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          Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Sep-Oct 2008 
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UK unions fight slave wage legislation18 June 2003
Maritime unions in the UK have forced the government to put its contentious shipping legislation allowing UK flagged vessels to employ foreign crew on cheap wages to the vote Unions in the UK are forcing a formal parliamentary vote on the issue of shipowners avoiding equal pay for foreign seafarers, Lloyds List reports from London. The Rail Maritime and Transport Workers Union has used a former pledge by Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, a former seafarer trade union activist himself - when in opposition. In 1993 Mr Prescott, then shadow transport secretary, wrote in the journal The Seaman: "Britain cannot and should not countenance the exploitation of seafarers from third world countries. "It is a national shame that the 1976 Race Relations Act allows foreign crews to be employed aboard UK flag ships and paid at their local rates of pay rather than British rates. "Labour is committed to the principle of pay parity and the harmonisation of working conditions for all crews on UK flag vessels." But these days he is unavailable for comment. Labour MPs buckled to the shipowners after The Chamber of Shipping warned that ending the loophole would see up to 400 of the 500 or so ships on the Red Ensign flag out. The RMT is confident that one of the Labour MPs will object to the loophole remaining in place, which means it must go to a formal vote in a few days time. Lloyds List reports more than 100 MPs have signed a so-called early day motion but the union lobby may not have the numbers in parliament to block the legislation, merely delay it.
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