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| Issue No 116 |  |
19 October 2001 |
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NewsBackpay For Exploited Guest Workers
International Transport Workers� Federation Week of Action has netted foreign seafarers in the Asia Pacific a half million dollars in backpay. Trevor Charles, the modern day Robin Hood of the Asia Pacific, wharfie and Australia co-ordinator of the International Transport Workers' Federation shipping campaign, is now London based. For the past eight years he has led a band of wharfies and seafarers taking millions of dollars from rich and greedy ship owners and giving it back to poor and exploited seafarers on board the growing fleet of rogue ships plying Australian shores. This week he was promoted to head the ITF actions unit leading the worldwide campaign against Flag of Convenience- ships that flag out to tax havens like Liberia and Panama to avoid regulations that ensure ship safety, conditions and wages meet world standards internationally. Their crew are mainly exploited guest workers - third world labour who are underpaid, underfed and overworked. In the last year the ITF Australia has inspected 800 vessels in ports nationwide, winning crew back pay in excess of $1.5 million, with 86 vessels signing up to ITF agreements protecting pay and conditions of their crew. As his swansong Trevor and his band of merry men - ITF inspectors and volunteer wharfies, port workers and seafarers ran lightning swoops on 42 visiting ships nationwide, last week, netting $40,000 in back pay for visiting crew in just seven days. In northern Queensland ITF inspector Graham Bragg branch secretary Laurie Horgan and delegates Bernie Gallen and Peter Lamond went up the gangway of 19 ships in the ports of Cairns and Townsville to check pay and conditions. Seven vessels were subject to action, involving successful payment of around $16,000 in backwages with a further $11,000 owing to the crew of the MV West Fortune still to be resolved. Other ships targetted were the Nordglimt, the MV Tai Harmony, Panthea, MV Glacier Bay, Mellow Wind and the MV Heron. On one ship flying the Panama flag, they found the Filipino crew sitting on wooden boxes. The chairs were all broken, there was no TV or video even for the Korean officers and the washing machine didn't work. On anther ship the crew were being paid well below the minimum ILO wage of around $200 a week. In Melbourne ITF inspector Matt Purcell and a team of volunteer maritime workers inspected some 23 vessels in Victorian ports of Melbourne, Geelong and Westernport, winning $40,000 in backpay for visiting crew. The blitzkrieg also included Adelaide. "We had problems with a ship called the Australian Bridge which is flagged in Panama," said Matt. "They wouldn't let the Bangladeshi crew off on shore leave. They were imprisoned on the ship. It was a bit cruel. The ship does the Japan run via Singapore. It takes weeks." So pleased were the Filipino crew on board the New Success in Adelaide with their new outfit of overalls, wet weather gear and boots Graham Archer one of our volunteer from skilled maritime services got them, they put the sign over the side of the ship to thank him. Other volunteer maritime workers volunteering for the blitz were Dean Borg, Mark Kirkman, Bruce Paris, Bob Cumberlidge, Kevin O�Leary, Warren Finck and Kevin Bracken. In Fremantle ITF inspector Ross Storer reports members inspected 11 ships retrieving crew around $10,000 in backpay. All up the ITF week of action in the Asia Pacific region won more than half a million dollars in backwages for exploited crew. (see ITF website: http://www.itf.org.uk/media/releases/121001_foc.htm) But the work of Trevor and the ITF has been drastically curtailed by the Federal Government. Like the wicked Prince John of old and his Sheriff of Nottingham, PM John Howard and his Workplace Relations Minister are helping the rich rob the poor. They have outlawed solidarity under anti-boycott laws. They have put a price on the heads of Trevor Charles, the ITF and the MUA. If caught they could be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the wily Trevor and his merry men have outwitted the Government. Keeping well within the law and out of the forest the ITF has put thousands of dollars into fighting shipowners in the courts. "I don't need to tell anyone how difficult it�s been to take any action under this government in trying to right the wrongs on these ships," said Trevor Charles. MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said that Trevor's promotion to London was a great recognition of the role we've played in this country in FOC shipping campaign. "It reflects the level of respect the union and Trevor have around the world," he said. "It's a great accolade after 30 years in the MUA, but also great recognition for this union and the Australian union movement. For its size Australia has amazing representation internationally for labour rights and industrial relations." Paddy Crumlin sits on the executive of the ITF and is currently one of a group of four seeking to draw up a seafarers' bill of rights for the ILO, a template for global unionism and global union rights. Sharon Burrow, ACTU, heads up the local regional ICFTU and John Maitland, CFMEU is president of the International Chemical Energy Mining and General Workers Union covering 20 million workers from 110 countries.
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   Interview: The Green MachineNick Bolkus outlines Labor's environmental stance and lays down the gauntlet to Bob Brown's Greens. Industrial: Regaining Control France�s 35 hour week stems from the program of the Left coalition government which went to the polls in June 1997 with the policy of �worksharing�. Unions: Home Of The Longest DayAustralia has a dubious new prize to put in its cluttered national trophy cabinet. We are increasingly the most over-worked nation in the world. Campaign Diary: Week Two: FightbackLabor's doing everything to win a normal campaign - but this is no normal campaign. Economics: Who Will Notice When You Die?Johann Christoph Arnold asks whether the anti-globalisation movement is the answer to an epidemic of loneliness. History: American TerrorIncredible revelations about the work of the US National Security Agency through the Cold War years help put the current War of Terror into perspective. International: Global Day of Action In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US last week, the ICFTU has announced that preparations for the Global Unions Day of Action on November 9 will go ahead. Satire: World Gripped by Fear as Howard Third Term LoomsThe global community has uniformly condemned the recent terrorist attacks, which horrifically helped revive the re-election prospects of John Howard. Review: FlashbacksCultural theortician Neale Towart consults his record collection in a bid to understand the chaos gripping the earth.
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