SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE ON BIRGER JARL
19 KASHMIRI/PAKISTANI WORKERS ON SWEDISH SHIP FACE REDUNDANCIES
EXPRESS YOUR SOLIDARITY TO SAVE 19 JOBS IN STOCKHOLM (Sweden)
(Please find a sample protest letter at the end of the message)
19 Kashmiri/Pakistani seamen working on board Birger Jarl have been served termination notices from May 15,2008 with a three-month grace period.
The Birger Jarl, a cruising ship, is owned by Rederi Allandia shipping company.
The Rederi Allandia justifies the redundancies on the pretext that under new EU legislation on employment, non-EU workers deprive the ship of monetary support the company is otherwise entitled from EU (European Union).
This, however, is mere an excuse to fire the Pakistani workers. The real reason behind redundancies is: these workers, some of them working for almost twenty-five years now, earn better wages now owing to yearly pay raise they were qualified under Swedish laws. The company wants to fire them and employ new workers instead from possibly east Europe at low wages.
All these Pakistani workers were members of Service and Communication Union for Seamen (SEKO-Sjöfolk), an affiliate of LO (LO is an umbrella organisation like British TUC and is affiliated with Social Democratic party).
Unfortunately, the union bureaucracy as usual betrayed the workers' cause also because Pakistani workers rank low on bureaucracy's priority list. The shop steward even told one of the workers that they should be happy to have earned so much money and now better return to Pakistan. Regardless of the union betrayal, the workers have not given up the fight since the jobs for them are life and death question as many have now reached their fifties. On return to Pakistan, nobody hopes to find either a job or start a business. Firing these 20 workers is tantamount to economic murder of twenty families in Pakistan.
The workers need your immediate solidarity as they often get one-year work permits and visas. Three of them already have their work permits and visas expired as the company did not help workers renew their visas. The company, in advance, was planning to fire these workers without intimating them since it was counting on the expiry of their visas so the workers could be deported through immigration authorities. All of them will have their visas expired latest by September this year. This of course makes the situation acute for the workers and their struggle precarious.
The urgency of the situation needs an urgent action. Please send your protest letters to Rederi, Swedish Commerce Minister, Swedish embassy/Consulate in your country and copies to:
Rederi Allandia
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Fax: 0046 -8-10 07 41
CC to
Swedish Commerce Minister Maud Olofsson
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Email to Swedish Prime Minister This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Fraternally,
Talat Butt
On behalf of: SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE ON BIRGER JARL
SAMPLE PROTEST LETTER THAT YOU CAN COPY PASTE:
WE PROTEST TERMINATION NOTICES TO KASHMIRI/PAKISTANI WORKERS ON BIRGER JARL
I/We have learnt with grave concern that 19 Kashmiri/Pakistani workers have been served termination notices.
The pretext that Rederi Allandia will lose certain EU compensation is not acceptable since Birger Jarl is making a profit . The possible redundancies are simply discriminatory, immoral and unacceptable.
I/We demand that termination notices be withdrawn immediately and these workers be given a job guarantee.
We also demand an immediate end to harassment of the workers.
Regards.
(Name of the sender.................)
On behalf of
(Name of the organisation....)
In Swedish
Vi protesterar mot uppsägning av Kashmiriska/pakistanska arbetare på Birger Jarl
Vi med stor oro fick kännedom om att 19 Kashmiriska/pakistanska arbetare har delgivits uppsägning från arbetet under förevändning att Rederiet Allandia annars kommer att förlora viss ersättning från EU på grund av att ha anställda från länder utanför EU. Vi anser att uppsägningen av arbetarna som i vissa fall har arbetat mer än i 20 år i rederiet är diskriminerande, omoraliskt och oacceptabelt. Att förvänta ersättning från EU är inte sannolikt eftersom rederiet går med vinst. Egentliga anledningen tros vara att rederiet tänker hämta billig arbetskraft från östländer eftersom de uppsagda arbetarna har högre lön idag på grund av deras långvarig tjänstgöring på rederiet.
Arbetarna behöver human behandling och stöd från Er eftersom arbetet för dem är liv och död fråga. En del av dessa anställda har arbetat många år på rederiet och är runt 50 år gamla. Dessa arbetare har nästan inga möjligheter att hitta nya jobb i sitt hemland. Att avskeda dessa 19 anställda är liktydigt med ekonomiskt mord på 19 familjer i Pakistan.
Därför kräver vi att uppsägningen omedelbart dras tillbaka och arbetarna ges ett jobb garanti. Vi kräver också ett omedelbart slut på trakasserierna som dessa arbetarna utsätts för.