Come to the trade union for assistance

The Baltic Territorial Organization of the Seafarers' Union of Russia successfully implements social support programs for seafarers-members of the union on shore. For example, it partially covers the costs of wellness vacation, sports activities, and the purchase of sweet gifts for the children of seafarers. Besides, SUR BTO is engaged in purchase and supply leisure and sports equipment for vessels flying the Russian flag. 

A special attention in this system is given to provision of legal advice. People come to SUR BTO for advice on different matters like pension legislation, wages, taxation, disciplinary liability, and repatriation. 

Hard real-life situations stand apart. The lawyers of SUR BTO experienced a case in which the widow of a seafarer with no hope of addressing her issue turned to the union. 

Her husband died abroad on a voyage. In Russia, the woman received an funerary urn and a death  reference, certified by the Russian consulate in the country where the incident occurred. However, the document did not indicate the seafarer's patronymic, and an error in spelling his surname was made. Naturally, the civil registry office refused to issue the widow a death certificate of a standard form, and the passport office was unable to consider the person dead. As it turned out, such certificates cannot be altered or corrected. As a result, the SUR BTO lawyers applied to court for establishing  a juridical fact - that the certificate was actually issued in relation to a specific person. The court even brought witnesses in the case: to confirm that the woman's husband died on the voyage, that he had a patronymic, and his surname had different spelling. Eventually, the fact of the seafarer's death was legally acknowledged.

This is a real example of work of the SUR BTO lawyers to provide specific assistance.

Based on materials from SUR BTO