International Transport Workers' Federation: Press area

ITF member unions are joining the initiative, which promotes HIV prevention through education, film and radio, and supports and campaigns for counselling and testing facilities, for anti-retroviral drugs and against prejudice. The ITF’s campaign is being launched on World Aids Day in support of that long standing event’s objectives.

ITF General Secretary David Cockroft commented: “For several years the ITF has been at the forefront of Aids work involving transport workers and this year we are working closely with the World Aids Campaign and with our sister global union federations. With them we will have a particular focus on pushing the message of ‘Universal Access to HIV services in the workplace by 2010’.”

Dr Asif Altaf, ITF Global HIV/Aids Project Coordinator, said: “For years Aids was seen as a medical problem, but now it is recognised just how deeply it is influenced by social, economic and political factors. We hope that World Aids Day will provide a way of taking the messages of prevention, treatment and support into the workplaces where it has not always been heard.”

“Some groups of workers, including those in transport, are put at particular risk because of the nature of their work. This is what’s behind the ITF's ongoing effort in this area, of which this campaign is the latest – and biggest – example.”

For more details of the ITF’s HIV/Aids campaign see www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/stopAids2006.cfm or contact ITF press officer Sam Dawson (details at foot of page), who will also supply photos on request. More details are also included in the press pack below.

For more details of World Aids Day and the World Aids Campaign see www.worldAidscampaign.org/or contact Sara Speicher, email media@worldAidscampaign.org . Tel: +44 1524 727 651. Fax: +44 1524 727 829.

ENDS

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is a global organisation representing around four and a half million transport workers worldwide. Unions – currently 624 from 142 countries – affiliate to the ITF, which is able to carry their interests into the global arena. More details: www.itfglobal.org/about-us/moreabout.cfm

Thousands of events are being planned around the globe on and around 1 December 2006. The theme for 2006 is ‘accountability’, with the slogan, ‘Stop Aids. Keep the Promise. The theme is set by the World Aids Campaign in consultation with civil society organisations around the world. See www.worldaidscampaign.org for information on the theme, World Aids Day events, free photos and other visual material.

· Transport workers all over the world are vulnerable to HIV/Aids, but little attention has been paid to reducing that vulnerability.

· It is now well established that without the active involvement of transport workers and their unions, it is impossible to develop a viable response to the pandemic.

· There is a long-standing demand from affiliated unions for a campaign against HIV/Aids.

· The ITF strongly believes that, with the organisational strength of over 600 affiliated unions in 142 countries, we can make a difference and keep transport workers and their families healthy and safe from HIV/Aids.

What is the ITF suggesting unions can do?

· Consider HIV/Aids as an important issue in their core strategies and programmes.

Get involved and actively participate in the programme organised by the National Aids coordination committee.

· Be a member and participate in different national and regional committees, meetings and seminars, raising the profile of “HIV as a workplace issue”

· Organise educational activities to increase HIV/Aids awareness among members.

· Organise a discussion session on the importance of union involvement in HIV programmes

· Initiate partnerships to develop prevention and support programmes with existing development partners and NGOs (eg Unicef, Solidarity Centre, Care, FHI etc) working in your country.

· Organise voluntary counselling and testing facilities for members and their families.

· Organise cross-border activities in partnership with unions in neighbouring countries

In the late 1980s and early 90s many ITF-affiliated unions, especially those from the Sub-Saharan region of Africa, started to make urgent appeals to the ITF to act on this growing problem. The ITF immediately responded and, in collaboration with a number of its affiliates, began making interventions aimed at addressing the situation.

The history of the ITF’s projects and initiatives demonstrates that transport unions can make a difference in the fight against HIV/Aids. In fact most past examples of success this field were driven and inspired by a strong civil society.

Among the notable (past and current) HIV/AIDS interventions carried out by ITF globally are:

* HIV/AIDS and transport workers in Africa: This is a continuation from previous ITF projects in Africa encouraging affiliates to recognise HIV/AIDS as a workplace and trade union issue. This project puts particular emphasis on the development of workplace policies and collective bargaining.

* HIV/AIDS and transport workers: South Asia. This project is primarily concerned with focusing on HIV/AIDS as a trade union and workplace issue. Project activities include awareness-raising seminars and work towards the elimination of stigma and discrimination in the workplace.

* Global HIV/AIDS Project: The main long-term objective of the project is to significantly reduce the vulnerability of transport workers and their families through union coordination on an international scale, mobilising and globalising solidarity.

* Joint Regional HIV/AIDS Project in the Abidjan-Lagos Transport Corridor: Launched on 11 December 2003 by the World Bank as a four-year HIV/AIDS prevention project. The corridor and the project include five countries: Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Our affiliates in Cote d’Ivoire and Togo are taking part in this project.

* REDSO Transport Corridor Initiative: Family Health International is running the project. FHI has six major partners and the Solidarity Centre is one of them. Last year the ITF signed a partnership agreement and our Africa project coordinator and adviser works in close cooperation with them.

* Seafarers’ Health Information Programme (SHIP): The ITF Seafarers’ Trust invested US$ 894,000 for this three-year health promotion campaign. The International Committee on Seafarers’ Welfare (ICSW) is running it. SHIP covers seven topics including AIDS, physical fitness, cardiovascular disease, food, obesity and malaria. Information is disseminated to seafarers on board ships and ashore through videos and DVD’s, comic books, posters and stickers. The programme uses the resources of the global network of seafarers’ centres and welfare agencies to get its health messages across. It has its own website: http://www.seafarershealth.org

For more information contact ITF press officer, Sam Dawson.
Direct line: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260.
Email: dawson_sam@itf.org.uk

International Transport Workers' Federation - ITF:
HEAD OFFICE
ITF House, 49 - 60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DS
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7403 2733
Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7375 7871
Email: mail@itf.org.uk
Web: www.itfglobal.org

ITF House, 49-60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DR | +44 20 7403 2733 | mail@itf.org.uk