‘We just feel used’: Ex-Tradewind staff forced to plunder savings amid pay dispute
Tom ParryEx-Tradewind Voyages staff have urged the company’s Croatian owners to pay them the thousands of pounds they say they are owed in unpaid wages, describing to TTG the "heartbreak" they’ve felt having to drain their savings and appeal to friends and family for help to keep going.
Around 20 staff at the Suffolk-based cruise operator are believed to have been impacted, a number of whom claim not to have been paid for several months before they decided to leave the company. "We just feel used," said one ex-employee after helping the business get off the ground during the pandemic.
Owned by Croatian shipyard Brodospilt and its parent DIV Group, Tradewind was launched in June 2020 with plans to charter the world’s largest tall ship, Golden Horizon. However, earlier this year, Brodosplit and DIV Group were forced to refinance after EU sanctions were placed on the firm’s Russia-based major lender following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tradewind has since cancelled all cruises until October 2023 and Golden Horizon has been put up for sale. According to Companies House, Tradewind’s only active director is DIV Group chief executive Tomislav Debeljak, who was registered on 24 May 2022.
Speaking to TTG, Maddie Taylor, Tradewind’s former marketing manager, said she is owed nearly £14,000 by the company having last been paid in February. Taylor, who welcomed a baby daughter in April, said she had also not yet received maternity pay, which she believed had been sent directly to Tradewind.
After leaving the company this summer, Taylor took another job with a start-up firm, but was made redundant after only a few months. The new mum said she risks losing her home and described how her mental wellbeing had suffered greatly due to the stress of her situation.
“I was one of the first to be recruited at Tradewind," she said. "I loved my job and put everything into it. I’ve cried my eyes out so many times over what’s happened. I’m never going to get this time back with my daughter, and it’s been such a stressful and worrying time. There are so many bills to pay and we could lose our home. I’ve had to borrow thousands from my family.
"I used to be such a strong person but I’ve really been struggling. I’m begging Brodosplit and DIV Group to pay us. I’m heartbroken that I cannot enjoy my time with my baby girl. I can’t pay bills, let alone make special memories like a new family should be able to."
Taylor also claimed she had been “silenced” by Brodosplit and DIV Group management when posts on company social media groups attempting to highlight the situation were removed.
Rachel Healey, who joined Tradewind as UK business development manager in April 2020 before leaving the company in May 2022, told TTG how she was currently owed around £10,000 in wages and expenses.
“I’ve had to spend a huge amount of my savings, and we’ve had to rely on friends and family and borrow money,” she said. “You feel like nobody cares and we just feel used. We all worked so hard, having launched during the pandemic. To have it all thrown back in our face is such a horrible feeling.”
Another former member of Tradewind staff, who did not wish to be named, said they were also owed “thousands” by the company. “We all continued to work in good faith after the March payment was missed. We worked with no pay and we also used our personal cards for expenses as well,” they added.
Former employees have also voiced their anger over apparent plans to use Golden Horizon to host Croatian football fans at the Qatar World Cup in November. News of the ship’s redeployment came last month in a press release from the Croatian Business Council, which said the vessel would offer supporters “first-class service, top-notch dining, and elegant cabins”.
“The reasons we’ve been given for not being paid no longer wash when we see the Qatar plans,” said Taylor, who insisted UK staff should be paid before the company takes any money from its Qatar venture.
The anonymous ex-Tradewind employee added: “It’s incredibly infuriating to see the ship going out to Qatar – they are going to need to crew the ship to get it there. My frustration is that they must have some money somewhere.
“We’re still in a holding pattern. We are looking at what action we can take as a collective to get our money – can we pool a lot of creditors and take legal action that way? It’s a quagmire of a mess,” added the former employee."
A Brodosplit spokesperson told TTG: "While the DIV Group was the owner of Tradewind Voyages until November 2021, all obligations towards the employees were properly fulfilled and all employees were paid."
The spokesperson later added: "The DIV Group was the owner [of Tradewind Voyages] until 8 November 2021, and from then until 16 May 2022, the owner was Tradewind Voyages Holding B.V, a company that is not part of the DIV Group. which means that more than seven months Tradewind Voyages was managed by another company and had an obligation to the employees. Ownership was taken over by DIV Group again in May 2022."
Tom Parry
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