Day: 4 April 2018

On Wednesday, the Minister of State opened the Diplomatic Conference, organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. This event is held, as every year, in the Principality for two days and brings together Monaco’s entire Diplomatic Corps.

In his opening speech, Serge Telle spoke about the launch of the digital transition and underlined: “Monaco has the resources, structure and advantages to adapt to the digital revolution and make it a strength.” After highlighting the role of Ambassadors in this transition, he asked them about the means they need to support this change.

The Government Advisers then spoke on various topical issues of their respective Department. Stakeholders from the Monaco Economic Board, SBM and other entities followed to inform the Ambassadors on common themes. The day ended with a presentation entitled “Monaco and the ocean: from exploration to protection” offered by the Prince Albert II Foundation, the Oceanographic Museum and the Monaco Scientific Centre.

Tomorrow, a progress report on the state of negotiations between Monaco and Europe will be presented to the Ambassadors, as well as the results of the actions of the Directorate of International Cooperation.

The conference will end with a visit to the premises of MonacoTech, the Incubator /Accelerator Startup programme created by the State in partnership with Monaco Telecom.

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Rail services in France were hit hard again on Wednesday, the second day of a two-day stoppage. An estimated 86 percent of trains failed to run during the day, with tempers running high and reports of police being deployed to quell trouble.

This week’s strike is a taste of things to come, with similar stoppages planned every week until the end of June – and maybe even across the summer.

A group of trade unions is protesting against plans by President Macron to rationalise France’s rail service, the efficiency of which is compromised by the special status of rail workers and benefits not to found in other sectors, such as 28 days paid holiday per year, retirement at 52, and jobs for life after a two and a half year probationary period. Average wages for rail workers are also slightly higher than the French average, at €3,090 per month.

International rail services have also been affected, with five services from London to Paris and two services from London to Brussels and Lille cancelled on Wednesday.
The French rail service currently loses € billion each year, and the government is committed to major reform.

It will take several weeks to see if it’s the government or the unions who win the battle, but history does not present much hope for the reformers. A similar stand-off 20 years ago resulted in a government climbdown.

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News

Carrefour strikers have provided local French daily Monaco-Matin with a list of grievances that they claim are not being taken seriously by management.

The employees say that Monaco’s Fontvielle outlet has lost a quarter of its staff over the last 10 years, despite the shop contributing excellent turnover and profit. They add that this is having an impact on “health and safety”.

“We were 380 in 2008, today we are more than 290, and we are not able to provide a quality service to customers. But the store is very profitable. It is between 11 and 13 million euros of profits year after year, and yet they have taken away 100 employees. Carrefour has only one idea: profitability to the detriment of staff and especially customers,” Amor Ben Hamida, union representative of the Carrefour Monaco store, told the paper.

The staff representatives claim that their rights are not respected, especially about Sunday work: “Sunday work is trivialised There is a law that exists today: six per year maximum and no more than two Sundays per month,” a spokesman said.
The staff has also complained about the employment of part-time workers to circumvent Sunday working regulations, and being pushed into working on Sundays because of low pay rates.

Carrefour workers in Monaco work 39 hours a week instead of 35 in France, and yet their gross salary is only one percent better, they claim. Finally, the disgruntled workers say that the management side operates with bad will in the negotiations.

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Scorpio Bulkers Inc. reports that the company has received a commitment for a loan facility of up to €10.37 million ($12.75 million) from a leading European financial institution. This is to finance the company’s Kamsarmax bulk carrier to delivered from Jiangsu New Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Co. in China in the third quarter of 2018.

The loan facility has a final maturity date of five years from delivery and bears interest at LIBOR plus a margin of 2.40 percent per annum. The terms and conditions are similar to those in the company’s existing credit facilities.

Monaco-based Scorpio Bulkers Inc. is a provider of marine transportation of dry bulk commodities and has an operating fleet of 56 vessels, consisting of 55 wholly-owned or finance leased drybulk vessels comprising 18 Kamsarmax vessels and 37 Ultramax vessels, and one time chartered-in Ultramax vessel.

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