Adapting to the modern world of work

By Paul Moloney

Nautilus UK represents about 18,000 seafarers. The vast majority are officers serving in the merchant navy including on cruiseships, ferries, container vessels, tankers and the large yacht sector. The figure also includes some ratings serving mainly in the offshore oil and gas sector and the marine aggregates sector. On 15 May we launch Nautilus International with our sister union in the Netherlands, Nautilus NL which will be the first coming together of two unions based in different countries. We will then represent 25,000 Dutch and UK seafarers, 85% of those eligible to join the union.

Nautilus UK, formerly NUMAST, has always sought a wide agenda. Our philosophy has been to provide our members with a far reaching programme of benefits that are relevant to them as individual seafarers, as groups working in different sectors of our industry, and as a part of the merchant navy as a whole. This approach has also ensured members interests are protected while they are young trainees entering the industry, as workers within the industry and as retired seafarers. So our agenda is wide. It includes the traditional collective bargaining agenda but also a strong commitment to shaping the industry’s training standards for those wishing to enter the industry and to protecting pensions and providing both residential and sheltered accommodation for retired members.

We operate within the most globalised industry of all with few if any impediments on shipowners to make profits based on the economies of developed nations whilst having costs based on the economies of developing nations, regardless of where they operate.

On 15 May 2009 our union makes history by being part of the first international merger of two unions. Although groundbreaking, for us this development seemed a natural step. In an industry that in the UK remains exempt from minimum wage legislation and the Race Relations Act but where labour can be sourced from anywhere in the world, Dutch and UK seafarers are perceived as expensive.

For many years our two unions have had to argue for measures that create a level playing field for those who wish to compete on quality rather than cost. We have adopted identical positions within our countries when arguing internationally for improved training levels, for example. In addition many of our main employers, Maersk (the largest shipping company in the world), Carnival (the largest cruise company in the world) and P&O and Stena (large ferry companies) employ both UK and Dutch seafarers.

Therefore, the creation of the new union will we believe allow us to protect and enhance our members job security whilst, through the increased bargaining power the new union will bring, at the same time enable us to protect and improve our members’ income.

One of our priorities, once the new union is created, is to campaign within the European Union for measures that will encourage competition on quality, rather than the destructive competition on cost that we see today.

At present there is nothing to stop a company operating a ferry between the UK and another EU country from employing seafarers on terms and conditions appropriate to the Philippines, flying a flag of convenience and therefore having no official link with the country in which company is based or owned.

This then means that companies who invest in safety, training and the long term replacement of vessels with new, state of the art tonnage, face unfair, short term competition in a way that would not be possible in any other industry. This of course has an adverse effect not just on our members’ job security but also on the industry itself and most importantly, safety standards.

Our view is that such competition should be outlawed by the EU with one simple change. If the EU required ferry operators to pay terms and conditions appropriate to one of the two countries between which the vessel operates then this would prevent the race to the bottom that is inevitable when exemption from all other national wage legislation is allowed. It would mean that in the UK the minimum pay onboard would be the UK minimum wage and would apply regardless of flag of vessel, nationality of seafarers employed, and location of ownership of the business.

This would enable quality operators (and there are many) to compete more effectively with tunnels, low cost airlines and in some places in Europe, bridges.

One of the biggest threats to our members’ long term job security is, conversely, their shortage. Even with the current economic uncertainty there remains a damaging skills shortage in our industry. Shipowners, faced with genuine difficulties in obtaining UK and Dutch officers have looked to other countries to fill the shortage. However, by being exempt from the Race Relations Act, they able to then reduce their wage bill by paying wages appropriate to the nation form where the seafarer comes.

It is therefore a priority for us to address this shortage. We do this in a number of ways but one important way is to identify other workers who may have the skills to train as an officer but find their own industry has few opportunities.

We have therefore developed a close working relationship with the Professional Footballers Association. Many of their young members are made redundant (“released”) by football clubs often at the age of 17 or 18. We are now in the process of working closely with the PFA and some of the large cruise companies to offer these young footballers the opportunity to retrain as seafarers.

Many of the skills they have – leadership, teamwork, and discipline – are needed in our industry and they are also likely to meet the industry’s medical standards.

We are therefore optimistic that this initiative will help us provide an alternative career to those rejected by their chosen career at a young age, and show that trade unions working together can identify opportunities that the market, left to its own devices simply cannot.

These are three examples of the work we do that we believe represent imaginative responses to the particular problems we face. We operate in an industry that is global and without effective control. We firmly believe this is not in the interests of our members, or many of the companies that are vulnerable to a form of competition that is not present in shorebased industries. Our approach is to work with those who share our aims to promote competition on quality and limit the race to the bottom that ultimately works in no one’s favour.