WORLD

Love Boat cruises
along with slave wages

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — While many Cana-
dians willbe enjoying a‘‘ Love Boat”’ cruise aboard one of
several cruise liners plying Caribbean waters, it is not
teadily known that the seafarers actually manning the
vessels are getting virtual slave wages and working
conditions that in some cases are similar to that obtained
during the 19th century.

Seamen’s unions in both the U.S. mainland and
among the islands are currently carrying on a drive to
unionize the seafarers and obtain what officials are say-
ing are “long overdue and necessary pay hikes and other
benefits.”’

In an interview with the Tribune, secretary of the
Barbados branch of the London-based National Union
of Seamen, Lorenzo Coward, said that his union had
“thrown its full weight’ behind solidarity actions with
the U.S. National Maritime Union (NMU) to help end
“the blatant exploitation” of the seamen. They have

. Centered their campaign on the liner Festivale which is

owned by Carnival Lines, reported to have its head office
in Italy. About 50 men work on the sleek ship which calls
here every two weeks. The crew come from nearly every
Latin American and Caribbean country, including Haiti
and Nicaragua.

In Barbados recently were NMU’s director in Puerto
Rico, Nestor Gonzales and his assistant, Locadio
Donato.

Gonzales told the Tribune: ‘‘What we have here is
Sheer exploitation of Caribbean and Latin American
Seamen.Men work 12 to 16 hours every dayand never get
a day off for 12 to 24 months without proper overtime. In
Some cases they have to pay as much as U.S. $700. and
more to get the job, but the company only pays them
$170 per month. The seamen must also pay for their own
medical examinations and doctor’s bills. These are some
of the abuses the men face. ...””

According to a leaflet distributed by the NUS to pas-
Sengers coming off Festivale, at the port here last month,
the low wages paid to the crew of several ships Carnival
Lines operates have made owners among the 400 richest
People in the United States.

From
the Caribbean

Norman Faria

: eS
Two members of the crew coming off the Festivale cruise
liner in Bridgetown port.

NMU officials, whose union has already organized
seamen aboard other cruise ships in the region, say that

TRIBUNE PHOTOS: NORMAN FARIA

IMU’s Gonzalez (right) and Donato.

it’s in the interests of maritime unions throughout the
Caribbean to back the union which is affiliated with the
International Transport Federation.

Gonzales said his union is now in the process of estab-
lishing links with the Trinidad-based Caribbean Mari-
time and Aviation Council, the Port of Spain-based um-
brella body for seamen and waterfront workers’ unions
in the English-speaking islands.

For his part, Coward said: ‘‘In this day and age where
cruise line firms are turning passengers away because of
heavy business, it’s a crime seamen and women who
actually do the important work of running the ships are
treated in such an inhumane manner. In our view, it has
to stop, and we will help in any way to assist workers
aboard vessels to win better pay and working condi-
tions.”’

The NUS head also revealed that evidence has shown
that because of owners’ scrimping on safety and health
measures, the possibility exists that passengers may be
subjected to broken and dirty kitchen equipment. He
pointed to an earlier case this year where non-unionized
cruise ships failed health inspections in Miami after near-
ly 1,000 passengers complained of diarrhea, vomiting,
nausea and cramps. .

Coward, whose union staged a spectacular sit-in five
years ago aboard the cruise liner Cunard Countess, in a
successful campaign to prevent replacement of a union
crew by changing the ship’s registry, said future actions
are planned against Fesitvale, including possible legal
action.

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS Tom Morris

The Emperor
stands naked

Some might be forgiven for
raising an eyebrow at the sight
of U.S. Secretary of State
George Shultz, looking un-
Comfortable and bewildered,
linking hands with Coretta
King and joining in a chorus of
“We Shall Overcome”’.

It just didn’t fit. He re-
Sembled the proverbial em-
Peror without clothes.

In the first place, Shultz’
boss, Reagan, has been a dis-
aster for the cause of Black
€conomic, political and social

Shultz, the proverbial emperor without clothes, with Coretta King.

equality in the Good Ol’ USA.
Those ‘‘God-fearing’’ people
running the White House are
closet racists.

Second, while Shultz was
playing the liberal, the Ku
Klux Klan was attacking Black
marchers in Forsythe County,
Alabama — marchers who
were celeberating Martin
Luther King Day, a national
holiday Reagan fought unsuc-
cessfully against.

Third: Shultz supports and
peddles Reagan’s “‘construc-
tive engagement’’ policy in
South Africa, a country which
has codified racist exploitation

and genocide. He bitterly op-
poses sanctions against apar-
theid.

Little wonder Shultz looked
uncomfortable. He may have
memorized the words to the
anthem of the civil rights
movement, but he sure doesn’t
support its meaning.

It’s too bad, though, that
Coretta King didn’t seem to
understand she was being used
by an administration so cor-
rupt and shameless it thinks it
can fool people by this
charade. ;

Cloning
young Tories

It’s interesting to see the
new crop of Progressive
Conservatives are as pro-U.S.
as senior Tories. And it’s
comforting to see they’ve also
learned early how to shoot
themselves in the foot.

When it was revealed that
the Progressive Conservative
Association at Hamilton’s
McMaster University sent a
$20 donation to help the contras
in Nicaragua, a storm broke.

Especially unlucky for Tory .

fortunes is that the issue has
become central in the univer-
sity’s student union presiden-

tial campaign, threatening to

spell disaster for the Young

PGs:

A marvellously succinct
poster has appeared through-
out the campus last week. It
reads:

“Help the Contras rape chil-
dren, blow up hospitals, burn
down schools — send your do-
nation to the Young Progres-
sive Conservatives.”

The Tory future is in good
hands.

Who wants what
in Afghanistan?

Since 1979 when Soviet
troops went to aid the govern-
ment of neighboring Afghan-
istan against a well-financed
and planned attack, the U.S.
has led the Western pack call-
ing on the USSR to cease and
desist.

And, while mobilizing the
“‘free world’’ against the
USSR (and cranking up Cana-
da’s UN ambassador Stephen
Lewis in the process), the U.S.
has poured an estimated $3.5-
billion into keeping the war
going.

They've had a marvelous
seven years in Washington
with Afghanistan. Here was an
opportunity to stick it to Mos-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 28, 1987 e 9

cow, play the world’s consci-
ence and make the gun-runners
rich — all in one swoop. Drug
traffickers, too, woke up each
morning and kissed the Stars
and Stripes.

What could be better? Tur-
banned mujahedin on television
shaking their fists at Soviet jets
... hoards of refugees in Pakis-
tan ... wounded children.
Jimmy Carter could rally his
friends to boycott the Moscow
Olympics in 1980 while the
U.S. Congress kept the money
pouring in.

Small wonder Washington
has told its mujahedin to ignore
the cease-fire which was de-
clared last week. Small wonder
they reject Kabul’s national
reconciliation offer.

Peace and national recon-
ciliation is the last thing U.S.
planners want in Afghanistan.

It will be interesting to watch
our UN ambassador for some
sign of honesty on this issue,
following his crass, self-serv-
ing speech last November on
the Afghanistan issue.

Lewis, who so dearly loves
centre stage, might now call on
his American friends to stop
bankrolling war and death in
that country.

But, then, if he did, they
might stop bankrolling him.

,