C2.1.d. How can a seafarers’ employment agreement (SEA) incorporate a collective bargaining agreement?

Regulation 2.1, paragraph 3 of the MLC, 2006 states: “To the extent compatible with the Member’s national law and practice, seafarers’ employment agreements shall be understood to incorporate any applicable collective bargaining agreements”. A SEA could in any event incorporate a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) by using wording to show that the parties to the SEA (the shipowner and the seafarer) intend that the whole of the CBA should, to the extent relevant to the seafarer, be considered as forming part of the SEA. The SEA concerned could even be a one-page document, containing individual identifying and other employment information specific to the seafarer, followed by a single provision stating that the parties agree that the terms and conditions of work shall be as set out in the identified CBA. A SEA of this kind would probably need to be accompanied by clear information (referred to in Standard A2.1, paragraph 1(d)), enabling each seafarer to find out what his or her rights are under the applicable CBA. The effect of Regulation 2.1, paragraph 3, quoted above, is that even if the SEA contains no clear statement incorporating an applicable CBA, it should be understood as incorporating that CBA if a linkage of this kind is compatible with the flag State’s law and practice.

Seafarers’ employment agreements