Seafarers demand better payment, welfare

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The majority of some 72,000 seafarers employed by national and foreign-registered ships are working in poor conditions due to a lack of skill and an absence of supervision by authorities, according to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report, several senior seafarers and activists.

Hanafie, the chairman of the Indonesian Seafarers Association (KPI), said most Indonesian workers employed at ports and on national and foreign-registered ships were not paid the minimum wage.

He said 60 percent of them were employed for national ships, containers, cruisers and ports, and most of them were not receiving the minimum monthly wage.

"Many stewards and officers get Rp 300,000 per month and, there are cooks who receive Rp 85,000 (US$10) a month," he said at the KPI meeting on Monday.

Regional monthly minimum wages are set between Rp 350,000 and Rp 790,000. In Jakarta, the minimum wage is Rp 592,000.

He said captains and deck officers were paid between Rp 3 million and Rp 7 million per month.

He said most low-income seafarers were not covered by insurance and they were given inadequate accommodation at their workplace.

"If there is an accident at work, most crew members are covered only by the state-run traffic accident insurance company PT Jasa Rahardja. That's all," he said.

Hanafie, a senior seafarer once employed on a foreign- registered tanker, said the other 40 percent were employed on foreign-registered ships, tankers and ferries, but most had yet to be paid according to the international minimum standard.

"Most of those employed on cargo and passenger vessels receive a gross monthly salary of between $200 and $300, are not covered by insurance and given inadequate accommodations at their workplace," he said at KPI's meeting on Monday.

ILO has set the international minimum wage at $453 per month, while the London-based International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) sets it at $1,300.

Hanafie blamed the seafarers' poor skills and their weak bargaining power for being poorly paid, since almost all expatriates were paid higher than the international standard because they were skilled in their line of work and could communicate in English.

"Indonesian seafarers cannot compete with their peers from Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and the United States since they are not trained well either in their expertise or skills and in communication. Many cannot speak English despite their years of experience working on foreign-registered ships," he said.

The ILO report on its investigation into their living and working conditions in the Asia-Pacific region said that labor conditions in Indonesia's maritime and sea transportation sector were still in poor condition because of extremely weak union representation of port workers and seafarers.

It was referring to the prolonged friction between KPI and major seafarers joining the association, which was set up by officials from the Directorate General for Sea Transportation, but which is not recognized by the ILO or ITF.

The report, which was issued following the ILO Asia-Pacific conference in Singapore recently, also said the recruitment of Indonesian seafarers for service on board foreign vessels was largely unregulated and this led to corruptive practices.

"Seafarers have had to pay a certain amount of money ranging from $500 to $1,500 to secure a job on a foreign vessel and they have to sign two contracts -- one based on ITF and ILO standards and another that is honored. The first one is made for the records, while the other is used for workers. Seafarers are under threat of dismissal if they report the two contracts to authorities or reveal them to the public," said the report.

C. Doumbia Henry, the deputy ILO director on sectoral activities affairs, said in the meeting that the Indonesian government should improve its supervision of the implementation of industrial relations on national-registered ships to repair the poor labor conditions.

"Seafarers should also form a single union to strengthen their bargaining power with employers," she said.

Kemal Jacob, who was employed on a foreign supply boat with a monthly salary of $200, said he had no other choice but to accept the two contradictory contracts out of fear of being dismissed.