Eliminating the scourge of ‘Flags of Non-Compliance’ (FONC) is now at the heart of the ITF Fisheries Section’s work.
A major industrial campaign to confront what the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) calls ‘Flags of Non-Compliance’ (FONC) is now set to start – after ITF affiliates from around the world adopted a motion for it at the ITF Congress in Marrakech today.
In what is widely recognised as one of the world’s most dangerous and exploitative industries, fishers all around the world face daily risks to their lives, exploitation and wide-ranging, severe labour rights abuses – all to ensure seafood arrives every day on people’s plates, and all while substantial profits go to the companies at the top of the industry’s opaque, global supply chains.
“This sector is where labour is most exploited – low pay and dangerous, hazardous conditions are common,” said Section Chair for Africa, Barthelemy Kouassi, from Côte d'Ivoire, in opening comments.
“Businesses want profits above any other consideration – and this means our working conditions suffer.
“Fishers, wherever they are, have the right to freely assemble and to have collective agreements - they have the right to decent pay and working conditions. Fishers have the right to an equitable share of the profits reaped by multinationals.”
Similar to the improved pay and standards in the merchant marine that have come about due to the Flags of Convenience (FOC) campaign, the FONC campaign will now seek to do the same: it is a core demand of the Fisheries Section that fishers receive equal treatment to their seafarer colleagues, including receiving, at a minimum, the highest of either the ILO’s minimum basic wage for an able seaman or the minimum wage of the relevant flag state.
“The ITF Fisheries Section is determined to realise its vision of a world where fishers everywhere have the power to win better wages and working conditions,” said ITF Fisheries Section chair, Johnny Hansen.
“We know that proper Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) that incorporate International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 188 on Work in Fishing are vital to empowering fishers to win improved and enforceable working conditions. And we will now set about securing and monitoring CBAs on vessels flying ‘Flags of Non-Compliance’.”
The Fisheries Conference also passed Motion 42, calling for a “decent, safe and healthy working environment in fisheries”. The Motion champions the FONC campaign, the ITF’s supply chain accountability work and the importance of ‘Human Rights Due Diligence’ (HRDD) in the sector and calls for national implementation of ILO Convention 188 on Work in Fishing.
Fisheries Section Second Vice Chair, Angel Juan Navarro, from Sindicato de Obreros Marítimos Unidos (SOMU), tabled Motion 42 and called for its adoption at the Conference.
“The Global South has faced devastation at the hands of fishing fleets from rich countries,” he said.
“There is no doubt that the scarcity of fishing resources caused largely by climate change, IUU [Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated] fishing and the massive increase in fishing licenses issued to Asian and European vessels, have caused job losses, increased poverty and migration to Europe and America.”
With its global remit of work, spanning major fishing fleets on the high seas around the world, and focus areas including union building in Southeast Asia, organising migrant fishers facing forced labour in Asia, Latin America, Africa, the UK, Europe and the USA, tackling IUU fishing, and stopping vessels fishing illegally off West Africa, the Section is braced to organise and coordinate work that will build better working conditions for fishers everywhere.
“Whether it’s organising workers into unions, advocating for regulatory change in international forums or eliminating Flags of Non-Compliance, we’re ready to organise and take action together to deliver a better future for fishers,” Hansen said.
Delegates at the conference also elected Kenji Takahashi, from the Japanese Seamen’s Union (JSU), as 1st Vice Chair.
Notes
The ITF defines a flag as a FONC where any of these instances are met:
a. The flag state does not prevent IUU and labour abuses and does not have proper measures for safety and welfare of fishers. In this case, the flag will be considered as a FONC regardless of where the beneficial ownership of that vessel is located;
b. The flag state denies or fails to protect fundamental labour and human rights of fishers;
c. The flag state fails to prevent IUU fishing, and thereby exposes fishers, especially migrant fishers, to forced labour, human trafficking, and slavery;
d. The beneficial ownership of a vessel is found to be in a different country to the flag that the vessel is flying;
e. The flag state fails to implement and enforce proper measures to secure safety and welfare of fishers on board;
f. The wages on board a fishing vessel are below either the ILO minimum basic wage for an AB or the minimum wage of the flag state.
