Fighting Destiny

It was not the first time some of the crew had lost their jobs to guest workers on the Australian coast. Now the battle is on to ensure this is not the destiny of other Australian workers

Ryan Styles thought he'd landed on his feet when, after being made redundant off the CSL Yarra in 2002, he got a job on the Destiny Queen farming abalone. But as it turned out it was the same old story.

Like the Yarra the Destiny Queen was taken offshore only to be brought back under a foreign flag with guestworkers.

"That's twice in a row," Ryan said. "I stepped off the Yarra and thought, 'oh yeah, I'm fine. I'll start again' and then a couple of years down the track the same thing happens."

To add insult to injury, the company had called Ryan back from leave to take the Destiny Queen for a refit in China and didn't even tell him he was being made redundant.

"I went back to do them a favour," he said. "Then they go and shaft you like that. It was an Australian crew that sailed the ship to China. The air conditioning wasn't working and I suffered heat exhaustion. It took five weeks to do a three week journey. When we finally got to Shanghai we tied up and I left the next morning to fly home. The owner shook our hands and said 'good job'. Then I get back and a fellow member rings me - not the company - and says I'd better call the union because we've all been sacked."

But the Destiny Queen returned. You can't see it from the beach, but it's there. A floating factory inside Australian territorial waters farming abalone in the Spencer Gulf and employing workers shipped in from China and the Ukraine. The biggest concern is that what happened to Ryan may well represent what's on the horizon for many Australian workers.

This is a new international trend. A whole new meaning to the phrase 'going offshore'. No longer do you need to go to China or India. You can ship in cheap labour and set up shop off the coast and avoid local laws, labour standards and taxes, sit back and rake in the profits.

This is what the Australian company Destiny Abalone PL has done in Australia and it is what SeaCode, a software company, want to do off California, where plans to make a ship office for about 600 software engineers is making waves (see overleaf).

It is just one step further from what CSL did with the Yarra. A new take on flag of convenience shipping that started back in the roaring twenties when crime bosses flagged out ships, turned them into floating pubs, and sat in US harbours flaunting prohibition on alcohol.

Next it could be a floating manufacturing plant with workers who don't go home at night or weekends for 12 months or more. Like the crew of the Destiny.

Up until last year the company employed Australian workers and flagged the ship in Australia. Then they got clever. Destiny took the ship away and brought it back with a new, comparatively cheap crew. Destiny won't let the International Transport Workers' Federation on board. Nor will they sign an ITF agreement guaranteeing minimum rates. The union strongly suspects it's no workers' paradise on board. It wasn't that great for the Australian crew.

"It was a difficult job," said Ryan. "I was there a month short of two years. Four weeks on, four weeks off. That was the only good thing it had going for it. The pay was okay, otherwise we were treated like Flag of Convenience seafarers. Sometimes we ran out of water and we weren't allowed to wash our clothes or shower for a few days. When we ran out of milk, they told us to ration it. We did a good job, but they'd say no to everything. When you complained they'd tell you the abalone was more important than anything else on the ship."

State Secretary Jamie Newlyn was with the ITF inspector Matt Purcell in June when they attempted to board the vessel to check on the welfare of workers. Both were refused permission citing security.

But state compliance officers did get to inspect if the vessel was seaworthy. The Destiny had just had a refit and the company was confident it was in good order.

"We are outraged," MUA branch secretary Jamie Newlyn told the Australian daily. "We consider the ship denying us access on security grounds a violation of the ISPS code, which guarantees ITF access to check on workers' welfare. We know they are on 12 month contracts and can't come ashore. The company told us."

"I reckon it's like a floating prison," said Ryan. "If I were there 12 months at a time I'd want to kill somebody, probably myself."

The MUA, the ITF and Jamie have been battling Destiny on every front, getting widespread media coverage in both local and national newspapers, protesting in the streets, lobbying governments and rallying other workers to the cause.

National Secretary Paddy Crumlin has called on the ITF to make Hong Kong a flag of convenience unless they deal with the outrageous developments aboard the vessel.

"It doesn't get any grubbier than what this gang is up to," said Paddy Crumlin.

But, to date, the Destiny Group refuses to up anchor.

The South Australian government has sought legal advice on what legislation is appropriate to stop the company operating off the Australian coast with a foreign crew.

Transport Minister Patrick Conlon said the ship's owners are avoiding tax on export sales estimated at $6 million a year.

He said the government wanted to avoid lots of floating factories setting up shop.

"We wouldn't tolerate someone coming ashore setting up a factory and paying people at wages less than Australian standards and having no health and safety laws," he said. "Just because you park a factory offshore, it's not any different. I think there would be a lot of people very concerned that foreign ships with cheap labour could come and basically compete with SA producers without paying any tax or being subject to the same laws as SA producers."

The state government has sought crown law advice regarding jurisdiction over the vessel and whether any legal options exist to prevent Destiny Abalone from operating with a foreign crew. But all advice so far suggests the company has wormed its way through legal loopholes.

Now the union is calling for the government to amend state legislation and close the loopholes. But legislative amendments may take 12 months. This is the first time foreign workers have been employed at anchor in any Australian waters and the union is concerned the Destiny Queen could set a precedent.

The union is now examining the immigration visa process. The company's Fisheries and Aquaculture Licence is also under question and the branch is considering using the new state Fair Work Act that provides for the state Industrial Relations Commission to determine minimum wages, including those for award free employees.

In a hook up with national office, the SA branch and union lawyers in August, the union decided on the next legal moves against Destiny.

Meanwhile Jamie Newlyn and UnionsSA continue to rally workers and the community on the ground, with ACTU President Sharan Burrow key speaker at an Adelaide rally in June and Port Lincoln community rallying to the unions cause in September.

For former Destiny crew member Ryan Styles the battle is one that must be waged. Like other seafarers he's concerned that once CSL, now Destiny get away with replacing Australians with guest workers, others will follow. Ryan's destiny could be the lot of many workers.