Perspectives from the Invisible Workforce: Lessons Learned for the Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia

TY - GEN

T1 - Perspectives from the Invisible Workforce

T2 - Lessons Learned for the Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia

AU - Mannov, Adrienne

PY - 2014/8/1

Y1 - 2014/8/1

N2 - The shipping industry is often referred to as the Invisible Industry. Although 90% of all goods are transported by sea, many consumers are not aware of the industry’s significance in our lives. Even more compelling, most are not aware of the people who move these goods. Thus, the Invisible Workforce may be a more accurate title. In this article, I discuss these invisible workers and their perceptions of maritime piracy and how their perceptions may be useful to the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS). More specifically, I discuss how seafarers conceptualize the threat, including geographical focus and the role that their governments, labor unions and employers play in protecting them. These perspectives are based on 16 months of ethnographic research on board with crews who pass through piracy areas and among seafarers, their families and the maritime organizations around them on land in Denmark, the Ukraine, India and the Philippines. In addition, I include perspectives gathered from The Seamen’s Church Institute of NY & NJ and the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Program, organizations both affiliated with the CGPCS. Both of these organizations emerged as significant actors in the field, and their work, where relevant, will be addressed in this article as well.

AB - The shipping industry is often referred to as the Invisible Industry. Although 90% of all goods are transported by sea, many consumers are not aware of the industry’s significance in our lives. Even more compelling, most are not aware of the people who move these goods. Thus, the Invisible Workforce may be a more accurate title. In this article, I discuss these invisible workers and their perceptions of maritime piracy and how their perceptions may be useful to the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS). More specifically, I discuss how seafarers conceptualize the threat, including geographical focus and the role that their governments, labor unions and employers play in protecting them. These perspectives are based on 16 months of ethnographic research on board with crews who pass through piracy areas and among seafarers, their families and the maritime organizations around them on land in Denmark, the Ukraine, India and the Philippines. In addition, I include perspectives gathered from The Seamen’s Church Institute of NY & NJ and the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Program, organizations both affiliated with the CGPCS. Both of these organizations emerged as significant actors in the field, and their work, where relevant, will be addressed in this article as well.

M3 - Report chapter

BT - The Lessons Learned Project of the (UN) Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia

A2 - Bueger, Christian

PB - Cardiff University

ER -