The company that chartered the cargo ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was recently sanctioned by regulators for blocking its employees from directly reporting safety concerns to the U.S. Coast Guard — in violation of a seaman whistleblower protection law, according to regulatory filings reviewed by The Lever.

Eight months before a Maersk Line Limited-chartered cargo ship crashed into the Baltimore bridge, likely killing six people and injuring others, the Labor Department sanctioned the shipping conglomerate for retaliating against an employee who reported unsafe working conditions aboard a Maersk-operated boat. In its order, the department found that Maersk had “a policy that requires employees to first report their concerns to [Maersk]… prior to reporting it to the [Coast Guard] or other authorities.”

  • Jaysyn@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    208
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    8 months ago

    Revoke their corporate charter.

    We need to start “executing” bad corporate actors, full stop.

    • mommykink@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      90
      ·
      8 months ago

      Instead the WH has said that they’re not going to be held financial responsible for any of the rebuilding and let’s just check in in about five years to see that literally nothing happens to Maersk because of this.

        • mommykink@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          68
          ·
          8 months ago

          “It is my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge"

          Please illustrate how Biden isn’t literally saying that Maersk will not be forced to pay for the cost of rebuilding?

          • rhombus@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            82
            ·
            8 months ago

            He didn’t say that the government won’t go after Maersk, just that the federal government is fronting the cost. If the bridge had to wait for Maersk to pay up it could be years before they begin rebuilding.

              • Pips@lemmy.sdf.org
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                24
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                8 months ago

                It happens all the time, a lot of things get handled this way because the infrastructure still needs to be fixed in a reasonable timeline.

              • Tyfud@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                21
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                8 months ago

                There’s thousands of examples of this working correctly in America, and very few of it not working.

                Please kindly stop spouting nonsense that’s not backed up by data.

              • deaf_fish@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                15
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                8 months ago

                Whoa, shifting goal posts. We were talking about what Biden said, not if we believed it. Slow your roll.

          • Cypher@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            19
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            8 months ago

            Good to see you consistently having the most brain dead takes on all of lemmy lol

          • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            8 months ago

            Whose at fault and whom should pay what damages will be decided over the next few years after a long ass lawsuit. The process of clearing the wreckage, speccing out, and rebuilding will get started soon. It was always going to be the government paying for the rebuild and any lawsuits winding down years later. Biden’s statement is that the federal government rather than city or state will bear the cost. This is just you not understanding what’s going on.

              • grue@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                45
                arrow-down
                3
                ·
                edit-2
                8 months ago

                Honestly, no: it’s clear that Biden intends to use Federal money in the short term to get the bridge back in service as quickly as possible, but it is not at all clear that he intends to let the shipping company (or whoever is ultimately responsible) off the hook for restitution after-the-fact.

              • protist@mander.xyz
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                34
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                edit-2
                8 months ago

                Wow, how dense to read these words and think “Biden isn’t going to hold Maersk accountable.” He’s telling the people and governments of Baltimore and Maryland that the federal government is going to back them up so they don’t have to rebuild on their own. How can you seriously read those words and think “Well I guess they’re not going to hold Maersk accountable?” Any investigation into what happened is going to take time, but the bridge needs to be rebuilt ASAP. Money the government spends on this will be recouped later through insurance settlements, fines, and/or lawsuits

                  • Kalysta@lemm.ee
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    7
                    ·
                    8 months ago

                    The amount of money this company just cost the US economy is why they are going to hold whatever company is ultimately found to be at fault accountable.

                    In this case one company just brought shipping from one of the largest ports on the eastern seaboard to a complete halt. If maersk is at fault they will have hefty fines to pay. But we don’t know the ultimate cause of the ship losing power yet.

                    The money being lost is more important than corporate privilege.

                  • 24_at_the_withers@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    7
                    ·
                    8 months ago

                    Maybe not if it were an American company on the brink of collapse, but Maersk is a Danish company - and an exceptionally wealthy/profitable one at that. The cities, governments, and companies that are all affected by this will be eager to collect their pound of flesh from Maersk.

              • AngryishHumanoid@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                18
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                8 months ago

                Yeah but that’s not what you said. You said the White House said the company wouldn’t be financially responsible, Biden said the federal government would provide funding to get the bridge rebuilt as soon as possible, meaning not wait for the company to pay for the damages, which will of course take years (which is the real problem here). You’re spinning it in a very different way.

              • BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                11
                ·
                8 months ago

                It’s pretty clear. We don’t have time to deal with lawsuits, which will take years. Nowhere in his speech does he say they won’t be trying to recoup the money.

              • TipRing@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                9
                ·
                8 months ago

                He means as opposed to the state picking up the costs. He is talking about supporting the state in the immediately preceding sentence.