Shipping: Standards & rights at work
Maritime Labour Convention, 2006:
Background information on the consolidation of ILO Maritime
Standards
 The
International Labour Office launched a major consolidation of the existing
body of more than 60 maritime labour instruments into a single instrument
in line with recommendations made by the ILO
Joint Maritime Commission in January 2001 (The Geneva Accord) and approved
by the ILO Governing Body at its 280th Session (March 2001). The objective
of the consolidation was to bring the system of protection contained in
existing standards closer to the workers concerned, in a form that was consistent
with this rapidly developing, globalized sector and to improve the applicability
of the system so that shipowners and governments interested in providing
decent conditions of work did not have to bear an unequal burden in ensuring
such protection. The aim of the consolidation was for greater consistency
and clarity, more rapid adaptability and general applicability.
The Governing Body of the International Labour Office decided
at the above session to convene a Maritime Session of the International
Labour Conference in 2005 to adopt the new instrument. To assist with the
work of developing such an instrument, it also approved the establishment
of a High-Level Tripartite Working Group on Maritime Labour Standards to
meet in 2001, 2002 and 2003. It also decided to set up a Sub-Group of the
High-Level Tripartite Working Group with a mandate to consider papers prepared
for its meetings and to guide the International Labour Office in the preparation
of papers and draft texts for consideration of the High-Level Tripartite
Working Group. The first meeting of the High-Level Tripartite Working Group
was held from 17 to 21 December 2001 and its second meeting was held from
14 to 18 October 2002. The first meeting of the Sub-Group was held from
24 to 28 June 2002 and its second meeting was held from 3 to 7 February
2003.
Following the fourth and last meeting of the High Level
Tripartite Working Group, held in Nantes in January 2004, the Preparatory
Technical Maritime Conference was held in Geneva from 13-24 September 2004.
Prior to the International Labour Conference, held in
February 2006, the pending issues of the draft Convention were discussed
at a Tripartite Intersessional Meeting on the Follow-up to the Preparatory
Technical Maritime Conference (Geneva, 21-27 April 2005).
In order to provide a quick presentation of the proposed maritime labour
Convention, the Office prepared a series of frequently
asked questions - (pdf, 171 KB).
On 23 February 2006, the 94th
International Labour Conference (Maritime) adopted the Maritime
Labour Convention, 2006.
« Return to the main MLC
page |
