Abandoned seafarers win compensation for non-payment of wages

4 June 2009

Seafarers who were left stranded on board a vessel in Morocco for three years have finally won compensation.

The four Ukrainian seafarers have been fighting for back wages owed to them by the owner of the vessel Baltiyskiy-21. The vessel and its crew were abandoned in the Moroccan port of Casablanca in 2006. Tar-Trans Co, the owner of the Russian-flagged vessel, and Ran Denizcilik, the shipping managers, left the crew without amenities or pay.

The ports’ union in Morocco, Syndicate Nationale des Dockers du Maroc, a member of the ITF-affiliated UMT federation, which has been meeting the seafarers’ daily expenses, also covered legal costs so that the matter could be taken to court. Following the intervention of the port authorities and the Ukrainian embassy in Morocco, the court ruled that the seafarers should receive compensation totalling US$251,000 in differing amounts to each of the four; the seafarers have agreed to split the sum equally between them.

Said El Hairech, head of the union, commented: “In response to the court decision on the urgent implementation of the award, we are now working with the lawyer to help speed up procedures to put the ship to auction. This will ensure the seafarers are paid as soon as possible as outlined in the court verdict.”

The union has in the meantime offered to cover the cost of the seafarers’ flight home to the Ukraine on 7 June 2009 and to provide them with pocket money during their trip.

Bilal Malkawi, ITF Arab World Office commented: "This union always provides solidarity to seafarers and supports the ITF’s goals. The union members collected money for more than three years to make the seafarers’ lives reasonable; now they are collecting money to buy them air tickets to enable them to go home. This is the real meaning of globalising solidarity.”

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