Category Archives: Ports

International youth delegation on work visits in Varna

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After the Regional youth conference held on 9 August 2017 in Sofia, FTTUB organized a five-day program for exchanging trade union practices, planning future joint activities with European and international transport federations, and preparing the initiatives of FTTUB Youth Committee. Work visits were organized at Varna-East Port, Varna Public Transport and Varna Airport; as well as a working meeting in the village of Kyulevcha between representatives of the youth committees of FTTUB, ETF and ITF. Прочети още →

FTTUB with an appeal to nearly two hundred tourists in Rousse

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On April 9 activists from “Inland waterways” section of the Federation of Transport Trade Unions of Bulgaria / FTTUB / together with volunteers distributed  nearly 200 copies of the Open letter (link) from Nick Bramley, President of ETF`s and ITF`s respective section among passengers on cruise trips in Europe. The action was held within The Action Week in the cruise River Shipping in Europe under the project “River cruise” of the two federations . Прочети още →

Action week of river cruise transport

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On 4 April in Amsterdam started the action week of the river cruise transport  in Europe. It is organized by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and its regional division – European Transport Federation (ETF). The two trade union structures are joining forces through their project “River cruise” aiming to protect workers in this sector and their working and living conditions. The specifics of work in inland navigation puts an equal sign between those two terms, as these employees practically live in their spare time on board – sometimes for months. Прочети още →

TRAN Committee improves PSR but ETF stays vigilant on several fronts

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Today, 25 January 2016, the European Parliament Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN Committee) adopted its report on the so-called Port Service Regulation (PSR). This legislative proposal is crucial for the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) as it touches upon several groups of workers represented by the Federation, especially in tugs and cargo-handling.

“The rapporteur, Knut Fleckenstein has done a huge work trying to balance the text according to the points of view expressed by the relevant stakeholders,” said ETF Dockers’ Section vice-chair, Torben Seebold. “We had asked the TRAN Committee to be more ambitious on social articles, but we believe that the PSR resulting from this vote presents several improvements compared to the original text,” he added.

“We are particularly pleased that the EP rejected the market access elements”, Seebold continued. “This is the third time: hopefully the lesson has been learnt and no similar proposals will come up in the future. The new article 10.a, on which we could find an agreement with FEPORT, is a good step forward.  We are, however, very concerned about ongoing attempts to dismantle port labour schemes. We are not going to stare at the precarisation of our jobs and the worsening of our working conditions: when dialogue falls short, international solidarity is ready to be implemented” he concluded.

A positive element for the ETF is also the exclusion of pilotage and the recognition of its fundamental role for safety.

Voicing the unions representing workers in tugs, Jean-Philippe Chateil from ETF French affiliate FOMM UGICT CGT declared “The initial text was very worrying because of its potential negative impact on existing social standards in the tug sector in some EU countries. A joint effort was made at institutional level to listen to our concerns’. He added ‘Satisfactory solutions could be found to avoid opening the door to social dumping. More political courage would have been needed on some aspects, notably on transfer of staff, as not all EU countries have legislation protecting workers’ rights when the tug operator is replaced”.

“We’ll do all we can to make sure that the enhancements are kept by the Plenary and by the upcoming three-way negotiations and that further improvements are introduced,” concluded Livia Spera, ETF Political Secretary for Dockers.

For more information go to: http://www.etf-europe.org/etf-3642.cfm

ECI Fair Transport Europe – our “Yes” to social justice in transport

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On December 8, at the ETF premises in Brussels was held a meeting of national representatives in the collecting signatures campaign within ECI Fair transport Europe for social justice in transport. The meeting was attended by Eduardo Chagas, ETF General Secretary. The countries’ representatives reported activities and challenges. Best practices were identified in all seven steps of the campaign. The most important seems to be the clear message: for better transport services through quality employment – in all modes of transport and for all EU citizens in all members-states. Прочети още →

The program for transportation – the final stage

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Just a few months before the end of the year and thus, of the Operational Program “Transport” 2007 – 2013 (+2), on 24 September 2015 an informative meeting was held in the hotel “Balkan”, Sofia. Management body and state agencies reported the results to the general public – MPs, stakeholders, guests and media. They also expressed their expectation that by the end of the year, the absorption of the available European funds will reach almost 100%.
In his address Minister Moskovski pointed out that even now, having disbursed over 75%, Bulgaria is ahead of a number of European countries. All projects will be completed, he also promised.

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Again, it was reported that the period 2007 – 2013 did not start successfully; substantial progress was made after 2009. FTTUB became part of this process with the participation of President Ekaterina Yordanova as a member of the Monitoring Committee of the program.
Minister Lilyana Palova also greeted the participants of the meeting and said that although his colleague and her not always agreed, the undisputed success is common.
Eng. Galina Vasileva, deputy head of the Managing Authority presented the stage of the work on each priority axe and most importantly – the lessons learned from the difficulties so far. Evidently, the experience has been evaluated and converted into acting capacity. Everything possible has been done not to lose money and to realize the maximum of works.

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The same was reported by the state agencies and companies – contractors on the projects. They appreciated the role of the program to build capacity that was unknown to Bulgaria so far – in infrastructure, as well as in global level modern technologies. “Every station project is unique,” stated St. Bratoev, CEO of the “Metropolitan”. The underground of Sofia was the most successful project in this period which also allowed not losing a lot of European funds. The role of the human factor in the success of each project was also addressed.
FTTUB congratulated all the teams for the excellent cope with the enormous challenge and for creating sustainable jobs and highly qualified specialists. “Each of these projects makes us feel proud of our people, our country and our city” – commented Ekaterina Yordanova expressing the general mood.

Global ITF campaign in support of sacked activists at Gdansk port

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A global campaign is being launched in support of Maciek Konopka and his colleagues at Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT) Gdansk as union-busting activity by management reaches new heights. Konopka has been sacked from his job at the terminal after 6 years of fixed term contracts, ostensibly because he is a visible and active member of ITF affiliate union NSZZ Solidarnosc. Прочети още →

FTTUB participated actively in ITF Black Sea Action Week

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ITF Black Sea Action Week, which was held from 6 to 10 July, is part of the annual campaigns of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) aiming to improve working conditions and rights of seafarers. This year, it went parallel with an Action Week for the East Asian sea region.

In the Black Sea region, ITF inspectors for Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia and Israel and their teams conducted mass inspections of the working conditions and wages on ships. Прочети още →

EP takes Social Partners’ Agreement for Maritime Transport on board

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Seafarers’ right to protection, information and consultation and fair and just working conditions endorsed by the European Parliament’s plenary session.
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On 8 July 2015, the European Parliament’s (EP) Plenary session adopted the agreement reached in trialogue with the Council of the EU last May, on the European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on seafarers. This adoption marks the end of a very long process, which started some eight years ago and which had opposed shipowners to trade unions for many years. Прочети още →