11 Oct 2004 -
International Road Transport Workers Action Day 2004

Breaking Campaign News

Breaking News No. 13 23:00 GMT

Great Britain

Transport and General Workers' Union held a rally and marched in front of the head office of UK-multinational, FirstGroup in London on 14 October. More than 50 union delegates as well as representatives from the US union, SEIU, joined the event, making noise with their whistles and drums. Graham Stevenson, National Organiser, TGWU said, "international operators like FirstGroup and National Express must agree with the unions in the US to respect the workers' rights to form a union free from management interference and intimidation". Mac Urata, ITF, took part in the event. Many bus drivers on duty passing by the rally sounded their horns to express their solidarity. Similar actions will be organised by the SEIU Locals in the US today

Japan

Japanese dockers unions led by Zenkoku-kowan and All Japan Seamen's Union jointly organised activities on 14 October to mark the culmination of their ITF East Asia FOC Campaign, which started on 12 October. The unions called for stronger solidarity among truck drivers, dockers and seafarers meet the new challenges from the international multi-modal transport operators.  Rank and file members of the unions distributed 4,000 leaflets at container terminals in 31 ports, carrying slogans such as 'Fatigue Kills - Union Action for Safety and Security at Work'; 'No Port Charge Damping'; 'Leave Cargo Handling to Dockers' and 'Eliminate Substandard Ships and Bring ITF Agreements to All FOC Vessels.'