Trawler jumpers get backpay agreement

A group of Indonesian fishermen who jumped ship have gained an agreement to get backpay from their employers.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand and International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) said the nine crew jumped ship from the trawler Marinui in Dunedin on March 10, but turned themselves into police at Christchurch where they complained about their working conditions.

They claimed they had not been paid, had worked 24-hour shifts without a break, made to eat dinner off the floor and been sprayed with high-pressure hoses if they broke any rules.

ITF spokeswoman Kathy Whelan said the crew members were given help in negotiating backpay and medical costs from their employers. They would be deported but would not have to pay their return airfares.

Ms Whelan said the federation was continuing to investigate the payment of at least the minimum wage to overseas fishermen in New Zealand waters.
Maritime Union general secretary Trevor Hanson said fishermen not only jumped ship because of poor working conditions, some of them were also made to pay a bond of thousands of dollars to get the job in the first place.

"These people are paying $5000 for their jobs and they haven't got the $5000, so they're in debt."

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe said there were between 50 and 100 jumpers a year. They endured "things that a New Zealand crew would never put up with".

- NZPA