covid-19

ITF Management Committee statement on protecting workers during and after the Covid-19 pandemic

Supplying protective equipment, offering accommodation, mental health support services – just some of what is being done by the Bangladesh Merchants Marine Officers Association (BMMOA) for its members and the wider community in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Seafarers are vital employees because they keep the global supply chains moving. Seafarers, including those on ferries, transport around 90 percent of the world’s goods, including necessary medical supplies, equipment, products and passengers. 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC) is clear – a seafarer, while working on board, has the right to adequate health protection and access to prompt and adequate medical care including essential dental care.

On the occasion of International Workers Memorial Day 2020^_[1], the global trade

Three Greek seafarers and 22 of their shipmates on two bulk carriers at anchor in the Port of Djibouti are among a rising tide of crew abandoned around the world at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a fourth special show about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on working people, ITF legal director Ruwan Subasinghe has spoken to Maria Helena Andre, director of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) bureau for workers' activit

Despite Covid-19 restrictions, the ITF has assisted abandoned crews in Sudan and Lebanon for the first time and delivered humanitarian assistance as the number of cases like this in the region increases.

The crew member showed symptoms of having suffered a stroke while the vessel was in international waters 225 kilometres from the island of Sumatra.

Covid-19 has had a swift and brutal impact on the cruise industry and on seafarers working in the industry. The media has focused mainly on the passengers, while the plight of the seafarers has mostly gone unnoticed and underreported.