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ITF: present at the 5th World Social Forum
3 February 2005
The Fifth World Social Forum finished on Monday. ITF’s presence was conspicuous by the large number of affiliate members and staff, and its stand attracted transport workers from all over the world.
On the 29th, Stuart Howard, Assistant General Secretary, spoke on one of the panels organized by the ICFTU (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions) and other global organisations under the title The social dimension of globalisation (photo 1). Stuart Howard mentioned Flags of Convenience as an example of the harmful effect of globalisation, adding that the instruments against such effects must also be global, although locally based. “ITF has achieved international reliability because it has the capacity to stop ships around the world and achieve payment of past due wages. International campaigns will not be effective unless there is widespread alliance at a local level”, he explained.
On the 28th, Alicia Castro, national congresswoman of Argentina and vice-president of ITF, took part in the panel Latin America: the social and political in popular struggles, when she called attention to the need to take action and to the importance of the role of unions in achieving this objective.
Bob Crow, General Secretary of the National Union of Rail Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and member of the ITF Executive Board, gave a speech during the march for employment organized by the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF), which, like the ITF, is a member of the Global Unions Federations (photo2). A get-together lunch was an opportunity for Bob Crow and the other RMT representatives and other ITF affiliates present at the Forum to have closer contact with directors of the Rio Grande do Sul Fact-checkers Union, affiliated to ITF through the Brazilian Waterway and Air Transport, Fisheries and Harbour Workers’ Confederation (CONTTMAF) and which provided ITF with logistics support in organizing the event.
On the ITF stand, located on the axis of Human Rights, around 200 transport workers from all over the world filled in a form prepared by the ITF Regional Office in other to broaden itf information network and were given a customised T-shirt for the Forum. The general public could learn about ITF and take away some publications (photo 3).
At the end of the event, the majority of ITF representatives at the World Social Forum held an assessment meeting. There they proposed to create a working group to discuss strategies to increase ITF participation in the next Forum events. One objective of the group will be to bring together and disseminate the union movement and the Global Unions Federations — “as well as put transport on the Forum map”, added Alicia Castro. Alana Dave, ITF Education Coordinator, also recalled the need to hold activities to unionise young people, whose presence at the event is massive.
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