Our University is honored to welcome Mr Stephen Cotton, General Secretary of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), for a lecture on ITF and its mission to protect the rights of transport workers worldwide.

The lecture will be held on March 28, at 18:15-19:45, at our Limassol campus, focusing on the ITF and the importance of the global labour movement to the world’s seafarers. Mr Cotton will speak about the ITF history and mission to protect and improve workers' lives and futures, as transport workers form the lifeblood of the global economy, linking critical supply chains, markets and societies, keeping our world moving. Mr Cotton will further explain the importance of ITF and the global labour movement to maritime unions and seafarers. 

A discussion will follow. 

The event is co-organized by the Department of Maritime Transport and Commerce and the Department of Law, and it is open to our University Community and the public, especially stakeholders in the various sectors of the maritime industry. 

Stephen Cotton is General Secretary of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), a global union federation of 670 trade unions representing over 18 million transport workers in 150 countries in the maritime, port, aviation, road, rail and urban transport sectors. He was elected at the 43rd ITF Congress in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2014, and re-elected at the 44th ITF Congress in Singapore, 2018.

Under his leadership, the ITF has transformed into a proactive campaigning organisation, allowing the ITF and its affiliates to secure industry-leading contracts and protocols with key multinational companies in the transport sector. Mr Cotton is a Trustee of the ITF Seafarers’ Trust and serves on the United Seaman’s Service (USS) governing body. In 2021, he was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to serve as a Member of the Board of the UN Global Compact, an initiative that mobilises industry leaders globally to do business responsibly and improve the state of society. He chaired the Council of Global Unions (CGU) between 2019 and 2023, a particularly challenging time for trade unions globally. In 2014, Cotton received the USS Admiral of the Ocean Sea (AOTOS) Award, in recognition of his work defending the well-being and fair treatment of seafarers.

To register, please click here.