"The rich rule over the
poor, the borrower is slave to the lender (proverbs 22:7)"
While I was
busy recently on obtaining the rPSCRB certificate in PMMA training center , I
immediately received an SMS message coming from CF Sharp telling me to report
A.S.A.P. , the nature of the message didn’t gave a clear reason why and they
only said it was urgent. I didn’t report immediately after the said training
due to the lateness of the message during that time.
On April
18, in the morning I received a call from CF Sharp again and said that I should
report immediately in the afternoon , as expected the call did not mention any
details why I should report. When I get there in the afternoon , the details
were divulge that I was being transferred to another principal called
"northstar crew management co. ltd" (which I suspect is a lower
paying job) and that all perks that they gave me as being a member to CPO will
be rescinded , including the "cash advance" perk worth 200 U.S.
Dollars, which I used to open up a BDO dollar account (their requirement) and
for personal expenses like updating my rPSCRB.
They reason out that I was being transferred on the fact that the guy
whom I'm going to replace extended his contract and it left me being displaced.
Frankly I'm
not sure if this reason is true or not , but after they said that , I already
suspect that something is going on and that they're "trapping" a
crew. fortunately for them I fell right in the middle of it. I can’t pull out
my papers because I simply owe them money , for short I'm totally in the mercy
of those debts and have to bow on their will. On the Tactical side this is good
tactic for ship owners and shipping companies that they can "reel in"
on the crew they badly wanted by simply using their best principal as a front
to attract an unsuspecting applicant , then give him all the perks and
freebie's to earn their trust and make them suspect less. Later at the last
moment to thicken the plot , the unsuspecting crew gets back stabbed by being
transferred into to the lowest paying principal they have on the company on the
last minute, saying that there's no vacancy at the moment and to add more
insult to injury, tells the unsuspected crew that they have to replace all the
perks and freebie he took because the principal he will be transferring doesn’t
cover that perk. The crew could run away from the company and pull out his /
her papers from the terrible offer but being told to replace all the expenses
makes it a stopping factor for the crew to run.
Tagalog
translation:
(in tagalog, ang sistema ng
kumpanya para makakuha ng crew eh gawin front muna nila ang pinakamaganda
nilang principal , at pag nakakuha na sila ng crew eh pakukunin nila ito ng
maraming benefits katulad ng "cash advance" etc. para di maghinala,
sa huli bigla nila sasabihin at idadahilan eh walang vacany at kailangan ka
nila ilipat sa pinamababa at panget na principal nila para makasakay kaagad ,
syempre di nila sasabihin na ganun ang lilipatan na principal at pandaggdag na
insulto pa sa isang yamot na applicante eh sasabhin din na kailgan niya palitan
lahat ng ginastos sa kanya dahil hindi inoffer ng nilipatan nya yung ganun
benepisyo. Pwedeng mag pull out and crew ng papeles nya pero ang mag pipigil sa
kanya eh sinabi na papalitan lahat ng ginastos sa kanya kaya pilit sya na
tanggapin ang panget na principal. Sa Totoo lang kung hindi lang ako may utang
ng cash advance sa kanila eh aalis ako at kukun in ko ang papeles ko , at
bahala na sila na humanap ng O.S. na papatol sa ganyan sahod)
Going back
, I told them I don’t have 200 U.S. Dollars right now , and it may take a while
for me to return it and said that they may have some sort of plan that they can
recover the cost from me. They said
there is and they will have a sort of underground talk on how they will deduct
it on my salary on my new principal, since they don’t have direct influence on
other principals.
Wasn’t
happy on what I was told and got bounced back to the recruitment department ,
the more that added to my dissatisfaction was that I learned that of this so
called "NorthStar Crew
Managementment" has an office
address from Myanmar which I suspect is an Asian company that pays a low
salary. On the discussion I hid my dissatisfaction and played along on their
game. They say that they will be reassigning me on a brand new ship - yeah
right ! I heard that before years back. Even if the ship is as brand new as it
got out of the shipyard as what they claim to be - it doesn't mean that I won't
do work or BOSUN will not wake me up in the middle of the night to rig a pilot
ladder - the question here is how much is the company willing to pay me for
work done as an O.S. To add more insult to injury, When I was an O.S. in Career Ship Management,
NSB principal they are paying me 1,268 U.S. Dollars all in all , now here In CF
Sharp NorthStar principal - they are only offering 1,000 U.S. Dollars - and I
suspect it could be even lower since Recruitment Managers intended to over
exaggerate details just to get the attention of an applicant. What a totally
insulting offer !!! And to make it over the top is that I have been put again
on the waiting list and told me to wait for a month for any announcement !!! I
mean what the fuck !!! The reason why I left career ship management in the
first place was because I had been put on hold for the list for the past 6
months and now here in CF Sharpe , they are again going to put me on hold for
an estimated month yet again !!!!!!! GOD DAMNIT !!!!
I left the
office on that day in a terrible disgusted manner, thinking what will be my
next move to counter this. I can't change company knowing that I can't replace
the money I borrowed immediately. Possibly there is no way I could escape and
will have to tag along with them for now until I settle my debts.
Honestly If
I knew this would have happened , I could have gone to Maersk, UPL , TSM ,
ALSTER , or any other on my list that offers a much better pay and I would have
not under in any circumstances availed on the cash advance perk.
Speaking of
which this so called "contract changing" scheme is also common on
land based OFW's specifically land base work in the middle east (to be more
specific Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) where OFW sign up on the contract and to
their dismay, to find out later when they arrive in KSA their previous
contracts will be cancelled and be switched for a new contract which offers a
lower pay.
Here in the
Sea based job, it’s a different version but still the same , Only done in the
Philippines and not on another country. Talk about exploitation !!
