vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #147 / Opinion / Reading article...

"Sailors really should start caring for their own fate," said Pyotr Osichansky, local representative of the International Transport Workers Federation.
Dozens of Russian ships are being held in ports all over the world. Crews come home after months or even years of "arrest" in foreign ports, and they bring the remains of colleagues who committed suicide in despair.

Of course, dishonest ship owners are to blame for leaving sailors in the lurch. But sailors must take responsibility for their fate.

Sailors searching for work often don't bother to check the reliability of those who hire them. Often they don't even read the contracts, or don't care if owners refuse to sign a contract with them. In some cases, trade unions warned about the danger and suggested that the sailors joined the union. But the sailors refused, because they did not want to pay the fee. They are used to being dependent, as they were in Soviet times. They think somebody has to take care of them. But times have changed.

The trade unions are sometimes no better: They talk about the need to unite, but their ambitions hamper the process. That's why when thousands of sailors go to sea, they have no idea that their salary should be at least $1,100 a month, according to international union standards. Sailors should fight for this through their union.