C093 - Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 93)

• Subject Matter: Seafarers,Gens de mer,Gente de mar
• Court: International Labour Organization

Preamble

The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,

Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Thirty-second Session on 8 June 1949, and

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the partial revision of the Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention, 1946, adopted by the Conference at its Twenty-eighth Session, which is included in the twelfth item on the agenda of the session, and

Considering that these proposals must take the form of an international Convention,

adopts this eighteenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine the following Convention, which may be cited as the Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1949:

PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Nothing in this Convention shall be deemed to prejudice any provision concerning wages, hours of work on board ship, or manning, by law, award, custom or agreement between shipowners and seafarers, which ensures the seafarers conditions more favourable than those provided for by this Convention.

Article 2

1. 1. This Convention applies to every vessel, whether publicly or privately owned, which is--
   • (a) mechanically propelled;
   • (b) registered in a territory for which the Convention is in force;
   • (c) engaged in the transport of cargo or passengers for the purpose of trade; and
   • (d) engaged in a voyage by sea.
2. 2. This Convention does not apply to--
   • (a) vessels of less than 500 gross register tons;
   • (b) wooden vessels of primitive build such as dhows and junks;
   • (c) vessels engaged in fishing or in operations directly connected therewith;
   • (d) estuarial craft.

Article 3

This Convention applies to every person who is engaged in any capacity on board a vessel except--

• (a) a master;
• (b) a pilot not a member of the crew;
• (c) a doctor;
• (d) nursing staff engaged exclusively on nursing duties and hospital staff;
• (e) persons whose duties are connected solely with the cargo on board;
• (f) persons working exclusively on their own account or remunerated exclusively by a share of profits or earnings;
• (g) persons not remunerated for their services or remunerated only by a nominal salary or wage;
• (h) persons, excluding those in the service of a wireless telegraphy company, who are employed on board by an employer other than the shipowner;
• (i) travelling dockers (longshoremen) not members of the crew;
• (j) persons employed in whale-catching, floating factory or transport vessels or otherwise for the purpose of whaling or similar operations under conditions regulated by the provisions of a special collective whaling or similar agreement determining the rates of pay, hours of work and other conditions of service concluded by an organisation of seafarers;
• (k) persons who are not members of the crew (whether working on or off articles) but are employed while the vessel is in port on repairing, cleaning, loading or unloading the vessel or similar work or on port relief, maintenance, watch or caretaking duties.

Article 4

In this Convention--

• (a) the term officer means a person other than a master who is described in the ship's articles as an officer or who is serving in a capacity which by law, collective agreement or custom is recognised as that of an officer;
• (b) the term rating means a member of the crew other than a master or officer and includes a certificated seaman;
• (c) the term able seaman means any person who by national laws or regulations, or in the absence of such laws or regulations by collective agreement, is deemed to be competent to perform any duty which may be required of a rating serving in the deck department other than the duties of a leading or specialist rating;
• (d) the term basic pay or wages means the remuneration of an officer or rating in cash, exclusive of overtime, premiums or any other allowances either in cash or in kind.

PART II. WAGES

Article 5

1. 1. The basic pay or wages for a calendar month of service of an able seaman employed in a vessel to which this Convention applies shall not be less than sixteen pounds in currency of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or sixty-four dollars in currency of the United States of America or the equivalent thereof in other currency.
2. 2. In the event of a change in the par value of the pound or the dollar being notified to the International Monetary Fund--
   • (a) the minimum basic wage prescribed in paragraph 1 of this Article in terms of the currency in respect of which such notification has been made shall be adjusted so as to maintain equivalence with the other currency;
   • (b) the adjustment shall be notified by the Director-General of the International Labour Office to the Members of the International Labour Organisation; and
   • (c) the minimum basic wage so adjusted shall be binding upon Members which have ratified the Convention in the same manner as the wage prescribed in paragraph 1 of this Article, and shall take effect for each such Member not later than the beginning of the second calendar month following that in which the Director-General communicates the change to Members.

Article 6

1. 1. In the case of ships in which are employed such groups of ratings as necessitate the employment of larger groups of ratings than would otherwise be employed the minimum basic pay or wages of an able seaman shall be an amount fixed as the adjusted equivalent of the minimum basic pay or wages stipulated in the preceding article.
2. 2. The adjusted equivalent shall be fixed in accordance with the principle of equal pay for equal work and due allowance shall be made for--
   • (a) the extra number of ratings of such groups who are employed; and
   • (b) any increase or decrease in cost to the shipowner consequent on the employment of such groups of ratings.
3. 3. The adjusted equivalent shall be determined by collective agreement between the organisations of shipowners and seafarers concerned or, failing such agreement and subject to both countries concerned having ratified the Convention, by the competent authority of the territory of the group of seafarers concerned.

Article 7

If meals are not provided free of charge, the minimum basic pay or wages shall be increased by an amount to be determined by collective agreement between the organisations of shipowners and seafarers concerned or, failing such agreement, by the competent authority.

Article 8

1. 1. The rate to be used for determining the equivalent in other currency of the minimum basic pay or wages prescribed in Article 5 shall be the ratio between the par value of that currency and the par value of the pound of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or of the dollar of the United States of America.
2. 2. In the case of the currency of a Member of the International Labour Organisation which is a Member of the International Monetary Fund, the par value shall be that currently in effect under the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund.
3. 3. In the case of the currency of a Member of the International Labour Organisation which is not a Member of the International Monetary Fund, the par value shall be the official rate of exchange, in terms of gold or of the dollar of the United States of America of the weight and fineness in effect on 1 July 1944, currently in effect for payments and transfers for current international transactions.
4. 4. In the case of any currency which cannot be dealt with under...