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23rd March 2021, 07:47 PM
#1
Late pay/ No pay
Having looked at the post on 'Building new Spirits of Tasmania' a name of a company in the U.K. popped out of the page (J. Walker) This reminded me of a job that I did in Nigeria for about 1 year and at the end of the year thought I had been scr*w*d out of about 4 months pay. I had taken a job with a company called Oro shipping of Gibraltar in 1984 they had 3 small cement 'tankers' working on the Bonny river running from a cement packing plant in a place called Rumuolemeni belonging to an outfit called Eagle cement, which was about a 4/5 hour run up the river from Port Harcourt. They would load from a depot ship which had transhipped cement from other bulk carriers bringing cargoes normally from Europe. I look back at the job and think I must have been desperate for work because I had been to Nigeria several times on various ships and hated the place.
I used to do about 3 months in country and then fly home for a months leave having completed my last 3 months I was determined never to return to the job and was looking forward to a nice bank balance and some rest and recuperation. My parents lived near Woking in Surrey and I banked with the Midland Bank in the town and used my parents address as my place of abode. I had spent about 30 hours getting home as the only flights available were via Lagos with an internal airline and then with Interflug (East German Airlines) Via Abuja, Libya and East Berlin with a connection via Amsterdam (Civilisation) KLM and London. A day after arriving home and still knackered I went into the bank to ask for the 'Balance of my current account' This was before everything was computerised and at the end of your fingertips and was astonished to see that the balance had not changed much since I had seen my last statement about 3 months earlier.
Someone owed Me about 4 months pay and I am angry and want my money where is it?? I was still a payed up member of N.U.M.A.S.T. and approached them for help, they were excellent they approached the agency that I had got the job from (A waste of time) Oro shipping Gibraltar (A brass plaque on a door and another waste of time) Eagle Cement Nigeria (Forget it) The beneficial owners of the ships a shipping company based in Mariehamn Finland (Helpful but still no money) Eventually after about 2 months the union got to the bottom of the matter and it turned out that my hard earned cash had been payed into the accounts of J. (ames) Walker Lion Works packing of Woking Surrey.
I eventually received what was owed to me and was very grateful to the union for their help. I am left wondering have others on site who worked for foreign companies around the world or on F.O.C. ships had similar experiences, either being gipped out of your money or late payment of the same ??
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23rd March 2021, 10:32 PM
#2
Re: Late pay/ No pay
I worked very hard for a Swiss company that always paid late, and did jobs in your favourite place, Nigeria, and other such like resorts !!. When it got to two months late my notice went in and said I would be contacting the Swiss Consul, that got me paid up to date, but my notice I kept in, could do without the future hassle. I received a glowing reference and they recommended me to a Dubai based shipping company, who were head hunting me, which I more or less had to start from scratch, a very hard but interesting challenge. Always paid on time, but they certainly got their pennyworth out of me, but I also learnt a lot, and going from living in Pakistan to living in Dubai was akin to heaven, even though there was nowt there (1970's) not even a road fro Dubai to Abu Dhabi, but there was a road from Dubai to Muscat, but sometimes rounding a mountain bend the road suddenly disappeared and you found your self descending rubble to cross a creek and scrabbling back up the other side to the road again. But Toyotas were tough!
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23rd March 2021, 11:51 PM
#3
Re: Late pay/ No pay
#2. Joke.. when you retired from your Swiss employers Ivan , did they give you a watch. ? Or were they just cheapskates and said Watch how you go ? JS.
Last edited by j.sabourn; 23rd March 2021 at 11:53 PM.
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24th March 2021, 05:40 AM
#4
Re: Late pay/ No pay
Originally Posted by
j.sabourn
#2. Joke.. when you retired from your Swiss employers Ivan , did they give you a watch. ? Or were they just cheapskates and said Watch how you go ? JS.
No mate I think he got a Cuckoo Clock LOL
Happy daze John in Oz.
Life is too short to blend in.
John Strange R737787
World Traveller
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24th March 2021, 07:13 AM
#5
Re: Late pay/ No pay
As soon as Ivan gets up and has his pink gin he’s going to come back on that one and bring Swiss chocolates into the equation. JS
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24th March 2021, 09:22 AM
#6
Re: Late pay/ No pay
Originally Posted by
j.sabourn
#2. Joke.. when you retired from your Swiss employers Ivan , did they give you a watch. ? Or were they just cheapskates and said Watch how you go ? JS.
Alas no watch John, but the shipping company I worked for would probably have been better off making watches. The director who had been acting as Marine Supt for a number of years before I arrived had been a naval architect for Rhine barges and had no idea about deep sea ships/shipping and we had many run ins, luckily the owner was astute and we changed many things. The said director was Austrian and would have made a good stand in for that fella that disappeared in 1945.
Didn't get any chocolates either!
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24th March 2021, 11:11 AM
#7
Re: Late pay/ No pay
Ivan # 2 I think that the contract that I was on in Nigeria resigning was not a possibility as the costs involved were prohibitive eg. my airfare + replacements airfare visa costs +bribes etc. One other bonus of the job was that the Nigerian Government insisted that I and my fellow co-workers pay tax To get round this the owners of the ships paid us what they called black money which was an amount of Nigerian Naira after tax deductions. This used to be about 600 naira a month which was about £200 which was enough for toiletries, cigarettes etc and the occasional beer it also meant that all your salary was (Hopefully) banked. In fact I must be one of the few people in the country at the time that payed taxes which includes Nigerians !! The other thing that used to be a pain in the neck when getting paid was exchange rates, with fluctuations between the major currencies and bank charges especially in the 80's they could be expensive
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24th March 2021, 11:33 AM
#8
Re: Late pay/ No pay
Working for a Swiss company gave me the advantage of being able to have a Swiss Bank Account, and when I moved to Dubai I had my salary paid into that. Foolishly when I returned to the UK four years later I closed the Swiss Bank Account, on later reflection not one of my better decisions. In life you never stop learning!
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24th March 2021, 11:48 AM
#9
Re: Late pay/ No pay
Originally Posted by
Ivan Cloherty
Working for a Swiss company gave me the advantage of being able to have a Swiss Bank Account, and when I moved to Dubai I had my salary paid into that. Foolishly when I returned to the UK four years later I closed the Swiss Bank Account, on later reflection not one of my better decisions. In life you never stop learning!
Well ivan if you manage to earn more than you had expected it is of course a learning curve ....a swiss bank account would be a great asset .....the main cost i found as i earned more was a good accountant ...who although never broke the law ...new how to get the best returns for you within the law.....as is everyones right .....but investing for retirement is paramount and i guess we all needed the best advice on how to do this....regards cappy
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24th March 2021, 11:55 AM
#10
Re: Late pay/ No pay
#6 well they are a land locked country Ivan .I used to wonder how they managed to have their ships registered there . So assume they had to hire foreign expertise. Often also wonder if Hitler had won his war what would of happened to their neutrality. The bankers of Zurich must have also wondered. Cheers JS.
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