Tag: ILO Convention

Agreement on an increase in the ILO minimum wage for an AB seaman Seafarers, like many other workers around the world have, if still lucky enough to have a job, been enduring a pay freeze since the global financial crisis poured cold water on an overheating situation.Now, it seems, the ice age for wages is over as the sun of recovery, albeit still shining weakly, begins to melt the frozen landscape of pay negotiations. The first breakthrough came, Spring-like, late in April when the Joint Maritime Commission (JMC) at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) met and, despite many differences of opinion, agreed on an increase in the ILO minimum wage for an able-bodied seaman (AB).The new three-year deal will see the AB basic pay, currently USD 545 a month, rise by 7.3% from January next year to stand at USD 585 in December 2014. It is the first increase in the minimum since the last three-year agreement, reached in February 2006, took it from USD 500 to its present level.The significance is that ship owners, represented by the International Shipping Federation (ISF), have for the last two years been telling their JMC counterparts, the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), that ...

Aims to provide an international safety net for the protection of decent work for seafarers The internationally agreed minimum wage for seafarers is set to rise by 7.3 per cent between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2013. The increase in the International Labour Organization (ILO) minimum basic wage for seafarers was agreed by the ILO's Joint Maritime Commission Sub-Committee on Wages of Seafarers meeting in Geneva on 26-27 April.The agreement takes the minimum monthly wage from the present US$545 to US$555 on 1 January 2012, US$568 on 1 January 2013 and to US$585 on 31 December 2013. Consolidated monthly wages, including overtime and annual paid leave, would rise to approximately US$975, US$998 and US$1,028 respectively.One of the main aims of the minimum basic wage is to provide an international safety net for the protection of decent work for seafarers.Although an ILO report suggested that the minimum wage should be increased to US$710 a month to maintain purchasing power, shipowners refused to consider such a large increase in the current economic climate.The ILO Governing Body will be asked to endorse the recommendations at a meeting in November 2011.Source: ITF

Dangers of badly prepared shipping containers The International Transport Federation (ITF) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched a campaign in February to highlight the dangers of badly prepared shipping containers.The union will lobby politicians, the EU and other stakeholders to push for action to stem "overloaded, badly packed or inadequately secured freight containers, and those carrying undeclared dangerous goods".Source: Safety4Sea