undercover Boss

[Arthur John Harvey]

R235941- Watched the UNDERCOVER BOSS programme on Monday 6 August it was the boss of Stena Ferries and the most concerning point for me was the conditions and wages of the Philippine staff who were mainly cabin stewards; their contract was six months on with two months leave and the wages quoted were between 2/4 USA dollars an hour which is way below the minimum wage for the UK. The Boss then quoted that as the ships were not under the Red Ensign the minimum wage did not apply. He then stated that six months was a long period to work seven days a week and also to be away from the family.I can recall being away for a year without any days off and then only two weeks holiday on returning to the UK.
.It is obvious why PO and Cunard changed their flag from the Red Duster. Await comments.

[Captain Kong]

Last week I was in Fleetwood and got talking to an old Frazerborough Fisherman, He told me that all the BIG Trawlers out of Frazerborough and Aberdeen now have Filipino crews, they come over for six months at a time.
Maybe those ships should all fly the Filipino Flag instead of the Red Ensign.
Cheers
Brian.

[Tony Wilding]

Its pure exploitation of Seaman from Countries where poverty is rife, and greed of the Shipowner. it seems the Norm now, al the major Companies employing cheap Labour, the Costa Concordia was like the League of Nations, so many Nationalities on Board, mostly from poor countries, wont change now. even at 2 to 4 dollars an hour a Philippine Seaman is far better off than at home, thats why there will be an endless supply to man the Ships, sad.

[j.sabourn]

Ref. the side of shipping re. converted trawlers etc. regarding the offshore industry in the late 80"s. The wages that some of these companys paid to British seamen were not much better than some of the 3rd. world countrys as of this date. The conditions of some vessels were absymal, on many a piece of foam was the mattress as regards bedding, the ships themselves I have said in previous posts were in a lot of cases requiring many repairs as such, the list would be too long to go into. Sometimes I have seen crew recruited from the pub if the ship was short handed and the poor bastard didnt know where he was when he came to the next morning, the press gangs were still going up until a few years ago. Some of these companys only paid a short leave period of about 6 days after 5 weeks at sea, and the seaman if wanted to go back on same vessel had to go on the dole. This is the side of shipping that the public doesnt see, and think it was only pride that made a lot of seafarers carry on, on a pittance of a wage rather than appear to be a bum. It was the only life most of them knew was going to sea. I feel sad that they are employing foreign labour on the uk fishing fleets, as most of these men who manned these converted trawlers were all ex fishermen. It must be that they are a dying breed now. The industry is a poorer place for their loss. Regards John Sabourn.

[Stuart Henderson]

My first trip to sea as galley boy in 1947 I was paid the princely sum of £7 (seven) per month, ten hours a day ,seven days a week. A full Sunday spent AT SEA fully earned a days leave, arrival in port didnt count as earning leave and was a normal day.
On the plus side Loch Garth was a good feeder, remembering my previous life had been spent in wartime rationing and shortages. The run was marvellous for a youngster,Bermuda,Nassau.Kingston,Venazuela,Panama .LA.San Francisco,Portland ORE, Victoria BC and Vancouver Panama Aruba and Bremen. The last still suffering the effects of severe bombing from the war. So a lot to talk about on my leave which totalled about 5/6 days.
Still went back for more,thirty years worth in fact.
Stuart H

[Captain Kong]

Hi John.
It must be that they are a dying breed now. The industry is a poorer place for their loss. Regards John Sabourn.
He told me that because the European Union will not let them Fish, they are only allowed to go out around two or three days a month, The young Fishermen have left the Industry and moved to the big cities looking for work. So we will be without Experienced Fishermen in the future,
.
.There are no experienced workers in any of these Industries anymore..........

.
.
.NOW....
THERE IS A PLAN HERE......................
We had the worlds best ship builders, all gone, .....build in Europe.
We had the worlds biggest and best Merchant Fleet...all gone.
We had the worlds best Seafarers ,....,all gone.
We had the worlds best sustained Fishing grounds , ... all gone.
And the worlds best Trawler men. ....all gone.
We built the best Locomotives in the world.......all gone.. build in Europe.
We had the best.... OUR POLITICIANS GAVE IT ALL AWAY ,.... i WISH THEY WERE ....ALL GONE.
.
Brian.... off to the distillery.. before that is ....All gone.

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates , watched the T.V. program about "Stena shipping company it was about cheap labour 11 hours a day working for below min wage for overseas workers,and part time/full time no contract ,for british workers the officers or seaman ? were not interviewed? The swede boss gave the 11 hours a day slave a treat the company would pay, so he could see his family for two weeks on a six months on two months off shift ? Killers in jail in the U.K get better treated, and see they familys more,the single mother a hard-working lady Cook with no fixed contract , they can sack her anytime he feels like it ,was put on a training course tears in her eyes ? how about a bit of help with child care costs'? the other one had a trip to head office to see how the company is run? I think the company Stena are just a greedy bunch of gets !!! but they are not alone the other ferrys do just the same.or worst

[John Pruden]

LOUIS we in great Britain are doing the same with the gurkha regiments pension?? a serving soldier can put 20 years in and told to leave the country. they never came in on the back of a wagon like some of the dross we are getting in here?JP

[denniswalker]

Hi all.i also watched this programme,and read your comments with interest.what i would like to say,is that whist working with shell in the ninetis,they started to employ philippne seaman,on most of the deepsea fleet,by the end of the nineties,there were only two ships left in the fleet left with british seaman,and they were the north sea shuttle tankers.Like most of you guys,i agree with you,that the company went down that road with cheap labour,aand that the philippine sailor would stay on board for longer peroids of time,saving the company on travel expenses.
on the subject of the fishing fleet,where,i work in Mallaig,some of the fishing boats are employing philippine sailors,as mention in a previous thread,the skippers cannot get the men.also that was also mentioned,that the philippiine seaman is a rich man in his country.
Back to the programme,regarding the young lady chef who worked the night shift on the ferry,the ceo of stena line could not employ her on a full time basis that it would not fair on the people ahead of her,but he would send her on another course.on one of the ferries it was highlighted the the crew mess and it took a programme like this before anything was done about it.cheers dennis.

[Colin Hawken]

I got told off for this once before. So I'll just say, You know what Shipowners are. They always have been and always will be.