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African workers need strong unions, says ITF general secretary
24/11/09
Unions in Africa must continue to organise to build strength in the transport sector, says ITF general secretary David Cockroft.
Cockroft was speaking at the opening session of the 7th ITF Africa regional conference in Dakar, Senegal yesterday, the first to be held in a Francophone country.
He said: “This is a historic conference for Africa, following the first African Congress in Durban and the election of our first African president, Randall Howard. We now need to go further in building capacity of African unions to organise workers."
“African workers need strong unions: and a strong global trade union movement needs active African members who are committed to organizing and recruiting every worker – young, old, male, female, formally employed or engaged in the informal/precarious sector.”
The 7th ITF Africa regional conference brings together more than 150 representatives from 40 transport unions in every part of Africa, and is being attended by the Senegalese minister of state for public services and employment.
The conference sees unions in the region facing a number of issues. The aviation sector has lost Air Afrique, the main regional carrier, and is increasingly dependent on foreign-owned airlines. The flag of convenience has Liberia as the second biggest flag in the world, which hardly employs any African seafarers. Ports are being dominated by global terminal operators. The rail industry has been privatised and deregulated in most of Africa. And workers in all sectors face the threat of HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue.
Cockroft praised the work of the ITF African offices, in Nairobi and Ouagadougou, and the many ITF affiliates who are doing good work in the region. He also thanked the Senegalese ITF coordinating committee and Bayla Sow, its coordinator.
African unions are key to the resurgence of the trade union movement, said Cockroft.
“Transport – of goods and people – is the glue which holds the global world together,” said Cockroft. “Building and defending strong transport workers unions is crucial for the long term strength of the trade union movement as a whole.”
To see the full text of the speech, click on the link below.
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