Good morning all, very important
Please share this to all new candidates aspiring blindly into the rumours of fancy shipping high salary and world tour stories.
Now,
How Indian Management Companies in Shipping Industry are eating into the pockets of Indian seafarers and Ship owners
Have you ever wondered that as an Indian seafarer, why your salary is on a decline since 2006 as officers/ratings. This same period coincides with the
massive growth of Management companies in shipping and particularly those with a training establishment.
We will briefly explore 'What, why, when, where, who and how 'aspect of this question.
WHAT
Salary of Indian seafarers ( both officers/ratings) has not seen any hike since last 15 years. On the contrary, it has been reduced many times, particularly
ratings and junior officers. For eg. Starting wages for 3rd off/4th engr were 3800- 4000 USD back in 2008. This has been reduced to 2400-2800 USD in
2021 or in some cases, even less.
Same period has seen an inflation rate of 7 % in the country, which means even if you were getting the same salary as you were in 2008, still your
purchasing power has come down, as an item which was costing INR 100.00 in 2008 will be costing around INR 200.00 today(Double), but you wages have
been reduced to half, which reduces your purchasing power to 25% of what it was in 2008.
This is in addition to the fact that lIndians management companies are not giving you any health insurance policy (complete annual health cover, they cover
only for the period onboard and 2 months after that), no pension fund, no gratuity, no surety of employment.
WHY
Salary in each and every industry depends on the skill set you have and demand/supply ratio. Here the management companies have started their own
colleges, which ensures an oversupply of ratings/officers in the market. They will show a dream of USD 4000/ month salary to 100 young and naive boys
from marginalised societies (basically less informed) every year. These boys will take loan to complete training from company's college, again making the
company rich by paying huge fee. When they will finally clear MoS exams, the same company will tell them that its recession time. (Which is not the case
but looks like so because of oversupply). So what option these young kids have, nothing but to join at whatever they are getting. But at the same time
Owner is still paying the same or even more amount to the companies for crew. This again adds to the company's earnings making it rich and seafarer/
Owner poor.
This will continue because of the following reasons:
Huge young population of India with many talented people but lack of opportunities. In this scenario, the companies show flashy dreams (like a cadet
buying BMW, some officers running a marathon in Mumbai suburbs, seminars in Singapore with model as a host), cool looking website and a well built
college campus(with the candidate's/owner's money).
The young boys never got the salary they deserved, so they will get happy even at a 10 rupee hike in the wages (which is again a dream for many) and they
are unaware of the wages 5 years back. They realize this only after they have burnt their prime(20-30 age group)years and are left with no other option, but
to be slaves of these companies. By this time the young kid who was full of confidence and could have done anything in life, starts to believe that he can't
do anything else other than sailing, his management company has done a favour on him and he should always be loyal to them.
Merchant Navy is presented by these companies/ colleges as a job which will give you an opportunity to see the world, earn huge salary and lead a
luxurious life at sea/shore. The sad reality with ever increasing inspections, regulations and courses is known to all. Then why do they do it??7? ( Deceiving
or cheating)
WHEN
When did it all start?
When many from the 1970-80-early90 generation of Indian seafarers, who got good plum salary and benefits back in their time saw a huge opportunity in
the crew supply area. With english educated ,unaware youth, lack of labour laws in the country, lack of opportunities in the country, owners ready to pay for
qualified crew, lack of strict laws from DG, India became a hotpot for their crewing experiment. In addition, many of them always dreamt to be like their
white bosses, sit in the office and sip a coffee reading freshly printed newspaper.
This all started with their own training setups and at the same time due to the neglect of well established legacy Govt. institutes (DMET, TSC) by the Govt.
itself. No one can deny today that these Govt. institutes lack proper training infrastructure and facilities making their passouts under prepared to face the
shipping challanges as compared to the training establishments of these management companies. Trainee passouts of these management companies
are in most cases very well groomed and prepared for the sea.
WHERE
They could have started their colleges anywhere but they chose India because of the obvious reasons. For their companies, they usually choose
Sinagpore, Hongkong, to register but never India, Again to evade the agencies and Indian bureaucracy.
Indians are more into loyalty due to the upbringing and very rarely ask for their rights (due to the inferiority complex driven by 200 years of British rule). You
must have heard that Indians are the best employees, servants but worst managers, owners.
These ex-seafarers very well knew about the weak labour laws of India and went on to exploit the loop holes in the system which was something never
done before and is very difficult to be done by a foreign national/shipowner who is not familiar with the Indian system. So much so that even after a ship
explosion off the Gujrat coast, a company gets the 'Most Safe Company of the year award and even after multiple suicides onboard, the same company
gets the 'Most Compassionate employer of the year award. (Ananya Pandey getting the Filmfare 'best actress' award)
One common thing you can notice in these companies is that they have large rating and officer workforce from India and the reason they give is
nationalism, but the truth is that labour laws of other nations, even Phillippines, are better than India. Thus they always hire less from Philipines and
Europe. In addition Indian labour laws allow them to hire and fire at their own free will with no social responsibility unlike in European nations.
WHO:
See around in your company. They were once sailing themselves but now are big bosses. Their photos come in company magazines playing golf, in
seminars, in race courses, giving useless wisdom in passing out parade, on company's websites etc.
Yes, you heard about them getting an AUDI from a bank last year.
They may be your batchmates who in future look to repeat the same story or are already trying to deceive others.
Also many Govt. officials and politicians who provide them with loopholes in the system to exploit the resources of the country as well as its men.
HOW
This question has a lot of answers. We know only a few ways. You can observe and find out more ways.
Demand and Supply, the main wage deciding factor. They control the supply by their so called colleges or factories. It's like controlling the manufacture of a
particular commodity. Overproduction will always keep the price low.
Their training mechanism. Have you ever wondered that why are you always busy doing the new course on vacation when you should be available for your
family. They charge owners a lot for training the crew for the owner. They make their own courses, which obviously they will conduct at their training
centres and hence you always end up doing these courses. This will never end. Its a cycle. You lose your time in doing the unnecessary courses, the
owners lose their money but these companies only gain, both in infrastructure and earnings.
Remittance. Not long ago we used to hear things like which bank gives good exchange rate but not anymore. They have set up a cartel with leading banks.
They force young cadets to open account only with a particular branch of a particular bank. These banks in return pay huge amount to the person handling
accounts in the company. They will remit your amount at the lowest exchange rate but in between the bank will make profit and pay a part of it to the
person in charge in the company. Now you know that when you are lowering anchor at 0200 Hrs in 8 degrees of temperature or cleaning the engine room
bilges, you are actually paying for that AUDI.
Not passing any benefits to the seafarer like Pension plan, complete medical insurance cover, although charging owner for the same. They take money
from the owner for your provident fund and medical cover but never give it to you. even if they do, it has paperwork like 1960s and full of hassles. MUI/NUSI
is also responsible here. MUI/NUSI can accept your membership fee online but still cannot issue you with a cashless health card/ provident fund card in
2020. For that you need to send papers to their office just like you were doing in 1960's.
MUI/NUSI have closed their eyes to the wrongdoings of these companies. When was the last time you heard that MUI/NUSI fought for the seafarer's
wages/overtime/signon-off/medical. NEVER.
These organisations are doing the very opposite of what they were formed for. Their charter, how they operate, where is the money submitted by seafarers
as annual fee goes? All information is very difficult to access and you need a lot of RTI applications for that. They have limited their work only to room
booking in their 2-3 homestays in India, which are also never available. ( MUI is nothing more than OYO)
BONUS: Yes, surprising right? This is how it works. Suppose your salary is 1000. They will reduce your salary to 600 and give you 400 as bonus (trade
allowance, contract completion, performance etc) .You will think, what's the difference as you are getting the same 1000 as before and accept the offer.
Three-four years later people will move on, get promoted and change companies. New recruits automatically accept that their salary is 600 and 400 is
bonus. Now they will say that the market is in recession (Actually created by them due to flooding) and say that they will keep the salary same but will
reduce the bonus to 200. Now your gross earnings become 800. This is how your performance, contract completion bonus works. Have you ever got a New
year Bonus??Never.
if it is about recession, why don't the top bosses and office staff take a salary cut. They don't but always reduce your wages.
PPE: They will say that they are the most safe company on the planet. But do you remember the condition of your new leather gloves after only single
mooring station?
They charge owner huge amounts for your PPE but provide you substandard Indian Tiger brand safety shoes and cheap boiler suits( some of them also
own these substandard PPE companies).
Victualling: With inflation, food is also getting expensive but your victualling is same since last 15 years. This means that the food items on your table are
continuously reducing. The same people who are doing this to you have taken 8 course meal when they were onboard and even now. Owner is paying for
the food but it is again not being handed over to the crew. Again Indian food is cheaper as compared to other nationalities.
Fake Analysis of the Job scenario: At the start of every year they will circulate a message on social media which has no source mentioned, that the wages
will be reduced, jobs are less in Indian market, this year is going to be bad for Indian industry etc. This will psychologically make you accept that the market
is bad and you are already prepared for a wage cut.
10. Signon /off frequency
Have you wondered that everytime you are onboard, either you or someone else is getting a delayed signoff, the reason being non availability of reliever.
Also when you are at home, you or your friends are getting a delayed ship assignment, now the reason being recession.
Reducing the number of crew change or doing bulk crew change, saves company a lot of money for which they have already charged the shipowner and it
goes into their pockets. So instead of crew change every month or whenever required, they will do it every alternate month or even late.
11. Travelling/Hotel Expenses:
Remember, the owner has already been charged for you travel expenses, but you are told to arrange your travel yourself and take a reimbursement with an
upper limit. Not all the seafarers will keep the receipts safely or may lose them, in which case company will not pay them a single penny, although they
travelled themselves. In this again, whatever money is saved goes into funding the lavish life style and hotel stays of these so called big bosses. Again
most of you must be familiar with the poor conditions of their so called guest houses which are infested with bed bugs and rats.
12. Spares:
Now owner has given a budget for stores and spares but you know what quality stuff you receive onboard. Poor quality and minimum quantity PPE like
wintergear is supplied and you are told that- Oh! The Indians are so hardworking..Owner looks upto Indian crew.You are so much better than the other
nationality. You don't need that spare. You can manage with that much spare chief. And you being a loyalist to the core, take pride in this and keep killing
your hardwork as well as your life for supporting the lifestyle and business of someone else.
Ask your senior officers onboard as to how much money your vessel's superintendent is making during drydocks and spare arrangements. Are they not
Indians?
13. Less Crew Onboard
One more thing common in these companies is their poor work /rest hour record which is always manipulated. They intentionally put less underpaid crew
onboard, almost never talk of work/rest hour in seminars and make you overwork. Hence saving them the wages in return. And the crew onboard will take
pride on how smartly he fudges his own work-rest hour.
They will never talk of ILO work/rest hour but will send you ILO minimum wage scale if you ask any question regarding salary.
Result
Next time you meet your non-sailing friends, see and observe them. They already think you are not normal because you are not!! More so if you are in a
management company which is the case for 80% of Indian seafarers.
You must have witnessed the cases where seafarers of these so called (mis)management companies have a disturbed personal life, senior officers are
already divorced, kids don't listen to them. All this is because your work culture defines who you are. Why would a young kid listen to someone who he sees
for 6 months every two years and who talks like as if a disturbed person.
If you are the lucky one who is sailing in an ownership company, keenly observe your peers from the management companies next time in STCW courses.
They will get hyper and excited over issues like whether one should breathe from nose or mouth.( Again not their fault)
Solution:
With poor labour laws in the country, rusted judiciary, corrupt Govt. officials, useless MUI/NUSI, too many naive kids to be easily fooled and too smart old
seafarers running these management/ training companies, dont expect any change in the scenario soon. They will keep nibbling into your wages and keep
taking away your share.
What you can do is to improve your skill set (MBA/MS) and keep improving and looking for other alternative opportunities as and when they come.
I hope you have understood the crux of the issue. Kindly share it with young cadets/ officers and ratings. If you are a little observant, you must have
already thought about it. If not, then start thinking.
It's your life. You know what happened to the so called loyal people who got injured on the ships. No one even came to visit them on their funeral.
All that your daughter/son has is you, their father. Company has 100 new loyal, brainwashed recruits (robots) ready for passing out.
Another very important issue for COC holders
MS Bill 2020 endeavours to erase Sec 381 from existing MSA, thereby allowing govt officers carteblanche on our CoCs, against all international norms and
against UNCLoS Art 97. Sec 381 requires the govt to approach court before suspending/cancelling a coc. It is being taken off in sec 235 of the proposed
bill.
This is a very big concern for seafarers today..
Sign the petition
http://chng.it/PqZtb4tpyS
Thanks for your patience.
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