Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-10-Speech-1-104"
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"en.20030310.5.1-104"2
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"Mr President, it goes without saying that I am emphatically opposed to the directive in front of us, and particularly the file on self-handling. I wish to emphatically express my complete solidarity with the workers who have come to Strasbourg to demonstrate today. After all, from practical experience in my own country, Flanders, we know that the pool system with recognised dock workers ensures that we have qualified and motivated people working in our ports who can be regarded as some of the most highly skilled workers in the world. It is their dedication and their professional knowledge that make our ports fast, competitive and in particular safe handling organisations. I would like to know why something that is in fact perfect has to be changed or dismantled.
Dismantling this pool system and the dock workers’ monopoly will not only result in the umpteenth social graveyard, but it will also undermine the safety of our ports, unsettle the social peace that we have, cripple the strength of our ports and even reinforce anti-European sentiment. After all, the man in the street should realise that strong European files or files with a strong European dimension that have to be deblocked in order to secure our prosperity will in fact get us nowhere. Take the IJzeren Rijn rail link, for example; there has been no progress there, but Europe appears to regard measures that we know will only result in social breakdown and more unemployment as a priority. Europe is giving the impression that it gives greater priority to the interests of certain shipping lines – shipping lines that in many cases are practising a form of modern-day slavery – than to the survival of their own best port workers. Only a clear ‘no’ or ‘never’ will do in the face of so much blind European arrogance. Today we must make it all the more clear to the Flemish port workers: working for your own people first is a guarantee of safety and quality."@en1
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