work, that's why the campaign for better safety is never ending."

ENDS

An investigation into the incident at Port Botany has been launched by Australian authorities including police and safety regulators.

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ITF media release: Global union leaders converge to condemn ICTSI

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12 April 2018 

Global union leaders converge to condemn ICTSI

Global unions have once again condemned multinational port operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), for continuing to lower the standards in the global port industry.

Several international unions and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) general secretary, Steve Cotton, are in Melbourne this week to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the infamous Patrick Stevedores dispute, where dock workers were locked out of the waterfront in what was later determined to be an unlawful act.

Steve Cotton said today: "Twenty years on from the iconic Patrick dispute where hundreds of workers were locked out of their workplace for weeks on end, it seems ICTSI has learnt nothing.

"The right of workers to join a union and collectively bargain was upheld then and the same applies now.

"Twenty years ago, we learnt that global solidarity between workers and their unions can make a difference with Patrick Stevedores eventually forced to reopen their gates and allow workers back on the job.

"Yet ICTSI continues to intimidate its workforce and strip every hard-fought benefit that has been built up over dozens of years of collective bargaining by unionised labour.

"The ITF has documented a pattern of labour rights violations from across ICTSI's global network. Dock workers illegally sacked in Madagascar, workers paid poverty wages in Makassar, discriminating against union members in Melbourne, a worker fatally crushed in Jakarta.

"Unions in South Africa have publically opposed ICTSI's entry into Africa, the world's fastest growing port market. Unions protested today in Melbourne, with the ITF calling on ICTSI to end the exploitation of its workforce, targeting of trade unionists, and undermining of their rights across the company's global operations.

"The ITF together with unions across the world, in every part of ICTSI's global supply chain, will continue to campaign until ICTSI stops undermining the wages and conditions of its workforce.

"The Patrick dispute showed us the power of global solidarity. If unions across the world – including those in the United States, Europe and New Zealand – had not stood shoulder to shoulder with their Australian brothers and sisters we may well have seen a different result.

"We've learnt that lesson. The ITF, the newly amalgamated Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy union, and our global affiliates stand in solidarity. We will tackle whichever operator we have to tackle, track whichever shipping company we have to track from any port, to pressure ICTSI to respect workers' hard fought rights.

"The ITF is committed to working with port operators who provide good jobs, have good industrial relations practices at their ports and prioritise the growth of their business through the development of long-term, functional relationships with unions as their social partners."

END

For more information
Luke Menzies, ITF Asia Pacific | M: +61 433 889 844 | E: menzies_luke@itf.org.uk

The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) creates borderless solidarity among transport workers in every corner of the globe. We support 670 affiliate trade unions in 140 countries, representing 19.7 million workers.

>This email is confidential and may be privileged. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender and then delete it immediately. You should not copy it or use it for any purpose nor disclose its contents to any other person. Any views or opinions expressed within the email are solely those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of the ITF or the Seafarers' Trust.