SUR gave a hand to the crew of M/V "Nikolay Solodchuk"

The crew members of the fishing vessel "Nikolay Solodchuk" (the flag of Russia), who had not received their wages for a year and could not recover it from the shipowner, returned from Namibia to Russia.

According to Nikolay Sukhanov, Сhairman of the Far Eastern Territorial Organization of the Seafarers'  Union of Russia (SUR FETO), all the crew  finally have got home: “All backwages are paid in full. The last four crew members are already at home with full pay. The seafarers  congratulated the Seafarers'  Union of Russia on Christmas and thanked for the help provided. Also, they asked to convey thanks to the media and the Investigative Committee, which promptly joined  addressing the issue of stranded seafarers."   

The crew of the trawler “Nikolay Solodchuk» stuck in the Walvis Bay port in Namibia, turned to  SUR for help in last October: the contracts of 11 Russian seafarers — the residents of Primorsky, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk and Krasnodar Territory - had expired  in February, and they wanted to return home. In addition, the company had not paid them a salary since winter and owed them about RUB20 million.

The SUR assisted the seafarers to receive a part of they wages in the amount of RUB3.5 million, and also turned to the Far Eastern Criminal Investigative Department on Transport of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, which initiated a probe on this issue.

As a result, in November, the charterer of the vessel and the crew  signed an agreement, according to which the next month the crew members were to be paid in full.

Having received the part of their wage arrears  the seafarers agreed to continue work on board the vessel. The company promised them  to pay off the debts and send them home when they complete the development of catch quota.

Just before the New Year, two more crew members received the full pay. Earlier, in December, the first crew member left the ship without debts: the resident of Nakhodka went home earlier than others for health reasons.

The company, as it had promised, repatriated the remaining eight crew members in early January. Full changing crew arrived on board the m / v "Nikolay Solodchuk".

“All seafarers are planning  to join SUR immediately after arriving in Russia,” Nikolay Sukhanov said. - This is especially important for seafarers from Kamchatka where large shipping companies are currently being established, and it is vital that the labor of seafarers is properly protected. Preliminary negotiations on the need to conclude collective bargaining agreements between SUR and the heads of these companies have already been held.