By Abhijeet Sangle

On the behalf of and in the interest of protecting the lawful rights of all Indian Officers, sailing on Indian Merchant vessels, on behalf of our union, I strongly protest the signing of Memorandum of MUI/INSA Agreement 2024-27. It seems that the General Secretary of MUI was in a great hurry in closing his deal behind closed doors with INSA for signing not only unsympathetic but also a derogatory piece of paper.

1.            This agreement has been sealed, without seeking any SUGGESTIONS whatsoever from the Officers concerned who would directly be affected by this NON-NEGOTIABLE agreement.

2.            Countries like Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Hamas have been at war and our ships are regularly plying in War Zone Areas, Merchant ships are being directly targeted and fired upon.  But it is rather shocking that this issue was not raised/taken up and no compensation has been announced for the Officers sailing on the vessels crossing War-Zone Areas. No compensation has been announced for the families in the event of any casualty.

3.            SCI is a part of INSA but no efforts have been made by MUI to ensure payment of Ship-keeping Allowance to Electrical Officers who have been denied the payment by the company.

4.            Noisy Repair/Dry Dock Allowance which used to be paid on daily basis has now been reduced to meagre Rs. 250/- for the entire Dry Dock period.

The list of shortcomings is endless and MUI has done a backstabbing on the trust of its members by not seeking their advice and getting them the rightful justice.
​​​​​​​

(The author of this article is Working President of All India Seafarers & General Workers Union - India's prominent maritime union. Views expressed by him are personal)