Ratification of ILO – Convention 163 in Germany

Dear Mr. Lappalainen, Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

first of all I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. It is an honour and pleasure for me. Pleasure because I have the chance to try to convince you of something close to my heart: that the ILO-Convention 163 concerning the social welfare of seafarers at sea and in port has to urgently be ratified and implemented by as many countries as possible.

I am personally involved in the Convention 163 in two different aspects. On the one hand as member of the German Parliament, Member of the Committee for Transportation and of the Committee for Economic and Labour Affairs. As you can see I am right in the centre of maritime issues of seafaring including all aspects of safety and security: the safety of the ships and crew members, security measurements to avoid terrorist attacks, economical stability of the shore locations, the steadily increasing importance regarding the co-operation of the Baltic littoral states and at the same time the safety of the people on board the ships and the ones internationally working in the ports.

At the same time I am the Vice President of the German Seamen’s Mission. We have established stations world-wide on all continents. Seventeen of our stations located abroad are managed by full-time employees, additional 25 stations by part-time employees and volunteers and in Germany we manage additional 16 stations. Now you understand that I say that I am right in the centre of the world of seafarers - not related nor married to – moreover, seafarers no matter of their nationality, race, skin colour or religion – are my good friends.

Nobody has to explain to us here, representing the Baltic littoral states, the importance of international agreements.

Therefore it is unfortunate that we always encounter the problem, that after several years of a period of tough and sluggish discussions and consultations by the experts in practice and ministerial representatives, finally decisions are made and at the conferences of the ILO conventions consensus is reached by most of the member states – but then it is not implemented nor action is taken.

This was the same situation with the ILO Convention 163 in Germany. During the general conference of the International Labour Organisation in 1987 the convention was accepted unanimously, this means that Germany also voted in favour. In the mean time, due to the ratification by several states the convention has been implemented. At first the government of the Federal Republic of Germany did not see any necessity for action. The German Parliament was informed of this through a resolution in May 1994. Reason being: Social welfare of seafarers already exists in Germany and is handled way beyond the requirements of the Convention. Yes, it is true that at the important ports in Germany we have stations of the German Seamen’s Mission supported by the Protestant Church in Germany and their regional churches. They are organised in associations which are widely, however each one differently, supported by many institutions from within the maritime business community, the public sector, through voluntary contributions from the shipowners, levies or other special dues from shipping sources and also voluntary donations from private persons. In addition we also have institutions of the catholic sister organisation as well as the so-called Sozialwerk, a social network for seafarers in which the tariff partners were heavily engaged in the well-being of the seafarers. In the early 90s the Sozialwerk was done away with.

In the meantime the financial means have become less and less. Everywhere we see reductions, cutbacks of subsidies and donations are becoming very rare. It is very difficult for the seafarers missions to cope with this situation, however, enormously essential. This is the reason why I drafted a motion for the German Bundestag in September 2000 which was discussed until February 2002 until it was finally agreed on unanimously by all parties (fractions) of the German Parliament. My parliamentarian colleagues realised that there was and is a necessity for taking action – no nation should rely on the fact that the social welfare of seamen will automatically happen. This unanimous resolution was received with great pleasure by all involved. They urged the German Government to ratify the document. The procedure for this is the following: The Government in Germany prepares a bill which is then separately passed by the German Bundestag. However, to my great disappointment and anger, to this date this has not taken place. With fussy, nitpicking, petty arguments, that the possible implied financial strains on the public sector have not yet been clarified, the presentation of the bill is being postponed.

Just last week with the support of tariff partners, the Union and the shipowners, I implied pressure on the State Secretary of the Labour Ministry. The current situation is, that he promised to present the respected bill as soon as the question of financial responsibility is clarified between Government and the International Labour Office.

We need social welfare of seafarers now more than ever before: They have completely different labour conditions compared to those working ashore. Shipowners, agents, and seafaring organisations can try as hard as they can to care for the social welfare of seafarers - institutions like the Seamen’s Missions have to be established in all important ports around the world.

Let me give you some examples:

You will remember: In March 2001 the tanker Baltic Carrier and the bulk-carrier TERN collided near the Kadet channel in the Baltic Sea. For repair works the Tern called on the port of Rostock. Let us join the Philippinian, Romanian and Polish seafarers on board their ship for a few minutes. Heavily traumatised by the collision the crew is nevertheless not allowed to go ashore. They have to clean up the ship often standing in oil slick up to their ankles. The distrust of the Greek officers renders pastoral or psychological care of the crew impossible. Telephone calls are permitted: five minutes per crew member and day under the supervision of the officers or a representative of the ship owner. Can you blame the ship owners in these cases? Well not really. One week later the crew is permitted to go ashore for the first time taking a deep breath in the Rostock Seafarers’ Centre, now being able to call their families at length and undisturbed, pastoral care becomes possible, upon request of the crew a prayer service is being held.

Please accompany me now to Hamburg, into the International Seamen’s Club ”Duckdalben”: Sunday evening 7 p.m.. A seaman from Tuvalu asks for test strips for his diabetes measuring device made in Germany. It should be possible to get these strips for the seafarer until Monday lunch time. The testing device was bought in France, the fitting test stripes are only available there. The international pharmacy would need two weeks to get them. The ”Duckdalben” Club calls the colleague in Le Harve, he buys a sufficient quantity of testing stripes and sends them as quickly as possible to the next port of call: in Felixstowe where the port chaplain waits for the seafarer from Tuvalu, the testing stripes in his hand.

This is ”social welfare of seafarers”, Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, this is social welfare that no caring ship owner nor agent can take over nor guarantee.

Without the missions seafarers would be rather helpless at times, without telephone cards, without telephone booths, alone between containers, cranes and quays, with also no public transportation nor a chance of finding a taxi nearby.

Do you know the world wide significant symbol for firm ground under one’s feet? It is a billiard table! Can you imagine the great joy of a Nigerian seafarer who comes to the Seamen’s Club in the middle of a cold winter just dressed in light summer clothing: he sees a football in the Club, asks whether a football ground is available where one can play all year round and then he is being shown a supply of winter clothing including good pairs of shoes, finances by ITF Seafarers’ Trust? Surprise in the Club: the seafarer asks to be taken back to the ship quickly. It is there, where the whole extent of enthusiasm becomes visible: from all corners of the ship seafarers come running, in cooks’ clothing, in working clothing, with security helmet, security shoes or even with bathroom slippers only. As many as possible squeeze themselves in the minibus and storm into the clothing and shoes section of the Club. They enjoy the football match as hardly any of us can imagine. They have received care, joy and fun. Thanks to ITF and the Seamen’s Mission they will have good, friendly and loving memories of a German port.

There are 1.2 million seafarers a long way from home, strangers in foreign countries. They find care, acceptance, friendliness and help when necessary: a home away from home in the Seamen’s centre, the Club sometimes even in the Home Mission being welcome to the family of the Port Chaplain. Or join me in the pleasure of meeting Swaanke, today is her third birthday, she is the sunshine and mascot of the International Seamen’s Club Duckdalben. She is the daughter of the deacon. During her young life she has spent hours and hours in the Club – she has seen white, yellow or brown, short or tall, loud or silent, beard or bald headed - she has seen many different nations, cultures, customs and ways of life – this is daily life for her. Can you imagine what it means to seafarers when they are away from their homes, families and children for months and months and suddenly meet such a cuddly little child? Or a house cat? ”Support of seafarers’ dignity” cannot be bought. One has to live it. In our mission we live it. And because the Parliament of the German Bundestag realised this the ratification of the ILO Convention 163 has unanimously been agreed on. The indispensable work concerning the welfare of seafarers has to be supported by political levels.

As economic politician I would also like to mention the economical necessity of the well-being of the seafarers for the ship owners and ship companies in regard to the safety aspect. The time of the ships in ports is becoming shorter and shorter and the ports larger and more extensive. Also constantly the ship has to be moved within the port. The extensive shore leaves, as experienced in the past years do not exist anymore, the advantage of getting to know the world, getting to know foreign countries. No, the seaman often lives an isolated language world with multi-cultural crew members, however, with limited means of inner-action and communication, little free time, limited alternatives, without any sport activities, without walks through the forest, without his friends, his wife, his children, his family, he often feels all alone. As businessman you can imagine that rested, content and satisfied employees that work in a nice atmosphere, work more productive, concentrated and keen. A happy, alert and attentive seaman is less of a safety risk. Eighty per cent of the accidents involving ships happen due to human errors - many because of fatigue. Safety is not only a question of shipbuilding, not only a question of the age and condition of the ships but also a question of the qualification and attention of the seafarers. The new danger of terrorist attacks can also give us reason to fear that ships and vessels can be used as weapons. I hope that you agree with me that an attentive and alert crew can avoid social, economic and ecology damages. This all can result in the well-being of the seafarers – and this in fact requires our support in securing the work and task of the Seamen’s Missions. Shipowners, charter and ship companies should have a vested interest in the support of the social welfare of seafarers. Labour Unions and church organisations based on their original assignment take care of the social welfare of seafarers. Government institutions do not have to fear a possible financial excessive demand: Firstly it should be mentioned that every accident causes economically enormous high costs, therefore every avoided accident results in extensive savings.

Also the convention indicates that each member for which this convention is in force undertakes to ensure that adequate welfare facilities and services are provided for seafarers both in port and on board the ship. The pertinent Recommendation 173 indicates the co-ordination responsibility of each member to ensure the provision of such welfare facilities and services of all concerned. It is imperative that the awareness of the impact of the work and the living environment of the seafarers and their support is taken into the various decision-making committees. We can all contribute to this task: trade unionists, parliamentarians, shipowners, religious representatives, ministerial collaborators of seafaring countries. If more and more nations ratify the ILO-Resolution 163 - the reliability will be much higher to ensure the social welfare of seafarers and seafaring will become more safe. Economic benefit for the shipowner and averting a danger against ecological damages is a welcomed – and also intended – side effect of the ILO-Resolution. Let us work together on this issue – there is still much to do.

Please tell me how social welfare is managed on the one hand legally and on the other hand practically in the Baltic States. I am very interested in learning and hearing your experiences.

Thank you for your attention.