Maritime Union calls for audit of fishing industry

New Zealand's Maritime Union has called for a full audit of the fishing industry after the revelation that foreign companies are operating seaborne sweat shops in New Zealand waters. The companies are not illegally operating in New Zealand's exclusive economic zone but are contracted to collect quotas of fish allocated to the indigenous Maori population by iwi (tribes) who can not afford their own boats. The fish from these ships is sold around the world as 'produce of New Zealand' although aboard fishing boats there are gross violations of the country's labour and human rights laws.

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Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood told TVNZ that just because fishing vessels were operating off the New Zealand coast, that did not give operators a right to ignore New Zealand standards of employment. "[The] worst practices of Third World economies had become established in the New Zealand economy." The union is calling for the foreign ships to be inspected and the wage books examined. The crews on these ships are paid about an eighth of the minimum wage. "This situation is what is known overseas as social dumping, or the exploitation of cross-border labour in a globalized economy." Fleetwood told the Sunday Star Times.

The foreign crews are not members of the Maritime Union but the union will assist workers with no other representation. Both the Maritime Union and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) have assisted workers on many occasions, organising repatriation of crew members and the payment of outstanding wages. Documents obtained under the Official Information Act show the government has been aware of the situation in the country's waters but has not acted to stop it. There have a number of drownings, sinkings and other accidents in recent years, as well as reports of violence against workers.