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REVISION OF MARITIME CONVENTIONS The twenty-eighth (Maritime) Session of the Conference, held at Seattle in June, 1946, adopted nine Conventions covering many important aspects of seafarers' conditions of employment. In December, 1947, the Joint Maritime Commission of the 1.L.0. noted that only one ratification of these Conventions had been registered, though ratification had been pressed on States members. Subsequently the Office requested Governments to report difficulties delaying ratification. On the basis of the replies received the Governing Body decided that revision of certain of these Conventions was desirable in some respects to secure wider ratification. Accordingly an item was placed on the Agenda of the present session proposing the partial revision of the following four Conventions in respect of the questions specified : (1) Social Security (Seafarers) Convention, 1946 (No. 70), in respect of the amount and duration of allowances (Article 3, paragraph 2). (2) Paid Vacations (Seafarers) Convention, 1946 (No. 72), in respect of—(a) Continuous service (Article 3, paragraph 1) : (b) Subsistence allowances (Article 5, paragraph 2). (3) Accommodation of Crews Convention, 1946 (No. 75), in respect of — (a) Variation of the provisions of the Convention concerning experimental ships (Article 1) : (b) Ventilation of crew's quarters (Article 7, paragraph 3) : (e) The maximum number of ratings in sleeping-rooms (Article 10, paragraph 10) : (d) The arrangement of berths in tiers (Article 10, paragraph 14) : (e)' The application of the Convention to existing ships (Article 18). (4) Wages, Hours of Work, and Manning (Sea) Convention, 1946 (No. 76), in respect of—(a) Consistent working of overtime (Article 18, paragraph 1) : (b) The period for denunciation of the Convention (Article 27). The Conference Committee set up to deal with this item adopted amendments in respect of all the matters listed above except— Article 3, paragraph 2, of Convention No. 70 ; and Article 3, paragraph 1, of Convention No. 72, — in regard to which the present text was retained. The amendments as approved by Conference are set out in Appendix No. 11. The Conventions as amended thus become : (1) The Paid Vacations (Seafarers) Convention (Revised), 1949. (2) The Accommodation of Crews Convention (Revised), 1949. (3) The Wages, Hours of Work, and Manning (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1949. RESOLUTIONS The two most important resolutions dealt with by the Conference were — (1) On Annual Holidays with Pay and Workers' Recreation : (2) On Unemployment,— both submitted by the Czech delegation.. These were agreed to in the form set out in Appendix 12 (d) and (e). Another resolution submitted by the Polish delegation, designed to change the constitutional structure of the 1.L.0. mainly by increasing worker representation, was rejected on the grounds that the whole matter had been decided after full debate as recently as 1946. J. Thorn. H. Parsonage.

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