Meetings with crews are a core part of SUR's activity

Visits of representatives of  the Seafarers' Union of  Russia to the “Sovcomflot” division in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk are becoming a good tradition. Thus, from August 3 to 5, 2022, Igor Kovalchuk, SUR First Vice Chairman,  and Valeriy Berezinskii, Chairman of the SUR Pacific Regional Organization, met with its head, Konstantin Dudarev. Together  they visited the vessels “Aleksey Chirikov” and “SCF Enterprise” and talked to the crews.

They told the seafarers  about the work of the Primary Pacific  Regional Organization of  SUR and the trade union as a whole: they paid special attention to issues emerged  during the pandemic and in connection with the sanctions and exchanged views on their overcoming. In turn, the crews shared their concerns  with representatives of the trade union: the seafarers worried about  the accrual of a pension qualifying period  under the current wage system and the ways of paying for travel to the western regions of the country.

The issue of wage  transparency was also raised. As Igor Kovalchuk explained, seafarers do not understand how wages are calculated.

-At the same time, the Maritime Labor Convention requires  the seafarer's employment agreement  to specify  components the salary consists of  and the calculation  formula used,” he explained. - However,  the crew's  employment agreements  lack both of these.

The SUR took this detail under control. Igor Kovalchuk said that the trade union can , for example, offer the company to add to the collective agreement some clarifcations regarding payroll accounting .

The problems concerning a pension were difficult either. The issue of concern is the time between voyages that seafarers stay on shore  is not included in their pension qualifying period, that makes sense. Russian legislation on this matter is very clear: the only period of employment when the contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation have been made are included into a pension qualifying period.

This means that seafarers may face problems while retiring: SCF's policy is that ratings over 60 years of age are not allowed to work on vessels, and the age of officers should not exceed 65 years. Upon reaching this age  the seafarers of the company simply may not gain the necessary leng of service.

-Perhaps, the most valuable for us during the meetings with the crews were their proposals  regarding the development of a new collective agreement, especially the section on wages,” said Valeriy Berezinskii. – We absolutely understand the aspirations regarding collective agreement. We will examine the views, comments and initiatives expressed by seafarers and take them into account while preparing for  collective bargaining negotiations.

It should be noted that  it is very important for any SUR Primary Organization to stay in touch with seafarers. This implies not only visiting the crews on board ships. The trade union organizations implement a social program to renew and replenish vessels'  gyms with sport's equipment and simulators, to improve telecommunications equipment for high-quality reception of television programs and Wi-Fi signals. Thus, in just seven months of this year the SUR Pacific Regional Organization  purchased sports equipment worth almost half a million rubles for SCF ships and provided financial assistance to seafarers in the amount of RUB1.4 million.

-Feedback from the  trade union members is of great importance for our work: without it  we just won’t know about any problems, so we won’t be able to help, - Valeriy Berezinskii stressed. Also, he emphasized  that Irina Ri, the authorized representative of the organization, provides great assistance in the work of the SUR Pacific Regional Organization  in Sakhalin.

We add that this is not the first such meeting on Sakhalin. Thus, in August 2018, Igor Kovalchuk and Valeriy Berezinskii met with seafarers working on board Sovcomflot's supply vessels engaged in offshore energy projects, and also visited the m/v “Vitus Bering”  to learn first-hand about the working life of  its  crew. By the way, they had no complaints on the onboard conditions: the crew members  were satisfied with the food, living conditions on board, the level of wages, and also were provided with  necessary workwear.