Joint Liaison Commitee meets in Tel Aviv

13 February 2008

The third meeting of the Joint Liaison Committee set up by the ITF, the Histadrut and the Palestinian transport workers' unions at their meeting in Cyprus in August 2007,  took place in Tel Aviv on 6-7 February 2008.

Prior to the meeting, ITF General Secretary David Cockroft visited the West Bank to inspect the current transport conditions . Together with Naser Yunis, General Secretary of the Palestine General Union of Transport Workers,  he visited Ramallah, Bethlehem,  Hebron and Nablus and experienced the delays regularly faced by West bank transport workers. He held meetings with senior officials in the Palestine Administration, including the transport minister and the Governor of Bethlehem and informed them of the efforts of the Liaison Committee to improve the movement of transport workers without compromising the security of Israeli citizens.

Together with Yunis  and a group of senior Palestinian transport union leaders,  he then traveled to Tel Aviv to attend the Liaison Committee meeting with Avi Edri, General Secretary of the Histadrut Transport Workers' Union.  Stuart Howard, Assistant General Secretary and Carol Phillips of the Canadian Auto Workers Union, which is supporting the helpline project designed to reduce delays at checkpoints for bona fide professional drivers.  The Histadrut transport workers' union had, prior to the meeting, exerted considerable pressure on the Israeli army to contribute to the Committee's work.

The third meeting of the Liaison Committee issued the following statement

"Under the auspices of the ITF the transport union of the Histadrut and the Palestinian General Transport Workers’ Union met in Tel Aviv on 6-7 Feb.

At the meeting, presentations and suggestions were made regarding a helpline project for Palestinian transportation workers designed to improve the passage of professional drivers at checkpoints and road blocks in the West Bank..

The ITF and the two unions agreed that this is a vital project  which will be of benefit to both Israeli and Palestinian transport workers.

 The project was presented by the ITF to an Israeli army representative from the "Unit of Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories", who supported it and promised to submit it to his governing body at the highest level.

A detailed action plan for implementation will be put in place during 2008"

ENDS

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

Related documents:

Statement by General Secretary (14kb PDF)

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