ITF rescues hungry crew

From the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's "The Dispatcher"

By Tom Price

Something seemed a little strange on the ship New Nan Yang Number One as it approached the Oregon coast. The bar pilot, who guides the ship through the treacher ous offshore waters, usually had a cup of coffee aboard before handing the ship off to the river pilot, who guides the ship up the Columbia River. But this time he was offered only a small bowl of rice. The chief cook looked physically weak and embarrassed that he had nothing else to offer. Word spread along the river that this was a troubled ship.

So when the small, Chinese government-owned tanker, flying the Singapore flag, pulled into Portland at 7 p.m. May 28 after fighting river currents for ten hours, ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation) Inspector Bob Dean was there to meet it. Dean's job is to enforce agreements between ships' owners and crews, and what he saw was all too familiar - a cold and hungry crew.

"The chandlers (ship's provisioners) were nowhere in sight, the ship's agent showed up, but hadn't called for food," Dean said. Finally Dean called the provisioners and they arrived to feed the crew at 2:30 a.m.

The captain, with no apparent explanation, told the Filipino crew a Chinese crew would replace them once they reached their next stop in Vancouver, B.C., even though many had been with the ship for years. This only fed the crew's anxiety.

They were owed back wages and now faced being stranded on the Eastern Shore of the Pacific with no way to collect their pay. They had been lied to about their wages and the ship had run out of food shortly after beginning the voyage. In response they hung an "on strike" banner over the side and formally asked the assistance of the ITF.

The ship's owner sent an agent from Hong Kong, who at first stonewalled. He denied the nation of ownership, claiming a Singapore company really owned the ship. The agent asked the pumphouse workers, who were there to unload the ship's cargo of ethanol, to kick Dean off the dock. But instead these Teamsters refused to work during a strike, especially with four of the five pumps on the fritz. Besides, a tanker sailing up a treacherous river in the driving rain by a starving crew could be considered a safety hazard.

The company blamed the captain, who had sailed from El Salvador with an empty larder; for the state of the crew.

"The captain said he had waited five hours for provisions in El Salvador; and when none arrived, thought he could make it to the U.S.," Dean said. Later; during his investigation of the ship's books, Dean found documents from the ship's owner telling them not to stock up in El Salvador. The captain, caught in the middle, showed compassion for his crew; so Dean concentrated on the owner.

The sailors took the "on-strike" sign down during negotiations between Dean and the agent, long enough for a pump repair crew to come on board and sign a repair con tract at $547 an hour. Then the sailors put the sign back up and the repair workers, who needed crew assistance, decided to stand down and investigate the strike situation.

"The Port Vancouver (Wash.) Seafarers' Center brought food and clothes to the sailors," Dean said. The center receives the financial support of longshore Local 4 on a monthly basis. The ITF donated half the money for a seafarers' hospitality house. With their own van, donated by the ITF, volunteers and staff from the center travel to ships mainly in the Port of Vancouver area and bring sailors to the center; where they can call home, read and just generally hang out. Recreational facilities and counseling are also provided.

Father Mike McGrady, a Portland area chaplain who has been working for sailors' rights and interests for 45 years, and Carl Landerholm of the Seafarers Center brought the donations out in the rainy morning. The next day they returned with cell phones and allowed the sailors, who couldn't leave the ship, free use of them to call home. "Bob (Dean) brought his phone also, he let them call home off the back of the ship for five hours," Landerholm said.

With the clock ticking in the background at more than $500 an hour for the pump repair crew alone, the port fees piling up and profits slipping, the captain and company agent sat down for some serious negotiations with Dean.

"When I left the room for a few minutes the owner's representative offered the crew $200 each not to talk to the ITF" Dean said. But the crew held out. With support up and down the river, as well as the port workers and pilots, the crew felt they were in a friendly port. The cargo owners complained to the ship's owners as the flammable ethanol sat in the hold. Much as the company agent complained, the pumps couldn't be fixed and the ship couldn't unload without a settlement for the crew.

"We ended up settling for $4000 for each officer and $3000 for each of the crew and a months basic $97,452," Dean said. The company wanted to send them home from Vancouver, B.C. through Hong Kong to the Philippines, but the crew wouldn't go for that. They were concerned that the Hong Kong-based agency might have some goons waiting for them to steal their money. They negotiated for passage directly to the Philippines, and the ITF offered to forward the money to them when they got safely home. Port Vancouver Seafarers' Center staff members brought cell phones out to the crew so they could inform their families of the settlement.

ITF Inspector Peter Lahay followed up on the crew; who left the ship when it docked in Vancouver, B.C. a couple days later They stayed in a good hotel that night and flew home to the Philippines the next day with their wages safe.

"It was really the cooperation of the pilots, the Teamsters, the repair crew and the ILWU that made this happen," Dean said.