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          Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Sep-Oct 2008 
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Battle won in British wage war15 July 2003
UK seafarers win over shipping minister in campaign to abolish foreign crew exploitation on national flag carriers UK Shipping Minister David Jamieson has reaffirmed that foreign seafarers employed on Red Ensign ships trading in British waters should get the minimum wage, Lloyds List reports. But the wage war is far from over. While Jamieson urged seafarers who are earning less than their legal entitlement to call an information hotline, Chamber of Shipping director general Mark Brownrigg has threatened to switch tonnage to other flags, if shipowners can not pay foreign wages to foreign crew. The International Transport Workers' Federation has also weighed into the battle, threatening to declare the Red Ensign a Flag of Convenience if they do not retreat on the wage issue. ITF general secretary David Cockcroft said that Britain could join the likes of Liberia and Cambodia on its ships of shame blacklist. Speaking on a BBC Radio 4 programme, Numast assistant general secretary Mark Dickinson said there should be parity of wages at sea. Why, he questioned, should Filipino seafarers be paid so much less than their British counterparts? Numast says some Filipino crew are getting as little as 77p per hour. This, the UK minister agrees, is "scandalous". The campaign for wage parity will continue while the legislation on seafarers' wages is in the British parliament.
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