***ITF takes swipe at MLC over Donald Duckling saga
The repatriation of the crew of the abandoned bulker has sparked anger in the International Transport Workers’ Federation, which claims the incident shows the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) is flawed
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has paid out air fares so that 11 Filipino crew could return home after two months at the UK’s Port of Tyne onboard the 43,866-dwt bulker Donald Duckling (built 1997) after it was detained for safety reasons.
The men relied on provisions from the Tyne community and the local Mission to Seafarers, and on the port authority for fuel oil.
Local ITF representative Tommy Molloy, who worked to help the men, says none of the parties identified in the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 — established to aid abandoned seafarers — stepped forward to help. That included the ship’s owner, Today Makes Tomorrow (TMT), its insurer, the flag state of Panama or the Philippines Embassy in the UK.
Following the return of the men, Molloy told TradeWinds: “Why is it that what ought to be the obligation of the authorities has been left to the local charities and the ITF? What would have happened to these men if we had not stepped in and acted?”
Further improvements to the MLC are scheduled to be discussed at a tripartite meeting between governments, labour and union representatives at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva next month.
One of the problems may have been whether the crew of the Donald Duckling were considered as being “abandoned” under the strict definition laid out in the MLC. They were under contract to TMT and recently paid two months of back pay that were outstanding.
Seven Romanian crew made their own way home after receiving that back pay. A chief engineer, the ship’s master and a superintendent remain with the vessel.
The UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) says the ship will remain in detention until essential repairs are carried out.
***ILO talks may force labour to rethink wage campaign
Shipowner, union and government talks in Geneva next month could signal an end to recent wage-rate increases for seafarers and impact collective bargaining negotiations
Upcoming International Labour Organisation (ILO) talks on setting a new minimum wage for seafarers could come as a major blow to the maritime union’s hopes of forcing owners to accept a 15% pay rise in separate collective bargaining negotiations.
A new minimum wage is set to be decided at the end of February at a Geneva meeting of the Joint Maritime Commission’s Subcommittee on Wages of Seafarers.
The last 2011 meeting set a $545 monthly minimum wage for able seamen (AB) from January 2012, $555 from January 2013 and $585 from December 2013.
But sources familiar with the talks suggest that the ILO’s assessment of consumer prices and exchange rates by the working group indicate further increases might not be justified.
Observers suggest maritime unions, headed by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), will be in a difficult position to argue for a substantial increase in minimum wage levels.
The ILO’s assessment of the value of the US dollar and price inflation in the maritime labour supply countries are strongly influential in setting the minimum wage.
But the real significance of the upcoming ILO minimum wage is likely to be the effect it has on collective wage-bargaining negotiations, currently coming to a head under the International Bargaining Forum (IBF), where the ITF has called for a 15% pay rise.
The next round of IBF talks, noted as the most influential collective wage-bargaining agreement in shipping, is scheduled for Tokyo also in February. That will involve the ITF, International Maritime Employment Committee and Joint Negotiating Group. But the final crunch talks will come in two IBF meetings after the ILO minimum wage has been set this June.
The ITF’s position had been helped by a recent improvement in the shipping markets, which suggests that the industry is coming out of a five-year recession.
But the ILO minimum wage levels may be equally influential in the IBF talks.
“If the ILO minimum wage level suggests that there isn’t a case for further wage increases for ABs, then it completely changes the picture in terms of how wage rates in the market will be negotiated in the near future,” one shipmanager suggested.