Oh, A Martime Life for Me
I was over at Spanblather's blog when I happened upon a cutting about how the Maritime Union will not handle cargo for Japanese Whaling Ships.
What stunned me is a response from the Maritime Union about what it has negotiated for their workers:
I [Victor Billot] attend bi-monthly stopwork meetings at Port Chalmers (my home branch) attended by up to sixty Union members, of several hours in duration, where full and frank discussion of all Union activities is held, with rank and file members questioning their elected officials and putting their own views.
That's right - an afternoon every two months off work to talk about Union Matters.
What stunned me is a response from the Maritime Union about what it has negotiated for their workers:
I [Victor Billot] attend bi-monthly stopwork meetings at Port Chalmers (my home branch) attended by up to sixty Union members, of several hours in duration, where full and frank discussion of all Union activities is held, with rank and file members questioning their elected officials and putting their own views.
That's right - an afternoon every two months off work to talk about Union Matters.
posted by Michael at
9:56 AM
2 Comments:
I will tell you what is discussed at those Maritime Union meetings as I attend them.
The Union meetings often discuss health and safety on the job and the issues that may decide whether members return home to their families in one piece.
Our members work in often dangerous conditions, on the waterfront and at sea, on heavy machinery. They do this often in the dark and in sometimes very poor weather conditions. They work shift work and often very long shifts. It is worth noting that those who work for non-unionized employers are often completely casualized and poorly paid.
Often our members have to work onboard overseas vessels, which due to free market, greed-driven economics, are in extremely poor condition and have things occur like containers fall onto the wharves or cranes collapse onto ships. I have attended some of these incidents. These issues also come up at meetings.
The stopwork meetings discuss problems members are having with the employer, or indeed problems members are having with each other on the job. These are resolved in an open and frank way. Younger members are encouraged to come forward and develop their skills and confidence as delegates and through training.
Finally, they provide a forum for workers to have free speech on issues such as donations and support for community projects, individual members experiencing personal hardship or losses, political issues, and solidarity for workers involved in struggles to defend their rights.
The Union also keeps an eye out for mistreatment and abuse of overseas crews, many of whom are employed in shocking conditions, who originate from Third World countries. If it was not for the Union, these unfortunate people would have no protections whatsoever.
Strangely enough, their freedom and safety is of little concern to the "free market" corporate advocates who seem to care little about their fellow human beings, a fact that always makes me very sad about the callous attitude of our society.
The strong collective nature of our Union comes about through a long history where maritime workers were treated as disposable commodities as opposed to human beings.
The stopwork meeting is a concrete and powerful statement of our collective democratic philosophy and an affirmation of our rights as human beings, not labour units.
If you would like more information on what the Union does for its members, please contact me, I am happy to send a magazine.
By
Victor, at 2:57 PM
As you can see from Victor's comment, "Union Matters" are not actually separate from your work - they are part and parcel of it.
In such a dangerous workplace it seems to be very valuable to have these regular opportunities to discuss the health and safety issue alone, nevermind all the other important aspects of working life that get talked about at these meetings (and similar ones for other unions that I have attended).
By
span, at 11:29 AM
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