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ITF Reports Progress in FOC Fight
Federation Secures Back Wages, Contracts for Many Crews
November 2003

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in late September issued a 50-page report packed with details about its ongoing campaign against flag-of-convenience shipping, also known as runaway flags. The SIU, an ITF affiliate, strongly supports the fight against runaway flags. “We may be closer to seeing fundamental changes to the flag-of-convenience system than at any time in the last 50 years,” stated ITF General Secretary David Cockroft and Special Seafarers’ Department Secretary Stephen Cotton in the report’s co-authored introduction. “Governments are being forced by the events of September 11, 2001 to pay much greater attention to the lack of transparency in world shipping and the ease with which flags of convenience can be used not just by bad employers but also criminals and even terrorists. The lack of effective control in shipping was demonstrated once again by the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige off the coast of Spain in November 2002.” The report later notes that the Prestige flew the Bahamian flag, was Greek-owned through a shell company based in Liberia, chartered by a Russian/Swiss company and classified by an American entity. “It took skilled researchers several weeks to uncover this information,” the federation reported. Based in London, the ITF comprises more than 600 unions representing a combined 5 million workers. Among the many notable items reported by the ITF in its yearly report: Federation inspectors (including those from the SIU) recovered $32.4 million in unpaid wages for crews in 2002. Approximately 6,500 runaway-flag ships are covered by ITF contract or other agreements which the federation deems acceptable. There are 137 ITF inspectors and coordinators in 123 ports in 43 countries. They made 8,886 reported inspections last year, of which 7,375 were on FOC vessels. (The ITF’s Seafarers Support Team handles cases in ports lacking a permanent federation presence.) As of the end of last year, 28 registers were formally designated FOCs by the ITF’s Fair Practices Committee. Three countries were added to the list in 2002 (Comoros, Jamaica and Tonga), while four were removed (Aruba, the Canary Islands, the Cook Islands and Tuvalu). Through joint negotiating forums, the ITF continues to illustrate that its campaign “builds good relationships with good employers. It targets bad ones to isolate them politically and to get their signatures on agreements covering working terms and conditions.” Citing the Prestige disaster and other incidents, the federation pointed out that some ship officers unfairly are being made scapegoats in pollution cases. The Prestige’s captain was held for four months—and released only after ITF intervention. “Seafarers continue to face criminal proceedings when unseaworthy ships founder or run aground on uncharted rocks,” the report notes. “By contrast, there are few, if any, instances of the arrest of an owner or charterer who places seafarers in danger by putting a substandard ship to sea.” In Denmark, the work of an ITF inspector led to a Russian shipowner getting a six-month prison sentence and a $4,000 fine, after he had directed thugs to attack mariners who had complained about unpaid wages. Cockroft and Cotton also noted, “Even if FOCs were to be eliminated entirely, it wouldn’t guarantee that seafarers were well treated everywhere. Bad shipowners will always try to exploit seafarers, and there will still be a need for the global network of union solidarity represented by the ITF.” Runaway-Flag Registries The following 28 countries have been declared flag-of-convenience registries by the ITF’s Fair Practices Committee (a joint committee of ITF seafarers’ and dockers’ unions), which runs the ITF campaign against FOCs: Antigua and Barbuda; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bermuda; Bolivia; Burma/Myanmar; Cambodia; Cayman Islands; Comoros; Cyprus; Equatorial Guinea; German International Ship Register; Gibraltar; Honduras; Jamaica; Lebanon; Liberia; Malta; Marshall Islands; Mauritius; Netherlands Antilles; Panama; São Tomé and Príncipe; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Sri Lanka; Tonga; and Vanuatu.

FOCs at a Glance A flag-of-convenience ship is one that flies the flag of a country other than the country of ownership. More than 50 years ago, U.S. maritime unions dubbed them runaway registers, or runaway flags, because of their use as a device for shipowners to pay a nominal fee to the government of a non-maritime nation seeking to raise revenue. The shipowners then escape from a maritime nation’s safety regulations, procedures and inspections, tax laws and higher wages. Their avoidance often is further insulated with dishonest managers and registries, making it difficult for authorities to hold the shipowners accountable for mistreating crews and operating unsafe ships. When such conditions are discovered, it’s usually quite difficult to pinpoint who is responsible—even for lawyers, government agencies and other professionals who have the resources to investigate such matters. The ITF believes there should be a genuine link between the real owner of a vessel and the flag the vessel flies, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). There is no genuine link in the case of FOC registries. Some of these registers have poor safety and training standards, and place no restriction on the nationality of the crew. Sometimes, because of language differences, seafarers are not able to communicate effectively with each other, putting safety and the efficient operation of the ship at risk. ITF Contracts Prove Key in Fight vs. Runaway Flags One of the main goals of the ITF’s Seafarers’ Section—of which SIU Secretary-Treasurer David Heindel is vice chairman—is ending the scandal of runaway-flag shipping. With that in mind, ITF inspectors across the globe help crews of such ships and work to ensure that the shipowners are held accountable. Because the federation realizes that eliminating runaways won’t happen overnight, one of its immediate goals is bringing such ships under ITF contract. That part of the campaign has been particularly successful, as more than 6,500 vessels are covered by ITF agreements. By signing on with the ITF, crews of runaway-flag ships have some recourse against the shipowners. They are protected by a written contract that establishes wage rates meeting international standards; provides for overtime and holiday pay and manning according to ITF policy; and includes clauses covering medical attention, sick pay, death benefits, disability insurance and other benefits. The federation doesn’t limit its work to flags of convenience. The ITF assists as many crews as possible that need help, whether or not their vessels are runaway-flag ships.