
Issue No 3		05 March 1999

News

The Modern Day Tales Of Robin Hood

By Zoe Reynolds

How wharfies and seafarers are taking millions of dollars from rich and greedy ship owners and giving it back to poor and exploited seafarers.

Meet Trevor Charles, the modern day Robin Hood of the Asia Pacific. Trevor and his merry men play a lead role in the tales of heroism unfolding, each week on the Australian waterfront - taking money from the rich and greedy ship owners and giving it to the poor and exploited seafarers on board the growing fleet of rogue ships plying Australian shores.

Trevor leads a team of Australian wharfies, tuggies and linesmen to whom countless seafarers in the Asia/Pacific region owe their life and livelihood.

He is the Australian co-ordinator of the International Transport Workers' Federation in its 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. Their crew are mainly exploited outworkers - third world labour who are underpaid, underfed and overworked.

If crew call for help over wages or conditions, maritime workers hold up the vessel until justice is done. Australia's reputation worldwide is second to none, netting more than US$2 million in backpay for visiting crew each year.

But the work of Trevor and the ITF is now threatened by the Federal Government. Like the wicked Prince John of old and his Sheriff of Nottingham, PM John Howard and Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith are helping the rich rob the poor.

They have outlawed solidarity under new 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 so far 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.

Latest Adventure Of Robin Hood

Brisbane, March 3: Robin Hood hands out US$110,000 in back wages owing to 18 overjoyed Burmese, Croatian and Polish seafarers on board the flag of convenience ship Blue Crest.

But getting the money was not easy, with Robin have to track the culprits through the usual maze of tax, wages and safety avoidence schemes devised by the modern day pirates of the sea. The Blue Crest was owned in Germany, managed in Cyprus, flagged in Kayman Island and crewed by mainly Burmese with a German captain in command.

Robin was tipped off by one of his merry men in Townsville that the seafarers were being cheated of their full pay. ITF Queensland inspector Graham Bragg uncovered they were only getting US$500/month or 1/5 of the wages due under an ITF agreement signed up with the ship in the French port of Dunkirk on the ITF day of action, December 10, 1998. So Graham sent word to Robin that the vessel's next port of call was Brisbane.

And Robin was there to welcome it. The ship managers in Cyprus claimed they were protecting the Burmese from persecution from the military junta in Rangoon by not paying the full wages.

"I let them know that I knew only too well they were only interested in protecting the shipowners' profits," said Robin.

"I personally gave the money to the seafarers who were grinning ear to ear. They said they were very happy to take the cash and would be sending it on to their families."

But Robin said it was obvious the company had no intention of honouring the ITF wage agreement and the crew would be lucky to get their full pay next month - unless the ship went on to a strong ITF port where inspectors could act on behalf of the crew. Meanwhile Robin has made sure word has got around to keep an eye on the ship.

The ITF is a federation of the world's transport unions, representing more than 5 million workers in 120 nations. All Australian seafareing, stevedoring, railway, road and civil aviation unions are affiliated - including the Maritime Union of Australia.

For more Adventures of Robin Hood: http://mua.tcp.net.au/Pages/rhood.html

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Issue 3 contents

Interview: How Organising Works
The ACTU�s Sarah Kaine is part of a new breed of union organiser who help workers stand up for themselves.

Unions: Big Boys Bank on Mergers
Mergers of the big banks are back on the agenda, and the Finance Sector Union is leading the community campaign against them.

History: Commemorating Our Dear Departed Equal Pay Activists
Two women who deserve special recognition and commemoration as part of our Women's Day celebrations are Eileen Powell and Edna Ryan, both of who played a crucial role in the struggle for equal pay.

Legal: New Judge Announces Zero Tolerance Of Pay Inequity In NSW
The NSW Industrial Relations Commission is training its sights on industrial raw-deals for women, and targeting the traditional under-valuation of women's work.

Review: Keep the Australia in Australian Television.
Local content quotas for Australian television are under threat from our Kiwi cousins.

Campaign Diary: Radical Conservatives Raise Their Own Bar
This Monday writs are issued for the state election, The phoney campaign ends and the real one begins; and the issue of stability, the need for it and the lack of it, is set to dominate the next four weeks.

» Unions Win Virtual Access To The Workplace

» Shaw To Snip At Gender Pay Gaps

» Living Wage - Round One To Unions

» Workers Fight Hotel Chain's Contracts Push

» No Picnic, No Pay

» The Modern Day Tales Of Robin Hood

» Nothing Casual About Woolies Drivers

» Unionists Flex Muscles for a Gay Time