03.06.2021

The prosecutor's office has obtained from the company Ardis repayment of debts to the seafarers

Last year, a prosecutor's check found that the shipowner did not pay the wages of 50 crewmembers who served on board the company's ships in 2018-2020. The money was only partially transferred to them. It came to the point that the total amount owed to the crewmembers exceeded 2 million rubles. The other day, the Primorsky Transport Prosecutor's Office reported that Ardis finally paid them what was due.

It should be noted that earlier the agency initiated cases of administrative offenses under Part 7 of Article 5.27 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for punishment for repeated non-payment or incomplete payment of wages within the established period. The perpetrators paid fines. To restore the violated rights of seafarers, the transport prosecutor made representations to the head of the company. The shipowner transferred the unpaid funds to the employees several times until the debt was fully reimbursed. It’s worth to mention that Ardis is very unpunctual to the issue of salary payment and the representatives of the SUR had to deal with the seafarers’ request.  So, in 2019, the Far Eastern territorial organization of the Seafarers Union of Russia (FETO SUR) was contacted by the captain, who from February to July 2017 served on board the m/v Stas. Despite the fact that he had the decision of the Frunzensky District Court of the city of Vladivostok of October 12, 2017 on the payment of salary arrears in the amount of more than $15 thousand, it was of little use. The reason was that the shipowner deliberately created a complicated scheme in which it is extremely difficult for a crewmember to obtain compensation through national legislation. So, when a seafarer wanted to get a job on a ship of the company Ardis he was sent to the crewing agency Interfos, which allegedly carried out the employment of crewmembers on ships under a foreign flag. At the crewing agency, he was offered to sign an employment contract with the Cyprus company Cotris Limited, which had a bareboat charter on the ship. Interfos gave the seafarer to sign the form of the employment contract, which was already signed by the Cypriot side, and in the contract for the provision of employment services indicated that the crewing is not responsible for the payment of wages. After the completion of the contract, the seafarer was not paid, and the Ardis shipping company only issued him a certificate of debt and offered to contact Cotris Limited. Instead, the seafarer went to court, which decided that this Cyprus company should repay the debt to him. However, there was, in fact, no one to present it. The seafarer managed to get a salary only in December 2020, three years after the court's decision, when it was finally possible to find the true owners of the ship and oblige them to fulfill their obligations. Nikolay Sukhanov, Chairman of the FETO SUR, noted that in such conditions, when it is almost impossible to find the ends, the captain, we can say, was lucky. It should be noted that on the Internet you can also find not flattering comments from the crewmembers served for Ardis. So, one of the users who claims that he was employed in the company from 2016 to 2017, wrote: «When applying for a job, they promised 20 thousand rubles and 2100 dollars a month with a delay in the payment of the dollar component per month. In fact, it turned out to be 16 thousand rubles a month and no dollars. They come up with various excuses, then holidays, then force majeure, then be patient. Everything is done to ensure that the deceived seafarer works as long as possible, and then they say- well, what are you doing here, demanding something, we have no money, and do not interfere with our work at all.» The Seafarers Union of Russia encourages crewmembers to learn as much as possible in advance about the companies in which they are going to be employed. Due to a lack of awareness, everyone can find themselves in a similar situation. You can find out more about the employer through the SUR, as representatives of the union will be happy to share the information they have.

The source: SUR FETO press relation service 


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