Politics
Steam Packet Proud of Diverse Work Force
Just 10% of its current sea-going workforce is Manx-resident
Steam Packet boss Brian Thomson has said shipping ‘always has been’ an international industry amid claims that new live on-board arrangements will lead to more non-Manx crews working for the company.
The company has said it is ‘providing context’ to allegations made on Manx Radio about the use of off-island crews.
During an interview with Phil Gawne, Douglas Central MHK Chris Thomas said: ‘There are people in this sector, working for the Steam Packet, who believe that if we make a move along these lines, we could work out for people to live somewhere else off the island and fly in for the arrangements to live on board as happens often in the maritime sector.’
He added that he has seen a decrease in Manx workers in the hospital over the last 10 to 15 years and ‘become less and less about people who live here and love living here and more about agency people and people who fly in’.
Mr Thomas also noted that the issue exists too at the airport and that he wants to make sure the island’s representatives ‘do the right thing about the future of our steam packet and our maritime sector and our sea services particularly’.
Responding to this, the company said that just 10% of its ‘current sea-going workforce is Manx-resident’ and noted that there are 16 nationalities represented across its passenger vessels.
MD Mr Thomson said: ‘Shipping is, and always has been, a very international industry. We have a very diverse staff of seafarers and we’re very proud of the work they do for the company.’
Under the Sea Services Agreement, agreed by Tynwald, the company is required ‘where practicable’ to ‘actively seek to recruit suitably qualified/experienced employees on the Isle of Man’ while the majority of employees, with the exception of those who ‘permanently work in ports outside of the Isle of Man’ are required to be residents for tax purposes on the island.
The company has clarified that in the most recent figures it presents to the DoI, 55% of its staff, excluding those who are ordinarily based in Liverpool and Heysham, are tax registered on the island.
