National Minimum Wage and Seafarers – RMT issues blunt warning over crewing practices

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:

 “Covid-19 has been used by some employers in the ferries sector to make mass redundancies, even though the pandemic has triggered an international crewing crisis. Contracts for foreign ratings working from UK ports typically pay well below the National Minimum Wage for six months work at sea.

“The new legislation gives us the chance to take action against this long standing disgrace and restore a level playing field for UK seafarers to compete for work, not just in passenger ferry but on the growing fleets needed to service the offshore wind, decommissioning and coastal cargo sectors in UK waters.

“RMT welcome this legislation but it will only work to return ratings jobs to the UK in the number needed to repair the skills base if it is effectively enforced and followed by legislation which provides a level playing field for seafarers in the UK to compete for jobs on international routes from UK ports too. We are hopeful that today’s roundtable will result in seafarers being able to rely on these new protections from day one.”

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1.       The National Minimum Wage (Offshore Employment) (Amendment) Order 2020 will come into force 1^st October 2020. It will extend NMW rates to all seafarers working on merchant ships between UK ports and from UK ports to installations on the UK Continental Shelf.

2.       RMT, with support from other maritime unions and the TUC have been pressing Governments since the introduction of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 to fully extend the Act to cover seafarers working from and between UK ports. A sample of the evidence gathered by the RMT from seafarer employment contracts over the last 3 years demonstrate the extent of the problem.

3.       UK Ratings held 19% (9,140) of the total number of Ratings jobs in the UK shipping industry in 2019, according to the Department for Transport’s statistics.

4.       RMT have organised an online Ministerial Roundtable on Monday 21 September 11-1300, Enforcing the NMW for Seafarers. The Shipping Minister, Robert Courts MP, Employment Minister Paul Scully MP and Labour’s Shadow Shipping Minister Mike Kane MP will be in attendance, along with officials from HMRC NMW Enforcement, the MCA, Border Force and employers from the shipping, renewables, oil and gas and decommissioning sectors.