General Secretary's blog

Transport unions have taken a positive step towards unity and stronger campaigns, as the ITF welcomes new affiliates on board. 

Last week I attended the ‘dissolution congress’ of an organisation known by its French initials, FIOST.  I had been looking forward to this event for some time. FIOST was the transport wing of the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), which joined with the ICFTU to form the International Trade Union Confederation in 2006. 

Since that time we had many meetings to talk about the best way to proceed for ITF and FIOST unions. We adopted a resolution on ‘trade union unity in transport’ at the ITF Durban Congress followed by a Memorandum of Understanding in 2007. Actually reaching the finishing line was a long and difficult task. 

Virtually all the FIOST unions became full ITF affiliates from 1st January this year, and will have the same rights as other ITF unions to participate in the ITF Mexico City Congress.  We have been inviting them to section meetings and regional meetings over the past two years and have found positions for members from FIOST unions already in our Latin American and African regional structures. 

Since FIOST also included communications unions, Neil Anderson from UNI was present, together with Eduardo Chagas from the ETF, Antonio Fritz from our Rio office and Ekaterina Yordonova from Bulgaria representing the ITF Executive Board. The Congress was hosted in Nice by the French transport union, which is a member of the CFTC confederation.

Marc Van Laethem, the outgoing president of FIOST who is pictured with me above, presented all the delegates with a special gift of pens bearing the legend FIOST 1921-2010.  I welcomed them all to the ITF family, pointing out that is was the fourth FIOST congress I had addressed but definitely the best.

Division and competition in the trade union movement benefit only employers. We are looking forward to their presence in our national coordinating committees, making the ITF and its organising campaigns stronger.

 

Not a week has gone by in which I haven’t thought of Neil Kearney since his untimely death last year.

Neil was the kind of person who reminded you why you first got into trade unionism - a tireless campaigner for the rights of the poor and downtrodden, most notably in his role as General Secretary of our sister global union federation the ITGLWF (International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation). He died suddenly, aged 59. Typically he was pursuing a typically punishing work schedule when it happened, in Bangladesh, three months ago.

Yesterday a BBC Radio Four programme was broadcast that managed to capture something of Neil’s energy and passion for justice. Called In Business: Ready to Wear, it featured Neil heavily, talking with him until hours before his death. The journalist, Peter Day, described him as “Demonstrating the patience, experience and deep understanding he brought to a huge, flawed, worldwide industry, apparently impressing everyone he encountered, on whichever side of the union/boss divide they happened to be.” That’s as good a description of Neil as those who knew him could ask for. The programme acts as a worthy reminder of him, and I would heavily recommend it to anyone who is interested in active trade unionism and genuine corporate social responsibility. It can be still be heard on the BBC’s iPlayer catch-up service.

And you can also read the ITF obituary for Neil. 

Haiti appeal

No one can be left untouched by the coverage of the Haiti disaster and its aftermath. Thankfully it is in our power to help alleviate just a little of the horror and suffering caused by the earthquake.

The ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) has set up an appeal for Haiti in cooperation with its regional organisation for the Americas, TUCA, and trade unions in neighbouring Dominican Republic. These unions, the CASC, CNTD and CNUS, are collecting funds and essential items which are being trucked across the border into Haiti, in cooperation with the Haitian CTH union. Funds raised will be donated to this effort and to the Red Cross appeal for Haiti. The ITF has given £1000.

Contributions can be made to the following ITUC account:

No. 375-1008200-61

Banque ING, Brussels Branch Institutionals, 1 rue du Trone, B-1000 Brussels

Code IBAN: BE 62375100820061

Code BIC/Swift: BBRUBEBB.

The communication SOS Solidarity – Haiti should be included with each transfer to this account.

First ever ITF Arab World regional conference

From 12-14 January this year I attended a historic event in Amman, Jordan - the first ever ITF regional conference in the Arab world. The conference reflected the huge growth that the ITF has seen in the Arab region over the past six years.

I was pleased to see more than 100 delegates from 33 unions, representing transport workers in 10 Arab countries who came together to discuss a range of issues – from the impact of the economic crisis  to strategies for organising women and young people.

It was good to see participants talk about how to develop a union angle on climate change, particularly as the region is among those that are most vulnerable to its impact. This will help us influence government policy to protect the interests of workers and communities.

We also tackled the issue of HIV/AIDS – the region has one of the fastest growing rates of infection - and delegates agreed that we needed more workplace programmes and campaigns to fight against stigma and discrimination.

There were also passionate discussions on proposals to strengthen solidarity and participants were keen to give the ongoing struggles and hardships of transport workers in Palestine and Iraq special attention.

I welcome the re-election of Muchtar Hili of Tunisia to the ITF executive board as well as Abdulaziz Hamichi from Algeria, who became the new North African sub-regional coordinator. Said Al-Hayrash from Morocco (aged 39, so not far outside the ITF’s definition of a young worker as one aged 35 or under) was elected chair of the regional committee. I am also looking forward to the participation of Arab World unions at the ITF congress in Mexico and call on affiliates from around the world to support unions from the region.

 

 

 

 

Almost 300 people lost their lives in Australia last year because of truck accidents caused by long hours. That’s why, on November 10, I found myself at the heart of union action in Sydney.  ITF unions, led by TWU, took part in a morning of ‘civil disobedience’. 

We occupied the busiest crossroads in Sydney city centre at 8am, in support of the TWU ‘safe rates’ campaign on minimum wages for truck drivers.  Eventually the police showed up and moved us on but not before the problems faced by truckies had been given a good airing in the press.

I was in Sydney for our first Organising Globally seminar in the region formerly known as the Pacific sub-region, now Oceania. It was a good opportunity to map out the organizing potential in a strategically vital part of the global economy, including Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Kiribati, PNG, Timor Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

We take this region very seriously, which is why we have agreed to launch a new ITF sub-regional structure for the Oceania region. Mark Davis, a New Zealander who has been running the ITF’s Seafarer Union Development Programme for over ten years, will be appointed as deputy regional secretary for the Asia/Pacific region. The new office, based in Sydney will develop a detailed programme for strengthening union organizing throughout the Pacific.

I had a second opportunity to show ITF support for the TWU, when they launched a campaign on the Qantas low cost subsidiary Jetstar. It has recently started to contract out its baggage screening work.  The TWU has been shown evidence that, as a result, some bags may have been transferred onto international services without being properly x-rayed.  In response to a mild statement at the conclusion of our seminar saying that ITF unions would be ready to provide lawful solidarity support to the TWU (which has a long tradition of supporting other unions in the region), by the time I landed back at London, I saw a report that the Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas had threatened to sue the ITF. Not a bad result from a one week trip!

Other important news from the region includes: 

The launch of the Transport Union Federation with what is in English a great sounding acronym – TUF.  This is a group of three unions the MUA, TWU and RBTU, representing maritime road and rail workers who are now engaged in joint organizing campaigns in key strategic locations. They are organizing workers first and then agreeing which union they should belong to – a shock for transport employers who are used to union competition.

The ILO is shortly launching a major regional decent work programme for the Pacific.  This will get Australian government support, thanks to strong intervention by the national centre the ACTU.   The programme, which will give us new resources to build capacity amongst pacific island unions, will be launched at a regional conference in Vanuatu in February, immediately followed by a United Nations Summit.   Since all the countries of the region depend crucially on the maritime sector, the ITF together with the ITUC will play a big role in preparing this.

We also held a series of key aviation meetings to bring unions together. 

So it was a good week.  We brought together unions from maritime, aviation, but also road and rail all of who are facing the same threats to strong union organizing from global developments and who need ITF support more than ever.

It was a great initiative, in which Paddy Crumlin of the MUA and his staff played a major part, and where Tony Sheldon and his truckies and aviation workers also featured heavily.  It also brought in other unions from Australia and New Zealand.  We had participation from pilot unions in Australia and New Zealand for the first time and we are looking forward to working more closely with them on industrial issues in the region.  I explained to the aviation unions that  ‘social dumping’ – unfair competition from workers with inferior conditions – a concept well known in Europe, was emerging just as strongly in Oceania.

We’re making major efforts to strengthen union capacity amongst the island nations. These unions had the opportunity to put their priorities to me and to Mahendra Sharma, our new Asia/Pacific Regional Secretary. The February meeting in 2010 will push the regional agenda forward, and I look forward to hearing their priorities. 

And another thing...

Our DHL campaign is another example of the ITF’s important work to coordinate unions around the world in global action (in this instance working with fellow global union UNI). Many of our affiliates took part in last week’s action week – you can see what they got up to here DHL Campaign- RESPECT Blog. 

 

 

Unions need to be part of the conversation on climate change, so I was pleased to attend the recent UN climate change forum in New York, pictured right.

The event saw about 250 global leaders from corporations and international institutions come together. The labour presence came about at the last minute thanks to intervention by the ILO, which is taking on a high profile as the spokesman for labour and social issues at the global level. I was there for the ITF, together with Sharan Burrow, the president of the ITUC and Peter Waldorf, general secretary of PSI.

The diverse group adopted a declaration (drafted and printed in advance which includes the names of all the bodies represented) calling on governments to ‘seal the deal’ in Copenhagen.  During the forum, there was general agreement that people and decision makers in most countries don’t understand how crucial Copenhagen is going to be, and that there is a big education job to do. During the discussions at my table, the key points which I made, and which I hope to see in the final report, were: 

• The need, identified by the global labour movement, for just transition and green jobs

• Resistance from workers will be one of the biggest problems in introducing climate change measures, so getting trade unions involved in planning the changes at the beginning is crucial

• Green jobs and decent work are vitally needed 

• We support the localisation of production, The lack of decent work in transport, particularly maritime means that transport is too cheap

• You can’t have a ‘separate but differentiated’ approach (the current key phrase in Copenhagen negotiations describing tougher rules for developed countries), if employers can use flags of convenience to change nationality at the stroke of a pen

I had an interesting talk with the president of FESCO (Far East Shipping Company).  We about the large-scale transfer of far east shipping via short sea shipping onto rail, and the fact that the company is a major operator of container and bulk rail carriages on the trans-Siberian route. He believes this will save 30 per cent in carbon compared to long distance shipping.  

It became clear that employers who are really committed to making changes are giving their workers intensive sustainability training, although no examples have yet arisen in the transport industry. 

The key message from the event was the urgent need to ‘seal the deal’ in Copenhagen.

If you realise that this means accepting a reduction in CO2 emissions by developed countries from 1990 levels of 80 per cent by 2050 and substantial cuts in the growth rates of emissions by developing countries, you can see that this will have a profound effect on most industries.  

Transport is part of the solution, as everyone understands that more collective public transport is a big winner out of this process. Aviation and maritime are also big players. 

The ILO’s involvement has helped to provide a labour voice in the discussion. And thanks to the GUF representatives, there will now be more language in the report about green jobs and just transition. 

The ITF will be continuing to monitor the situation, and we will be making our presence felt at the Copenhagen climate change summit. Nick Stern, my old university tutor, hopes to participate in a roundtable on transport and climate change being arranged by the ITF during the summit.  In the meantime, I’ll be spreading the message that unions need to act now, to make sure our voice is heard in the fast-moving discussions on climate change. 

 

 

 

 

 

The CAW, which organises automobile, aerospace, transport and general workers,  is a key union in Canada, and a major ITF affiliate which last year elected a new President, Ken Lawenza.  I was pleased to address its 9th Constitutional Convention in Quebec City last week, on behalf of the ITF and the entire global unions movement. 

The Convention also elected a new Secretary Treasurer, Peter Kennedy, replacing Jim O'Neil who retired after serving as a member of the ITF's Executive Board since 1994.  The ITF awarded Jim, pictured with me above, the Gold Badge in recognition of all his great work.

The new leadership made it clear that they are fully committed to international action. The CAW through its transportation sections and with the help of its Social Justice Fund has been working with the ITF on a number of international projects over the years and was the principal host to our 40th Congress in Vancouver, Canada in 2002.

The Convention adopted programmes on fighting the economic crisis and building the union in hard times. It also committed itself to working to control global capital through international action.

The full text of my speech to the convention is attached below. 

Edited: 09/03/2009 at 11:18 AM by DavidC

This time next year (more or less to the day) the 42nd ITF congress will be closing. By this stage there’ll have been a couple of notable firsts.

2010 is the first congress where we’ll be holding a dedicated climate change conference. By then, we’ll have seen the results of Copenhagen, and should have a clearer idea of what this will mean for transport policy.

Next year’s congress will also see our first dedicated youth event. We’re actively encouraging unions to include young people in their delegations, and this should be the congress with the highest ever number of young participants.

We’ll be changing our constitution to include specific references to youth and young workers. Young people are vital to the continued success of our work, especially our focus on organising globally.

Last but not least, next year’s congress will be our first in Latin America. We have strong and effective affiliates in this area – often working in hostile conditions. So-called yellow unions are a real problem across the region, and the regional office is working hard to build up unions that put workers’ interests first.

(An open letter to Michael O’Leary)

Dear Mr O’Leary,

We’re always interested to hear the ever more fantastical stories about Ryanair’s supposed plans to make conditions for customers even worse. We’re particularly intrigued by your latest suggestion to make passengers sit on stools.

But given that you clearly have so much time on your hands, may we humbly suggest you turn your attention to more pressing matters:

•    Providing free safety training to your staff  – we think this one is kind of basic
•    Paying your staff a proper salary (you probably shouldn’t make them pay for their own uniforms either)
•    Not insulting the women in your workforce with sexist calendars
•    Treating your customers with respect, so cabin crew aren’t forced to deal with angry passengers
•    Last, but very much not least, recognising unions, who look after the work conditions of staff

Yes, we realise that this sort of stuff won’t get you cheap press coverage, but you never know, it might help on the basics, like keeping your staff and customers safe and healthy.

Just a thought,

love,

the International Transport Workers’ Federation*

(*You might be familiar with our work – we’re the ones who support unions who care about staff safety and wellbeing).

Climate change has seemingly been pushed off the agenda for many unions, in the face of the financial and jobs crisis. The pressing need to protect jobs is understandable, but the two issues are equally important and closely linked together.

We are now approaching COP 15.  This strange acronym (15th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC) is a shorthand way of describing what will probably be the most important global summit ever held by the major world governments.  It’s due to take place in Copenhagen in December.

For the first time, it will involve the major developed and developing country governments. It has to set legally binding rules to hold the levels of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere at levels that will produce only a two to three per cent rise in global temperatures between now and 2050.

There are still plenty of academic arguments about what targets need to be set. But they are not about whether or not drastic cuts are needed, just about exactly how savage the cuts have to be to have a good chance that the planet will still be liveable for most people in 50 years time. 

Despite the media coverage and increasing numbers of laws being passed to establish targets, very few people seem to realise just how serious the Copenhagen summit has to be.  The world’s population is continuing to grow, and developing countries see no reason why they should stop growing entirely to put right the problems caused by excessive emissions from the industrialised world.

The Copenhagen Treaty – which will replace the infamous Kyoto Protocol - will have to set targets to reduce the rate of carbon emissions in industrialised countries by 80 per cent by 2050.  That will have a massive effect on industries, current ways of life and jobs in every sector.

Transport is not the most serious source of greenhouse gases, but it is the one, which gets the most public attention.  We have to make sure that the emissions trading systems, new tax arrangements and new regulations, which will come out of the Copenhagen discussions, do the least possible damage to the jobs and conditions of workers in the transport sector. 

That is why the ITF will be present in Copenhagen as part of the global unions group fighting for a ‘just transition’ to the new world. It’s why the World of Work pavilion being sponsored jointly by the trade union movement and hosted by the Danish national trade union centre will be holding ITF roundtables on climate change and work. And it’s also why we are putting together a correspondence group of experts from ITF unions around the globe to help us to prepare rational input which promote more public transport, favour transport modes which reduce emissions and impose stronger regulations – including respect for workers – throughout the transport industry.

We have to accept that every mode of transport, including maritime and aviation, have to be part of the global solution and that employers and unions have to be part of the process rather than finding that they have well meaning but unworkable solutions imposed on them.

The ITF has chosen ‘Strong Unions, Sustainable Transport’ as the theme for the 42nd ITF Congress in Mexico City next August, which will be preceded by a major conference on transport and climate change. The issue of environmentally and socially sustainable transport was at the top of the agenda of the ETF Congress in the Azores in June of this year. 

If there was ever a truly global problem, it is climate change, and that means it needs a global solution.  The ITF and its current members – but also workers who are not yet organised into strong unions but need to be organised soon - have to be part of that solution.

Picture: greenforall.org

I’d like to extend my congratulations to our new regional chair and secretary, pictured left at the Asia Pacific conference, which has been taking place this week in Kuala Lumpur.

The conference has been a great success, with 265 delegates and advisers from 123 unions and 21 countries contributing to the theme of strong unions and sustainable transport.

Hanafi Rustandi, from Indonesia, has been elected regional chair, following on from eight years service by Zainal Rampak of Malaysia. Mahendra Sharma was unanimously recommended by the conference to take over as regional secretary from Shigi Wada. Wada is moving on to take a senior post in the ILO. We wish our departing chair and secretary the best.

ITF membership in the Asia Pacific area has increased substantially in the last eight years, and I feel sure that this growth is set to continue.

Why should union membership be restricted by borders? At the ETF congress last week, we looked at the possibility of developing cross-border membership, so that members can have union assistance regardless of where they live in the EU.

This suggestion, from the Nordic unions, is a response to the disgraceful increase in social dumping, which is becoming far too common in the European transport market.  As we saw, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgement on the Viking and similar cases have left trade union rights vulnerable.

I’m pleased to say the resolution on social dumping was adopted, and the ETF will be looking at ways the cross border membership could work.
We’re also calling on the ETUC to lobby more strongly against the ECJ judgements. In the current economic climate unions need to fight back, or face the prospect of multinationals driving down workers’ pay and conditions even further.

The economic crisis was debated widely. As well as social dumping, we looked at the need to promote public transport, which also fits in with the climate change agenda, of increasing importance. We also adopted a motion to support Colombian trade unionists, still facing danger for their work.

New president Graham Stevenson was unanimously elected, with Alexander Kirchner and Brigitta Paas as vice-presidents. Eduardo Chagas was re-elected as general secretary. The ETF, which was founded ten years ago, doubtless looks forward to another excellent decade with these stalwarts at the helm.

The event was a great success, thanks to the hard work of the ETF team. The discussions and decisions made set the scene for the ITF’s congress in Mexico next August. Despite the many difficulties transport unions face at the moment, the mood amongst the delegates was largely optimistic: it’s not all doom and gloom.

Edited: 06/04/2009 at 03:56 PM by DavidC

As we celebrate International Workers’ Day, it’s more important than ever that trade unions stand together in global solidarity. The financial crisis is threatening workers worldwide, and it is only by coming together that we can defend jobs and incomes.

These are some of the actions the ITF and its affiliates are supporting on and around May Day.

Financial crisis: The ITF is responding to the financial crisis by working to assist affiliates, supporting new organising projects and providing practical help and information for unions in the new economic environment. We have set up a special web page where affiliates can report information on job losses and union responses. We will be establishing a working group of affiliates, to work with other Global Unions, NGOs and civil society groups, on strategies to assist transport unions projects facing the crisis. The crisis is likely to have a heavy impact on precarious and unprotected work and on jobs held by young people and women, so we will work to defend these areas.

We believe the financial crisis presents opportunities as well as challenges.   It is a reason to fight back not pull back and has demonstrated, better than any trade union statement, the need for strong effective global regulation.  It is our job to ensure that trade unions remain strong at this critical time.
 
Union legislation in the US: Together with other members of the Global Unions family, we are asking ITF affiliates around the world in countries which do respect trade union rights to show their support for the same level of protection being introduced into US law.  The Employee Free Choice Act – which is strongly supported by US labour and the Obama administration and is being vigorously opposed by big business, is a crucial stepping stone to ensure every worker has the right to join a union of their choice and enjoy the protection of collective bargaining, without fear of intimidation from an employer.

European protests: European unions will be holding demonstrations in Brussels, Madrid, Berlin and Prague this month. These demonstrations are organised by the ETUC, together with the ETF and other European industry federations.  We expect to see many thousands of members of ITF affiliates marching for measures to protect jobs and union rights in Europe. The action comes in the light of a number of anti-union judgements by the European Court of Justice, beginning with the Viking reflagging case where the ITF was the principal defendant.  In the run up to the European Parliament elections, Europe’s trade union want it to be clear that the right of workers to organise outrank the rights of employers to move resources between EU countries.

These issues will then be debated at a series of ITF regional conferences, starting with the Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama City from 6 – 8 May and followed by the ETF Congress in Ponta Delgado, Azores (Portugal) from 27-29th May.

Turkey: The Turkish government has finally declared May Day a national holiday. Representatives from the ITF will be celebrating with Turkish affiliates in Istanbul. However, we are still waiting for international labour standards on the freedom of association, collective bargaining and the right to strike, which the Turkish government has ratified, to be implemented. We will keep up the pressure on the Turkish government to ensure that trade union rights are not violated.

Young workers: The ITF executive board hosted a delegation of young workers (defined as under 35) last week. The passion and commitment of these young activists was a timely reminder that the trade union movement must organise young workers and bring them more into the mainstream of union work. The continued involvement of these young union members is a galvanising force for the ITF.   Form proposals for increasing young worker involvement in ITF activities will be put to the next ITF Congress in 2010.

Sustainable transport: The executive board agreed last week that the main theme for the 42nd congress in 2010 will be Strong Unions - Sustainable Transport, which is virtually the same as the theme the ETF will debate in Ponta Delgado.  We have to intensify the programme to organise strong unions agreed at the Durban Congress while ensuring that we have a transport industry which is sustainable both socially and environmentally.

 

 

It appears the G20 leaders have listened to the concerns of the labour movement – at least to a point. The ITF, along with the international trade union movement, is pleased to see a growing commitment to effective global regulation, and a coordinated package of financial aid come out of the summit.

As well as the headline-grabbing figure of the $1.1 trillion package, there are some promising elements in the G20 statement. Although it still refers to market forces, it also commits to a “build a fair and family-friendly labour market for both women and men” and to put the “needs and jobs of hard-working families” at the heart of the recovery plan. Only time will tell whether government actions will match the rhetoric, but it’s an encouraging start – no doubt helped by the fact that global unions have been talking to G20 leaders about the needs of their workers.

Overall, the statement could be more progressive. Reform of World Bank governance and the IMF could be slow. But at least this statement mentions the role of the ILO and the importance of labour market policies – elements that were missing from the last G20 statement.

We’ll need to keep a watchful eye on the response from governments and global business. And we’ll need to keep pushing for the rights of ordinary workers who are at the frontline of the recession. In all the hype surrounding the G20 leaders and their activities, it’s essential to remember the livelihoods that are at stake.

Edited: 04/03/2009 at 06:13 PM by DavidC

G20 leaders are preparing to meet in London later this week, to discuss the financial crisis and how best to stabilise the worldwide economy. It goes without saying that any response to the crisis has to take into account the needs of ordinary workers, like the ones pictured here, who protested at the weekend. 
For transport workers, jobs are increasingly precarious. There have been big drops in container shipping and bulk shipping, as the financial crisis affects business needs. Transport related to aviation and tourism is also set to fall. Infrastructure for public transport may benefit from co-ordinated stimulus packages aimed at creating more green jobs, but has become more reliant on private financing, and is therefore also at risk.
We’re calling on G20 leaders to wake up to the fact that markets must be better regulated and business must be more socially responsible. And we’re encouraging affiliates to act now to do everything they can to organise workers and protect jobs.
Last but not least, we need a coordinated response, across regions and sectors. The other global unions are also responding to the crisis, and by working together, we can make real gains. Big business cannot continue to put profit before people.

Last week I visited ITF unions in India and Sri Lanka. In Mumbai, a large delegation from the National Railway Mazdoor Union (part of the All India Railwaymen's Federation) visited the Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station. This was the one of the scenes of the horrific terrorist attack last November in which 74 people were killed. Many more passengers were saved by the quick-witted public address announcement by a union member, telling passengers to take refuge in the office used by train crews to prepare for their journeys.  We laid a garland on the monument to the dead (pictured above).

We held a meeting of the ITF national coordinating committee in Mumbai, where we discussed major changes in the aviation sector. The government is trying to force the deregulation of ground handling in all major airlines, obviously an issue of concern to our affiliates.

In Chennai (formerly Madras), we discussed port restructuring and the work being done to organise global delivery employees. And I paid my first visit to Sri Lanka, to meet representatives of ITF unions in all sectors. This area is becoming a crucial hub for Asian transport.

As ever I received a warm welcome from ITF affiliates, who continue to do great things in the region.

Edited: 03/03/2009 at 10:49 AM by DavidC

Workers are fed up with employers cynically exploiting migrant labour to pay them less. The trend, often referred to as ‘social dumping’, has hit the headlines in the UK recently, with a number of wildcat strikes at oil refineries. Our affiliate Unite has been involved in the debate.

The Viking and Laval cases show that workers’ rights are easily eroded, and that unless firm action is taken, the rights of business to seek the cheapest workers may win out against the right of unions to fight for decent work.

The ITF's position is quite clear. We are not for protectionism or against migrant workers but we are determined to ensure that all workers doing the same job in the same area, or under the same flag, have the right to equal social conditions. This does not mean that migrant workers should become scapegoats, but rather that business should be held to account for these employment practices.

The Nordic Unions recently produced a book on social dumping, which is well worth a read. It raises the risk that ‘Flags of Convenience’ (FOC) type conditions are spreading into other sectors. Social dumping needs our attention, with unified union-approved standards at a European or even a global level well beyond the FOC system.

And, as economic conditions worsen, we must be vigilant that business does not use the downturn as an excuse to cut costs, at the expense of hard-won workers’ rights.

Edited: 02/25/2009 at 03:48 PM by DavidC

Trade unions in America are doubtlessly celebrating the inauguration of their new president. I was in Washington last week meet with US trade union leaders, and representatives from all the global unions. There was a palpable air of jubilation. But that doesn’t mean the trade union movement should be complacent.

Our discussions last week focused on the Employee Free Choice Act (ECFA). This is an act that would give unions the right to be recognised and engage in collective bargaining, provided more than 50 per cent of the workers concerned declare they want to be represented by a union. Currently, unions face a long and expensive election system. Union busters have a big advantage, with the backing of corporate power and money, and the ability of managers to fire union activists. The EFCA is a major opportunity to give US unions the same rights to organise and bargaining collectively as exist in most civilised countries.

As US big business prepares to spend over $200m campaigning bitterly to stop the Act, the rest of the global labour movement stands ready to lend assistance. The representatives of Global Unions, including the ITF, agreed to work to persuade key multinational companies to declare publicly that they supported this decisive change in US law. 

Later this year, we’re planning a global unions day or week of action. We hope national unions around the world will lobby US embassies, US employers based in their own countries and foreign based multinationals in the US to support the Act and to bring a key group of global leaders to testify before Congress.

The Act is supported by AFL-CIO, the US trade union centre, and Change to Win, a group including several ITF affiliates who pulled out of the AFL-CIO in 2005. The key leaders of both groupings have already committed to working together much more closely under Obama. We also discussed the prospects of reunification of US unions. Whatever happens, the prospects for the movement look good. The Labor Secretary Hilda Solis (pictured above) has been described as the most sympathetic to trade unions for many decades: real progress could be made.

Edited: 01/20/2009 at 02:50 PM by DavidC

Our first relief plane has landed. Bilal Malkawi, our representative in the Arab World, accompanied the supplies to Al-Areesh airport in Egypt last week.

Click here for more pictures.

Let's be clear: relief is no substitute for a ceasefire, but while the residents of Gaza continue to be under attack, we will do our best to provide humanitarian support. Don't forget, unions that want to contribute to the relief effort can contact malkawi_bilal@itf.org.uk for bank transfer details, or send an email marked 'Gaza Aid' to info@ituc-csi.org.

Edited: 01/13/2009 at 04:58 PM by DavidC

As Gaza faces a humanitarian catastrophe, the ITF Amman Office is coordinating a major trade union relief effort. As I write, the ITF representative for the Arab World, Bilal Malkawi, is preparing to fly to Al-Areesh in Egypt in a cargo plane provided by Royal Jordanian Airlines loaded with an ambulance and medical supplies purchased with contributions from trade unions in Jordan and the Arab world, and the ITF.  We have let other global union federations know of the Jordanian/ITF initiative and the ITUC has now agreed, on behalf of trade union centres worldwide, to support our efforts. 

What is urgently needed is an immediate ceasefire and a longer term peace agreement to protect civilians in both Gaza and Israel from military attack, but in the meantime, the trade union movement is doing all we can to support workers and their families in Gaza.

And we are encouraging unions worldwide to support these efforts. Any union that wants to make a contribution should contact the ITF for bank transfer details.  If the Egyptian and Israeli governments allow humanitarian flights, further planeloads of relief supplies will be despatched thanks to Royal Jordanian CEO Samer Majali who is currently also president of IATA, the international airline grouping.

We hope the situation is resolved as soon as possible, and without further suffering.  We hope to launch the ITF helpline project as soon as the political situation is resolved. The project, which has been under development for over a year and has support from Palestinian and Israeli transport unions, is designed to overcome obstacles Palestinian drivers face at Israeli security checkpoints in the West Bank.

In the meantime, our priority is to help ensure that innocent workers and their families can live and work safely: this shouldn’t be too much to ask.

Edited: 01/07/2009 at 05:11 PM by DavidC

I doubt many people would have predicted the turbulent events of the past year. The global economic crisis threatens livelihoods across the world, and puts new pressure on our affiliates. At least there’s some comfort in the fact that Barack Obama will be leading the US response, rather than a Republican administration.

For the ITF, our year ended with the railway conference in Curitiba, Brazil.  There have been massive changes in the nature of the railway industry since our last conference in Bangkok in 2005.  Two countries – New Zealand and Estonia – have renationalised, but privatisation carries on relentlessly. Promoting public transport will continue to be a key theme for the ITF in 2009. We’ll be working together with the Public Services International (PSI) to defend living standards and keep decent jobs.

In this environment, it’s all the more important to pursue our organising globally strategy, adopted at the last congress. This is why we’ve made some changes in secretariat structure to accommodate a more coordinated approach.  We’ve established a strategic coordinating team to ensure that ITF resources are used to back programmes that strengthen unions in every region.  And increasingly we are helping unions establish organising projects and programmes in key corridors and hubs.

We are now focusIng on organising in new areas. In 2009 we will launch a handbook aimed at organising precarious/unprotected workers, featuring new techniques to organise workers who don’t traditionally join unions. In 2008 we held our first youth conference in Brussels, and plan to focus on the needs of young people at our regional conferences in 2009. And we’ve taken another big step in organising women, with the appointment of a fulltime coordinator.

There’s plenty more to come from the ITF in 2009. Our aim is to keep transport unions strong and effective, in the face of the unprecendented challenges we’ll be facing. But that’s another story… In the meantime, let me wish everyone in the ITF family season’s greetings and best wishes for the new year.

Edited: 01/06/2009 at 03:56 PM by DavidC

Piracy has made a big splash in the mainstream press this week, with the hijacking of the Sirius Star, a Liberia-flagged, Saudi-owned oil tanker. For us, this isn't a new story - pirate activity has been on the increase for some time, particularly in the Gulf of Aden. This is why we recently negotiated conditions for many seafarers, which entitle them to extra pay, rights and ensure their families would receive compensation in the event of their death when passing this area, which is virtually a war zone.

But it isn't enough. The hijacking of the Sirius Star shows that pirates are getting bolder. We're reaching a tipping point where all control is being lost and the areas affected are daily becoming wider. There's a steady growth in the numbers of pirates coming from Somalia as local warlords see their neighbours' power and influence growing after expanding into this area of criminal activity. Organised gangs are working far out in international waters using bigger fishing vessels and motherships.

Shipping owners are diverting their routes, insurance premiums are going up, and this all means rising costs in a difficult financial time. For our affiliates and their workers, this means that lives and livelihoods are under risk.

This is why we want decisive action from the military against the mother ships, from which these attacks are being launched, rather than the odd defensive skirmish. We want decisive action: it doesn't matter where the anti-pirate operations happen, so long as they do happen. If the navies actively intercept and arrest the pirates, and in particular take on the motherships, then the pirates will be targeted before they have chance to scuttle off and ply their trade elsewhere.

In other world news, the G20 nations met last week to bash out a solution to the global economic crisis, no small task for a one-day conference. Did they deliver from a trade union perspective? The ITUC/TUAC assessment seems to be: well, sort of, a bit. The G20 declaration does call for greater global regulation. But overall, the document is worryingly short on detail, and less open to labour voices than we might have hoped. Only time will tell whether this will make a difference to those that really matter: the hard-working people across the globe who fund the gambling sprees of hedge-fund fatcats and the like.