Sailors get ready to revive defunct union

By PATRICK BEJA

As leading seafaring nations like the Philippines enjoy a boom in foreign exchange earnings from sailors who dominate foreign-ocean going vessels, Kenyan sailors are a dejected lot.

The Philippines and other top seafaring countries are enjoying a vibrant Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and appropriate training in academies for sailors as Kenyan counterparts slumber owing to neglect of the sector.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel after more than 200 seafarers and several leaders met last Saturday to discuss ways of reviving seafaring, which earned many Kenyans dollars in the 1970s.

The meeting – under the banner of Seafarers Solidarity Consultive Forum (SSCF) – took place as Kenya seeks to revive the Seafarers Union of Kenya (SUK) and make it a strong body to negotiate a CBA with ship owners.

At the moment, lack of a CBA makes the few Kenyan sailors earn as low as Sh10, 000 a month.

The Government, through the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA), has encouraged seafarers to revive their union as the country prepares a strong tripartite comprising state, employers and union so as to ratify the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) introduced by the International Labour Organisation.

Kenyans have long aspired to work on board foreign ships because of the huge perks paid to workers.

lucrative salaries

The highest paid ship officer (master) takes home a minimum of $6200 (Sh527, 000) and a maximum of $14000 (Sh1.1 million) a month. The chief engineer, the second in rank, is paid a minimum of $6100 (Sh518,000) and a maximum of $10,000 (Sh850,000) a month.

A wiper or messman, who is the lowest paid on the ship, earns a minimum of $1100 (Sh93, 000) and a maximum of $1200 (Sh102,000) a month.

Betty Makena, the Mombasa inspector of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), told the sailors that their counterparts in the Philippines have put their house in order and were reaping big due to a strong CBA.

“The Philippines is a beneficiary of the huge pay for seafarers, and therefore the current efforts to revive our seafarers’ union presents the best opportunity for Kenya,” she said.

Makena said it has been difficult in Kenya to enforce the payment of better salaries to seafarers without the backing of a trade union, since a CBA must be signed.

Long serving Dock Workers Union (DWU) trustee and member of the ITF board in London, Ms Susan Ayoi, said Kenya lacks seafarers representation at ITF due to politics, although sailors from other parts of the world have more say in the organisation than dockers.

“I have tried to revive the seafarers’ union in vain. Now I get saddened when I sit in the ITF board in London where seafarers from elsewhere have a voice but Kenya is missing out,” Ayoi said.

The SSCF chairman, Daud Hajj, called on all seafarers to support the revival of the union so as to benefit from CBA and other arrangements.

“Most Kenyan sailors are jobless and lack funds to under go training to required standards. We have, therefore, to unite and make concerted efforts so as to achieve our common interest,” he said.

His remarks were echoed by seafarers Messrs Khamis Juma Khamis, Abajila Ngwena, Mohamed Shume and former SUK chairman Mr Idd Mwasina.

SSCF secretary Mr Andrew Mwangura told the seafarers’ that the union had received backing from ITF secretary, David  Cockroft, when he visited Kenya last week.

pleased

“Mr Cockroft was pleased with our work and received our petition for assistance after he met us at the KMA boardroom,” Mwangura said.

He said SSCF would complete its work to strengthen SUK by September, when it will have consulted with seafarers for one year.

 

Among the concerns of the seafarers is scholarships and placement in training institutions where once they can afford to pay fees.

Kenya recently launched training of seafarers at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Mombasa Polytechnic University College in accordance with the Standard of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW).

This was after Kenya was white-listed for compliance by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

The push to train Kenya sailors comes after analysts predicted that the world will experience a shortage of 83,900 officers and 450,000 ratings to work on board ships by 2015.

Kenya stands a better chance of having its sailors placed on foreign-ocean vessels because they speak English, the official seafaring language.

At one time, Kenya had 3000 active seafarers but now the union has a paltry 42 paid up members owing to lack on sea-time jobs.