A global conference looking at the issues, implications and next steps around the workers’ capital agenda is being hosted by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) this week.

A hunger strike at Gateway Terminals India (GTI) Mumbai that lasted for 17 days has come to an end after management of port operator APM Terminals (APMT) agreed to address union demands over a group of operations and maintenance staff.

ITF Australia coordinator has swum the English Channel to raise funds for services to seafarers. His feat – on the 140th anniversary of the first cross-channel swim by seafarer Captain Webb – has so far raised AUSD 13,000 (USD10,800), to which the ITF today added a further AUSD 10,922 (USD 7,869).

Four union leaders from Thailand's TG Union have today been ordered to pay over nine million US dollars in damages to Thai Airways Company (Thai Airways), after peaceful protests in 2013 resulted in a collective agreement for workers at the airline

More than 160 members of the ITF-affiliated Independent Federation of Myanmar Seafarers (IFOMS) attended ITF workshops to increase their awareness of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC) and understand how to enforce the rights contained in the convention.

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) is challenging Hutchison Ports Holdings (HPH) over its behaviour at port facilities in Indonesia and Australia.

The ITF Seafarers' Trust - which often pays for vehicles for seafarers' welfare bodies and missions - has announced it will be surveying their uses and effectiveness so as to use its grants as effectively as possible. The Trust will be partnering in the programme with the International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA) and the North American Maritime Ministry Association (NAMMA).

Seafarers’ Rights International (SRI) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) are backing a new book on the plight of fishers that is due for publication tomorrow, Thursday 30 July.

The ITF has urged the Indonesian president to intervene over the extension of the concession for the Jakarta International Container Terminal that has been granted to Hutchison Port Holdings by the Indonesia Port Company (IPC).

ITF general secretary Steve Cotton joined several Australian union leaders and over 200 union activists at a rally on 20 July to protest against the treatment of the Alexander Spirit crew by petroleum company Caltex.

Concerted action by the ITF and maritime unions on two continents in one week was successful in bringing support to seafarers working and living in sub-standard conditions, and in spreading the word about the role of trade unions in protecting seafarers and their rights under international maritime law.

Tomorrow’s FC Barcelona presidential elections are likely to seal the fate of any further sponsorship deal by Qatar Airways (QR), according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). The ITF says that the gulf between the airline’s treatment of staff and the club’s strong social ethos is now so huge that it will figure in the choice of president by its 70,000 members, who will go on to vote in October on any further sponsorship.