THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608030352
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 39 lines
Seafarers face many of the same difficulties that workers throughout the international economy face - technology replacing people, downsizing and outsourcing, the executive secretary of North American Maritime Ministries Association says.
``What seafarers are experiencing today is what workers throughout our economy are experiencing,'' Paul Chapman told a gathering of ministers and volunteers Friday.
Chapman advised the group to listen to seafarers who seek them out and to lend a hand whenever possible. Foreign seamen frequently turn to port ministries with complaints about conditions aboard ships.
``You can't pretend you can fix it because we're in a much bigger trap than any of us can get out of by ourselves,'' Chapman said. ``It does honor to a person sometimes just to listen to their story and understand it.''
Chapman, the former director of he Center for Seafarers' Rights, spoke at Churchland Baptist Church in Chesapeake, where nearly 40 people are gathered for a two-day series of seminars on ministering to commercial seamen. They were brought here by the 1996 Seafarer's Minister's Fellowship.
Due to technology, increased productivity and flags of convenience without tough safety and manning requirements, the maritime industry has been turning to Third World labor, cutting workers and letting conditions deteriorate on ships for the past 15 years, Chapman said.
Those attending represented ministries from as far away as New Orleans and Philadelphia that are similar to those in Hampton Roads, including the Norfolk Seamen's Friend Society and the International Seamen's Friend House in Newport News. The ministers and volunteers will also dedicate a new center for the Newport News Seamen's Friend House.
The newly opened center at 2901 Huntington Ave. will be dedicated at 3 p.m. Sunday in a ceremony at Trinity United Methodist Church around the corner on 29th Street. A reception will follow. by CNB