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Ecuadorian presidential candidate forces crew off his banana ship at gunpoint
24 November 2006
The ITF has issued a strong condemnation of the authoritarian behaviour of Alvaro Noboa, the Ecuadorian banana king who is also a candidate in Sunday's presidential election after he ordered the forced removal, at gunpoint, of the Ecuadorian crew members on board the Bahamas-flagged Celtic Sea last Sunday in the port of Guayaquil.
The ship, together with others in the same fleet, has been operated under ITF acceptable agreements for over 10 years by a Belgian shipping company TVM, which has a good relationship with ITF's Belgian affiliate BTB.
When the forced removal of crew - who are members of the ITF affiliate UTDME and who had been involved in a legal strike - came to the ITF's attention, the Federation approached the Belgian company and asked for urgent talks with them. A meeting was arranged this week but was then cancelled at the last moment with the offer to meet instead next Monday after the presidential elections are over.
It is fairly clear that, like the instructions to remove the seafarers, the order to cancel the ITF meeting came from the vessel's true owner Transmabo, the company owned by Noboa. Seafarers on three other ships, currently at sea, also owned by the same company were told to expect the same fate.
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft commented: "Behaviour like this is not what we expect from an employer who respects workers' rights or who is concerned with democratic values. The ITF and its affiliates will take whatever action they can to restore normal industrial relations to these ships and to defend the interests of our Ecuadorian affiliate."
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