Tug masters at the Panama Canal have
renewed protests over unsafe working
hours and conditions following punitive
punishments handed out by the Panama
Canal Authority (ACP).
In June last year, 13 union activists were
suspended or facing suspension and dismissal
from duty without pay for taking part in the
long-running dispute over working conditions
following the launch of the expanded Panama
Canal in April 2016.
Nautilus Federation affiliate Unión de Capitanes
y Oficiales de Cubierta (UCOC) believes its
members are being targeted by ACP officials for
speaking up about serious safety concerns over
fatigue at the expanded Canal – which has led to
a spate of reported and unreported casualties at
the new locks, including the death of one tugboat
rating from head injuries during line handling
procedures.
UCOC says the ACP administration under
former CEO Jorge Quijano has pursued a
campaign to destroy the union, including falsely
blaming its members for non-existent delays to
traffic through the Canal and orchestrating a
media campaign against its members.
That campaign was backed at the highest
political levels in Panama, UCOC officials say,
with former Panamanian president Juan Carlos
Varela in September misinformed by the Canal
Board and management about this conspiracy via
leaked private WhatsApp messages, known as
the Varelaleaks scandal.
The leaked conversation see transcript page
30 shows former Canal Minister Roberto Roy
informing the former president about plans to cut
tug crew, lie about delays to Canal transits due to
Union activity, and make tug Captains the guilty
party, or patsy, without due process.
‘The persecution of the Quijano administration
in its remnants against the Union is being
demonstrated,’ UCOC officials say. ‘The primary
objective – the destruction of UCOC.’
PUSHED TO THE BRINK
In April 2016, as the fanfare of the official Canal
opening parties subsided and the world’s media
turned its attention to the next big story, tug
captains were already signalling concerns over
an unsafe culture at the Canal.
The gist of their concerns was that the
widening of the Canal had allowed an increase in
the number of vessels making transits, and
therefore, vessels needing tugboat assists.
It also allowed larger Neopanamax vessels to
transit the Canal.
26 SUOMEN MERENKULKU J FINLANDS SJÖFART
These vessels required at least two tugboats
to assist them through the new locks, unlike the
Panamax vessels that needed no tugboat
assistance. Neopanamax vessel transits through
the new lock take about two and a half hours and
require continuous tugboat control throughout
the lock transits.
Although the widened Canal led to an increase
in both the number and size of vessels transiting,
the number of tugboats and tugboat captains did
not increase. As a result, tugboat captains
believed they were working more hours, with
more required overtime, under more stressful
conditions than before June 2016.
ACP does not adhere to International Maritime
Organization (IMO) hours of service rules,
arguing that the Canal is an internal waterway
and therefore not subject to international regulation.
It has no written hours of service and rest
rules that govern tug captain scheduling. Consequently,
there is no upper limit to the number of
continuous hours tugboat Captains can work.
According to the International Transport
Workers’ Federation (ITF), tug captains who
have refused to accept an assignment after
working 10 continuous hours because of their
fatigue have been threatened with adverse
employment action or dismissal.
An independent report commissioned by ITF
in 2018, which interviewed 55 of the approximately
150 active tugboat Captains, found that
fatigue-inducing schedules were negatively
affecting tugboat captain health and performance,
and hence the safety of Panama Canal
operations.
ACP did not address specific questions put to
it by the Nautilus Telegraph about tug captain
safety concerns. It provided this statement:
‘The Panama Canal cannot comment on
labour relations at this time, as they are part of
the employment relationship between the Canal
and labor organisations. We have steadfast
commitment to the wellbeing of our workers and
comply with international standards for the
safety of our operation and workforce.’
This degradation in safety from tugboat
captain fatigue was illustrated in an April 2017
accident in which a tugboat collided with the US
Coast Guard cutter Tampa in the Canal after its
Captain had fallen asleep, the report found.
ACP investigated the incident and concluded
that there was no other fault on the part of the
Panama Canal Authority or any of its employees,
in the cause of the accident. It made no change to
Canal operations or tugboat captain schedules
following this accident.
A tug union
in the Nautilus
Federation has
accused Panama
Canal officials of
orchestrating a
campaign against
members for
speaking up
about serious
safety concerns
at the expanded
Canal. HELEN
KELLY considers
the human
impact of long
working hours
and fatigue and
what happens
when politics
sways safety
decisions.
PANAMA CANAL