Brussels, 6 July 2015 –
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform strongly welcomes IndustriALL’s “Campaign to
clean up Shipbreaking - the world's most dangerous job”. IndustriALL, which
represents 50 million workers in 140 countries, calls upon governments to
finally make the shipbreaking industry safer for workers. The trade unions
stress the precarious working conditions for shipbreaking workers in South
Asia, usually migrant workers hired by sub-contractors, as well as the exposure
to various health threats including toxic substances and industrial accidents.
The global union launched a dedicated website featuring campaign materials,
related documents and videos, as well as a model letter to governments.
In November 2014, the
IndustriALL Global Union World Conference on Shipbuilding-Shipbreaking, which
Platform founder and policy advisor Ingvild Jenssen attended in Nagasaki,
Japan, unanimously approved a resolution demanding that shipbuilding,
shipbreaking and shipping states expedite ratification of the Hong Kong
Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. Moreover,
the resolution calls upon countries to apply the EU Ship Recycling Regulation
as well as requirements under the Basel Convention and the ILO Guidelines to
make the industry safer for workers.
“A strong and
international trade union movement is absolutely necessary for the shipbreaking
industry,” says Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the Platform. “We are
happy that trade unions around the world join forces and address the
shipbreaking crisis as a global issue in order to make the voices of workers
from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan heard. We regret that trade unions active
in the shipbreaking sector in South Asia often do not fully enjoy the freedom
of assembly and the right to collective bargaining, and we call upon
governments to make sure that workers can freely enjoy their rights”.
CONTACT US:
Patrizia Heidegger
Executive Director
NGO Shipbreaking
Platform
No comments:
Post a Comment