Namibia on the way to standardize employment contracts for its fishermen.
After a series of activities that included a deep-dive research study of the fishing industry, sensitization on occupational health and safety and basic decent working conditions aboard fishing vessels; inspection of fishing vessels and the Work in Fishing Convention 2007 (no.188); Namibia is on the verge of passing a standardized employment contract for the country’s fishery workers.
(ILO News, Windhoek) Thirty stakeholders from the fishing industry in Namibia participated in a two-day workshop to discuss the standardization of an employment contract for fishers on board vessels. The process was guided by current industry practice, the Work in Fishing Convention 2007 (no.188) and national law.
The focus of the workshop was to:
- Include current industry practices in the standardized employment contract to ensure that it would be practical and relevant to the fishing sector in Namibia
- Sensitize all stakeholders, including employers, employees, and government representatives, on the importance of the standardized employment contract and their roles in ensuring compliance.
The discussions on critical components of the contracts such as the remuneration, benefits, working hours, leave, accommodation, occupational safety and health, repatriation, and termination of contracts were examined. The contracts also included provisions of the recently reviewed and gazetted variation of Chapter 3 of the Labour Act, 2007 that apply to employers and employees in the industry as set out in the schedule which will run for a period of five years from 01 March 2023 as published.
At the end of the forum, participants endorsed the draft contract and recommended it for submission to the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation for further discussion and subsequent gazetting for it to be used as a guiding document for future employment contracts for personnel on board fishing vessels.
Representation for the workshop was from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) (Directorate of Operations), Ministry of Works and Transport (MWT) (Department of Maritime Affairs), the Ministry of Labour Industrial Relations and Employment Creation (MLIREC) (Directorate of Labour Services), Trade Union Congress of Namibia (TUCNA), Namibia Seaman and Allied Workers Union (NASAWU), Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (NAFAU), National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), Namibia Public Workers Union (NAPWU), Confederation of Namibia Fishing Associations (CNFA), Namibia Nature Foundation.
The activity falls under the Sustainable Supply Chains to Build Forward Better programme - a joint initiative of the International Labour Organization and the European Commission (EC) that sets out to advance decent work in five selected global supply chains for a fair, resilient, and sustainable COVID-19 crisis recovery.