The second issue of the Maritime Union’s Herald: the pressure of employers on trade unions continues

This is, in particular, one of the key texts of the new issue of the Maritime Union’s Herald –«Safety knowledge assessment as a way to pressure the trade union. » It is about what sophisticated methods employers sometimes use to reduce the number and the influence of employee associations. This was faced by the primary trade union organization of dockers of JSC «Seaport of Tuapse» of the Dockers Union of Russia. One of the ways to put pressure on its members was a biased attitude during the annual safety knowledge assessment, after which active representatives of union are suspended from work without pay. However, if the worker leaves the ranks of the trade union, all problems can magically disappear.

The focus is also on the draft federal law, in case of adoption of which companies, engaged in the employment of seafarers abroad, will be accredited instead of licensing. To date, the regulation of this sphere in Russia is ambiguous: despite the fact that the Maritime Labor Convention does not separate the requirements for regulating the activities of private recruitment and employment services for seafarers, depending on the nationality of the vessel, it exists in two forms in Russian legislation. One concerns the employment of Russians outside the country, and the second concerns the employment of Russian citizens, foreigners and stateless persons to work as part of the crews of ships under the Russian flag.

The SUR is generally positive about the proposed regulation, however, the trade union believes that the system of accreditation should be extended not only to the employment of seafarers on ships under a foreign flag, as the bill suggests, but also to ships flying the flag of the Russian Federation. In the article «I did not know that the trade union has such power» we are telling about the sensational story of the m/v Millennial Spirit, which came under rocket fire in the neutral waters of the Black Sea on February 25, 2022. The crewmembers-the Ch. Officer and the cadet – personally shared the details of their rescue from the burning ship and repartition. They were assisted by the Seafarers Union of Russia, for which the seafarers, who got into a difficult situation, sincerely thanked the SUR.

In addition, an important event was held in March – the congress of the Interregional Trade Union of Pilots. Specialists working in Russian ports summed up the results of work for 2018-2021, discussed existing problems and the situation on the ground, defined goals for the next four years and selected the governing bodies of the trade union. Read more about this in the article «Getting rid of competition in pilotage».

The text «Fatigue: the results of investigations do not reflect the scale of the problem» refers to the frequent companion of seafarers and an important factor in many maritime accidents. Among the topics raised are the main causes of fatigue and the ways available to crewmembers to resist it. 

The history of an important Far Eastern port is in the article «Yeltsin drunk kvass on Svetlanskaya Street and opened Vladivostok. » For 40 years the city was closed and even people from other settlements of the USSR could not get into it without special permission, but this isolation was ostensible as many residents of the city, for example seafarers, could see not only the Soviet Union, but the whole world. You can read about this and much more in the latest issue of the Maritime Union’s Herald magazine, the electronic version of which is available here.