The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) recently secured $347,000 in back pay plus repatriation for 43 crew members on a runaway-flag passenger and gaming vessel.SIU ITF Inspector Scott Brady handled the case on behalf of the multinational mariners from the St. Tropez, a Bahamian-flag ship based in Port Everglades, Fla. The back wages were secured in late January and early February from Florida-based shipowner Southern Navigation.
Brady described the fight to obtain the wages as “long and intense,” but the company eventually agreed to the ITF’s demands.
The SIU is an affiliate of the London-based ITF, a federation of more than 600 transport-worker unions in 140 countries. SIU Secretary-Treasurer David Heindel serves as vice chair of the ITF’s Seafarers’ Section.
The federation utilizes more than 100 ITF inspectors in ports throughout the world. Those inspectors assist crew members on runaway-flag ships (also known as so-called flag-of-convenience vessels) as well as other ships, monitoring the payment of wages and other social and employment conditions, and taking appropriate action.
During the past 50 years the ITF’s maritime affiliates have developed a set of policies which seek to establish minimum acceptable standards applicable to mariners serving on runaway-flag vessels.
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