Activities of Georgios TOUSSAS related to 2009/2095(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT Report on strategic goals and recommendations for the EU’s maritime transport policy until 2018 PDF (194 KB) DOC (106 KB)
Amendments (12)
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomesRejects the policy, strategic guidelines and proposals contained in the Communication from the Commission on maritime transport policy until 2018, because their aim is to increase competition and the profits of the shipping monopolies and of capital generally, at the expense of the workers and the needs of the working class;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises that the EU's maritime policy shouldcapitalist economic crisis which followed the previous boom period (September 2003 – July 2008) – a period of astronomical profits without historical precedent for ship owners – accelerated the tendency towards concentration and centralisation of capital in the maritime transport sector; that the anaemic and fragile recovery of the EU economy, in combination with surplus tonnage, intensifies intra-Union and international competition in maritime transport among the monopoly business groups, with painful consequences for dock workers and, generally, for workers in related sectors; also takes account of the fact that the maritime industry faces competition not only within the Community but above all globally; European shipping companies, while having their actual headquarters in, and managing their entire commercial fleets from, EU Member States, also operate as offshore companies, registering 60-80% of their ships in third countries under ‘flags of convenience’ and in ‘second registers’, thus securing tax havens while ruthlessly exploiting dock workers and increasing their profits. By these unacceptable means, the same European ship owners are making use of shipping registers in third countries, and the only obligation for the offshore companies which they set up in those countries is to keep a PO box at a post office or bank and to bring in USD 10-50 000 in foreign exchange annually. Ship owners use this method to secure new privileges, state subsidies, tax exemptions, reductions in ships’ complements, abolition of employer contributions to dock workers’ insurance funds, etc.;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on EU Member States therefore to encourage the use of their flag, for example by providing fiscal facilities such as a tonnage tax and reduced taxation of seafarerabolish the outrageous tax exemptions and scandalous privileges enjoyed by shipping companies;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. WelcomesTakes account of the initiatives by Member States and the Commission to make maritime occupations more attractive to young EU citizens; advocates, to this end, linking work and multiannual training in the maritime sector; advocates also tin relation to the seafaring profession; notes that EU and national legislation follows the ship owners’ desire for a cheap dock workforce, and promotes intensification of labour and exhausting working hours which, under EU legislation, may be as high as 72 hours a week, and the reduction of ships’ complements and downgrading and reduction of inspections; notes that this policy hats more information on the sector be provided at schools and that more traineeships be made availableade the protection of human life at sea even more precarious, with the failure to adopt strict safety measures and rules, and increases the risks to the environment;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses that seafarers from third countries must comply with satisfactory training requirements and calls on ship owners and national inspectorates to guarantee and enforce this, where necessary assisted by EMSA; Notes with great concern that the policy of increasing the profitability of ship- owning business groups results in a drastic reduction in dock workers from EU Member States, with a corresponding increase in the number of dock workers from third countries who work under deplorable conditions for very low wages; emphasises that while the number and tonnage of European shipping companies’ vessels have increased, the mass expulsion of dock workers from EU Member States, and their replacement with a cheaper maritime workforce without wage, labour or social rights, continues; this tendency to reduce labour costs is, according to the EU’s Common Maritime Policy and reports by international organisations, a crucial factor for enhancing the competitiveness and profitability of European shipping companies; for this reason, the expulsion of crews and officers from EU Member States continues with greater intensity; soaring unemployment, drastic curtailment of social benefits and the dire financial state of dock workers’ insurance funds have dealt a severe blow to the standard of living of dock workers’ families;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Underlines that a reasonable balance between the employment conditions of EU seafare need for immediate ratification, and incorporation into the Member States’ national law, of the Maritime Labour Convention ratified by the ILO General Conference on 23 February 2006, which sets the minimum requirements for securing the basic rights of dock workers; and the competitiveness of the European fleet should be found in order to facilitate labour mobility in the maritime industries throughout Europe and to ensure a fully functioning internal market without barriers and without unjustified restrictions to provide service particularly important issue is the incorporation into national legislation of Part B of the Convention, which is presented as non-mandatory, and the enforcement of International Convention 145 on continuous employment for dock workers, as well as the adoption of well- considered demands made by the dock workers’ movement, such as an increase in ships’ complements, the adoption of the 7-hour day and 5-day, 35-hour week, and the rule on crew rotation (15 days on board and 15 days ashore for crews of vessels on internal voyages, and 4 months and 4 months respectively for crews of vessels on international voyages); underlines the need to enforce the protection rules that apply to seconded workers (minimum wage, annual leave, etc.) and dock workers;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Stresses that the maritime training based on the STCW International Convention was used to downgrade maritime training and replace it with an ad hoc, superficial form of training, and to encourage the influx of a cheaper workforce from third countries, and that it has served only to increase the profits of the maritime business groups and private training companies; emphasises the need to substantially upgrade maritime training with the adoption of an international convention on crews and officers of ships, within the IMO framework, and also the need to recognise intermediate and higher maritime training as an equivalent level of training for related sectors on land;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21 a. Notes with great concern that EU policy on the shipbuilding industry, and on privatisation of ports and port services, strengthens monopoly business groups in shipping and related sectors, inflicting a serious blow to workers;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Calls on national inspectoraEmphasises that shipworthiness inspections by shipping registers and other national authorities to cooperate more closely in exchanging data on vesselsauthorised private companies have proven ineffective; notes, with concern, that superannuated, under-maintained vessels carry so-called certificates of shipworthiness and remain in operation, posing a risk to human life at sea and to their cargoes, so as to reduce regulatory pressure but environment; particularly in the Mediterranean, following enforcement of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3577/92 and the abolition of cabotage, the number of superannuated, under-maintained, high-risk vessels has increased; underlines that to increase their effectiveness of, inspections; must be rigorous, frequent and exhaustively thorough;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Is aware ofthat the danger of piracy on the high seas cand calls on all ship owners to cooperate with government initiatives such as Atnot be combated by military means or with interventions at the expense of the sovereignty of third countries, but only by combating the social anta whd economich can protect them against piracyuses – especially poverty, decline and the imperialist wars that cause and sustain it;