Maritime Union of New Zealand

New Zealand maritime workers will be going up the gangway this week to check out ships flying “flags of convenience” and ensure that crew conditions, wages, and health and safety standards are up to scratch.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is holding its New Zealand Flag of Convenience Week of Action this week, ending Friday 3 June 2011.

Members of the ITF-affiliated Maritime Union of New Zealand will board vessels in New Zealand’s main ports, and go over documentation such as wage books, talk to crews, and inspect the seaworthiness and safety of ships.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says this is part of an ongoing international campaign to improve standards in the shipping industry.

He says that there have been a number of serious incidents on overseas vessels, including FOC vessels, in New Zealand ports and in and around New Zealand waters in recent years.

“We have had ongoing incidents ranging from underpayment of wages, failure for crews to be returned home at the end of their contracts, mistreatment and abuse, all the way up to serious injuries and deaths, and the sinking of vessels.”

Flag of Convenience (FOC) vessels are registered in countries with very lax or non-existent regulation of the maritime industry.

FOCs provide a means of avoiding labour regulation in the country of ownership, and become a vehicle for paying low wages and forcing long hours of work and unsafe working conditions.

ITF New Zealand inspector Grahame MacLaren says the week of action is intended to convey a clear message to Flag of Convenience operators who trade in New Zealand waters that they need to abide to basic ITF standards.

“The main focus will be to target FOC vessels without ITF agreements for the crew, but any other foreign flagged vessels will come under scrutiny.”

The ITF is made up of 681 unions representing 4,500,000 transport workers in 148 countries. It is one of several Global Union Federations allied with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The Maritime Union says the publication of a report on the exploitation of overseas fishing crews in New Zealand waters by the Sunday Star Times today has “lifted the lid” on what is going on in the industry.
Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the union has been advocating for a complete clean up of the joint venture fishing industry for years to protect workers.
“It is good to see the New Zealand media finally shining the spotlight into some dark places.”
In recent years the joint venture fishing industry had seen a string of sinkings, drownings, industrial accidents, reports of violence and abuse, health and safety violations, ship jumpings, appalling work conditions and failures to honour employment and wage agreements.
Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union wants a full audit of the industry, including the standard of vessels and opening the wages books.
The use of employment agents in the countries of origin for foreign crews meant the worst practices of Third World economies had become established in the New Zealand economy.
“This situation is what is known overseas as social dumping, or the exploitation of cross-border labour in a globalized economy.”
Mr Fleetwood says just because fishing vessels were operating off the New Zealand coast, that did not give operators a right to ignore New Zealand standards of employment.
“The New Zealand Government has taken an ineffective approach, simply because there are big profits in it for the companies.”
He says the overseas fishing crews are not members of the Maritime Union but the union would continue to offer help if asked as the overseas crews had no other effective representation.
Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) has assisted crew members on many occasions, organizing repatriation of crew members and the payment of outstanding wages.
The Maritime Union of New Zealand is affiliated to the ITF, which is organizing internationally to improve conditions for seafarers and fishing crews.
Mr Fleetwood says the long term answer is to employ New Zealand workers on good wages and conditions in the fishing industry, rather than allowing the worst practices to continue.
“New Zealand workers have a right to jobs in their own fishing industry, especially at a time of high unemployment.”

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says it has cleared the TPC Wellington to leave Marsden Point after working with crew members to arrange their repatriation.

Two crew members died on the log ship on Monday from what is thought to be asphyxiation, but investigations into the accident are ongoing.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the priority has been to ensure the welfare of remaining crew members.

He says an agreement has been reached between the company and the crew with the assistance of the ITF and Maritime Union.

The Burmese crew members would return with the vessel to Korea where the company would release them from their contract.

The crew members would be paid wages owing, repatriation costs and a bonus.

Under the agreement they would be able to refuse to carry out work they felt was unsafe.

The Maritime Union is affiliated to the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), which represents seafarers and maritime workers around the world.

ITF New Zealand Inspector Grahame McLaren arrived at the vessel on Tuesday afternoon and had been working with crew since that time.

The Maritime Union says that it will be looking into health and safety aboard the bulk carrier TPC Wellington after a serious accident.

Two sailors, one Korean and one Burmese, died after suffocating in the ship’s timber hold at Marsden Point wharf near Whangarei yesterday afternoon.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says it is likely this was an unnecessary tragedy.

“Last week we commemorated International Workers Memorial Day, to remember all those workers killed and harmed on the job, and now sadly we already have more workplace fatalities.”

Mr Fleetwood says the Union is not making any assumptions about the incident.

A full investigation was required to identify what happened.

“What we will be asking about is the safety of the vessel, were all safety precautions taken, was there any use of toxic chemicals aboard the vessel, and what were the onboard conditions for the crew.”

Mr Fleetwood says that fatalities and serious injuries occurred far too often in the maritime industry, often due to corner cutting and time pressures in a deregulated industry.

He says the event was the most serious in a New Zealand port for some time.

“Firstly, before assigning responsibility to anyone, let alone the victims, we need to know the events leading up to the deaths, and whether these workers were aware of any dangers.”

Mr Fleetwood says it is common to find safety issues aboard “flag of convenience” ships and fishing vessels.

This was complicated by communication issues as many crews were comprised of different nationalities.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand is an affiliate of the International Transport Workers Federation, which is the global organization representing transport workers including seafarers, fisheries workers, waterfront workers and other maritime workers.

International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) New Zealand inspector Grahame McLaren says the case of 10 Sri Lankan crew members aboard the MV Charelle docked at the Ports of Auckland are an example of the hardships experienced by seafarers around the world.

The vessel and its crew were held by Somali pirates for six months last year, only being released after a ransom was paid on 3 December 2009.

Now a new crew are waiting for tens of thousands of dollars of back pay in Auckland.

The MV Charelle was inspected by ITF New Zealand inspector Grahame MacLaren and local Maritime Union of New Zealand representatives in Auckland in March 2010.

Mr McLaren says crew members were being paid well below ITF rates and even less than International Labour Organization (ILO) minimums.

Crew are awaiting a total of $75,000 in back pay, and have not been paid for 3 1/2 months, apart from a payment of $4,000 made earlier this week.

The managers have given assurances to Maritime Union of New Zealand Auckland Local 13 President Garry Parsloe that the balance owing will be paid within a week.

Mr McLaren says crew are due to be repatriated in the next few days and replaced with a new crew, but the ITF have advised them not to leave the ship until all outstanding amounts have been paid.

The MV Charelle is a general cargo ship operating under the Antigua and Barbados flag of convenience.

The vessel is German owned and managed by New Zealand company Tradex Marine.

The Maritime Union says information revealed in a New Zealand documentary on the fishing industry must be followed up by a Government inquiry.

The documentary The Great New Zealand Fishing Scandal by investigative journalist Guy Henderson screened on Sky last night and today, and covered developments in the industry since the 1990s.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the documentary was accurate and he believes there is much more to be uncovered.

He says fishing industry bosses are driven by “unconstrained greed” and Government had kowtowed to powerful private interests.

“History will judge the actions of some of these people and the industry as a whole.”

He says the treatment of overseas crew on foreign and joint venture “flag of convenience” vessels had been appalling and was an ongoing problem.

Mr Hanson says the system is being used to drive New Zealand workers out of the industry.

He says he is disturbed at how some quota holders, including Maori quota holders, were using overseas crews and refusing to train young New Zealand workers in this industry especially at a time of increasing unemployment.

There were strong connections globally between illegal fishing, exploitation and abuse of workers, and the destruction of the marine environment and fish stocks.

He says the cost of local fish was a concern as overseas demand priced it out of the reach of ordinary New Zealanders, and prices of up to $39 per kilogram needed explanation.

He was concerned about the importation of low quality catfish from China and Vietnam to New Zealand, as well as the processing of New Zealand fish overseas.

The quota system was not providing enough protection for species such as orange roughy.

Mr Hanson says it is standard practice for ship owners to crew vessels with officers and crew of different nationalities, with crew members picked up by corrupt labour hire agencies in developing countries.

Foreign seafarers were often so desperate for work they signed up on oppressive terms and conditions, often went unpaid and were away from their home and families for sometimes years.

There had been numerous documented cases of crew members not being paid, being underpaid, having their wages eaten up by agency fees, and being verbally and physically abused.

Mr Hanson noted the case of 33-year old Korean fisherman Vo Minh Que, who was drowned in January 2004 in waters 70 kilometres south of Stewart Island.

The victim was flipped overboard from the ‘Tasnui’ by a trawl wire after equipment failure and had bobbed in the ocean nearby to the vessel while a “series of hideously inadequate and half-pie” rescue attempts were made, according to the Southland Times (2 October 2004), whose editorial comment described the incident as a “disgrace” and a “squalid tragedy.”

The Maritime New Zealand report on the drowning of Mr Vo noted how the poor condition of the vessel and the lack of safety gear or procedures contributed to the fatality – problems that had previously been reported by Maritime New Zealand but not acted upon.

“The Maritime Union has done what it can to assist in the incidents that we have come across, this is done entirely on a solidarity basis simply because these crew members have no one else to look after their interests.”

He says the industry is incapable of policing itself and the Government and bureaucracy saw problems with crews as an embarrassment which it was not motivated to do anything about.

Mr Hanson says the Maritime Union had lobbied the Government hard for stronger protections for workers in the industry and this had resulted in some improved regulations around pay and conditions.

But he says that he is concerned about the enforcement of these rules because problems continued to crop up on a regular basis.

Mr Hanson says if New Zealanders want to see the reality of free trade promoted by the Government, they should look no further than the fishing industry a few miles off their own coast.

“We don’t have to go to the Third World to see Third World conditions – the Third World conditions have come to us.”

“The fishing industry and its treatment of overseas crews is a graphic demonstration of the race to the bottom in working conditions. Add this to the damage to fishing stocks and we really have a social and environmental travesty out of sight, out of mind.”

He says the Maritime Union will continue to campaign on the issue which was also the focus of a campaign by the International Transport Workers Federation, comprised of 654 unions representing 4,500,000 transport workers in 148 countries.