Day: 14 March 2009

Maritime Union wants answers on Indonesian shipjumpers

The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand and Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers’ Fed­er­a­tion (ITF) are inves­ti­gat­ing a shipjump­ing inci­dent in Dunedin where nine Indone­sian sea­far­ers left the fish­ing trawler Mar­inui on Fri­day 10 March.

ITF New Zealand co-ordi­na­tor Kathy Whe­lan says the Union has been in touch with the Min­istry of Immi­gra­tion about the case, and ITF rep­re­sen­ta­tives will try to speak to the fish­er­men at Auck­land Air­port before they are sent home tomor­row.

She says she is extreme­ly con­cerned about the increas­ing num­bers of for­eign sea­far­ers leav­ing their ves­sels in New Zealand ports, in this case claim­ing they were sub­ject­ed to 24 hour shifts with no breaks, two hour sleep breaks, and phys­i­cal abuse.