Dockers and seafarers: share stories online and build activist links
22 March 2013
Activists from across ITF docker and seafarer unions are being encouraged to share their stories and experiences via the dedicated dockers and seafarers website as part of the drive to grow and solidify links between maritime union members on the ground.
Originally developed to support the Maritime Roundtable (MRT) event, the dockers' and seafarers' site is now available as an online platform for activists to blog, upload pictures and videos, engage with each other in the secure forum and give reports of their own union successes and struggles.
The MRT was the first fully activist focused event for the ITF and it’s hoped that part of the legacy from it will be an active and engaged online group using each others' knowledge and experiences to support and strengthen their own unions.
As part of the drive to engage activists further and give workers on the ground the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback to the maritime secretariat within the ITF, members of the dockers’ section team will be taking part in virtual drop in sessions hosted on the dockers' and seafarers' website.
Get involved now by posting your stories, reports and pictures http://www.dockers-seafarers.org./union-stories to the website and encouraging other activists in your union to do the same. Start a conversation with other dockers and seafarers around the world via the blog http://www.dockers-seafarers.org./blog .
The dockers' and seafarers' forum is in a secure area of the site to allow activists to discuss organising, bargaining and negotiating tactics in a private arena. If you want to access the secure area go to the‘create account’ http://www.dockers-seafarers.org./user/register section under login. Your details will be sent through to the team and verified.
MUNZ warns of toxic threat to container workers
21 March 2013
An official report that exposed massive safety risks concerning toxic gases in shipping containers shows that workers face daily danger, the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) has warned.
The Wellingtonian newspaper claimed on 14 March that the Customs Service published internally the findings in its Report on the Outcomes of the Fumigant Risk Study in May 2012, but withheld them from the public.
Samples were taken from over 500 containers that arrived at the New Zealand Port of Tauranga, and the results were consistent with overseas findings. Five gases were found well above safe working levels - formaldehyde, ethylene oxide, methyl bromide, benzene and ethylene dibromide.
MUNZ national secretary Joe Fleetwood, whose union represents maritime workers on the waterfront and on ships who deal directly with containers, said: “This report shows that levels of toxins were present in most containers and one in five containers were not safe. In a large port that could mean thousands of containers."
Fleetwood expressed his concern that cargo manifests might not be accurately indicating these hazards. He also questioned how the Port of Tauranga, which promotes itself as successful and efficient, would respond to the report’s findings: “What measures are the port taking to protect their staff from poisoning? Have they informed their staff of the report?"
MUNZ has been urging the precautionary phase-out of methyl bromide for some time, following reputable scientific evidence of its possible link to motor neurone disease. Research into this is ongoing.
Fleetwood called for both a full safety audit for containers and a beefed-up health and safety plan to be rolled out, with the involvement of unions and workers on the ground.
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