DOZENS of Filipino workers have remained trapped in a bankrupt casino ship in Florida since Christmas, unable to even set foot on US shore in a maritime version of The Terminal, the 2004 comedy-drama movie about a stateless, visa-less tourist unable to leave a New York airport.
As many as 190 workers have been holed up on the 420-foot-long Palm Beach Princess casino ship docked at the Port of Palm Beach since Christmas Eve, when the company’s assets were frozen as part of its bankruptcy protection, the Palm Beach Post reported.
The crew members had earlier mutinied and refused to operate the ship when 300 passengers were set to sail on it.
The management, in retaliation, fired some of the ship’s senior employees and put on planes back to their home countries, including an initial two dozen from the Philippines.
According to media reports, the cruise operator owes the crew members $180,000 in back wages. The ship’s owners originally were going to deduct the cost of the flight tickets from the employees’ pay, but later decided against taking that route.
Their money woes aside, the trapped workers fear that the US Customs and Border Protection would cancel their work visas and deport them.
According to the Palm Beach Post, the trapped workers were “being fed” and that “sanitation is being maintained” on the grounded ship.
Before the grounding, the Panamian-flagged ship had to sail to the Bahamas monthly to allow the foreign crew to renew their visas.
Even before the bankruptcy proceedings, the Palm Beach Princess had been barred from sailing for two weeks earlier this month because of engine problems.
After intervention from international maritime organizations, the US Coast Guard finally allowed it to sail as long as a tow boat accompanied it in and out of port. –Manila Standard Today
March –
IT’S WOMEN’S MONTH!
“Respect and support women
every day of the year/s!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the recommendations of the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry
against serious violations of protocols of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association.
Accept the National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands
#Report Corruption #SearchPosts #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
Women’s Role in History Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Environmental Week;
Women’s Week
Week 3: Philippine Industry and “
Made-in-the-Philippines Products Week
Last Week: Protection and Gender-Fair Treatment
of the Girl Child Week
Daily Observances:
March 8: Women’s Rights and
International Peace Day;
National Women’s Day
March 4: Employee Appreciation Day
March 15: World Consumer Rights Day
March 18: Global Recycling Day
March 21: International Day for the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination
March 23: International Day for the Right to the Truth
Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations
and for the Dignity of Victims
March 25: International Day of Remembrance of the
Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
March 27: Earth Hour
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