Forty five participants—representing labour and fishing inspectors of Provincial Manpower Office of North Sulawesi and trade unions—actively participated in a three-day workshop titled “Strategic Compliance Planning with a Focus on Fishing Sector in North Sulawesi” held in Manado City, North Sulawesi, in the mid of July.

The workshop was a follow up to the previous workshop conducted in Manado City, North Sulawesi last March 2019 where labour and fishing inspectors from five provinces (DKI Jakarta, North Sumatra, North Sulawesi, Maluku and Bali) sat down together to share progresses on the implementation of the provincial inspection plans, including efforts to strengthen coordination with and between other relevant regulators.

“Out of five provinces, the ILO has selected North Sulawesi as this province has shown the most advanced progresses in joint fishing inspection and labour compliance at its main fishing port of Bitung. Through this workshop, we hope to strengthen and improve the implementation of joint labour inspection at the provincial level for replication in other provinces,” stated Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director of the ILO.

Appreciating the support given by the ILO and the Ministry of Manpower in ensuring labour rights of fishing workforce, Erni Tumondo, Head of Provincial Manpower Office of North Sulawesi, encouraged the participants to actively participate in the training. “This is an important effort to strengthen and enhance the capacity of relevant stakeholders. This can also strengthen the involvement of seafarer trade unions in better protecting seafarers and its members in the fishing sector,” she said.

The Strategic Compliance consists of a six-step exercise to formulate, sequence and operationalize broader thinking and action that will help labour inspectorates attain the goal of sustained compliance. The steps are the following: 1. Explore the labour inspectorate; 2. Explore issues and targets; 3. Explore influences; 4. Explore stakeholders; 5. Explore interventions; and 6. Operationalize the Strategic Compliance Plan.

Lena Kurniawati, Head of Legal and International Cooperation of the Directorate General of Labour Inspection and Occupational Safety and Health of the Ministry of Manpower, highlighted the relevance of the strategic compliance model for the Indonesian fishing sector. “Fishing is one of the most challenging, hazardous and high risk occupation. Therefore, the strategic compliance can help us developing an integrated system that would improve the overall strategic planning of the national labour inspection and, in turn, would provide better protection to the labour rights of fishers,” she stated.

Facilitated by Valkyrie Hanson, Technical Officer of LAB/ADMIN OSH of ILO Geneva and Rene Robert, Senior Labour Inspection of ILO Regional Office in Bangkok, the participants were guided to the six steps of the strategic compliance. Divided into four groups, they tentatively followed each step.

When exploring key issues, for example, the participants came out with seven identified issues, such as occupational safety and health, wages, employment contract, social security, working hours, job termination, union busting and child labour. Based on these identified issues, they continued to the next steps, identifying key stakeholders and exploring possible interventions.

Best practices from other countries on the implementation of the strategic compliance were also shared by the ILO’s facilitators for inspiration. One of the best practices shared was from Thailand, a neighbouring country of Indonesia.

“Thailand has now imposed the requirements that all ships at its 32 ports should go to port every 30 days for inspection. All fishers are required to have not only fishing book and a written contract, but also to set up an electronic bank account,” explained Rene, adding that the country has also involved the marine to conduct monitoring at sea.

Other shared best practice shared was from Colombia where labour inspectors joined forces with trade unions to abolish illegal subcontracting systems in the countries. “Using the strategic compliance model, they are able to develop a regulation that gives sanctions to the companies that are not complied with the regulation,” told Valkyrie Hanson.

The training concluded with the development of the strategic compliance work plan in which each group was assigned to focus on one specific intervention such as systemic related to certifications, permits and license; enforcement on law enforcement; political on compliances through political willingness and pressures; and workers’ engagement on the involvement of workers’ organizations led by the trade unions.

Helyus Komar, Assistant Deputy-2 of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs, appreciated the efforts taken by the Province of North Sulawesi to develop a more integrated labour inspection system to ensure decent work for fishers and labour compliances in fishing industry. “In the ministry, we have developed a team to address these issues and I hope our team will be able to work together with the team in the province,” he said.

The Strategic Compliance Planning for Labour Inspectorates is a strategic compliance model developed by the ILO’s Labour Administration, Labour Inspection and Occupational Safety and Health Branch (LABDMIN/OSH) of the ILO’s Governance and Tripartism Department.