ILO: Seafarers to continue receiving wages if held by pirates

Seafarers held captive as a result of an act of piracy or armed robbery against ships will continue to receive their wages and entitlements during their period of captivity under amendments to the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended (MLC, 2006) adopted by the Special Tripartite Committee of the MLC, 2006 at a recent meeting at the ILO in Geneva. The amendments will be submitted for approval at the 28 May-8 June, 2018 International Labour Conference. ‘Tripartism and social dialogue played a key role in the process of adoption of the amendments,’ said Corinne Vargha, Director of the ILO’s International Labour Department. 

World Maritime University President Cleopatra  Doumbia-Henry, a former ILO official, also welcomed the amendments. ‘These amendments have an important significance in terms of the legal certainty that they provide and also the protection they extend to seafarers and their families when faced with the most horrid of crimes in today’s modern world,’ she said. The text adopted at the third meeting of the Committee states, among others: ‘Where a seafarer is held captive on or off the ship as a result of acts of piracy or armed robbery against ships, wages and other entitlements under the seafarers’ employment agreement, relevant collective bargaining agreement or applicable national laws,’ shall continue to be paid. The MLC, 2006 has been ratified by 86 countries covering around 90 per cent of the world fleet.

Source: ILO (International Labour Organization)