ITF News Update – 1st to 9th February
ITF Rallies to Protect UK Workers’ Right to Strike | Mirage – 1st Feb
Up to half a million British teachers, civil servants, and train drivers walked out over pay in the largest coordinated strike action for a decade on Wednesday, with global unions including the ITF joining the struggle to defend workplace pay and conditions as well as defending the rights of all workers to strike and engage in industrial action to defend their collective interests.
https://www.miragenews.com/itf-rallies-to-protect-uk-workers-right-to-941281/
Seamen finally go home as crew change resumes after pandemic | Shine – 2nd Feb
It’s the first time in five and a half months that Romanian seaman Niculescu Ricardo stepped on land as crew change resumed at local ports after China lifted COVID-19-related restrictions.
https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/2302025769/
Shipowners want local seafarers excluded from proposed maritime Magna Carta | Rappler – 3rd Feb
Congress is crafting a Magna Carta patterned after international maritime standards to improve the local industry and the plight of Filipino seafarers
Panama Recovers $15.7 Million in Wages Owed to Seafarers | Marine Link – 3rd Feb
The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) said it has recovered more than $15.7 million in wage payments owed to seafarers who sail on Panamanian-flagged vessels.
https://www.marinelink.com/news/panama-recovers-million-wages-owed-502669
Nigerian Maritime Agency, NIMASA Rescues Seven Workers Trapped In Vessel In Lagos | Sahara Reporters – 5th Feb
In a statement made available to SaharaReporters on Saturday by NIMASA’s Assistant Director, Public Relations, Osagie Edward, a Safety Officer on MT ALIMA on Thursday at about 11.30pm in a distress call reported that while cleaning the tanks of the vessel by a private cleaning company.
Seafarers seize ship over owed wages and owner neglect, as Senegal shirks obligations to crew | ITF Seafarers – 6th Feb
Four seafarers, with assistance from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), have seized a cargo ship off the port of Dakar in Senegal after months without pay and mounting danger to their lives.
Ship owners struggle to retain seafarers | Hellenic Shipping News – 6th Feb
About 1,700 residents in Binh Chau Commune in the Central Province of Quang Ngai’s Binh Son District engage in marine activities. The number of fishing vessels in the commune is 483. Of these, 160 are specialized in offshore fishing. Although many commune inhabitants are fishermen, ship owners find it very difficult to retain seafarers for each long fishing trip after the Tet holiday ( the Lunar New Year).
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/ship-owners-struggle-to-retain-seafarers/
RMT demands welfare protections for Seafarers in government bill | All About Shipping – 6th Feb
Maritime union, RMT has written to the Transport Secretary demanding that the government beef up its Seafarers Wages Bill with greater protections for crews on ships.
Ukraine’s Merchant Sailors Grounded at Home | Kyiv Post – 6th Feb
Between Ukraine’s law prohibiting military-age men from leaving the country and bureaucratic snafus, many commercial seafarers have had to resort to bribes in order to work.
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/11874
Charges laid in fatal B.C. tugboat sinking that claimed 2 lives | Global News – 7th Feb
Genevieve Cragg is pleased to see charges laid in the tragic tugboat incident in 2021 that claimed two lives, including her son Charley’s.
https://globalnews.ca/news/9469002/bc-fatal-tugboat-sinking-charges/
Earthquake rattles Turkish ports | Splash 247 – 7th Feb
A number of ports are still out of action in Türkiye more than 24 hours after the southeast of the nation was rocked by a massive earthquake which has killed more than 4,300 people.
https://splash247.com/earthquake-rattles-turkish-ports/
Why our thinking on human rights at sea should not end with seafarers | Gard – 8th Feb
For far too long, seafarers have not been given the recognition, support, and respect that they deserve. Fortunately, over the past couple of years this has started to change, helped in no small part by the exposure of their plight during the Covid-19 pandemic. But despite progress, the human rights of seafarers continue to be abused.
https://www.gard.no/web/articles?documentId=34899066
Droughts leave cargo riverboats high and dry | BBC – 8th Feb
Increased droughts are forcing shipping companies to abandon some of the world’s main river cargo routes, warns Ann Christina Sloek-Andersen.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64553079
Seafarers’ rights bill passes House panel | Business World – 9th Feb
A BILL establishing the rights of seafarers and a certification system that meets international standards was approved by a House of Representatives committee on Thursday.
https://www.bworldonline.com/the-nation/2023/02/09/504102/seafarers-rights-bill-passes-house-panel/