Unrest at towage in the port of Antwerp: “Good company is deadly competitive”
Unions and employees of the towage company Boluda Towage Europe will protest together in front of the Port House in Antwerp tomorrow afternoon against unfair competition in their sector. “Competitor Antwerp Towage (AT) already contributes a possible zero euros to social security,” says Jacques Kerkhof, secretary at the Belgian Transport Association BTB.
Christof Willocx
It is not often that agreements with a company protest against unfair competition. But the Belgian Transport Association BTB and ACV Transcom and the company Boluda Towage Europe are clearly on the same page. The story is set in the sleeping boat sector. A large maritime vessel entering the harbor must be accompanied by tugs to the lock or to a quay.
”Wage costs come to a standstill 37% lager”
The largest company in the sleeper transport sector in Belgium is Boluda Towage Europe, a Spanish company that employs more than three hundred people in the ports of Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Gent-Terneuzen. “This respects the wage and employment conditions that have been agreed at sector level by the social partners,” says Jacques Kerkhof, Federal Secretary for Maritime Sectors at BTB. “But Boluda has to compete with Antwerp Towage (), which employs barely two people. That company has no tugboats. It hires everything from different companies, for example boats from other sleeping companies and staff from temporary employment offices in the Netherlands.”
“The foreigners who drive the tugboats do receive a decent hourly wage, but their employers pay the social charges abroad”, Kerkhof. “That is cheaper, but as a result, a positive zero euros contributed to social security in Belgium. The wage costs for those that are standing still are 37% lower than those of Boluda. In this way, a good company such as Boluda that respects the rules is being put to death by a rogue company.”
Boluda complaint in
Boluda Towage Europe has filed a complaint against AT with the Court of First Instance in Antwerp. One is expected at the end of April. Geert Vandecappelle, CEO of Boluda Towage Europe, that the situation is dire. “There needs to be a discussion about a level playing field for everyone,” he says. “Offering sleep services for every starting point. Are we really going to allow any company with any staff to provide sleep services under any flag? We comply with the regulations that the port prescribes for us, but that must be achieved by everyone.”
AT denies processing
Robert Van Hees, director of AT, denies that the company is doing anything wrong. “There will be an end to us, but we have full confidence that this will all work out,” he says. “We comply with all European and international regulations.”
But the unions do not agree with this and want the port commission, which must ensure that Belgian wage and working conditions are created and which meets on Thursday in the Port House, to call an end to the “social dumping practices”.