Dominica, The Gambia and Niue are the latest flags added to the International Transport Workers’ Federation’s (ITF) long-standing ‘Flags of Convenience’ list.
The three flags were added to the FOC list at a meeting of the ITF’s Fair Practices Committee – bringing together seafarers’ and dockers’ unions from around the world – in Athens, Greece, last week.
The additions bring the total number of FOC flags to48 countries.
“We’ve been monitoring ships sailing under these three flags this year, and after carrying out the necessary due diligence we can confirm their designation as new Flags of Convenience,” saidSteve Trowsdale, ITF Inspectorate Coordinator.
“If you are a flag state and you take registration fees, then you have an obligation to ensure the rights of seafarers on vessels under your flag are respected – let there be no doubt that the ITF is watching and that our global network of inspectors will do everything in their power to protect the seafarers on these vessels.”
The ITF defines an FOC ship as one flying the flag of a country other than its actual ownership.
The ITF’s maritime unions have developed a set of policies that seek to establish minimum acceptable standards for seafarers working on FOC vessels, which account for around 30% of the more than 100,000 merchant vessels operating worldwide.
These standards form the basis of the ITF’s CBAs, which set the wages and working conditions for crews on FOC vessels irrespective of nationality – just over 47% of all FOC vessels are covered by ITF collective bargaining agreements. Compliance with ITF agreements is monitored by a network of 130 ITF inspectors and contacts in more than 125 ports throughout the world.
The ITF Fair Practices Committee governs the ITF’s FOC campaign – first launched in Oslo in 1948 – including the addition and removal of flag states from the FOC list.
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