Congress

The main policy making body of the ITF is Congress which meets once every four years and to which all affiliated trade unions can send voting delegates. The Congress elects the President, five Vice Presidents and the General Secretary, and the 35-strong Executive Board which meets twice a year and which is in overall charge of the ITF between Congresses. The last congress was in 2002, in Vancouver (click here to see the resolutions).

From the Delhi Congress came the Delhi policy, which supersedes the Geneva Policy, Madrid Policy and the Tokyo guidelines in giving the overall direction for the flag of convenience (FOC) campaign. The Delhi policy gives the position of the ITF on FOCs, collective agreements and acceptable standards; download the Delhi policy below.

Cabotage

The vital importance of cabotage, which refers to the exclusive reservation by a state of the commercial operations between ports in that country for their own national flag vessels, is set out in chapter five of the policy document, 'From Oslo to Delhi', and can be downloaded below. The ITF has historically supported this principle as one way of securing a long-term, sustainable and fair distribution of employment for seafarers.

Cruise ships

The Miami guidelines (updated 2004) came out of the ITF Cruise Ship Committee meeting in Miami in September 1993, and give the basis for the ITF policy on cruise ships. These can be downloaded below.

The latest version of the ITF collective agreement for cruise ships is also available to download (in PDF format only) in two parts, one for deck and engine room and one for the hotel and catering personnel. These can both be downloaded below.

Also available for download below is the ITF cruise ship safety policy and the ITF seafarers' and dockers' section environmental policy adopted by the ITF Seafarers' Section Conference in 2000.

Stowaways and piracy

The ITF has a policy on stowaways, as adopted by the ITF Seafarers' Section Conference, Singapore, 8-10 October 1997. This can be downloaded below.

The ITF policy on piracy and armed robbery (pdf 91kb) was adopted by the Seafarers' Section Conference at the Vancouver Congress in 2002. This can also be downloaded below.