SEAMEN (Discrimination; Signing of agreements)

Mr Seah Peng Chuan asked the Minister for Commerce and Industry whether -

(a) the Seamen's Registry Board, in supplying registered seamen to employers, discriminates against seamen who are members of unions;

(b) he will arrange for permission to be given for an official of the union to which a seaman belongs to be present when the seaman signs an "agreement with the crew"; and

(c) he will arrange for a copy of such agreement to be provided to the seaman concerned.

Mr J. M. Jumabhoy: The answers are:

(a) Certainly not.

(b) Union officials can be and are allowed to be present outside the counter in the Shipping Office when seamen are signing Articles of Agreement. Provided good reasons are furnished to the Shipping Office and upon written application by the seamen themselves, Union officials may be present behind the counter.

(c) There is no legal provision for such a procedure, but the law does require however that the Agreement be read over and explained by the Port Officer to each seaman. At the commencement of every voyage, the Master is also bound by law to post up a legible copy of the Agreement in some part of the ship which is accessible to the crew. This arrangement is being observed and has been found to work very satisfactorily on all British ships since 1854 and conforms with international shipping practice.