On November 15, negotiations were held in Odessa between the Marine Transport Workers’ Trade Union of Ukraine and the Norwegian shipping company Wilson Ship Management.
Fruitful cooperation between the company and the Trade Union has been going on for more than 10 years. The parties regularly review the terms of the collective agreement, constantly improving them in favor of seafarers.
During the last negotiations, the text of the agreement for 2019-2020 was updated in terms of the amounts of compensation payments, salaries and deductions for union service and medical protection.
Despite the fact that the shipping industry, according to some experts, is in a state of economic stagnation, the parties agreed to gradually increase the basic wage of Ukrainian seafarers, working on board the company’s ships: by 1,5% from January 1, 2019 and by another 1,5% from January 1, 2020. Compensation payments will grow, respectively, by 2% each year.
Wilson Ship Management is headquartered in Bergen, Norway, with the branches in Germany, the Netherlands, Iceland and the Russian Federation. One of two Wilson’s crewing offices is located in Odessa. In 2005, Wilson converted itself into a joint-stock company, whose shares are available for purchase in Oslo Stock Exchange.
Today the company employs about 1,650 workers, 1,500 of whom are seafarers. According to the company’s representatives, in the near future their fleet will be replenished with 6 new ships. Currently, about 350 Ukrainian seamen are working on board 23 vessels of the company.
