Trade unions under the guidance of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) took action in the Port of Ghent. ITF inspectors unsuccessfully tried to board the ship Pegasus to check the working and living conditions. The Blumenthal company employing some thousand persons on 50 ships is part of a bigger problem. The ITF estimates that more than one million people worldwide work under the non-regulated FOC system, which allows ship-owners to neglect national labour laws.
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For more information, please contact Sanne van der Gaag or Sjaak van der Velden, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) sannevandergaag@deburcht.org or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Steve Coulter scoulter@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.