Treatment of Ukrainian Crew a national disgrace

The Mar­itime Union says that the treat­ment of a Ukrain­ian fish­ing crew in Lyt­tel­ton is a nation­al dis­grace and a prime exam­ple of the prob­lems plagu­ing the fish­ing indus­try.

The crew have been on strike for unpaid wages aboard the fish­ing ves­sel Malakhov Kur­gan which is laid up in the Port of Lyt­tel­ton.

Eight crew mem­bers remain on strike aboard after refus­ing a deal that 19 of their fel­low crew mem­bers accept­ed.

Mar­itime Union Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Trevor Han­son says the crew have asked for the Union to rep­re­sent them, as they are employ­ees of a state-owned Ukrain­ian fish­ing com­pa­ny work­ing in a joint ven­ture with New Zealand com­pa­ny Unit­ed Fish­eries.

Mr Han­son says the Union is unhap­py about medi­a­tion that occurred between the Depart­ment of Labour and the crew.

“There seems to be a approach of divide and rule, and an inten­tion of qui­et­ly get­ting the crew out of the coun­try before fur­ther ques­tions are asked about their employ­ment con­di­tions.”

Mr Han­son says the Mar­itime Union is con­cerned that the crew mem­bers who accept­ed the deal did because of pres­sure com­ing from their employ­ers in the Ukraine.

“The Mar­itime Union has writ­ten evi­dence from the crew that shows these work­ers have been put under pres­sure from their Ukrain­ian employ­ers, and we are ask­ing for evi­dence that all work­ers aboard the Malakhov Kur­gan have been paid the min­i­mum wage for their work while in New Zealand waters.”

Mr Han­son says the the Union has run out of patience with the fish­ing indus­try.

He says the Depart­ment of Labour has dis­trib­uted mul­ti­lin­gual leaflets to over­seas fish­ing ves­sel crews telling them they are enti­tled to the same work­ing con­di­tions as New Zealan­ders.

“We are of the opin­ion that the Depart­ment of Labour should be fol­low­ing up their leaflets and enforc­ing the law with regard to this group of work­ers.”

Mr Han­son says the New Zealand Gov­ern­ment must ensure that the work­ers are not vic­tim­ized when they return home, and says the solu­tion is for prop­er employ­ment agree­ments under New Zealand law to be signed by all fish­ing crew before they arrive in New Zealand waters.