The U.S. system of securities laws similarly exercises expansive authority over the internationally mobile capital markets, thereby ensuring that all competitors in the American capital markets play by essentially the same rules. U.N.T.S. The Convention (No. 147) Concerning Minimum Standards in Merchant Ships (October 13, 1976), (ILO 147), ratified by the U.S. Senate on February 1, 1988, by a vote of 84-0, 7/ itself comports with the presently accepted view of port state control. ILO 147 authorizes the port state to investigate required certifications and readily apparent conditions which deviate materially from the conditions required for certification, and to detain a vessel where conditions are clearly hazardous to safety or health in order to have the vessel rectify such conditions. (ILO Recommendation 155 make clear that these standards are minimum standards which State parties may exceed.) The Draft Guidelines for Procedures for the Inspection of Labour Conditions on Board Ships (ILO October 1989) (relating to ILO 147) also recommend (at 5) that "[i]n the case of a complaint the inspector should investigate the matter in accordance with his own national regulations and take action accordingly. In the relatively brief time since ILO 147 has been ratified by the U.S., it has become clear that foreign seamen who seek redress under the agreement subject themselves to dismissal, deportation and blacklisting. H.R. 3283 would provide some protection to foreign seamen who seek U.S. enforcement of these internationally recognized standards. Over the past 30 years, the concept of flag state control, while not totally erased, has diminished, while the evolving concept of port state control has been reflected in a significantly increasing number of national laws and international agreements. The assumptions about international law that underlaid the Supreme Court's Benz McCulloch doctrine in the late 1950s and early 1960s clearly are no longer valid. It is unclear whether there has yet been sufficient change to induce a court to reconsider or limit that doctrine so as to apply the NLRA to foreign seamen on foreign vessels in U.S. ports as it is now written, but there is little doubt that the changes contained in H.R. 3283 fit well in the current trend toward increased port state control. 7 Vol. 134, Congressional Record, S330. 5 In the Port and Tanker Safety Act of 1978, 33 U.S.C., Sections 9101 and 9102, as Amended, Congress expanded the regulation of marine traffic within U.S. ports and territorial waters to address the growing problem of accidents involving tankers and other vessels. The statute covers both U.S. vessels and foreign-flag vessels operating in U.S. territorial waters and sets up a framework for regulating not only the equipment carried on board such vessels and the safety procedures used by them, but also the training and qualifications of crewmembers and the watchkeeping standards applicable to such vessels. Furthermore, the United States has passed a number of laws like H.R. 3283 which are intended to improve the well-being of the citizens of other nations, but which the governments of the affected nations did not approve. Such laws are in keeping with our standards of fair play, justice and human rights. Thus, H.R. 3283 is consistent with the well-documented interest of Congress in the rights of foreign workers, specifically, the laws and programs enacted and created in recent years that link foreign trade with worker rights protection in exporting countries. These efforts include: - The Generalized System of Preferences 8/ (as amended by the Generalized System of The Caribbean Basin Initiative 9/ Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 10/ 8/ The Renewal Act was enacted as Title V of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, P.L. 98-573, Sections 501-506, 98 Stat. 3020 (codfied at 19 U.S.C.A. Sec. 2461 et seq. (West Supp. 1998). 9/ P.L. 98-67, 97 Stat. 384 (1983), codified at 19 U.S.C.A. Sec. 2701 et seq. (West Supp. 1988). 10/ P.L. 93-618, 88 Stat. 2066 (1975) codified at 19 U.S.C.A. Sec. 2411 et seq. (1980 and West Supp. 1988). "Section 301" refers collectively to sections 301 through 309 (comprising chapter 1 of title III) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. 11/ P.L. 100-418, 102 Stat. 1107 (1988) [hereinafter Omnibus Trade Act). 6 The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) The International Emergency Economic Powers Act The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 14/ The intent of H.R. 3283 is similar to that of other legislation that contains provisions regarding foreign worker rights, but its reach is, in fact, far more narrow. The transgressions it seeks to remedy are generally limited to those that occur in American waters and ports on flag-of-convenience ships that are owned or controlled by U.S. citizens or corporations. The main exception is that of employees on cruise ships where contact with the U.S. is core to the business. This limited reach is not the only way in which H.R. 3283 is less intrusive than the existing body of trade legislation. Since the main purpose of "flagging out" is to escape the restrictions of legislation and regulation by registering a ships in a nation with few or no governing laws, the extension of U.S. labor law cannot be accurately described as superimposing our notion of worker rights over that of the flag state. It is more accurate to say that it fills a vacuum. The plain fact is that our allies and trade partners routinely resist or oppose any legislation that even remotely affects them. H.R. 3283, aimed as it is against those nation's harboring "runaway" ships, such as Liberia, Panama and Vanuatu, will not burden nations with high standards and the will and ability to enforce them. We have personally met with either the labor or maritime representatives assigned to the foreign embassies mentioned in your letter. None of them understood the intended application of H.R. 3283. They could not logically justify their opposition to H.R. 3283 because they are aware of the fact that their laws would not permit us to do in their country what we permit them to do here in the United States. This is substantiated by the attached correspondence with Mr. Auke Haagsma of the European Community, and the "Review of European Labor Law Relating to the Organisation of Foreign Crews" by Denton Hall Burgin & Warrens of London, England. 12/ P.L. 99-204, 99 Stat. 1670 (1985), codified at 22 U.S.C.A. Section 2191 et seq. (West Supp. 1988). 13/ P.L. 95-223, Title II, 91 Stat. 1626 (1977), codified at 50 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1701 et seq. (West Supp. 1988). 14/ 22 U.S.C. Sec. 5001 et seq. - 7 Even the Japanese who do not currently have passenger ships operating in the U.S., plan to do so later because they realize it is à lucrative operation and they want to keep it that way. You state that "The Administration is, of course, concerned with the welfare and working conditions of all seafarers." Mr. DeArment, the deplorable conditions that exist on the runaway operations are not new. They have been the subject of numerous court cases (release attached); they were cited in testimony on ILO 147; and the subject of many newspaper and television stories. (Arthur Frommer article attached.) See you on Wednesday. Sincerely yours, Salmage & bumphin Talmage E. Simpkins LOUIS PARISE PRESIDENT TALMAGE E. SIMPKINS AFL-CIO MARITIME COMMITTEE THE VOICE OF MARITIME LABOR 444 NORTH CAPITOL STREET, N.W., SUITE 820, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20001 (202) 347-5980 During the hearing Wednesday, September 23rd, on H.R. 1126, At that time, we volunteered to supply the Subcommittee with |