Holes in official accounts of Rena’s seaworthiness


Ultimate responsibility for Rena disaster lies with the Government


Holes in official accounts of Rena’s seaworthiness

The Maritime Union says that the responsibility for the Rena disaster lies with Government and authorities as much as with individual crew members.
 .
Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the arrest today of the master of the Rena on serious charges should not deflect attention away from the greater responsibility for the disaster.
 .
He says New Zealand Government and authorities have created a situation where substandard flag of convenience shipping has been encouraged and enabled.
 .
“1990s legislation from the then National Government created the so-called ‘open coast’ policy and this has meant that unacceptable practices have become the norm in New Zealand waters – it’s a case of out of sight and out of mind.”
 .
Mr Fleetwood says a Maritime New Zealand “inspection” of the Rena in Bluff on 28 September 2011 apparently consisted of the inspector asking the Master whether previous problems had been fixed.
 .
“This is the same Master that the authorities are now trying to pin the blame on a couple of weeks later after the disaster.”
 .
“But at the time of the inspection they obviously were prepared to take the Master at his word that everything was hunky dory on his ship, despite the fact it had been hauled up in China and Australia for multiple problems.”

Mr Fleetwood says if this is the standard approach of Maritime New Zealand to dealing with obviously problematic vessels, the only surprise in the grounding of the Rena is that it hadn’t happened earlier.
 .
He says the Union is very concerned about the welfare of crew members and wanted access to them to provide independent support.
 .
“Can you imagine the stress of these seafarers, many with dependent families, who have spent nearly a week onboard a stricken vessel in mortal fear of their lives, and some only being taken off by helicopter after a Mayday call when the ship appeared to be in imminent catastrophe.”
 .
He says it is now becoming a regular theme that systemic policy and regulation failures are resulting in serious harm to workers, the community and the environment.
 .
“It is about time that the elected leaders started copping it when things go wrong rather than putting a smother over it and trying to shift the blame.”
 .
He says the Union was repeating its call for all Maritime New Zealand reports on the Rena to be made public as soon as possible.
 .
“If the authorities have managed to arrest the captain in such a fast manner, they can start to make public their own processes for full transparency and accountability to the New Zealand public.”
 .
Mr Fleetwood says the Union has been arguing for stronger regulation of shipping for years in New Zealand waters, but Government’s have not wanted to hear the message.
 .
He says the Union has had longstanding concerns that Maritime New Zealand regulations and inspections of flag of convenience vessels were superficial, limited and not strict enough.
 .
The Union has compiled a short list of some of the flag of convenience shipping issues that it has been involved in over the last few years (see end of media release).
 .
Mr Fleetwood says comment by Transport Minister Steven Joyce that the Maritime Union’s views were “political” were accurate.
 .
“Mr Joyce is right. The issue is political. It is political because the John Key led National Government have been happy to have flag of convenience ships running on the New Zealand coast as a result of their political decisions.”
 .
“In this case their political decision to promote and allow flag of convenience shipping on the New Zealand coast has had real life consequences, which have proved far beyond the political ability and the practical ability of the Government to deal with.”
 .
“If we allowed trucks on New Zealand roads that were licensed in Liberia or some other semi-functioning failed state, and driven by unregulated overseas drivers, there would be an outcry. Yet that is what we allow on the New Zealand coast and now we are paying the price.”
 .
Mr Fleetwood says in addition to its campaigning against Flag of Convenience shipping it had lobbied the Government last year with a plan to provide a fast response vessel for offshore oil spills.
 .
The Union approached the Minister of Energy and Resources, Hon Gerry Brownlee, as well as the Minister of Transport Hon Steven Joyce and Minister of Environment Hon Nick Smith, in July 2010 to support the introduction of a ready response vessel for the maritime sector to cope with oil spills and similar events.
 .
This ready response vessel would have been aimed at the offshore oil and gas industry but could easily have been used to quickly respond to oil leaks in the current Rena disaster.
 .
The Union was told to send their information into a Ministry of Economic Development review, which it did.


Colombian unionists murdered since Labor Action Plan took effect'


.
Fifteen union leaders have been murdered since the Labor Action Plan between the United States and Colombia went into effect in April 2011, said the largest U.S-based trade union federation in a letter to President Barack Obama.

.
The president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) urged Obama to not send the Colombia-U.S. free trade agreement to Congress for approval until the Colombian government addresses human rights violations against unionists in their country.
.

The Labor Action Plan is a requisite for the approval of the FTA, which forces the Colombian government to address violence against unionists. The plan has been a source of controversy as critics argue that it does not require results and actual improvement.
.
"Despite the Labor Action Plan that Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos agreed to in April, violent suppression of workers, as well as land rights, indigenous, and Afro-Colombian activists continues unabated," said AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka in the letter to Obama.
.
Justice for Colombia, letter to President Santos
"Twenty-two union leaders have been killed so far this year in Colombia, including 15 since the Labor Action Plan went into effect. While the new government may have good intentions, unfortunately, on the ground, Colombian working families are neither safer nor more able to exercise basic rights. Colombia continues to be the most dangerous place in the world to be a union member," Trumka explained.
.
In addition to the 22 union leaders murdered, all of which Trumka argues have gone unsolved, the AFL-CIO also pointed out that six Catholic priests have been murdered in Colombia in 2011.
.
The union president asserted that passing the FTA will "undercut our leverage to encourage Colombia to follow up its promises and intentions with effective actions."
.
Both President Santos and President Obama have expressed confidence that the U.S.-Colombia FTA will pass by the end of 2011.


Longshore Workers Dump Scab Grain to Protect Jobs

.
ILWU President Bob McEllrath was detained by police as  workers
massed on railroad tracks to stop a shipment of grain to a non-ILWU terminal.

The confrontation between West Coast longshore workers and an anti-union exporter exploded as pickets massed on railroad tracks by the hundreds yesterday (Sept 7th) to block grain shipments.

Police used clubs and pepper spray on protesters in Longview, Washington, as they made 19 arrests.

Early this morning a terminal there was invaded and hoppers holding about 10,000 tons of grain were opened onto railroad tracks.

Ports in Washington shut down completely Thursday as hundreds of longshore workers rushed to Longview, in the state’s southwestern corner.

Bill Proctor, a Longshore Union (ILWU) retiree, was with fellow retirees and active workers on an early morning picket line at a Seattle grain terminal. He said, “If that facility is allowed to go non-ILWU, other facilities will be tempted to follow suit. And the grain terminals on the coast are all going into contract bargaining next month.”

A foreman came out to politely assure the picketers that no one would do their work.

EGT Development, a consortium of three companies, wants to operate its new $200 million grain terminal in Longview using non-ILWU labor, despite a contract with the port requiring it to do so. When the ILWU protested, the company signed up with an Operating Engineers local.

Every other major grain terminal on the West Coast is operated by ILWU labor, and the union asserts that EGT’s goal is to go non-union altogether, ending generations of good jobs.

Read the full story
Story: Evan Rohar and Jane Slaughter
Photo: Dawn DesBrisay

Chilean Copper Workers Propose Mining Plebiscite

.

The Confederation of Chilean Copper Workers proposed a national plebiscite on mining policy, aimed at promoting the re-nationalization of that industry.

  According to the organization, which represents about 30,000 workers at the state-owned National Copper Corporation Codelco, with the profits obtained in just one year (2006), the transnational corporations operating in Chile recovered the investments made in 31 years.

Those estimates, Codelco workers say, corroborate that the copper industry is being shamefully sold out to foreign companies.
Codelco posted net income
of $4.97 billion in 2008


"The spirit of nationalization advocated by President Salvador Allende on July 11, 1971, was betrayed by decree-law 600 of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, which opened the doors to transnationals," said Lautaro Carmona, general secretary of the Communist Party.

Copper multinationals in Chile "will do anything to preserve their privileges and the profits they are obtaining from the high price of copper," he stated.

Those profits represent nearly 75 percent of the national budget, four times that of the Education Ministry, and 7.3 times that of the Health Ministry, he said.

For Chilean mining workers, it is imperative to recover national sovereignty over the copper industry, because at the current pace of mining, reserves will not last for more than 50 years.

Chilean Copper Workers Strike to Protest Privatization

.
Nearly 17,000 workers at Codelco, Chile´s National Copper Corporation, went on strike on Monday to protest the eventual privatization of the mining company.

The strikers planned a national rally in Plaza de la Ciudadania outside the presidential palace, where copper miners, the teachers' union and student federations will demand the re-nationalization of the copper mining industry.

The leader of the Chilean Federation of Copper Workers, Raimundo Espinoza, accused Codelco's management of preparing to privatize the company.

Monday’s strike coincided with the 40th anniversary of the nationalization of the copper industry, decreed by the Salvador Allende government (1970-1973), and a date considered by the people as Day of National Dignity.

However, the privatization later promoted by the military regime of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) and strengthened during the Concertation coalition government and now by the current right-wing administration, led to the fact that, at present, 70 percent of Chile´s copper is produced by large private mining companies.

Reforms risk harming another generation of children

.
Child Poverty Action Group is endorsing the open letter that Professor Innes Asher has sent to members of the Ministerial Group on Welfare Reform, and which was tabled in parliament this afternoon.

It’s time to support families, not punish them
Social policy spokesperson Dr Mike O’Brien says the Welfare Working Group’s proposals have insufficient focus on reducing the poverty experienced by one in five New Zealand children.

“The recommendations argue that parents should be encouraged and supported back into the workforce, and we support this if and when working is appropriate. The key must be that there is flexibility within the system to account for the needs of young children and different circumstances of sole parents, including situations where they are escaping domestic violence.

“Sadly, the proposals highlighted by Professor Asher show the Welfare Working Group has something much more rigid and punitive in mind. This includes sanctions for non-compliance and slashing the threshold for earnings from part-time work, which risk placing further strain on families already struggling with inadequate incomes. As happened in the 1990s, we now risk leaving another group of children even further behind, said O’Brien.

“CPAG urges the Ministerial Group to think carefully before adopting measures that will clearly adversely impact on young children. It’s time to support families, not punish them.”
.
Visit the Welfare Justice - Alternative Welfare Working Group






Visit Child Poverty Action Group

What the (US) Union Fight is Really About


 An interesting article from Mother Jones delves a little deeper into the agenda behind Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkers attack on the states state's public-sector unions.

The article argues that this was not ‘just one more skirmish in a longstanding ideological battle’, simply an attack on public-sector workers' pay, benefits and collective bargaining rights, but one leg - of a three leg strategy - where the ‘goal is not so much to advance one party's agenda, but to actively undermine the infrastructure that allows the opposing party to exist at all”.
 
This three leg strategy —union bashing, minority redistricting (a tactic, dubbed "Project Ratfuck”) and tort reform – has the cumulative effect, the article argues, of “defunding the Left”. Just what is left about the Demarcates is moot that said however these who really are in the sights are ordinary working people.

Well worth reading click here
 
Also keep an eye on Labor Notes 'Wisconsin Special Report'