ITF Agreements Mitigate Risks

Around 15,000 ships operate under ITF Agreements. Every human rights risk specific to maritime shipping set out in this guidance is markedly mitigated and reduced on a ship covered by an ITF Agreement. 

There are three main types of ITF Agreement, all approved by the ITF and signed between ITF-affiliated unions and shipping companies or maritime employers: International Bargaining Forum (IBF) Agreements, negotiated with the Joint Negotiating Group of maritime employers; Total Crew Cost (TCC) Agreements, based on the ITF Uniform TCC agreement and negotiated by affiliated unions in line with national legislation; and ITF Standard Agreements, normally signed following industrial action or a breach of a previous agreement. Separate agreements cover the offshore and cruise industries.

Whichever applies, the ITF enforces it through our global Inspectorate – a network of more than 130 inspectors and contacts in over 100 ports across 55 countries, with the right to board ships to identify abuse, verify conditions against the agreement and secure remedy for seafarers: recovering unpaid wages, resolving abandonment cases, enforcing repatriation, ending unlawful contract extensions, and intervening to assist seafarers where other rights are breached. This is continuous, worker-led monitoring that no audit can replicate – and a route to remedy that reaches seafarers directly, in ports around the world. 

ITF Agreements

ITF Agreements uphold the fundamental labour rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining. For companies, they deliver two things: enforceable standards and the means to monitor and enforce them. 

Enforceable standards

  • Fair wages negotiated with seafarers’ representatives and set above the ILO’s basic safety net, with wage scales reflecting rank, role and experience.
  • Conditions that exceed minimum international labour standards and the Maritime Labour Convention on working hours, rest periods, overtime rates, safe manning, maximum period on board, paid leave, decent working and living conditions, repatriation, incentives to keep accurate records, and insurance cover protecting crew in cases of abandonment.

Monitoring and enforcement

  • Worker-led monitoring: ITF inspectors have the right to access ships to speak directly to crew, hear their concerns, verify contracts/agreements are being upheld, and assess risk as the source. This is the worker-led monitoring and enforcement HREDD requires.
  • Reporting channels: Complaints reach the ITF’s inspectors and Seafarers’ Support team because seafarers trust the organisation’s international reputation and reach, and track record for assisting seafarers while protecting their anonymity.
  • Grievance mechanisms supplementary to the Maritime Labour Convention.
  • Access to effective remedy: When prevention fails, HREDD requires companies to provide for or cooperate in remediation. The ITF resolves issues directly through its established relationships with responsible shipping companies and maritime employers – and ITF Agreements give the contractual standing to enforce a resolution, not just request one. 
INTERNATIONAL BARGAINGING FORUM

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The International Bargaining Forum (IBF) is the only international collective bargaining process in any industry. Established in 2003 by the ITF and maritime employers, it produces the world's largest collective bargaining agreement – covering more than 11,000 ships and 400,000 seafarers, negotiated between nearly 500 maritime employers and the ITF's affiliated maritime unions.

Employers negotiate through the Joint Negotiating Group (JNG): the International Maritime Employers' Council (IMEC) and the International Shipping Employers' Group (ISEG), which brings together the International Maritime Managers' Association of Japan (IMMAJ), Evergreen and the Korean Shipowners' Association. Negotiations run centrally to agree core principles, which are then negotiated locally.

For companies, the IBF demonstrates two decades of ITF experience at the bargaining table, and its recognition as the bargaining partner for the world's responsible maritime employers. IBF Agreements are what that relationship produces: standards agreed with the industry and negotiated by the ITF and our affiliates on behalf of the seafarers we represent.