The Labour Relations Commission is prepared to facilitate talks today aimed at resolving the dispute which has led to a mutiny by the crew of a Russian ship docked in Waterford. Hopes of an early settlement receded yesterday, however, after the 18-man crew was apparently threatened with criminal sanctions on their return to their home port of Sevastopol.
The vessel, the Firyuza, has been berthed in Waterford since last Tuesday and was due to sail for Spain, with its cargo of animal feed, at lunch-time on Friday, but the crew, which has not been paid for three months, refused to sail.
Mr Tony Ayton of SIPTU, which was asked by the International Transport Federation to represent the crew, said the men were willing to enter talks which the LRC was prepared to facilitate in Waterford today. However, the talks cannot take place in the absence of a representative of the Moscow-based company, Ommar, which owns the ship. A London lawyer who the company offered to send to Waterford had still not arrived last night.
The crew, most of whom are Ukrainian, did receive a fax from their employer. Mr Ayton was preparing to have the document translated last night, but he said the crew had conveyed to him that it included threats of prosecution and even jail upon their return.
A local journalist who spoke Russian had confirmed the fax contained threats of punitive action. The communication, said Mr Ayton, had not helped those who were trying to arrive at a compromise.
Mr Ayton said the crew was being looked after well. The local agency handling the ship's cargo was providing meals as normal, while donations were also being made by locals. The company has said it will pay the crew when it receives some £600,000 it is owed by debtors.
