Fishy business. The Social Impact of SST.pdf - Act Now!

sometimes, sometimes not. I did not particiate in the strike. We are not penalized for being latebut we sign a warning letter. The fish are exported to japan, Taiwan and the filipinnes. The shipand stevedores take the wastes out to sea to dump.Sandra, married female, 37 years old, 6 children, originally from Wingun West Yangoru, nowat Nuigo settlement. I gave my name to the ward councilor and he gave it to Philomena Nauraand I started working. Did your application form ask about union membership? No, but I did fillanother application form from the union called Malam ken method and register K5 to DorothyLabu. I work in the loining section. Im paid K101 per fortnight. I don’t know if tax is deducted,but they deduct for the gumboots. They once promised us transport but did nothing. ..Yes, thesmell is very bad and sometimes many workers vomit. ..the supervisors give commands to theteam leaders to force us to work quickly but they’ve stopped forcing us now. I did participate inthe strike, hey agreed to raise the pays. The wastes go to John Buman’s boat and are dumped atsea. All my money goes to food. Does the sst mess fit all the workers during lunch? No.Lina, female, married and 35 years old, with 7 children, originally from Angriman village onthe Sepik, now at Nuigo settlement. I gave my name to Philomena Naura and she interviewedme for the job. Did you pay to register for work? No. I filled out a form by Robert Wani andAlex Anis from Sepik Coastal about another union. I work in the packing section. They deductK30 for the boots only. I earn 110 per fortnight and 150 if I work overtime. They said transportwould be provided when I got employed but they did nothing. Lunch break is 30 minutes. 1/3rice, kaukau, lam flaps and greens. We smell the odor when working. The supervisors force usto work quickly but because of the strike they stopped doing this. I participated in the strike, andthey promised to increase the pay and asked the workers to be on time. Does the wage you getsatisfy your needs? No. Since working there I have had back pains, headaches and vomiting.Karen at Kreer market camp. Female, married with one child, age 24, originally fromKuminikum village in Wosera, living now at Kreer market. I was interested in working at SouthSeas Tuna because they employ anybody, educated and uneducated to work so it’s easy for meto get a job and earn some money. One of my aunties gave my name to Philomena Nauru theSST supervisor and later they put my name on the board and she interviewed me. We had anorientation meeting before and they explained everything to us. I work in the loinery. I earn K50per fortnight. All the money goes to food. I started work in February. Some women smell theodor and vomit.Helen started with SST 2004 June 18, in 3 weeks at the start I was paid 95 kina, this they saidwas probation pay. I was a helping hand in the Catering Department for 10 months, it wasdifferent from any other place I’d worked, we has so many laws, it was filled with manylaws—no talking back to Supervisors or Managers of the section, and if we did we wereterminated or suspended, so they told us this law when we started. Also they had bigdifferences, ways where, the bosses looking after our section treated us as schoolchildren, notlike real adults working for pay, treated us like slaves, worked us so hard for this company, weworked 7-8 hours, 8 hours at night duty and 7 hours at day, we worked 2 shifts, both night andday sometimes. Besides, the boss of us would make bad stuff with us. They’d treat us really badin the Catering Department. The man inside there treated us really badly, and the boss wouldeven force us to go sit with him after work before we had a break, when he’d say nasty things tous, even insult Sepik people in general. This was always while I was working as a helping handin the Catering Dept. I applied for a position there. This boss man is John Veali, from Aroma,Central Province. Inside the factory all these Supervisors and Team Leaders they all got big payand raises, while all us workers, the majority, much less, way below that, some got K37 kina—and for me it was sometimes K120, sometimes K84, or whatever, it varied.. And they had me148