Equality and Diversity Forum

Due to Covid-19 restrictions in place across countries, Nautilus International's new Equality and Diversity forum's planned first meeting of the new decade was postponed but a new date has now been set for an online meeting via Teams on Monday 7 September.

At the EDF meeting members will be asked to vote for a chair and vice chair of the Forum, so please consider if you would like to put yourself forward for this role. If you are interested in standing but unable to make this meeting, please email Debbie Cavaldoro dcavaldoro@nautilusint.org.

We will also welcome a guest speaker – Chrissie Clarke from Maritime UK. Chrissie will talk about the new Diversity in Maritime initiative and the Maritime Skills Commission.

Following the guest speaker, we will hold spaces for meetings of young members, female members, LGBT+ members and members from BAME backgrounds.

• register now for the meeting. Once you have registered a meeting invite will be sent to you which will allow you to access the online meeting.

The EDF forum was launched at the Union's General Meeting in Rotterdam in October 2019, and will act as the overarching umbrella group for the original Women's Forum and Young Maritime Professionals Forum. It will meet twice a year.

Members who have Facebook accounts can however keep in touch online via our social media accounts on Facebook, and LinkedIn. Female members can also join the new Nautilus Women's Group. This Facebook group is for female members of the Union only.  Members of the group will be invited to share stories on relevant issues, discuss the growing impetus to encourage more women into maritime industry, network and support each other. The new group is in addition to the Young Maritime Professionals Facebook group which is also for members only.

In the future, the Union may also set up women members' and young maritime professionals' WhatsApp groups. Members can express their interest in joining these chat groups by emailing Debbie Cavaldoro at dcavaldoro@nautilustint.org.

Nautilus remains committed to having a dedicated female organiser available who can deal with any workplace issues or provide advice to members who wish to speak to a female representative.  Please contact Rachel Lynch by emailing rlynch@nautilusint.org.

There is also a dedicated young members' organiser available who can deal with any workplace issues or provide advice to members who wish to speak to a younger union representative. Please contact Martyn Gray on mgray@nautilusint.org or you can still use the email address YMP@nautilusint.org.