University of the Philippines professor Lucia Palpal-latoc Tangi came to this conclusion after in-depth interviews with a dozen women seafarers, most of whom are working as bar waitresses, utility and massage therapists on passenger and cruise liners.

The discrimination of women seafarers, Tangi claimed, begins from the recruitment stage, when women applicants are already judged based on their youthfulness and beauty, and not on skills.

“Experience is a plus but not imperative, especially when the applicants have a pleasing personality,” Tangi said.

Her conclusion has rattled the male-dominated seafaring industry.

“If there are women seafarers [working in freighters or tankers], there will be just a handful of them,” Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) director Alejandro Padaen was quick to reply during the presentation of Tangi’s paper last September.

Padaen said people should not be misled by government figures that say there are about 6,619 Filipino woman seafarers, since most of them work in passenger liners or cruise ships, both types of which are demanding both men and women to either serve passengers or run the ship.

Working in freighter or cargo vessels is far different from working in passenger and cruise liners, Padaen said. He also said freighter or cargo vessels can only employ between 21 and 23 crew members per sail.
Padaen, however, added that this does not mean there’s no harassment onboard. He assumed that women are too scared to come forward and report the case.

“In my three-year stint as director for POEA’s adjudication division, I encountered just one case.”
Padaen said the case involved a male seafarer stealing the undergarments of his coworker onboard.
That male seafarer, whom he declined to name, was suspended without pay for two years because of the violation.

Safeguards to prevent sexual harassment of women

The four female graduates of MAAP, one of the country’s premier institutions for the seafaring industry, last July are just the latest group to join the increasing number of women in the seafaring industry.
Established a decade ago, MAAP is headed by the local labor union Associated Marine Officers’ Union of the Philippines, private sector Danish Shipowners Association, International Transport Workers Federation, International Maritime Employee Committee, and the Filipino Association of Mariner’s Employment.
All graduates of the school are scholars and handpicked by the principals themselves. This means that all of their graduates will be future officers and will not be given menial jobs.

According to school president Eduardo Ma. Santos, they are treating their women students the same as males.

But there are “safeguards” to prevent them from being sexually harassed by the others, Santos said.
For one, hazing, which he said is usually practiced in other maritime schools, is prohibited.
Students are segregated according to their floors, and students are prohibited from going to floors other than their designated area.

“Women seafarers organize their own symposia on sexual harassment for prevention,” Santos, who is a former Philippine Navy chief, told the OFW Journalism Consortium.

“But there is no discrimination [of gender]. They will take their shipboard training the same as everyone else,” Santos said in a telephone interview.

He added that the name of a seafarer accused of sexual harassment will be disseminated to all maritime agents and vessel operators.

“In the symposia, they always instruct the women to always lock their doors when brushing teeth. Women are also encouraged to cite ways they could avoid harassment or abuse.”

According to Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) executive Siony Flores, addressing women’s concerns onboard a vessel could be as simple as giving them adequate facilities since they have a different biological makeup from men.

Flores, a career PPA employee, was the one of those who established gender and development points in the ports, a sector in the industry considered dominated by men. “We’re only talking of equity on the available resources and not equality,” the PPA Corporate Communications director said.

Flores added they encourage women to organize, especially since the government provides them funding for gender and development projects, as mandated by Women in Development and Nation Building Act.
The law states that at least 5 percent of the budget of an agency goes to gender projects.

But private-sector initiatives for the protection of women are a different matter, she admitted, since resources are “scarce.”

Santos, however, balked when asked if the measures of the maritime sector to prevent harassment of women onboard a vessel are already institutionalized.

Women battling exploitation

IN her working study titled “Pinays On Board: An Exploratory Study on the Working Conditions of Filipino Women Seafarers,” Tangi said women have to battle exploitation, discrimination and sexual harassment when onboard a vessel.

Eleven out of the 12 respondents of the study worked onboard luxury liners and only one worked onboard an oil tanker, Tangi said in an e-mail message to the OFW Journalism Consortium.

Tangi categorized those working in cruise liners and a freighter vessel as both seafarers, but they are differentiated when they go onboard, as the latter type of vessel requires highly skilled, more physically enduring jobs.

A seafarer, she said, refers to any person who is employed or engaged in any activity onboard a seagoing ship navigating the foreign seas other than a government ship used for military or noncommercial purposes.
Thus waitresses, utility and massage therapists are considered seafarers as well.

The study, however, made apples-and-oranges comparisons.

For one, she opined there is discrimination of salary between male and female seafarers.

The women she interviewed said they only earn between $50 (for massage therapist) and $1,000 a month as basic salary. But they can earn between $2,000 and $4,500 a month from tips alone.

Tangi then compared the salary of male seafarers, which she said are more into professional, technical and labor-intensive job onboard.

A ship captain and the ship engineer, depending on the type of vessel, can both earn between $5,200 and $10,000 a month, while the other officers can earn about $2,400 and $8,400 a month.

“The research depicts the systematic discrimination of women in the maritime sector. Since women are assigned to positions or jobs which are reflective or related to their reproductive and nurturing roles, they tend to receive lower pay,” she wrote.

“Women seafarers manage to augment their income through tips and through part-time jobs, such as doing the laundry and cleaning the cabins of Western crew members,” she added.

Tangi faced the same hurdle that the government experience—the unavailability of data regarding women seafarers.

The POEA does not even give details on how many women are in cruise ships or freighter vessels.
Nongovernment groups like the Church-based Apostleship of the Sea (AOS) also do not have records of cases of sexual harassment onboard a freighter vessel nor discrimination issues of women.

“For sure, they will not come out,” said Maria Isa Yñiguez, AOS paralegal aide.

Another Church group, Scalabrini Migration Center, said it does not have any study on female seafarers and all of the data were from those gathered by the POEA.

Lack of protection given to women

TANGI also added points on the long-time debate on the current flag of convenience (FOC) system.
She said such system also put women more at risk since FOC-vessels do not give enough protection to women.

International Transport Workers’ Federation has been alone in its campaign for the abolition of the FOC system to protect the seafarers from exploitation and discrimination.

At the moment, more than half of the world’s merchant ships, as measured by tonnage, are registered under the so-called flags of convenience, more commonly referred to as “open registries.” Traditional reasons for choosing an open register include protection from burdensome income taxes, wage scales and regulations.
While this may be true to some open registries, it is difficult to substantiate generalized arguments against flags of convenience as the establishment of the system was sought by the vessel owners themselves.

In about more than 30 FOC states or nations, the most well known are Panama, Liberia, Bahamas, Malta and Cyprus. Together they control about 45 percent of the shipping tonnage, according to nongovernment group Greenpeace.

“Within the IMO, a treaty only comes into force if the ratifying states together represent the required shipping tonnage. That means that, in fact, FOC states have the power of veto in the IMO,” the IMO web site said.

Tangi said this is one of the things her study would focus on.

“I will be expanding my study to include the history on the deployment of women seafarers. I also intend to interview women from other departments, including engineers and officers, if I am lucky,” she said, adding that she will also interview ship owners to make her study more comprehensive.

“I want to include the entire three Bs in my study—the buyer, the business and the bought.”

Tangi said her study is supported by the views enshrined in the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

The Philippines, as a signatory to the convention, has the duty to ensure that women’s rights are protected even in the maritime industry.

“We are not asking for special treatment for women. We are asking that women should be given an equal opportunity to integrate and excel in a field that they choose. Women’s rights are inalienable rights and should, therefore, be upheld and protected at all times.” (source: www.businessmirror.com.ph).

www.MaritimeJobSearch.com | Shipping, Transportation, and Engineering Jobs

“The financial crisis and its impact on the maritime transport sector demands decisive action. We need to look ahead and provide answers to the many challenges we face today”, said Mr. Tajani.

Under the new proposals, measures simplifying customs procedures will be adopted this year and guidelines aimed at accelerating plant and animal checks will also be published.

Eighty percent of world trade is currently carried out across the seas, with the EU the world’s largest exporter and second largest importer.The 1986 Single European Act paved the way for a single market in Europe, yet the shipping industry has long complained that barriers and excessive red tape still exist. These have resulted in increased costs and time delays, forcing producers to opt for land transportation.

The proposals have been welcomed within the sector.

“We welcome the new EU strategy as a positive step for European shipping,” Knud Pontoppidan, executive director of A.P. Moller-Maersk said in a statement to this website. A.P. Moller-Maersk is the parent company of Maersk Line, the current market leader in container shipping.

“We are also pleased that the strategy reflects the recommendations that the industry has put forward,” said Mr Pontoppidan, who was rapporteur for an industry expert group widely consulted by the commission while drafting the plans.

Soaring commodity prices and world food shortages resulted in a boom period for shipping companies in 2007 and early 2008, with record prices being charged. But the financial crisis and ensuing economic downturn has placed the sector, which currently employs over 1.5 million people in Europe, under severe strain.

Jan Fritz Hansen, executive vice-president of the Danish Shipowners’ Association, remained positive however: “We could come out the other side stronger,” he said to this website in an interview, predicting further consolidation and new growth opportunities for those companies that do survive.

“In Europe, the competition keeps us on our toes,” he said, pointing out that the Jones Act in the United States, legislation that limits foreign company participation in coastal transport, was frequently blamed for industry’s poor international performance.

The new commission framework also stresses the importance of making maritime jobs more attractive to young people by improving life-long career prospects.

Likewise, it wants to promote greener solutions in maritime transport, safer working conditions for seafarers and stresses the need for an international regulatory framework for shipping so that all companies operate under the same rules.

“Regulation needs to take place on a global basis”, said Mr Hansen, suggesting that the International Maritime Organisation was the correct body to carry this out, backed up by commission support.

The proposed strategy and ways to implement it will be discussed at a high-level European conference later this year (source: euobserver.com).

“We are in it for the long run. We are prepared to offer officers and seafarers a job for life,” said Mr Bishop.

Competition from land-based jobs, the shipping industry’s poor image, the constant re-qualification required to keep up with regulatory changes, criminalisation of seafarers and post-9/11 visa security issues are all contributing to the growing shortage of seagoing personnel, Mr Bishop pointed out.

“To counter this we are actively promoting marine careers in key locations, developing our own in-house recruitment network, focusing on training, career progression and retention and re-visiting former sources of marine personnel such as the US and Western Europe,” he said. “We have also committed to requiring instinctive compliance by all marine and related shore-based staff.”

“All of this requires significant investment and extensive resources which are beyond the scope of most individual shipowners and boutique ship managers,” Mr Bishop added.

V.Ships, which has a crew retention rate of 85%, manages more than 900 ships (source vships.com).

“It’s a high-paying job,” says one merchant marine. “Who wouldn’t want to receive the kind of salary we have?”A mess man, the lowest rank, receives around $800 a month (P37,600 at the exchange rate of P47 to $1) plus overtime. Officers may get as much as $8,000 a month, or 15 times higher than the wage of many Philippine company executives.

Remittances from seafarers make up 15 percent of the $14.5 billion sent home by Filipino workers abroad. In 2007, the RP sailors’ remittances totaled around $2.2 billion. Employers are required to send a part of a sailor’s salary back home.

The sailors’ paycheck remains largely untouched because of free board and lodging; they spend big time only during port calls.

In the first nine months of 2008, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Filipino seafarers sent home $2.393 billion—or 43.35-percent more than the $1.669 billion they sent in the same period in 2007.

By comparison, land-based Filipino workers abroad sent $9.87 billion from January to September in 2008.

Since 1987, the Philippines has been the leading supplier of seafarers in the international market, “making it the manning capital of the world,” according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

United Filipino Seafarers statistics show there are close to 700,000 Filipino seafarers. In 2007, 266,553 Filipinos were deployed in international passenger and cargo vessels.

They make up about 20 percent —or two out of 10—of the 1.2 million ship workers worldwide.

In a year, they account for around $3 billion of the foreign remittances to the Philippines.

This is a quarter of the total remittances contributed by all Filipino workers abroad, even though seafarers only make up 3 percent of the 8.7 million Filipinos working and living abroad.

The POEA gives most seafarers the “Able Seaman” classification. There were 31,818 able seamen registered last year, a little more than half of them employed in 17,355 positions.

Most of them work in passenger vessels, where 47,782 seafarers were employed in 2007. Some 42,357 worked in bulk carriers and 31,983 labored in container ships.

For recent graduates of maritime schools, competition for jobs is particularly fierce. Of the 25,000 ordinary and able seamen who graduate annually, only 8,000 to 10,000 find a job within a year.

Some 60,000 new students enroll in the counry’s 89 maritime schools. Around 25,000 will complete the three-year course. Most will remain as Ordinary Seaman and only about 5,000 will return to maritime school after a period of “on-the-job” training in order to proceed to the rank of Able Seaman.

Still, the deployment of Filipino seafarers reached 204,951 in 2007, from only 50,604 in 1984 (source: manilatimes.net).

“Any company or industry that shuts its doors to the recruitment and training of its next generation of skilled workers will send a clear and long-lasting message that it is in terminal decline.”
David Dearsley, secretary general, International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC)

At a recent conference, International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC) secretary general, David Dearsley argued that although the present world economic crisis is far worse than at the beginning of previous recessions, it would not significantly impact on shipping’s manpower shortage. Expectations based on the results of previous economic recessions would tend to indicate that the shortage of qualified officers is so bad that a significant decline in the number of ships in the world fleet through the scrapping of existing ships, lay-ups and the cancellation of proposed newbuildings, would simply reduce the shortage to more manageable numbers. “Frankly, I doubt this,” Dearsley said.

Dearsley explained that unemployed qualified seafarers have already demonstrated in past recessions that they can assimilate back into the shore-based population relatively easily because their technical and professional skills are transferable. Many shore-based industries, such as in engineering, ports and harbours, and offshore installations value the flexibility and hands-on skills of seafarers.

“Young people all over the world looking for careers as they leave university, use the internet to source information in a way that did not exist even 10 years ago,” he said. “Any company or industry that shuts its doors to the recruitment and training of its next generation of skilled workers will send a clear and long-lasting message that it is in terminal decline. We run the very real risk of sending out this message again today, not just in the UK or Europe but globally, unless we maintain a long-term and far sighted training programme to deal with the crew crisis.” Many owners facing pressure on margins are bound to reduce so called ‘discretionary spending’, which includes the training programme. If the recession produces a reduction in the scale of the officer shortages and reduces the pressure on officer wage rates, it will be even more difficult to resist demands to reduce the number of cadets being trained. The only way forward to making sure that the errors of the past are not repeated is to maintain recruitment and training programmes. Dearsley explained: “This does not mean that they should be maintained precisely as they are today; indeed this would not be sustainable. It means maintaining our intake of cadets but targeting our resources better in order to reduce wastage and improve the quality of the output and where possible spreading the costs with other like-minded companies.”

Long Term Decision

IMEC took a long term strategic decision last year in respect of cadet training. Dearsley said: “When considering the officer shortage we concluded that simply throwing more cadets into the system would not necessarily prove to be the answer in some of our major labour supply countries. The Working Group we established to consider the officer shortage was particularly struck by the fact that some 10% of our Filipino ratings held valid officer licenses. They were also struck by the fact that each year some 18,000 young Filipinos commenced training programmes designed to deliver officer watchkeeping certificates after the four-year period, but only some 4,000 officers were actually produced.

The balance obtained work ashore or became ratings. “Clearly, recruiting yet more cadets into this system would not produce the desired effect of producing enough officers to overcome the shortage. So we decided to follow the lead already initiated by the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association and try to change the system. Starting from scratch this year we decided to select cadets to educational, aptitude and medical standards that we set, to train them to standards we set, in particular in respect of reduced class sizes and the provision of educational materials and equipment, and to ensure that the lecturers were fully competent and selected by IMEC.

“The programme is fully sponsored through International Maritime Training Trust (IMTT) and the cadets receive a full scholarship covering tuition fees, accommodation and food, uniforms and training materials. The cadets are assured of the 12 months sea time training with an IMEC member during the third training year and will return to that company once they have obtained their officer license,” he said. IMEC firmly believes that the cadet training programme is a long-term, farsighted way to produce the number of qualified seafarers that the industry requires and of a standard of competence in excess of current standards.

Dearsley said: “Of particular importance given the current economic crisis, the manner in which the programme is financed through an industry fund should minimise cost during a time when training budgets will inevitably come under severe pressure.” (source: tankeroperator.com)

The campaign calls on governments, industry and IMO, supported by ILO and other international organizations, to take specific actions, within their areas of influence, to increase the recruitment of seafarers to tackle the problem.

A recent report issued by maritime industry analysts Drewry Shipping Consultants assessed the current shortfall of officers in the global shipping fleet to be some 34,000, against a total requirement of 498,000. Moreover, based on Drewry’s fleet growth projections, and the assumption that officer supply will only increase at the current rate, the report predicts that, by 2012, the officer shortfall will have grown to 83,900.

“As everyone in shipping is aware, the global shortage of seafarers, especially officers, has already reached significant proportions and is now a source of genuine concern to all involved in the industry,” said IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, speaking at the launch of the campaign.

The shipping industry can provide the basis for a fulfilling and satisfying life-long career and the problem is one of recruitment, rather than retention in the profession, he added, noting that this required a shift in the public perception of shipping, particularly amongst the young.

“I have long been an advocate of the need to promote the industry and improve its public image. Outside the industry itself, the wider public has little conscious perception of the vital role that shipping plays in everyday life and this, clearly, needs to change,” Mr. Mitropoulos said, adding that all the organizations associated with the ‘Go to Sea!’ campaign were united in wanting to address concerns over the future supply of quality manpower to the shipping industry and in taking positive steps for that purpose.

Amongst specific calls for action in the campaign document, the shipping industry is urged to take the lead and more can to promote itself through the media, in particular the electronic media. The industry should continue to provide support for and endorse campaigns aimed at improving its image and use some key industry figures as examples of career progression. It is also urged to do more to make life on board and away from home more akin to the life enjoyed by others ashore; to encourage women to work in the seafaring profession; and to promote the industry at non maritime-related events.

Governments are asked to give greater prominence to the maritime perspective, by doing more to support and encourage the shipping industry in any initiatives it takes to enhance its image and to remove adverse actions that may damage that image. Maritime training facilities need to be resourced adequately (both in financial and human resource terms) to ensure a supply of competent seafarers. Governments could do much to promote a wider take-up of a sea career through, for example, recognition of sea service instead of compulsory military service, training of jobless persons and promoting the career for women.

IMO itself will develop a page on its public website highlighting the types of career paths available to seafarers, through links to industry sites. While on missions abroad, where practicable, the Secretary-General will visit maritime and non-maritime training facilities and seafarer organizations to express support and address both maritime and non-maritime Government departments to promote shipping and seafaring. And the ILO, which promotes the objective of decent work for all, has adopted several instruments directly relevant to the campaign and will support it in every way possible (source: IMO.org).

Doris Magsaysay Ho, president and chief executive officer of one of the country’s crewing agencies, the Magsaysay Group of Companies, said on Tuesday that such benefits are solutions to make the circular flow of workers fair and just.

“These policies need to be in place to ensure ethical treatment and processing workers to the country of work,” Richard Evans, country manager of Manpower Inc. Philippines, pointed out at a roundtable discussion at the Global Forum for Migration and Development 2008.

Evans said some civil-society groups are creating long-term global workforce development and knowledge circulation policies that enable developing nations to benefit more from overseas workers’ knowledge and experience.

Ho, a member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council, said seafarers deserve tokens because they are in a “unique global architecture.”

Under the placement rule, which is among the reasons why seafarers are in good position, employers allow seafarers to be onboard from six to 10 months with two-month vacation.

But Ho is still outraged by the recruitment regulations in the country, particularly with the maritime industry.

“It’s ridiculous,” she said.

Between this year and 2012, the country would need around 64,000 skilled seafarers to fill in top-level positions.

Ho, however, said that with proper benefits given to seafarers, maritime firms are going to combat the bleak picture in the present labor force.

The International Labor Organization estimated that the present financial crisis is likely to lead to the loss of some 20 million jobs around the world (source: businessmirror.com.ph).

He believes that the present world economic crisis will not significantly impact shipping’s manpower shortage.

The shortage of qualified officers is such that a significant decline in the world fleet through scrapping, lay-ups and newbuilding cancelations might be expected to reduce the shortage to more manageable numbers. However, in past recessions, qualified seafarers have demonstrated that they can get shore-based jobs relatively easily as their technical and professional skills are transferable. And many shore-based industries value the flexibility and hands on skills of seafarers.

“Young people all over the world looking for careers as they leave university, use the internet to source information in a way that did not exist even ten years ago,” Mr. Dearsley today told delegates at the ACI 3rd Maritime HR & Crew Development Conference in London. “Any company or industry that shuts its doors to the recruitment and training of its next generation of skilled workers will send a clear and long-lasting message that it is in terminal decline. We run the very real risk of sending out this message again today, not just in the U.K. or Europe but globally, unless we maintain a long-term and far sighted training program to deal with the crew crisis.”

Many owners facing pressure on margins are bound to reduce discretionary spending,” which includes the training program.

If the recession produces a reduction in the scale of the officer shortages and reduces the pressure on officer wage rates, it will be even more difficult to resist demands to reduce the number of cadets being trained.

In Mr. Dearsley’s view, the only way to make sure that the errors of the past are not repeated is to maintain recruitment and training programs.

“This does not mean that they should be maintained precisely as they are today,” he said. “Indeed this would not be sustainable. It means maintaining our intake of cadets but targeting our resources better in order to reduce wastage and improve the quality of the output –where possible spreading the costs with other like-minded companies.”

London-based IMEC represents over 120 companies worldwide, operating some 6,500 ships of all types under more than 40 flags. They employ over 157,000 seafarers of all nationalities.

Last year, IMEC took a long term strategic decision on cadet training.

“When considering the officer shortage we concluded that simply throwing more cadets into the system would not necessarily prove to be the answer in some of our major labor supply countries,” said Mr. Dearsley. “The Working Group we established to consider the officer shortage was particularly struck by the fact that some 10 % of our Filipino ratings held valid officer licenses. They were also struck by the fact that each year some 18,000 young Filipinos commenced training programs designed to deliver officer watchkeeping certificates after the four-year period, but only some 4,000 officers were actually produced. The balance obtained work ashore or became ratings.

“Clearly, recruiting yet more cadets into this system would not produce the desired effect of producing enough officers to overcome the shortage,” he continued. “So we decided to follow the lead already initiated by the Norwegian Shipowners Association and try to change the system. Starting from scratch this year we decided to select cadets to educational, aptitude and medical standards that we set, to train them to standards we set, in particular in respect of reduced class sizes and the provision of educational materials and equipment, and to ensure that the lecturers were fully competent and selected by IMEC. The program is fully sponsored through International Maritime Training Trust (IMTT) and the cadets receive a full scholarship covering tuition fees, accommodation and food, uniforms and training materials. The cadets are assured of the 12 months sea time training with an IMEC member during the third training year and will return to that company once they have obtained their officer license.”

“Of particular importance given the current economic crisis,” said Mr. Dearsley, the manner in which the program is financed through an industry fund should minimize cost during a time when training budgets will inevitably come under severe pressure.”

Since 1998 IMEC has used a collective bargaining system to establish a training fund maintained in the International Maritime Training Trust (IMTT), which is based on the Isle of Man. The fund has made donations of around $1 million per year to the training institutions in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Poland and more recently, Eastern Europe. The grants have provided for free fall lifeboats, bridge and engine simulators, model ships for ship handling facilities, libraries and many subsidized courses in, for example, English language, accident prevention and chart correction (source: http://marinelog.com/).

The demonstration, which took place in Brussels on 14 October, aimed to lobby European decision-makers for an increase in employment for European seafarers and a set of standard conditions and against the replacement of crew with cheap labour. The seafarers’ demonstration was part of a long-term campaign by the ITF’s European arm, the ETF, and its affiliated unions for a fundamental review of the employment conditions of those working in the European Union (EU) maritime sector.

An ETF charter for European seafarers was presented to the Commission Vice-President responsible for transport, Antonio Tajani, on the day of the demonstration. The charter’s demands include: more employment opportunities; no social dumping; equal rights; greater regulation of the maritime sector and the right to safe working conditions and social security and state pension entitlements.

Philippe Alfonso, ETF Maritime Political Secretary commented: “The ETF has shown European Commission and Brussels policy-makers that seafarers’ unions across Europe are determined to promote European jobs at sea. The seafarers, representing 23 trade union organisations from 16 European countries, said that they wanted the European legislator to act now to safeguard European maritime know-how and make the industry a sector of excellence, where skilled and well-trained EU seafarers can enjoy the best possible living and working conditions.

“We also need to give young Europeans a chance to embark on maritime careers and to ensure that no one will be prevented from doing so because of poor working conditions.”

The event is being followed by a public seminar at the European Parliament today, held under the auspices of the Party of European Socialists and in the presence of Commission Vice-President responsible for transport, Antonio Tajani. It will debate the social aspects of EU maritime policy (source: itfglobal.org)

What has to be done according to you to increase the quality and number of jobs at sea?

European unions are gathering in Brussels to lobby for increased employment for EU seafarers, standardized working conditions, and against replacement of crew from cheaper labor.

This demonstration is part of a long term campaign and its affiliated unions for a fundamental review of employment for those that are active in the EU maritime sector.

Two days later, October 16, there will be a public seminar at the European Parliament. European commissioners, IMO/ILO representatives, ship owners, ETF members, and other stakeholders are coming together to examine the social dimension of the EU maritime policy.

Philippe Alfonso, ETF Maritime Political Secretary commented: “We need to reverse the decline in the number of EU seafarers and young people entering into a maritime profession. There is no evidence to substantiate that young EU nationals do not wish to seek a maritime career. By providing good living and working conditions and attractive remunerations, the industry can avoid a shortage of skilled personnel”.

He continued: “There is an urgent need to put an end to the discrimination between Seafarers working on board the same vessel on grounds of nationality and/or place of residence. Moreover, European seafarers should no longer be excluded from the EU social and labor legislation applying to other sectors. We are seeking to ensure that their rights are the same as those enjoyed by EU citizens on land.

The ETF hopes that European policy makers are open to the Charter for European Seafarers and for a sustainable maritime industry. The Charters goals are:

• more employment opportunities;
• no social dumping and race to the bottom in salaries;
• equal rights;
• more regulation in the maritime sector including the so-called ‘Manning Directive’;
• safe employment conditions;
• right for social security;
• state pension entitlements.

For more details of the Brussels events and ETF campaign please contact:

Philippe Alfonso, Political Secretary, Maritime Transport, Dockers and Fisheries, ETF.

Tel: +32 (0)2 285 45 84.

Email: p.alfonso@etf-europe.org

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