The value of seafarers' wages shall be increased by
+6%. This is provided for in the new four-year agreement signed at
Berlin, within the framework of the International Bargaining Forum (IBF), from
International Transport Workers' Union International
Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the Joint Negotiating Group
(JNG) representing shipping companies and ships
management and shipping agents. The agreement is valid in the
period 2024-2027 and concerns more than 250 thousand seafarers who
They serve on more than 10 thousand ships worldwide.
In particular, the agreement reached within the IBF, the forum that
is home to the largest bargaining agreement
collective worldwide, provides for a salary increase of +6% in the
next two years, with a salary and salary increase of +4%
from the first of January and a further salary increase and
salary of +2% from 1 January 2025, the year in which it will be
Negotiated the 2026-27 salary agreement.
"This - said David Heindel, spokesman for the ITF and
President of the maritime section of the union - was
A series of particularly complicated negotiations having come out
from the Covid pandemic, which required a lot of effort and compromise
on both sides to obtain results appropriate to the times.
This - underlined Heindel - is a fair agreement".
Referring to the establishment of a working group on challenges
shipping industry futures under the agreement, Heinel
specified that the working group 'will examine the
future needs of an evolving industry, with an eye on it
the needs of seafarers, with particular attention to the
their recruitment'.
"Once again - said Commander Belal
Ahmed, spokesperson for JNG and president of International Maritime
Employers' Council - the resilient partnership between JNG and ITF has
produced an outstanding result in the last round of matches
of the IBF that both parties and their components will be happy
to bring to the respective associates. The seafarers - highlighted
Ahmed - were rewarded for the sacrifices made during the
Covid pandemic, when they distinguished themselves as workers
essential'.