Union accuses shipping firm of paying crew €1.01 an hour

A VESSEL supplying one of the country’s leading supermarkets with much of its stock is to be exposed by a trade union for paying crew members as little as $1.31 (€1.01) per hour.

Ken Fleming of Ireland’s International Transport Workers Federation said the as yet unnamed shipping company is paying $1.31 per hour for carrying goods for one of the country’s leading retailers.

He said he has documentary proof from payslips of the massive underpaying of the crew members.

He intends to alert the supermarket chain to the situation and if they do not act, he will expose it before Christmas, he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Fleming was due to board a Latvian ship with a translator early this morning after receiving reports that its crew had not been paid for up to four months and were being treated “like prisoners” by their employers.

The Merchant Bravery with its crew of 20 was due to arrive in Dublin Port at 5am and Mr Fleming was to be there to meet it.

He was contacted by one crew member who said the workers on the Merchant Bravery are being treated like prisoners and have received no wages for the past four months.

The vessel is registered in the Bahamas and is Latvian-owned. It sails between Heysham in England and Dublin on regular basis.

While he is finding it hard to break down the language barrier with the eastern European crew, the information he has received is the workers are owed between €800 and €20,000.

“It is my intention to board the vessel after it docks in Dublin in the morning and to find out exactly what the crew members are being paid and to recover any outstanding monies due to those on board,” said Mr Fleming.

He admitted he was not sure what sort of reception he will receive from the ship’s senior crew members and said he was not ruling out the possibility of resistance.

Mr Fleming said one member who left the ship in the last few days was owed four months’ pay and three others, a fourth officer and two crew, are also owed considerable back pay.

“They are working 14-hour days, seven days a week,” he added.

“This vessel is not going to the likes of India. It is making twice daily trips between Dublin and Heysham.”

Poor conditions for staff in the shipping industry was exposed last year when a Filipino crew were stuck in Ireland over Christmas when their Dutch-registered ship, the Elwood, was detained by authorities after a safety inspection uncovered substandard conditions on board.

Another Filipino woman, Salvacion Y Ortenero Orge sparked a labour row when it emerged she was being paid just over €1 an hour to work on an Irish Ferries vessel as a beautician.

The woman is believed to have reached a €25,000 settlement with the ferry company.