Ліцензування крюїнгових компаній як гарантія захисту трудових і соціальних прав моряків

Abstract

To date, such type of economic activity as a mediation for employment abroad occupies a significant segment in the economy in Ukraine. Ukraine lost the Navy as a result of denationalization and restructuring of the Ukrainian economy, and lack of demand of seamen in such situation on the national labor market resulted in unemployment. Ukrainian sailors are forced to seek employment on foreign ships, often even sailing on ships under "comfortable flags". Numerous licensed intermediary structures, such as crewing companies are taking advantage of the situation. The legal regulation of the activities of such companies is rather imperfect, because in the legislative basis of Ukraine, in general, there is no concept as "crewing company", despite the fact that this type of economic activity is very specific, because it’s navigation relation. Licensing of crewing companies is one of the types of state economy regulation, which main purpose is to ensure an-unified state policy in this area. The license serves as evidence of legitimation of a crewing company. But does the license itself give the full guarantee of protecting the social and labor rights of customers who use the services of such companies, in this case, the seafarers? In this case, the licensing conditions for the activities of crewing companies are crucial. An important global international act of sailors’ rights protection and their social security is the ILO Labor Conventions on Maritime Labor 2006, which Ukraine has not yet ratified. But one must understand that in the current difficult economic realities of Ukraine, the ratification process of this Convention becomes a complex phenomenon. In our view, to address the issue of guaranteeing the protection of the rights of seafarers, to date, there is a process of approximation or partial identification of licensing conditions for the activities of crewing companies to the international standards of the ILO Convention on Work in Maritime Navigation in 2006. Introducing the new Licensing Terms will better protect the basic interests and rights of sailors, although, of course, these new standards are minimal and do not solve all social and labor issues. Such new rules for the licensee will be more stringent, but they will bring the licensing of crewing companies closer to international standards. At this stage, a control over the implementation of these conditions is important, so now the question remains about improving the work of state bodies in the field of supervision and control over the activities of crewing companies.