Low-paid Filipinos �afraid to complain�
By Rachelle Money

THE leader of an international labour union has urged first minister Alex Salmond to act over the deaths of three people in a boat fire in Fraserburgh last week.

The victims of Friday's fire have yet to be identified, but the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) said it had recently been contacted by Filipino fishermen about substandard working conditions in the town.

ITF co-ordinator Norrie McVicar said yesterday that "fear of reprisals" had prevented them making a formal complaint. "After what happened, part of me wishes that they had and that we had intervened earlier," he said in the letter to Salmond.

Dozens of firefighters, coastguard teams and paramedics were called to the "severe" fire on the 90ft prawn trawler, The Vision II, in the early hours of Friday morning, but were unable to save any of those on board.

It is understood from the agent for the vessel, Westward Fishing Company, that the three crew victims may be two Filipinos and a Latvian. It is thought that foreign crew members sometimes sleep on the boats in the harbour Grampian Police confirmed yesterday that Filipino staff had been working on the boat, but the identities of the deceased are still unknown.The cause of the fire is not yet known either, and a joint police and fire service investigation is now under way.

But the union wants a wider inquiry carried out and has called on the first minister, who is the Westminster MP for the area and a long-time campaigner for the fishing industry, to back this.

"We ask for your support in calling upon the Health and Safety Executive and maritime authorities to carry out a full and wide-ranging inquiry not only into the deaths of the fishermen but into the living and safety conditions on all commercial fishing vessels in Scotland," McVicar wrote.

The union said Filipino crews have complained of "cramped and unacceptable" working conditions, with some being paid as little as £250 a month.

McVicar is calling on Salmond to back its campaign with the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union to stop "slavery" in the fishing industry.

"Mr Salmond, you are renowned for your support of the Scottish fishing industry, standing up to protect the shipowners' and captains' investments," McVicar wrote. "We respectfully ask that you now invest some time and energy in fighting for the foreign crews and their families."

Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, said he did not recognise the industry McVicar described in his letter.

"The working conditions for a Filipino, a Latvian or a Scotsman are precisely the same; they work in the same boat with the same skipper," he said. He added: "The commments he McVicar has made do not reflect the Scots fishing industry I know. I don't know where he's getting his isolated reports from, but that is not the run of the play."

Penny Howard, who is carrying out research on the Scottish fishing industry for University of Aberdeen, said she had met several Filipino fishermen who described tough conditions, with some working 30 days continuously without a day off, for $500 (£250) a month.

"They are contracted from an agency direct from the Philippines," she said, "and they are working long hours, so they aren't really coming into contact with a lot of people. That means there's little opportunity for them to complain."

Howard also said the credit crunch may have led to a number of skippers hiring low-wage staff to reduce overheads.

"I think with fuel prices going up so much that hasn't helped, and those who wouldn't have hired cheap labour before are doing it now," she said A Scottish government spokesman said: "This was a tragedy that will be felt by the whole Scottish fishing community, and our condolences go to the family and friends of the men who lost their lives.

"Grampian Fire and Rescue and Grampian Police are jointly carrying out an investigation, and we hope to have a swift understanding of what caused the fire. The findings of that investigation will be closely examined to see what lessons can be learned to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again."