ARC_2013_Annex_5

ITF Africa regional conferencedeclaration of 25th November 2009, Mbour, Senegal

We, the participants in the 2009 ITF Africa Regional Conference, representing 53 trade unions in 26 African countries, record the conclusions and commitments documented below.

We do this against the background of the decisions of the 41st ITF Congress held in Durban in 2006, and in particular the adoption of the Organising Globally theme whose components were:

  • Defending union rights;
  • Organising new workers, including the most vulnerable;
  • Organising in global hubs and corridors;
  • Organising new entrant companies e.g. low cost air carriers;
  • Organising in multinational corporations;
  • Understanding logistics supply chains and building appropriate trade union alliances to support organising within these.

We record our decisions and commitments also in the context of preparation for the 42nd ITF Congress in Mexico in August 2010, whose theme will be “Strong Unions – Sustainable Transport”. The proposed strategy contains three elements:

  • Continuing the work of Organising Globally as summarized above
  • Advancing trade union rights and labour standards;
  • Fighting for Sustainable Transport, including the launching of a global campaign to promote public transport, and a programme of engagement by transport unions on the issue of climate change.

Continuous improvement of the functioning of the ITF Region and its affiliates

We agree on the following steps:

  1. Affiliates must improve payment of affiliation fees, and systems must be put in place to facilitate this;
  2. The principle of cost-sharing for affiliate participation in meetings will be advanced;
  3. The Portuguese speaking affiliates will constitute a new sub-region for Africa, and will receive language support;
  4. The Rwanda and Burundi affiliates will be linked with the East Africa sub-region (previously linked to Central Africa) and the Indian Ocean affiliates will be linked to the Southern African sub-region based on the economic linkages;
  5. Within sub-regions, those affiliates with more financial resources commit to assisting those who are less well off, especially in the sphere of basic communications infrastructure;
  6. Union mergers will be advocated throughout Africa with the Secretariat providing guidance based on the experience of affiliates, and a resolution to the 2010 Mexico Conference will be drafted;
  7. The 12 African FIOST affiliates which have been accepted by the ITF Executive Board for admission will be welcomed into the ITF;
  8. The benchmarking, assessment and reward system approved in principle in 2007 will be activated;
  9. All National Co-ordinating Committees will be encouraged to include young workers and women reps, and guidelines for NCCs will be developed by the Regional Secretariat;
  10. ITF education work and workers’ participation will be strengthened.

Improved communication

As part of continuous improvement of the functioning of the ITF Africa Region, we note that communication in all directions needs to be drastically improved. To this end we agree on the following:-

  1. The existing plan of action, developed in Tunis in 2007 will be fine-tuned based on the results of the survey of needs;
  2. Affiliates commit to contribute regularly to the new Africa website and to various ITF publications including Transport International;
  3. Affiliates commit to provide information when there are changes in leadership (contact people, etc.) and to comply with deadlines for names for meetings;
  4. Media and communication skills training and information will be provided by the ITF, including on new communication technology;
  5. Reports to the ITF and from the ITF must be concise and contain summaries. This, together with ITF CDs and DVDs, will assist in reporting to membership in general meetings, which remain central to communication.

Building Trade Union capacity to engage on policy issues

We agree on the following:

  1. The Secretariat to facilitate the process of developing a platform from which transport unions can engage at a sub-regional and continent wide levels, through education and information distribution as well as the establishment of a network of affiliates which have capacity to provide input;
  2. The Secretariat to prepare a basic document which explains the institutions, as a reference document for sub-regions;
  3. Affiliates commit to putting energy and resources into the processes of engagement, and in particular to prepare for engagement with the EU proposal for co-operation with Africa;
  4. Affiliates commit to inputting on transport and related policies to their national centres, and thereby to ITUC Africa. Likewise the ITF regional secretariat to input to the ITUC Africa and other GUFs.

Young Transport Workers

We endorse the conclusions of the Young Workers’ Symposium, including the plan of action which focuses on the following areas:

  1. Young workers in ITF affiliates to develop organising strategies which appeal to young transport workers;
  2. Affiliates to ensure that the ITF is made more visible to young workers on the ground;
  3. Young transport workers in affiliates to activate a network who will communicate regularly with one another with a view to sharing trade union experiences;
  4. ITF and its affiliates to step up the HIV and AIDS awareness campaignamongst young transport workers;
  5. Affiliates to campaign and lobby against the exploitative practices of labour brokers , who often target young workers;
  6. ITF Secretariat and structures to provide support for the above, including education and training;
  7. ITF secretariat and affiliates to work towards the holding of an African young transport workers’ conference.

Women transport workers

We endorse the conclusions of the Women’s Conference which were categorized by the women participants into four themes in preparation for the 42nd ITF Congress:

  1. Women in the world today;we need to challenge the under-valuing of jobs that women occupy, through adopting the slogan of “all work and jobs are important”. Occupational segregation also has to be challenged through the public promotion of the employment of women in transport jobs that have traditionally been reserved for men. We also need to empower our women members to participate in the debates on the development path of the Continent;
  2. Women transport workers and organising: we need to identify where women are for recruitment, including women in precarious work and women in strategic hubs and corridors, and to identify their issues;
  3. Women transport workers in the community: we need to develop joint campaigns on issues including public transport (including keeping it publicly owned and community access), transport as access to health care, and HIV and AIDS;
  4. Women transport workers and the ITF: we must ensure that women are represented in the National Co-ordinating Committees, and that sub-regional co-ordinators reach women in their activities. The ITF Secretariat is to circulate best practices in organising and representing women, and to promote women’s leadership and provide training for this. Affiliates commit to growing and strengthening the women’s network and to ensuring that all contact details are up to date. And we need to ensure that women contribute to the ITF website and to other ITF media including Transport International. We need to have more activities for women workers, with particular attention to be paid to Central Africa and the Portuguese speaking countries.

We further reaffirm our commitment to the campaign against violence against women in view of the significance of today the 25th November which is the UN day for the elimination of violence against women.

Organising Globally projects and programmes

We agree:-

  1. That the Organising Globally agenda as summarised on page one of this declaration and elaborated in the presentation be integrated into the ITF’s programme going forward beyond 2010;
  2. To condemn the racist and anti-trade union actions of DHL in South Africa and supports Satawu’s struggle against such practices.

Sustainable Transport and Global Warming

Conference agrees to prioritise sustainable transport and global warming by:

  1. Stepping up education in our ranks, with intensified support from the ITF secretariat;
  2. Ensuring that the debate on climate change is located in the wider debate about the impact of neo liberal economic policies;
  3. Engaging our governments to ensure that workers’ needs are taken into account when they adopt steps to reduce emissions;
  4. Building alliances with other organizations working on climate change.
  5. Promoting mass transit public transport;
  6. Engaging with emissions as a health and safety issue in the workplace, inclusive of campaigns against the unsafe transportation of dangerous and polluting materials;
  7. Preparing ourselves for serious debate on the issues at the 42nd ITF Congress in 2010.

Page 1 of 5