Trade unions are among those working hard to ensure the groundbreaking Maritime Labour Convention fulfils its potential to improve the lives of seafarers worldwide, as Kay Parris reports

In February 2006 the maritime world greeted the historic adoption of a single ILO Convention, encompassing virtually all the minimum standards required to ensure satisfactory conditions of employment for the world’s seafarers. Here at last was a plainly written “bill of rights” for seafarers, bringing together and updating more than 54 international standards, while introducing a system of certification and inspection to enforce it. It also contains a simplified amendment procedure for the technical parts of the Convention, which means that it will be easier to amend and thereby to keep up with developments.

Like any ILO Convention however, the Consolidated Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) cannot be immediately implemented, but must wait for the requisite number of ratifications by signatory states – in this case at least 30 countries, who must control between them at least 33 per cent of the world’s tonnage.

Journey to an EU Directive Following the latest round of negotiations with the European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA), BRIAN ORRELL reflects on the challenge of working with shipowners to agree a text on which to base European law We have now gone through all the aspects of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) that we think would be appropriate to include in a central agreement, and both sides have committed to work towards an agreement, though we disagree on what some of these aspects should be. One challenge is in the area of competency, where ECSA has been a bit concerned about the European Commission gaining competency on some issues – the unions have the same concerns on other issues. For example on the issue of manning levels on ships: this is currently a competence for the member states. In the MLC there is a paragraph saying that “ships should be adequately manned”. If this is included in our central agreement, then it will become part of the European Union Directive, and competency will be transferred to the Commission. ECSA may have good lobbying relationships on this issue with the member states. They may not relish the idea of giving up this lobbying influence to the all-powerful Commission. They may feel they can influence member states more effectively than the Commission. When it comes to hours of work and rest (ILO Convention 180) on the other hand, the MLC consolidates and condenses the regulations (and not all are mandatory under the MLC). Here ECSA wants to see the regulations in the central agreement – but in fact they are stronger for us if they stay out. It’s too early yet to predict whether our efforts to negotiate an agreement with the EU shipowners will be successful, particularly as some of the most hardline shipowners, who made it difficult for all at the ILO in Geneva, are from the EU. However, if we are successful, it will be a most significant contribution to the delivery of rights to all seafarers. These are rights that should be theirs already but are not because of the very unregulated labour market that facilitates exploitation by shipowners striving for the lowest employment costs. So an agreement in the EU will significantly lift the prospects for a speedy introduction of the Maritime Labour Convention. Brian Orrell is general secretary of the British seafarers’ union Nautilus UK, and chair of the ITF seafarers’ section.

At the time of writing, only Liberia, a flag of convenience state controlling 10 per cent of the world’s tonnage, has ratified, though many other countries are well advanced in their preparations.

Members of the European Parliament voted in March 2007 to press European Union countries for 2008 as a target ratification date, though this is far from assured.

The ILO social partners, representing governments, employers and trade unions led by the ITF, have kept up the momentum to ensure ratification happens as quickly as possible and that the opportunity to create a new, “indispensable component of quality shipping”, as the ILO labour standards director Cleopatra Doumbia Henry has put it, is not lost. They have undertaken a series of “high level” missions to key maritime nations, as well as regional seminars organised by interested states, and been engaged in committed discussions with senior figures from government and industry in each case.

Once the requisite number of ratifications has been secured, there will be no “more favourable treatment” for ships whose countries have not ratified the Convention. Ships of all countries, irrespective of ratifications, will be subject to inspection in the ports of any country that has ratified, and to possible detention if they are deemed not to have met the standards set.

In parallel with the ratification process among individual states, the ITF and its European wing, the ETF, have been negotiating with the European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) in an attempt to reach agreement on the implementation of key aspects of the Convention not already covered by existing EU instruments across the EU. Any agreement reached in this way would be enshrined in an EU Directive, giving it legal force across Europe, even in ports where member states have not individually ratified it.

Potential for change

The high profile of these efforts to bring the Convention to a stage when it can be meaningfully implemented reflects the perception of every proper stakeholder in the maritime world that this Convention has extraordinary potential to change the shipping industry for the better.

ILO director general Juan Somavía hailed the Convention “a landmark development in the world of work”. Dierk Lindemann of the ECSA commented: “This will fill the gap in international regulations on labour conditions. Labour considerations are essential.”

To Efthimios E Mitropoulos, secretary general of the International Maritime Organization, the Convention elevates the human element to the “fourth pillar” of the regulatory regime for international shipping, alongside the three key IMO Conventions that cover safety, training and professional standards, and environmental concerns*.

Under the certification system, shipowners will be required to produce a “Maritime Labour Certificate” and a “Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance” authorised by the flag state. The latter must outline the shipowners’ plans for ensuring that applicable national regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of the Convention will be adhered to during the voyage. This means masters will have to keep records to prove that they are complying with the Convention on an ongoing basis. There will also be onboard and onshore complaint procedures to encourage the rapid resolution of problems.

“The ILO social partners, representing governments, employers and trade unions led by the ITF, have kept up the momentum to ensure ratification happens as quickly as possible”

Brian Orrell, general secretary of the British union Nautilus UK (previously Numast) and chair of the ITF seafarers’ section, was the first to hail the Convention as a “seafarers’ bill of rights”.

He commented: “We want seafarers to understand their rights, see how they will be delivered, and see that if they aren’t delivered, they have a right to redress. We are talking about the right to be paid regularly, the right to be repatriated when necessary, the right to proper leave and to access to communications, and the right to complain.”

European dimension

Following the latest round of negotiations with ECSA over the wording of a possible EU agreement, Brian Orrell reported that both parties had now committed to work towards a central agreement, containing key aspects of the Maritime Labour Convention, which would subsequently form the text of an EU Directive.

An EU Directive (see box on facing page) would give the provisions of the Convention extra “teeth” in Europe, particularly where member states had failed to ratify, though the trade union lobby is anxious to ensure that the EU Directive does not come into force until the Convention itself has received enough ratifications to enter into force.

Orrell explains: “The member states may feel they have done enough through having an EU Directive they have to comply with and may feel they don’t need to ratify the Convention. In many EU countries however, the majority of seafarers are employed on foreign flags, which would not be covered by the Directive.”

Still, Orrell believes the process of agreeing a text for a future Directive will significantly strengthen the uptake and enforcement of key parts of the Convention in Europe. Apart from anything else, he says: “It sends a clear signal to EU member states that the social partners want these clauses in place.”
 
Progress towards ratification

In the meantime, the focus for all stakeholders has to be on the need for ratification of the Convention itself. One key impetus behind the Convention was to overcome the difficulties governments faced in ratifying and enforcing the existing detailed maritime instruments. The new Convention sets out to achieve this by setting out the basic rights of seafarers, while allowing ratifying countries flexibility in their approach to implementing these global standards for decent work within their national laws.

Key provisions of the new Convention -  An employment agreement, guaranteeing decent on-board working and living conditions, to be signed by both the seafarer and the shipowner, or a representative of the shipowner. - Monthly pay, in full and in accordance with the employment agreement and any applicable collective agreement. - 14-hour work limit in any 24-hour period, 72 hours in any seven day period. - Shipowner must pay to repatriate seafarer in case of illness, injury, shipwreck, insolvency, sale of ship etc. - Specific requirements for living accommodation and recreational facilities – including minimum room sizes, and satisfactory heating, ventilation, sanitary facilities, lighting and hospital accommodation. - Access to prompt medical care when on board and in port. - Measures for effective enforcement and compliance include a certification system for labour standards. A Maritime Labour Certificate and Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance must be issued by the flag state and must be available on board for any port state inspection.

Of course this leaves many challenges for the legal systems of the ratifying countries still to be overcome. Before the ship sets sail, for example, it will need to be issued with a national certificate declaring its compliance with minimum standards for seafarers’ payment, accommodation, rest facilities and other criteria. Which body would be authorised by the flag state to issue this certificate? And which bodies in the port state would be authorised to carry out inspections?

States embarking on the ratification process have a host of legal challenges to work out. The social partners are determined to provide support and encouragement, particularly to those states with major shipping fleets. To that end ITF maritime representatives have participated in delegations on missions to key countries, including the Philippines, Panama and Russia, as well as attending regional seminars in Japan, Argentina and Bulgaria.

The missions are ongoing and have been largely successful so far, with governments in every country demonstrating their willingness to implement the necessary legal changes.

Maintaining momentum

One of the first missions, in February 2007, was to Panama, the largest flag state with a registry of 7,000 vessels. Following the mission, the government promised to implement a plan of action involving legal, administrative and operational changes in order to secure rapid ratification in the country. The ILO pledged its help in offering technical assistance with establishing norms and “creating mechanisms for consultation and training”. But it was clear that the Panamanians were already motivated to get behind the Convention.

ITF Americas secretary Antonio Fritz, who participated in the mission, observed that motivation came not only from Panama’s interests as the world’s biggest registry but also because seafarers’ unions in the country saw its potential to boost seafaring employment by levelling out the labour standards playing field.

“Trade unionists in many other globalised industries are watching the progress of the Maritime Labour Convention”

“The maritime industry needs to agree a common position in order to avoid unfair competition,” Fritz commented. “Labour issues are usually the main cost-reducing targets, quite often sacrificing safety, but the Panamanian authorities seem to have understood that the system that has been used to exploit seafarers will now certainly change.

“Panamanian seafarers’ unions see the MLC as an opportunity to increase the number of Panamanian seafarers on board Panamanian flagged vessels, a situation that has not been promoted by the maritime authority in the past.”

The question of how the Convention could affect the economics of labour supply is now looming large in the world’s biggest labour supply country – the Philippines.

This may not be the most obvious effect of the Convention, which is primarily designed to root out unscrupulous shipowners and charterers and protect the seafarers they employ. As part of the ILO mission to the Philippines however, Brian Orrell was able to help clarify what the enforcement of minimum labour standards could mean for a country without rival as a supplier of seafarers to the global industry.

Orrell explained: “Our argument was that while ships will still want people from the Philippines, if they haven’t ratified, once the Convention is in force, shipowners will have to ensure that the seafarers on their ships have been recruited in accordance with the Convention.

“The onus is on the flag state to issue a certificate and they will have to be satisfied that procedures have been properly carried out. They may well get to the stage where they feel it is simply easier to go to another country which has ratified, where mechanisms are in place to help ensure procedures are carried out in compliance with the MLC, and then the Philippines could find it is starting to lose its position.”

The Philippines showed clear commitment to the ILO process by ensuring every transport department engaged with the mission delegates. The mission left the government in a much stronger position to resist the lobbying of domestic shipowners, who were concerned that their fleets would not be able to meet the new standards demanded by the Convention.

Orrell said: “In fact we were able to explain that the Convention relates mainly to international voyages (though some in the archipelago would be included) and that much of the domestic fleet, including wooden vessels, would be excluded. This eliminated a major obstacle.”
 
Russian mission

In Russia, the ILO delegation picked up clear signals of political commitment to ratification during its top level meetings with government representatives, including the secretary of state for transport, the director of the Department of International Cooperation and Public Relations and an adviser from the Office of the President. However, implementation presents a host of challenges, which could take up to five years to be overcome.

An action plan has been adopted by the Ministry of Transport but throws up various political problems, including the need first to put in place structures to implement existing ILO Conventions ratified by the country. In the case of Convention 179 (recruitment and placement) for example, no agency has been made responsible for overseeing the Convention. This means compliance is voluntary and that the manning agencies are not being properly controlled – a situation that would need to be sorted out in order for the recruitment provisions of the MLC to be addressed.

In this context it should be noted that the Russian Federation is an important flag state, port state and labour supply state.

It was clear that another challenge would lie in the considerable training requirements of the flag and port state inspection systems. Nonetheless, the Russian shipowners offered their support for the Convention, and the elected lower house of the Federal Parliament (the State Duma) made its strong commitment clear. Following a meeting with the Duma’s Committee on Labour and Social Policy, the committee members drafted a recommendation for rapid ratification and implementation of the MLC to be forwarded to the Russian President.

The ITF’s Jon Whitlow, who participated in the mission, said: “This was a useful and productive mission. It has opened a number of doors, which will help us to follow up on the Russian ratification, and the demonstration we were given about the steps the Russian Federation has taken to implement ILO Convention No. 185 (seafarer’s identity documents) was most impressive.”

Trade unionists in many other globalised industries are watching the progress of the Maritime Labour Convention towards securing a rigorously fair and effective system of rules to protect a 1.2 million strong workforce handling 90 per cent of world trade. If the hopes of the social partners are realised, there may be much for all trade unions to learn from the nuts and bolts of implementing at the national levels such an ambitious global system that truly puts labour rights at the heart of the economic agenda.

*These are the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention (STCW) and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).