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Platform workers: It's time for rights
ON THE GROUND
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Cotton urges Ukraine to ratify seafarer rights conventions
ITF general secretary Steve Cotton today urged Ukraine to ratify MLC 2006 and ILO convention 185 on seafarers' identity documents, and praised the work of the Marine Transport Workers of Ukraine (MTWTU) as it celebrated 110 years of the union movement in maritime transport.
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Press Release
Special briefing meeting on the health and wellbeing of women seafarers
Members of the press are invited to attend the public launch of a survey of the health and wellbeing needs of women seafarers worldwide.
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ITF coordinator swims Channel
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).
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Training firsts for Myanmar seafarers
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.
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Press Release
ITF challenges HPH over Australia and Indonesia worker treatment
The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) is challenging Hutchison Ports Holdings (HPH) over its behaviour at port facilities in Indonesia and Australia.
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Press Release
ITF Seafarers' Trust announces welfare vehicle effectiveness survey
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).
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Trade unionists launch Fair Transport Europe initiative to urge EC action
A group of trade unionists sponsored by the ETF – the ITF’s European arm – submitted a formal request to the European Commission on 13 July to launch a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) called Fair Transport Europe.
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Cotton joins protest over Caltex treatment of Alexander Spirit crew
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.
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Successes for ITF action weeks
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.
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Youth activism ‘steps up ten gears’ at ITF summer school
A union training facility in Washington is the setting for the ITF young transport workers’ summer school this week.
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ITF HIV training spreads to all major Philippines maritime academies
The ITF’s HIV module for seafarers is to be extended to all the major maritime academies in the Philippines, following a successful pilot with the Maritime Academy of Asia Pacific (MAAP) in March.
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Press Release
ITF comment on Greek situation
Speaking on his return from Greece, where he has been meeting with ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation)-affiliated trade unions including the Pan-Hellenic Seamen's Federation (PNO), the ITF general secretary Steve Cotton, said: “I’ve visited Greece many times but I have never before witnessed the level of insecurity people have over the nation’s future.
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