ITF release: New IBF agreement secures the rights of dockers to do the lashing

 

 

New IBF agreement secures the rights of dockers to do the lashing

 

23 February 2018

 

The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and Joint Negotiating Group (JNG) met in Manila from 19-22 February 2018, for the final round of negotiations for the creation of the new IBF Framework Agreement 2019-2022. On 23 February 2018, the ITF's expanded Fair Practices Committee Steering Group (FPC SG) met and approved the terms of the new International Bargaining Forum (IBF) Agreement (Read more here: https://goo.gl/gxZuvz).

 

The members of the FPC SG highlighted the new terms agreed in Article 4, Non-Seafarers Work or the "Dockers' Clause", as it is often referred to, as a significant development in securing work for dockers. The revised clause and the new implementation procedure clarifies the dockers' right to carry out lashing and other cargo handling services in ports.

 

Dr Conrad Oca, President of Associated Marine Officers' and Seamen's Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP), which is one of the major labour supply unions in the world, and second vice-chair of the ITF Seafarers' Section, said: "We are very pleased with the outcome of the IBF negotiations. The revised Dockers' Clause is of special significance and demonstrates the reciprocal solidarity between seafarers and dockers."

 

Torben Seebold, vice-chair of the ETF and ITF International Dockers' Section and ver.di maritime coordinator, said: "I would like to thank the seafarers who stood behind us and supported us in making this great achievement happen. It was not easy to achieve but we did it. With immediate effect, we have a mandate to approach companies operating in the Baltic Sea, northern and western Europe and Canadian waters to demand that lashing work be exclusively carried out by dockers, with this requirement to be fully implemented by 1 January 2020. We have been fighting to reclaim lashing for dockworkers as part of the ETF/ITF lashing campaign [www.ReclaimLashing.org] since May 2015. This is a huge step forward."

 

Paddy Crumlin, ITF president and chair of the Dockers' Section, said: "The signing of the Dockers' Clause represents a recognition of the importance of having trained, experienced dockers undertaking this dangerous work. It's a win for both seafarers and dockers in an environment where some shipowners continue to exploit seafarers and dockers. Conditions, safety and wages are under attack from companies like Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI). This Agreement shows the power of solidarity across all maritime workers."

 

Ray Familathe, ILWU international vice-president (USA), said: "This is a tremendous achievement for dockers across the world. Lashing is a key part of a docker's role. History has been made today."

 

END

 

 

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ITF release: International Bargaining Forum Concludes Final Round of Negotiations

International Bargaining Forum Concludes Final Round of Negotiations

 

The International Bargaining Forum, shipping's largest industrial relations collective, concludes final round of negotiations for the 2019-2022 IBF Framework Agreement.

22 February 2018

MANILA: The ITF and JNG met in Manila from February 19-22 2018, for the final round of negotiations for the creation of the new IBF Framework Agreement. 

 

The negotiations have been particularly challenging, this time around, due to the profit instabilities in certain parts of the industry. Both parties acknowledged the need to support the growth of the market, but also the need to maintain sustainable and fair employment for the seafarers employed on JNG vessels worldwide.

The talks were successfully concluded today with the Framework Agreement signed. The clauses of the agreement will now be valid for a four-year period, with a review of the wages after two years. The main points of the agreement were:

•       A salary increase of 2.5% from 1 January 2019

•       An increase in JNG members' rebate from the ITF Welfare Fund to 16%, with an additional 2% available based on an incentive system

•       Re-grading of the Warlike Area off the coast of Somalia to a High Risk Area and the addition of a Warlike Area 12nm off the mainland coast of Yemen

•       Changes to various contractual clauses, including a revision to the article covering non-seafarers' work effective 1st March 2018

•       Enhanced welfare support for seafarers

      

Dave Heindel, chair of the ITF Seafarers' Section, said: "We are committed to ensuring we gain and maintain fair wages and safe working conditions for seafarers and dockers across the world. It is important that we use this opportunity to draw on experience from the existing agreement, to re-think its organisation, to clarify and simplify the language and to secure a solid, usable agreement that will form the base in the coming years of our relationship."

 

Paddy Crumlin, president of the ITF, added: "Seafarers and dockers face serious challenges on a daily basis and it is absolutely essential that their needs are at the forefront of these negotiations. These are undoubtedly challenging times, yet with mutual respect and collegiality, together we have come to terms on a new agreement."

The JNG Spokesperson, Capt. Rajesh Tandon, who chaired the talks, said: "The past 14 months have been particularly tough. The forum originally met in Tokyo last July, with the full intention to conclude at that time. However, it quickly became apparent that neither party was in a position to move at that stage. A lot of work has gone on in the interim, including concessions to address the Dockers' concerns, which has allowed the forum to re-negotiate and conclude a mutually acceptable agreement." 

 

Following the conclusion of the negotiations, JNG chairman, Capt. Koichi Akamine, said: "The fact that we've been able to renegotiate and conclude on a new agreement, with the current challenging market conditions, is testament to the IBF process and the members representing both the unions and the employers. This reinforces the trust and mutual respect that both sides have gained over the past 15 years."

 

Having originally been created on the 9th May 2003, the IBF is celebrating its 15-year anniversary in 2018. With a rapidly growing presence, IBF CBA's cover in excess of 200,000 seafarers.

ENDS

 

Notes to editors

The IBF was formed in 2003 as a mechanism for collective bargaining between maritime employers and maritime unions over the wages and conditions of employment for seafarers serving on foreign flag ships covered by ITF Special Agreements.

 

Maritime employers are represented by the International Maritime Employers' Council (IMEC), the International Shipping Employers' Group (ISEG), which incorporates the International Maritime Managers' Association of Japan (IMMAJ), and the Taiwanese company Evergreen, and the Korean Shipowners' Association.

 

Together they form the Joint Negotiating Group (JNG), which allows maritime employers to present to the ITF a coordinated view of employers from across the world.

 

The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) represents 684 unions in 140 countries including maritime affiliates throughout the world representing in excess of 600,000 seafarers.

 

The IBF negotiations include both central negotiations and local negotiations which allow for development of core principles which can then be incorporated into specific local arrangements. This unique approach to pay negotiations is the only example of international collective bargaining.

 

 

This email is confidential and may be privileged. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender and then delete it immediately. You should not copy it or use it for any purpose nor disclose its contents to any other person. Any views or opinions expressed within the email are solely those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of the ITF or the Seafarers' Trust.