http://www.itfglobal.org

La direction du canal suit sa logique…
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/686401

Panama Canal Responds: Tugboat Captains Broke the Law – gCaptain
▻http://gcaptain.com/126659-2

On April 12, a brief and isolated service interruption occurred at the Panama Canal’s Neopanamax locks when several tugboat captains refused to comply with mandatory procedures, compromising the Canal’s performance and causing economic loss. The Panama Canal normalized transits through its Neopanamax locks the next day. Operations on the Canal’s Panamax locks were never affected.

The Panama Canal is constitutionally mandated to ensure the waterway’s uninterrupted operation and therefore took steps to determine the necessary measures to discipline those responsible, as is required by Panama Canal regulations. To be clear, the responsible parties are not being investigated for “raising safety and security concerns,” but for disrupting vessel operations, which violated the law. Attempts to gain advantage in a labor dispute by conflating an unfortunate and unrelated accident from last year with this particular work stoppage is not only inaccurate and misleading, it’s irresponsible and disrespectful to those who were affected.

ITF response to statement by the Panama Canal Authority - International Transport Workers’ Federation
▻http://www.itfglobal.org/en/news-events/press-releases/2018/may/itf-response-to-statement-by-the-panama-canal-authority

We at the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) are surprised and disappointed by the statement issued by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in relation to the recent events in Panama.

15/05/2018

The ACP has claimed that information provided to us, and subsequently circulated, was misleading and twists reality. This allegation is offensive, not only to our affiliated unions and canal workers that are directly affected, but also to the 19.7 million transport workers that we represent.

This is not a labour dispute, as the ACP refers to in its statement, this is a fair request from transport professionals. The captains represented by UCOC must be able to ensure they can work in a safe environment for the prosperity of the Panama Canal.

The ACP conveniently omitted a report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), one of the most reputable and recognised organisations responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. The report, which detailed the incident of the USCGC Tampa in the new canal locks, clearly identified safety hazards, something our affiliated union, Unión de Capitanes y Oficiales de Cubierta (UCOC), has repeatedly highlighted with the ACP.

We are in possession of correspondence showing that for more than two years, UCOC and other maritime unions warned the APC about issues regarding training, safety and operations in the new canal locks. Most of this correspondence was ignored, and on the few occasions that it was not the ACP’s responses were at best evasive and did not genuinely address the issues raised.

We welcome the section of ACP’s statement that encourages personnel to raise issues on the canal policy in a constructive manner. For over six weeks now, the ITF and many affiliated unions have offered to facilitate the dialogue between the parties, however, in spite of what the APC declared in its statement, the requests, which were sent to the Panama Consular representations around the world, remain unanswered.

The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Committee on Freedom of Association has recommended that the Government of Panama should expedite measures to facilitate dialogue between the authorities and social partners on the existing rights of representation and how they operate.

We are committed in supporting our Panama maritime affiliates and urge the ACP to engage in constructive dialogue with Panama maritime unions to demonstrate a serious consideration for safety in one of the shipping industry’s most crucial waterways.

#transport_maritime

Canal de Panama, le conflit pourrit doucement…

Communiqué du syndicat des commandants de remorqueurs (UCOC) alors que la direction (ACP) les accuse de #prendre_les_usagers_en_otage (#air_connu, le trafic, en l’occurrence) :

Panama Canal Tugboat Captains Locked in Heated Dispute with Management Over Safe Manning of Tugs – gCaptain
▻http://gcaptain.com/panama-canal-tugboat-captains-locked-in-heated-dispute-with-management-ove

According to the UCOC spokesperson, beginning at midnight on April 12, Panama Canal management unexpectedly refused to the provide the third deckhand for the forward tugboat, as has been the standard since the Expanded Panama Canal opened, and no explanation was provided for the change in procedure. 

“The unconsulted and sudden decision of the Panama Canal Administration to eliminate a tugboat sailor from the bow, endangers the safety of customers, workers and the Canal’s own facilities,” the UCOC said in a statement over the weekend.

“It is false that the tugboat captains refuse to do their job; the events of the last 48 hours are due to discrepancies in issues that specifically affect the safety of navigation and the operation of the Panama Canal,” the statement added.

The UCOC cited an incident last November in which a deckhand was killed on a tugboat connected to the stern transiting vessel. Despite starting operations with three sailors, the aft tugs now only use two sailors, which the union believes may have contributed to the incident. “We do not want history to repeat itself,” the UCOC said.

On Tuesday, ACP Deputy Administrator Manuel Benítez took to Panamanian radio to defend the move to two deckhands and publicly blame the tugboat captains for interrupting canal operations.

“No one has the right to stop the traffic in the channel, because we have an authority structure where it is established that the work is done and then one complains. The channel is required to operate with discipline,” said Mr. Benítez, who also revealed that the April 12 stoppage impacted the transit 8 ships.

Communiqué de l’#ITF, Fédération internationale des ouvriers du transport (16/04/18)

ITF : The Panama Canal “Adrift” Due to Safety Concerns – gCaptain
▻http://gcaptain.com/itf-the-panama-canal-adrift-due-to-safety-concerns

The situation between the [ACP] and the Tugboat Captains’ Union (UCOC) is worsening day by day. The ACP has threatened with dismissals of around ten (10) Tugboat Captains that are refusing to perform operations they consider unsafe. 

The lack of focus on safety has already resulted in one casualty and a number of incidents, including collisions that in one case an investigation by the USA National Transportation Safety Board (following a collision between the Panama canal tug Cerro Santiago and the US Coast Guard cutter Tampa) indicated excessive working hours and fatigue as one of major the causes. “It is easy to make decisions that affect the safety when sitting behind a desk, but it is a different matter when the decisions that are being made put people’s lives and that of their colleagues in jeopardy. The Authorities should ensure proper investigation of all incidents and work with the unions in finding solutions instead of sanctioning those that raise safety concerns” says the ITF General Secretary Stephen Cotton.

▻http://www.itfglobal.org/en/news-events/news/2018/april/the-panama-canal-adrift-due-to-safety-concerns

Version française

Le Canal de Panama « à la dérive » par manque de sécurité - International Transport Workers’ Federation
▻http://www.itfglobal.org/fr/news-events/news/2018/april/the-panama-canal-adrift-due-to-safety-concerns

La tension entre la PCA et le syndicat des capitaines de remorqueurs (UCOC) monte jour après jour. La PCA menace de licencier une dizaine (10) de capitaines refusant d’effectuer des opérations qu’ils jugent dangereuses.

La négligence des aspects sécurité a déjà fait une victime et plusieurs incidents, dont des collisions. Une enquête de l’agence américaine pour la sécurité des transports (National Transportation Safety Board, États-Unis) menée après la collision entre le remorqueur Cerro Santiago et le Tampa, navire des garde-côtes américains, a révélé que les horaires de travail excessifs et la fatigue étaient les causes principales de l’accident. « Il est facile de prendre des décisions qui touchent à la sécurité assis derrière un bureau, mais il en va autrement quand ces décisions mettent la vie des travailleurs et de leurs collègues en danger. L’Autorité devrait enquêter diligemment sur tous les incidents et collaborer avec les syndicats pour trouver des solutions, au lieu de sanctionner ceux qui sonnent l’alerte » a déclaré le Secrétaire général de l’ITF, Stephen Cotton.

Poursuites disciplinaires contre les commandants de remorqueurs du canal qui ont dénoncés les conditions d’exploitation.

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/693155