Il lavoro marittimo nell’era della globalizzazione e della digitalizzazione

The thesis concerns maritime labour and its recent challenges from an international law perspective. The purpose of the work is twofold. First, it analyses how maritime labour has changed in most recent years. In particular, the work discusses the impact on maritime labour of two recent phenomena, namely globalisation and digitalisation. As far as the former is concerned, the thesis outlines that globalisation has given rise to flags of convenience and open registries, which have led to a marked deterioration in living conditions on board. As far as the latter is concerned, it is shown that digitalisation has made crews less and less numerous, although at the same time increasingly qualified and competent. Second, the study investigates whether the current international legal framework is adequate to cope with the changes described above, or whether it should be modified – and, if so, in which sense. Specifically, the research examines the main Conventions, bilateral agreements as well as voluntary or self-regulatory instruments. In addition, the study takes into account international collective bargaining, which is relevant because the maritime sector is highly unionised, and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has made a great effort over the years to get global shipowners to guarantee minimum conditions for seafarers. This research has an innovative and original approach. Maritime labour law is a rather neglected branch of legal studies. Only few researchers have investigated this subject. In particular, an organic study on this topic still represents a desideratum in Italy. This work intends to fill this gap, providing an Italian point of view on maritime labour law. In fact, even though the issue transcends national borders by its very nature, the transposition of international legal instruments at domestic level can vary greatly from state to state. In addition, the maritime sector is usually studied from an economic perspective, rather than from a labour law perspective. For example, most publications about flags of convenience focus on the distortion of competition. This research shifts the approach and looks at the phenomenon from the workers’ point of view. Such an approach is relevant for seafarers and for the entire sector, since taking the human factor into account is crucial for the sustainable development of the field.