ITF general secretary Steve Cotton joined several Australian union leaders and over 200 union activists at a rally on 20 July to protest against the treatment of the Alexander Spirit crew by petroleum company Caltex.

Concerted action by the ITF and maritime unions on two continents in one week was successful in bringing support to seafarers working and living in sub-standard conditions, and in spreading the word about the role of trade unions in protecting seafarers and their rights under international maritime law.

ITF youth leaders meeting in in Washington DC, USA last week participated in the global action day by US cabin crew union AFA-CWA for a fair contract at United Airlines.

Tomorrow’s FC Barcelona presidential elections are likely to seal the fate of any further sponsorship deal by Qatar Airways (QR), according to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). The ITF says that the gulf between the airline’s treatment of staff and the club’s strong social ethos is now so huge that it will figure in the choice of president by its 70,000 members, who will go on to vote in October on any further sponsorship.

UNI global union used Amazon’s 20th birthday on 15 July to highlight the grim reality for the company’s workers behind the commercial success story, and, along with the ver.di union, urged customers and citizens to send birthday greetings to the global retailer protesting against poor working conditions.

A strike by tramway workers in Algeria entered its sixth day today (10 July) and spread from the capital to Oran and Constantine, paralysing transport operations, while providing minimum services.

A union training facility in Washington is the setting for the ITF young transport workers’ summer school this week.

The ITF has released a new video documenting the success of recent mentoring meetings when officials from Uganda’s Amalgamated Transport and General Workers’ Union (ATGWU) visited two unions in Kenya to discuss the challenges of organising workers in the informal sector.

The ITF’s HIV module for seafarers is to be extended to all the major maritime academies in the Philippines, following a successful pilot with the Maritime Academy of Asia Pacific (MAAP) in March.

Postal workers in Germany have wrung job security and improved pay guarantees from delivery giant Deutsche Post-DHL. Their win follows an indefinite strike that was keenly supported by ITF affiliates worldwide (see http://goo.gl/WKDTKo)

Speaking on his return from Greece, where he has been meeting with ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation)-affiliated trade unions including the Pan-Hellenic Seamen's Federation (PNO), the ITF general secretary Steve Cotton, said: “I’ve visited Greece many times but I have never before witnessed the level of insecurity people have over the nation’s future.

Two ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) action weeks will cover East Asian waters and the Black Sea in a sweep to search out and rectify substandard conditions. Both events will run from 6 to 10 July.