Efforts Bring Results for Crews in India, Sri LankaThe International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in early January took a week-long action against the so-called flags-of-convenience (FOC) system in Indian and Sri Lankan ports.
During the successful week of action, more than 100 inspections were carried out on board FOC vessels, also known as runaway- flag ships. The inspections were instrumental in yielding concrete results including the securing of more than $1 million in back pay claims and signing new ITF agreements, which help ensure fair wages and working conditions for mariners.
The federation’s efforts weren’t confined to a single week. After the mobilization’s scheduled conclusion, the ITF team in Chennai stayed on board the Panamanian-flagged Global Flora in an attempt to persuade its Japanese owners to sign an ITF agreement with the Japanese Seafarers’ Union (JSU). Members of the dockers union in Chennai are also standing firm in the face of the managers’ delaying tactics; they are determined to secure the Filipino seafarers on board a respectable wage. The action continued at press time for the LOG.
In Mumbai, the ITF inspector on board the Maltese-flagged, Norwegian-owned and Korean-managed Samho Jewelry discovered that the Croatian, Russian, Polish and Burmese crew members were being paid less than the minimum ITF wage rates. However, following the action, the owner agreed to sign an ITF agreement with the Korean Seafarers’ Union; the agreement will cover not only mariners on board the Samho Jewelry, but also those on another of its vessels, the Samho Heron.
Prospects of an ITF agreement for mariners on the Panamanian-flagged Rabbana also seem bright, the federation reported.
Inspections of the Panamanian-flagged, Sri Lankan owned Windsor Ruby, which also took place in Mumbai, revealed that crew members were being paid much less than stipulated by the ITF agreement that the owners had signed. The Sri Lankan mariners had been afraid to speak out, but the ITF inspectors’ prompt action led to an agreement by the owner to settle their back pay claim for two months’ wages, amounting to around $24,000.
Mahendra Sharma, deputy regional secretary of the ITF Asia Pacific regional office, said the week of action “was a resounding success and we are very happy with the outcomes.
Apart from signing new agreements and claiming back pay wages, action by ITF inspectors has led to the signing of ITF agreements by unions in the beneficial ownership countries. Certainly credit is due for this to dockers’ and seafarers’ unions in India and Sri Lanka.”
The ITF is a global federation of 681 transport trade unions (including the SIU) which collectively represent 4.5 million workers in 148 countries. SIU Secretary-Treasurer David Heindel is first vice chair of the ITF Seafarers’ Section.
A runaway-flag or FOC ship is one that flies the flag of a country other than the country of ownership. According to the ITF, “FOCs provide a means of avoiding labor regulation in the country of ownership, and become a vehicle for paying low wages and forcing long hours of work and unsafe working conditions. Since FOC ships have no real nationality, they are beyond the reach of any single national seafarers’ trade union.
“The ITF has therefore been obliged to take on internationally the role traditionally exercised by national trade unions – to organize and negotiate on behalf of FOC crews. For 50 years the ITF, through its affiliated seafarers’ and dockers’ unions, has been waging a vigorous campaign against shipowners who abandon the flag of their own country in search of the cheapest possible crews and the lowest possible training and safety standards for their ships.”
The federation further notes that while the political component of the FOC campaign “has not so far succeeded in preventing a constant growth in ships using FOC registers, the industrial campaign has succeeded in enforcing decent minimum wages and conditions on board nearly 5,000 FOC ships. In addition, the ITF has become the standardbearer for exploited and mistreated seafarers, irrespective of nationality or trade union membership, throughout the world. Every year millions of dollars are recovered by the ITF and its affiliated unions in back pay and in compensation for death or injury on behalf of seafarers who have nowhere else to turn.”
Compliance with ITF-recognized agreements is monitored by a network of more than 100 ITF inspectors in ports throughout the world. The contracts themselves stem from policies developed by ITF maritime affiliates over many years. Those policies seek to establish minimum acceptable tandards applicable to seafarers serving on FOC vessels.
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