It is very good that the ITF trade union located in Odessa found time to study the offers of the Ukrainian national platform of the maritime trade unions. ITF names our platform as “a new group working for the benefit of business” on their website and terms offered by the platform as “a shifty deal”. A local ITF representative called our activities “deeply cynical and mean course”, and the president of ITF – “tasteless attempt to move trade-union affairs at the expense of workers”. We won’t stoop to a level of promotion and terminology of a level of an executive officer of a BLASCO dredger of the developed socialism period.
But it is worth answering the ITF trade union comments about the discussed sample of the collective agreement.
The first point: the expressed wish of the ITF trade union management to the Ukrainian ratings: to improve language training, “skills and abilities”; it is also worth considering an example of above-mentioned promotion. No skills and languages will force the shipowner to take a Ukrainian rating for 1800 US dollars when the same ITF, judging by the information obtained from the shipowners, permits “some” companies to employ “illegally” for 1300 US dollars.
Why and how do exactly they do it – sign collective agreements with them with decreasing their own rates or “close” eyes to a discrepancy of contractual and actual salaries – this is a rhetorical question as we understand. So we have pure discrimination of the Ukrainian seamen, various employers and agents on the basis of certain nonpublic preferences of the ITF trade union. Whether it is good or correct – let the reader solve it.
Of course, we welcome high and worthy salaries for the seamen. But when these salaries remain at the level of declarations but upon the Ukrainian seaman stays at home without work “for the sake of a justice celebration” it looks bad. Our trade union and the platform proceeds not from abstract interests of seamen of the world but aims at the protection of the rights of the Ukrainian seamen; the Ukrainian sailor employed for 1200 US dollars is better and more correct than the Russian or the Filipino employed for US1300.
And for the ITF labor union located in Odessa as they recognize, the better is the second situation and the fight for the world equality of workers. It seems we heard the same somewhere and it ended in nothing.
The second point: the management of the ITF trade union calls the collective agreement sample provided by the platform as “negligent” and limiting the seamen’s rights. The irony of the situation is that this criticized text is based on available online English-speaking proformas of the collective ITF agreements, and differs first of all in an availability of the Ukrainian translation. So or the management of the ITF labor union doesn’t know contents of its own collective agreements or they consider it imperfect and “negligent”.
Of course, there can be small “mistakes” and inaccuracies in the sample of the agreement offered by the platform, and we are grateful for any constructive criticism – but with the indication of the specific regulations, provisions, terms needing of improvement.
The text of the agreement offered by the platform of maritime trade unions received an official positive decision of scientific research institute of work and employment of the Ministry of the social policy of Ukraine in 2016. Some certain regulations of the initial text were agreed not only with requirements of MLC but also with the legislation of Ukraine in case of discussion of the project with specialists of this organization.
We did it in order that collective agreements with shipowners, regardless of their flag, could be registered in Ukraine on the established procedure after signing. It is remarkable that the ITF trade union located in Odessa, signing a collective agreement with foreign shipowners on this national process of law doesn’t register them. Therefore, probably, a problem of their discrepancy to the Ukrainian legislation doesn’t disturb them.
The third point. The management of the ITF trade union which is based in Odessa asks a question: who will protect the rights of seamen in foreign ports guaranteed by the collective agreement offered by the platform?
To answer this question it is important to understand whom it is necessary to protect these rights of the seaman from. If it is about the unfair shipowner: port state control (PSK) performs such protection rather effectively in eighty countries of the world which joined MLC.
A seaman has the right to address there regardless of whether there is a collective agreement on the vessel and whom he was signed with. No matter if there is an ITF agreement on the vessel, an agreement of other trade union or even there isn’t any agreement at all; the violation of the MLC convention is the basis for detention of the vessel. It is remarkable that today we don’t see the practical interest of the ITF trade unions in joining the MLC convention by Ukraine.
PSK it is not a panacea, but we will ask a question: whether the inspector of a trade union is effective as a defender (ITF or other) who is obliged to nobody as a public figure. Or the seaman should bother the government official with a quite good job who hardly will break the obligations and will violate of MLC for protection some shipowner. But we are ready to give to the seaman every possible help.
Also, it is time to say that the seaman should be protected and from the unfair trade unions playing games with blackmailing of the shipowner, leaving crews of his vessels without work. The presence of the collective agreement corresponding to MLC and the rates of the ILO is possible to consider rather effective protection of the seaman against various malversations of his patent trade-union “defenders”.
Boris Babin, a lawyer of the Ukrainian independent maritime trade union
