The ITF has called on the Sri Lankan government to release the Ukrainian Captain Gennadiy Gavrylov, who has been stranded in Sri Lanka since June 2016, when local authorities arrested his vessel ‘Avant Garde’ in relation to the illegal importation of arms.
The ITF continued its collaboration with the Government of the United Arab Emirates, during a meeting in Dubai. ITF and UAE discussed the successful cooperation on helping seafarers abandoned in UAE waters. The partners talked abandoned seafarers, discussed future work and assessed the ITF-UAE memorandum of understanding (MOU).
The International Transport Forum 2019 Summit on ‘Transport Connectivity for Regional Integration’ took place from 22 to 24 May 2019 in Leipzig, Germany. As the forum said, maritime transport has undergone major changes over the last decade, with overcapacity, environmental issues and employment, presenting new challenges.
ITF’s General Secretary, Stephen Cotton, speaking at the ILO’s centenary conference in Geneva, highlighted that ‘now is the time to assert authority as the global standard-bearer for labour rights.’ ILO agreed a centenary declaration designed to give all workers a floor of rights and protections in an ever-changing world of work.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) welcomes ILO’s Convention and Recommendation to tackle violence and harassment in workplace. ITF supported that the lives of ITF union members, and in particular women transport workers, will be improved as a direct result.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) called on the Thai government to implement and enforce the ‘Work in Fishing’ Convention, and ratify ILO Conventions 87 and 98, to decrease the risks of forced labour or labour rights abuses in seafood industry supply chains in Thailand.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) issued a joint statement to the SeaWeb Seafood Summit in Bangkok. The statement is about the worker voice or welfare committee models being constructed in companies and organisations, which, according to the statement, are not an incremental step towards recognising workers’ right to organise.
ITF reports that the 12 seafarers onboard Qaaswa have been sent home, after 13 months marooned off the Port of Sfax. They had been left abandoned off the Tunisian coast with no wages, food and fuel. The 12 crewmembers flew home to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar on May 31, with thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, with overall USD 130,952, for the eight months that they were owed.
The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) along with the Joint Negotiating Group (JNG) of maritime employers call companies to be fully-compliant with the future changes of ‘Dockers Clause’, on the terms and conditions which will affect ships’ cargo handling operations in ports.
Policy, process management, and investment are considered the key challenges for cross-border activity, according to Gene Seroka, Executive Director, Port of Los Angeles. He explained that the Port of LA has seen a large amount of imports over the last year, but its exports were reduced due to retaliatory tariffs.
