The Philippines stands to benefit the most by ratifying the MLC
If things fall into their proper places, the Philippines may likely ratify the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC 2006) before the end of this year. This was the general consensus and optimism shared by the members of the Maritime Industry Tripartite Council (MITC) during a Forum – Consultation on the International Labour Organization’s MLC 2006 for the Domestic Shipping Sector held on August 31, 2011 at the CSB Hotel in Malate, Manila.
Since assuming the Department of Labor and Employment portfolio, Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz has been spending a good amount of time in pushing for the country’s ratification of the MLC 2006, which she described in her message at the start of the forum as an international instrument that sets the standards for the better protection of seafarers and one that provides a socio-economic floor to fair and just global competition in the maritime sector.
“For the Philippines, the ratification of the MLC affirms the country’s standing as the manning capital of the world with 250,000 Filipino seafarers who are literally and figuratively the driving force behind ships that handle the world’s trade, and who comprise 30% of the world’s seafarers,” Secretary Baldoz emphasized.
“As a labor-supplying country, the Philippines stands to benefit the most by ratifying the MLC, which provides for the bill of rights for our seafarers. Our estimated 40,000 domestic seafarers stand to benefit equally from such ratification, as the MLC provides a uniform set of fair standards for employment of seafarers, wherever they are,” she further noted.
“The Philippine Labor Code and several pieces of social legislation contain provisions that are generally consistent with the MLC but there remain some gaps in law and policy with respect to domestic shipping in terms of benefits, not expressly provided under our Labor Code. We expect that enough time will be given by the ILO to bring our law and practice in full conformity with the Convention and technical assistance will be available to assist us in crafting the appropriate strategy to address the gaps to include exclusions from coverage of certain ships and a reasonable cut-off date of effectivity for compliance with provisions on accommodation,” Secretary Baldoz pointed out.
“When I discussed all these issues that could be barriers to ratification, ILO Director Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry assured me that she would look for an expert who can help the tripartite sector understand better the issues towards finding jointly and mutually acceptable solutions,” she added.
That expert was in the person of Mr. Arthur Bowring, Managing Director of the HK Shipowners Association, Chairman of the International Shipping Federation Labor Committee and Vice Chairman of the Preparatory Tripartite Committee for the MLC, 2006 at the ILO, whose insights, inquiries and inputs in yesterday’s forum-consultation further added impetus to the country’s likely ratification of the MLC, 2006.
“The ratification of MLC 2006 by the Philippines would send a strong signal to the global maritime community that the country is quite serious in maintaining its status as the No. 1 supplier of seaborne manpower for the global merchant fleet. While there are still some European maritime countries who are literally taking their sweet time in ratifying the Convention, the Philippines is already on course to doing so,” cited Mr. Bowring.
“All the while, I was thinking that the Philippines would have a certain degree of difficulty in adopting the convention because of the so-called gaps particularly with regards to the domestic shipping sector but after this forum-consultation, I realized that the country may actually be among the first in Asia to be able to ratify the Convention,” he said during his concluding statements to wrap up the forum.
Mr. Bowring is scheduled to go to Cebu from September 2, 2011 to coordinate and work together with government regional offices and domestic shipowners for the technical inspection of domestic vessels to address pertinent concerns relative to the country’s ratification of MLC 2006.
Source: United Filipino Seafarers