FETO SUR assisted seafarers to recover more than $160,000

This is the main outcome of the work of the organization for the first six months of 2022.

During this period the Far East Territorial Organization of the Seafarers’ Union of Russia received four appeals from crews and 12 individual requests for assistance. The amount of the returned to seafarers money   is unpaid wages and compensations in connection with injuries and deaths of workers.   Chairman of the FETO SUR Nikolay Sukhanov emphasizes that the number of appeals concerning back wages dropped sharply in the first half of the year. Nevertheless the number of complains about overdue repatriation  increased for the same period.  “Surely, this is  caused by a significant reduction in flights to Russia from abroad. For example, currently there is no air communication with Japan and South Korea. Of course,  it makes crew change in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region extremely difficult”, -  he explained. 

An important role in the work of the FETO SUR is played by the agreement on cooperation with the Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office as  it allows  to address promptly  issues that seafarers confront during their  voyages.  For example, at the request of the trade union organization, the transport departments of the Far East of Russia organized several inspections of shipping companies regarding the implementation of Art. 60, paragraph 2 of the Merchant Shipping Code, which obliges employers to insure the life and health of seafarers while working on ships. In addition, an audit was carried out regarding the insurance of seafarers by  insurance companies in accordance with the requirements of the Maritime Labor Convention. “As we know, the federal law regulating legal relations in the field of life and health insurance of crew members of seagoing vessels has not been adopted; that means special requirements for insurance organizations, including those which concern  recipients of death compensation, the procedure for calculating and the amount of minimum payments are not stipulated. In this regard it is planned to make proposals on improving legislation in the field of seafarers’ insurance”, - Nikolay Sukhanov added.

It is impossible not to mention that thanks to the assistance of the FETO SUR  the crews of two Chinese vessels -  Rise Shine and Xing Yuan - stranded near the ports of Nakhodka and Kholmsk returned safely to their homeland. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions expressed its deep gratitude to  SUR for providing assistance to Chinese seafarers  who had got into  trouble due to bad weather.

Also, Nikolay Sukhanov noted that  negotiations with foreign shipowners during the first half of the year showed that there would  be no mass refusal of employment of  Russian seafarers, their jobs would be kept. “We hope that over time the situation will improve and the Russian seafarers will only strengthen their positions in the fleet. After all, our seafarers are highly qualified specialists who have always been highly valued in the maritime labor market,” he highlighted.

According to him,  at least six thousand seafarers from Far East Region are employed  on foreign  vessels at present.

Despite it’s  effective performance,  the FETO SUR faced the issue with getting the port entry passes needed to visit vessels calling at Nakhodka and Vostochniy ports. It turned to be quite challenging to get these passes.

“It took us about two months to get 25 port entry passes. Thus, we have to turn to the authorities once more and ask  to simplify this process” -  Sukhanov told. 

Albeit with a long wait, but the inspectors received the necessary documents and as a result visited 35 ships under the flag of convenience and the Russian flag in the ports of Nakhodka and Vostochny.

“We sent 33 notices to shipowners with a proposal to sign collective agreements with the International Transport Workers' Federation and thereby provide the crews working on board the vessels not covered with an ITF agreement with protection and the right to safe and well-paid work,” -  Sukhanov noted.

Besides, to force shipowners to negotiate with unions the protest actions against the flag of convenience system were held on board the vessels where seafarers' rights were violated. Just last week, after such an action  by the crew of the m/v VF Glory and  receiving a notice from the  FETO SUR, the shipping company agreed to conclude an ITF collective agreement and authorized  the captain to sign the agreement  with the trade union.

In the photo: the staff of the FETO SUR