The court dismissed the claims of the shipowner against the seafarer

Today the Сity Сourt of Nakhodka held the hearing on the claim of PJSC Nakhodka Base of Active Sea Fishing to  Silantyev A., the AB of  the large refrigerator trawler  “Astronom”.  According to Vasiliy Savelyev, a lawyer for the Far Eastern Territorial Organization of the SUR, the shipowner’s claim has been denied.

The company filed a lawsuit demanding to recover costs for accommodation and board for each day the seafarer was remaining on board of the trawler within a month after his dismissal. The former employer wanted to recover  from the seafarer as much as  Ꝑ89,709.95, as well as Ꝑ2,891  paid for the state duty when filing a statement of claim. 

However, in fact, the crew member was forced  to stay on board as a passenger after he had signed off because of unbearable working conditions on board and not of his own free will.

According to the seafarer, a pre-strike situation arose on board just a month after the voyage had begun: one day expired food was delivered to the ship, which the second mate publicly admitted at a crew meeting; sometimes it even got to the point that after dealing with fish it was impossible to take a shower because of the lack of water. At the top of that wage arrears were increasing.

As a result, after two months of work in such conditions 52 people wrote letters of resignation from their positions. However only 46 of them actually terminated their labor relations with the company. At the same time, the signed off seafarers, including the AB Silantyev,  were being kept on board for another month, although the ship sailed off the coast of Petropavlovsk- Kamchatskiy, where it was possible to disembark  safely. This period during which the seafarer had been   staying on board after his signing off,  the shipowner demanded to pay for.

According to Nikolay Sukhanov, Сhairman of the SUR FETO, the first hearing took place in mid-November. In the course of it, the judge studied the case file and requested from the Nakhodka city Prosecutor's Office the audit materials on the fact of the seafarers' appeal with complaint about unsatisfactory working conditions and wage arrears. The Prosecutor's Office, it should be noted, took sides with the seafarers and compelled   the employer to pay off the debt to former employees.

Today the  Сity Сourt of Nakhodka has continued the proceeding after having studied the materials of the prosecutor's audit on the seafarers’ appeal. As a result the judge has ruled in favor of the seafarer.