DMW suspends recruitment agency after ITF red list warning

A PHILIPPINE-based recruitment agency that unlawfully charged seafarers placement fees has had its license suspended after the International Transport Workers‘ Federation (ITF) highlighted its illegal practices.

Global Marine and Offshore Resources Inc., based in Manila, was recently red-listed on the ITFShipBeSure.org directory of recruitment (manning) agents. This is a warning to seafarers that they should avoid seeking employment through the agency.

The Filipino Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has already suspended Global Marine’s license, as the ITF has incontrovertible evidence that four seafarers were illegally charged placement fees, placed with different employers on different ships to those described in their contracts, and some are owed more than two months’ pay.

“It’s great that the Filipino government has taken this action and I hope our evidence convinces them to permanently ban Global Marine,” said Steve Trowsdale, inspectorate coordinator at the ITF. “But truthfully, this should never have happened. The manning agency system — regulated by the Filipino authorities — is supposed to protect seafarers from unscrupulous employers…. In the cases of these four seafarers, that system failed. We’re demanding that the DMW takes a tougher line with corrupt agents so that this kind of worker abuse cannot happen again.”

The four seafarers have signed affidavits attesting to their mistreatment by Global Marine. They were each offered contracts for employment in Dubai, some on the cargo ship Clivia (IMO: 8668509), built-in 2009 and owned by FG Marine Services SDN BHD, and others on the support vessel Muru (IMO: 4542874), although the contract had the wrong IMO number. None of them ended up on Clivia.

Source: DMW suspends recruitment agency after ITF red list warning | The Manila Times