On December 22, the Western Seoul District Court handed down a non-guilty verdict in the trial of four central rail union leaders, a significant victory for the union and the ITF after a year-long struggle.

The ITF is backing the demands of its affiliate RMT in the UK for a government investigation into the events in the run up to the collapse of City Link at the end of 2014 and for the company to be nationalised.

The 4.5 million strong International Transport Worker's Federation (ITF) today backed the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers’ (RMT) fight for the livelihood of City Link workers in the UK.

ITF President Paddy Crumlin wishes all a peaceful and happy "season of renewal"

The 4.5 million strong International Transport Worker's Federation (ITF) today backed the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers’ (RMT) fight for the livelihood of City Link workers in the UK.

Members of the International Transport Workers' Federation have joined celebrations of the release of the three remaining members of the "Miami 5" from US jail and the release of US citizen Alan Gross as part of the agreed prisoner exchange that took place last week.

Two recent cases indicate the seriousness with which the US authorities deal with ships that attempt to evade pollution prevention requirements through the use of "magic pipes" to discharge oily waste water straight into the sea.

Somaliland, the self-declared state within Somalia, has seized more than 51 Yemeni boats and an Egyptian ship, and arrested more than 250 fishers, for fishing illegally in its waters, according to reports from the BBC.

The European Union (EU) Council of Employment and Social Policy Ministers has agreed that seafarers in the EU should be given the same employment protection rights as onshore workers.

On leaving a meeting with LAN Ecuador’s manager and legal representative, Max Naranjo, at the transnational company’s offices, arranged to try and resolve the dispute caused by the dismissal of the trade union leader, Jimena López, the Minister of Labour, Carlos Ernesto Marx, said he is convinced that the dismissal violated Ecuador’s Constitution and that, in the light of the company’s refusal to adopt a conciliatory position, legal action should be taken to demand her reinstatement.

Thanks to the solidarity of local dockers who stopped cargo operations, and the assistance of ITF merchant seafarers affiliate the Syndicat des Marins Ivoiriens au Commerce (SYMICOM), 19 Fillipino seafarers in Abidjan, Ivory Coast received unpaid wages owed to them and were repatriated.

The ITF welcomed an agreement reached on 3 December between the Georgian Railway Workers' New Trade Union (GRWNTU) and JSC Georgian Railway but warned it would be keeping an eye on the situation because the company had disregarded previous agreements.