Social partners respond to sinking of oil tanker off Galician coast

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The region of Galicia in northern Spain has been badly hit by an oil spill following the sinking of the oil tanker, Prestige, in November 2002. The economic and employment effects of the disaster are enormous, especially for the region's major fishing industry. Trade unions ad employers' organisations have proposed a number of recovery measures, but these have been rejected by the government. Instead, the government has set up a special fund, controversially financed from the surplus of the social security scheme.

On 20 November 2002, the Prestige, an oil tanker loaded with 77,000 tonnes of fuel oil, sank near the coast of the northern Spanish region of Galicia after being towed out to sea instead of being taken into port for rescue. Currents have since been carrying the spilt oil towards the Galician coast, and it is now also heading towards the French coast. Thousands of volunteers and the army have been fighting to clean up the beaches in Galicia.

The economic and employment repercussions of the oil spill on fishing, the environment, tourism and related activities are enormous. The Galician fishing fleet consists of 8,811 boats, and the region is responsible for 40% of the total catch of Spain, which is the largest fishing economy in the EU and one of the largest in the world. In Galicia, 41,600 persons work directly in fishing, of whom 18,400 are in the province of A Coruña, almost all of whom have been affected by the oil slick. Additionally, 9,200 persons work in shellfish fishing and 13,422 in fish farming. This makes a total of 119,874 persons in direct and indirect employment who have been affected by the disaster, 12.2% of total employment in Galicia.

The government has responded to the disaster by legislating to limit fishing in the fishing grounds of Cantabria and the North-West, and has provided an extraordinary credit of public funds from the surplus social security contributions of workers and employers.

This latter measure was partly in response to an initiative by the social partners, which was rejected by the government. The Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organisations-Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales-Confederación Española de la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa, CEOE-CEPYME), the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CC.OO) and the General Workers’ Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT) suggested the possibility of establishing a fund of EUR 198 million, through an extraordinary contribution of 0.1% of pay for vocational training in 2003, paid equally by workers and employers, plus an equivalent amount provided by the state. This fund would be used to alleviate the effects of the disaster.

The Galician Union Confederation (Converxencia Intersindical Galega/Confederación Intersindical Galega, CIG), however, considered this initiative to be inappropriate. It considered that the effort to help Galicia recover should not be borne equally by workers and employers, because this would be a regressive measure for the workers. It suggested that the principle of a zero public budget deficit should be abandoned and that a progressive tax policy should be established, with greater investment in the area, the use of EU funds and the declaration of Galicia as a disaster area.

The measure taken by the government did not meet with the approval of any of the trade unions, which are concerned about use of the social security surplus from the budget of the National Institute of Employment (Instituto Nacional de Empleo, INEM) to set up the Galician recovery fund, instead of using it for the purpose for which it was intended (social protection and active employment policies). The extraordinary credit for Galicia will thus, they claim, not provide complementary aid but replace social policies. The unions consider that the government's recent fiscal reform involving lower taxes (ES0211109F), which they claim may involve a reduction of EUR 4 billion in state revenue, prevents investment in resources and infrastructures to avoid this type of disaster. They also call for regulations to impose harsh penalties on those responsible for the Prestige disaster, and for the resignation of members of the government due to alleged errors in the management of the process and a lack of resources provided to combat the pollution.

At present, Spain and France are developing a 'joint action plan' to coordinate tasks in tackling the disaster, and share the responsibility for intervention according to the sea area affected. Everything indicates that this type of situation will require greater international collaboration, stricter regulations, and effective safety, prevention and recovery measures.