Acceso usuarios
David Cockroft
Throughout its history, maritime transport has been a globalized industry. Hence, the close link between trade unions and national laws, politics and social practices, which is essential for the effectiveness of trade unions in most countries, does not work well in this industry. If employers con choose the most convenient nationality, they tend to do so. To counter this, unions increasingly work together in Global Union Federations (GU Fs). The international Transport Workers Federation (ITF) is such a GUF and addresses ship owners’ tendencies to flag out to cut costs and consequently affecting the wages and working conditions of the seafarers. The main unions in the maritime transport industry under the ITF umbrella are the dockers’ unions and the seafarers’ unions which work in tandem complementing each other to protect their own, as well as each other’s rights. This cooperation between dockers and seafarers has proven very effective and mutually beneficial. The dockers unions have been very influential in preventing “European Port Packages” intended to decrease the influence of dockers’s unions. The seafarers’ unions have also seen successes such as the Jones Act. Though the ITF political wing’s Flag of Convenience campaign did not generate much success, its industrial wing has been hugely successful. The ITF and its key maritime affiliated unions together (the International Bargaining Forum) with employer’s counterpart groups (Joint Negotiating Group) reach agreements on wages and other conditions for seafarers. Considering the practices and the success of the ITF, it is essential to understand the wordings of the ITF in order to grasp the workings of maritime trade unions.
