Raising Awareness on the Unfair Detainment of
Seafarers
By the
Rev. Marsh Drege,
Executive
Director of Seafarers & International House
In the
workforce, we take our rights for granted. We know what our legal rights are,
in most cases, and we well understand what is expected of us at our jobs. We
know we’ll never be held against our will, detained without reason, or arrested
without cause.
That’s
not the case, however, for the thousands of international seafarers who work in
the shipping industry. They are often detained, arrested, and held for months while
the U.S. Department of Justice investigates a ship that is thought to have
polluted international waters or broken a law at sea. In cases when a crime is
suspected, the crew is met by U.S. authorities when it pulls into port.
Detainment
can be confusing and frightening to the workers on ships, many of whom are from
third-world countries and don’t have labor unions supporting them. They often have
limited English, don’t know their rights, or feel that they can’t speak up for
themselves. They work for shipping companies that are registered in countries
other than the United States, where the employment standards are often
substandard compared to our own. These crews are low-hanging fruit and easily
victimized in these cases.
You
might not realize that very few shipping companies register their ships in the
United States. That’s because they can get a better deal and are able to hire
cheaper, non-union labor if they register their ship in Thailand, or a dozen or
so other countries. U.S.-registered ships require that the owners hire
unionized labor, at a much higher cost to the companies. Bottom line: It’s
cheaper for shipping companies to do business outside the United States.
In
addition to working conditions and wages being deplorable for many who work at
sea, their protection and rights are often non-existent. These hardworking
seafarers – many of who get on a ship in January and don’t return home for 12
months – often are treated unimaginably poor.
SIH is
often asked to minister to seafarers who are being held by the U.S. government.
Sometimes, a ship is thought to have purposely or accidently polluted the
ocean, or done something illegal, and the merchant seamen are questioned or
become witnesses in the case, even though they have done nothing. Sometimes, an
investigation is being conducted, and seamen are greeted by police or the
Department of Justice at the port and detained. Our chaplains have ministered
to several groups of seamen over the years who were held in this country for
months on end, without much information as to why they were being held or even the
language capacity to understand what they were told. They often don’t know what
their part in the investigation will be except that they were part of the crew.
One of SIH
chaplains, Ruth Setaro, who ministers to the New Haven, Connecticut, port, tells
me that quite often, the detained men are housed in a cheap hotel with no
access to transportation. They sit – day after day – watching TV out of
complete bored. They are isolated and miss their families back home, and are
scared that they’ll be implicated in some part of the illegal act committed by
their employer. They don’t often understand what is going on, and have no
information about when they can return to their ship or their home.
In the
worst cases, the seamen will lose their jobs and be labeled unemployable because
they are now seen as whistle-blowers or snitches, even though they’re not.
Setaro says they are alone, scared and bored.
In these
cases, Setaro is relied upon as the only support system for these men. She
invites them to meals at her home, takes them shopping and to run errands, and
often arranges for activities to ease the boredom. She has been known to host
the men at her home for holiday meals with her family, as well as have them
over for popcorn and a movie. In one instance, she arranged for a group of men
to paint a church, as they often want to be active and hate sitting around.
Why
should these innocent workers be held when the ship has been allowed to leave
port? Wouldn’t a better solution be to let the workers return home and detain
the ship and the company owners? The Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S.
Department of Justice will detain members of the crew as material witnesses,
while releasing the ship. The ship owner has to pay for the accommodations and
food for the crew while it is detained. The DOJ considers this to be a protective
action by the shipping company of its seamen.
This is
backwards thinking. Detaining innocent people because they can, while letting
the ship leave the port and continue on its journey?
This
treatment of detained seafarers is neither protective nor fair. It’s just plain
wrong.
Join me
in calling for fair treatment of seafarers – both at sea and in our country.
You may copy this letter to send to your local legislator in Washington:
Date
Your
Name
Your
Address
Your
Town
Dear
__________________:
I’m
writing to join the many Lutherans across the country who are calling for the
fair and humane treatment of merchant sailors when they are in the United
States.
It
has come to my attention, that quite often, crews of merchant ships are
detained in U.S. ports while the Department of Justice investigates something
that may have happened illegally on the ship while at sea.
I
understand that the crews, many of whom understand little English, are often
made to stay for months in a limited hotel room if they are considered
witnesses for the DOJ, while the ship, which perpetrated the crime, is allowed
to leave port.
We
wouldn’t tolerate such situations for ourselves, and we shouldn’t accept the
same for visitors to our country.
We
stand in solidarity with anyone who is treated less than fairly by the United
States, and situations for detained seamen are deplorable.
Please
use your authority as my representative in Congress to make my voice heard for
the fair and humane treatment for detained merchant sailors.
Thank
you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
YOUR
NAME
- The Rev. Marsh Drege is an ordained minister
for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
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