Speaking to the participants at the Paul Hall Center, Mike Sacco stressed the need for union training, especially in leadership, to build strong unions. He congratulated the ITF for putting on the programme in partnership with the Harvard Labor and Work life Program at Harvard Law School.
The programme, which ran from 2-7 November, included training in leadership, strategic planning and communication. Each participant delivered an individual presentation on a specific union organising and negotiating campaign, applying the tools from the programme. Alison McGarry, ITF women transport workers coordinator, and Dr Elaine Bernard from Harvard delivered the training, with the support of Tracey Mayhew, a member of ITF women’s transport workers committee, and staff from SIU.
Feedback from the programme was highly positive, with participants describing it as inspiring, providing invaluable new tools and methods and helpful for analysing and planning strategic organising campaigns. Victoria Kuzmina from the Dockers’ Union of Russia highlighted an additional strength as being part of a team of women leaders from all over the world.
Helen McAra, general secretary of the New Zealand Merchant Service Guild IUOW Inc, said: “The course is invaluable for ITF women leaders and has the potential to greatly benefit ITF male leaders, too. It imparts great leadership skills and techniques by focusing on union campaigns and issues, which gives it immediacy and relevance to each individual participant. We were absolutely surprised at how much useful material we learned in such a short time.”
