After fully studying the United Kingdom Marine Accident Investigation Branch’s (MAIB’s) report into the Swanland sinking, the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) has issued the following statement.
The ITF has called on Panama to join the effort to help the recently released crew of the Iceberg 1 to recover from their hostage ordeal.
The ITF and its affiliated maritime unions in Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine will be exposing substandard working conditions and fighting for improved safety in what they have described as the ‘Black Sea of shame’, next week, from 13 to 15 May.
42 years of autocratic rule in Libya decimated its trade union culture. The government outlawed independent unions, and according to the International Trade Unions Congress (ITUC) annual survey of trade union rights*, as of 2012 there was still a lot of work to be done.
Access to Valparaiso Port in Chile was virtually closed on 4 April when maritime and seafarers’ union members and supporters marched to oppose government proposals to open the country’s cabotage to foreign competition and to push through legislation quickly.
A Ukrainian union chose to get its younger members in party mood to kick off its ‘year of youth’ and to boost their understanding of trade unionism at home and internationally.
The ITF has written to the Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, and the Minister of Shipping and Aegean, Kostas Mousouroulis, urging the government to withdraw the civil mobilisation order implemented on 5 February to order striking seafarers' back to work or face arrest.
The Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme and the ITF Seafarers’ Trust is inviting journalists reporting on piracy to a preview screening of what the two organisations believe is a powerfully realistic portrayal of the reality of Somali piracy.
The IBF High Level Officers meeting held in Stockholm, Sweden on 12 of March 2013, considered, inter alia, the industrial dispute at the US West Coast which has led to a lockout of dock workers supporting a lawful action by the ITF affiliated ILWU.
