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ITF assists starving seafarers on board “floating sweatshop” in Australian waters
11 February 2010
The ITF has come to the assistance of seafarers who were forced to fish to make up for depleted food stores on board a vessel berthed in a south Australian port.
Not only did the 22 Chinese crewmembers on the Hong-Kong registered bulk carrier Tien Hau have to fish for their supper, but they were also still owed AUS$47,000 (US$42,000) in back pay. The Tien Hau was loading wheat in the port of Wallaroo last week.
ITF assistant coordinator in Australia, Matt Purcell, who came to the assistance of the seafarers, commented: "The 14 year old vessel is a floating sweatshop. It has not been paying the Chinese crew on board in compliance with the ITF national agreement, the crew's amenities are in a disgraceful state and food stocks are so low in the galley the crew have been fishing at the berth to supplement their diet."
Before it left the port, bound for Papua New Guinea, food stores on board were replenished and Fenwick Shipping, the vessel’s operator, promised to improve conditions. Back pay, however, was still owed, said Purcell.
The ITF, he said, would hold the operator to its promises; it would check on the seafarers once the Tien Hau returned to Australia and take any necessary steps to ensure that they received the money they were owed.
The crew's conditions, Purcell concluded, were "some of the most disgraceful I’ve ever seen.”
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