There is still no any collective agreement on board M/V "Crystal Jade"

Today the representatives of the Far Eastern Territorial  Organization of the Seafarers' Union of Russia (SUR) have visited the ship and found out that since the last inspection in early February 2018 there were hardly any changes with the vessel: there is no any collective agreement on board, the captain refuses to show seafarers'  individual contracts and insurance certificates, and crew members do not voice the size of their salaries.

Last time the notice had been sent to the shipowner,  and  Fusao Ohori, ITF Coordinator in Japan,  entered into negotiations with the shipowner Mitsui OSK Kinkai Ltd and the ship management company  Cosmo Sealand Co Ltd. Unfortunately the negotiations  resulted in nothing. Then the notice was sent to the ship management company once more, and Nikolai Sukhanov, Chairman of the SUR FETO, contacted Fusao Ohori to discuss the situation.

According to the ITF Coordinator in Japan, the company is reluctant to negotiate with the All Japan Seamen's Union (JSU) on the matter of signing a collective agreement, but the trade union experts will continue their efforts to argue the shipowner in  the necessity of such agreement. However, this will take time.

- The ship is flying the  Panama's  flag of convenience , and the shipowner violates the crew members' rights: by preventing seafarers from communicating with ITF representatives the shipowner  deprives them of the opportunity to become members of a trade union, -  Nikolai Sukhanov said. - Therefore, we decided to bring pressure on the shipowner. We have contacted the Harbour Master of port Nakhodka and now are going to make  a joint inspection  of the “Crystal Jade”. I believe we should do our best  to protect the crew members from the shipowner who constantly violates the rights of seafarers working on board the flag-of-convenience vessel.