Some 171 representatives and leaders from 84 trade unions in 42 countries worldwide participated in the ITF’s road and rail conferences in Brussels, Belgium from 5-9 December to tackle the most pressing issues facing workers and passengers in those industries. Participants took to social media in huge numbers to comment on and share news from the conference using #WeAreITF.
The week’s highlights include:
• The network of unions representing workers at XPO companies worldwide challenged the company to halt its anti-union policies and cut a fair deal for its workers, urged XPO to invest in the workers that are making the company successful and condemned the CEO’s plans to award himself a multi-million dollar stock bonus. Read more.
• Teamsters president James Hoffa warned that unions were banding together to expose the hidden agenda of undemocratic and secretive trade deals (such as the Trade in Services Agreement). He pledged that union priorities remained safe workplaces, where workers’ rights are respected, operating in societies with quality health care, union rights, and free from tax havens and currency manipulation. Read more.
• As the ITF launched its Our Public Transport campaign, it pledged to work with the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) to promote the development and expansion of public transport worldwide as an engine for sustainable growth, the creation of green jobs and reducing congestion and pollution. Read more.
• The ITF released an illustrated booklet recounting the organisation’s fight to support the lawful republic during the Spanish Civil War, and how the lessons it learnt there allowed it to work with allied intelligence to fight Nazism in World War Two. Read more.
Other priorities discussed were railway safety, the importance of building union in power in hubs and corridors, and safe rates for truck drivers.
The week kicked off with a rally against further liberalisation of rail public passenger transport in Europe without ensuring protection for rail workers and quality services. Read more.
ITF general secretary Steve Cotton said: “This week has been truly inspiring. We’ve come together with our unions to discuss the most pressing challenges we face and to make sure that we grow ever stronger together so that we can tackle the global threats to decent jobs and safety in the road and rail industries.
“We need to unite to fight for multinationals to be accountable, international trade deals that benefit ordinary workers and their families, and for public transport that is safe, co-ordinated and accessible to all.”
The conferences were part of the ITF’s Pathway to Congress (P2C) designed to ensure all unions can feed into the highest decision making process at Congress in 2018 and that the priorities of each part of the ITF fit in with the global strategy summed up in the 4 levers.
See news, photographs and videos from the conference on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ITFglobal and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ITFglobalunion using the hashtags #WeAreITF, #NousSommesITF or #SomosITF.
Download ¡No Pasarán! The ITF and the Fight against Fascism in English, French, German, and Spanish.
