WIREDGOV

Ministers must act to close a legal loophole which allows shipping companies to discriminate against overseas workers employed on UK ships by paying them as little as £2 an hour, maritime unions the RMT and Nautilus International, and the TUC said today (Tuesday).

The unions are concerned that an exemption under what was then the Race Relations Act (and which has now been replaced by the Equality Act 2010) fails to protect foreign seafarers from discrimination, despite EU law which prevents unfavourable treatment on the grounds of nationality.

Not only does this legal loophole allow UK shipping employers to pay poverty wages to overseas seafarers, it also makes it harder for UK workers to find jobs on British vessels.

Several years ago the RMT and Nautilus complained to the EU about the then UK government's failure to apply the Race Relations Act to ratings employed on British ships.

The unions and the TUC are now seeking an urgent meeting with Shipping Minister Mike Penning to persuade him to implement regulations outlawing pay discrimination on ships with a British flag, and so avoid being taken to court by the EU and paying a large fine if found to be in breach of the law.

The unions say that many of the seafarers in receipt of poverty wages are from the Philippines or India, and work either on domestic ferry routes or on ships sailing to and from the gas and oil fields in the North Sea.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: 'It is time to outlaw the ships of shame. It is a national scandal that employers are exploiting this loophole to deny seafarers a living wage.

'We will continue the fight to stop this outrage which allows companies to wrap themselves in the respectability of the British flag while treating their workforce like slave labour. It is time for the government to act to end the super exploitation that is taking place in UK waters.'

Nautilus International General Secretary Mark Dickinson said: 'All EU/EEA nationals on UK ships are entitled under EU law to equal treatment and it is therefore necessary for the government to align UK law with European law without delay to avoid sanctions from Europe.'

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'The government should play fair at sea and end the loophole that allows foreign crew on ships in UK waters to be so shoddily treated.

'If it doesn't act, ministers could be taken to court by the EU and run the risk of the country being fined millions of euros at a time when the public finances are under great strain.

'Some shipping owners have threatened to register their boats under the flags of other countries if the law is changed, but ministers should ignore this blatant attempt to cry wolf, do the right thing and call time on poverty wages.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- A joint statement from the RMT, Nautilus and the TUC on discrimination against seafarers is at www.tuc.org.uk/extras/shippingstatement.pdf

- Infraction (or infringement) proceedings are the legal process by which the European Commission takes a member state to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for breach of its obligations under the EC Treaty. There are two types of infraction procedure brought by the Commission against member states (named after the relevant article in the EC Treaty):

? Article 226 proceedings - the Commission initiates these usually when it receives a complaint that a member state has failed to implement EU law correctly.

? Article 228 proceedings - the Commission may commence these if a member state has failed to implement a previous ECJ ruling under Article 226. If the ECJ finds against a member state, it can impose a fine.

- The Commission has the power to impose eye-watering fines against member states who fail to comply with the laws they have agreed to, and to impose further daily fines on states who fail to comply with ECJ judgements. Fines for past cases involving a variety of EU member states have ranged from £2 million to over £100 million. Daily fines have topped the £100,000 mark in the most serious cases.

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Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Gibson T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: egibson@tuc.org.uk