Plaudits for man who recouped $1m in owed wages for international seafarers
Ken Fleming, the International Transport Federation’s (ITF) inspector in Ireland, was singled out at an international conference in Stockholm, Sweden, for his efforts to combat the exploitation and abuse of seafarers.
The Flags of Convenience conference “acknowledged and applauded the work of Ken Fleming and the co-operation of his affiliate union SIPTU, including the dock workers in Cork, for their combined efforts to establish a sustainable Flags of Convenience/Ports of Convenience campaign in Ireland”.
The special mention came as it emerged SIPTU is to escalate its campaign by achieving closer co-operation between shore-based workers and seafarers to combat what it described as the gross exploitation uncovered on many ships operating in Irish ports.
An ITF delegation is to visit Ireland shortly to see what lessons can be learnt for the wider trade union movement from the Irish experience. Ken Fleming said: “In the past three years, the Irish campaign has recovered over $1.1 million and we have repatriated over 100 seafarers in very difficult situations. No less than six vessels were arrested. In one case, the ship was sold because the owner simply used the port of New Ross to dump it, and its crew, rather than make good the debts he had run up over a period of months to creditors.”
He described the special resolution as “a great honour for me personally and more importantly it is an acknowledgement of the role SIPTU members have been playing in showing solidarity with seafarers”.
“Ship’s crews provide vital import-export services for our first world island economy, but are themselves expected to operate in third world conditions. We have also made considerable progress in co-ordinating our activities with Port State Control, but more remains to be done on all fronts,” said Mr Fleming.
