Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Seafarers' Annual Leave with Pay Convention, 1976 (No. 146) - Cameroon (Ratification: 1978)

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the adoption of Regulation No. 03/01-UEAC-088-CM-06 of 3 August 2001 approving the revised Community Code on Merchant Shipping of the Monetary and Economic Community of Central Africa (CEMAC Code). It notes that, with regard to certain questions, the Government further refers to the Cameroonian Merchant Shipping Code. The Committee asks the Government to indicate whether the Cameroonian Merchant Shipping Code is still in force, and to clarify which one of the two legislative texts prevails.

Furthermore, it draws the Government’s attention to the following points.

Article 4 and Article 5, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Convention. Length of service of less than one year; calculation of length of service. The Government refers to section 35(3) of the CEMAC Code as implementing these Articles of the Convention. Yet, section 35 concerns the annotations to be entered in the crew list. The Committee thus requests the Government to indicate, in its next report, the specific provisions in national legislation ensuring that seafarers whose length of service in any year is less than one year shall be entitled, in respect of that year, to annual leave with pay proportionate to his length of service during that year (Article 4); as well as the manner in which the length of service is calculated (Article 5).

Article 5, paragraph 3. Absence from work for reasons of vocational training, illness, injury or maternity considered as period of service. The Government indicates in its report that the modalities for taking into account absence from work for reasons of vocational training and other particulars will be laid down in a sectoral collective agreement. The Committee asks the Government to keep it informed of any progress achieved in this respect and supply a copy of the sectoral collective agreement once adopted.

Article 6. Annual leave with pay, holidays, periods of incapacity, temporary shore leave and compensatory leave. According to the Convention, the following shall not be counted as part of the minimum annual leave with pay prescribed in Article 3, paragraph 3, of this Convention: (a) public and customary holidays recognized as such in the country of the flag, whether or not they fall during the annual leave with pay; (b) periods of incapacity for work resulting from illness, injury or maternity, under conditions to be determined by the competent authority or through the appropriate machinery in each country; (c) temporary shore leave granted to a seafarer while on articles; and (d) compensatory leave of any kind, under conditions to be determined by the competent authority or through the appropriate machinery in each country. The Government indicates that no steps have yet been taken for the purposes of this Article but that measures will be adopted in the framework of the reform of the Merchant Shipping Code and the negotiation of a collective agreement concerning maritime labour. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any further development in this regard and communicate copies of the collective agreement and the relevant amended legislation once adopted.

Article 7, paragraph 1. Remuneration of leave. The Committee asks the Government to supply, with its next report, a copy of Order No. 148 of 26 November 1962 concerning the general employment conditions of seafarers referred to in its report.

Article 10. Time and place of leave. The Government refers to section 145 of the Cameroonian Merchant Shipping Code which stipulates that the time for taking leave is determined by the master according to the interests of the ship. The Committee points out that, under the Convention, the time at which the leave is to be taken shall be determined by the employer after consultation and, as far as possible, in agreement with the seafarer concerned or his representatives. No seafarers shall be required, without their consent, to take annual leave due to them at a place other than that where they were engaged or recruited, whichever is nearer their home, except under the provisions of a collective agreement or of national laws or regulations. If seafarers are required to take annual leave from a place other than the place where they were engaged or recruited, they shall be entitled to free transportation to one of these places, whichever is nearer their home, and subsistence and other costs directly involved in their return there shall be for the account of the employer; the travel time involved shall not be deducted from the annual leave with pay due to the seafarers. The Committee requests the Government to specify the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that: (i) the determination by the master of the time at which the leave is to be taken is made after consultation and, as far as possible, in agreement with the seafarer concerned; (ii) leave is taken at the place of engagement or recruitment; and (iii) transportation costs to one of these places, if a seafarer is required to take his annual leave from another place, are borne by the employer, without deducting the travel time involved from the annual leave with pay due to the seafarer.

Article 11. Relinquishment of the right to annual leave. The Government indicates that section 145 of the Cameroonian Merchant Shipping Code gives full effect to the Convention. This section does not contain any provision specifying that agreements to relinquish the right to annual leave with pay shall be null and void. The Committee asks the Government to indicate by what means effect is given to this Article of the Convention.

Article 12. Recall of seafarers on leave. The Government indicates that there are no provisions on the matter but that the modalities for recalling seafarers while they are on leave may be specified in the contract of employment, by means of a memorandum and by decision of the shipowner or the placement agency. The Committee asks the Government to indicate by what means it is ensured that in each of these instances seafarers on annual leave shall only be recalled in cases of extreme emergency, with due notice.