Warlike Operations Bonus

A warlike-operations bonus is supplementary pay for seafarers crewing a ship that transits or works in a designated war-risk or warlike-operations area. Under collective bargaining agreements, the IBF (International Bargaining Forum) and ITF frameworks let crew receive a bonus, usually a doubling of basic wage for days in the area plus doubled death-and-disability compensation, and the right to refuse to sail into it without penalty. The areas are set by the IBF Warlike Operations Area Committee, which tracks Joint War Committee listings; the Red Sea and Black Sea figured in recent designations.