It's not mutiny or striking but how will it work

[John Arton]

https://gcaptain.com/itf-tells-seafa...eid=3b737aa316
Rgds
J.A.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
The only way I can see is for the union insist they sign a new contract at double the wages, that should move something, with the ship owners even if its to send them to the toilet .
Des

[j.sabourn]

There is a lot of talk about this International union which my biggest claim is I never saw or heard about in the years I spent foreign flag. As far as I am concerned I will re- iterate what i have always said they are a necessary evil if you want to. Call them that, to everyone who works for a living.
In the 1980s the NUS had absolutely no input in to certain aspects of North Sea shipping and were even barred from boarding certain vessels. I was a member of Numast which was acceptable as were not likely to upset any apple carts. After the biggest oil and gas fire offshore , the workplace to date has seen . The men who performed the actual hands on nitty gritty bits were shoved into the background and the Hans Christian Anderson bits were displayed to the public , it was only through the good auspices of Numast that I managed to get a bit of acclaim that these few men deserved. A lot of them are dead now , it wasn’t the flames that killed them but maybe some of the after effects of what they saw.
Anyone who gives the union credit for looking after their members interests , should remember they have to be a member of such in the first place. They are there to look after their interests. To go to sea without that backing one should think twice about. I thank the stars I was a member of Numast. At least they printed the truth as given to them word by word. JS.

[happy daze john in oz]

From what I have gained speaking with crew on cruise ships there is no Union there.
All are on 9 month contracts and from what they tell me they are well cared for and there are some form of enterprise agreement relating to wages.

[Ivan Cloherty]

#3, The ITF and WWF were a nightmare on the Aussie Coast in the 50's 60's and 70's, but it was internal power play more than a benefit for the seafarer, as most of the things they got up to had no benefits for the seafarer, but the side effects certainly had benefits for the stevedores, Australian ship repairers, chandlers etc, the nonsense they came out with was unbelievable. On one occasion in Sydney the stevedores walked off the ship because one of their members had peered in the crews messroom and seen them eating with their hands, so they all walked off the ship until the chandler brought cutlery to the vessel, which I refused to sanction. As the crew nationality had no Embassy in Sydney I asked the Indian Embassy to send a representative, which they did, by this time, the Agent, the Customs, WWF head Oncho, the Master and myself all involved, and the Ambassador in very diplomatic language told the WWF what a load of ignoramuses they were, the crew were Bengali and always ate using their hand, and if they had bothered to look in the sideboard drawers (they were earlier given the opportunity, but never did) they would have seen all kinds of cutlery. The WWF had to back down but made our life hell after that in one way or another. The stories would fill a book.

[j.sabourn]

#5... That is a good example of a bad union Ivan. A halfway good one would be one I can verify that is if there had been a union available.referring back to my #3. The crew of this vessel distributed items of clothing and foot wear to distressed people which belonged to the donor and listed as to their worth and replacement value and submitted to the owners of the vessel. As certain members of crew remained with me on other vessels they came to me and said they had never been reimbursed. They had no one else to go to. so as I had also had some of my own personal gear used , but wasn’t too particularly bothered about replacement , put it in the hands of my own union and listed the others as well. The answer came back tbat all monies owing had been paid to the owners of the now defunct vessel over 6 months previously, and. The owners had been questioned why they hadn’t paid it out to those as necessary. The usual excuses to cover minor fraud. If those. Seamen had of been allowed to have a union , they wouldn’t of had to go with begging bowl to receive what was rightly theirs. We have all seen both sides for and against unions , myself I go for the for. I learnt not to Become a company’s man years ago , and listen to everything as being gospel, there is always two sides to every yarn you hear. I could give you stories of how I’ve covered up for owners at one time , is probably the only thing I am ashamed of doing in my life as regards shipping. Outside of Shipping have probably committed the same errors of judgement as everyone else,
Cheers JWS

[j.sabourn]

#2... Des if it hasn’t already been done , then the Articles of Agreement should be modernised to brng them up to the 21 century. They were as regards feeding written for the shipowners wellbeing and in more modern times misused at various times to adjust to profit margins and not the welfare of those they employed. I should imagine you still today have vessels of 21 century design running around with reduced manpower on 19 th century Articles.. you have to have either. Agreed bargaining agreement for every person ,Or a union to do that for you. My time on foreign foreign ships I did my own negotiating, and even coming back onto British Ships did this within the bounds
of credibility by. Using the federations own tool against them which was the seniority payments. If they needed you they paid up. Today reduced manning has played directly in to the Shipowners hands, but sometime in the future
the worm will turn again. When that day comes however there will be no British seamen left. It has been clinically and surgically done to decimate the British Merchant fleets. JS.

[happy daze john in oz]

One of the problems with modern shipping is the way the companies register their ships, though nothing new in that.
We see them here in Port Melbourne, very rarely do you see a port of registry that sounds fair dinkum.
Add to that the fact that many hardly ever return to their home port taking new crew on from overseas ports.
It may prove very hard for seamen of today to even see a Union man let alone get the chance top speak with one.

[j.sabourn]

#8.. There should rarely be a reason to see a union rep. He is there to negotiate wages and conditions. If there is a reason to see one for legal advice , today with communications as they are it is a couple of minutes job. All the uproars and bad publicity you see as propoganda against unions is totally unnecessary. You never see the public service on screens just their bosses the Pollies , they are the actors who hope to sell their policy’s to the public by their hopeful photogenic virtues. Every time there is a union rally it is publicised as bad news by the media. JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

John
When you see the antics on TV of our State Premier defending her health department in their participation in the death of around forty people from the virus; that came off the Ruby Princess, I see a similarity with shipowners in Britain and the acolyte Tom Yates the old Seaman's union Secretary.
Des