Transport Minister, Keith Brown has, in response to RMT’s call for action, engaged in the issue of the exploitation by Seatruck of Estonian seafarers serving on freight vessels it charters, fully crewed, – to CalMac for the Ullapool-Stornoway service; and to Serco Northlink for the Northern Isles’ service – paying some of them as little as £4.19 per hour.
A Scottish Government spokesman says: ‘Employment law is a reserved matter for the UK Government, but we will continue to press for a means to improve this situation.
‘The charter agreement is directly between the operators and Seatruck, Scottish Ministers would not be given sight of any details of the wages of individual seafarers.
‘However, as soon as the Scottish Government was alerted to this issue, Transport Minister Keith Brown wrote to Stephen Hammond MP, the Minister with responsibility for the maritime sector, asking him to close any legal loopholes that allow this situation to arise. [Mr Brown's letter to Mr Hammond is reproduced via the link below.]
‘We have also made it clear, to both Caledonian MacBrayne and Serco NorthLink Ferries, that we expect them to offer to pay for increases to be made to the wage levels of these crew members, backdated to the start of the charter agreements these companies have with Seatruck.
‘However, we understand that Seatruck has still to agree to this offer.
‘We take very seriously the issue of the UK national minimum wage for staff paid both directly and indirectly by this government’ and officials are also looking at opportunities in future procurement activity to pilot measures to encourage payment of the living wage.’
The vessels at issue are the MV Hildasay and MV Helliar servicing the Northern Isles lifeline routes; and the MV Clipper Ranger temporarily serving the Stornoway-Ullapool route.
The charter agreement is directly between the operators and Seatruck, Scottish Ministers would not be given sight of any details of the wages of individual seafarers.
Responsibility for payment and levels of the wages of the crew on its vessels lies with Seatruck as the employer although Scottish Ministers will continue to press the matter as noted.
Here is the letter from Transport Minister, Keith Brown, to his opposite number at Westminster, Stephen Hammond: Minister for Transport and Veterans – 29 May 2014.
The Minister makes his perspective on the matter quite clear, saying: ‘The company in question has used a number of devices and utilised a number of loopholes in current UK employment legislation to avoid paying some members of their crew the UK national minimum wage. For example they have flagged their vessel in the Isle of Man, used a crew made up entirely of nationals from Estonia and ensured that none of the crew are resident in the Scotland or the rest of the UK.’
