The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers'

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership of 19.7 million transport workers in all industrial transport sectors: civil aviation, dockers, inland navigation, seafarers, road transport, railways, fisheries, urban transport and tourism. The ITF represents the interests of transport workers' unions in bodies that take decisions affecting jobs, employment conditions or safety in the transport industry.

Organisation

The ITF works to improve the lives of transport workers globally, encouraging and organising international solidarity among its network of affiliates. The ITF is allied with the

International Trade Union Confederation The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); german: Internationaler Gewerkschaftsbund (IGB), link=no; es, Confederación Sindical Internacional (CSI), link=no. is the world's largest trade union federation. History The federation w ...

(ITUC). Any independent trade union with members in the transport industry is eligible for membership of the organization. The ITF represents the interests of transport workers' unions in bodies such as the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

(ILO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

(ICAO). The organization also informs and advises unions about developments in the transport industry in other countries or regions of the world, and organise international solidarity actions when member unions in one country are in conflict with employers or government. The ITF's headquarters is located in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and it has offices in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

, Amman,

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, Sydney and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. The International Transport Workers' Federation is governed by its constitution. The Constitution states that ITF is run b
an elected executive board
meeting twice a year. The ITF executive is highly concerned about the effects of globalisation, the increased concentration of ownership of international transport companies,

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, public service improvement, the privatisation of large formerly state-run transport enterprises and automation and the future of work. It notes that the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...

(WTO) plays a central role in this process and considers it necessary for unions to exert what pressure they can on the WTO to respect social and labour standards in its agreements. It is particularly concerned about the effect that the WTO's

General Agreement on Trade in Services The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a treaty of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which entered into force in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. The treaty was created to extend the multilateral trading sy ...

(GATS) could have on transport workers by breaking down national transport regulations. It considers it important to oppose the inclusion of transport-related services in the GATS. It considers that the major international finance organisations, including the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

and regional development banks, have had a "serious negative impact both on the quality of transport services and on the employment and working conditions of transport workers." It also sees the neoliberal economic policies being promoted by regional blocks including the EU,

MERCOSUR The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosul, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Arge ...

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

, NAFTA, and SADC as being generally injurious to transport workers. It believes it is necessary to create solidarity networks between trade unions, and to improve the coordination between ITF sections, so that effective responses can be made to large multinational business entities which span several regions and many sectors of workers.

History

The ITF was founded in 1896 at a meeting in London, organised by

Havelock Wilson Joseph Havelock Wilson (16 August 1859 – 16 April 1929), commonly known as Havelock Wilson or J. Havelock Wilson, was a British trade union leader, Liberal Party politician, and campaigner for the rights of merchant seamen. Early life He ...

, Ben Tillett,

Tom Mann Thomas Mann (15 April 1856 – 13 March 1941), was an English trade unionist and is widely recognised as a leading, pioneering figure for the early labour movement in Britain. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a ...

and

Charles Lindley Charles Lindley (1865–1957), born Carl Gustaf Lindgren, was a Swedish Social Democrat and trade union activist. Today, there is a small statue of Charles Lindley in Gothenburg. Life Born into a wealthy family, in 1881 Lindley became a merch ...

. Initially named the International Federation of Ship, Dock and River Workers, in 1898, it absorbed the

International Commission for Railwaymen The International Commission for Railwaymen was an early international trade secretariat, bringing together trade unions representing railway workers. The federation was established in 1893, at a meeting in Zurich. It held further conferences in ...

, and so renamed itself as the "International Transport Workers' Federation". In 1904, its headquarters moved to Germany, then in 1919 to Amsterdam, where it grew, under the leadership of

Edo Fimmen Eduard Carl Fimmen (18 June 1881, Nieuwer-Amstel – 14 December 1942, Cuernavaca), also known as Edo Fimmen, was a Dutch trade unionist. Early life Fimmen was born in Nieuwer-Amstel on 18 June 1881. His father was a merchant, Eduard Hermann Jo ...

. By 1939, with

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

imminent, its headquarters moved to

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

in England, then to London, where they remain. The federation's first post-war conference was held in 1946 in Zurich, where a new constitution was adopted. In 1949, it established a section for civil aviation workers, and in 1974 one for workers in tourism. It has campaigned heavily against

flags of convenience Flag of convenience (FOC) is a business practice whereby a ship's owners register a merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners, and the ship flies the civil ensign of that country, called the flag stat ...

, and in the late 1990s, the ITF operated a floating museum, the ''mV Global Mariner'', which sailed around the world. The vessel was originally built in England in 1979 as the mV Ruddbank, and sank in 2000 off the

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n coast after colliding with a container ship. The ITF holds a congress every five years in accordance with th
ITF Constitution
Rule IV. The congress has supreme authority within the ITF. The 40th Congress was held in Vancouver, Canada, from 14 to 21 August 2002. The 41st Congress was held in Durban, South Africa in August, 2006
The 42nd Congress
was held in Mexico City from 5–12 August 2010
The 43d Congress
- from 10–16 August 2014 in Sofia, Bulgaria
The 44th Congress was held in Singapore
from 14–20 October 2018. The ITF set up an Arab world and Iran network to deal with, amongst other matters, what it described as the "cancer" of abandonment of ships. Following the 2013 abandonment of MV ''Rhosus'' in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon, the unloading and storing for years of its explosive cargo, and the ensuing catastrophic explosion on 4 August 2020, the network coordinator said "The flood of calls to ITF in the Arab region has never stopped. Since we created the network and seafarers ecameaware of us, the numbers of calls are going up and up".

Affiliates

In January 2020, the following unions were affiliated to the ITF:

Leadership

General Secretaries

:1896: Ben Tillett :1896: Robert Peddie :1896: Tom Chambers :1904: Ben Tillett :1904: Hermann Jochade :1919:

:1942: Jacobus Oldenbroek :1950:

Omer Becu Omer Liévin Benjamin Becu (21 August 1902 – 9 October 1982) was a Belgian trade unionist, who became General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Born in Ostend, Becu trained as a radio operator and joined the ...

:1960: Pieter de Vries :1965: Hans Imhof :1968: Charles Blyth :1977: Harold Lewis :1993: David Cockcroft :2014:

Stephen Cotton Stephen Cotton is the general secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) – a global union federation of 677 trade unions representing 19.7 million workers in 149 countries in the seafaring, port, road, rail, tourism an ...

Presidents

:1893:

:1901: Tom Chambers :1904: Ben Tillett :1904: Hermann Jochade :1920: Robert Williams :1925: Charlie Cramp :1933:

:1946: John Benstead :1947:

:1950: Robert Bratschi :1954:

Arthur Deakin Arthur Deakin (11 November 1890 – 1 May 1955) was a prominent British trade unionist who was acting general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union from 1940 and then general secretary from 1945 to 1955. Background Arthur ...

:1955:

Hans Jahn Johannes Jahn (29 August 1885 – 10 July 1960) was a German trade unionist, politician and anti-Nazi activist. Jahn became a smelter, and then in 1909 began working for a trade union. By 1930, he was serving on the national executive of th ...

:1958: Frank Cousins :1960: Roger Dekeyzer :1962: Frank Cousins :1965: Hans Düby :1971: Fritz Prechtl :1986: Jim Hunter :1994: Eike Eulen :1998: Umraomal Purohit :2006:

Randall Howard Randall Howard (born 1961) is a former South African trade unionist. Born in the Bonteheuwel area of Cape Town, Howard was the second-oldest of fourteen children. After completing school, he worked to support his family. From 1986, he worked a ...

:2010:

Paddy Crumlin Padraig "Paddy" Crumlin is an Australian trade unionist. In addition to his leadership of the Maritime Union of Australia since 2000, he has been the President of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) since 2010 and the Interna ...

Notes

External links

ITF official website

Catalogue of the ITF archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick {{Authority control Trade unions established in 1896 International organisations based in London Global union federations Trade unions based in London