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