Restructuring leads to port pilots' strike

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In summer 1998, Portugal's port pilots took strike action in a dispute with the Government over a restructuring of services in the maritime ports sector. The Government's measures to deal with the dispute caused controversy among the pilots' unions.

As part of a restructuring of Portugal's ports sector, in 1998 the Council of Ministers approved legislation arising from the White Paper on maritime ports policy discussed publicly between March 1996 and July 1997 (PT9703109N). The restructuring will eliminate several organisations and modify the current statutory model of ports authorities, which, up until now, have been public institutions characterised by autonomy and corporate privilege. A Maritime Ports Institute (Instituto Marítimo Portuário, IMP) will be created - probably under the Ministry of Infrastracture, Planning and Territorial Administration (MEPAT) - that will be responsible for the current ports authorities. Technical supervision of port pilots will be carried out by the IMP and the pilots will become part of the ports authorities.

The port pilots are an integral part of this important sector of the national economy. Treated as civil servants, up until now they have enjoyed autonomy in managing their activities. The reform will affect their responsibilities in matters relating to maritime navigation safety and regulation of maritime transport activity.

Strike called in support of pilots' demands

The ports restructuring process led to conflict towards the end of 1997. The pilots demanded that they be permitted a role in defining how port services would function and be managed.

The trade unions representing the workers concerned are the Union of Captains, Pilot Officers, Pursers, and Engineers (Sindicato dos Capitães, Oficiais Pilotos, Comissários e Engenheiros da Marinha Mercante, OFICIAISMAR) - known at the beginning of the dispute as the Union of Captains, Pilot Officers, Pursers, and Radio Technicians of the Merchant Navy (Sindicato dos Capitães, Oficiais Pilotos, Comissários e Rádiotécnicos da Marinha Mercante, SCOPCRMM), but subsequently renamed - and the civil service Union of State Technical Staff (Sindicato dos Quadros Técnicos do Estado, STE). The two unions demanded that the existing National Institute of Piloting and Ports (Nacional de Pilotagem e Portos, INPP) be retained. In their opinion, incorporation of the Institute into the port authorities will mean loss of technical autonomy, limiting its power in safety matters relating to maritime traffic control and inspection of ships. They also fear possible future privatisation of the sector.

The two unions aimed to bring their position on these issues to the negotiating table along with issues relating to working conditions, pay (demands for a 5% pay increase), risk pay, and changes to the system of career development.

In mid-1998, the port pilots decided to take strike action over an extended period of time, but only on Monday-Friday and not at weekends. Nearly 100% of the 80 pilots joined in the strike, leaving hundreds of ships stranded, unable to enter or leave Portuguese ports.

Because of the huge revenue losses due to the strike - estimated by the Government to be of the order of PTE 5 billion per day - the action was considered by the Government to be an abuse of the right to strike. The Government considered seeking a civil conscription order against the strikers, forcing them back to work, in order to minimise the effects of the strike and break up the log-jam of paralysed ships, but did not follow through with this initiative.

Administrative order 238/A/97 establishing norms related to the application of the Regulation on Ports Piloting and Tariffs Services, which makes it it compulsory for ships to request port pilots upon entering ports to undergo docking manoeuvres, had been issued on 4 April 1997. It was a first step towards a rationalisation and flexibilisation of the obligatory nature of the piloting service, allowing qualified merchant marine officers who are due shortly to receive their piloting licences to oversee particular docking manoeuvres. During the dispute, in line with this order, the Government suspended the Regulation, making the use of the port pilot optional. According to the Ministry, this has been a legal option under the piloting regulations since 1989. The National Association of Shipping Agents (Associação Nacional de Agentes de Navegação) began to pay merchant marine officers rather than port pilots for docking manoeuvres.

Unions accuse Government

According to STE legal experts, article 6 of Portugal's Strike Act stipulates that "the employing entity may not, during a strike, replace strikers with people who, at the time the strike is declared, were not working in the establishment or service in question, nor can it, from that date on, hire new workers." They accuse the Government of replacing striking workers with new recruits and of permitting ships carrying hazardous cargo to enter and exit without pilots. The experts also accuse the Government of violating international law and the EU Directive on minimum requirements for vessels bound for or leaving Community ports and carrying dangerous or polluting goods (93/75/EEC) which has been transposed into Portuguese law (by Decree-Law 94/96 of 17 July 1994). This Directive requires Member States to use piloting services for ships transporting hazardous or potentially polluting cargo. The STE has filed a complaint with the Ombudsman, the Attorney General's office, the Presidency of the Republic, the International Labour Organisation, and the European Commission. The situation as it stands, it is claimed, fails to provide the country with the most basic port traffic safety conditions.

However, according to EU sector experts in Brussels, the issue seems to be a matter of national jurisdiction, in this case relating to Decree Law 94/96. Member States are obliged to transpose the content of Directives into national law, but enforcement of the principles agreed by the 15 Member States is the responsibility of each one.

This case highlights the trend towards changing Portugal's strike law that has been going on for some time. The Confederation of Portuguese Industry (Confederação da Indústria Portuguesa, CIP) continues to insist on modification of the strike law to establish a longer period between the announcement and commencement of strikes, to clarify the definition of strike, regulate picketing, and ensure that decisions to strike are made by a majority of workers.

At the end of July 1998, OFICIAISMAR opened dialogue with the Government by accepting the proposed basic institutional structure, as long as the public nature and the hierarchical structure of the IMP's piloting departments are maintained.

The port pilots called off the strike that had been scheduled to continue until the end of August in the hopes of entering into dialogue with the Government and obtaining the suspension of the order that temporarily suspended the Regulation on ports piloting. OFICIAISMAR seeks participation in the evaluation of the measures and instruments needed to develop a policy on maritime and ports safety and consultation on legislative proposals for regulating the work of pilots.

Commentary

The port pilots are an important workforce group, mainly because of the great strategic importance conferred on them by the increasing integration of logistics, which is of growing economic importance. Recently there has been a marked tendency towards strikes in the logistics sector, as witnessed by recent action involving fuel lorry drivers (PT9807189N), EDP workers - who threatened a general strike in electricity production and distribution - TAP-Air Portugal pilots (PT9708134N) and engineers on the railways and Lisbon underground. (Ana Carla Casinhas, UAL)