Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Seamen's Articles of Agreement Convention, 1926 (No. 22) - Uruguay (Ratification: 1933)

Article 1(1) of the Convention. Scope of application. The Committee notes the Government’s indications that there are no vessels in Uruguay to which the Convention may be applied. However, it understands that the company Montemar Martima SA, mentioned by the Government in previous reports, is still operating and serves northern Europe, the United States, Mexico and Central America. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed statistics on the number of vessels flying the Uruguayan flag, disaggregated according to their tonnage and the type of voyages they carry out.

Article 3(1) and (4). Information for the seafarer. The Committee notes that, under section 1 of Decree No. 676/967 of 5 October 1967, the articles of agreement shall be signed at the offices of the Merchant Shipping Directorate of the port where the agreement is concluded and shall be signed not only by the parties, but also by the Director or the public official representing the Director, who shall verify that the agreement contains no provisions contrary to the Code of Commerce or the international labour Conventions. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure that the seafarer and his/her adviser if applicable have the possibility of examining the articles of agreement before they are signed and that the seafarer understands the meaning of the clauses of the agreement, as required by the Convention, and recalls in this regard that Regulation 2.1 and Standard A2.1(1)(b) of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006), contains similar provisions on this point.

Article 14(2). Certificate as to the quality of the seafarer’s work. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure that the seafarer has at all times the right to obtain from the master a separate certificate as to the quality of his/her work or, failing that, a certificate indicating whether the seafarer has fully discharged his/her obligations under his/her agreement.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government concerning the organization of the labour inspection services, as well as the copy of a seafarer’s book attached to its report. Noting the statistics concerning the number of seafarers’ books issued, the Committee requests the Government to provide further information on the content of the tables attached to its report. In general, the Committee requests the Government to continue providing general information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, including, for instance, extracts from the reports of the inspection and registration services, details of the number of seafarers signed on each year, the number and type of violations identified of the provisions of the national legislation giving effect to the Convention, as well as the measures taken to remedy them.

Furthermore, the Committee hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to ratify the MLC, 2006, which revises Convention No. 22, as well as 67 other international instruments applicable to seafarers, establishes an up-to-date and comprehensive framework of standards regulating the living and working conditions of seafarers, particularly concerning the seafarers’ employment agreement, and promotes the establishment of a level playing field for shipowners. It requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any decisions taken in that regard.