Campaign To Standardise Air Cargo And Passenger Employment Conditions

FROM THE HANDY SHIPPING GUIDE (UK):

05 July 2011

UK – WORLDWIDE – Tomorrow will see the start of a campaign by trade unions to achieve minimum standards for flight concessions for all workers in Skyteam airlines and their subsidiaries. The ‘same team, same rights’ initiative is backed by ITF-affiliated unions representing workers in Skyteam and Skyteam Cargo members and beyond, and begins as the Unite union meets with KLM management to negotiate a solution that would give every employee at ground handlers Cobalt flight concessions.

The situation has arisen because of the disparities which exist for different members of staff working with different air carriers who all trade under the Skyteam banner and the campaign is intended to draw attention to the situation at Skyteam, as well as to the social and economic benefits that flight concessions bring to airlines, as the Cobalt talks begin. ITF civil aviation secretary Gabriel Mocho commented:

“This campaign has grown out of our determination that the multinational, joint nature of the airline alliances must be reflected by equally coordinated representation of the rights of the workers in them. Recent events at ground handler Cobalt, which operates out of Heathrow Terminal 4, have thrown this into stark relief. There, Unite has told us, new workers get no flight concessions, while for others there’s a whole mix of conditions, depending on which airline they came from.

“Recently, management at the company HQ in the Netherlands took some and put them on inferior terms, then decided that in fact everyone who had flight concessions would now get less of them. Unite has now persuaded the company to suspend those decisions while urgent talks are held. Unite and those workers deserve, and will get, our support.”

The campaign calling for concessions is targeted at Skyteam members including Aeroflot, AeroMexico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta Airlines, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air, TAROM and Vietnam Airlines plus future members China Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Middle East Airlines.

FROM THE TIMES OF INDIA:

***Sailors stranded without food, water off Chennai coast

 6 Jul 2011, 1000 hrs IST, TNN

There appears to be no end in sight for the troubles of OSM Arena, a Korean merchant vessel stranded off the coast of Chennai for the last 17 months. The Madras high court had ordered its sale a few months ago to allow the wages of the crew to be paid and to settle the cases, but a division bench on Thursday last cancelled the sale following a complaint from a Kolkata-based company on a previous business dispute.

Kim Goeng Tai, the captain of the vessel, told ToI over the phone that they had no food, drinking water or fuel on board. "There is a complete blackout. There are no lights and the signals don't work. We are also not safe on board as there are a lot of vessels passing through and we do not have any system to alert them of our presence," he said. The vessel, anchored 1.9 nautical miles off the Chennai port, could even collide with other vessels, the captain said.

On Monday afternoon, an official delegation which visited the crew aboard the vessel said they were in a severely dehydrated state. K Sreekumar, inspector of the International Transport Workers Federation and representative of the Madras Port trust Employees Union, said the sailors' condition was worsening and that something needed to be done immediately. "They ran out of food and water a couple of days ago. After the division bench of the Madras high court cancelled the sale of the vessel on Thursday last, the supplier had stopped the supply of food provisions and fuel. The vessel is in complete darkness, without even fuel or electricity," said Sreekumar, who visited the ship on behalf of the ITF.

It all began in February 2010 after the vessel reached Chennai and was arrested on orders of the Calcutta high court in the matter of a business dispute with a Kolkata-based firm. The vessel owner then declared bankruptcy and abandoned the vessel but the supplier continued sending provisions until last week expecting that the sale of the vessel would come through and he would get his money back. In February this year, the Madras high court ordered the sale of the vessel on humanitarian grounds after hearing a complaint from the crew.

"The 14 crew members were awaiting an order confirming the sale. But the Kolkata-based firm approached the Supreme Court again questioning the amount fixed for the sale. Following the complaint, the Supreme Court directed Madras high court to review the case and a division bench of the high court cancelled the sale last week," said a senior port official.

The Times of India had last month reported the plight of the 14 sailors on board saying that hadn't seen the shore since the last 16 months and were living in a dead vessel off the Chennai seas.

FROM TRAVELMOLE (UK):

***TIGER GROUNDING POINTS TO LARGER LOW-COST SAFETY ISSUES 

  06 July, 2011    

The grounding of Singapore-based budget carrier Tiger Airways is an indication that safety regulation procedures have not kept pace with the fast expansion of the low-cost airline model.

This is the view of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the global umbrella group for unions across 154 countries, including 275 unions from the aviation sector, which has issued a statement about the unprecedented grounding of an airline’s entire fleet.

ITF civil aviation secretary Gabriel Mocho said: “Tiger is a budget airline, operating in a low cost carrier sector that has boomed in recent years, especially in the Asia Pacific region. It’s a sector where there’s been so much expansion, so many startups and failures, that there are worries that the regulation that is needed, and which traditionally applies to airlines, hasn’t caught up. The regulatory authorities are going to have to look more widely than at just one airline.”

He added: “We believe that the reported decreases in safety and pilot training are a direct consequence of that low cost model and that there is a price to pay for such low fares and deregulation - and it is safety.”

Of the decision by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to ground Tiger’s 10 jets for five days while safety checks are made, he added: “This is a very serious move, but we believe it is the right one. It will negatively affect both passengers and Tiger’s workforce, and we’re sorry about that, but safety always has to come first.”

Shares in Tiger Airways in Singapore plunged almost 20% on Monday. Australian domestic flights will be suspended until July 9.

FROM SCOOP (NEW ZEALAND), ALSO ALLVOICES.COM, :

***Unions launch 'same team, same rights' campaign

5 July 2011 - Trade unions will launch a campaign to achieve minimum standards for flight concessions for all workers in Skyteam airlines and their subsidiaries tomorrow.

The ‘same team, same rights’ initiative is backed by ITF-affiliated unions representing workers in Skyteam members and beyond, and begins as the Unite union meets with KLM management to negotiate a solution that would give every employee at Cobalt decent flight concessions.

ITF civil aviation secretary Gabriel Mocho said: “This campaign has grown out of our determination that the multinational, joint nature of the airline alliances must be reflected by equally coordinated representation of the rights of the workers in them.”

“Recent events at ground handler Cobalt, which operates out of Heathrow Terminal 4, have thrown this into stark relief. There, Unite has told us, new workers get no flight concessions, while for others there’s a whole mix of conditions, depending on which airline they came from. Recently, management at the company HQ in the Netherlands took some and put them on inferior terms, then decided that in fact everyone who had flight concessions would now get less of them. Unite has now persuaded the company to suspend those decisions while urgent talks are held. Unite and those workers deserve, and will get, our support.”

The campaign will draw attention to the situation at Skyteam, as well as to the social and economic benefits that flight concessions bring to airlines, as the Cobalt talks begin.

***Fight to Save KiwiRail Jobs Goes Countrywide

Rail And Maritime Transport Union

4 July 2011

21:37

Scoop.co.nz

SCCONZ

English

Copyright 2011, scoop.co.nz All Rights Reserved.

Fight to Save KiwiRail Jobs Goes Countrywide: BOP Workers Vote to Picket Arrival of Foreign Built Wagons

The battle to save KiwiRail workers' jobs at Dunedin's Hillside workshops has spread across the country.

Rail and Maritime Transport Union members in Tauranga held a mass stop work meeting yesterday and unanimously voted to take direct action to stop the arrival and commissioning of the first batch of overseas built wagons, which are due to arrive imminently.

"Our members are calling upon KiwiRail and the Government to abandon their plans to cut jobs at Hillside and Hutt workshops. There are 40 jobs under threat in Dunedin and another 30 are being targeted in the Hutt. This is a direct consequence of KiwiRail's decision to buy rolling stock made overseas," said RMTU National President Aubrey Wilkinson, who works at the Port of Tauranga.

"Yesterday our members in the RMTU Rail and Port branches in Tauranga voted to mount pickets to prevent foreign built rolling stock getting on the track here in New Zealand. We understand that the ship carrying the first batch of overseas built wagons is due to arrive in the Port of Tauranga any day now. We're not going to let that happen without putting up a fight," said Aubrey Wilkinson.

"We have the support of our fellow members in the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and other RMTU branches across the country. We'll be calling meetings in Port Chalmers and Wellington to hold similar votes as we understand the ship carrying these wagons is also calling at those ports."

"This is a fight for jobs and skills in New Zealand. The Government is the shareholder of KiwiRail. They can, and they should, direct KiwiRail to stop buying rolling stock overseas. We have the expertise to build the wagons here and the flow-on benefits to the New Zealand economy are huge," said Aubrey Wilkinson.

"Hundreds of jobs and dozens of businesses depend on work generated by our rail workshops in Dunedin and the Hutt. This work sustains our communities. All we're asking the Government to do is listen to us and to do the right thing for New Zealand," said Aubrey Wilkinson.

Full Text of Resolutions:

This meeting of RMTU Bay of Plenty Branch:

• Directs KiwiRail to abandon its plans to slash jobs at its Hillside and Hutt engineering plants and to invest in the future of Hillside, Hutt and Rail Engineering in New Zealand with a view to securing and creating high skill, high wage jobs that help build and expand a sustainable rail network

• To legislate for a government procurement policy that ensures all SOEs and other government owned and controlled entities take into account the interests of the wider NZ economy and society in the purchase of goods and services.

• That this combined meeting endorses the call from the Waikato and Bay of Plenty Rail Branches and the Bay of Plenty Port Branch to organise a picket led by our KiwiRail members at Tauranga when the CNR built wagons arrive.

• That this combined meeting calls upon the ITF to ban all CNR built wagons that are destined for NZ.

FROM LLOYD'S LIST:

Ship registry performance is not purely academic

The sooner we accept that ship registries are not bad simply by virtue of not being national registers, the sooner we can address the issue of poorly performing administrations

Scott Bergeron - Wednesday 6 July 2011

ACADEMICS and industry professionals see things differently, as two recent articles about ship registries go to prove. In the first of these, shipping guru Martin Stopford of Clarksons described in unemotional and factual terms the singular manner in which the shipping industry has responded over the years to globalisation and the ‘nation state’ problem.

“As globalisation got started in the early 1950s, shipowners took a decisive step which, over the years, has played a crucial part in making it the international carrier of choice,” he said.

“In a nutshell, they traded in nationality for open registries. In 1959, these flags were legally recognised by International Maritime Organization and soon other states started offering a ‘flagging-out’ service.

“In mid-2011, open registers reached a key landmark, with two-thirds of the world’s gross tonnage on their books [652m gt]. Politically, two-thirds is a significant majority [for example, in the US, a two-thirds vote can overturn a presidential veto]. So far in 2011, open registry fleets are growing at around 5m gt per month and account for 86% of new tonnage in the fleet. Meanwhile, national flags, which still account for 30% of the fleet, have grown by a disappointing 1m gt per month.

“This trend towards open registries has now gained support from important entities such as banks, lawyers and, of course, the IMO, and it shows no sign of slowing. Shipping now operates in a world where open registries have an absolute majority. But with majority comes responsibility, and the role of open registries has changed dramatically since the dark days of the 1980s. It is an excellent example of how shipping institutions have adapted, in the quest to balance profit against safety and service.”

Now to the second article, written by an academic and published in The New York Times. This claims that, thanks to flags of convenience (an out-dated term used mainly by the media and academia to describe what well-informed shipping people have for many years referred to as ‘open’ registries): “It is all too easy for unscrupulous shipowners to get away with criminal behaviour”, forcing crews to work “like slaves without adequate pay or rest” under “appalling conditions”.

This is hyperbole of the most extreme sort. “Ships used to fly the flags of their nations”, proclaims the author. True. And Americans used to drive American cars.

History can teach us a lot. But the world changes, and business and commerce — including shipping — change with it, and indeed contribute significantly to change. Moreover, much of that change is for the good. Open registries emerged and developed largely because national registers were not doing their jobs properly, nor providing the service that owners and operators needed. In many cases, they are still not doing their jobs properly.

The sooner we accept that there are good and bad national and open registers, and that ship registries are not bad simply by virtue of not being national registers, the sooner we can address the issue of poorly performing administrations.

The NYT article claims that “delinquency is too easy with open registries, when owners can slip away, unpunished and unaccountable”. This is a lazy generalisation. Responsible open registries are just as vigilant as responsible national registries in punishing and eliminating “delinquency”.

In the same way, poor national registers are equally open to charges of turning a blind eye to delinquency as are their open registry equivalents.

The NYT article goes on to explain that more than half of all crews today are made up of four or more nationalities, and talks about the author’s experience on a containership last year with a polyglot crew of Burmese, Romanians, Moldovans, Chinese, Filipinos and Scots, as if this were a cause for concern. On the contrary, shipping is the ultimate international industry, and we should celebrate its multicultural identity, rather than denigrate it for its own sake. The important thing is that ships are safe, efficient and happy places to work, and that’s what good ship registries set out to achieve, whether they are national or open in nature.

The role of ship registries has changed over the years. The modern shipping industry demands proactive ship registries which can recognise difficulties, and respond to them, often before shipowners themselves realise what is required of them. It demands the highest levels of attention to safety and quality and to crew welfare, which can be monitored against independent criteria. It demands effective representation at the highest levels, and a knowledge of the major issues facing shipping today.

It is fatuous to compare a modern ship registry today with its equivalent of, say, 50 years ago, when some registries were accused of being little more than one man and his dog — often without the dog.

Responsible open registries have proved their value to shipping over a number of years, and protectionist measures such as the Jones Act in the US — and, more significantly, suggestions of an EU equivalent — only serve to fail that which they seek to protect. Should the EU establish strict cabotage rules that go against the macroeconomic realities of shipping, it will see the same flight from shipowning that the US has.

If you want to find a good flag, start looking for one which is easy to find among the list of expanding ship registries, but difficult to find in the world’s port state control detention statistics.

Scott Bergeron, is the chief operating officer of the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry, the US-based managers of the Liberian Registry

Best management practices are not good enough

The shipping industry deserves better guidance in repelling pirate attacks

Jim Mainstone - Wednesday 6 July 2011

From Jim Mainstone

SIR, Recent comments made in Lloyd’s List (‘Pirates thwarted by best-management practices’, June 21) once again supported the widely but, concerningly misinformed, view that vessels “implementing” or “adhering to” best management practices are unlikely to be hijacked.

The shipowner or shipmanager should have the very best threat analysis and associated guidance available to him or her, but BMP, in its various versions, has always fallen short. BMP is, of course, better than nothing, but it is not as thorough as it should be; there are inaccuracies and a number of the suggested security measures simply do not work. For example, dummies, warning signs, and fire hoses are recommended, even though many in the industry with practical experience of Somali piracy know they do not work.

Furthermore, some of the examples of barbed/razor wire defences suggested on the Maritime Security Centre (Horn of Africa) website do not work (a single coil of poorly erected barbed/razor wire will not prevent a boarding because the pirate ladder squeezes the wire against the hull).

Can BMP really be called ‘best management practice’ when it recommends measures that have been put in place on vessels that have been subsequently hijacked? Sir, in this case, ‘best’ is not good enough.

We believe the shipping industry deserves better guidance: the threat should be analysed in detail; examples of vessels that have been hijacked should be shown, together with some assessment of the reasons why; and security measures that really work should be discussed in detail.

The terms ‘applying’ or ‘implementing’ BMP are too loose. Do they refer to all of the points raised in BMP, some of them, or most of them? And if just some or most of them, which ones, and in what order of priority?

Once BMP has been properly rewritten to reflect the day-to-day realities of Somali piracy, the next step should be for flag states and the International Maritime Organization to insist on its mandatory implementation. BMP is, after all, just guidance.

Some owners seek guidance because they want to protect their crew, vessels and cargo; but those who, for whatever reason, do not, should be forced to.

It is our collective duty to give owners, masters, and crew the very best protection we can.

Jim Mainstone

Head of intelligence and risk

Gray Page

FROM TRADEWINDS TODAY:

Suezmax on fire

A Greek suezmax tanker is on fire off Yemen after being attacked by pirates.

The blaze on the 150,000-dwt Central Mare-managed Brillante Virtuoso (built 1992) forced both crew and pirates to abandon the ship on Wednesday morning.

Kenyan naval sources said a fire broke out in the crew quarters and on the bridge during the attack.

All 26 crew and seven Somali pirates escaped safely to lifeboats.

The USS Philippine Sea is heading to the scene.

The vessel is carrying 1m barrels of oil from Ukraine to China for Solal for a lump sum of $3.21m.

Andreas Louka, legal adviser to owner Suez Fortune Investment, told Bloomberg the tanker was “safely adrift.”

The attack took place about 20 miles from Aden while the ship was approaching the port to take unarmed guards on board. The fire is in the accommodation block, Louka added

FROM FAIRPLAY DAILY NEWS:

Fatalities rise from EU maritime accidents

DEATHS rose to 61 shipping accidents in and around EU waters last year, from 52 the year before, according to EMSA.

The European Maritime Safety Agency said the deaths took place during 559 shipping accidents in 2010, from 540 accidents during 2009. But the fatality rate was still below that of years before the recession sharply reduced shipping activity, its Maritime Accident Review 2010 said.

In 2008, there were 82 fatalities and 670 accidents, it noted, and in 2007, 76 deaths and 715 accidents. “Post-2008, it is estimated that maritime traffic dropped by between 15-20% and so it is not surprising that, as a result, there have been fewer accidents,” EMSA said.

Fishing vessels were involved in the greatest number of fatalities last year, with a total of 20 lives lost. Accidents involving general cargo vessels, bulkers, reefers, ro-ros and car carriers claimed 17 lives.

Box ships were the only type in which no loss of life was reported.

FROM THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE (USA):

Container Truck Drivers Strike at Indian Terminal

JOC Staff | Jul 5, 2011 2:02PM GMT

The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story

• Ports/Terminals|
• India

Workers protest ban on vehicle cleaners inside the terminal

A sudden strike by container truck drivers Sunday morning crippled cargo movements to and from the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal, a DP World facility in India’s southeastern port of Cochin.

The Trade Union Coordination Committee, representing all labor groups in the terminal, is primarily protesting the Dubai-based company’s decision to ban the entry of vehicle cleaners into the terminal area on security grounds.

Commentary: Yes, YRC Worldwide Can Be Saved

“Container trucking activity is at a complete standstill and if the strike is not called off immediately, shippers will be forced to divert time-sensitive cargoes to neighboring ports,” a shipping line agent at Cochin said.

Union leaders also said drivers had been demanding better amenities since the launch of VICTT in February this year, but terminal management refused to heed their repeated requests.

The terminal authority denied the allegations. “We are ready to consider all the demands raised by truckers, except the entry of cleaners into the terminal for security reasons," a DP World Cochin official said.

“Nearly 200 trucks are simply idling inside the terminal,” the shipping line agent said.

Reports said negotiations aimed at resolving the impasse, which is threatening to disrupt terminal operations, had not begun as of Tuesday afternoon.

The disruption is the latest in a string of work stoppages at Cochin after container activity was transferred to VICTT, touted as India’s first transshipment facility. The $600 million terminal is the first phase in DP World’s three-phase development at Vallarpadam -- offering an annual capacity of 1 million 20-foot equivalent units in the initial phase and 4 million TEUs when fully ready.

Cochin handled 312,000 TEUs in fiscal 2010-11, which ended March 31. Volume during April to May, the first two months of 2011-12, dropped to 47,000 TEUs from 54,000 TEUs a year earlier.
 

FROM IFW:

Strike will cause minimum disruption, claims DPWS

Damian Brett | Wed, 6 Jul 2011

City bid to force pay cuts will see workers take action on Monday

The UK’s second busiest container terminal DP World Southampton (DPWS) has denied reports that operations will grind to a halt when port workers join a city-wide strike on Monday.

Transport workers’ union Unite and public services union Unison said 13 health officers at Southampton would join a six-week strike by council workers over proposed pay cuts.

The port health officers will take five days of action from just after midnight on 11 July.

The unions said this meant major disruption to ships entering and leaving the port and to the distribution of containers, with the city losing around £1 million (US$1.6m) every day the port sat idle.

However, DPWS claimed disruption at the container terminal would be minimal.

It said: “The terminal will continue to operate as normal and we will continue to load and unload ships, lorries and trains.

“The clearance and examination of foodstuffs and some related goods will be partly affected, with some delays occurring.

“DPWS is working together with Port Health to minimise the delays to our food handling customers prior to, during and after this industrial action. Customers may want to try to clear their goods earlier than they normally do.”

As well as the container terminal, the port also has calls from ferry and cruise services.

The unions added that the strike would be instantly suspended if the council agreed to withdraw Monday’s deadline for workers to agree pay cuts or face losing their jobs.

Unite regional officer Ian Woodland said: “There is absolutely no need for the city to force people onto lower wages – to do so is a malicious attempt to bully worried people into accepting any terms in order to hang onto their jobs.

“Our port will now suffer badly, thanks to the stubbornness of the council leadership. They know full well there is a better way forward and it ought to have dawned on them that the people of this city do not believe their dire propaganda about Southampton’s future.

“Lift the deadline; we will immediately suspend action and talks can re-open.”

Andy Straker of Unison added: ““The workers of this city will not stand by and let them attack jobs and services, so our message is ‘wise-up and talk’, because negotiation is the only way forward.”

Cargo logjam at Jakarta as airport courier workers walk out

Kizzi Nkwocha | Wed, 6 Jul 2011

Hundreds protest at new government cargo screening rules

Air freight shipments were hit at Jakarta’s international airport in Indonesia this week, as hundreds of courier staff staged a walkout over new government cargo screening regulations. 

The workers were protesting over new regulations that restrict responsibility for screening cargo shipments to only three companies. 

M Kadrial, Chairman of the Indonesian Express Delivery Companies Association, said: “Definitely there are potential losses for the courier firms and companies that hired them. Goods could not be transported because of the stagnation.”

The protest at Soekarno-Hatta Airport began on Monday and ended yesterday afternoon and disrupted work at airport warehouses holding goods bound for the domestic market. 

The new Transportation Ministry regulation stipulates that only three companies — Duta Angkasa Prima Kargo, Gita Afian Trans (Gatrans) and Fajar Anugerah Sejahtera — will be responsible for security screening of cargo shipments, replacing eight companies that had been contracted to do the job previously.

The new guidelines also demand that every container must be emptied and each item checked individually, whereas previously the container would have been scanned with its contents.

The regulations came into effect for domestic cargo shipments on Monday, and are due to affect international shipments in August.

One employee of a local company operating at the airport told reporters: “With the new regulation, unloading time can take two to four hours, compared with one hour before.”

Kadrial said courier companies had yet to determine potential losses from the strike, and that the state airport operator was monitoring the situation.

“We have reached an agreement with state airport operator Angkasa Pura and as for losses, we cannot determine the amount as each company applies a different system,’’ Kadrial said.

Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the transport ministry, stressed that the government wanted to “improve efficiency and security in air transport to conform with the best international practices”. 

He said: “On a dry run we did last month, we found a number of firearms and things that could have endangered security.”

UNION/LABOUR RELATED NEWS:

FROM THE SUR:

***В порту Выборг закончилась забастовка

Благодаря работе инспектората МФТ в Санкт-Петербурге в порту Выборг закончилась двухдневная забастовка интернационального экипажа судна «Aral» (флаг Мальты) из-за долгов по зарплате. В общей сложности судовладелец вернул 11 морякам $36 тысяч, хотя претендовали они только на $19 тысяч.
Как получилось, что сумма выплат увеличилась практически в два раза, рассказал нам координатор МФТ в России Сергей Фишов, все два дня находившийся рядом с моряками: «Часть экипажа теплохода «Aral» обратилась в инспекцию МФТ, когда судно вышло в рейс из Англии в Выборг: ребята просили посетить судно для проверки. Моряки хотели репатриироваться из Санкт-Петербурга, так как боялись, что по прибытию в конечный пункт назначения – Стамбул – им не заплатят указанные в контрактах деньги при списании, а именно $19 тысяч. Тем более, что по информации предыдущего экипажа «Aral», с ним так и поступил греческий работодатель. На борту судна всего 21 моряк. Это жители Азербайджана, Украины, Турции, Индонезии и Мьянмы».
4 июля координатор МФТ в России прибыл на судно для выяснения обстоятельств. Команда теплохода к тому моменту уже приняла решение о проведении забастовки, о чем оповестила капитанию порта Выборг: «Aral» стоял под погрузкой, и моряки наотрез отказались идти в рейс на Стамбул до получения денег. Тем временем Сергей Фишов приступил к переговорам с судовладельцем.
«За два дня инспекции МФТ удалось договориться с работодателем, – говорит С. Фишов. – Судовладелец подписал коллективный договор и, кстати, этого требовали сами моряки. В итоге зарплата матроса увеличилась с $500 до $1675. Отсюда и получилось, что 11 членов экипажа получили не $19 тысяч как планировали, а $36 тысяч в соответствии с колдговором МФТ».
Добавим, что акция протеста в порту Выборг закончена. Моряки, желавшие списаться с «Aral», будут репатриированы за счет судоходной компании в ближайшие дни. Но головная боль судовладельца на этом не закончилась. Выход теплохода в Стамбул запретил капитан выборгского порта, поскольку на судне осталось всего 10 моряков, а минимальный состав экипажа должен состоять из 16 человек. В общем, греческой компании в срочном порядке надо найти замену.

TRANSLATION:

In the port of Vyborg is over strike
Thanks to the work of the Inspectorate ITF in St. Petersburg at the port of Vyborg is over a two-day strike international crew «Aral» (Malta flag) because of unpaid wages. A total of 11 sailors returned to owner $ 36 thousand, although they claim only $ 19 thousand.
How is it that the sum of payments has increased almost twice, told us the ITF coordinator in Russia, Sergei Fishov, all two days is next to the sailors: "Part of the crew of the ship« Aral »applied to the inspection of the ITF, the ship went on a voyage from England to Vyborg : children were asked to visit the ship for inspection. The sailors wanted to be repatriated from St. Petersburg, because they feared that on arrival at their final destination - Istanbul - they do not pay the money referred to in contracts with cancellation, namely, $ 19,000. Especially because according to the previous crew «Aral», with him and entered the Greek employer. On board, a total of 21 seafarers. It is the people of Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Turkey, Indonesia and Myanmar. "
July 4th ITF coordinator in Russia came on board to ascertain the circumstances. The command ship by that time had decided to go on strike, what alerted the captain of the port of Vyborg: «Aral» was being loaded, and the sailors have flatly refused to go on a voyage to Istanbul to make money. Meanwhile, Sergei Fishov started negotiations with the shipowner.
"Two days of inspection ITF was able to negotiate with the employer - said S. Fishov. - Owner has signed a collective bargaining agreement and, incidentally, it was required by the sailors themselves. As a result, wages increased from sailor $ 500 to $ 1675. Hence it happened that the 11 crew members were not $ 19,000 as planned, and $ 36,000 in accordance with the ITF koldgovorom. "
We add that the protest at the port of Vyborg is over. The sailors, who wanted to get in touch with «Aral», will be repatriated at the expense of shipping company in the coming days. But the headache owner did not end there. Exit the ship in Istanbul, Turkey banned the captain of the port of Vyborg, on the ship because there were only 10 sailors, and the minimum crew shall consist of 16 persons. In general, the Greek company urgently need to find a replacement.