Media Roundup

Fairplay: "Cardiff Marine, the Greek owner whose bulk carrier Flecha has been caught up in a labour-cum-security dispute in Australia, is "fundamentally in breach of ISPS," says the Australian coordinator of the International Transport Workers' Federation."

Lloyds List: "Striking Filipino crew of a Maltese-registered vessel (bulk Flecha), berthed at Wallaroo on Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, has unwittingly sparked an international security alert."

The Australian: "Filipino crew members on a Greek-owned vessel stranded in Australian waters claim they were assaulted and exploited by the ship's officers, including a captain who triggered a terrorist alert to prevent unions boarding his ship.

The MUA says flag-of-convenience vessels such as The Flecha are "engaged in a race to the bottom" by employing cheap labour who were forced to live in the worst conditions to maximise operators' profit."

The Adelaide Advertiser: "Local unions yesterday refused to allow the Maltese-flagged vessel to be serviced or loaded and said it would not leave until the crew's demands were met. If the issue were not resolved soon, other union members, including linesmen and tugboat operators, were expected to join the protest."

"The Advertiser has gained exclusive access to the ship. The 22 crew members, some of whom have been at sea for 13 months, say they work 18-hour days. They live in small cabins with dirty linen and no running water."

World Socialist Website: "Some of the crew had been at sea for 13 months working up to 18 hours a day and living in extremely cramped cabins."

ABC Radio: "We're negotiating the settlement of their owed wages, we're negotiating the repatriation and we've been able to work our way through a couple of the humanitarian problems. But there's a couple to go yet, so we're getting there but it's a slow process." (ITF inspector Matt Purcell)

Port Lincoln Times: "Negotiations between the sailors' union and the Greek owners of a grain carrier berthed at Wallaroo this week should result in better working condition for its Filipino crew."

Tradewinds: "A six-day strike aboard Cardiff Marine's 65,081-dwt bulker Flecha (built 1982) in an Australian port has ended"

The Adelaide Advertiser: "Nine Filipino seafarers, who went on strike at Wallaroo, have won a major victory, with their ship's owner agreeing to hand over $63,000 in back pay."

Australian Associated Press: " Mr Summers said he welcomed statements from the office of Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson yesterday that national security should not be used as a weapon in strikes such as that which affected the Flecha.

"We absolutely agree with the deputy prime minister," Mr Summers said. "We wholeheartedly support his statement and we congratulate him on knowing what maritime security is about at a time when industry, the unions and the government have sat down and worked through some most difficult and confronting issues."