Harbour Board risks 'asset-stripping' Dover in haste to sell-off
port
3 September 2010
Unite challenges CEO over claims privatisation only way
forward
Unite has issued a challenge today (Friday) to the Dover Harbour
Board (DHB) chief executive, Bob Goldfield, to meet with the
workers and their families to reassure them that their jobs,
conditions and the future stability of the port will not be
sacrificed by his privatisation plans.
The union has also attacked DHB claims that privatisation is the
only way to generate funds for the port as `misleading' and says
that mounting opposition to a sell-off - including not just the
port's workforce but the ferry operators, the local MP and now Dame
Vera Lynn - illustrates the lack of public trust in the plans.
Unite national officer Julia Long said: "Given the growing
strength of feeling in favour of Dover staying public in hands, Mr
Goldfield needs to stand before the workforce and give them a
pledge that the jobs and standards of this great port are not going
to be dragged downwards.
"Unite is ready to organise this meeting at any time. It
is a chance for DHB to hear firsthand the fears of workers and
their families have about their future. It should also help
nail the myth that privatisation is the port's only hope, something
we believe to be misleading in the extreme. If the harbour
board wants to raise funds for development, all the powers it needs
to do so were granted to it by a 2006 Act of Parliament.
"Claims that it is sell-off or die off are scaremongering."
The union warns the Department for Transport not to be tempted
by a quick sale and that privatisation during a recession would see
the port pass from public hands for less than its true market
value.
Julia Long added: "Selling off this port will strip this town of
one of its greatest assets and is a gift to speculators looking to
pick it up cheaply in a market downturn. This would be a
travesty of 400 years of success as a trust, would deny the
exchequer a steady revenue stream and see Dover become another UK
port where labour standards are compromised.
“What we need is security for the 5,000 people employed in the
port. Privatisation won't deliver this because pressure to
return shareholder profits will take precedent over everything
else."
Unite has been fighting a long battle in the UK ports to protect
safety standards. Some ports insist on allowing untrained,
agency staff and workers on zero hour contracts work in this very
dangerous environment.
Ferry operators at Dover port are opposing the sell-off fearing
that increased competition will kill off hope they can return to
operating at a profit.
ENDS
For more information please call Julia Long on 07778 749 518 or
Pauline Doyle, Unite press office, on 07976 832 861
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