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CONVENTION No.54 Convention concerning Annual Holidays with Payfor Seamen

  • Type : Regulation
  • Release Date : 2010-11-24

  [This Convention had not come into force by 1 September 1965, Itwas revised in 1964 by Convention 72 and in 1949 by Convention 91.]

  The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,

  Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of theInternational Labour Office, and having met in its Twenty-first Sessionon 6 October 1936, and

  Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard toholidays with pay for seamen, which is the fifth item on the agenda of theSession, and

  Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of aninternational Convention, adopts this twenty-fourth day of October of theyear one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six the following Convention,which may be cited as the Holidays with Pay (sea) Convention, 1936:

  Article 1

  1. This Convention applies to the master, officers and members of thecrew, including wireless operators in the service of a wireless telegraphycompany, of all sea-going vessels, whether publicly or privately owned,which are registered in a territory for which the Convention is in forceand are engaged in the transport of cargo or passengers for the purpose oftrade.

  2. National laws or regulations shall determine when vessels are to beregarded as seagoing vessels for the purpose of this Convention.

  3. This Convention does not apply to——

  (a) persons employed in vessels engaged in fishing, whaling orsimilar pursuits or in operations directly connected therewith;

  (b) persons employed in any vessel the crew of which consistsentirely of members of the owner's family as defined by national laws orregulations;

  (c) persons not remunerated for their services, or remuneratedonly by a nominal salary or wage, or remunerated exclusively by a share ofprofits;

  (d) persons working exclusively or mainly on their own account;

  (e) persons employed in wooden ships of primitive build such asdhows and junks;

  (f) persons whose duties are connected solely with the cargocarried on board and who are not in fact in the employment either of theowner or of the master;

  (g) travelling dockers.

  Article 2

  1. Every person to whom this Convention applies shall be entitledafter one year of continuous service with the same undertaking to anannual holiday with pay the duration of which shall be——

  (a) in the case of masters, officers and wireless operators, notless than twelve working days;

  (b) in the case of other members of the crew, not less than nineworking days.

  2. For the purpose of calculating when a holiday is due——

  (a) service off articles shall be included in the reckoning ofcontinuous service;

  (b) short interruptions of service not due to the act or fault ofthe employee and not exceeding a total of six weeks shall not be deemed tobreak the continuity of the periods of service which precede and followthem;

  (c) continuity of service shall not be deemed to be interrupted byany change in the management or ownership of the vessel or vessels inwhich the person concerned has served.

  3. The following shall not be included in the annual holiday with pay:

  (a) public and customary holidays;

  (b) interruptions of service due to sickness;

  (c) any time off allowed in compensation for weekly rest days andpublic holidays worked at sea.

  4. There may be defined by national laws or regulations or bycollective agreement special circumstances in which, subject to conditionsprescribed by such laws or regulations or fixed by such agreement——

  (a) an annual holiday with pay due in virtue of this Conventionmay be divided into parts or be accumulated with a subsequent holiday;

  (b) there may be substituted for such a holiday, when inexceptional circumstances the service so requires, a cash payment at leastequivalent to the remuneration provided for in Article 4.

  Article 3

  1. The annual holiday shall be given in the territory in which thevessel is registered at one of the following ports:

  (a) the port from which the vessel trades;

  (b) the port at which the person entitled to the holiday wasengaged; or

  (c) the port of the vessel's final destination.

  2. Provided that the holiday may be given at any other port by mutualconsent.

  3. When an annual holiday is due it shall be given by mutual agreementat the first opportunity as the requirements of the service allow.

  Article 4

  1. Every person taking a holiday in virtue of Article 2 of thisConvention shall receive in respect of the full period of the holiday hisusual remuneration.

  2. The usual remuneration payable in virtue of the preceding paragraphshall include a suitable subsistence allowance and shall be calculated ina manner which shall be prescribed by national laws or regulations offixed by collective agreement.

  Article 5

  Any agreement to relinquish the right to an annual holiday with pay,or to forgo such a holiday, shall be void.

  Article 6

  National laws or regulations may provide that a person who engages inpaid employment during the course of this annual holiday may be deprivedof this right to payment in respect of the period of the holiday.

  Article 7

  A person who leaves or is discharged from the service of this employerbefore he has taken a holiday due to him shall receive in respect of everyday of holiday due to him in virtue of this Convention the remunerationprovided for in Article 4.

  Article 8

  Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall require employers tokeep records for the purpose of facilitating its effective enforcement.

  Article 9

  Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall establish a system ofpenalties to ensure the application of its provisions.

  Article 10

  Nothing in this Convention shall affect any law, award, custom oragreement between shipowners and seamen which ensures more favourableconditions than those provided by this Convention.

  Article 11

  1. In respect of the territories referred to in article 35 of theConstitution of the International Labour Organization, each Member of theOrganization which ratifies this Convention shall append to itsratification a declaration stating——

  (a) the territories in respect of which it undertakes to apply theprovisions of the Convention without modification;

  (b) the territories in respect of which it undertakes to apply theprovisions of the Convention subject to modifications, together withdetails of the said modifications;

  (c) the territories in respect of which the Convention isinapplicable and in such cases the grounds on which it is inapplicable;

  (d) the territories in respect of which it reserves its decision.

  2. The undertakings referred to in subparagraphs (a) and (b) ofparagraph 1 of this Article shall be deemed to be an integral part of theratification and shall have the force of ratification.

  3. Any Member may by a subsequent declaration cancel in whole or inpart any reservations made in its original declaration in virtue ofsubparagraphs (b), (c) or (d) of paragraph 1 of this Article.

  Article 12

  The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated tothe Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.

  Article 13

  1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of theInternational Labour Organization whose ratifications have been registeredwith the Director-General.

  2. It shall come into force six months after the date on which therehave been registered by the Director-General of the International LabourOffice the ratifications of five Members of the Organization each of whichhas more than one million tons gross of sea-going merchant shipping.

  3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Membersix months after the date on which its ratification has been registered.

  Article 14

  As soon as the ratifications of five of the Members mentioned in thesecond paragraph of Article 13 have been registered, the Director-Generalof the International Labour Office shall so notify all the Members of theInternational Labour Organization. He shall likewise notify them of theregistration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently byother Members of the Organization.

  Article 15

  1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it afterthe expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention firstcomes into force, by an act communicated to the Director-General of theInternational Labour Office for registration. Such denunciation shall nottake effect until one year after the date on which it is registered.

  2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not,within the year following the expiration of the period of ten yearsmentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciationprovided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of tenyears and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration ofeach period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.

  Article 16

  At such times as it may consider necessary the Governing Body of theInternational Labour Office shall present to the General Conference areport on the working of this Convention and shall examine thedesirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question ofits revision in whole or in part.

  Article 17

  1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising thisConvention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwiseprovides,

  (a) the ratification by a Member of the new revising Conventionshall ipso jure provisions of Article 15 above, if and when the newrevising Convention shall have come into force;

  (b) as from the date when the new revising Convention comes intoforce, this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by theMembers.

  2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actualform and content for those Members which have ratified it but have notratified the revising Convention.

  Article 18

  The French and English texts of this Convention shall both beauthentic.

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