Members of Iceland’s Seamen’s Union have voted against terms offered in talks with the owners’ federation and strike action is a possibility.
Two-thirds of members voted down the offered deal that had been signed with shipowners’ federation SFS (Fisheries Iceland) on the 24th of June, with the proviso that the membership would have to accept it – or not.
The Union’s director, Hólmgeir Jónsson, was quoted in the Icelandic press as saying that the membership has sent a clear signal that it requires a better deal.
Negotiation committees will meet in the coming weeks to evaluate the situation. There have been no valid union agreements between seamen and owners for some years since the old agreements lapsed and it has not been possible to find common ground to agree new terms.
Hólmgeir Jónsson was quoted in Morgunblaðið as saying that the main stumbling block as far as the Union’s membership is concerned is the pricing of fish, which directly affects shares, adding that there are other issues on which there is no agreement.
He said that the intention was that the agreement signed in June would remain valid until 2018, during which time it ought to be possible to seek solutions, but the membership clearly does not have the patience for this, so now the next step is for the negotiators to look at the options.
