fishing entrepreneurs Uruguayans reported that the crew of a ship days ago carried out a riot over salary claims. The owner company affirms that it complied with the payment of an advance and notified the workers and the union. However, it denounces that the crew members, dissatisfied with bank delays, abandoned their tasks and they left 10 tons of merchandise to rot.
The Chamber of Fishing Industries (CIPU) issued a statement in which it denounced that the majority of the crew of the Uruguayan-flagged fishing vessel Atlantic Jane mutinied on the high seas, refused to continue working and demanded the return to the port of Montevideo.
The company that owns the ship said that the stoppage of the tasks caused damage: sailors left 10 tons of unprocessed fish which caused the merchandise to rot.
The chamber recalled that the collective agreement for fishing establishes that salary payments and advances must be deposited in the employees’ bank accounts “regardless of the days that financial institutions require for the transfers to be credited in the accounts of each worker”.
The company assures that it proceeded as established in the current agreement and notified the workers and the union with the receipts of the transfers made. The Atlantic Jane has a crew of 22 sailors and 16 of them, dissatisfied with delays in crediting payments to their bank accounts, decided abandon tasks and demanded the return to the port.
The CIPU indicated that “the regulations that apply to the activity of ships determine that the captain is the highest authority on board, so the refusal to comply with the assigned tasks constitutes a insubordination to authority”.
The chamber stated that “the mutiny on board” was registered in the Navigation Book and communicated to the National Naval Prefecture and the National Directorate of Aquatic Resources (Dinara). In addition, it was reported that the abandonment of tasks “left 10 tons of unprocessed fish that rotted as a result of the riot.” The merchandise was to be exported to countries in West Africa and Palestine.
The business union maintained that the registered situation determines a behavior of insubordination that according to the Code of Commerce and international legislation constitutes a very serious offense and configures a notorious misconduct at the labor level.
With that foundation, the 16 sailors were dismissed from the company.
The Atlantic Jane is a freezer vessel for deep-sea fishing, with a hold capacity for 190 tons of fish.
