B2. Does the MLC, 2006 apply to entertainers and hotel service staff?
Since the MLC, 2006 applies to “any person who is employed or engaged or works in any capacity on board a ship to which this Convention applies” [see B1.], it covers all workers including cabin and cleaning personnel, bar staff, waiters, entertainers, singers, kitchen staff, casino personnel and aestheticians. This conclusion is applicable irrespective of whether the seafarers concerned have been recruited directly by a shipowner or are employed under a subcontracting arrangement. Nevertheless, there are certain categories of workers, who only board the ship briefly and who normally work on land, for example flag State or port State control inspectors, who clearly could not be considered as working on the ship concerned. In other cases, the situation may not be clear, for example when a performer has been engaged to work on a cruise ship for the whole of the cruise or to carry out ongoing ship maintenance or repair or other duties on a voyage. In such cases, a determination will be necessary under Article II, paragraph 3, mentioned in answer to the question [see B1.]. On numerous occasions, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has given guidance to Member States on this issue 39 .
Questions about the workers and the ships covered by the MLC, 2006