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AGENDA
1. Current legal position
2. What has happened so far
3. Government response
4. What the trade unions are seeking
Foreign national seafarer's are only entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) on UK registered ships when they are in port or in internal UK waters as opposed to UK territorial waters. UK resident seafarers receive the National Minimum Wage in UK territorial waters providing it is flagged in the UK.
UK internal waters include the Solent, the sea between Scotland and the Inner & Outer Hebrides, the Firth of Forth, the Wash and the Thames Estuary. They do not include for example UK territorial waters between Scotland and the Shetlands, or UK territorial waters between the mainland and the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
Examples (for full breakdown of when the NMW applies see attached table)
A foreign national seafarer employed by P&O Ferries trading from Hull to Zeebrugge is not entitled to the National Minimum Wage.
The NMW also does not apply to the foreign national seafarer, where the ship goes out of UK Internal Waters, even if the ship trades between two UK Ports, e.g. from Liverpool to Belfast or Aberdeen to the Sheltand Islands. The current law does not allow payment of the NMW to foreign national seafarers in these examples even where employment is on a UK flagged ship.
In addition a simple transfer of flag can mean the shipowner can avoid responsibility for payment of the NMW to foreign national seafarers even where the seafarer is employed on a trip deemed to be within UK Internal waters, e.g. under current legislation this could potentially apply to a ferry sailing to the one of the Western Islands from mainland Scotland.
Other Discrimination against seafarers
Shipowners have maintained an exemption in the Race Relations Act which allows foreign national seafarers to be discriminated against on rates of pay. The exemption as contained in sections 8 and 9 of the Act allows shipowners to recruit seafarers from abroad to work on UK ships on rates of pay below UK levels and equivalent to that of their country of origin.
Coverage of legislation in UK territorial waters
The Department of Transport also may argue that if the National Minimum Wage was applied in UK territorial waters this could only be done on UK flagged ships. In fact other legislation passed has applied on all ships in UK territorial waters and to UK ships beyond UK territorial waters.
For example the Corporate Manslaughter legislation will apply not only to all ships in UK territorial waters but also UK flagged ships around the world. RMT believe the priority should be to ensure that core minimum standards apply in UK territorial waters.
Low Pay Commission
In 2000 the Low Pay Commission recommended that action be taken to secure greater protection for non-domicile seafarers.
Previous Statements on the National Minimum Wage
In the 2003 Standing Committee debate on the Race Relations Act the Shipping Minister, David Jamieson, sought to defend the position of the Government in not fully repealing the seafarers exemption from the Race Relations Act.
The Minister sought to justify the exemption from the Race Relations Act by referring to the existing coverage of the National Minimum Wage.
"As our domestic legislation does not affect matters outside UK waters, it affects only foreign workers working within UK waters. I should clarify this matter. Once people are within the UK-in this case, within UK waters-they are covered by the national minimum wage, so the difference we are talking about is between the national minimum wage and the pay rate for UK-recruited seamen, whilst they are in UK waters."
It would seem apparent that at the time he made this statement the Minister was not aware that the National Minimum Wage effectively did not apply to foreign national seafarers on UK registered ships.
Early Day Motion
The following Early Day Motion has been signed by 71 MPs:
That this House welcomes the introduction of the Employment Bill which seeks to clarify and strengthen the enforcement framework for the national minimum wage; further welcomes the fact that the minimum wage applies to non-UK workers provided that they are employed in a UK workplace; is extremely concerned that non-domiciled seafarers working in UK territorial waters or on UK-registered ships are excluded from this protection; is alarmed that this has contributed to poverty wages and widespread exploitation of non-domiciled seafarers on UK ships and in UK territorial waters; therefore urges the Government to amend the Employment Bill to ensure that all seafarers employed in UK territorial waters and on UK ships receive the protection of the national minimum wage; notes that such changes to the minimum wage for seafarers were first recommended by the Low Pay Commission in 2000 and would also be consistent with other protective measures already in place for all seafarers such as the Hours of Work Regulations, the Disability Discrimination Act and the Corporate Manslaughter Act.
Debate on the Employment Bill in the House of Lords
When the Employment Bill was in the House of Lords Baroness Turner of Camden put forward amendments for debate, supported by a number of Labour Peers. In the last debate the amendments sought to apply the NMW on all ships trading between UK Ports, and also on ships on regular fixed trading routes between the UK and another EU Port.
In the first House of Lords debate the Minister agreed that there were anomalies in the existing legislation because of the distinction made between UK internal waters and UK territorial waters. The national minimum wage became payable in respect of the sea between Scotland and the Inner and Outer Hebrides but not in respect of the sea between Scotland and Shetland.
The Government have since stated that:
If the National Minimum Wage is applied just on UK flagged ships in UK territorial waters it could cause flagging out.
They have stated that there are legal difficulties in applying the National Minimum Wage to foreign flagged ships in UK territorial waters.
They now appear also to be opposed to applying the National Minimum Wage on a foreign flag ship even if it trades between two UK Ports.
What we are seeking
An amendment to the Employment Bill to ensure that first of all:
