The crew of the fishing vessel "Argo" thanked the trade union for their help

Earlier, in the first half of this March, the crew appealed to the  Far Eastern Territorial Organization of the Seafarers’ Union of Russia

(FETO SUR) with complaints about non-payment of wages. At that time the vessel was under repair in the South Korean port of Busan, but since January 1, due to financial difficulties, the repairs were suspended, and 8 crew members could not leave the ship for four months.

According to the crew members, they joined  the  medium fishing freezer trawler "Argo", owned by Pride LLC, in  Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on November 12, 2022. The troubles with wage payment began very soon: the seafarers received their first salary only after three months of work on board. They were paid the November salary only for three days of work, the December and January salaries they received in full, as for the February and March salaries the seafarers received  promises  instead of money. In addition, the crew has not been paid subsistence allowance since February 11, and the Ship Supply Specialist borrowed money from the crew and did not return it. The seafarers did not want to risk being left without a salary, so they asked the trade union to help them to get their money.

Having learned about the problems on board, the representatives of the FETO SUR first of all contacted the Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office, which instructed the Sakhalin Transport Prosecutor's Office to address this issue. Representatives of the Sakhalin Transport Prosecutor's Office started to verify the situation from a visit to the office of the shipping company. This had an effect: food was delivered on board, employment agreements  were brought, which seafarers had  not seen before, moreover, the seafarers were asked to sign the agreements retroactively. To date, the company has already paid the crew all wages and subsistence allowance. The seafarers sincerely thanked the FETO SUR representatives, in particular, its Chairman Nikolay Sukhanov, for their help.

It should be noted that the captain of the vessel, a member of the Seafarers' Union of Russia, has applied for help to the FETO SUR for the second time. The first time Vasily Afanasyevich Popil contacted the FETO SUR on July 2021. He was concerned  about  the fact that the Far East Shipping Management – operated vessel "Pacifica" had been detained at Busan due to non-payment of debt for repairs. At the time of the appeal, the captain and the Fourth Engineer were remaining on board had not received wages for six and a half months, besides, the shipowner had stopped supplying vessel with food. 

Immediately after receiving the SOS signal from South Korea, the FETO SUR informed the Russian Consulate General in Busan and the International Transport Workers' Federation. The ITF representatives in South Korea helped the captain to draw up and forward documents to the court, where the company was ordered to pay the seafarers the debt.

Vasily Popil has been at sea for many years, he is a former captain of the Far Eastern Shipping Company, an honorary polar explorer who participated in expeditions to Antarctica five times. Now he is 77 years old. He started his sea career with work in FESCO in 1971, right after graduating from the Odessa Naval School. Then the seafarer  graduated, by correspondence,  the Odessa Higher Marine Engineering School. The last ship under command of Captain Popil in the FESCO was the ship "Kapitan Gotsky".