|
GB.267/STM/4/1
| ||
|
| ||
|
Committee on Sectoral and Technical Meetings and Related Issues |
STM |
|
| |
FOURTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Other questions
Effect to be given to the resolutions adopted by the
International Labour Conference at its 84th (Maritime) Session
(Geneva, 8-22 October 1996)
1. At its 84th (Maritime) Session the Conference adopted the following five resolutions:
- Resolution on the application of the Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996;
- Resolution concerning IMO/STCW Convention of 1978, as amended, and the application of the Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996;
- Resolution on the application of revised Convention No. 9 to the fisheries sector;
- Resolution concerning the recruitment and placement of seafarers;
- Resolution concerning the inspection of seafarers' working and living conditions.
2. The texts adopted are appended. The Director-General intends to circulate these texts in the usual way to the governments of member States and, through them, to national employers' and workers' organizations, and to the international organizations concerned, including intergovernmental organizations, the non-governmental international organizations with consultative status and other non-governmental international organizations concerned.
3. This paper contains the Director-General's proposals for action on the resolutions.
Resolution on the application of the Seafarers' Hours of
Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996
4. The operative paragraph of the resolution invites the Governing Body to request the Director-General, as a matter of priority, to develop the standardized format and guidelines referred to in Articles 5 and 8 of the Convention, taking into account the texts and proposals made by the Conference Committee and the discussions thereon. It also recommends that a tripartite group of experts be convened by the ILO to assist in this exercise.
5. Article 5 of the Convention lays down the requirements concerning maximum hours of work or minimum hours of rest. According to Article 5, paragraph 7, the Member shall require the posting, in an easily accessible place, of a table with the shipboard working arrangements, which shall contain for every position at least (a) the schedule of service at sea and service in port, and (b) the maximum hours of work or the minimum hours of rest required by the laws, regulations or collective agreements in force in the flag State. The table referred to shall be established in a standardized format in the working language or languages of the ship and in English (Article 5, paragraph 8).
6. According to Article 8 of the Convention the Member shall require that records of seafarers' daily hours of work or of their daily hours of rest be maintained to allow monitoring of compliance with the provisions set out in Article 5. The competent authority shall establish the format of the records taking into account any available International Labour Organization guidelines or shall use any standard format prepared by the Organization. The format shall be established in the language or languages provided by Article 5, paragraph 8.
7. It is anticipated that there will be an immediate demand for the ILO to produce the guidelines and standardized format referred to in the resolution. These should be a helpful tool for member States preparing to implement the instrument. The Director-General therefore considers it important to start the preparation of the guidelines immediately and plans to reallocate some resources to the programme of the Sectoral Activities Department for 1996-97 for this work. Furthermore, in order to ensure harmonization between possible IMO and ILO guidelines and format, he plans to consult the Secretary-General of the IMO on the possibility of organizing a joint meeting or working group to consider the draft guidelines and format for all groups of seafarers covered by the Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996, and the IMO's STCW Convention.
8. The Committee on Sectoral and Technical Meetings and Related Issues may wish to recommend that the Governing Body request the Director-General to bear in mind the request made in the operative paragraph of the resolution in implementing current and future activities.
Resolution concerning IMO/STCW Convention of 1978,
as amended, and the application of the Seafarers'
Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996
9. The International Maritime Organization's International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended in 1995 (STCW), establishes minimum rest periods for certain categories of seafarers for safety reasons (watchkeeping personnel). The resolution declares that nothing in the Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996, is intended to enable Members ratifying the Convention which are also parties to the revised STCW Convention to apply provisions to watchkeeping seafarers that are less favourable than those contained in the revised STCW Convention and are inconsistent with the minimum rest period provisions of that Convention.
10. The Committee on Sectoral and Technical Meetings and Related Issues may wish to recommend that the Governing Body request the Director-General to communicate to the Secretary-General of the IMO the text of the resolution.
Resolution on the application of revised Convention No. 9
to the fisheries sector
11. Operative paragraph 1 invites the Governing Body to promote the application to fishermen of the Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention (Revised), 1996, by Members following consultations between representative organizations of fishermen and fishing vessel owners and the competent authority.
12. The Committee on Sectoral Activities and Technical Meetings and Related Issues may wish to recommend that the Governing Body request the Director-General, when communicating the resolution to the governments of member States and, through them, to employers' and workers' organizations, to draw attention to operative paragraph 1.
13. Operative paragraph 2 invites the Governing Body to convene an early tripartite meeting for the fishing sector to assess which of the other ILO maritime instruments should be applied to the fishing sector through the adoption of appropriate protocols, and/or the adoption of new international labour standards for the sector, and in this regard to place the issue of new labour standards for fishermen on the agenda of an early session of the International Labour Conference.
14. The Director-General plans to include in the work programme of the Sectoral Activities Department for 1998-99 a study on the issues raised in the resolution. The study will be based on information collected from member States and will be undertaken in collaboration with the Office of the Legal Adviser and the International Labour Standards Department. It is suggested that the question of convening a tripartite meeting should be considered on completion of the study, bearing in mind the work of the Committee on Legal Issues and International Labour Standards on policy regarding the revision of standards, and that the next session of the Joint Maritime Commission should have an item on its agenda concerning a review of relevant maritime Conventions relating to ratification and denunciations and suggestions for the steps to be taken.
15. The Committee on Sectoral Activities and Technical Meetings and Related Issues may wish to recommend that the Governing Body request the Director-General to bear in mind the requests made in paragraph 2 of the resolution in implementing current and future activities.
Resolution concerning the recruitment and placement of seafarers
16. The resolution notes that the Fee-Charging Employment Agencies Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 96), which applies to all categories of workers with the exception of seafarers, is to be discussed with a view to its revision at the 85th Session of the Conference (June 1997).
17. The operative paragraph of the resolution invites the Governing Body to instruct the Director-General to bring to the attention of delegates to the 85th Session of the Conference (June 1997) the urgent need to maintain the exclusion of the placing of seafarers, taking into account the adoption by the 84th (Maritime) Session of the Conference of the Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention (Revised), 1996.
18. The Committee on Sectoral Activities and Technical and Related Issues may wish to recommend that the Governing Body request the Director-General to inform the 85th Session of the Conference as appropriate of the views contained in the above resolution.
Resolution concerning the inspection of
seafarers' working and living conditions
19. In 1989 a tripartite ILO meeting of experts adopted guidelines for procedures for the inspection of labour conditions on board ship. The guidelines are based on the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 147), and the relevant Conventions listed in the Appendix to Convention No. 147.
20. The operative paragraph of the resolution adopted by the Conference invites the Governing Body to request the Director-General to make proposals for a further meeting of experts to review the guidelines in the light especially of the standards adopted by the Conference, and for the promotion of the widest possible use of such guidelines.
21. The Director-General plans to include in the programme of the Sectoral Activities Department for 1998-99 the preparation of a draft revised code of practice that would be the basis for a discussion by a tripartite committee of experts to meet at a later stage.
22. The Committee on Sectoral Activities and Technical Meetings and Related Issues may wish to recommend that the Governing Body request the Director-General to bear in mind the request made in the resolution in implementing current and future activities.
Geneva, 6 November 1996.
Points for decision:
Paragraph 8;
Paragraph 10;
Paragraph 12;
Paragraph 15;
Paragraph 18;
Paragraph 22.
Appendix
Resolution on the application of the Seafarers' Hours
of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996
The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having met in Geneva in its Eighty-fourth Session, from 8 to 22 October 1996,
Having discussed the second item on its agenda, entitled the Revision of the Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1958 (No. 109), and Recommendation, 1958 (No. 109),
Invites the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to request the Director-General, as a matter of priority, to develop the guidelines and standardized format referred to in Articles 5 and 8 of the Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996, taking into account the texts and proposals made at the Committee and the discussions thereon. It is recommended that a tripartite group of experts be convened by the ILO to assist in this exercise.
Resolution concerning IMO/STCW Convention of 1978,
as amended, and the application of the Seafarers' Hours
of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996
The Maritime Session of the International Labour Organization,
Having met in Geneva in its Eighty-fourth Session, from 8 to 22 October 1996,
Noting the Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996,
Recalling article 19, paragraph 8, of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization,
Recalling also the adoption of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended in 1995, by the International Maritime Organization and,
Declares that nothing in this Convention is intended to enable Members ratifying the Convention which are also Parties to the revised Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) to apply provisions to watchkeeping seafarers that are less favourable than those contained in the revised STCW Convention and are inconsistent with the minimum rest period provisions of that Convention.
Resolution on the application of revised
Convention No. 9 to the fisheries sector
The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having met in Geneva in its Eighty-fourth Session, from 8 to 22 October 1996,
Recognizing the current crisis in the fishing industry which has serious repercussions on the labour and social standards of fishermen and which has resulted in the abandonment of many crew members of fishing vessels in ports worldwide without any recourse to compensation for lost earnings and assistance with repatriation except from charitable organizations,
Recognizing also the increasing globalization of the industry which has led to the recruitment and placement of fishermen on board foreign flag vessels and the important initiatives undertaken by other international fora with regard to the management and conservation of fish stocks,
Noting the urgent need to apply international labour standards to fishermen and to expressly extend a number of the international labour maritime standards to the fishing sector,
Noting also the adoption of the Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention (Revised), 1996,
Invites the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to:
- Promote the application to fishermen of the Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention (Revised), 1996, by Members following consultations between representative organizations of fishermen and fishing vessel owners and the competent authority,
- Convene an early tripartite meeting for the fishing sector to assess which of the other ILO maritime instruments should be applied to the fishing sector through the adoption of appropriate protocols, and/or the adoption of new international labour standards for the sector and in this regard to place the issue of new labour standards for fishermen on the agenda of an early session of the International Labour Conference
Resolution concerning the recruitment and
placing of seafarers
The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having met in Geneva in its Eighty-fourth Session, from 8 to 22 October 1996,
Noting that the Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention (Revised), 1996 was adopted in Geneva on in order to ensure that international labour standards regulating the activities of persons, companies, institutions, agencies or other organizations which are engaged in recruiting or placing seafarers should reflect current best practices in the shipping industry,
Further noting that the above Convention provides that no fees or other charges for recruitment or providing employment to seafarers shall be borne directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by the seafarer,
Noting also that the Fee-Charging Employment Agencies Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 96), which applies to all categories of workers with the exception of seafarers, is to be discussed with a view to its revision at the 85th Session of the International Labour Conference, June 1997,
Recognizing that Convention No. 96 specifically excludes the placing of seafarers from its scope,
Considering that it is essential that recruitment and placement services operating in the shipping industry should be regulated in such a manner as to take full account of the international aspects and of the particular nature of maritime employment,
Invites the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to instruct the Director-General to bring to the attention of delegates to the 85th Session of the International Labour Conference, June 1997, the urgent need to maintain the exclusion of the placing of seafarers, taking into account the adoption by the 84th (Maritime) Session of the International Labour Conference of the Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention (Revised), 1996.
Resolution concerning the inspection of
seafarers' working and living conditions
The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having discussed the first item on its agenda, entitled the Revision of the Labour Inspection (Seamen) Recommendation, 1926,
Considering the importance of the implementation of the instruments relating to the inspection of seafarers' working and living conditions,
Recalling the Guidelines for Procedure in respect of inspection of labour conditions on board ship issued by the International Labour Office in 1990,
Invites the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to request the Director-General to make proposals for a further Meeting of Experts to review the guidelines in the light especially of the standards adopted by the present session of the Conference and for the promotion of the widest possible use of such guidelines.