Putting a figure to the appalling treatment of seafarers by shipowners, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has revealed that more than $37 million in unpaid wages owed to seafarers was recovered last year.
The ITF’s 125 inspectors and coordinators completed 7 265 inspections in 2021 to support thousands of seafarers with wage claims and repatriation cases, despite Covid-19 restrictions preventing them from boarding ships for much of the year.
Inspectors are trained to look for exploitation and overwork – even for signs of forced labour and modern slavery. On many vessels, inspectors have the right to examine wage accounts and employment contracts, and to review recorded hours of work and rest.
“It’s not uncommon for crew to be paid at the wrong rate by a shipowner, or less than the rate set out in the employment agreement covering the ship,” said Steve Trowsdale, the ITF’s inspectorate coordinator.
“Crew can generally work out when they’re being underpaid. And that’s when they contact us. ITF inspectors help seafarers recover what’s owed to them.”
Trowsdale said seafarers were increasingly reporting non-payment of wages for periods of two months or longer, which meets the ILO’s definition of abandonment.
“Seafarers might think it’s normal to go unpaid for a couple of months, waiting for a shipowner to sort out financing, but they need to be aware that non-payment can also be a sign that a shipowner is about to cut them loose and leave them abandoned.”
The ITF reported 85 cases of abandonment to the International Labour Organization (ILO) last year, a historic high. In many of those cases, abandoned crew had already been waiting for several weeks or months of unpaid wages – including those aboard the storm-hit Lidia.
ITF inspector based in Hong Kong, Jason Lam, helped eight Burmese seafarers who were crewing the Lidia recover almost $30 000 in unpaid wages after they ran aground in October 2021, thanks to a typhoon that left them close to shipwrecked. The shipowner refused to pay the two months’ wages he owed them, abandoning them and ruling out any assistance to get them home.
Weeks of campaigning by Lam on behalf of the seafarers had an impact, and on November 2, 2021, the crew flew home – full wages in hand.
“There is evidence that some shipowners were using Covid-19 as an excuse to keep seafarers working beyond their initial contracts and in complete violation of those seafarers’ human and labour rights,” said Trowsdale.
“Keeping crew onboard while pretending their hands were tied may have saved those employers a few dollars in flight fares, but in today’s society that kind of conduct gets noticed. There are no shadows to hide in anymore when it comes to global supply chain accountability,” he said.
