MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION (MLC) 2006
The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) is an International Labour Organization (ILO) convention, number 186, established in 2006 as the fourth pillar of international maritime law. The other pillars are SOLAS, STCW, and MARPOL.
What are the basic aims of the MLC, 2006 are?
- Right to a safe and secure workplace
- Fair terms of employment
- Decent working and living conditions
- Right to health protection
- Medical care and other protection
The Maritime Labour Convention is divided into FOUR layers as follows:
- Articles.
- Regulations.
- Code A (Mandatory).
- Code B (non-mandatory – it acts as a guideline to follow the mandatory Code A).
The Regulations and the Code are organized into general areas under “FIVE TITLES”:
Title 1: Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship
Title 2: Conditions of employment
Title 3: Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering
Title 4: Health protection, medical care, welfare, and social security protection
Title 5: Compliance and enforcement
Title 1: Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship
The minimum requirements set out in this section of the code are divided into 4 parts and are summarized below:
1) Minimum age requirements: the minimum age is 16 years (18 for night work and work in hazardous areas).
2) Medical fitness: workers should be medically fit for the duties they are performing. Countries should issue medical certificates as defined in the STCW (or use a similar standard).
3) Training: Seafarers should be trained for their duties as well as have personal safety training.
4) Recruitment/placement services located in member states or for ships flying the flag of member states should have (among others) proper placement procedures, registration, complaint procedures and compensation if the recruitment fails
Title 2: Employment conditions
The Title on employment conditions lists conditions of the contract and payments, as well as the working conditions on ships.
1)Contracts: the contract should be clear, legally enforceable, and incorporate collective bargaining agreements (if existent).
2)Payments: Wages should be paid at least every month, and should be transferable regularly to the family if so desired.
3)Rest hours: rest hours should be implemented in national legislation. The maximum hours of work in that legislation should not exceed 14 hours in any 24-hour period and 72 hours in any seven-day period, or: at least ten hours of rest in any 24-hour period and 77 hours (rest) in any seven-day period. Furthermore, the daily hours of rest may not be divided into more than two periods and, at least six hours of rest should be given consecutively in one of those two periods.
4)Leave: Seafarers have a right to annual leave as well as shore leave.
5)Repatriation: Returning to their country of residence should be free
6)Loss: If a ship is lost or foundered, the seafarers have a right to unemployment payments.
7)Manning: Every ship should have a sufficient manning level
Title 3: Accommodation, Recreational Facilities, Food and Catering
1)Accommodation – On new ships – (a) no more twin-sharing cabins (including for cadets) (c) advised to provide attached toilets, but if common toilets provided then very strict specifications to be adhered to (c) minimum height of deck-head in accommodation increased; for existing ships – acoustic and vibration levels to be monitored regularly.
2)Recreation – for the first time the owner has a legal responsibility to provide recreation on board, access to internet and e-mail, and organize conveyance in ports from time to time.
3)Food and Catering – the cook to be trained and certified by the Flag State.
Title 4: Health Protection, Medical Care, Welfare and Social Security Protection
Title 4 consists of 5 regulations about Health, Liability, Medical care, Welfare, and Social security.
1)Medical care on board ship and ashore: Seafarers should be covered for and have access to medical care while on board; in principle at no cost and of a quality comparable to the standards of health care onshore. Countries through which territory a ship is passing should guarantee treatment onshore in serious cases.
2)Ship owner’s liability: Seafarers should be protected from the financial effects of "sickness, injury or death occurring in connection with their employment", This includes at least 16 weeks of payment of wages after the start of sickness.
3)Health and safety protection and accident prevention: A safe and hygienic environment should be provided to seafarers both during working and resting hours and measures should be taken to take reasonable safety measures.
4)Access to shore-based welfare facilities: Port states should provide "welfare, cultural, recreational and information facilities and services" and to provide easy access to these services. The access to these facilities should be open to all seafarers irrespective of race, sex, religion, or political opinion
5)Social security: Social security coverage should be available to seafarers (and in case it is customary in the flag state: their relatives).
Title 5: Compliance and Enforcement
Title 5 sets standards to ensure compliance with the convention. The title distinguishes requirements for flag states and port states.
1)Flag states: Compliance is the responsibility of the Flag State. They will conduct labour survey on 14 parameters based on Title 1 to Title 4 and issue to the ship “Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance (DMLC)” along with a Maritime Labour Certificate (ML Certificate), which will be statutory certificate and valid for 5 years with annual, intermediate and renewal labour surveys. It is important to note that the ML Certificate is invalid in the absence of DMLC.
2)Port States: Enforcement is the responsibility of PSC. They have volunteered to enforce it for the benefit of the world seafarers and have thus given the powers to detain a ship if the MLC requirements are not found to be met.
Also, every seafarer has the right to complain to Flag State or PSC but first has the obligation to follow the “Complaints Procedure” of the Company, which will be part of the Labour Manual on board.
ITEMS COVERED UNDER MLC INSPECTION
- Minimum age
- Medical certification
- Qualifications of seafarers
- Seafarers’ employment agreements
- Use of any licensed or certified or regulated private recruitment and placement service
- Hours of work or 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
- Payment of wages
Reasons for the development of Maritime Labour Convention (MLC)
There are basically FOUR reasons as follows:
1. Some of the conventions are very old and dating back to 1922, which have NO applicability to seafarers of the 21st century.
2. IMO Conventions (SOLAS, MARPOL, CLC, etc.) require a PROOF of implementation on board. The proof is in the form of the FLAG STATE conducting surveys on board and issuing the ship with the relevant certificate. Sadly, none of the 68 ILO conventions of ILO required such a proof of implementation. With the result, the Flag States left it to the shipowner to maintain the labour standards AS THEY DESIRED – meaning, there was NO CONTROL.
3. Since there was no obligation on the shipowner, to the Flag State, for maintaining labour standards, they did whatever they liked – some ship owners looking after their seafarers, but majority of them treating the seafarers like “slaves”.
4. We know that the objective of PSC is to ensure that any foreign ship visiting their ports is in NO WAY A THREAT to their territory. Whether the ship is maintaining the required labour standards on board or not, is in no way a threat to the country’s territory. And also, the PSC considered the labour standards issue to be an internal matter between the shipowner and his seafarers. With the result checking of labour standards on board never formed part of any PSC inspection.
Benefits for seafarer:
- A comprehensive set of basic maritime labour principles and rights as well as ILO fundamental rights.
- Convention spells out in one place and clear language seafarers’ basic employment rights.
- Seafarers better informed of their rights and of remedies available.
- Improved enforcement of minimum working and living conditions.
- Right to make complaints both onboard and ashore.
- Clear identification of who is the ship-owner with overall responsibility, for the purposes of this Convention.
- In accordance with STCW A-VIII/1, the rest periods need not be maintained in case of emergency or other overriding operational conditions.
- In accordance with STCW B-VIII/1, other overriding operational should be construed to mean only essential shipboard work which cannot be delayed for safety, security or environmental reasons or which could not reasonably have been anticipated at the commencement of the voyage.
- MLC, 2006 safeguards the right of the master of a ship to require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary for the immediate safety of the ship, persons on board or cargo, or for the purpose of giving assistance to other ships or persons in distress at sea. It allows the master to suspend the schedule of hours of work or hours of rest and require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary until the normal situation has been restored. As soon as practicable after the normal situation has been restored, the master must ensure that any seafarers who have performed work in a scheduled rest period are provided with an adequate period of rest.
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