Good move by the crew or a bad move by the crew?

[Midge]

Just wondered what your views were on this story. Its been a bit of a sit in and it seems French unions are quite strong when it comes to seafaring! I know there have been comments about unions not being that strong or useful.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-26178385

[YoungMariner]

The French will blockade the ports and take action if they don't get what they want and deserve.

To be honest, it really is about time that the EU follows the US/Australian etc path and makes Europe a more stringent maritime zone with more modern and strict working conditions, labour contracts and standards onboard EU registered vessels. Simply restrict non EU vessels to 2 EU ports before they must return to foreign a port.

[bobofinga]

i agree with YoungMariner but it wont happen.

[Midge]

Its very interesting as its not the crews on the uk /gsy/jsy routes just the French crews It seems they want the vessel to be registered French so they can obtain French social security etc. However they would have known this before signing a contract.
I know the locals in the islands had been concerned that the Ukrainians crew members were paid Ukrainian wages which compared to uk salaries are half or less than min wage. Though they seem happy, local unions weren't so happy though.Before being a parent of a cadet I would have been surprised /shocked that this happens, but have learnt quite a lot from the forum about the industry, not understanding the globalness of it all.
I suppose its all down to money and unless we all want to pay much more for our goods( worldwide) it will continue with crews depending on nationality/flag etc being paid different wages.
If they reflag this ship and pay more to the crew it will mean a fare hike, they have to provide a year round service under their contract to operate, they make money in the summer but lose over the winter.
High speed vessels are expensive to run and they are looking at buying a new trimaran to replace them as they keep breaking down and are getting beyond being economical.
The French are great with rules they can turn a blind eye for months years even then they decide to enforce them and there is no bending or they just ignore rules and make it up as it suits! Great food though!
They love a good old blockade, bit of flag waving, vive La France. They got a bit shirty over lamb years ago. Every decade or so they like to pop over and stick a flag on the reefs and pretend they belong to them. I can happily say these things being a bit French myself lol.
It will be interesting to see who wins this little war.

[Clanky]

Good luck to them, if the UK had a decent union instead of the self serving tossers at NUMAST or whatever they are calling themselves this year then British seafarers might be in a better position.

[condeh]

Good luck to them, if the UK had a decent union instead of the self serving tossers at NUMAST or whatever they are calling themselves this year then British seafarers might be in a better position.

Having just gone through a redundancy process as a member of Nautilus (this year, as you say), I can honestly say that I'm basically paying ?20+ per month for a newspaper and very little else. Waste of time, absolutely no back-bone, simply tow the line the companies dictate.

I don't neccesarily agree with the actions of the crew at the top of this page, but to be honest, just seeing someone doing something about the state of shipping in the EU is a good thing.