The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is worth its weight—if not significantly more—in gold for mariners around the world.That point was driven home once again in February when ITF inspectors in England successfully brought an end to a tense and potentially hostile situation by negotiating the payment of back wages owed crewmen aboard the Merchant Brilliant. The Latvian-owned, Jamaican-registered RO/RO vessel on Feb. 20 was arrested in Belfast, Ireland when ITF inspectors discovered that the vessel owners had failed to make good on a previous payment of more than $150,000 that in December 2006 had been ordered by the Irish Court. The chain of events that followed this discovery would keep many in the worldwide maritime community anxious if not outright jittery for the next several days.
While in port, crew members claimed they were owed $200,000 in back pay and sought assistance from the ITF. Irish ITF Inspectors Ken Fleming and Bill Anderson dispatched to the vessel in hopes of negotiating a speedy settlement. The resulting talks between the ITF and the owners of the vessel, ADG Ship Management SIA, ended in dispute. ADG insisted that the previous wages already had been paid while the federation argued otherwise.
Norfolk Lines, the company that had chartered the Merchant Brilliant for its freight services, intervened and requested that the crew continue its voyage despite not having being paid. Under protest, the crew—a combination of 20 Russians and Latvians—agreed to leave the Belfast area and sail the vessel to Heysham, England on condition that Fleming and Anderson accompanied them.
Upon its arrival at Heysham, however, Norfolk Lines took the Merchant Brilliant off of charter and completely disassociated itself with ADG. Consequently, the harbor master insisted that the Merchant Brilliant leave port to make way for other vessels.
After complying with the harbor master’s directives and sailing some three miles out from port, the vessel anchored. Talks then resumed between the ITF inspectors and two owner-appointed Russian representatives. On two occasions, the discussions again proved fruitless. At that juncture, according to reports, 10 of the crew members barricaded themselves into a room after the Russian representatives made threats against them, their homes and families. ITF Inspectors Fleming and Anderson joined the crew, one source said, feeling that their presence might help protect them.
An agreement on the back wage issue finally was reached at around noon the following day (Feb. 21), but the promised cash was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, while negotiations had been ongoing, seven of the crew had thrown in the towel, stating that they had had enough.
According to Fleming, they were mainly the most recently hired, were owed less and largely were putting on acts because of a mixture of the intimidation to which they had been subjected and their belief that the company was never going to pay them, regardless of what they promised. The remaining crew members were told that if they wanted to get paid, they’d have to return to Belfast, not Heysham where they were first told to collect it. They were then told that another vessel would fetch their money and that it would be in Heysham. Finally, they were told that the owners would return the following day and pay up themselves. Fleming, however, discovered that the owners a day earlier already had remitted the money and further that it was aboard the Merchant Brilliant.
Despite its less-than-stellar record of keeping promises in the past, ADG on the afternoon of Feb. 22 finally made good on its obligation and paid the crew members their wages. It took place while the Merchant Brilliant was en route to port in Heysham. Fleming, who witnessed the payoff, said, “This is the first major step in settling this ugly dispute and putting it behind us. The next step is to get all the crew members on their way home.”
The crew was flown to Russia on Feb. 23 aboard flights arranged by the ITF. Most of them departed England during the early morning hours; one flew out at around 2 p.m. “This case is over,” said Fleming. “The crew is safe and homeward bound.”
According to the British Rail Maritime and Transport Union, a similar dispute arose with ADG in November 2006. The Merchant Brilliant’s sister ship, the Merchant Bravery, was detained in Dublin by the Irish High Court until arrears were paid to the crew. Crew members involved in that episode, however, told ITF inspectors that they were later forced to give the money back. The Merchant Bravery no longer operates in Irish waters.
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