Sunday 11 August 2013

Corruption and fraud dog Myanmar seafaring industry

Bangkok: Corrupt agents are cheating Myanmar seafarers working on foreign vessels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars of salaries. Also, a large proportion of people operating ships are not at all qualified, with people taken from the street and issued a a fraudulent Department of Marine Administration certificate. Local reports suggest that up to 50,000 seamen from Myanmar are at sea with fraudulent certification.


The Myanmar Maritime Workers’ Federation, officially registered in May, but around for the past decade, is working to stamp out these corrupt practices.

U Ye Win Tun, the deputy general secretary of the federation, said Myanmar seamen suffer wage cuts and rights abuses more regularly than those from other Southeast Asian countries because Myanmar has previously not had organisations actively working to protect their rights.

The federation has also voiced its concerns about the poor level of English spoken by many seafarers deployed on foreign vessels. 

source: SeaShipNews
http://seashipnews.com/news_content.php?fid=3w3c1223

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