Summary
Part of a series of interview segments produced by the SUA/MUA in which retired Australian merchant seamen recount their working lives at sea as well as their engagement with union campaigns and activities. Each episode features a seaman, or sometimes a pair of seamen, sharing their story in a largely unstructured and extended interview. They form an important on camera collection of oral histories about Australia’s unionised merchant seamen.
In this episode Robyn Casey describes how she began work as cook on a dredger. She remembers the blokes taking the food home as well as the plates, which made her angry. The company supplied good food. Robyn later worked on a Norwegian ship and described the conditions as better than the Australian ships. She thinks that we are losing good seamen and ships because of the Howard Government.
Special Notes/Achievements
Picture and sound quality is low given low budget production.
Author: J Bird, 2023