Dockworders protest Burmese vessels

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DOCKERS UNHAPPY AT HAVING TO LOAD BURMESE VESSELS
BurmaNews - BC:  August 27, 1999

VANCOUVER -- Dockworkers at the Port of Vancouver are outraged about having
to load a cargo of raw logs on vessels owned by a Burmese registered
company.  

The M.V. Global Explorer and the Global NextAge were both at wharfside in
the port this week loading logs which are bound for Japan under charter by
Diichi Chua Kisen Kaisha of Tokyo.  The vessels are registered to companies
operating out of an office in the Bohtataung district of Rangoon and fly
the Burmese flag of convenience (FOC) to avoid having to comply with pay
and working standards established under the International Labour
Organization.   It is the second time this summer the Global Explorer has
been under charter from Vancouver.

At a well-attended media conference called by the Vancouver Burma
Roundtable, Al Engler, president of the Marine Section of the International
Longshore & Warehouse Workers' Union (ILWU) said that it was an insult to
the people of Burma and to the people of British Columbia (BC) that ships
flying the Burmese FOC should be allowed to use the facilities of the port
for their operations.

The ILWU is particularly incensed that seamen on board ships flying the
Burmese FOC must sign a statement promising to return to their ships'
owners any backpay they are entitled to through advocacy of their cause by
the International Transportation Workers' Federation (ITF).  All Burmese
sailors are required to sign the statement before they can be recruited for
work on vessels plying international waters.  The struggle for the rights
of the Burmese seamen has been carried for years by the ITF which secured a
ruling by the International Labour Organization in 1994 condemning the
agreements forced on them by the country's military rulers.

The export of raw logs is also a sensitive issue in BC where employment in
the forestry industry has been hard hit by the Asian recession.  Many of
the raw logs shipped from Vancouver are believed to be stockpiled in Japan
for re-export purposes. 

Myles Parson, an ITF inspector, said he had boarded the Explorer and the
NextAge and found living conditions to be generally good and food in
sufficient supply.  The sailors did not appear to be discontented, although
he noted that nobody had wanted to talk to him.  He said the Burmese
sailors received on average about two thirds of the amount to which they
were entitled by international standards.

A former seaman who was present explained that Burmese sailors felt
reluctant to express anything about shipboard conditions to strangers for
fear they or their families might get into trouble.  "They know they are
not allowed to express their ideas and feelings," he said.  "They can't
trust anyone."  

He estimated that there were probably about 150,000 Burmese seamen working
on ocean going vessels around the world.   He said that recruiting
companies were paid an overall fee by shipowning companies to hire a crew
and that the recruiters worked "under the table" with the Seamen's
Employment Control Division of the military government in signing up the
sailors.   

Cham Toik of the Burma Roundtable noted that all unions, including student
unions, were illegal in his country.  The Vancouver group has joined with
labour groups around the world in calling for the immediate release of Khin
Kyaw and Myo Aung Thant, executives of the Federation of Trade Unions of
Burma have been in prison in Burma since June, 1997.  Myo Aung Thant, who
represents the Seafarers' Union of Burma, is serving a life sentence for
alleged subversive activities while Khin Kyaw, a petrochemical workers
union rep has been detained without sentencing.

In related news, a group of 30 protesters demanded the release of the two
imprisoned unionists in Bangkok this week.  The demonstrators, who came
from various countries, set up a bamboo cage on a truck outside the Burmese
embassy with a Filipino unionist inside. Ulrich Juergens who led the
delegation said there was reason to believe the two men had been tortured
since they were jailed two years ago.  He said workers everywhere had the
right to organize.  "Trade union membership is not a privilege, but a basic
human right.  By denying this and other basic human rights to its people,
the Burmese generals prove they are no better than gangsters."

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