Tag Archives: Maritime Labor Convention 2006

Video: Ever Wonder What It’s Like to Work On A Livestock Carrier?

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gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News | Ever Wonder What It’s Like to Work On A Livestock Carrier?.

Ocean Drover

Ocean Drover

This is an interesting video (click the link). I got it in my email from gcaptain the other day. It’s just a short clip of the Master and the Chief Mate of the livestock carrier Ocean Drover explaining what it’s like to work on a ship like that.

What I thought was especially interesting was that both the Master and the Chief Mate were women. I was pleasantly surprised to see that. Especially since they were both Italian (and young).

I didn’t know that Italy had many women mariners. It’s a major accomplishment for anyone in any country to work your way up to that level. I was happy to see that these women made it. 🙂

I am REALLY hoping that the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC 2006) is not going to reverse all the progress we (women) have made over the last 50 years. I am already seeing some effects out here that make me wary.

The law of unintended consequences is raising it’s head again (IMHO). The last few ships I have been on have had issues with space. They constantly seem to run out of rooms.

I don’t know if it’s just poor planning or if they REALLY need all these people onboard, (we have almost 200 on here at the moment), but it seems they’re always having to finagle to get people a room onboard. They are trying hard to keep males and females separated.  They also try hard to keep people working opposite tours in the same rooms so you’re not in there at the same time. Last hitch I had to move rooms 3 times in the space of 3 weeks!

The way this relates to the MLC 2006 is that apparently (I haven’t read the whole thing yet), there is a new rule that women and men can NOT share the same room! In the past, we have been able to share the same room (we are usually never in there at the same time), tho they usually did that as a last resort. We work on opposite schedules, so we never see each other.

Someone at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) seems to think that is a problem, so they fixed it. Problem now is that there just is not room onboard to keep dedicated female rooms. SO, to solve that issue (since there are still more men working offshore than women), they just send the women home.

This is the same excuse they used to use all the time back in the old days. Back then, it just was not true. They could have put us in any room and we just could have shared it with the men. Which is exactly what we used to do, IF we could manage to get onboard at all.

It was never really a problem for me personally (sharing rooms), tho I do have to comment that I have heard a lot of stories that make me just roll my eyes. I can’t believe some of the things some women have actually SUED over!! They have made it a HUGE big deal for any maritime company to hire ANY female (again!)!

I really wish people would just get their shit together and learn to treat each other with respect (men and women). Women who choose to work in the maritime industry need to learn how to deal with a little off-color language and grow a thick skin. It is not like working in an office building on the beach, and it should NOT be expected to be!

I’m sure I’ll be castigated by the politically correct nit-pickers of the world (thankfully most of them are still limited to the USA so I can still hope to escape them), but I am really getting sick of them ruining my (and ANY womans) chances of actually enjoying the lifestyle I have chosen for myself!

Now, the MLC has made male/female sharing a room (ever) against the law and so it is not going to happen any more. I can see a lot of women having a much harder time getting jobs in the maritime industry (again) because of this new rule. 🙁

So, instead of helping women, they hurt us (BADLY) instead!

I REALLY wish governments would just get out of the way and let us do our jobs!

MLC 2006: Will it Drive Crew On Board Comms?

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MLC 2006: Will it Drive Crew On Board

Well, I sure as hell hope so! I think its really pretty disgusting how some operators choose to treat their crews. The issue of communications is not even the biggest issue a lot of times. Sometimes, they can’t even get decent room and board, or the pay they’ve worked HARD to earn.

I’ve been very lucky that the communications issue has been my biggest gripe lately (as far as conditions on board go). 😉 Personally, I will never again take a job where I don’t have internet access. The last time I did, my entire life at home was totally screwed up for months! Yeah, we all used to go to sea for months at a time, stand in line for hours at the telephone office, etc. But that was long before the internet was invented.

No one at home will put up with us being out of touch for so long any more. At home, everyone has instant and constant communication and they just won’t accept it that we don’t have the same access when we’re at sea.

You think its fun to have your house ruined because you couldn’t pay the bills? Maybe your pipes freeze and burst because they shut off the heat? Or maybe it’s just your credit that’s totally screwed since you’re 4-5 months behind on all the bills and not even any attempt to contact them since you can’t get ashore to make phone calls. No one will accept the excuse that we are at sea any more and most of us just don’t have the extra money to pay our bills for months in advance when we go to sea.

I HOPE the MLC 2006 will help us get some better treatment from our employers. I have my doubts, they usually find ways to keep from doing things they really don’t want to do. We’ll all just have to wait and see if they do the right thing this time, or if it’s just going to be business as usual.