ITF regional offices: Working around the clock

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Just as nearly 1,000 delegates gather in Vancouver for the opening session of the 40th ITF Congress, staff in the ITF’s London head office will be finishing work for the day. In Rio, they will be tucking into lunch, while those in Nairobi may have just finished an evening meal. In New Delhi and Moscow, ITF staff will soon be heading for bed, while in Tokyo, it will soon be time to wake.

With 12 regional, sub-regional and campaign offices across 11 countries, at any one time, somewhere in the world, ITF staff, officers and inspectors are hard at work on behalf of transport workers.

The ITF’s regional offices share the common tasks of visiting and representing affiliates, expanding membership, supporting ITF national Co-ordinating Committees, helping to resolve problems and supporting struggles. But local conditions, cultural and political situations mean their priorities and methods vary.

In Moscow, more than a decade of political change in the eastern bloc means Mikhail Lyakhov, representative for the European sub-regional office, has to work hard just to get unions to communicate with one another. “Probably the most difficult side is building security and unity between the different unions,” he says. “Positive signs are emerging. Two major maritime unions are now on the way to getting together.”

Shigeru (Shigi) Wada, Regional Secretary for Asia/Pacific, based in Tokyo, finds much of his work is helping to build effective transport trade unions in countries that have a poor history of trade union activity. In September 2001, the office organised a regional conference in Bangkok and was delighted when more than 300 delegates and advisers attended. ITF membership is growing across the region. “In Thailand 10 years ago when I started, there was only one small civil aviation union affiliated to the ITF,” says Shigi. “Now we have eight unions in that country, in every sector of transport.”

For the Asian sub-regional office based in New Delhi, India, a recent priority has been women’s issues. “When we look at union structures, they are hardly representative. So we’ve been developing a women’s network and doing projects focusing on maternity and women’s rights,” says sub-regional officer Mahendra Sharma.

The New Delhi office is also playing a greater role in the ITF flag of convenience campaign. “We’ve given a message to the shipping industry that India is no longer a safe haven. If they come here they will be targeted,” Mahendra warns. The New Delhi office also
co-ordinates education projects across South and South-East Asia and even in the Pacific region.

Education is a priority too to Ben Udogwu who heads the African Regional Office in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. “Education is a core activity for African trade union development,” he reports. “We run training and seminars for the grassroots, the middle and the top leadership of trade unions. Now gender and HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns have been added to our spectrum.”

As in Moscow, the African regional office has union solidarity at the heart of its work. African nations have begun uniting along political and economic lines as a means of pursuing development. Since the last ITF Congress in 1998, the African regional office has worked with the sub-regional West African Francophone office, run by Nazi Kaboré in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to build a regional structure in that region. “If our leaders are engaging in integrated regional activities like trade and politics, then the trade unions should be integrating too,” says Ben.

Latin America is also facing the challenge of government alliances and their potential threat to workers. “One of the most important objectives is building solidarity among all unions to prepare for an eventual Free Trade Agreement of the Americas,” says Antonio Fritz, Interamerican Regional Secretary based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “The agreement may bring further inequalities and attacks to trade union and human rights in the region. Unions have to bring strong pressure on their governments to prevent this.”

Wherever ITF regional offices are, many of the challenges are the same, not least bridging cultural and language divides. In India alone, there are 16 official languages, which makes it hard for ITF representatives to communicate directly with activists. “It becomes very difficult to organise meetings where people are coming from different countries and each speaks a different language,” says Mahendra.

The ITF’s European arm, the European Transport Workers’ Federation, is based in Brussels, and the ITF also has regional and campaign offices in Georgetown, (Guyana), Manila (Philippines) and Cape Canaveral and Washington (United States). With all regions working in co-ordination, with support from London but each with their own priorities and expertise, the ITF aims to be a truly effective international organisation.

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Issue 9 August 2002

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