{"id":12038,"date":"2017-04-06T15:36:02","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T14:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12038"},"modified":"2017-04-06T15:36:02","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T14:36:02","slug":"ferry-strikes-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12038","title":{"rendered":"Ferry strikes go on"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Travellers using the Woolwich Ferry face two-days of disruption later this month, as new strikes are announced in the long-running dispute over a bullying culture, and health and safety issues.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite said today (April 6) that talks had stalled because an intransigent management had failed to make sufficient progress into a number of serious allegations, including a case of sexual harassment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The union has told Briggs Marine Contractors Ltd, which runs the service on behalf of Transport for London (TfL), that its members will strike for 24 hours from just after midnight on Tuesday, April 18 and Friday, April 21.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Workers, belonging to Unite and the GMB, took two days of strike action \u00e2\u20ac\u201c January 27 and February 3 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c before suspending industrial action so that talks could take place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite regional officer Onay Kasab said that \u00e2\u20ac\u015btalks have not made enough progress.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe top managers are intransigent, evasive and prone to stalling.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe investigation into the sexual harassment case is still ongoing, as is the probe into sending workers to work in exhaust fume filled areas,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd to top it all, no managers have been held to account for their actions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Serious allegations\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe union has also made serious allegations about the way some managers have conducted themselves in the workplace in a number of respects \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and we firmly believe these matters warrant further investigation,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese allegations have been brought up as part of the dispute negotiations to demonstrate very clearly that a management problem exists \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but the company has simply stated that it will re-issue guidance to all staff in these areas instead of taking decisive action.<\/p>\n

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As UNITElive reported<\/a> on the ferry workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 first day of strike action on January 27, a major issue in the dispute is health and safety.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ferry workers have warned that operator Briggs Marine bosses have failed to properly maintain the boats. Fire-fighting equipment isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sufficient and workers have found toxic E.coli bacteria in vessel water tanks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And only the day after the first strike day, an ambulance was called to the ferry after the engineer, a Unite member, collapsed from inhaling fumes<\/a> in the engine room of one of the boats.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The incident, Kasab said at the time, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bunderlines what Unite has been saying \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that there are serious health and safety concerns relating to the ferry.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, workers poisoned by the fumes face sickness absence hearings. This is an outcome which could include disciplinary warnings for sickness absence, which, Kasab said would be \u00e2\u20ac\u015bgrossly unfair, given the circumstances.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But perhaps most disturbing of all, management have continued to turn a blind eye to a staff member who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s allegedly been sexually harassed for years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite member Colleen* who has been working for the ferry service for nearly 24 years, told UNITElive it all started with what at first glance might appear as an innocent comment here and there from a person in management. But then he persisted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Frightened\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt made me seriously uncomfortable \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it frightened me,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although she had told him repeatedly his advances were not welcome, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve continued for years, and like so many women who are harassed by their superiors in the workplace, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suffered in silence out of fear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt was so hard because all these people are above me. But it got to the point where it was seriously making me ill,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo I finally decided to speak out.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thanks to Colleen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bravery and the support of Unite reps and her colleagues, she put in a detailed grievance, but management has so far failed to address the issue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And so the dispute continues.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have worked very hard to reach a settlement on the myriad issues stemming from this dispute, so travellers would not face disruption,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kasab noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut the management\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s negative attitude has left us with no alternative.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About 3,500 vehicles a day use the free service across the Thames which opened in 1889, following the abolition of tolls across bridges to the west of London. An estimated 2m passengers also use the ferry annually.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There has been a ferry has been in place at the site since the 14th century.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out more about why Unite ferry workers are going on strike in the video below:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/bJIzB-yfkKU<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Travellers using the Woolwich Ferry face two-days of disruption later this month, as new strikes are announced in the long-running dispute over a bullying culture, and health and safety issues.   Unite said today (April 6) that talks had stalled because an intransigent management had failed to make sufficient progress into a number of serious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[274],"wps_subtitle":"Woolwich dispute unresolved","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12039,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12038\/revisions\/12039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}