European day of action in shipbuilding

A European day of action was staged in November 1999 by trade unions representing workers in the shipbuilding industry across Europe. The action aimed to persuade EU industry ministers to take steps to safeguard the European shipbuilding industry.

A European day of action in the shipbuilding industry was staged on 5 November 1999 by trade unions affiliated to theEuropean Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) in the 12 European countries involved in shipbuilding: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK. The day of action included stoppages, demonstrations and rallies at shipbuilding sites, press conferences, leafleting and petitions to national ministers.

EMF states that the European shipbuilding sector is in crisis, leading to high job losses. It maintains that this is due to fiercer global competition, particularly from Korea n shipyards which enjoy state subsidies, in contrast to the situation in Europe, where state subsidies are in the process of being abolished under a European Union scheme aimed at boosting competitiveness: "Korean shipyards have ruined themselves via massive increases in production facilities and are now artificially kept alive through the writing off of shipyards' debts and the state's provision of guarantees. Because of this they are able to tout for business at rock-bottom prices, thereby further eroding European shipyards' market share."

However, EMF believes that the European shipbuilding industry has a future "provided that the framework conditions are fair", and outlined a number of demands which it wanted the EU Industry Council of Ministers of 9 November 1999 to consider:

• a clear political commitment from the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission to safeguard the European maritime industry by means of an active industrial policy for this sector;

• the immediate launch of negotiations between the EU and Korea, with the aim of curbing competitive practices;

• the resumption of talks for a new Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shipbuilding agreement aimed at combating global distortions in competition;

• a review of the EU scheme to abolish shipbuilding subsidies; and

• the reinforcement of the high-technology shipbuilding sector by means of "market-driven research".

EMF notes that the day of action was supported by Bernard Meyer, managing director of Meyer Shipyards and president of the Committee of European Shipbuilders' Associations (CESA), maintaining that this is the first time that industry and workforce representatives at European level have mounted "a major campaign aimed at achieving shared objectives".