Cadet rights will be respected on board m/v GT Star

Labor inspectors of the Kaliningrad Territorial Organization of the Seafarers Union of Russia visited two vessels: Federica (IMO 9612313, flag of the Bahamas) and GT Star (IMO 9485849, flag of the Philippines) moored in the port of Kaliningrad. The crews of both vessels are manned by Filipinos who work under ITF collective agreements. The things are really good on the first vessel but violations on the second were revealed.

According to Lyudmila Izmalkova, labor inspector of the KTO SUR, in 2019 the vessel Federica underwent a complete «rebranding» when the owner, flag, name of the vessel and collective agreement changed. The seafarers said that they have no problems and happy with the working conditions. Since the m / v Federica has been idle for more than a week the crew found out where the Seafarers Club is located in the city as well as the Catholic sea mission Stella Maris. Lyudmila Izmalkova added that the vessel is covered by the ITF collective agreement which was signed by the Greek Union of Seafarers (PNO) and the shipping company from Piraeus (Greece).

Another inspector, Petr Dzendzelyuk, visited the GT Star. In his report he noted that in general the working conditions on board are in order, there were no complaints from the crew. But while checking the documents it turned out that there were cadets on board who were supposed to work 40 hours a week but as per ship log in December the guys worked for 12-13 hours a day. This is a serious violation of their rights as well as the ITF collective agreement.

«Besides the overtime rate was not provided for cadets, said Petr Dzendzelyuk. Another interesting detail is that all of cadets are more than 21 years old. According to the terms of the collective agreement the base rate for such a cadet must be no less than that of AB. In fact it’s only $ 250».

The inspector told the four cadets about this and also drew the attention of the captain. According to the latter when the vessel was inspected in Antwerp PSC inspectors were also at a loss for the working conditions of the cadets.

As a result the captain placed an announcement on the information board that all cadets on board should work 4 hours a day and study 4 hours a day. Thus their five-day work week will now stand for 40 hours.