Shipping: Standards & rights at work

Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

On 23 February 2006, the 94th International Labour Conference (Maritime) adopted the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, which sets out the conditions for decent work in the increasingly globalized maritime sector.

The Convention sets minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship and contains provisions on conditions of employment, hours of work and rest, accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering, health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection. Compliance and enforcement are secured through onboard and onshore complaint procedures for seafarers, and through provisions regarding shipowners' and shipmasters' supervision of conditions on their ships, flag States' jurisdiction and control over their ships, and port state inspection of foreign ships. The Convention also provides for a maritime labour certificate, which can be issued to ships once the flag State has verified that labour conditions on board a ship comply with national laws and regulations implementing the Convention.

Among the novel features of the Convention are its form and structure, which includes legally binding standards accompanied by non-mandatory guidelines. It departs significantly from that of traditional ILO Conventions. Parts of the Convention relating to technical and detailed implementation of obligations can be updated under an accelerated amendment procedure. The Convention is to become what has been called the "fourth pillar" of the international regulatory regime for shipping, complementing the key Conventions of the International Maritime Organization.

The new Convention consolidates and updates 68 existing ILO maritime Conventions and Recommendations adopted since 1920. Countries that do not ratify the new Convention will remain bound by the previous Conventions that they have ratified, although those instruments will be closed to further ratification.