It is a very unfortunate fact that many seafarers, even those with good qualifications and vocational skills, have little knowledge of how to deal with the industrial problems such as the non-payment of wages. They often do not have any mechanism to solve industrial problems on board, are too afraid of speaking up and wait too long to contact their union or the ITF. Considering the fact that most of the victims are Asia/Pacific seafarers the ITF would like to ask the member institutes of AMETIAP to positively promote inclusion of a basic course on trade unions and industrial relations in their curriculum. Seafarers should be given proper knowledge and understanding about various ILO Conventions as well as the protection of national labour laws which are applicable to seafarers. The World Maritime University in Malmo has initiated such a course when it received a grant from the ITF Seafarers' Trust.
Mr. Rod Short has suggested that I will talk about how the ITF could best collaborate with AMETIAP in assisting the IMO and the maritime industry in the Asia/Pacific region with the development of maritime education and training. My impression is that the ITF may be seen as a potential source of funds! It is much better to be seen as a rich organisation than poor, but we are in reality quite a modest organisation with modest resources. Nevertheless, I believe that the example of the World Maritime University can be one area where in future the dialogue between the AMETIAP and the ITF can be developed for possible co-operation.
We also know something about the problems which the region faces in training seafarers, and in particular with reference to the IMO whitelist. We have information about the training and manning problems of the world fleet. During the last two decades world shipping has become uniquely dependent upon a global labour market for seafarers. The range and proportional representation of nationalities within the labour pool undergoes regular shifts. The speed and extent of the shift from nationally-based labour markets to one which is global has had serious consequences for the safe crewing of merchant ships. The extent of these problems is now widely recognised in the industry and momentum aimed at addressing them is mounting. Concern focuses on the provision of an adequate supply of a well trained and educated seagoing workforce.
