HHLA CTO, THE LEADER OF THE UKRAINIAN CONTAINER MARKET, PROVIDES HIGH SOCIAL STANDARDS TO ITS EMPLOYEES

The company took the first place among private companies for the best Collective Agreement.

On January 30, HHLA “Container Terminal Odessa” (CTO), a subsidiary of the German holding company HHLA, was visited by representatives of ETF European trade unions. The guests' interests included issues related to the company's activity, compliance with international environmental standards, working conditions and social guarantees of employees.

HHLA CTO is not only the undisputed leader of the Ukrainian container market, but also a company with a high level of social standards.

In 2019, HHLA “Container Terminal Odessa” was nominated for a competition among public and private stevedoring companies, which was held under the auspices of the Marine Transport Workers' Trade Union of Ukraine (MTWTU). The company took the first place among private companies for the best Collective Agreement. This was achieved due to successful management and high production performance.

- Since our company is a subsidiary of the German holding company HHLA, we adhere to the highest European business standards in our work. The company’s activity is based on the principles of compliance, i.e. strict observance of the current legislation of Ukraine, laws and rules of market behaviour, fair treatment to customers, anti-corruption efforts. Our employees follow established ethical standards of conduct. The company has a system of social and environmental management, safety and labour protection. We create prestigious, well-paid workplaces and give confidence in the future, -  said General Director Anastas Kokkin.

The company is developing, technically reequipping, implementing the most advanced technologies in order to constantly improve the service level. The modern high-tech web portal, which aims at simplifying and systematizing the work of both container lines and freight forwarders, who are the clients of HHLA CTO, is now at the implementation stage. The introduction of the company's web portal will allow us to begin a phased transition to electronic document flow.

According to the chairman of the company’s trade union, Alexander Shuturminskiy, the high social standards created for the employees of HHLA CTO are the result of mutual understanding, which is achieved through a constant dialogue and cooperation between the administration and the trade union.

- Today, 467 people work in the team, and each of them feels the powerful social protection provided by the Collective Agreement. When drawing up this document, in the development of which not only trade union activists, the administration, but also the entire team took part, everything was taken into account: medical insurance, financial assistance, sanatorium treatment, material incentives for the holidays, pension subsidies for non-working veterans, etc. Almost all our employees are highly qualified specialists, whose average salary is more than 33 thousand UAH per month, - added A. Shuturminskiy.

As noted by the Chairman of MTWTU, Mikhail Kireev, it is very important that the marine trade unions of Ukraine signed a Memorandum with ETF and ver.di on cooperation: “We are trying to adopt the experience of our German colleagues. Today we brought them to one of the best companies in the industry so that they could personally see what the administration and the union can achieve if they care about the material well-being and comfortable, safe working conditions of their employees.”

According to the Maritime coordinator of ver.di (association of German trade unions) Robert Hengster, it was important for the delegation to visit the terminal and find out how a German company works in Ukraine, what social security its employees have. “Ver.di, like MTWTU, is part of ETF, we work as social partners. It is very important that the position of the trade union and the company’s administration coincide; this is a good example of social partnership. In the future, if the company expects to increase productivity, it is necessary to additionally train employees in accordance with the innovations at the company.”

During the discussion of the topic, the President of European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) Frank Moreels noted:

- Decent economic development should be accompanied by a constructive dialogue between the employer and the trade union, which results in good working conditions, as established in the Collective Agreement. This, in particular, we see, on the example of HHLA CTO. It is no accident that this Collective Agreement was recognized as the best in the industry, since it provides decent social guarantees and safe working conditions for workers. The result of this work is a contribution to the development of the Ukrainian economy.

To recap, according to the results of 2019, HHLA CTO handled almost 5 million tons of container and general cargo. At the same time, 391.4 thousand TEUs were handled in containers (+ 15.8% to the level of 2018), which makes up more than a third of the total volume handled by the domestic terminals.

HHLA "Container Terminal Odessa" is an all-time leader of the Ukrainian container market.