Received from: Nautilus
Merged into composite 01
Congress records its concern at the continued evidence of substandard shipping and appalling working conditions for many seafarers working on ships around the UK coast. Congress notes the shocking number of cases involving owed wages and poverty pay, as well as the prevalence of problems such as excessive working time, fatigue, stress, little or no ability to communicate with friends and family, and workplace illhealth, injury and fatality rates well in excess of any shore-based occupation.
Congress therefore calls on the General Council to:
i. support the maritime unions in their work to continuously improve the Maritime Labour Convention as an effective global minimum standard to underpin improvements in the lives of seafarers
ii. ensure that the UK has the necessary staffing, resources and political commitment to police and enforce the requirements of the Maritime Labour
Convention
iii. resist any attempts to dilute UK maritime regulatory standards or for the UK ship register to move to minimum international standards to compete with flags of convenience
iv. promote the collective voice concept within the maritime industry and to seek to restore the principles of sectoral collective bargaining within the shipping industry.
Nautilus International