LETTER

An industry body that makes a report that comes to the conclusion that tens of thousands of seamen are being treated as slaves can hardly be called independent (Report blasts 'slave' ships, Freight & Shipping, March 7).

Most seamen from Asian countries working on international trading ships are employed in a very correct way, with (tax-free) salaries at levels unheard of in their home countries for a comparable job onshore.

International unions (under control from their European members) are pushing the salary levels up and up in the hope of making Asians uncompetitive vis a vis their European counterparts.

The average Filipino seaman will take home about US$1,000 to US$1,200 per month tax-free and has medical insurance in place while on board and at home. Your picture shows an able-seaman rate of US$791, to which overtime has to be added with the above-quoted figures as a result.

If 'slavery' happens along the lines of the report, it is an exception rather than a rule, usually in 'domestic' coastal trade where people are exploited mostly by their fellow countrymen.

The Filipino seafarer, working internationally, has much better job protection than most of us in Hong Kong or in Europe for that matter.