Neo-liberal policies fail to put people before profit, rail unions conclude

17 December 2008

Rail unions have had their fill of neo-liberal policies - that was the clear message to emerge out of an ITF conference in Brazil last week.

The workers, attending the ITF Railway Workers’ Section conference in Curitiba on 10-12 December, hosted by the Brazilian Transport Unions’ Federation, concluded that these policies had led to two decades of rail restructuring around the world. This in turn had brought about a reduction in the number of rail networks and a sharp rise in the casualisation of the workforce. It had also caused short-cuts in safety, job losses, the closure of unprofitable lines and an increase in sub-contracting. Meanwhile, labour productivity had “sky-rocketed”. “Enough is enough” concurred the workers.

Mac Urata, ITF Inland Transport Section Secretary commented: "This has been the biggest ITF railway section conference with more than 170 participants and it has set a firm direction for our rail policy. Workers and unions are fed up with changes in the industry over the past 25 years, which were driven by neo-liberal policies. They brought down conditions and safety standards in many countries. We must rebuild our union capacities, not just to win better pay and conditions, but to influence the political direction of governments so that they put people before profit".

Participants also agreed that the 2009 action day would focus on ending violence in the workplace and would take place on 28 April, Workers’ Memorial Day. In addition they fully supported the ITF's policy on climate change and said that the ITF should coordinate its “organising globally” work on larger multinationals. Delegates backed the production of an ITF tool kit on HIV/AIDS with the Union Internationale des Chemins de fer, under the auspices of the International Labour Organization.

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