Commenting on the raid on the CSL Melbourne in Newcastle today, ITF seafarers’ section chair Dave Heindel said: “This raid was an error of truly national dimensions. The Australian government seems hell-bent on stripping away the very protections that make Australia the nation it is, and in doing so is becoming an international embarrassment in an industry seeking higher standards of governance and accountability.”

As part of its celebration of International Women’s Day on 8 March, the ITF is calling on its affiliates to share some of the stories of their successes for women transport workers, so that other unions can learn from and be inspired by them.

The ITF held a series of meeting 25-27 January 2016 in London with Federation of Korean Seafarers’ Union (FKSU) and Federation of Korean Maritime Seafarers’ Union (KMSU), with an aim to create reconciliatory process.

Responding to the Spanish Supreme Court’s decision to sentence Captain Mangouras to two years imprisonment over the 2002 Prestige oil spill, ITF seafarers’ section chair Dave Heindel said: “This decision represents the dying gasps of a 14 year old attempt to deflect blame onto the shoulders of an octogenarian man, who has been cleared in the court of world opinion and by his peers.

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) is to pay for legal support for the court appeal of the ship’s crew members of the Seaman Guard Ohio.

The ‘fourth industrial revolution’ – or industry 4.0 – was the theme at this year’s World Economics Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, and prompted ITF general secretary Steve Cotton and other global union leaders to call for a just transition for workers.

Maritime employers and seafarers’ unions have joined forces to publish new international ‘Guidance on Eliminating Shipboard Harassment and Bullying’.

ITF inspectors, along with dockers’ and seafarers’ union members, will check pay and working conditions on board vessels as part of the first East Asian maritime action week of 2016. The action week will be held from 25 to 29 January across ports in Japan, Korea, Russia and Taiwan.

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) has again questioned the behaviour of Alcoa as apparent non-payment of wages on one of the vessels it uses has been detected just a day after the MV Portland was spirited away from its Australian port (see http://goo.gl/CCXqWg)

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) today strongly condemned the raid early this morning (Wednesday) on the MV Portland in the Australian home port for which it is named. Up to 30 security guards were reportedly used to eject the five Australian crew members from the vessel and usher on a non-national crew, which then set sail for Singapore.

The ITF welcomes Israel’s decision to file murder charges over an arson attack which killed an 18 month old Palestinian boy and his parents back in July 2015.

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) and its affiliated unions are keeping a close eye on the MV Portland dispute in south-eastern Australia, with key international unions now backing the local campaign to protect jobs.