This sort of news must make the anti-Jones Act lizards get all wobbly just thinking about bringing this sort of practice to American shores.
“Owners of P&O Cruises ‘Arcadia’ dismiss Indian crew over pay protest.”
"P&O Cruises have sacked 150 Indian waiters for protesting wages as low as 75 pence per hour (US$1.17) – eight times below the national minimum, reports the ‘Hindustan Times’. "
a Filippino AB is getting about $2000 a month for 12hour days…
that’s not even $70 a day or even $6 an hour and they’re happy to get it
try to compete with that without protection?
Sailed on a ship before where the Filipino AB’s were on $1000 per month. But the lowest paid on the ship was the messman, who was on $200-300 per month. Skipper was on $5000 per month. All were on 12 month contacts, with 2-3 months month unpaid leave before being asked to go back to sea again for another 12 months. Can’t compete with that level of salary.
75p X 12hours = £9 per day
£8.4 x 30.45 = £274.05 per month
£274.05 = $429.66
$429.66 per month is not too bad actually for an unskilled third world citizen. That is also assuming they work 12 hours every day.
If the ship owner is just making subsistence wages I would agree that’s not bad but getting rich off the world’s most desperate is just greedy and immoral.
[QUOTE=follow40;73203]$429.66 per month is not too bad actually for an unskilled third world citizen. That is also assuming they work 12 hours every day.[/QUOTE]
I don’t think a single unlicensed or hotel labor level person ever works less that 16hours on any cruiseship. They’re driven like dogs to endlessly clean and serve.
I hope these 150 who were let go for a pretty mild protest win in their fight. Time the little tiny guys get something instead of just a shiv.
[QUOTE=tengineer;73212]If the ship owner is just making subsistence wages I would agree that’s not bad but getting rich off the world’s most desperate is just greedy and immoral.[/QUOTE]
It’s just the way business works. P&O wants to make as much money for the shareholders as possible. Paying crew as little as possible helps that.
[QUOTE=follow40;73438]It’s just the way business works. P&O wants to make as much money for the shareholders as possible. Paying crew as little as possible helps that.[/QUOTE]
Ah well, I guess it’s OK then. If it is good for “business” it must be good for everyone.
Just think how much more the “shareholders” would make if they found a way to keep the crew on the boat until they die of old age and let them catch fish for their supper.
[QUOTE=Steamer;73447]Just think how much more the “shareholders” would make if they found a way to keep the crew on the boat until they die of old age and let them catch fish for their supper.[/QUOTE]
Let’s go another step further steamer…here’s my plan:
First, we let whole families live onboard, the younger ones in their 20’s & 30’s can do the work in front of the passengers and the old and very young can do all the nasty work below decks like sort through the waste passenger food so they can all eat something. Of course, the way American passengers waste food the whole family will become fat as hogs which means they’ll get lazy so this scheme won’t work. So we let them sort the food waste but they can’t eat any of it…we’ll sell the waste food to them in little plastic baggies just like the sell food in Asia. Now because the whole family is aboard, they won’t have living expenses for housing on land so we can charge them for their room. Now considering how little they make and how precious space is on a ship why don’t we just call it square and let them trade all their labor for room and board. Gotta be a something these unskilled illiterate monkeys will just jump at. A place to live with food and all they need to get it is for the whole family to work 18hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. That’s not asking too much…is it? HELL NO, IT AINT! We all have to pay to live somewhere every day of the year now don’t we and a room in the bilge in one of my ships is a hell of alot better that the outhouses these people live in in ther filthy villages. Hell, my living expenses for my six houses is at least $50k a day and you don’t hear me complaining…now do you?
Since now suddenly we have no crew expenses at all, profits will SOAR! The shareholders will be in pure ecstasy! Why they’ll give me at least another $50M bonus for thinking of this coup! Now if we can just figure a way to get these serfs to go ashore and steal fuel for us like they do in Nigeria? But what if they blow up like in Nigeria? I know, we’ll just send the very old ones! Of course these people will still need to buy things like clothes and medical care and stuff but we can sell these in a company ship’s store but since they don’t make any money, they’ll have to buy these things on credit which they’ll only be able to pay back by selling trinkets and such to the tourists but because we have to make a profit in our store we have to mark up the goods say 3-400% so that’s how we get generation after generation of them to serve my company! They are born, live and die aboard and it doesn’t cost us anything! Like free labor…just amazing to behold!
PURE GENIOUS IF I SAY SO MYSELF! I THINK I’LL TAKE MY EXTRA $50M AND BUY ME A BIG MEGAYACHT WITH IT…
…but $50M doesn’t even buy a skiff of a megayacht these days. I’d better hit the board up for a $200M 0% interest loan that I never have to pay back…I’m sure they’ll go for that afterall they wouldn’t want their CEO to be seen in Monaco Harbor in anything under 100m…we all have the keep up appearances now and we all know that the man with the biggest one wins every time and I accept nothing less that to WIN EVERYTHING, EVERYTIME, EVERYWHERE! That’s how I made this into the world’s largest most omnipresent & excessive cruise line!
(sorry to that last bit steamer but what the hell can’t do these things in half measures…if you’re gonna go in, you gotta go ALL IN I say!)
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Little pink pills! Easy there trigger.