The International Bargaining Forum (IBF) has agreed on a 6% wage increase for seafarers covered by the 2024-2027 IBF Framework Agreement.
Specifically, seafarers covered by the agreement will receive a 6 percent wage increase over the next two years (4 per cent wage and compensations increase from 1 January 2024 and 2 per cent wage and compensations increase from 1 January 2025).
According to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), this responds to over 250,000 seafarers’ serving on more than 10,000 vessels. Furthermore, the 2026-27 pay deal and cost items will be negotiated in 2025.
The 2024-2027 IBF Framework Agreement. also includes:
- Reference to ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment to reinforce a joint commitment to provide safe workplaces free of violence, discrimination and harassment for all seafarers.
- A joint recognition of the importance of safe working practices in cargo lashing in the common fight against malpractice.
- A new working group that will focus on the future of seafaring and major challenges that the industry faces including the impact of new technology, the introduction of alternative fuels, and ensuring a just transition as the industry responds to climate change.
- Concerns around seafarers’ hours of work, crewing levels, fatigue and duration of employment will also fall under the remit of the working group.
The pay deal locked into this agreement provides concrete financial recognition for the critical contribution that seafarers make to the global economy and also recognises the sacrifice that seafarers have carried over the past few years and throughout the pandemic.
… highlighted ITF President and Dockers’ Section Chair, Paddy Crumlin
Under the agreement, the JNG also committed to remind their members of the importance of respecting national cabotage provisions and committed to working together with the ITF on a strategy to work towards more and more seafarers receiving a reasonable amount of internet access free of charge.
I believe this partnership is key to address the issues affecting seafarers’ welfare and training today towards the ultimate aim of decarbonising and achieving net zero shipping by 2050 whilst resolving seafarers’ shortages.
… said spokesperson for the Joint Negotiating Group of maritime employers (JNG) and Chairman of IMEC, Captain Belal Ahmed
ITF spokesperson and ITF Seafarers’ Section Chair David Heindel stated that this has been a particularly complicated set of negotiations coming out of the Covid pandemic, which has taken a great deal of effort and compromise on both sides to get this right for the times. This is a fair deal, he added.
Meanwhile, ITF General Secretary Stephen Cotton noted that the biggest challenges we all face is the just transition and the move to alternative fuels. He also mentioned that how the industry recruits and motivates seafarers and ensures they have the skills for the future, this is firmly on their forward-looking agenda.
From the employers’ side of the table, Chairman of JNG and IMMAJ, Toshihito Inoue, supplied that the negotiations were particularly tough this time, due to the challenges the pandemic brought about both on seafarers and employers. Nevertheless, he added that they managed to dialogue in good faith, proving the strong partnership we have developed over the past twenty years lives on.
I was also pleased that we had a chance to talk about the future of our industry, including ways to attract seafarers going forward, the environmental challenges that await us and the technological solutions that will both help us and at the same time demand that we change with the times.
… concluded the Chairman of JNG and IMMAJ, Toshihito Inoue
