Førte Mærsks CEO Søren Skou generalforsamlingen i 2022 bag lyset eller var han dårligt orienteret
På generalforsamlingen den 15. marts 2022, hævdede Administrerende Direktør Søren Skou, på et spørgsmål fra Frank Aaen (Kritiske Aktionærer), at overenskomstbegrænsningen i DIS lovens §10, er i fuld overensstemmelse med ILO’s regler. Vi kender ikke Søren Skous bevæggrund, men sandt er hans udsagn ikke. Paragraf 10 i DIS-loven forbyder nemlig danske fagforeninger at tegne overenskomst for andre end personer bosiddende i Danmark, hvilket er konventionsstridigt, hvad vi redegør nærmere for herunder.
Forberedt svar
Frank Aaen havde på forhånd indsendt sit spørgsmål til Mærsk så svaret fra Søren Skou, der høstede store klapsalver fra aktionærerne, må anses for velovervejet.
Frank Aaen henviste til §10 i DIS-loven og opfordrede selskabet til at rette henvendelse til re¬geringen for at få fjernet den forskelsbehandling, der er mellem danske og udenlandske søfarende.
Til det svarede Søren Skou, at §10 i DIS-loven giver mulighed for at differentiere lønningerne ba¬seret på de ansattes bopæl, og fortsatte, at det er tilladt i forhold til både ILO- og EU-regelsæt.
Svaret til Frank Aaen er ikke korrekt
Siden DIS-registeret oprettelse i 1988 har ILO, efter en lang proces afgjort, at DIS lovens §10 er i strid med organisationens konventioner 87 og 98 om retten til fri organisering og kollektive forhandlinger. Hvert år siden har ILO ved sin årlige Konference gentaget denne kritik. Begge konventioner blev ratificeret af Danmark i 1955.
I 2016 bad ILO Danmark om at rette op på konventionsbruddet
Så sent som i 2016 bad ILO’s ekspertkomité den danske regering om at sikre fuld respekt for princippet om frie forhandlinger. Sådan at danske fagforeninger kan repræsentere alle medlemmer uanset bopæl og nationalitet, der sejler under dansk flag.
Også Fagbevægelsens Hovedorganisation – LO’s efterfølger – har opfordret regeringen til at få løst problemet
Fagbevægelsens Hovedorganisation (FH) har i 2019, som led i regeringens rapportering om ILO-konventionerne 87 og 98, endnu engang rettet kritik af DIS-loven og understreget, at den seneste ændring ikke på nogen måde er tilstrækkelig til at imødekomme opfordringen fra ILO’s uafhængige ek¬spertkomité om at rette ind
I sin rapport fra 2020 skriver ILO’s uafhængige ekspertkomité følgende:
”While welcoming the step taken through the amendment of the DIS Act, the Committee re¬quests the Government to continue, in consultation with the social partners, to make every ef¬forts to ensure the full respect of the principles of free and voluntary collective bargaining so that Danish trade unions may freely represent in the collective bargaining process all their members and that collective agreements concluded by Danish trade unions may cover all their members – working on ships sailing under the Danish flag whether they are within or beyond Danish territorial waters or continental shelf, and regardless of their activities. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any developments in this regard”.
FH har taget initiativ til, at sagen igen bliver behandlet på møde i Det faste ILO Udvalg. Det vil ske på udvalgets næste møde den 25. maj 2022.
EU-kommissionen og EU-domstolen har også underkendt lovligheden i, at forskelsbehandle medarbejdere på baggrund af bopæl
EU Kommissionen og EU Domstolen har i adskillige afgørelser fastslået, at det ikke er tilladt at diskriminere ved at lade en EU-borger løn og ansættelsesforhold blive bestemt af den ansattes bopæl.
Fakta, nedenfor kan du læse fakta, som artiklen ovenfor er baseret på, om spørgsmålet;
DIS lovens §10
Kollektive overenskomster om løn- og arbejdsforhold for ansatte på skibe i dette register skal udtrykkelig angive, at de kun gælder for sådan beskæftigelse.
Stk. 2.
Kollektive overenskomster som nævnt i stk. 1, der er indgået af en dansk faglig organisation, kan kun omfatte personer, som har bopæl i Danmark, eller som i medfør af EU-retten eller andre indgåede internationale forpligtelser skal sidestilles med personer, der anses for at have bopæl i Danmark.
Stk. 3.
Kollektive overenskomster som nævnt i stk. 1, der er indgået af en udenlandsk faglig organisation, kan kun omfatte personer, der er medlemmer af den pågældende organisation, eller personer, der er statsborgere i det land, hvori den faglige organisation er hjemmehørende, for så vidt de ikke er medlemmer af en anden organisation, med hvilken der er indgået overenskomst som nævnt i stk. 1.
Stk. 4.
Lov om arbejdsretten finder tillige anvendelse i sager, hvor en udenlandsk faglig organisation er part.
ILO-kommentarer 2016 og 2020
ILO Committee of experts 2020
Denmark
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98)
(ratification: 1955)
The Committee notes the observations from the Danish Trade Union Confederation (FH), submitted with the
Government’s report, as well as the Government’s comments, concerning issues addressed in the present observation.
Article 4 of the Convention. Right to free and voluntary collective bargaining. In its previous comments, the
Committee had observed that section 10 of the Act on the Danish International Register of Shipping (DIS Act) continued to have the effect of limiting the scope of collective agreements concluded by Danish trade unions to seafarers on ships registered in the Danish International Ship Register (DIS) who were Danish or equated residents and of restricting the activities of Danish trade unions by prohibiting them from representing, in the collective bargaining process, those of their members who were not considered as residents in Denmark. While the Committee had noted the establishment by the Danish Shipowners Association (DSA) and the Danish Metal Workers’ Union (DMWU) of a joint working group in the Contact Committee under the Danish International Ship Register Main Agreement (DIS Main Agreement) in respect of the existing disagreement on section 10 of the DIS Act, the Committee had further observed that several social partners were not involved in the working group and that no significant progress had been made towards addressing the legislative aspect of the matter. The Committee had therefore requested the Government: (i) to continue making every effort to ensure full respect of the principle of free and voluntary collective bargaining so that Danish trade unions may freely represent in the collective bargaining process all their members – Danish or equated residents, as well as non-residents – working on ships sailing under the Danish flag, and that collective agreements concluded by Danish trade unions may cover all their members working on ships sailing under the Danish flag regardless of residence; and (ii) to engage in a tripartite national dialogue, taking all the necessary measures to enable all the relevant workers’ and employers’ organizations to participate therein, if they so wish, so as to find a mutually satisfactory way forward. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that:
(i) after discussions in the Contact Committee under the DIS Main Agreement, the organizations proposed that the DIS Act should be amended in order to allow Danish trade unions to enter into collective agreement on behalf of all seafarers on ships mainly carrying out the activities concerned in the Danish territorial waters or continental shelf area for more than 14 days a month; (ii) the former Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs presented a proposal for an Act amending the DIS Act, which was drawn up in accordance with the organizations’ proposal to the Parliament; (iii) the Act includes seafarers who are engaged in a number of activities which include, among others, certain types of guard service as well as support and service functions, and construction, repair and dismantling of oil installations; (iv) it is a requirement that the ships mainly carry out the activities concerned in the Danish territorial waters or continental shelf area for more than 14 days a month; and (v) the Parliament passed the Act unanimously and it is expected to enter into force later this year.
The Committee notes the FH’s statement that while it recognizes the importance of the amendment to the DIS Act
referred to by the Government, it affirms that the amendment is not sufficient to address the matter, as its scope is limited to vessels operating in Danish territorial waters or continental shelf, having no effect on vessels covered by the DIS Act.
The Committee takes note that, in response to the observation made by the FH, the Government states the conditions leading to the establishment of the DIS still apply.
While welcoming the step taken through the amendment of the DIS Act, the Committee requests the Government to continue, in consultation with the social partners, to make every efforts to ensure the full respect of the principles of free and voluntary collective bargaining so that Danish trade unions may freely represent in the collective bargaining process all their members and that collective agreements concluded by Danish trade unions may cover all their members – working on ships sailing under the Danish flag whether they are within or beyond Danish territorial waters or continental shelf, and regardless of their activities. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any developments in this regard.
FH-kommentarer 2019
Case no. 18-3279
Our ref. PWA
16 September 2019
Comments from FH – Danish Trade Union Confederation – on the government’s report regarding ILO Conventions 87 and 98
In the following FH – Danish Trade Union Confederation – present its comments to the Danish government’s report on Conventions 87 and 98 regarding the right to organise and the right to collective bargaining.
By way of introduction, FH refers to earlier contributions from LO – The Danish Confederations of Trade Unions to reports on the DIS-Act – most recently in September 2016 and the subsequent comments/updates regarding the government’s comments to the ILO to this date.
The independent Committee of Experts in its 2016 report requested the Danish government to make every effort to ensure full respect of the principles of free and voluntary collective bargaining so that Danish trade unions could freely represent all their members in collective bargaining process – Danish or equated residents as well as non-residents, working on ships sailing under Danish flag – and that collective agreements concluded by Danish trade unions may cover all their members working on ships sailing under Danish flag regardless of residence.
The Committee of experts also requested the Danish government to engage in national tripartite national dialogue and to take the necessary measures to enable all the relevant worker’s and employer’s organisations to participate therein, if they so wish, so as to find a mutually satisfactory way forward, and to indicate in its next report its outcome and any contemplated measures.
FH finds it deeply regrettable that the Danish government for more than 30 years now, based on varying arguments, has refrained from taking seriously the criticism of the Committee of Experts and the call to bring article 10 of the DIS-Act in accordance with the ILO’s conventions.
Convention 98
In the report on Convention 98, the government refers to a recent amendment to the DIS-Act. FH recognises the importance of this change.
However, the amendment to the DIS-Act referred to in the government’s report is in no way a sufficient answer to the requests in the report from the Committee of Experts.
The scope of the amendments are limited to vessels operating in Danish territorial waters or continental shelf whereas the amendment will have no effect to vessels already covered by the DIS-Act.
The case regarding the Danish International Ships’ Register (DIS) has been ongoing since 1988, at which time FH’s predecessor, LO, brought the legislative intervention to the attention of the ILO, and in 1989, when the Committee of Experts decided that article 10, 2 and 3 of the Act is not in accordance with ILO-Conventions 87, 98 and 111.
Convention 87
Regarding the report on Convention 87, FH reiterates that the Danish government’s reference to the fact that a seafarer may, in accordance with the DIS-general agreement, but as an employee in accordance with article 10, 3 of the Act, choose to be a member of a Danish trade union is insufficient and must therefore state the following:
In accordance with article 7 of the DIS-general agreement, only the trade union organisations who are parties to the general agreement may assist seafarers cf. article 10, 3 of the DIS-Act in matters that originate from Danish legislation. Such a membership of a Danish trade union organisation is therefore immaterial to the collective agreement coverage, which is the fundamental precondition to a membership.
The DIS-general agreement is therefore not of importance to FH’s criticism of article 10 of the DIS-Act because it clearly appears from the DIS-General agreement, article 1, that the parties’ participation to the agreement generally presupposes that they “observe the right to conclude DIS-collective agreements with foreign trade union organisations and observe such concluded agreements in accordance with the DIS-Act.”
FH reiterates that, in the construction of article 10 of the DIS-Act, with its division of negotiating powers to Danish and foreign seafarers, a labour law vacuum has been created which does not provide any actual right to collective bargaining for any trade union organisations. A Danish industrial dispute in the form of a strike against ships manned by seafarers without residence in Denmark, in accordance with article 10,3, is illegal since such workers are not covered by a collective agreement concluded in Denmark.
FH finds it urgent that the Danish government initiates actual dialogue on article 10 of the DIS-Act with all parties from the worker-side with a view to bringing it in accordance with the ILO’s Conventions.
Til dig der vil læse hele sagen (ILO case 1470)
https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:50001:0::NO:50001:P50001_COMPLAINT_FILE_ID:2895893