Maritime Union helps Burmese crew on Annapurna

The Mar­itime Union says it is help­ing the Burmese crew from the seized ves­sel Anna­pur­na in the Ports of Auck­land.

The Liber­ian-flagged Anna­pur­na was seized yes­ter­day by cred­i­tors after it berthed in Auck­land, fol­low­ing the bank­rupt­cy of its own­ers East­wind.

Mar­itime Union Auck­land Sea­far­ers Branch Sec­re­tary Gar­ry Parsloe, who rep­re­sents the Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers Fed­er­a­tion, says the pri­ma­ry con­cern of the Union is that crew mem­bers are paid their wages.

He says the Union is ensur­ing that the inter­ests of the 23 Burmese crew mem­bers are looked after.

He says pro­vi­sions for the crew have been sup­plied as well as tele­phones, as some of the crew had not spo­ken to their fam­i­lies at home in months.

Mr Parsloe says he has an under­tak­ing from the agents that a pay­ment would be made to crew to assist them in the mean­time.

He says some of the crew mem­bers had not been paid for up to a year.

Mr Parsloe says he was pleased to hear rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the cred­i­tors had indi­cat­ed that crew wages would be at the top of the list to be paid once the ship had been sold.

He says the crew will either be repa­tri­at­ed with their wages or may be re-employed by a new own­er of the ves­sel, which was their deci­sion.

Mr Parsloe says there are often prob­lems with “flag of con­ve­nience” ships and the treat­ment of their crew around the world.

ENDS

For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Mar­itime Union Auck­land Sea­far­ers Branch Sec­re­tary Gar­ry Parsloe on 021326261