Representatives from the Joint Negotiating Group (JNG) and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) met on 17 November to discuss issued identified during the last round of negotiations which took place in Tokyo in July.
The parties informed that they made significant progress on important issues and have agreed to hold the final round of negotiations in February 2018.
Both parties are committed to finding solutions and concluding a new IBF Agreement during that round.
It was also agreed that the 2017 IBF Agreement will remain valid past the 2015 – 2017 IBF Agreement expiration date of 31 December 2017 – and that the new IBF Agreement will begin at a date agreed on by the parties.
During the last IBF talks in July, both sides confirmed their support for the outcome of officer level interim discussions held between forums and outlined their responses to each other’s outstanding claim items.
However, there were remained concerns over some core contractual demands as well as the quantum of any wage increase.
Thus,the talks therefore ended without an agreement.
It was, however, agreed that two discussion groups will be formed to continue dialogue throughout the remainder of 2017 and to keep the lines of communication open to see if consensus can be reached between the two sides.
