Poverty pay unveiled on flag of convenience vessels in south-east Asia
20/01/2012
A campaign to improve the working lives of seafarers on board flag of convenience (FOC) vessels in south-east Asia has exposed substan dard pay rates an d conditions.
During the week-long campaign from 9-13 Jan uary, seafarers’ an d dock workers’ unionists in ports across Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore an d Thailan d investigated 60 FOC ships, inspecting crew contracts an d working an d living conditions on board. FOC vessels are notorious for employing seafarers on poverty wages an d forcing them to endure dire conditions.
In the port of Ban gkok, Thailan d, ITF activists inspected 16 ships. They found that crew members were being grossly exploited when it came to wage payments. For example, on the Pan aman ian flagged Ostrov Beringa, a Russian oiler was receiving a monthly salary of US$1800, while their Burmese counterpart was receiving just US$750 for doing the same job.
In the Philippines, ITF inspectors an d activist teams inspected 12 vessels, issuing a warning notice against the Antigua an d Barbuda-flagged vessel SITC Passion for failing to have an ITF-acceptable agreement. Mean while, crewmembers on board the Japan ese-owned Pan ama-flagged Han jin Surabaya crew were receiving substan dard pay. As a result, the Japan ese inspectorate was alerted. Negotiations with the compan y are now underway.
Sixteen vessels were also inspected in Singapore, eight in Indonesia an d 18 in Malaysia.
San gam Tripathy, ITF assistan t Asia Pacific regional secretary, said: "As trade volumes rise, attracting more an d more vessels to the ports in the region, it will also mean that our vigilan ce an d action to identify an d detect instan ces an d cases of seafarer an d docker exploitation will have to be stepped up. This will require that we maintain an d improve a strong FOC campaign throughout the ports in south-east Asia."
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