Monkeypox is a relatively rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus.
Workers from dozens of countries go involved, including Nepal, India, Brazil and Argentina, covering road, rail, aviation and maritime.
The ITF, and affiliate Union de Capitanes y Oficiales de Cubierta (UCOC), have been locked in a protracted struggle with the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) over minimum safe manning, access to training and equipment, and hazardous working conditions on tugboats in the new Neopanamax locks.
Business representatives - who made up one third of the 2,500 delegates from governments, trade unions, civil society and international organisations – were reminded that engagement with unions is key.
The Australian Senate has agreed to hold an inquiry into the shipping industry.
The European maritime union Nautilus has been successful in winning unpaid wages totalling almost USD1 million owed to the crew of a “superyacht” that was arrested in Malta.
A new independent report commissioned by the ITF warns of the consequences for safety in the Panama Canal resulting from poor working practices that lead to fatigue for tugboat captains. It says that a major accident on the canal “could be imminent”.
Maritime crime, including armed robbery and piracy, still pose a threat to seafarers in many “hotspots”, including the waters off west Africa and the South China Sea.
In August 2018 the MoU was signed and guaranteed recruitment of Kenyan seafarers to work on MSC vessels. The SUK, ITF inspector Betty Makena, Kenya’s ministry of transport and the Kenya Maritime Authority were all involved in the recruitment process.
The study was discussed during the Plenary Session of the International Maritime Organization’s 100th Maritime Safety Committee last week and was well received as it provides an independent expert overview of the situation in the Canal.
