Official defeat of Seafarers’ right to decent working time

Regulation 2.3 of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006) requires States to regulate ‘hours of work or hours of rest’. Listing three non-equivalent workweek standards (48-72-91), the regulation empowers Flag States to select the applicable norms. The study reviews the choices of Flag States when enacting working time standards applicable to their fleet under national law. In the overwhelming majority of cases, States adopt the working standard that is least favourable to workers. The general adoption of standards allowing up to a 91-hour workweek - the European Union Member States not being an exception - suggests a global alignment of regulators with the interests of capital and a disregard for the principles of labour law, which aim to protect the weaker party to the contract, in this case, the seafarer. Such a result indicates a governance imbalance at both international and national levels. Consequently, decent working time principles are disregarded, allowing unsafe and unhealthy working time conditions at sea to persist.