Shine A Light: Goundar And The Filipino Seafarers Case

The Ministry of Labour has recovered outstanding wag­es for the Filipino seafarers such as annual leave, including ar­rears of wages due to the workers.

Permanent Secretary Osea Ca­waru said this while responding to questions sent to the ministry by Shine a Light.

However, Adrienne Ali, of Interal­ia law firm in Suva, disputed the ministry’s response.

Ms Ali is representing the seven Filipino seafarers, who had al­leged mistreatment and breach of contract, while being employed by Goundar Shipping Limited.

She said the money owed to her cli­ents’ annual leave had been sorted by the parties involved, but not the outstanding wages as claimed by the ministry.

Meanwhile, Mr Cawaru said the ministry was working with the Fiji Police Force, Goundar Shipping Limited (GSL) and the workers to verify other claims.

“Goundar Shipping has been in­vestigated by the Ministry on the claims by foreign workers on pend­ing wages and entitlements under the Employment Relations Act 2007,” Mr Cawaru said

“The ministry is currently work­ing with the Department of Immi­gration on the repatriation of these workers to the Philippines.”

Mr Cawaru also confirmed they were working on other areas such as employment contracts to avoid the recurrence of similar cases in the future.

GOUNDAR’S RESPONSE

Goundar Shipping Limited owner George Goundar said he was wait­ing on Government to complete its investigation.

“There are so many rumours and garbage coming out, it’s only fair for me that the State does it process,” he said.

“Once the investigation is over, we will be taking people to task.

We’ve seen statements out there, and we just want the Government to do their part.”

Mr Goundar anticipates an out­come of the investigation next week.

“They’ve been interviewing all my staff, the Filipinos.

There are two sides of the story, and we just want a fair process to go.”

BACKGROUND ON ALLEGATIONS

Earlier last month, Goundar Ship­ping was linked to an alleged “sea­farers’ scam” involving seven Fili­pino seafarers.

These seafarers claimed they were underpaid, mistreated, and were employed in different capacity to that which they signed in their con­tracts.

A reliable source, who spoke on the condition not to being identified, said initially there were only three seafarers who had raised their com­plaints.

THESE COMPLAINTS INCLUDED:

• Salary is being paid in Fijian dol­lars when it’s supposed to be paid in US dollars, as they signed in their contracts;
•  They had a 50 per cent pay cut be­cause of COVID-19 and there was no consultation with and Mr Goundar had promised a back pay (50 per cent pay cut was from April to July last year. The 50 per cent was later rein­stated when the vessel started oper­ating again); and
•  Mr Goundar was trying to take their travel documents.

The seafarers were recruited through Abel Maritime Seafarers, Inc.

Questions sent to Abel Maritime Seafarers, Inc. remain unanswered.

Abel Maritime Seafarers Inc. is a recruitment agency licensed to op­erate under the Government agency - Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)

.LAWYER’S RESPONSE

Ms Ali said she was disappointed with how the Ministry of Labour had carried out their investigations.

Ms Ali said her clients were not provided the assistance they de­served as employees ever since they sought advice and assistance from the ministry

.EMBASSY IN WELLINGTON

The Embassy of the Philippines in Wellington has dismissed reports of a “seafarers’ scam”.

Instead, the Embassy’s Labour At­tache, Angel Borja said the embassy was treating the matter as a labour case.

“The way information has reached us is that there is a group of dis­tressed seafarers, who are still em­ployed by Goundar Shipping in Fiji, but their contracts have been violat­ed by this principal, and so we are instituting legal action against this principal as well as the manning agency back in the Philippines.”

Speaking from Wellington, Mr Borja said they had proposed to the Philippine authorities to suspend the recruitment licence for Abel Maritime Seafarers, Inc.

WHAT NOW FOR THE SEAFARERS?

The seven seafarers are housed in a home belonging to a Fijian family and at a local hotel in Suva.

They are expected to be repatriated to the Philippines on May 8. Two of the seven seafarers, Nicanor Caui­lan and Joshua Imperial, had agreed for their names to be published.

They said the embassy and the Overseas Workers Welfare Admin­istration (OWWA) were working together to repatriate them.

OWWA is an agency of the Philippines De­partment of Labour and Employ­ment.

“This includes all expenses, paying for the SWAB test, which is about FJD$300 and our airfares,” they said.

“OWWA is paying about 91,000 pe­sos (F$3846.44) for one person’s air­fare, and that’s a lot of money.”

Edited by Rosi Doviverata

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