Viking Rosella case to be decided by the European Court of Justice

English Court of Appeal lifted in November 2005 the injunction set in June against the Finnish Seamen’s Union (SM-U) and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). The court also decided to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which is now to set a precedent that will determine whether unions have the right to take collective action in the face of companies using their right of moving freely between EU member states.

The English Court of Appeal decided on 3 November to lift the injunction against the Finnish Seamen’s Union (Suomen Merimies-Unioni, SM-U) and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). The injunction had been imposed by the High Court of Justice in London in June 2005, barring the two union organisations from taking any action against the Finnish shipping company Viking Line which had planned to reflag its vessel m/s Rosella to Estonia and to start negotiations on a collective agreement with Estonian unions, thus replacing its existing agreement with SM-U. (FI0509201N)

In addition to lifting the injunction, the Court of Appeal also unanimously decided to refer the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The inferior court had based its verdict on the Article 43 of the EC Treaty which grants businesses the freedom to relocate their operations within the EU. The judges of the appeals court argued, however, that this right must be weighted against the rights of unions under national legislations to take collective action; the two legal sources contradict each other and must therefore be balanced by the ECJ. The latter is now to establish a precedent on the matter and its ruling will become part of EC legislation.

ITF and SM-U strongly welcomed the decision of the Court of Appeal. ITF General Secretary, David Cockroft, described it as 'the first step to a complete vindication of the right of trade unions to show international solidarity and provide legitimate support for their members'. Meanwhile, SM-U argued that Finns’ freedoms of speech and association and their right to strike had been violated by the injunction and as such its removal was more than welcome. Viking for its part commented the ruling by emphasizing the importance of the future decision of ECJ which, according to it, will set an important precedent for the European shipping industry.

Two weeks after the appeals court gave out its ruling, Viking agreed to scrap its project of reflagging m/s Rosella and seeking collective agreement negotiations with foreign unions. Viking did so as part of an agreement which it and its parent employers’ organisation, Aland Shipowners' Association (Ålands Redarförening), signed with SM-U on 15 November. In the deal, the latter, in turn agreed to limited cuts in pay levels. These will be achieved by depriving new recruits to the ship of some of the benefits that the current staff enjoys under the sector’s collective agreement. The two sides thus hope to further Viking’s competitiveness in the highly competitive Helsinki-Tallinn route in which many ships have cheaper Estonian collective agreements.

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