STRAIGHT 12 HOUR SHIFTS INCLUSIVE OF MEAL BREAKS

Our ref: HSR

Head Office Circular: NP/289/24

29^th November 2024

To: The Secretary

ALL SHIPPING

REGIONAL COUNCILS

 

Dear Colleague

 

STRAIGHT 12 HOUR SHIFTS INCLUSIVE OF MEAL BREAKS

 

The following motion was carried at Biennial Maritime Industrial Organising Conference and subsequently RMT’s 2024 AGM:

That we at Holyhead shipping branch would like to address the issue of fatigue for seafarers over hours worked, over a 24-hour period of an average shift in the ferry sector.  The RMT has untaken a great deal of work surrounding the effect of fatigue its members are put under due to working excesses number of hours in a 24-hour period.   Its standard practice in the ferry sector for employees to work a 12 hour on/off shift pattern, however due to unpaid meal breaks, having to attend drills and safety meeting and having to attend head of department meeting and bad weather/heavy loads all contribute to seafarers working well over 12-hours in a 24-hour period during their time onboard.

These protracted working practices would never be tolerated in a shore-based job. Working an 84-hour week non conclusive of meal breaks, drills etc so why is this practice tolerated in the maritime sector?  The effect of working such long shifts has a considerable effect on our members mental health and has normalised a maximum 84 hour working week without considering other environmental factors such as sleep, diet, stress, and workload. Seafarers and the challenging environment they are expected to work in should at the very least have their meal breaks inclusive of their 12-hour shift pattern. The expectation that an individual can spend a career at sea working the maximum number of hours permitted by international regulation, with expected optimum performance to deliver the expected service to customers and remain fit, healthy, alert, and productive within the workplace, is wholly unrealistic. Additionally, fatigue has been identified as an early symptom of cancer and as a union we are aware of multiple cases of employees and ex-employees being diagnosed with cancer and many other life-threatening diseases. 

It is long overdue that a seafarer shift pattern should be inclusive of meal breaks, and also drills and onboard training due to long hours they are currently expected to for-full in some of the most challenging working environments in any job around the globe.

We call upon this BMIOC to back the right of any seafarer to have their meal break inclusive of their working day, and that any drills, safety training and head of department meeting to be either conducted as part of their rostered shift pattern, and if this is not practical individuals should be financial compensated for the time spent in attending these meeting in their rest periods.

 

At its meeting on 8^th October 2024, your National Executive Committee noted and adopted the following report from its health and safety subcommittee:

 

We note the resolution from Holyhead Shipping branch which was carried at the Biennial Maritime Industrial Organising Conference and subsequently RMT’s 2024 AGM.

 

The General Secretary is instructed to raise this matter with the MCA at a meeting of its Fatigue Working Group, seeking consistency and best practice in order to ensure that any non-conformities are not being circumnavigated, also to identify compensatory rest, making reference to recent reports on fatigue, including the World Maritime University’s 2024 report “Quantifying an Inconvenient Truth”.

 

The General Secretary is further instructed to undertake a survey of all seafarer members, including those working in offshore energy services, to establish greater details of hours of rest concerns.

 

I am acting in line with these instructions.

 

I would be grateful if members could take the time to complete this survey:

 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/12-hr-shifts

 

 

Please bring this circular to the attention of all relevant members.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Michael Lynch

General Secretary

www.rmt.org.uk/healthandsafety