Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
The Malaysian ITF affiliates identified M.V. Marlalabria and M.V. Safmarine Pantanal when its volunteers conducted a five-day Flag of Convenience (FOC) campaign recently.
<P>The ships have been paying their Indonesian crew
wages very much lower than the ITF agreement….A. BALASUBRAMANIAM<BR>The campaign
was part of a worldwide exercise to ensure shipowners take necessary steps on
safe working environment and reasonable wages. </P><P>According to Union of Employees
of Port Ancillary Services Supplier (Unepass) secretary A. Balasubramaniam the
captains of the two vessels refused to show any documents pertaining to their
crewmembers to the volunteers. </P><P>“Both the vessels are heading for Mumbai
and we have notified our ITF affiliates there to take necessary actions. </P><P>“They
will go on board and inspect the vessels. If non-compliance is identified, we
will try to pressure the respective shipowners and captains to sign a collective
agreement with ITF that ensures fair treatment to seafarers. </P><P>“If not,
ITF will impose actions like work-to-rule to ensure crewmen are treated justly
in terms of safety on board, working environment and wages, “ he said. </P><P>Balasubramaniam
said Unepass had also informed the ITF office in Tokyo to monitor the vessels
and to take appropriate action against it for being uncooperative and hiding documents
from inspection. </P><P>He said the two vessels would be blacklisted at the next
port of call. </P><P>“The ships did not have any agreements and have been
paying their Indonesian crew wages very much lower than the ITF agreement. </P><P>“Three
other vessels were found to have breached the guideline with regard to the treatment
of sailors, environment and cleanliness and they have been warned to comply with
the procedures or will face action. </P><P>“What is clear from the campaign
is that shipowners who have not signed an agreement with ITF failed to pay decent
wage, accord basic facilities and follow safety measures. </P><P>“Some shipowners
are still resisting a minimum wage for seafarers and through this campaign we
hope to be able to expose bad cases of exploitation,” he said. </P><P>Nevertheless,
during the campaign the Malaysian ITF affiliates found that most of the ships
had been complying with the ITF guidelines, regulations and recommendations of
the ILO satisfactorily well. </P><P>“Compared to last year’s campaign,
there was a drastic reduction in non compliance of the maritime regulations by
ship owners. </P><P>“The annual campaign has helped to reduce accidents and
eliminate exploitative conditions on ships,” he said. </P><P>The inspections
were carried out at Port Klang and Penang Port. </P><P>Assisting in the inspections
were 15 volunteers from four local port unions from Northport (M) Berhad Staff
Union, National Union of Malaysian Seafarers, Penang Port Workers Union and Union
of Employed of Port Ancillary Services Supplier Port.</P><P><I>Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/1/8/maritime/16429179&sec=maritime</I>
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