Signed off crew members of M/V «Sea Alexa» ask for help

Seven  crew members of the M/V “Sea Alexa” (flag of Tanzania) have come back  home from South Korea. Whether they will receive the promised wages in the amount of $35,000 is unknown, but the Far Eastern Transport Investigation Devision of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has already joined the settlement of this  labor dispute.

The M/V “Sea Alexa” became notorious when six crew members contacted the SUR for assistance in obtaining wages and on repatriation from the port of Busan (South Korea). Following the intervention of the trade union, the seafarers received their backwages and were able to return to Russia. Other members of the crew agreed to stay on board and wait for the flight to Vladivostok, they hoped to receive the owed money on arrival to Russia.

Today it became known that the vessel was sold by representatives of the company "Morkonservis" to another owner – Vladivostok-based "Vector-K". Nikolay Sukhanov, the Chairman of the Far Eastern Territorial Organization of the Seafarers' Union of Russia (SUR FETO)  said that representatives of the International Transport Workers’ Federation in Busan  warned the seafarers not to sign off the vessel until the debt is paid, but they believed the employer who  promised them to pay off the debt upon the arrival at home, so they left the vessel.

Upon return to Vladivostok, the seafarers held a meeting with a new owner of the “Sea Alexa”- the company  “Vector-K”. The crew members which signed off the vessel earlier, also attended the meeting, they sent an appeal to the Investigation Committee complaining about the non-payment of wages in the amount of about $52 000.

During the negotiations, the new shipowner told the seafarers  that he didn't intend to pay the debts and advise  them to contact the former owner of the ship, the company “Morkonservice”. In light of this, the crew members turned to the representatives of the Far Eastern Transport Investigation Devision of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and asked for assistance.

At present, the Investigation Committee is verifying the situation upon the complaint received from the seafarers. According to Nikolay Sukhanov, the core of the  problem is that the seafarers  before set off to the vessel,  signed employment agreement with a foreign company though their employer was the  company Morkonservis. So  now it is a big problem to recover their back wages.