The fact that the captain of the ‘death ship’ Sage Sagittarius – on which three people have died in suspicious circumstances – was allowed to work off the Australian coast for eight months, despite claims of involvement in potential firearms offences, is the latest revelation to emerge at the hea
General secretary Stephen Cotton said: "Money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion are all clearly unacceptable practices and at odds with the global union movement’s social and economic justice agenda that we at the ITF promote through our work with transport unions around the globe.
ITF regional secretary Antonio Fritz and deputy regional secretary Edgar Diaz held a seminar in Caracas on 29-31 March with the Federación Bolivariana de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras del Transporte (FBTTT) to boost organising in all transport sectors.
The network is made up of transport unions that represent maritime workers on vessels and in ports owned or operated by a Maersk Group company.
The ITF brought together nine unions from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and the United States for this first XPO strategy meeting, on 6 April in Paris.
Maersk will now change their charter party agreements to include a requirement that the charter vessel owners must document that the vessel is covered by an ITF agreement or similar.
Maersk Group vessels (owned or chartered) total around 500 ships.
The expulsion – on grounds of ‘disturbing public order, tranquillity and social peace’ – resulted from Mr Akman’s participation in a peaceful sit-in with workers from Cencosud, a major Latin American retailer.
“Since 1948 our organisation has fought against FOCs. Panama was the first of these. It’s now the biggest. The whole FOC system is based on a culture of secrecy and lack of accountability.
The move followed the recent dismissals, investigations and prosecutions under the Turkish Penal Code and Anti-Terror Law of 1,128 academics from 89 universities in Turkey, including the imprisonment of four human and trade union rights defenders, over their demands for peace.
The event will be held at 10:00 on 27 April 2016 in the Campo Alegre A suite of The Marriott Hotel, Calle 52 con Ricardo Arias, Panama City (www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/ptypa-panama-marriott-hotel).
