«Opposition to unfair competition at ports»

Rome - “Attempts to practice downward competition is raising strong concerns and opposition to certain labour practices that do not meet the needs of developing new trade, and that strongly undermine both employment levels and workers’ safety at ports.”

This, the response to the situation regarding road haulage irregularities, from Italian workers’ representatives, Colombai (Filt Cgil), Torzetti (Fit Cisl) and Galluccio (Uiltrasporti).

They were referring to events that took place in the port of Genoa, in which crew on board vessels resorted to self-handling activities, pointing out that such port operations are covered “by Law 84/94, and require authorizations of the Port Authority that, acting as a guarantor of best practice, issues authorizations to specific companies, with the involvement of the agencies responsible for such operations. The current failure to comply with these self-regulating standards - pointed out the three workers’ syndicates - has led to a spate of serious incidents, as reported in the media, and, it must not be forgotten that this also affects seafarers and prevents port workers from carrying out the duties for which they’ve been trained and tasked”.

According to Filt, Fit and Uiltrasporti, “self-handling practices should only be authorized in such ports where port workers are not available, as already stated in international maritime labour contracts, and only when ships are equipped with appropriate means for the task, with workers exclusively dedicated to the exercise of such operations. All enforcement bodies and institutions,” stressed the trade union organizations, “must be vigilant regarding compliance with standards and safe practice.”