Captain joined KTO SUR members

Unfortunately, as it often the case, this was preceded by not the most pleasant events: the Russian captain of an offshore Iranian vessel faced difficulties on board - the crew members were not paid for several months, they suffered from lack of fresh water and crew change delays. Besides, in connection with this, the captain began to receive threats of physical violence from some members of the crew, mainly consisted of Indians.

At the end of April  the captain decided to seek help from representatives of the SUR  Kaliningrad Territorial Organization.

-Despite the fact that the vessel did not have an ongoing collective agreement, and the captain was not a member of our trade union, we decided to immediately provide assistance to seafarers, - Vladimir Sychev, the KRO SUR Inspector, said. – Together with the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) Inspector  in St. Petersburg, Kirill Pavlov, we managed to convince the shipowner to pay the crew wages, arrange fresh water supply and send the captain home to Kaliningrad.

Following that the captain  came to the office of the KTO and joined the SUR, which is an affiliated member of the ITF.

- I would like to remind you that the doors of our organization never closes, - Vladimir Sychev emphasized. – We try the best to help all seafarers, but qualified legal assistance, which is required quite often are provided to the SUR members only. So it is better to join the ranks of the trade union before going on a voyage, because, experience has proven that no one is immune to troubles:  neither new comers nor seafarers with extensive experience at sea. And a member of the SUR is a protected seafarer !

Source:  KTO SUR