ITF Africa regional secretary Joseph Katende congratulated prime minister Yacouba Isaac Zida and minister for infrastructure and transport Daouda Traoré on the government’s decision to cancel the privatisation of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso international airports.
Katende was accompanied by the ITF representative for Francophone Africa and ECOWAS countries, Bayla Sow; Burkina Faso national centres’ representative Olivier Ouedraogo and ITF executive committee member Marcel Zante; representatives of the national co-ordinating, women’s and youth committees; and representatives of the ITF’s five affiliates in Burkina Faso.
The delegation received assurances that the prime minister would convene a meeting of all the signatories to the road transport collective agreement signed in 2011 to get implementation moving. Katende also raised the concerns of railway workers.
Katende said: "We urged the government to promote social dialogue with workers and employers, which is in Burkina Faso’s interests and is a commitment under ILO convention 144, which the government has ratified. We were pleased with the meeting and feel encouraged that the government will work to encourage better rights for transport workers.”
During his four-day visit to Burkina Faso, Katende attended the ITF affiliates’ capacity building seminar on the theme ‘Building strong unions to face the challenges in the transport sector in Burkina Faso’.
