ITF dockers and seafarers ready for action as Cape Town conferences close

Around 300 activists met in Cape Town, South Africa, 5 and 6 June 2017, for the ITF union-led dockers' and seafarers' section conferences.

The message from the ITF was taken to a global audience with social media posts from the events reaching more than two million accounts, with comments, photos and videos shared by participants. This content from the event can be found by searching #WeAreITF on social media.

Among the contributions at the dockers' conference, Jessica Isbister, ILWU Canada, talked about the progress that has been made to change gender expectations on the docks.

 “We had our challenges entering what was a male-dominated environment, and it could be tough. People asked me why I wanted to work on the docks. These are good paying union jobs that allow us to provide for our families. These jobs make us strong physically and mentally.

“So, have we changed the waterfront? Yes. It’s a more tolerant place now, a better workplace for everyone; men and women alike. Today women make up 10 per cent of the workers on the waterfront in Canada. So we’re not there yet but we’re making excellent progress.”

You can watch a full live recording of Jessica Isbisters talk here.

Dorotea Zec, Seafarers' Union of Croatia, the young seafarers' representative in the seafarers' conference spoke about the issue of automation and the future of work, a key theme of both events:

"It is the big issue for young seafarers. They will have to face this challenge in the next 40 years.

"All of the seafarers' unions of the ITF need to start working now to prepare our young members for automation, we need to find the answers to the challenge now."

The events were part of the Pathway to Congress (P2C) conferences being held this year. The next stage is the Women's conference, in Marrakesh, Morocco in November 2017. Follow all the P2C events on social media using #WeAreITF.