New Zealand seafarers welcome adoption of Maritime Labour Convention

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has welcomed news that New Zealand will be ratifying the Maritime Labour Convention.

The Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC) is an international treaty adopted by the International Labour Organisation and lays out minimum rights for seafarers and promotes good employment practices across the shipping industry.

It has been described as a “seafarers bill of rights.”

Maritime Union National Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the Union has been advocating New Zealand become a signatory to the MLC for some time.

“Most developed nations including Australia are signed up to the MLC and it was an anomaly that New Zealand was not.”

Mr Fleetwood says the MLC has a number of implications for New Zealand.

“The Maritime Union works with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) to recover wages and deal with crew welfare issues. We note that this work is done by the unions, not by the Government, and we deal with constant issues on flag of convenience vessels on the New Zealand coast.”

The Maritime Union is an affiliate of the ITF which works to ensure the safety and wellbeing of seafarers globally.

Mr Fleetwood says that ships that have problems with crews often had multiple issues including safety and seaworthiness.

“The deregulated approach to this and other aspects of the maritime industry has been recognised as a failure, so now the move is back towards proper oversight of the industry by Government.”

ENDS

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