07 Oct 2009 -
International Road Transport Action Week 2009

India
The Transport & Dock Workers' Union in Mumbai has displayed campaign banners at the arterial roads leading to the Mumbai Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP) as well as on two traffic islands in Mumbai and one at the JNP. Gate meetings were conducted at Mumbai Port to explain to workers the significance of the International Road Transport Action Day, with particular reference to the ILO Convention No.153. Memorandums demanding regulations to limit working hours to 8 hours and the provision of basic canteen facilities were submitted to the Port Authorities as well as to the Inspectorate of Dock Safety. A meeting scheduled for 12 October at the Gateway Terminals GTI Gate was cancelled after the port authorities and police refused permission to stage any public demonstration on the eve of the state election polls. Instead a rally was organised at the union's auditorium at P.D'Mello Bhawan to kick start disbursement of legal dues to workers from M/s. Relogistics - the principal contractor of M/s. Gateway Terminals Indiva Pvt. Ltd - who had abandoned their contract in February 2009 locking out workers without paying any legal dues. INR 1.5 million was disbursed to 109 workers. The rally  also focused on the ongoing struggle of transport workers at GTI and examined the state of the collective barganing agreement. The Action Week was also successfully used by the union for organising activities - nearly 100 transport workers at Jawaharlal Nehru Port joined the union during the Action Week. (Email report by P.K. Raman)

Nepal
The Kailali District Committee of NETWON in western Nepal organised a blood donation event in the afternoon of 13 October to mark the ITF Action Week. 22 union members donated blood as part of the programme. Leaflets were distributed and representatives from the union addressed participants to explain the background to the ITF campaign, the activities of NETWON and workers' rights. (Email report by Ajay Kumar Rai)

In Jhapa District the Damak Unit Committee of NETWON in south-eastern Nepal held a vehicle rally in the afternoon of 13 October. Approximately 100 small vehicles took part in the rally. At the culmination of the rally at the damak city intersection, union leaders addressed the rally. (Email report by Ajay Kumar Rai)

View photos of activities organised by NETWON >>

The Udhayapur District Committee of ITWAN in eastern Nepal organised a rally - approximately 150 workers and members participated in the rally, which was addressed by several speakers. (Email report by Bidur Karki)

View photos of activities organised by ITWAN >>

Germany
In city centres and workplaces in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland in the south of Germany, ver.di members drew the public's attention to the situation for truck drivers and collected signatures during the Action Week. Issues for drivers such as the pressure of just-in-time deliveries, overcrowded roads, long driving hours and a shortage of sufficiently-equipped parking and rest facilities across the country were highlighted by the union. Under the slogan "Fatigue Kills!", the union met with representatives of the Ministry of Trade and Commerce, the trade association for transport/statutory accident insurance (Berufsgenossenschaft für Fahrzeughaltungen, BGF) and the customs authority (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit, FKS) to discuss issues related to the need to improve parking and rest facilities. (Email report by Malene Volkers)

Lithuania
On 13 October, the Lithuanian Transport Workers' Federation, supported by non-ITF affiliated transport unions, organised a picket at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to demand a start to negotiations on the branch collective agreements. Shortly after the beginning of the protest, the trade union representatives were invited inside and after a constructive discussion, it was agreed to hold an official meeting between the parties in late October. (Email report by Janina Malinovska)

View photos of activities in Lithuania >>

USA
The Transport Workers' Union (TWU) has been organising two weeks of action in New York to protest against attempts by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to overturn a contract awarded by a binding arbitration panel for pay increases and other benefits for subway and bus transit workers. A rally of over 5,000 New York City transit workers in mid-town Manhattan on 29 September has been followed by intensive daily outreach at workplaces and to passengers by the union through distribution of leaflets, campaign materials and media adverts. Safety checks have been increaed, including at a series of depots which resulted in a number of buses being taken out of service during the last week. On 14 October, the union held a "First Day of Outrage" - 4,700 union members took part in the events across the city which included pickets at some 25 locations including depots, workshops and sheds across the city and leafleting the public in a further 12 locations. 85 members from the workshop in Queens marched to the nearby campaign office of the Mayor in Jamaica and picketed. (Email report by Roger Toussaint)

View photos of activities by the TWU >>

Bermuda
The Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) raised awareness about the ITF Campaign in various ways. The campaign posters were displayed at workplaces and rest areas. An article about the Action Week was published in the union's bi-weekly newsletter. A seminar for senior union representatives in all nineteen union divisions was organised. The union marked the World Day for Decent Work by starting their proramme on 7 October. In the meantime, the union has been holding meetings with the bus operators and allied workers regularly as the Department of Transportation has overspent its budget. The management is proposing to suspend all overtime to save costs. The focal point for futher negotiations with the management is job cuts. Only two staff out of its 200 employees are non-union workers. (Email report by Kathy Landy)

Paraguay
On 13 October 2009, USTT, held a meeting for unions in the different transport sectors (inland, ports, civil aviation and maritime) to discuss a bill being drafted by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. It covers ports, civil aviation, merchant navy, land transport, traffic police, vehicle registration, posts and telecommunications. The USTT meeting rejected the bill on the grounds that workers had been excluded from participation in its preparation and the fact that the workers could lose the benefits achieved by unions. The meeting decided to work on an alternative bill by setting-up its Special Commission. (Email report by Percio Rafael Duarte Díaz)

View photos of activities in Paraguay >>

Liberia
The National Brotherhood of Teamsters Union of Liberia has submitted its Action Week Statement to both Government and Employers. With a focus on "No to Work Related Violence", the union called on the government through the Ministry of Labour to promote non violence at workplaces, to introduce measures to stop the sexual harassment of women workers and young female workers, to help eradicate the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, as well as to provide social security rights and civic road transport compulsory insurance. The union also requested that the minimum wage be increased and highlighted the problem of police harassment and intimidation. It also called on the government to allow civil servant workers and in particular informal sector workers to join a union. (Email report by J. Teaah Toby)

National Express
On 14 October, the ITF organised a conference call to bring together representatives from unions in Great Britain, USA and Spain to discuss recent developments surrounding the circumstances of the multinational passenger transport company, National Express and to identify common action points and priorities for the ITF trade union Network in dealing with the company. National Express has been heavily under the spotlight recently after serious deficits in its financial conditions were revealed. More than one bidder including Stagecoach is seeking opportunities to to take-over the company. The ITF network was launched in 2008 and brings together ITF road transport and railway affiliates. (Email report by Mac Urata)

Mongolia
A gathering of transport workers planned by the Mongolian Transport, Communication & Petroleum Workers' Union in Ulaanbaatar to highlight the social issues of transport workers had to be postponed due to an outbreak of swine flu in the country and a government decision to stop demonstrations and public action for 14 days. On 14 October, the union held a press conference to inform the media about the ITF Action Week Campaign and calling for transport workers' issues to be resolved. The union has been holding meetings among non-organised transport workers at workplaces in the provinces. Many transport workers in particular workers in the informal sector have been contacting the union to express their support for the union's activities and to ask how they can join the union. (Email report by Erdenebat Sukhbaatar and phone report by M. Boldsaikhan)

View photos of activities in Mongolia >>

Guinée-Conakry
Given the current political situation in the country, FENATRAMP.G plans to hold its activities for the Action Week on 20 October from 10:00 at the truck park in the Conakry Port, PAC. (Email report by Bangoura Magbe)

Japan
The planned activities by the JRU are now rescheduled to 18 November due to the worst hurricane in a decade that hit a large part of Japan on 8 October. (Email report by Satoru Yamada)