Maritime Coordinator, International Transport Workers’ Federation
Jacqueline Smith joined the ITF in October 2014 as the Maritime Coordinator. Prior to joining the ITF Jacqueline had the honour of leading the Norwegian Seafarers’ Union (NSU) and its 11,000 members for almost 8 years.
Jacqueline became an active member of the NSU in 1992 as a shop steward, securing a collective bargaining agreement for concessionaries, a first for the union. In 1998 she was elected as a delegate to congress, then as a deputy on the national board, immediately followed by being invited to be the assistant director dealing with cruise ships in Miami, USA. In 2002 she was asked to stand as elected secretary, so returned to Oslo, Norway. Jacqueline was then elected NSU president in 2006 and re-elected in 2010.
Since joining the ITF Jacqueline has continued to strive to ensure that seafarers internationally are covered by collective agreements and that they are upheld and enforced, as well as being totally committed to not losing national cabotage so that national seafarers can continue to operate in their own waters. As well as supporting seafarers, Jacqueline works with the other maritime sections to improve the working lives of all maritime workers, ensuring minimum standards in global network terminals for dock workers and collective bargaining agreements for dep sea fishers.
In March 2021 Jacqueline became a member of the World Maritime University (WMU) Executive Board.