More Crew Members Come Forward
Carnival Crew Member Alleges Extortion
March 10, 2008
Crew member #10 alleges:
"I must admit on ships we have a bribery thing also between management, example every pay day most guys pay off around 400 dollars to the housekeeping manager not to get hard time and have less pressure."
"For the females they do other favors, sex in order to get good sections to work in and no hard time."
"For example when coming from vacation my letter of employment states my ship is victory, but since I like fascination and have paid cash to that manager at some-point, I go to the gangway and when he see me he takes me in and gives me section first even if my name was not on his list, then someone who was assigned to that ship still gets taken but has to be standby doing lower position."
Not only can a crew member pay into a better section, where more wealthy passengers are staying in the best suites, with housekeepers nearly guaranteed much better tips than those staying in an inside cabin on the lowest deck, crew members can pay their pay into another ship, bumping crew members who were assigned to that ship, leaving them with no job. The poor soul who got bumped, now will not make enough money to send home so that his or her family will be able to eat.
Further, in order to get all the cabins cleaned on time, things have to go smoothly for the housekeeper. That can be paid for as well. They pay to get their supplies first and they pay other crew members to help them when everything goes wrong, and they will not be able to get their work done on time without help.
Instead of the managers taking people on standby and placing them in areas where perhaps a lot of toilets backed up, cabins were flooded, or cleaning took longer due to Norovirus, it is up to the housekeeper to the do the work no matter what, even if it means hiring another crew member to help, then paying them right out of their own pocket. Just this practice alone is illegal in the U.S. This means because Carnival didn't move the standby to the elevated designation, they essentially get two employees for the price of one.
Crew members are paid twice a month, they pay $800 monthly EACH to the manager. This is how a cruise line keeps their ship running in tip top performance, extortion and pandering.
These poor impoverished crew members get beaten up financially just when they think they hit the jackpot. While they should be making $2000-$3000 a month or more, considerably more than the $100-200 a month they could make back home, IF they could find work, they may end up only making a couple hundred dollars a month in the end, after all extortion fees are paid. For that, they work 7 days a week, 12 to 14 hour days.
Here is the really sad part, I have numerous complaints from crew members who have worked many years for the cruise line. This is a fact the industry uses to show how happy their employees are. This fictional fairy tale can be put into perspective when you see the life of the crew member without his job.
Back home, with wife and children to feed, perhaps as many as a dozen kids, in a nation that would never consider birth control because of religious views, the jobs are few and far between for those who were born into impoverished families, unable to get an education, with little or no skills. Because of this family history, they are on the ropes, primed and ready to become victims of a employer who make their profits on the backs of those who can defend themselves legally.
Standby, is the designation they are given as they wait for the next Norovirus outbreak to sicken dozens of their fellow crew members, a severe listing that trashes the ship or other incident that requires extra personnel or replacement personnel. They are paid peanuts, some saying only $50 a month, others saying $75 a month. There is the cost of housing, food and medical services that are racked up whether the employee works or not. So, there is strong incentive to work these crew members to the bone to make up for "gold bricking" [gold bricking: A fraudulent, worthless substitute].
From those I have heard from, first time hires rarely get anything but standby. Once in standby, they quickly learn the name of the game, extortion. Some managers require men to pay their way out of standby as well as those low paying jobs they didn't contract for during the corporate bait and switch. Women are required to pay their way out with sex and sometimes money as well.
In addition, I have heard from numerous crew members that those who refuse to pay the managers with money or sex are given a "hard time". The words "hard time" seem pretty mild, for the hell those workers will endure until they either quit, get fired for trumped up charges or end up overboard at their own hands, or possibly the hands of others.
A manager with non-payers, those who have refused to be strong-armed, will find a way to convert the non-payers into payers, or get rid of them so they can replace them with somebody who will pay. Converting non-payers into payers means upping the pressure in already unbearable working conditions, with things getting worst. That is not the worst of it.
Employees may have to pay more than one manager, where more than one manager can make life very rough for them. Once life becomes "rough" for non-payers, they try to vacation. But again, if time off is desired, the employee has to pay off a manager in extortion money, and he has to outbid with higher bribes when more than one wants the same time off. It is not hard to see that by the time an employee gets off the ship, he might be flat broke. But, for managers, they are making a killing working on the cruise ships, and have nothing but praise for the industry.
Enter the next part of hell, "ship jumping". Once a crew member can no longer take the abuse, he has few options with many months of the contract still in force and has not been able to accumulate much money. So, when the ship pulls into a port, he jumps, not into the ocean, but into the crowds of the port. Once ashore, he never comes back.
Ship jumping is a real problem in U.S. ports, and there is no wonder why. The poor crew member fled without their passport which was seized when they boarded, have no legal rights in the country they landed in, and hope a community of their national natives will help them out. How bad would life have to be aboard a ship, for them to give up their freedom and live a life looking over their shoulders for ever more? Now, remember, according to the industry this is a dream come true job.
Once they refuse to be extorted and quit or get terminated on trumped up charges, they then fall into the "disgruntled employee" category once they become free of the slave traders. It easy to see how the industry has spun the claims, to make it look like they are the golden boys who are being victimized by ungrateful employees.
