Some months ago, there was a discussion on London Gateway's recruitment practices etc.
(I can't find the original thread; didn't get deleted, did it?).
Today I see that ship owners are taking on the EU in a fight over the proposed "Ports Directive".
Unions and UK Major Ports Group are worried that what the ship owners want from the EU is a modification that would allow ship owners to "use their own crews" to load/unload vessels.
It is unclear if this means the ships' crews or their own locally hired shore based crews.
Now the latter is a prescription for "zero hour" contracts, the scourge of a civilised planet! It also smacks of the big problems that major UK ports suffered from in the 1960s when stevedore gangs were hired on a daily basis and if your face didn't fit, you didn't get any work.
Marks & Spencers apparently have still not committed to using London Gateway as they are signatories to the Ethical Trading Initiative which commits members to upholding fair labour standards.
So, they haven't got long now; who is going to load and unload ships at this terminal?
