Along with the meeting of the ITF European Offshore Taskforce Group, the MTWTU First Vice Chairman Oleg Grygoriuk attended the specially-arranged meeting with the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners (KVNR) and the Netherlands Maritime Employers Association Neptune.
Oleg Grygoriuk replied to all the questions of KVNR and Neptune regarding cooperation and employment of Ukrainian ratings on Dutch-flagged vessels. The flag of the Netherlands is not recognized to be “convenient” and the vessels flying it are subject to the norms of national labor law and collective agreement, concluded between the KVNR and the national trade union Nautilus Netherlands. Recall that on October 10, 2016, a special Memorandum was signed between the KVNR, the Nautilus and the MTWTU, when on July 1, 2017, the equivalent document was signed with Neptune with the aim of increasing the number of Ukrainian ratings on ships under the Dutch flag.
“This initiative brought new jobs to Ukrainian ratings, but the pace of cooperation is not as high as we might wish, said Oleg Grygoriuk. But there is an intention to re-sign the agreement with NEMEA, Netherlands Maritime Employers Association, for Ukrainian ratings, as well as to extend the existing Memoranda.
So far, we have not yet brought the created instrument to its full capacity, but we hope that next year, through the competitive agreement, we will be able to significantly advance our plans to increase the number of jobs for Ukrainian ratings on board the vessels of Dutch shipowners.”
The Dutch shipping register includes around 800 merchant vessels. The Dutch fleet is one of the most modern and highly innovative fleets in the world, offering, inter alia, good employment conditions.
The main priority of the MTWTU in this area is still the increase in the number of jobs on board the Dutch-owned ships, available for Ukrainian seafarers in general and for Ukrainian ratings in particular. To date, the ships under the Dutch flag are mostly manned with Filipino ratings.
