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SEAFARERS' UNION OF RUSSIA
A NON-UNIONIZED SEAFARER
IS AN UNPROTECTED SEAFARER
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During the latest inspection of the Far Eastern Territorial Organization of the Seafarers' Union of Russia it has been revealed that the above requirement is not met on board the chemical tanker "Andrey Pervozvanny" under the Russian flag (IMO 9255268, 2003 built). Thus, the employment agreements of crew members do not specify the insurance indemnity amount in case of injury or death. The seafarers were not informed about that amount verbally, either.
- This is in contrary to the law: so, the Model format for seafarer employment agreement concluded between an employer (shipowner) and an employee (seafarer) for work on board ships flying the Russian flag, approved by Ministry of Labor Order No. 23N dated January 20, 2015, includes the obligation of the employer to insure, among others, the life and health of a seafarer for the period of the performance of his labor duties, which corresponds to Article 60 of the Merchant Shipping Code , - FETO SUR Chairman Nikolay Sukhanov explained. - Shipowners often evade this requirement, but their reference to the fact that all seafarers are insured by the Social Fund of Russia does not relieve them of the obligation to insure the life and health of their employees.
FETO SUR representatives told the seafarers that their organization had applied to the General Prosecutor's Office with a request to address this issue with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. According to FETO, the main problem is that the legislation does not set out the amount for which a shipowner must insure a seafarer, as well as the procedure of that compensation payment to relatives in the event of a seafarer's death.
- As some issues concerning insurance yet to be settled, we recommend seafarers, when applying for being employed at shipping companies, require a shipowner to specify in the employment agreement the insurance compensation amount to relatives in case of seafarer's death, - FETO SUR Chairman added. – In addition, we have urged crew members who are not yet the members of our union to join it and come out for the conclusion of a collective agreement with SUR, which mandatory provides for insurance payments in case of death of an employee.
It should be noted that the registered owner of the chemical tanker "Andrey Pervozvanny" is a Moscow-based Agrotek-TM LLC , the operator is Valkur LLC (Vladivostok). The crew consists of 18 Russian seafarers, most of which are the residents of Primorsky Region. The salary of an AB Seaman is RUB76,000 or more than USD950, the salary of a captain is RUB288,000 or about USD3,700. The vessel was at Nakhodka Port under loading of oil products destined for Busan, South Korea.
The captain welcomed the union representatives on board, invited them to have lunch and assess the food quality. Before åðó FETO Inspectors leave the vessel, they handed over to the crew the journals “Maritime Unions Herald” and the books “Escape from Busan” about åðó FETO SUR activity on protection of seafarers' rights.
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