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10 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 74/2001
Brazilian oil workers' and seafarers' unions have launched a new Solidarity Pact with US mariners who are fighting for the right to join a trade union.
Signed in Rio de Janeiro, the pact pledges international cooperation to promote fairness, justice and a voice at work for mariners working on US-flag vessels of Trico Marine Services, Inc.
In addition, maritime unions throughout Latin America have agreed to support the campaign.
This is a new phase in worldwide action by mariners and oil workers. The unions involved are affiliates of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Together, they are supporting a campaign to secure trade union rights for American workers employed by Trico, which supplies shipping and other services to offshore oil producers.
The Pact says: "The Brazilian and US unions call peacefully and lawfully on the customers of Trico not to engage in any further contracts with Trico from this day forward until Trico ceases its anti-union activities and, upon demonstration of majority support, recognises the OMU as the Union representing mariners working on the company's US Gulf of Mexico fleet and negotiates in good faith a collective bargaining agreement providing these workers all the protections of union representation."
It was backed by maritime unions from all over Latin America who were taking part in an ITF conference in Rio. They resolved to "support OMU and the Bilateral Solidarity Pact by taking steps to persuade Trico Marine to end its campaign of intimidation, including any and all steps sanctioned by applicable law which would have the effect of limiting Trico's ability to expand its operations anywhere in Latin America, until such time as Trico Marine recognises the rights of its employees to organise and bargain collectively through the representatives of their choice."
The OMU is a coalition of American mariners' unions.
Trico Marine operates a fleet of nearly 100 vessels worldwide in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea and off Brazil. Trico mariners in the North Sea and Brazil enjoy the protection of a union contract. US workers are not so lucky.
"For over a year, Trico mariners have sought a union," explains David Heindl. He is Secretary-Treasurer of the Seafarers International Union of North America (SIU).
"Trico has responded by firing union supporters, blocking union representatives from visiting ships... and finding all manner of ways to prevent their mariners from being able to communicate with our unions," Heindl says. "Further, Trico has run a strong campaign of harassment, intimidation, interrogation and pressure to scare mariners away from their aim of having a union."
One country where Trico workers have full union rights is Norway. The Norwegian oil and petrochemical workers' union NOPEF has mounted a sustained campaign to back their American colleagues' right to organise. Details in ICEM Update 56/2001.
This August, the Norwegian pressure brought a first breakthrough, when Trico promised NOPEF that the company would provide all its US employees with the contact details of the relevant American trade unions. This is "a step in the right direction," NOPEF President Leif Sande said. He added that "as long as we experience progress in what we see as negotiations", NOPEF would not launch a boycott of Trico's Norwegian operations.
Trico Marine also operates approximately 15 vessels in the Brazilian offshore market. Most of these are under contract to the Brazilian national oil company Petrobras.
Renato Martins, the ICEM Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, commented in Rio: "Signing this pact jointly is a concrete act of solidarity to dissuade Trico from continuing its unacceptable anti-union practices. Also, it is an opportunity to join together in the fight for maritime workers."
And Antonio Fritz, Interamerican Regional Secretary of the ITF, said: "This resolution and the commitments made by these maritime unions throughout Latin America are very important actions. They demonstrate that the international solidarity of our unions is not restrictive and is not limited. International trade union solidarity is real and it is strong!"
Signed in Rio de Janeiro, the pact pledges international cooperation to promote fairness, justice and a voice at work for mariners working on US-flag vessels of Trico Marine Services, Inc.
In addition, maritime unions throughout Latin America have agreed to support the campaign.
This is a new phase in worldwide action by mariners and oil workers. The unions involved are affiliates of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Together, they are supporting a campaign to secure trade union rights for American workers employed by Trico, which supplies shipping and other services to offshore oil producers.
The Pact says: "The Brazilian and US unions call peacefully and lawfully on the customers of Trico not to engage in any further contracts with Trico from this day forward until Trico ceases its anti-union activities and, upon demonstration of majority support, recognises the OMU as the Union representing mariners working on the company's US Gulf of Mexico fleet and negotiates in good faith a collective bargaining agreement providing these workers all the protections of union representation."
It was backed by maritime unions from all over Latin America who were taking part in an ITF conference in Rio. They resolved to "support OMU and the Bilateral Solidarity Pact by taking steps to persuade Trico Marine to end its campaign of intimidation, including any and all steps sanctioned by applicable law which would have the effect of limiting Trico's ability to expand its operations anywhere in Latin America, until such time as Trico Marine recognises the rights of its employees to organise and bargain collectively through the representatives of their choice."
The OMU is a coalition of American mariners' unions.
Trico Marine operates a fleet of nearly 100 vessels worldwide in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea and off Brazil. Trico mariners in the North Sea and Brazil enjoy the protection of a union contract. US workers are not so lucky.
"For over a year, Trico mariners have sought a union," explains David Heindl. He is Secretary-Treasurer of the Seafarers International Union of North America (SIU).
"Trico has responded by firing union supporters, blocking union representatives from visiting ships... and finding all manner of ways to prevent their mariners from being able to communicate with our unions," Heindl says. "Further, Trico has run a strong campaign of harassment, intimidation, interrogation and pressure to scare mariners away from their aim of having a union."
One country where Trico workers have full union rights is Norway. The Norwegian oil and petrochemical workers' union NOPEF has mounted a sustained campaign to back their American colleagues' right to organise. Details in ICEM Update 56/2001.
This August, the Norwegian pressure brought a first breakthrough, when Trico promised NOPEF that the company would provide all its US employees with the contact details of the relevant American trade unions. This is "a step in the right direction," NOPEF President Leif Sande said. He added that "as long as we experience progress in what we see as negotiations", NOPEF would not launch a boycott of Trico's Norwegian operations.
Trico Marine also operates approximately 15 vessels in the Brazilian offshore market. Most of these are under contract to the Brazilian national oil company Petrobras.
Renato Martins, the ICEM Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, commented in Rio: "Signing this pact jointly is a concrete act of solidarity to dissuade Trico from continuing its unacceptable anti-union practices. Also, it is an opportunity to join together in the fight for maritime workers."
And Antonio Fritz, Interamerican Regional Secretary of the ITF, said: "This resolution and the commitments made by these maritime unions throughout Latin America are very important actions. They demonstrate that the international solidarity of our unions is not restrictive and is not limited. International trade union solidarity is real and it is strong!"