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Page context: Home > Transport International Magazine > Issue 20 July 2005 > Readers’ thoughts on poverty
In my personal view, trade unions should be consolidating their core competencies to meet the challenges brought by forces of globalisation, just as global companies are doing at the moment.
What are trade unions’ core competencies? Protect the workers, not by traditional tools of picketing and strikes, but facilitating the closing of knowledge gaps between workers and their employers.
Knowledge is POWER in this new knowledge-based economy. Training, upgrading of skills and making these skills remain portable and relevant are the best weapon to protect workers from exploitation and poverty.
Bernard Gan, PhD student, University of New South Wales, Australia
We are convinced that with proper mobilisation, a lot can be achieved in beating poverty at the individual (membership) level and by extension the national level.
Many trade unions in our country have sadly derailed from the noble objectives of their very existence to become guzzlers of membership dues with little care of how to empower their members economically.
Our union wishes to identify income-generating projects where the little financial/human resources of the members can be pooled together to create wealth. For a start, we have in mind a supermarket for and by the workers at near market prices. Any profit realised will be shared pro rata. With time; the venture will grow into other urban centres and shall create other opportunities in the areas of supplies and distribution.
Another way forward in beating poverty is for union leaders to fight for better rewards for their members. Failure to fight for better wages will result in workers having no savings, hence the inability to invest.
At the national level, unions have a big role to play in ensuring that the government of the day is kept on its toes. In many developing countries, the ruling cliques perpetuate poverty through various ways, with the sole aim of retaining power. They practice coercion, intimidation and even bribery of the poor and helpless, while under-utilising or misusing resources.
Unions have the means and the capacity to impact positively on wealth creation, if only they wakeup from their slumber.
Jimi Masege and Judas Nguli, Aviation and Allied Workers’ Union, Kenya
Unions are first and foremost lobby groups. So, one of their roles should be to put pressure on leaders and decision-makers. They should aim for the defence of common interests so that the decisions taken are acceptable to the unions. If the decisions taken might have a negative impact on these interests, they should organise protest movements, including joint petitions in cooperation with other trade unions. This should go hand in hand with campaigning for projects they would like to see adopted by governments, including the adoption of suitable decrees or laws. In this way they will contribute to the eradication of poverty, in the long or short term.
M Essoh Philbert, SYNAMAC, Cameroon
On the tsunami…
Immediately after the tsunami disaster of December 2004, The National Union Of Seafarers of India (NUSI) and Maritime Union of India (MUI) started a Tsunami Relief Fund, which is also supported by the shipping industry. The idea of the fund is to provide direct assistance to seafarers and their families. The coastal belt of India has been seriously affected. On my personal tour of the tsunami hit areas there was a great deal of emotion expressed by the affected seafarers. There were tales of horror and disbelief and also of bravery. The relief fund has had a very positive response and we are quite hopeful that we will be able to continue providing some assistance to seafarers and their families.
Abdulgani Y Serang, NUSI, India
And on ports of convenience…
Our federation represents a great number of workers in Greece, including dockers, loaders and unloaders, tallymen, boatmen, porters and mooring ropes binders.
Following the revengeful reintroduction of “Port Package” by the European Commission late last year, we intensified our fight against self-handling, which leads to ports of convenience, bodies of globalisation and to the union-busting and dissolution of protective institutions for workers. Without our cooperation the ISPS code cannot be applied with casual dockers.
The use of ship crews with flags of third countries, with lower labour and professional standards, creates unfair competition. Furthermore, no directive can reverse the provisions of the codes of international maritime laws.
Simeon Leftheriotis, GFLU, Greece
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Issue 20 July 2005
Other pages for Issue 20 July 2005:
Comment: Fighting Back and Winning | ITF launches new global website | Value for money | Protecting our waterfront | The fight for true democracy | Enter the hit squads | This is why we joined a union | Transport goes transnational | From wellhead to wheel | Competition gone mad | Putting the seafarer first | Driving change in Kurdistan | End this railway nightmare | We can help to defeat poverty | Working life
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