The Philippines-based fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) asked President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to ratify the 2007 ILO (International Labor Organization) Work on Fishing Convention to protect the rights of not less than 300,000 fish workers in the country.
Speaking before the 33 fisherfolk participants currently attending the international conference billed Empowerment Through Information: Training Program on International and Regional Developments of Relevance to Small-Scale Fisheries and Fishing Communities in Asia currently being held in Bangkok, Thailand on January 9-14, 2012, Pamalakaya national chairperson Fernando Hicap said the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 of ILO can be used by fish worker organizations to campaign for fish workers’ rights and oppose slave like measures carried out by operators and owners of commercial fishing vessels against fisher crew aboard these fishing vessels.
The training program in Thailand’s main capital is sponsored by the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) based in Chennai, India. Pamalakaya’s Hicap was invited to speak on issues dealing with protection of small-scale fisherfolk and on the conditions of Filipino fish workers aboard commercial fishing vessels in the country.
The Work in Fishing Convention 2007 was adopted by several governments but the Philippines during the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo refused to sign the agreement for undisclosed reasons.
The objective of the convention is to ensure that fish workers have decent conditions of work on board fishing vessels with regard to minimum requirements for work on board, conditions of service, accommodation and food, occupational safety and health protection, medical care and social security.
Likewise, the ILO convention on fish workers covers issues on repatriation and compliance and enforcement.
Hicap shared his fisherfolk colleagues from Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines the worse labor conditions being faced by majority of Filipino fish workers like underpayment and low salaries they receive from their employers, asserting that almost 90 percent of the 300,000 fish workers in commercial fishery and aquaculture sectors do not receive minimum wage in exchange for more than the prescribed 8-hour work per day.
The Pamalakaya leader said modern-day slavery is prevalent in commercial fishing vessels and the Philippine government has not done anything to reverse these ongoing labor injustices prevalent in commercial fishing vessels.
Hicap said majority of Filipino fish workers are not covered by the minimum wage law. He said workers aboard commercial fishing vessels received P 150-P 250 for a day’s work spanning 16-20 hours per day. The Pamalakaya official said the minimum wage law direct employers to ensure their workers receive minimum wage and they should only work at least 8 hours a day or least 48 hours a week.
Pamalakaya said the ratification of the ILO 2007 Work in Fishing Convention will help ensure the recognition and enforcement of fish workers rights to minimum wage, periods of rest of sufficient length to fish workers, mechanisms to ensure regular payment of wages, provision on board fishing vessels of accommodation and sufficient size and quality, medical care, prevention of occupational diseases and work-related risks on board fishing vessels, enough provision of food and water, training and seminars for fish workers, social security to mention a few.
The fisherfolk alliance said they will bring the issue pertaining to the ratification of the ILO convention on fish workers to the Philippine Senate for ratification.
In 2006, the Maritime Labor Convention was adopted which revised the existing maritime conventions excluding fishing vessels from its scope.
The ILO convention in 2007 revised these fishing labor standards and incorporate relevant provisions of the maritime conventions that applied to fishing vessels in order to update and strengthen the standard-setting system to reflect the changes in the fishing sector over the last four decades and also to fill the void left by the non-inclusion of fishing vessels within the scope of the MLC.
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