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Lost without a map

Any trade union that wants to develop a strategy for organising workers in a particular employer or in an industry needs to know what its existing strength is. Just as important, it needs to know where its points of weakness are. Which are the workplaces where there is strong union organisation in a global company like TNT? Where is there little or no union organisation in major port hubs?

As the ITF develops strategies based on getting a grip on the global networks of specific companies – or particular types of transport operation, or transport hubs – it too needs to know where its affiliates are organised.

Getting this kind of information is known as “mapping” union organisation. For the ITF this is not as simple as it may seem. Up until now the ITF has not required such detailed information from its affiliates about where they have recognition or bargaining agreements.

Responses to questionnaires asking where union membership is located are notorious for their low response level. For most busy union representatives, filling in ITF surveys is never going to be their most important job of the day.

So what do we do? First of all we should try to make things easier for those who have to fill in these forms. There should not be too many questions. The questions should be relatively simple, and should not require highly detailed responses. In most cases it should be possible to answer by putting a tick or a number in a box. Nor should affiliates be inundated by one questionnaire after another.

The ITF should also develop its use of software that allows questionnaires to be answered electronically. Unions should get rapid feedback from the results of the survey as soon as they are available. Finally there needs to be an information campaign to explain to affiliates why this information is so important and what it is used for.

The ITF may need to launch a major global mapping exercise to get this process kicked off. A concerted effort is needed to get the most urgent mapping information done in the first year after Congress. With good cooperation and a strong sense of purpose about what this is all for, we can get this data in. As always, the ITF will be relying on its affiliates.

What is Organising Globally? If we understand that global production now operates using global distribution systems, then it makes sense for unions to look at such a system and identify its strategic points. Unions in truly global, multi-modal transport companies like DHL, UPS and Maersk need to develop their own global coordination. Hong Kong is the world’s largest container port. This makes it a key hub in the world’s freight distribution system. Yet Hong Kong is almost entirely without union organisation. The oil industry is making huge profits. Yet oil tanker drivers often work with low pay and no union. Should transport workers and oil production workers work more closely together within this strategic industry? Major transnational passenger transport companies are now providing local and national services in many countries. Internationally they operate through global route networks. How much are unions coordinating in the same companies and networks? Are they engaged in wider debates on the vital role of passenger transport in the lives of our cities and rural areas? Our unions have traditionally organised particular groups of workers: truck drivers, stevedores, rail workers etc. Are there new groups of workers in our changing industry whom we have not considered it our role to organise? Are our unions structured or equipped to organise these workers? Organising Globally will ask unions to commit resources to strategies that would prioritise strengthening organisation in these strategic target areas.