'We don't need it, we don't want it, we will fight it'

Frank Leys (centre) with the ILWU/MUA delegation to Strasbourg

By Frank Leys, secretary, ITF dockers' section

WHEN I first heard what the European Commission was proposing - seafarers handling cargo and self-handlers hiring people who aren't registered dockers to do dockers' work - it felt like we were returning to the 19th century. Were we heading back to an age where the only thing needed to work in the docks was brute strength and the willingness to spend half of your hard earned wages in the foreman's wife's shop or pub if you wanted to work the next day?

I am one of the third generation of a family of dockers at Antwerp, where three of my brothers still work. I know that ports have changed: technology has reduced manual handling - even if there are still places where cargo in 50kg bags is moved by hand. Safety is important in all industries, but particularly so in the maritime sector where lethal risks proliferate. Safety has to be one of the major concerns of all players in the industry.

When I started in the port 25 years ago, we loaded and unloaded goods using ship-to-shore cranes that could lift five tonnes. The crane driver was an experienced worker, but if the lifting gear or a cargo hook accidentally swung against one of the workers slinging the goods it might hurt like hell, but you'd live through it.

These days, you're more likely to see mobile ship-to-shore cranes which can lift over 100 tonnes. You can imagine what someone hit by one of those hooks will look like. Dockers are no longer hired on street corners, they are trained professionals who have vocational instruction before they ever go near a ship.

They get more training every time they are given a new responsibility, such as driving forklifts and straddle carriers. I have always respected seafarers for their skills of seamanship, and the first officers for their ability to plan the stability of the vessel, but it is crucial that its actual loading and unloading be left to experienced workers. Consequently, we reject self-handling by already fatigued seafarers and unregistered workers ashore...

From the beginning, workers across Europe have said that we do not want or need this directive. If we had been wrong to do so would we have been joined not just by national governments but by the major stakeholders in the industry, all united in disbelief that the corpse of this pointless and damaging legislation has been dragged as far as it has?

First published in Lloyds List (17/1/06)