Workers and unionists gathered at Station Pier, Port Melbourne, on January 21 to protest the exploitation of Carnival Cruise workers.
The protest was supported by the Victorian Trades Hall, as well as members of the Community and Public Sector Union (Vic), Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, United Workers Union, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, Construction Forestry and Maritime Employees Union and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance.
Carnival Cruise is a luxury cruise company, owned by an American with three ships. It employs migrants from Indonesia and the Philippines, but pays its workers as little as $2.50 an hour. It does this by exploiting legal loopholes where labour laws do not apply to employment on board its vessels.
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) is campaigning for the workers to be covered by a union agreement. Sydney branch MUA organiser Shane Reside, who MCed the protest, spoke about how Carnival Cruises management is refusing to negotiate in good faith.
The MUA said Carnival flies in workers in from some of the poorest countries on earth to work on short-term contracts. “Workers have reported being made to work in excess of 10 hours a day for more than a month without a break and going for weeks trapped working below deck without seeing daylight.”
Adam Portelli from the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance said many Australian performers, musicians and backstage crew work these ships alongside the international crew, and that they support their co-workers’ rights — including “fair compensation for their work and good working conditions — regardless of their country of origin”.
Jordan Van Den Lamb from the Victorian Socialists said Labor was responsible for these legal loopholes existing. Tom McIntosh, Labor member of the Victorian Legislative Council.
Danae Bosler, Assistant Secretary at Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) said: “There is not a single ordinary Victorian who thinks that paying people $2.50 an hour to work in Australia is okay. This is such an extreme example of what billionaires will try and get away with if they think no one is looking.”
Speakers also highlighted the Carnival Cruises owner has a personal wealth of more than $15 billion.
Reside said the MUA wants Carnival to improve pay, food, living quarters, internet access and safety standards on its three ships home-ported in Australia: Encounter, Splendor and Adventure.
“Carnival has imported the labour conditions of Bali or Phuket to Australia but are still charging passengers Australian fares. Where does all that money go? Straight into the pockets of the multi-billionaire American owner. This is an ultra-profitable dirty racket, plain and simple”.
[Sign the petition demanding an end to Carnival Cruises’ exploitation of its migrant workforce.]