遠洋航線船員僱傭契約性質與期限之探討

Exploring the Nature and Period of Seafarers’Employment Contracts on Deepsea Shipping Services

本文主要探討遠洋航線船員僱傭契約，究竟要簽署定期或是不定期契約？討論內容包括：海事勞工公約之規定、鄰近亞洲國家之規定、船員法與勞基法之法律適用關係、國際海運實務之適用情形、簽署定期或是不定期契約之優點與缺點之分析。
本研究經過深入分析後，得出結論如下：（一）為保障國際航運船員之利益，國際海事勞工公約規定，船員在遣返下船前，船上服務之最長時間不得長於12個月；（二）國際運輸工人聯合會與船舶營運人協商之「2019-2022的船員僱傭契約」，建議船員僱傭契約的最長僱傭期限為9個月（或前後加減一個月）；（三）中、日、韓的相關規定，顯示遠洋航線船員上船工作與雇主皆簽署「定期僱傭契約」或「航次僱傭契約」，沒有簽署所謂「不定期僱傭契約」。其在船連續工作期限：中國一般不超過8個月，最長不得超過10個月；韓國以「8個月」為準；日本則是自登船日起6個月，或該「航次期間」；（四）船員在國際遠洋航運船舶服務，屬於「特定性」之工作，多數國內法院實務判決亦確認遠洋航線船員應與船公司簽屬「定期僱傭契約」。

This paper focuses on investigating whether a seafarer’s employment agreement of deepsea shipping services is a definite period agreement or indefinite agreement? The major issues discussed are: the regulations of 2006 Maritime Labour Convention (MLC); the laws of Seafarer Act or Labor Standards Act in Asian countries; the applicable situations of international shipping practices; the advantages and disadvantages of signing a definite period agreement or indefinite agreement.
After conducting a comprehensive research, this study concludes as follows: (1) To protect seafarers’benefits, MLC regulates“the maximum duration of service periods on board following which a seafarer is entitled to repatriation–such periods to be less than 12 months”; (2) The“2019–2022 IBF Framework Agreement”, which is the negotiation results between ITF and shipping carriers, suggests that“the maximum period of engagement referred to in Article 5 shall be 9 months, which may be extended to 10 months or reduced to 8 months for operational convenience”. (3) Referring to collective bargaining agreements (CBA) or governmental regulations of China, Japan and Korea, it shows that seafarers working on board are all signing“definite period agreement”instead of“indefinite agreement”. The maximum service periods are 8 months (which can be extended to 10 months) according to Chinese CBA, and 8 months based on Korean regulations. The Japanese example is“6 months from the date of embarkation”or“the period fixed by a voyage”. (4) Seafarers working on board deepsea ships is defined as a“specific work”which is allowed to make a“fixed term contract”; this viewpoint has been evidenced by most domestic court decisions.