Notícias online

Alterar opções do modo sem imagens | English | Español | Português | Pular conteúdo

Posição da página: ITF Americas > Centro de Informação > Notícias online

ITF translations available: Deutsch, Français, Español, Svenska, Português, العربية, Русский, فارسی
Google free translation service: Nederlands, Italiano, Português, 中国的, Polski, 日本語, 한국의, Български, فارسی , Norske - About these links

Strong Unions - Sustainable Transport is adopted

11 Agosto 2010

We have the potential strength: let’s use it

There is a great responsibility on the ITF and its affiliated unions to defend transport workers in difficult times, using our collective resources as effectively as possible, delegates were told in the Strong Unions – Sustainable Transport debate at Congress.

The strategy document was unanimously adopted by yesterday’s plenary session. Introducing the document, ITF assistant general secretary Stuart Howard pointed out that it covered several themes, including defending basic union rights, addressing casualisation and outsourcing, fighting deregulation and liberalisation and meeting the challenge of climate change.

The subsequent debate took the form of a panel discussion of five delegates who shared their experience and ideas about building solidarity and strong unions. It was led by Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, and was followed by contributions from the floor of Congress.

Howard underlined the potential industrial strength enjoyed by transport trade unions. However, they had to organise nationally and address structural changes in transport and the political environment shaping them.

“We need to remind ourselves of the two basic functions of our industries – to move goods around and to move people around,” he added. “However much there is a global financial crisis, global production still relies on components and parts and finished goods being moved around the world along global supply chains and distribution networks.

“We have to look at how unions strengthen themselves and how we can make international union networks to challenge multinational corporations,”
said Howard. “There are major attacks on public spending. We need to look at how we mount a global campaign to challenge public service cuts.”

One of the themes to emerge from the debate was that the notion that unions should not rely on social democratic political parties to deliver their objectives. Nor should they fund such parties that do not act in the interests of union members. These points were forcefully made by Edson Martins Areias of CONTTMAF (Brazil), Bob Crow of RMT(Grea Britain), Roger Toussaint of the TWUA (US) and Niek Stam of the FNV Bondgenoten.

Stam deplored the way that many social democratic parties had adopted neoliberal policies. “We have to start teaching our members what is left and what is right,” he said. “Maybe then they will realise what is going on when 50 per cent of the actions of these parties are against the interests of trade unionists.”

Introducing the panel discussion that preceded the general debate, Aidan White said of the panelists: “Every single one of the unions has established good policy and good vision.The question is how do we find practical ways of delivering them.”

Print this page

Voltar para as notícias online atuais

Home page da Seção:
Centro de Informação

Outras páginas para Centro de Informação:
Comunicados de imprensa | Publicações | Documentos da ITF | Videos

Revista Transporte Internacional

Retornar ao modo gráfico

acessibilidade | ajuda do site | mapa do site

Av. Rio Branco, 26 11 º andar, Centro Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brasil | +55 21 22230410 / 22230411 | itf_americas@itf.org.uk