Stephen Cotton is the general secretary of the

International Transport Workers’ Federation The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership ...

(ITF) – a global union federation of 677 trade unions representing 19.7 million workers in 149 countries in the seafaring, port, road, rail, tourism and aviation sectors. He was elected to the position at th
43rd ITF Congress
held in

Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

in 2014 and reelected at the 44th IT
Congress
held in Singapore in 2018.

International Transport Workers' Federation

Cotton joined the ITF in 1993 as the head of the agreements unit in the maritime section. He was later promoted to the position of assistant secretary of the special seafarers’ department (SSD), secretary of the SSD and maritime coordinator prior to his appointment as acting general secretary in October 2012. In 2014, Cotton received the United Seamen's Service (USS) Admiral of the Ocean Sea Award (AOTOS), the maritime industry's most prestigious award, in recognition of his work for defending the well-being and fair treatment of seafarers around the world. Under Cotton's leadership of the ITF's maritime section, th
ITF inspectorate
expanded from 35 to 147 inspectors and contacts, and ships covered under ITF collective bargaining agreements increased to over 12,000 from less than 2,000. Cotton oversaw major Flags of Convenience (FOC) policy changes and led the introduction of ‘Oslo to Delhi’ and Mexico City policies, which laid the foundation for the landmark 2006 signing of the International Labour Organization's Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) – establishing a set of international minimum standards enforceable by international law. Cotton is a trustee of the ITF Seafarers' Trust, the International Maritime Training Trust and serves on the United Seaman's Service governing body.

References

External links

International Transport Workers' Federation

ITF Seafarers Website

ITF Dockers and Seafarers Website

Seafarers Trust Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotton, Stephen Living people International Transport Workers' Federation English trade unionists British trade union leaders Year of birth missing (living people)