Regulation of the Employment Status of Seafarers

This article discusses the specifics of the employment relationship of seafarers who not only perform their obligations on a ship under an employment contract, but also live far away from their permanent residence, with limited contact with their home environment, including their families. In the pa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Boris Jerman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hrvatska Akademija Znanosti i Umjetnosti 2024-01-01
Series:Poredbeno Pomorsko Pravo
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/468285
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1823858107533492224
author Boris Jerman
author_facet Boris Jerman
author_sort Boris Jerman
collection DOAJ
description This article discusses the specifics of the employment relationship of seafarers who not only perform their obligations on a ship under an employment contract, but also live far away from their permanent residence, with limited contact with their home environment, including their families. In the past, their position was less than envious, since they, as a party in the working relationship, were clearly under the authority of the shipowner and were very poorly informed about their rights. The situation began to improve in recent times, when the legislator and international organisations, such as the International Maritime Organization (ILO), began to adopt legislation to regulate their position. The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006) is of key importance in the legislation that has recently been adopted to improve the position of seafarers. Its greatest value is that it introduces port state control, which means that member states carry out inspections on ships arriving at their ports to ensure that they comply with its provisions. Regardless of the above, the position of seafarers is still far from desirable as shipowners are trying to reduce their operating costs by cutting down on the number of crew members and their benefits. The situation of seafarers should not only be improved with appropriate legislation, but also with its implementation. The main purpose of this article is to point out the specifics of the legal regulation of the position of seafarers, which cannot be regulated by the provisions of general labour law, and to analyse the development of such regulation which began to improve the position of seafarers from the middle of the 19th century. However, it is necessary to highlight that the legal regulation of seafarers is not a new phenomenon, since it is possible to find regulations from as early as the Middle Ages that contained certain provisions that could serve as an example for modern regulations. Another purpose of this article is to point out that different national regulations are based on the same principles of regulating the position of seafarers. With this aim, the position of seafarers in Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy is analysed. The legislations of the three countries are more or less in compliance with the MLC, 2006 and other international conventions, but they differ in their scope, which is influenced by the extent and importance of the maritime sector in their national economies.
format Article
id doaj-art-35cc7a0f5cce4b918e43663e95481c94
institution Kabale University
issn 1331-9914
1848-8927
language English
publishDate 2024-01-01
publisher Hrvatska Akademija Znanosti i Umjetnosti
record_format Article
series Poredbeno Pomorsko Pravo
spelling doaj-art-35cc7a0f5cce4b918e43663e95481c942025-02-11T14:17:27ZengHrvatska Akademija Znanosti i UmjetnostiPoredbeno Pomorsko Pravo1331-99141848-89272024-01-016317827331010.21857/yk3jwh7z49Regulation of the Employment Status of SeafarersBoris JermanThis article discusses the specifics of the employment relationship of seafarers who not only perform their obligations on a ship under an employment contract, but also live far away from their permanent residence, with limited contact with their home environment, including their families. In the past, their position was less than envious, since they, as a party in the working relationship, were clearly under the authority of the shipowner and were very poorly informed about their rights. The situation began to improve in recent times, when the legislator and international organisations, such as the International Maritime Organization (ILO), began to adopt legislation to regulate their position. The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006) is of key importance in the legislation that has recently been adopted to improve the position of seafarers. Its greatest value is that it introduces port state control, which means that member states carry out inspections on ships arriving at their ports to ensure that they comply with its provisions. Regardless of the above, the position of seafarers is still far from desirable as shipowners are trying to reduce their operating costs by cutting down on the number of crew members and their benefits. The situation of seafarers should not only be improved with appropriate legislation, but also with its implementation. The main purpose of this article is to point out the specifics of the legal regulation of the position of seafarers, which cannot be regulated by the provisions of general labour law, and to analyse the development of such regulation which began to improve the position of seafarers from the middle of the 19th century. However, it is necessary to highlight that the legal regulation of seafarers is not a new phenomenon, since it is possible to find regulations from as early as the Middle Ages that contained certain provisions that could serve as an example for modern regulations. Another purpose of this article is to point out that different national regulations are based on the same principles of regulating the position of seafarers. With this aim, the position of seafarers in Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy is analysed. The legislations of the three countries are more or less in compliance with the MLC, 2006 and other international conventions, but they differ in their scope, which is influenced by the extent and importance of the maritime sector in their national economies.https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/468285seafarerscontract of employmentinternational labour organization (ilo)maritime labour convention, 2006repatriationport state control
spellingShingle Boris Jerman
Regulation of the Employment Status of Seafarers
Poredbeno Pomorsko Pravo
seafarers
contract of employment
international labour organization (ilo)
maritime labour convention, 2006
repatriation
port state control
title Regulation of the Employment Status of Seafarers
title_full Regulation of the Employment Status of Seafarers
title_fullStr Regulation of the Employment Status of Seafarers
title_full_unstemmed Regulation of the Employment Status of Seafarers
title_short Regulation of the Employment Status of Seafarers
title_sort regulation of the employment status of seafarers
topic seafarers
contract of employment
international labour organization (ilo)
maritime labour convention, 2006
repatriation
port state control
url https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/468285
work_keys_str_mv AT borisjerman regulationoftheemploymentstatusofseafarers