National Minimum Wage Guidance updated for seafarers
01 October 2020
National Minimum Wage guidance has been updated to reflect the extended protection to guarantee National Minimum Wage that is to be applied to hours worked for maritime workers in a bid will ensure fair pay for over 10,000 maritime workers across the country.
From 1 October 2020 National Minimum Wage (Offshore Employment) (Amendment) Order 2020 brings in a change to legislation that will ensure that seafarers are given pay protection equivalent to every other sector.
Guidance has been updated and for workers aged 25 and over, the UK’s national minimum wage is set at £8.72 per hour.
Maritime Minister Robert Courts said:
“This country’s rich maritime history is built upon its extraordinary workers, ensuring a fair wage for our seafarers, especially the hundreds of thousands who have kept this country going through the pandemic, means that the UK workers are not priced out of jobs by employers.
This is just the start – our Maritime 2050 strategy clearly sets the vison to see fairer global maritime”
This announcement builds on the UK government’s established work to protect British maritime workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and follows the effective repatriation of 13,000 seafarers from UK shores whose movement was hampered due to closed borders.
In a recent circular from the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport) union, General Secretary, Mick Cash wrote:
“Applying NMW protections for seafarers on domestic merchant shipping routes, including the offshore energy sector is of course a modest success in the context of the ‘low cost’ crewing model on international routes but it will bring an estimated 13,000 Ratings of all nationalities working in the UK shipping industry into scope of UK employment law.”
Information provided in this news article may be subject to change. Please make note of the date of publication to ensure that you are viewing up to date information.