Crew were still shining into the night during International Yacht Collection’s (IYC) Passport to Paradise VIP Yacht Hop last night. PHOTO/LUCY REED
Nautilus International announced their figures for 2024, recovering more than £2.17 million in unpaid wages and benefits for its members in the yachting sector. Nautilus International is a trade union and professional organization that serves, supports, and protects the interests of more than 20,000 maritime professionals in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Switzerland.
“We are proud of the work done in 2024 by Nautilus’s yacht and legal teams,” said Derek Byrne, head of the Union’s yacht sector on Nautilus’s announcement. “However, the increase also highlights the fact that non-payment of wages remains a significant problem in the sector. It’s very important to have a trade union on your side in cases like this. You deserve the pay that you have worked hard to earn — we are here to make sure you get it.”
The 2024 figure includes payouts for crewmembers on board M/Y Alfa Nero, which was seized by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda after being docked at the Antigua Yacht Club Marina for more than a year. The vessel was reportedly owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev, who was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury after the war between Russia and Ukraine started.
According to court documents, Burgess terminated the crew on board the vessel on March 22, 2022. Nautilus arrested the yacht on March 17, 2023, on behalf of the original crewmembers and those that continued to work as part of a skeleton crew. Nautilus sought the sale of the vessel to pay €2,242,991.62 with interest at the rate of 4% on the unpaid crew wages. A second claim was filed by the non-union crew on Oct. 14, 2023, for €439,494.40, plus costs and interest. These claims were eventually consolidated.
2024’s figure of recovered unpaid wages is higher than the £1.3 million recovered in 2023 and comes close to Nautilus’s record of more than £2.75 million in 2022. Nautilus attributes the increase to a steady growth of crew joining the trade union.
Aside from legal support, Nautilus also helps crew negotiate for better pay and working conditions, advice and assistance in maritime accidents and incidents, and access to services like their digital tool to log sea time. Nautilus is recognized by the International Labour Organization as the global trade union for those working on board in the yacht sector.
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