Automatic translation
So, you graduated from the nautical school and are planning to start your first sea voyage. You have found an interesting offer, the company agrees to hire you, it remains to settle small details and sign the maritime documents. What is important not to forget and what should be avoided?
Small details
Never start work on the ship without a signed contract. It sounds corny, but there were cases when a seafarer worked on a ship without a signed contract on hand and in the future there were certain problems with receiving due payment.
When signing a contract, be sure to pay attention to the responsibilities and conditions of work. Not entirely honest employers can often enter additional labor duties there when agreeing on a contract and not familiarize you with them. Subsequently, this can negatively affect your work at sea, especially if these responsibilities are not within your competence or simply fall on you an unbearable burden.
Do not forget to check if the contract contains a reference to the collective agreement and insist on obtaining a copy of it. Recall that a collective agreement is an agreement that an employer enters into with one or more workers' unions. It contains all the information about the working profession and conditions: salary, working hours, days off, benefits, compensation and rights of seafarers, labor protection and other nuances of work at sea. The presence of such an agreement will provide you with reliable protection in controversial issues with negligent employers.
When signing a contract, get clear confirmation of its duration. Pay special attention to unclear and “vague” language, because of which the employer can leave you on the ship indefinitely.
Negotiate the terms of the contract, which will stipulate that its conditions of work at sea can be changed by the employer at any time. In such cases, insist on an indication in the conditions that any clauses of the contract can be changed only by agreement of the parties and their mutual consent.
Make sure that your contract clearly states your base rate and, importantly, the base hours per week (usually starting at 40).
In fact, this is like a sub-clause of the previous thesis - make sure that the overtime (overtime) rate and the conditions for its payment are clearly spelled out in the contract. Often only the rate is specified in contracts. Often, a fixed amount of payment per month is indicated, provided that the guaranteed number of hours of overtime has been worked out, however, in this case, the rate paid if working in excess of these hours should also be indicated.
Negotiate the terms of the contract, which will spell out the employer's ability to delay payment of funds or, at its discretion, withhold any part of the payment during the contract. Each seafarer has the right to receive full payment at the end of a month of work on the ship, in accordance with the signed maritime documents.
Refrain from signing a contract, if it contains the prescribed conditions for payment by the seafarer at his own expense for travel to the ship's location, as well as repatriation. The exceptions are cases when the seafarer, on his own initiative, terminates the contract or when it is legally recognized as not complying with professional requirements.
Negotiate the terms of a contract that in any way restricts your right as a seafarer to be a union member, or otherwise stipulates a restriction on your right to use the seafarers' union to help you resolve legal conflicts related to protecting your rights as a seafarer.
Following these rules, or at least most of them, will help you avoid significant difficulties when going to sea, especially those that may arise due to your inexperience.
