Poor conditions inside fishing vessels. Photo Credit: Bayan Seattle.

Making situations worse, the fishermen were expected to pay for their own expenses on board: Fishing equipment, gasoline (to fuel their employer’s boat), internet, and food. Migrante Seattle, expressed that these expenses “continued during the months that they were abandoned in Westport.” Much of this money was borrowed from McAdams, indebting workers to the very company keeping them trapped inside.

In mid-December, six fishermen were provided temporary emergency housing thanks to the efforts of concerned community members and approval from the Department of Homeland Security to leave their ships. Calling themselves ‘The United Six,’ they aim to fight for justice for the fishermen still stuck at Westport and build power with Filipino overseas workers as a whole.

The United Six

The group of six fishermen who left their ships spoke in Seattle at a community forum last week. Here is some of what they said.

Mickel Mendez, started. “We were buried in debt,” Mendez said, “I’ve worked many hours for Pescadores and McAdams because I believed that leaving and working outside the country would make our lives better… Agencies like McAdams and Pescadores should answer for their misdoings towards us workers.”

Albert Docuyan, another fisherman, spoke to the effect the abandonment has had on his family. “When Pescadores and McAdams abandoned us, my children had to stop going to school” he said, “I had no money to send home to support their needs. It pains me as a parent… My spouse was forced to leave the Philippines to work overseas to make up for the responsibilities I was not able to fulfill because of the exploitation of McAdams and Pescadores. My family will go back to school but at the cost of our family being separated. We want to expose these companies so we can get justice and prevent the separation of other Filipino families like what happened with ours.”

Norberto Cabrela, another fisherman, was denied return home to be with his wife during her pregnancy. “In November 2023, I informed the agency that I was planning to return home to support my wife as she was going to give birth soon and our adopted child is only a year old. The response I received from the office was to not message them and to instead tell the Fisherman Captain… When I did, I was not allowed to go home. When December 12th came, my wife gave birth. She had difficulty and had to undergo a caesarian operation. God Willing, she and our child are okay. However, the next day brought us a large issue because of the expensive hospital bill we were being charged. I messaged Pescadores once again to ask for the remaining allotment for my family but they still did not give it in full. According to them, the allotment was still not sent by McAdams. I was unable to eat nor sleep well because of our worries. Due to the financial issue, my wife and child were unable to be released from the hospital, and I have had to pawn the title of our home so that we could cover the hospital fee. I gave almost four years of my life and labor power to McAdams and Pescadores, but with what they did to us, I was exposed to the truth that they do not care or have consideration for their workers. In this type of situation, our only hope was through mobilizing and fighting against their abuses. Us workers are the ones who create value and profit for these companies–it is time that they give value to us, the workers.”

Reyner Dagalea talked about his experience of severe isolation. “I stayed alone in the boat. I felt so sad and lonely during my stay there. This is the first time I stayed alone in the boat since we cannot go to another boat or anywhere else but only stay inside the boat. I felt like a prisoner on board. I always remember my family in the Philippines, worried that I cannot support them financially due to the situation I am currently in…. I was deprived of my freedom and not treated like a human being. Seafarers and workers too often are isolated and left to suffer these conditions alone. It would have been easy for me to lose hope but what I have learned in this experience is that I was not truly alone. Our unity and collective action gave me optimism and showed me that I can change my conditions by fighting back and taking action.”

Richard Zambales, another fisherman said “When we docked at Westport and were stranded there for three months, I experienced depression because we have almost no earnings… I was unable to sleep or think right because of problems such as how I could send money back home or sustain (my family’s) needs… It was depressing to not catch enough fish, to not be afforded any consideration even just to give us any age at all. What hurts the most is that they didn’t respond to any of our wishes. They didn’t feel any empathy towards us even though we did everything that we are supposed to do at work…. We have pawned almost all our belongings just so we can have enough to sustain all of our family’s needs, not just me but all of us here are being buried in debt because they are not listening to our grievances about our needs.”

Rey, the last speaker of the United Six in attendance, closed, “We believed then that if we were to go to another country to work, our lives would be better off in the end. We never had any negative thoughts then because we thought it was a good opportunity but we never expected for our humanity to be stepped on. We served and worked for them diligently, but as it turns out, they were the only ones that benefited from the fruits of our labor… Among the 24 fishermen, a few of us were emboldened and 10 of us were in solidarity and planned to escape. With the help of Gabriela, a mass organization, and with the help of Homeland Security, we were able to get off our vessels. From the 10, only 6 of us went along with Homeland Security because the others were eaten by fear at that point… After we got off board, we saw that there indeed were many who were supportive to our cause… We are deeply thankful for your endless patience in supporting us until we achieve victory. What we have done is not simply for ourselves but so that this will stop and so that no other Filipino Worker will have to experience what we have gone through.”

A Larger Issue: US Imperialism and Labor Trafficking

As the fishermen mentioned last week, this is not just an isolated incident. This is a large-scale problem that affects overseas fishermen working in the US and sets them up to experience labor exploitation.

“This is very clearly an issue of human trafficking” Cyrus Denato from the International Transport Workers’ Federation told the Seattle forum. “They earn about $100 a month when they should be paid $720 a month plus overtime…The core fundamental problem is that seafarers working on US flag ships are not required to have a US visa so in this case they flew them into canada and mexico and the fishing vessels picked them up and brought them back to the US for where they sit for months at a time… it creates an imbalance of power where if you do not have a visa you can not physically step off the fishing ship… If the operator has any problems with fishermen, they can simply call customs and say ‘this person is problematic’ and force them to go back home.” Denato went on to describe a fisherman who spent four years in a ‘legal limo’ in Hawaii, unable to go home or see family and was forced to defecate and wash clothes in a bucket due to poor conditions.

Denato specified that for the fishermen at Westport, each of the 24 workers is owed about six-thousand dollars.

Building off of that, Justin from Migrante Seattle touched on the connection between the present labor exploitation, human trafficking, and US imperialism over the Philippines. “This is another example of how these labor agencies that only exist to pawn our people off for other businesses and other countries to profit off of. This is the kind of business that is prioritized for development in our country rather than building up business and industries in our own homeland that could meet our own people's needs and employ our people at home. This is a grave injustice.”

Demands

As sent to The Nightly by Bayan Seattle, another Filipino community organizing alliance, there are two sets of demands. One set is from the Fishermen while the other set is from the larger community as part of a “Justice for the United 6” campaign. More information on how to help as a student is in the next and final section.

The Fishermen’s Demands:

• For McAdams and Pescadores to compensate for all of the work or labor performed by the fishermen. 

• To investigate McAdams and Pescadores. End the outright deceitful hiring and illegal work practices of McAdams and Pescadores.​​​​​​

• Provide them with proper documentation to work and provide for their families or support with repatriation to the Philippines.

• Protect other workers in the industry so that this does not continue to happen to other workers in the future. 

Community’s Justice for the United Six Campaign Demands:

• The Philippine Government must take the necessary steps to serve the abandoned Overseas Filipino Workers.

• The US Government must investigate the hiring and work practices of McAdams Fish. Hold them accountable to pay out all back pay to the fishermen and drop all "debt" accrued while they were abandoned at the Westport Marina.

How to Help

As a short but important outro, here are a few ways that the United Six and the community organizing to support them are asking for your help.

Following the campaign’s social media is a good first step. Another important ask from organizers is to sign the community petition linked here as well as donating if possible. Their donation information as well as other useful information can be found on their Linktree.

For now, all eyes are on the fishermen still stranded in the Westport Marina and the United Six fishermen who have been allowed to leave and are fighting for justice. Their struggle against human trafficking and the exploitation of Filipino labor is part of the world-wide struggle against ongoing US imperialism and capitalism. Supporting the fishermen and engaging with efforts to help them get justice is critical.