Tallink replaces Finnish crew with low-paid Estonians

Finnish Seamen's Union claims Tallink action is outrageous

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After purchasing the Superfast Ferries vessels operating on the Rostock-Paldiski-Hanko route from a Greek-owned shipping company earlier this spring, the Tallink shipping line dismissed all 300 of its multinational crews, replacing them with Estonians.
      "The entire crew were left without work. This is really outrageous", argues Simo Zitting, the President of the Finnish Seamen's Union.
      According to the Finnish Seamen's Union, the salary Tallink is paying to its present Estonian crew is only 25 percent of what the multinational staff of the Superfast vessels earned. A monthly salary of a junior seaman used to be around EUR 2,500 to 3,000, when the Superfast Ferries vessels were sailing under the Greek flag. Currently, under the Estonian flag, his monthly salary is only approximately EUR 500 to 600, says Zitting.
     
Tallink has not answered the Finnish Seamen's Union's requests for negotiations.
      "We bought just the ships", says Keijo Mehtonen, the Managing Director of Tallink Finland. In Mehtonen's view, Tallink pays good salaries and observes collective labour contracts, but their contracting party is the Estonian Seamen's Independent Union, EMSA.
      "We operate from Germany to Hanko and Paldiski, and we do not see any reason why we should negotiate with Finnish labour unions", Mehtonen argues.
     
However, Tallink is prepared for potential action by the Finnish union. As a precautionary measure, the company submitted a request to the Raasepori District Court at the beginning of May, that the Finnish Seamen's Union be forbidden from placing an embargo on Tallink, reports judge Leif Andersson.
      The Finnish Seamen's Union, in turn, has demanded that the issue should be handled in its legal domicile Helsinki - not in Raasepori. On the other hand, Tallink is not willing to comment on its request to the District Court.
      Judge Andersson remembers two earlier embargo-related court cases involving a shipping company and the Seamen's Union. The union won both cases.
      In Estonia's harbours the unions have never threatened to place an embargo on shipping companies. On the other hand, some 30 to 40 percent of Tallink's employees are unionised - a noticeably high figure compared with other Estonian companies. Of all Estonian harbour workers, only some 10 percent are members of a labour union.
     
According to the Estonian Seamen's Independent Union EMSA, the other Estonian passenger ships have approximately the same wage level as Tallink. In 2005, it was agreed that the salaries would be increased by 16 percent in the course of the next three years.
      Another argument between the labour unions and Tallink is the number of daily working hours. According to Tallink, they comply with the contract, being not more than 10 hours per day.
      Kaia Vask, the head of EMSA, claims that the daily working hours of Tallink's crew have been even as many as 20 hours at worst, even though the official records might show that everything is in order.
      Vask attributes this to the shortage of labour following the acquisition of new ships.
     
Tallink's sales and marketing director Peter Roose denies all allegations of a shortage of labour. However, he does admit that the atmosphere on Tallink's new lines has become tense.
      According to Roose, problems have been caused because the security training of crew members takes time.
      Moreover, in Roose's view the labour union is exaggerating the differences between the salaries of the previous and present crews of the Superfast ferries.
      Tallink and EMSA have a valid collective contract, and hence, the Finnish Seamen's Union's demand to raise salaries has no legal foundation, Roose notes.
      What disturbs the Finnish Seamen's Union most is the fact that Tallink's current crew consists of Estonians - and not Finns, concludes Roose.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Superfast Ferries prepares to dispose of wastewater into sewage system on land (18.11.2005)
  Tallink ships still discharging sewage into Baltic Sea (14.11.2005)
  Passengers fill vessels to Estonia (24.3.2005)

Links:
  Superfast
  Finnish Seamen´s Union

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