The Spanish fishing sector has submitted an appeal to the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Social Security, against the Resolution of the General Directorate of Labor, received in September, which says that workers on board a fishing boat are required to “clock in”, when established by Royal Decree Law 8/2019 of March 8.

 

The fishing sector uses this mechanism after repeated requests to the same ministry. The resource has been presented by the National Federation of Fishermen's Associations (FNCP), the National Union of Cooperatives of the Sea of ​​Spain (Unacomar) and the Spanish Fisheries Confederation (Cepesca).

 

 

According to the Resource presented, Royal Decree Law 8/2019 excludes fishermen on board from having to clock in, since its preamble refers to the conclusions of the Advocate General in Case C-55/18, which although proposes that there be A day log so that the Directive establishing the maximum working hours and the minimum resting hours has a useful effect excludes fishing work on board from its reasoning.

 

The Court endorsed this proposal and its Judgment 14.5.19, which requires that there be an hourly record of work activity, also excludes work on board a fishing boat from its legal framework. The requirement that a fisherman have toclock in part, exclusively, of the General Directorate of Labor.

 

In its appeal, the sector asks the Ministry to respect the Convention 180 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on working hours on board and the provision of ships, which requires States to consult with shipbuilding organizations fishing and fishermen, if they want to apply this obligation on a fishing boat.

 

The organizations emphasize that, if they have not been consulted, there is no obligation because it has not been determined whether the hourly registration on board a fishing boat has a useful effect or if, on the contrary, it can negatively affect such vital aspects as Safety and health on board. That is, if it can be, or not, a source of accidents.

 

 

According to the appeal presented, the omission of this consultation provided for in an International Agreement, makes the requirement of registration in a fishing vessel that is part of the General Directorate of Labor null and void.

 

In addition, no national, EU or international standard imposes the requirement of hourly registration on a fishing vessel, and in comparative law, there is no known State that requires this registration for fishing vessels.

 

The fishing sector insists on the impossibility of complying with the obligation to register the working day taking into account the peculiarities and unpredictability of its activity, subject to factors of difficult control, such as weather, or the particularities of the fishing activity itself.

 

The sector also uses the specificities of low-lying, high-altitude and high-altitude fishing that, in its opinion, make it impossible to apply the standard. In this sense, they emphasize that the workday depends only on whether or not there is fishing and that, therefore, the permanence of the crew on board a ship does not imply that they are developing a work activity. In addition, the sector points to the remuneration peculiarities of its activity, which, in most cases, is governed by a “part-way” remuneration system, which implies the distribution of the profits from the sales of catches between shipowners and crew .