More Crew Members Come Forward
Carnival Crew Member Alleges Extortion
March 10, 2008
CRUISE BRUISE EXCLUSIVE REPORT
The inside workings of a cruise ship are not something most passengers know about. They see the smiling faces, the freshly laundered uniforms, and they think life on a cruise ship must be as fun for crew as it is for passengers. This is far from reality.
It is not news to me that crew member aboard Carnival Cruise Lines' ships are are suffering at the hands of extortioners. It has been hinted at by numerous people I have come into contact with, as well as been mentioned by journalists who have done in depth investigations into the mafia aboard these ships.
This is the first time, however, that a crew member has come to me personally, and outlined exactly how the crewing procedures work aboard a ship, in great detail. This information provided by crew member #10, coupled with the information provided by numerous other crew members now paints a complete picture of how the hiring process works, and why some crew members thrive aboard a cruise ship and have no problem, while others suffer at the hands of management with horrific tales.
As a woman, who began early in life working in a man's world, I know these stories are true. They have to be true, I myself have seen these practices in America with the same or similar problems with women, and some men, in the workplace.
I will share with you just one example. Back in 1973 I was living in Virginia Beach, Virginia and working as a waitress. During the summer months when millions of young co-ed's packed the sidewalks shoulder to shoulder, there were so many jobs, all I had to do was walk into a restaurant and say I would take the job, and I would be working that day, sometimes that very moment. Keeping the job was the real problem.
On one particular day I walked into a pizza joint on Ocean Front Avenue after seeing a help wanted sign in the window. I was hired on the spot by the middle age Greek owner, and went behind the counter to work. I put in an 8 hour shift for a pay of $2.00 plus tips a day. At the end of the first day, when the restaurant was about to close, I was told to clean up, while the other employees went home.
When I was within about a half hour of closing, the owner came to me and said when I was done cleaning up to see him in his office. Entering his office, I was told point blank, in the bluntest, most degrading of terms, that if I wanted that job, to drop my drawers and provide a specific sexual service to him. I quit on the spot, forfeiting my $2.00 pay.
I quit not because he was Greek, middle aged, heavily overweight and the ugliest man I had every seen in my life. But because $2.00 a day for sex with a womanizing pig, was millions of dollars less than my bottom line.
The next day I was working somewhere else, and the owner of the pizza joint got free work for the day. It was not the first time it happened, nor was it the last. It will never happen again. I would have given my soul back then for the technology we have today, that would have brought these practices before judges and juries. It is not fair, that in order to work, a woman, or man should have to become a sexual slave or an indentured servant to their employer.
This is not to say, back then, I was morally righteous, in fact that would be a wild stretch of the imagination. I do not profess to be an angel, nor to have ever been an angel. But, maturity has a way of edging into the lives of some, if not many, and giving us some form of social conscience, which may be a way of rectifying our younger days, where the boundaries were wide, if existing at all.
I am only telling you this because, unless you have experienced this most degrading form of sexual harassment, it would be hard to believe. Now, the reason I left was because I was an American, working legally in this country, I was young, very attractive and could pick and choose where I wanted to work.
I know that is not case for all workers, there being many who have to take what work is offered to them, under any set of circumstances, or they will not be able to survive.
Though when I first began to endure these similar problems, it was nearly 40 years ago. In that amount of time, I have come to believe, that by and large, things are no longer that bleak in the workplace in America. But, that is not the case for people aboard cruise ships owned by cruise lines who trade on our stock market, have their corporate offices on our soil and home port their ships in our cities.
Crew member #10 has come to me just shaking with fear. He is so terrified that anything I will say will lead to his identity, that the majority of what he has told me I can not place in text. Some of what I can't tell you, is the most shocking. It is just too specific and would point a finger directly at crew member #10. Though what I am about to tell you is only alleged, I personally believe it is true to the letter.
When a crew member is hired, they are brought to the U.S. and get put up in a hotel. Once there, the company pays for the hotel and meals, while the crew member sits and waits for a position to open. This is where the slavery begin with the crew member becoming instantly indentured. He racks up a big bill with the employer, before he ever steps foot on a ship.
This is unfortunately a mandatory requirement when employees are hired from far distance lands and can barely feed themselves, with no money to fly thousands of miles away, staying in a hotel for days or weeks. If they hired citizens who resided in the port, instead, the cost of hiring would be substantially less, per employee.
Given the company has this huge cost up front for securing an employee, they really have no choice but to work them hard and long and pay them little. The entire system has gone wrong, all because the industry has tried to avoid the costly process of giving employees fair human rights and legal employment protections. The fact that our nation and politicians have supported this, only makes Americans more of a monster in the eyes of civilized nations.
Sitting in the motel, what she or he is waiting for is another crew member to quit, get terminated, fall ill, get injured, die, end up overboard never to be seen again or go on vacation if they accrued enough time and bribery money to take leave.
Once on the ship, three things can happen. They can be sent to standby, with no position aboard the ship, they can be given the job they contracted for at the pay they agreed to or they can be given any job at any pay, for which they never agreed to.
Which of three possibilities they end up in is only known after they board the ship, not before. Only one of three results of the hire are paid at the agreed upon rate of pay. So, employees have only a 33% chance of getting what they contracted for. That in itself is illegal in this country.
