Global Projects
Global projects often have various components, which include an international element, regional, sub regional and national. Currently the ITF has the following global education projects. Click on each one for detailed information.
International Financial Institutions and Global Transport Restructuring
The project aims at building understanding and developing strategies about global transport restructuring, and the role of the international financial institutions in engineering it. The project is addressing the following questions:
- What are the roles, objectives and methods of international financial and trade institutions in driving transport restructuring, and particularly privatisation and liberalisation?
- How are these policies affecting transport workers, and employment and social justice more generally?
- What alternative policies can ITF and transport unions develop, and what alliances can be forged in support of them?
- How can unions intervene in the process of restructuring and privatisation to protect jobs, employment rights and services?
The project will explore the extent to which the strategic interests of transnational businesses, rather than policies suited to national and local economic and social development, have become the dominant influence on the structures and operations of transport services. That is our working assumption, because of strong indications that restructuring has been designed primarily to produce transport infrastructure and services that can:
- handle an ever-increasing volume of international trade at ever lower unit costs and higher labour productivity;
- provide flexible, reliable, time-sensitive door-to door delivery systems suited to the just-in-time production methods in many industries;
- manage global and regional distribution networks for goods and passengers, integrated with the technology of e-commerce.
The project will explore how international financial and trade institutions are pushing privatisation, liberalisation and commercialisation in order to engineer the required changes in transport infrastructure and services, and how this impacts on workers. Through the project, education activities will be initiated focusing on points of intervention for transport unions.
Additional Project infomation can be downloaded from the document at the end of the page entitled: Developing trade union policy on IFIs. Notes for affiliates
Project Coordinator: Brendan Martin, specialist on the labour and social aspects of privatisation and public sector reform.
Cooperating Organisation: FES
Project period: 2005-2007
Global HIV/AIDS Project
HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death worldwide for adults ages 15-59. The disease is expending relentlessly and the number of people living with HIV has been rising dangerously in every region.
We are also witnessing the “feminisation” of HIV/AIDS. Every year the number of women infected with HIV increases faster than men. Prevention, treatment and care coverage is uneven and still highly unsatisfactory. Scientific evidence demonstrates that AIDS will continue to challenge humankind for many decades to come.
To be able to understand the factors that produce vulnerability to HIV/AIDS infection and disease, determinants operating at different levels should be analysed: Individual level (age, sex, genetics etc.); Socio-economic level (poverty, livelihoods, gender, education, religion, knowledge, behaviour, ideology etc.); Institutional level (policies of governments, international financial institutions etc.)
A trade union perspective regarding the fight against HIV/AIDS should include all components of socio-economic and institutional levels in a holistic fashion to be able to analyse the socio-economic and political structures that underline, frame and in most cases predetermine personal behaviours or “choices”.
By launching a global project against HIV/AIDS based on a holistic trade union perspective, transport unions will be able to recognize the urgency of the problem and make a commitment to participate effectively. This problem will be with us for the decades to come and AIDS activism must be a part of transport unions activities and agenda.
The main long-term objective of the project is to reduce vulnerability of transport workers and their families significantly through union coordination on the international scale, mobilising and globalising solidarity. In the short term the project aims to achieve the following;
- Transport trade unions will be able to develop and assimilate a holistic trade union perspective to combat HIV/AIDS.
- The ITF and its affiliated unions’ will have the capacity to play a more active role in HIV/AIDS projects targeting their members by activating their existing capacities as well as building new capacity.
- Transport trade unions will be able to engage employers in the development of workplace policies and will be able to negotiate comprehensive HIV/AIDS clauses into collective agreements.
Furthermore for the ITF this project will enable the integration of HIV/AIDS into the work of the ITF’s industrial sections. In achieving this and all the above objectives a project coordinated will take charge of the project.
Target groups:Trade union officials in charge of bargaining, trade union educators and leaders, shop stewards
Project Coordinator: Yet to be selected
Cooperating organisation: FNV Mondiaal
Project period. 2005 -2008.
Training the Trainers: Global Educators’ Project
The ITF recognises the crucial role which education plays in raising awareness on international issues, and has put in place an education strategy which is focused on strengthening the international perspective of ITF affiliates. Consistent with this strategy, the ITF education department has developed a global training the trainers programme for transport unions with support from the LO-TCO.
The project aims to integrate issues linked to globalisation into trade union education programmes through the training of trainers and the development of education materials. The project also aims to increase the number of trainers whose role is to conduct and initiate training on international issues within their unions. Other aims of the project include promoting the integration of international solidarity work into national organising, campaigning and bargaining activities. Activities will include national and regional seminars which bring together existing and new trainers. Materials in the form of modules have been developed to assist trainers to cover areas such as the ITF and globalisation and transport etc. Hard copies will be accompanied with a CD.
Click here to view the materials.
Another key outcome of the project has been the building of a global educators’ network. The network consists of education co-ordinators/officers and the purpose is to exchange information, education materials as well as to raise the profile of trade union education activities amongst ITF affiliates. In this regard it is anticipated more educators will contribute to the activities of the network.
Click here for more on the educators’ network.
Target Group: Trade union educators, trainers, leaders, shop stewards
Cooperation Organisation: LO-TCO
Project Period: 2005-2007
