A Good Day for Seafarers &
A Good Day for Quality Ship Owners
(Because of the importance of Maritime Labour Convention of 2006 to all mariners, we are sending this newsletter not only to AOS-USA members, but to other lists so that you can join us in celebrating this great day.)
Please check out the link in the second article for more details on MLC 2006 from the IMO and ISWAN.
Today, August 20, 2013, is a good day for quality shipowners, and a bad day for substandard shippers, who for too long have made themselves wealthy on the backs of seafarers.
Today, if a substandard operator calls in France, Norway, Canada, Germany, Greece, Japan, or the other 38 ratifying countries, their vessel will be inspected by that country's Port State Control, and be held not only because of SOLAS or MARPOL violations , but because the living conditions and food are substandard, the crews wages have not been paid, and the crew has not had sufficient hours of rest.
The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants stressed the importance of the Maritime Labour Convention in their 2013 Sea Sunday Message. Cardinal Veglio noted:
"Now a beacon of hope is beaming in the dark night of these problems and difficulties encountered by the seafarers.
"The ILO Maritime Labor Convention 2006 (MLC 2006), after being ratified by 30 Member countries of the International Labor Office, representing almost 60 per cent of the world's gross shipping tonnage, is set to enter into force in August 2013. This Convention is the result of several years of relentless tripartite (governments, employers and workers) discussions to consolidate and update a great number of maritime labor Conventions and Recommendations adopted since 1920.
"The MLC 2006 establishes the minimum international requirements for almost every aspect of seafarers' working and living conditions, including fair terms of employment, medical care, social security protection and access to shore-based welfare facilities.
"While, as AOS, we are welcoming the entering into force of the Convention and confidently hope to see improvements on the life of the seafarers, we remain vigilant and express our attentive solicitude by focusing our consideration on the Regulation 4.4 of the Convention, the purpose of which is to: ensure that seafarers working on board a ship have access to shore-based facilities and services to secure their health and well-being.
"We should cooperate with the proper authorities in our respective ports so that to all seafarers shore leave be granted as soon as possible after a ship's arrival in port, for the benefit of their health and well-being (cf. B4.4.6§5)
"We should remind to port states that they shall promote the development of shore-based welfare facilities easily accessible to seafarers, irrespective of nationality, race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, or social origin and of the flag state on which they are employed (cf. A4.4§1.).
"We should assist the proper authorities to establish national and local welfare boards that would serve as a channel for improving seafarer's welfare at ports, bringing together people from different types of organization under one identity (cf. B4.4.3).
"We should also encourage the port authorities to introduce, aside from other forms of financing, a port levy system to provide a reliable mechanism to support sustainable welfare services in the port (cf. B4.4.4 §1(b)).
"Our final responsibility is towards the seafarers. We should provide them information and education about theirs rights and the protection offered by this Convention, which is also considered the fourth and final pillar of the international maritime legislation, the other three being the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) 1973, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) 1978. An effective implementation will be possible and real changes will happen only if the people of the sea will know the content of the MLC 2006.
Let us ask Mary, the Star of the Sea, to enlighten and accompany our mission to support the work of the faithful who are called to witness to their Christian life in the maritime world (cf. Motu Proprio Stella Maris Sec. 1, Art. I)."
On this great day for seafarers from around the world, we should all make intercessions to Our Lady Star of the Sea, that the United States, in the midst of all the division in Congress, can find the capacity in the Senate to ratify this agreement for the good of our US seafarers, and the 1.5 million foreign seafarers who call in our ports every year.
International Labour Organization Sites: 