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Trade union activity still high risk says ITF
12 June 2008
 |  |  view larger image | | | ITF General Secretary David Cockroft: action is needed to protect trade union rights | |
The ITF has called for urgent action to combat anti-union repression in a number of states around the world.
Addressing the plenary session of the 97th International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday, ITF General Secretary David Cockroft highlighted the dangers of being a trade unionist in some parts of the world and argued that there was a need for change and urgent action. He said: “In too many countries, organising workers into genuine trade unions still carries with it a very high risk.”
He outlined the case of murdered Guatemalan dockers’ leader Pedro Zamora, whose assailants still had not been brought to justice. In addition, he spoke of the Iranian bus workers’ activist, Mansour Osanloo, who is serving a five-year jail sentence “simply for trying to achieve for Tehran bus workers the fundamental rights guaranteed in International Labour Organization Convention 87”.
Cockroft explained how the ITF and the International Trade Union Confederation were campaigning to secure the freedom of Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi of the bakers’ union, also imprisoned. They were also supporting many other independent labour leaders in Iran, who are facing harassment for attempting to secure freedom of association and collective bargaining rights for their members.
“I very much hope that I will not have to make a further statement on this question next year or that I will be able to report good news of Mansour’s release and that independent workers’ organisations can take their rightful place,” he said.
Among the other issues highlighted by Cockroft was the world’s credit crisis – on this subject he stated that market forces alone could not deliver decent jobs, decent living conditions or sustainable growth. “More than ever we need a strong ILO today,” he said.
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