Stephen Cotton is General Secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) since August 2014. He joined the ITF in 1993 as head of agreements in the maritime section and was maritime coordinator before being appointed Acting General Secretary in 2012. Under Stephen’s leadership, the ITF has transformed into a proactive campaigning organisation, the ITF Inspectorate expanded from 35 to 147 inspectors worldwide, and ships covered by ITF collective bargaining agreements increased substantially.

The ITF won a remarkable advance for the protection of seafarers when the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 entered into force in August 2013. In 2014, Stephen received the Admiral of the Ocean Sea Awards for defending the well-being and fair treatment of seafarers around the world. Stephen is a trustee of the ITF Seafarers’ Trust, chair of the Council of Global Unions (CGU) and board member of the UN Global Compact.