Parola Special Edition – PRIMER 2006 ILO Maritime Labour Convention – A PRIMER ON THE INTERNATIONAL BILL OF RIGHTS FOR SEAFARERS – November 2006 (375 KB)

A PRIMER ON
THE INTERNATIONAL BILL OF RIGHTS FOR SEAFARERS

It is hailed as The Magna Carta for Seafarers. On February 23, 2006 in Geneva, the International Labour Organization adopted the 2006 Maritime Labour Convention, a “super convention” which lays down very detailed labour standards for the world’s maritime sector.

Governments, shipowners, and seafarers’ unions, in an historic demonstration of solidarity and tripartite unity, overwhelmingly voted for the Convention, which consolidates and updates 68 international maritime labour instruments. The treaty’s objective, according to the ILO, is to set out, in plain language, a seafarers’ bill of rights, while allowing a sufficient degree of government discretion at the national level to deliver those rights with transparency and accountability.

What does the new ILO Convention mean for seafarers?

While the Convention text uses down-to-earth English, it is not at all an easy document to read and understand. A seafarer who has the time and the inclination to read this treaty would immediately be daunted by its length – the Convention is over 100 pages long! The Convention is also a technical document: a seafarer will find it very difficult to appreciate the nuances of, or the distinctions among, “principles”, “articles”, “regulations”, the “Code”, “mandatory standards”, and “non-mandatory guidelines” which underlie the Convention; nor can the average seafarer easily relate to the directives in the Convention on, say, compliance and enforcement

And yet the ILO hopes that the new Convention will “bring the international system of protection closer to the seafarer”. Since the Convention is meant to protect seafarers from abuses frequently associated with sub-standard shipping industry practices, it is only proper that seafarers are knowledgeable about this system of protection enshrined in the Convention. A Bill of Rights can only make sense if the holders of these rights – the seafarers themselves – are aware of the importance and significance of those rights in their everyday work and everyday life. For the seafarer, the purpose of the Convention should be to enable him to adequately know those rights, to imbibe those rights in his consciousness and his professional habits, and to experience the reality of those rights in the same way that he experiences the pervasive reality of the sea and his ship. Only in that sense will the Convention, like any other bill of rights document, be deemed worthy and empowering.

This Primer, which adopts a conversational style of Q&A, is an attempt to simplify the new ILO Convention for the benefit of seafarers. The urgent need for a Primer on the ILO Maritime Labour Convention for Filipino seafarers was indeed highlighted during a recent Forum entitled The 2006 ILO Consolidated Labour Convention: Implementing the Magna Carta for Filipino Seafarers, convened by PSAP-Parola in Cebu on September 29, 2006.

This Primer is dedicated to all the hard-working men and women seafarers, especially our kababayan, whose travails have inspired the entire international maritime community to come up with the Convention – a truly heroic and pioneering response to the enormous challenges of globalization and humanization which press on our wide world of work today.

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Q & A

The International Bill of Rights for Seafarers

A Seafarer’s Guide to the
2006 ILO Maritime Labour Convention

(updates and adjustments as of October 2007
are highlighted in green font)

Outline of Contents

• Underlying Motivation and the Scope of the Convention
• Navigating the Convention as a body of Global Standards on the Employment of Seafarers
• The Role of the Seafarer in Enforcement and Compliance: Realizing Rights and Standards under the Convention

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Q: I heard that this new ILO Convention is an important agreement, but very long and complicated. I would like to see this document.

A: You can view or download the “Maritime Labour Convention, 2006″ – this is the official name that was given to this new ILO Convention – from the relevant website of the ILO: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/norm/mlc2006, or from the website of the International Committee on Seafarers Welfare: www.seafarerswelfare.org.

Or, you can email your request to PSAP-Parola at psap@planet.nl and we’ll send you a copy of the Convention as an attached PDF file. You can also request a copy via icsw@icsw.org.uk.

Q: I have glanced at the document and the PDF file version indicates that the Convention is 110 pages long! How do I even begin to understand this lengthy document?

A: If you have the time and the interest, read the entire Convention at your own leisurely pace. But a nice way to get a grip on the Convention is to have a good overview of it. That is the purpose of this Primer.

Q: Tell me why it is important that I should be knowledgeable about this Convention?

A: Consider what you learn about the Convention as part of your continuing professional education. Any professional must know the most important developments in his trade. It has been said that the Convention is the “fourth pillar” of the global maritime regulatory system, the other three pillars being the SOLAS, MARPOL, and STCW Conventions. In fact, your knowledge of the 2006 ILO Convention should equal, if not exceed, your knowledge of SOLAS, MARPOL, or STCW. Why? Because the new ILO Convention not only touches on issues affecting maritime safety, marine environmental protection, and maritime education and training; it also deals with your rights, your legitimate expectations, and your dignity as a worker and as a person. If you believe that what matters most in any shipping enterprise are people, the so-called human element, then you would surely want to know how people – the seafarers – are given motivation to do their jobs properly and how they are protected from the harsh and sometimes inhuman conditions surrounding their vocation. This is why it is important for you have some adequate knowledge of the Convention.

Q: For the reason you just cited, it should be the responsibility of every seafarer to know what this new Convention is all about. Now what is the Convention all about?

A: Getting to know what the Convention is all about is pretty much like going on a sea voyage. When you embark on a sea voyage, you generally go through three stages: you prepare for the trip, you sail away and undertake the voyage itself, and then you reach your destination.

That is how we will tackle the Convention in this Primer. First, we get to know some preliminaries about the Convention – a sort of planning for the voyage ahead. Secondly, we get underway and sail towards our destination, navigating through the various landmark provisions of the Convention. And then finally, we reach our destination by imagining what our world will be like when the Convention is enforced or implemented – in other words, we will try to anticipate what will happen when the Convention “enters into force”.

This is the 3-part story that we will follow in this Primer.

Underlying Motivation and Scope of the Convention

Q: That sounds like a good adventure story to me. Let’s deal with the first challenge. Tell me what I should know beforehand about the Convention. Why did the ILO decide to embark on this project? And what motivated governments, shipowners, and trade unions to agree to this Convention as new international law?

A: The Convention was adopted on February 23, 2006 in Geneva by the 94th International Labour Conference (Maritime). The work on this Convention started. Five years ago in January 2001, when ship owners and maritime trade unions reached a common understanding to consolidate and bring up-to-date existing ILO Conventions by means of a single “framework convention” on maritime labour standards. This consolidation of numerous ILO instruments into a single “super convention” would thereby improve safety, social and working conditions in the maritime industry.

Q: So this grand project to bundle up all international labour standards that apply to my work as a seafarer began in 2001. Why didn’t the shipowners and trade unions think of consolidating all those maritime instruments much earlier?

A: International merchant shipping, as you know, has changed a lot in the past 20 years. A fundamental change had taken place in the way seafarers are recruited and employed. In the arena of recruitment, for example, a shipowner who employs a Filipino crew can change his crew overnight and replace them with a Ukrainian, or an Indian, or a Chinese crew. Or else, the shipowner can easily choose a mix of seafarers with different nationalities for his crew. There was a very confused and confusing situation about what basic labour regulations and standards applied to a particular crew or a particular ship. In 2001, shipowners and trade unions understood that the emergence of the global labour market for seafarers had effectively transformed the shipping industry into the world’s first genuinely global industry, And they believed that this situation required a global response by way of a body of global minimum standards. In other words, the need to consolidate all international maritime labour standards arose from a fairly recent recognition that recruitment and employment conditions for seafarers must achieve some uniformity throughout the shipping industry, irrespective of where the seafarers come from or where their ships are registered

Q: I get your point about confusing standards. One ship where I have worked, called the MV Baluktot, was literally a floating coffin: it was not only very dangerous to work there; the shipping company also did not pay the right salary and the overtime that they promised under my contract. In contrast, my current employer is very conscious about safety aboard the MV Matino which is where I work now, and the company and union have entered into a collective agreement which is respected.

This makes me wonder: You say that shipping companies agreed to have a Convention that will lay down some uniform labour standards which will be applicable to all ships sailing anywhere in the world. But why should certain shipowners, like the company which owns MV Baluktot, agree to bind themselves to common international labour standards, when it is clearly to their commercial advantage to maintain poor working conditions for their crew? The owners of MV Baluktot were getting business deals all over, and they made a lot of money because the crew were cheated in their wages and the shipowner did not use his profits to improve that lousy ship.

A: You have hit the nail on its head. The owners of MV Baluktot are part of a group of shipping companies which presents a real threat not only the safety and dignity of seafarers but also to those shipping companies, like the owners of MV Matino, who play by the rules and treat their workers decently. The sub-standard operators of MV Baluktot drive their costs and prices down to attract more customers and to corner business deals and, as a result, the decent shipowners are put in a competitive disadvantage or else squeezed out of the market. Unfortunately, the policies of some governments even aid and encourage these sub-standard operators.

It was the decent shipowners, and not the sub-standard ship operators, who called for the consolidation of all maritime labour standards. This is the reason why the Convention is said to embody a “decent work” agenda, designed to promote “quality shipping” and induce a “level playing field” to remove unfair competition among shipping companies and among countries where ships are registered and where crews are recruited. This is also the reason why the Convention is foreseen to have a “universal” or world-wide application whose provisions could be easily updated – to ensure that sub-standard ships like MV Baluktot, as well as their owners, will not be able to operate anywhere in the world.

Q: That is very reassuring. Is the Convention meant to be applied to all ships?

A: The labour standards in the Convention will be applicable to all merchant ships, including government-owned ships that are engaged in commercial activities. However, the following types of ships are NOT covered by the Convention:

1. Ships that operate exclusively in a county’s inland waters or inside sheltered waters or areas, because in these cases port regulations are applicable;
2. Fishing vessels;
3. Ships of traditional build, such as dows and junks; and
4. Warships or naval auxiliaries.

Thus, seafarers who work on these four categories of excluded ships are not under the care and protection of the 2006 ILO Convention. All other seafarers are protected by the Convention.

Q: It’s a pity that fishing vessels are not included. I know some seafarers from my home town who work on these big ocean-going commercial fishing vessels, and they have to endure terrible working and living conditions on board. Why exclude fishing boats?

A: Recently, in June 2007, the International Labour Conference adopted the “Work in Fishing Convention, 2007″ and the “Work in Fishing Recommendation, 2007″ which lay down decent work standards for fishermen-seafarers. The rights of fishers who work aboard shipping vessels are defined and protected under these equally-important ILO agreements.

Q: Does the Convention also exclude certain ships on the basis of size? My cousin, who is a seaman like me, works on this rather small ship, the 175 GT MV Maliit, which sails back and forth from Cebu to Vietnam. Will his ship be covered by the Convention?

A: The Convention says that, under certain conditions, a government may choose not to apply the Convention to ships of less than 200 gross tonnage. But then, the Convention also says that no government can exclude such ships from the coverage of the Convention if these small vessels are engaged in international voyages. Therefore, the 175 GT MV Maliit, which trades internationally, is covered by the Convention.

Q: How many merchant ships are we talking about which will be covered by the new ILO Convention?

A: According to the Shipping Facts website (www.marisec.org), there are around 50,000 ships trading internationally, registered in some 150 countries and manned by over one million seafarers of every nationality. So we can safely assume that all these 50,000 vessels will be under the purview of the Convention.

Q: Wow! More than one million seafarers will enjoy the benefits of this Convention. But what exactly are the benefits contained in the Convention that seafarers will be able enjoy?

A: Your question takes us to the second part of this Primer. Now that we know the background story behind the Convention, as well as the scope of its application in terms ships covered, we can proceed with our journey and explore the most interesting features of the Convention, navigating our way through those provisions that are most relevant for seafarers. We are now ready to discuss the so-called “minimum standards” which guarantee decent work for seafarers. “Minimum standards” is simply another name for the “benefits” that you will enjoy under the Convention.

Navigating the Convention as a body of global standards on the employment of seafarers

Q: Under the new Convention, how are seafarers to be protected from bad employment conditions?

A: We are able to determine “bad” employment conditions, as well as “good” employment conditions, by means of “standards”. As a seafarer, you are no stranger to the term “standards”. For instance, you are already familiar with “safety standards” prescribed under SOLAS. You have heard about the “discharge standards” under MARPOL. You are familiar with the “training and certification standards” under the STCW. You also know that “standards” in these instances refer to “minimum” standards, or minimum requirements that must be complied with. To be able to keep to a standard, or to exceed a standard, is good. To fall below a standard is bad. Thus, you are aware of the existence a “substandard ship” – a bad and dangerous ship which usually gets detained in port after a port State control inspection.

Standards concerning employment conditions for seafarers are also not new to you. The various ILO instruments, 68 of them, which were consolidated in the new ILO Convention separately spell out standards governing seafarers’ employment. As you can imagine, the new Convention contains a comprehensive set of standards, which are meant to protect seafarers from unacceptable or bad employment conditions.

Q: So all standards governing labour employment in the maritime sector are now found in one Convention? There must be hundreds of these standards! Is there an easy way to remember all these maritime labour standards?

A: The new Convention consolidated all ILO maritime labour instruments, except one: the 2003 Convention on seafarers’ identity documents. Standards addressing seafarers’ identity documents are, therefore, not found in the 2006 ILO Convention.

1. The 2003 ILO Convention on seafarers’ identity documents (No. 185) and its predecessor, ILO Convention No. 108;
2. ILO Convention No. 71, on seafarers’ pensions; and
3. ILO Convention No. 15, referring to minimum age for trimmers and stokers.

Since these conventions were not amended or replaced by the new ILO Convention, the specific standards contained in these conventions, e.g., on seafarers’ identity documents, remain valid and applicable.

If you look at the “table of contents” of the Convention, which we have reproduced at the end of this Primer, you will get a bird’s-eye-view of the maritime labour standards that have been bundled-up or consolidated, which divide into four Titles, namely

1. Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship
2. Conditions of employment
3. Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering, and
4. Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection

Interestingly, the Convention contains another class of standards under a fifth Title, which relate to “enforcement and compliance”.

Q: I now have one more reason why I should be knowledgeable about the new Convention. If it is ‘a must’ for a seafarer to be familiar with ship safety standards, it is also ‘a must’ for him to be familiar with the standards governing his employment. After all, the seafaring vocation has everything to do with observing and upholding international standards.

Now I’m getting curious: Why is the new Convention referred to as a “bill of rights for seafarers”? If the Convention is about minimum standards, how do “rights of seafarers” fit into the picture? What is the difference between a “right” and a “standard”?

A: The short answer is: “rights” are sources of “minimum standards”. “Rights” and “standards” are two sides of the same coin.

To illustrate: the “right” of a seafarer to fair terms of employment translates into the “standard” that the terms and conditions of employment of seafarer must be set forth in a written and legally enforceable agreement. In the Convention, there are several other standards that have been derived from this “right to fair terms of employment”. It could be said that all the labour standards laid down in the Convention, found under the five titles mentioned above emanate, directly or indirectly, from the rights of seafarers which are identified in the Convention.

Q: What then are these “rights” which are the source of the standards laid down in the Convention? How many rights are we dealing with here?

A: If you will once again take quick look at the “table to contents” of the Convention reproduced at the end of this Primer, you will notice that Articles III and IV of the Convention explicitly mention the word “rights”. We can list the rights enumerated under these Articles as follows:

Fundamental Rights to -
1. freedom of association and right to collective bargaining;
2. the elimination of all forms of forced labour;
3. the effective abolition of child labour;
4. the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Seafarers’ Employment and Social Rights, which are -

5. the right to a safe and secure workplace that complies with safety standards;
6. the right to fair terms of employment;
7. the right to decent working and living conditions on board ship;
8. the right to health protection, medical care, welfare measures and other forms of social protection.

In relation to enforcement and compliance -

9. the right to report violations of standards under the Convention.

You can think of these nine rights as the roots that support the big leafy tree of minimum standards which we find under the five Titles of the Convention, or under the so-called “Regulations” and “Code”.

Q: I shall remember that. Rights give rise to minimum standards. But why should I bother about rights? You see, in my experience as a seafarer, when you talk about rights, you can get into trouble.

Let me explain. When I was as a seaman on the MV Baluktot, rights were nothing but legal gobbledygook which the shipowner praised in public but, in reality, were ignored and trampled upon. There were many nice-sounding rights and entitlements in my employment contract, and when I complained to assert my rights, I was .red for insubordination. It would have been better if I shut up.

On the other hand, in my present job on the MV Matino, the crew do not talk about rights, although we know that our employer treats us fairly according to the terms of our contract. I work hard and I am satisfied with my work on MV Matino. So I do not have to assert any rights, or talk about rights, because I do not have any reason to complain about my work, and I might get into trouble.

So why should I bother about “seafarers’ rights”?

A: That’s a very challenging question.

Short answer: Some people in the shipping industry, especially sub-standard operators, have this psychological or ideological problem about “rights”, or “human rights”, or “seafarers’ rights”. The mere mention of the word “rights” will immediately put them on the defensive. Perhaps the new Convention will encourage these people to see “rights” or “labour standards” in a more favorable light.

The rather long answer: A right has two aspects: first, the aspect concerning the entitlement or the right per se; and second, the aspect of the enforcement or the realization of the right. It is true that when rights are routinely violated and the violators routinely go scot-free, those rights do seem like empty phrases and become nonsense legal abstractions. Also, when your rights are consistently respected, they do not become an issue and you can somehow forget about them or else take them for granted.

“Seafarers’ Rights” are always a good thing because the focus is on the dignity and integrity of people, not things. The nice thing about having a right is that somebody else is duty-bound to respect that right. And when this duty belonging to that somebody is not carried out, a third party, like a judge or a policeman, can be called upon to intervene in order to enforce that duty. So the enforcement of a duty simply follows from the fact that a person has a recognized right. Your experiences on the MV Baluktot and the MV Matino do not defeat the importance and significance of “rights”: in one case, the duty to respect your right was violated; in the other case, this duty was upheld. The problem is enforcement.

The good news is that the ILO Convention prescribes unique mechanisms which would make sure that parties who have the duty, or who have promised, to respect seafarers’ rights are surely condemned or punished if they do not fulfill their duty.

In sum, you can imagine “rights” in this way: a right under the ILO Convention is some kind of a weapon that is available only to you to defend yourself from an attack. If and when you are attacked, you have to defend yourself with this weapon. In many instances, other people with be there to help you use your weapon against your attacker. The important thing is: you must know that you have a weapon.

Q: I will also remember that: Under the Convention, seafarers’ rights are like a secret weapon. This secret weapon is also called “enforcement of minimum standards”. Give me some advice about how and when I should actually use my secret weapon? How do I go about realizing my rights under the Convention?

A: The advice you seek can be summarized in two words: be vigilant!

Your question signals that we are now ready to finish our three-part journey: we have reached our destination, which means we have to consider the important topic of enforcement of rights and standards.

The role of the seafarer in enforcement and compliance: realizing rights and standards under the Convention

Q: How do I know that my ship complies with the standards laid down in the 2006 Maritime Labour Convention?

A: It is very likely that your ship is already compliant with many existing international standards which have simply been carried over to the new ILO Convention. For example, you have a medical certificate attesting to the fact that you are medically fit as a seafarer. The medical testing procedures that you have undergone have surely passed certain international standards recognized by the flag state of MV Matino and by the Philippines, which are also most likely the same standards or regulations relating to “medical certificate” laid down in the Convention.

Whether your ship is complying with the Convention as a whole depends on the ratification and entry into force of the Convention.

Q: Are you saying that, at this point in time, October 2007, the Convention does not yet apply to my ship?

A: Yes. Although the Convention has been overwhelmingly adopted by governments, shipowners and maritime trade unions, the Convention has still to be formally ratified or approved by a sufficient number of countries before it can be enforced meaningfully. This will take a while because governments need time to study this comprehensive, wide-ranging Convention. Governments certainly have to prepare themselves by way of adjusting national regulations or passing new laws; consulting with unions, shipowners and other national stakeholders on how best to implement the Convention; allocating budgets; training officials for the proper implementation of the Convention, etc. For example, the British government announced that it will need at least four years before the UK is in the position to ratify the Convention.

Q: When then can we expect the standards in the Convention to be enforced? When will the Convention become effective?

A: Internationally, the Convention will take effect, or will enter into force, one year after at least 30 countries, with a share of 33% in the world gross tonnage of ships, ratify the Convention. After this, for a particular country, say the flag State of MV Matino, the Convention and all the standards contained therein will take effect twelve months after the ratification of the Convention by that country.

Q: How do I know that the country where my ship is registered (flag State) has ratified the Convention?

A: Ratifications to this important Convention will be published widely. Check out maritime websites (like the ILO website mentioned above:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/norm/mlc2006/index.htm, or Parola’s website: www.psap-parola.org) for the latest updates. You can of course always ask your captain. Another good way to find out is to check the notice board on your ship. If your ship is 500 GT or over, you will know that your flag State has ratified the Convention because there should be posted on your ship’s notice board copies of the following two documents:

1. “Maritime Labour Certificate” (certifying that the working and living conditions of seafarers onboard have been inspected by the flag State and meet the standards of the Convention)
2. “Declaration of Maritime labour Compliance” (which indicates the flag State’s requirements on working and living conditions for seafarers and sets out the measures adopted by the shipowner to ensure compliance with these requirements).

Seafarers are entitled to request copies of these two vital documents. It will be worth your while to familiarize yourself with these ship documents once they become available on board.

Q: Let us assume that the Convention has entered into force. What is the significance of this event to me as a seafarer?

A: The entry into force of the Convention will give you important opportunities to assert you rights (when you need to use your ‘secret weapon’) and to participate in the process of enforcing the standards Convention. You will be able to play an important role in maintaining and promoting a “culture of compliance” with respect to the standards of the Convention.

Q: What are these opportunities available to me that will allow me to contribute to this “culture of compliance” when the Convention takes effect.

A: We will consider the three crucial opportunities under the Convention that allow you to file a complaint with the proper authorities when you believe that the standards in the Convention have been breached.

First of all, in regard to the system of recruitment and placement of seafarers – both in the country where your ship is registered (flag State) and in the Philippines (labour-supplying country) – which have to be adjusted to comply with the rigorous standards of the Convention: your right to complain against manning agencies which violate the standards of the Convention will be supported by adequate machinery and procedures. For example, one thing that has been outlawed by the Convention is the ‘blacklisting’ of seafarers.

Secondly, on your ship, there will be an “on-board complaint procedure” for the fair, effective and expeditious handling of your complaint concerning any violation of rights and/or the standards of the Convention. The Convention assures you that you will not be punished or victimized for filing such a complaint. You will be permitted to file your complaint directly with the master, the shipowner, or the relevant government agency of the flag State. If you file a complaint or grievance directly with flag State officials/inspectors, your complaint will be treated confidentially. In other words, filing a complaint on board will no longer be taboo.

Thirdly, and this is perhaps the most novel and interesting feature of the Convention, there are the “on-shore seafarer complaint-handling procedures”. You will have the right to report to port State control authorities (in countries that have ratified the Convention) any breach in the standards of the Convention. In other words, you will be in a position to summon a port State control officer to undertake a ship inspection. If, because of your complaint, the port state inspection reveals that the standards of the Convention have been seriously breached, your ship will be detained until corrective action is taken by the shipowner. What more, your identity will not be revealed to anyone by port State control officials receiving your complaint because appropriate steps will be taken to safeguard the confidentiality of your complaint.

Q: My right to report through the “on-shore complaint-handling procedures” of the Convention looks like a very powerful right. Imagine, I can have my ship detained in port if I report or complain to the port authorities that my ship seriously violates Convention standards. Does every valid complaint by a seafarer lead to ship detention?

A: No. Your filing of a valid complaint does not necessarily mean that your ship will be detained as a consequence. What is certain is that a valid complaint will somehow lead to a correction of the violation or breach of standards complained of, because the master or shipowner will be given a chance to rectify the deficiency. Ship detention will follow from a valid complaint only in two instances:

1. The conditions onboard are clearly hazardous to the safety, health or security of seafarers, or
2. The non-conformity constitutes a serious or repeated breach of the requirements or standards of the Convention, including seafarers’ rights.

Q: Can a seafarer, who fears a reprisal from his captain, ask somebody else to file a complaint on his behalf?

A: Yes, for the purpose of on shore complaint-handling procedures, a ‘complaint’ means information submitted by a seafarers, a professional body, an association, a trade union or, generally, any person with an interest in the safety of a ship, including an interest in safety or health hazards to seafarers on board. Therefore, you can ask, for example, PSAP-PAROLA to file a complaint on your behalf.

Q: If I file a complaint, what standards or seafarers’ rights can I refer to in my complaint which port State control officials will investigate?

A: The Convention provides a list of areas of the standards that could be subject to detailed inspection by port State control officials. These are: Minimum age; Medical certification; Qualification of seafarers; Seafarer’s employment agreements; Use of any licensed or certified or regulated private recruitment and placement service; Hours of work and rest; Manning levels for the ship; Accommodation; On-board recreational facilities; Food and catering; Health and safety and accident prevention; On-board medical care; On-board complaint procedures; and Payment of wages.

Q: What if my ship flies the flag of a country that has not ratified the new ILO Convention. Can I still take advantage of the on shore complaint-handling procedures and file a complaint with port State control authorities?

A: Yes, your right to report or complain is supported by the so-called “no more favorable treatment” clause of the Convention, which means that a ship registered in a country that has not ratified the Convention will not be given a more favorable treatment (compared to ships registered in countries that have ratified the Convention) for purposes of port State control inspections.

Q: The “right to report” does give me a significant opportunity to exercise my rights and to enforce compliance with the requirements of the new Convention.

With these three complaint mechanisms available to seafarers under the Convention, governments, trade unions, and especially shipowners will definitely take the Convention seriously. For me as a seafarer, these complaint mechanisms will make me more aware not only of my rights but also my values and my professionalism as a seafarer. I promise to play my part in promoting a “culture of compliance” when the Convention takes effect. I am really looking forward to that day when the Convention enters into force.

In the meantime, is there anything that I can to do to prepare for the entry into force of the 2006 ILO Maritime Labour Convention?

A: Yes. Continue to be interested in the Convention and familiarize yourself with your seafarers rights and the labour standards drawn up in the Convention. Share this Primer, and other orientation materials on the Convention that come your way, with your fellow seafarers. Join campaigns to encourage the Philippine government and other countries to implement and ratify the Convention as soon as possible.

Our short journey is finished, but your real journey as a seafarer to the brave new world of work ushered in by the new ILO Convention has only just begun. Good luck and Mabuhay!

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Table of Contents

(abbreviated)

Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

Preamble

Article I: General obligations Article II: Definitions and scope of application Article III: Fundamental rights and principles Article IV: Seafarers’ employment and social rights Article V: Implementation and enforcement responsibilities Article VI: Regulations and Parts A and B of the Code Article VII: Consultation with shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations Article VIII: Entry into force

The Regulations and the Code

Title 1 Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship
Regulation 1.1 – Minimum age
Regulation 1.2 – Medical certificate
Regulation 1.3 – Training and qualifications
Regulation 1.4 – Recruitment and placement

Title 2 Conditions of employment
Regulation 2.1 – Seafarers’ employment agreements
Regulation 2.2 – Wages
Regulation 2.3 – Hours of work and hours of rest
Regulation 2.4 – Entitlement to leave
Regulation 2.5 – Repatriation
Regulation 2.6 – Seafarer compensation for the ship’s loss or foundering
Regulation 2.7 – Manning levels
Regulation 2.8 – Career and skill development and opportunities for seafarers’ employment

Title 3 Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering
Regulation 3.1 – Accommodation and recreational facilities
Regulation 3.2 – Food and catering

Title 4 Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection
Regulation 4.1 – Medical care on board ship and ashore
Regulation 4.2 – Shipowners’ liability
Regulation 4.3 – Health and safety protection and accident prevention
Regulation 4.4 – Access to shore-based welfare facilities
Regulation 4.5 – Social security

Title 5 Compliance and enforcement
Regulation 5.1 – Flag State responsibilities
Regulation 5.1.1 – General principles
Regulation 5.1.2 – Authorization of recognized organizations
Regulation 5.1.3 – Maritime labour certificate and declaration of maritime labour compliance
Regulation 5.1.4 – Inspection and enforcement Regulation 5.1.5 – On-board complaint procedures
Regulation 5.1.6 – Marine casualties
Regulation 5.2 – Port State responsibilities
Regulation 5.2.1 – Inspections in port
Regulation 5.2.2 – Onshore seafarer complaint-handling procedures
Regulation 5.3 – Labour-supplying responsibilities

Appendix I: Working and living conditions of seafarers to be inspected and approved by a flag State

Appendix II: ‘Maritime Labour Certificate’ and ‘Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance’

Appendix III: What are subject to port State inspection?

Note of appreciation: The feedback and favorable comments on this Primer by the following persons are most gratefully acknowledged: Mr. Jean-Yves Legouas, International Labour Organization; Atty. Douglas Stevenson, Center for Seafarers Rights; and Mr. Andrew Elliott, International Committee on Seafarers’ Welfare.

Your reactions to this Primer are most welcome!
Please email your questions, comments, or suggestions to
Atty. Peter B. Payoyo – psap@planet.nl

This Primer was published as a special issue of Parola in 2006.
Permission to use this content must be obtained from the copyright owner.

PRIMER 2006 ILO Maritime Labour Convention – A PRIMER ON THE INTERNATIONAL BILL OF RIGHTS FOR SEAFARERS – updated on October 2007 – in PDF Format (85 KB)