ITF POLICY ON MINIMUM CONDITIONS ON
MERCHANT SHIPS
The ‘Marrakech Policy’, adopted at the International Transport Workers’ Federation’s (ITF) 46th Congress in Marrakech, Morocco, in October 2024, now forms the governing framework for the global union’s campaigning work on Flags of Convenience (FOC).
The policy is the culmination of five years’ work by union representatives from ITF maritime affiliates to examine, plan and develop a new strategy in line with the shifting reality faced by seafarers since 2010 – when the preceding Mexico City Policy was adopted at the ITF’s 42nd Congress in Mexico City.
The Marrakech Policy, adopted by the Joint Seafarers’ and Dockers’ conference, sets out the minimum conditions the ITF and its affiliated unions will accept on FOC merchant ships. In doing so, it incorporates the new understanding of the critical importance of global supply chains that emerged out of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the central role for shipping and seafarers in combatting climate change through a just transition.
The Marrakech Policy will now form the baseline for the ITF’s Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA), which set the wages and working conditions for crews on FOC vessels, irrespective of nationality.
