Kontaytekin: "We are tired of severance pay lawsuits, the gap in the law should be eliminated"

Turkey Maritime Summit continued on its second day with panels on important issues for the maritime industry. On the second day of the summit, firstly, “Ship Person Employment: The effects of the MLC Convention” took place. Seafarer living conditions, shipboard human rights, occupational health and safety, MLC Contract application areas, international conventions and their impact on Turkish law were discussed in the panel, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Maritime General Manager Ünal Baylan, IMEAK Chamber of Shipping (DTO) Chairman of the Board Tamer. Kıran, Labor General Manager Nurcan Önder, Pension Services General Manager İsmail Ertüzün, Turkish Seafarers’ Union President İrfan Mete, Turkish Shipowners’ Union President Ali İbrahim Kontaytekin attended as speakers.prof. Dr. Speaking at the panel moderated by Ersan Başar, Turkish Shipowners’ Union President İbrahim Konteytekin brought important issues to the agenda. Stating that they held a meeting with the participation of many shipowners and lawyers on labor law in the past days, Kontaytekin stated that they are busy with more than 100 cases and said, “I looked at the sector, there are 160 shipowners with lawsuits. I have seen that even the smallest 5-6 ship owners have 10-15 cases. “I want you to think about over 100 cases.”Shipowners dealing with lawsuitsPointing out that shipownership is a very difficult business line that works 24/7, besides its geographical barrier, Kontaytekin said, “You are hiring an army of lawyers while you are trying to do your job in this turmoil. We deal with cases with this army of lawyers. I am sure that there is no maritime industry in any seafaring country in the world dealing with so many lawsuits. These are our gangrene. Today, Turkish people are suffering from unemployment in this economic crisis. Even the simplest sailor gets $2,000. This is a very serious resource. Those people are eating bread. But when you look at the ship owners, there are Turkish-owned shipowners who employ hundreds, maybe thousands of Filipinos. This is a paradox. This is something that shouldn’t happen. I’m looking at it through the eyes of a shipowner. He is absolutely right,” he said.95% of cases are severance pay.Pointing out that there is no more hardworking and valuable seafarer than Turkish people, Kontaytekin continued as follows; “But dealing with so many cases, I think the ship people are in a position that I would call ‘unfair’ here. Because the law does not answer that. There is a big loophole in the law. Let me give an example. If you resign from a place where you worked for 3-4 years, you will not receive severance pay. 95% of our cases are severance pay. The person who works for 2 years comes, there is no resignation because it has turned into an indefinite contract. He leaves and goes to another ship, even though he hasn’t resigned from me, he goes and sues me. 95 out of 100 cases consist of these. There is a huge gap in the law. Would the shipowner employ Turkish ship-people with so many lawsuits? These cases must come to an end. I believe now is the time to take action, and that needs to be done.”Employment agencies are not auditedTalking about the employment agencies that have increased in number in recent years, Konteytekin said; “I support the opening of the Turkish seafarers abroad. But these employment agencies are not subject to any kind of control. Recruitment agencies take in serious seamen, but no one touches them. Because there is no control. These are the serious problems that the maritime industry has suffered, and they have now turned into trauma. While the topics we need to talk about should be the search for fuel in the world, what are we dealing with right now? It is still an unresolved personnel issue.”