Some 13,000 Filipino seafarers working for ship owners who are members of the International Maritime Employers Committee Ltd. (IMEC) have signed a collective bargaining agreement that would give them a "very substantial" across-the-board increase in pay and better benefits, IMEC chairman Ian Sherwood said.
Sherwood said the CBA between IMEC and Filipino seafarer members of the Associated Marine Officers and Seamen's Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP) was the most important CBA signed by IMEC, which has 125 member-owners of some 6,500 ships worldwide. "The [agreed pay] rates for Filipinos are very competitive. Our [CBA] in the Philippines is more generous and more significant. The Philippines is very important to us, and this is arguably the most important negotiation for us," Sherwood said, noting that the Philippines is the principal source of seafarers in the world. At any given time, there are 250,000 Filipino seafarers at sea.
Sherwood and AMOSUP's Captain Gregorio Oca both refused to reveal the range of pay increases agreed upon after the negotiations. They said that IMEC members in London have not been informed of the amounts yet. The CBA, effective from Jan. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2009, also established that employer funds would be made available to Career Development and Cadet Training Enhancement Programs, both of which seek to respond to the projected shortage of officers in the future.
The Career Development Program seeks to promote ratings who have previously gained licenses as officers to immediately take up jobs as officers.
Industry estimates put the shortage of seafarer officers at 25,000 by 2015. The continuing growth in world trade is spurring growth in the shipping business.
In a joint statement after the signing of the agreement, the two parties "also expressed serious concern regarding legal intervention in disputes involving death and disability claims, particularly those concerning premature garnishment made. And the award of maximum disability compensation based solely on the passage of time and not on the extent of the seafarers' disability was contrary to their intentions."
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