International Transport Workers Research Articles

Women seafarers' health and welfare survey.

This is a collaborative study from the International Maritime Health Association, International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network, International Transport Workers' Federation and the Seafarers Hospital Society. The aim of the study was to look at the health and welfare needs of women seafarers and how organisations can best make or campaign for improvements to the health information and services available to women seafarers. A pilot study was conducted in July 2014 and following review of the data and revision of the questionnaire the study was launched in December 2014, running until the middle of March 2015. Results collected from the survey are also supported by qualitative data obtained from two focus groups run during February and March. 595 responses were received from a range of nationalities, ages and positions on board ships. The findings suggest that joint/back pain, stress/depression/anxiety and headache seem to be the most common symptoms reported by women seafarers and that 55% felt that they are related to their work. 48% state that they have problems with seeking medical care and offer suggestions to improve this. Routine wellness checks, nutrition and information on joint and back pain are the main areas that women seafarers stated health screening/services/information would be most useful to improve their health and wellbeing. They suggested this could best be received directly from health professionals, or alternatively by reading leaflets or from online websites/an app. Significantly 37% of women seafarers also stated that they do not have access to sanitary bins within the toilet and 18% say that sexual harassment is an issue. The responses received highlight a small number of areas where relatively simple and low-cost interventions might improve the health and welfare of women seafarers. Specifically these include the production and appropriate distribution of gender-specific information on back pain, mental health and nutrition in addition to gynaecological complaints, to all women seafarers; the introduction of means for disposing of sanitary waste for all female crew on all ships and the improved availability of female specific products e.g. sanitary products in port shops and welfare centres worldwide. Additional work is needed to investigate these areas more fully and to look at the issue of confidence in medically trained staff, medical confidentiality and sexual harassment. Any further work and interventions will require the support of all of the main stakeholders and we plan a briefing meeting to publicise the findings to date and to identify support for further work in this area.

Transformations and continuities of issues related to Chinese participation in the global seafarers’ labour market

Since the 1990s, Chinese seafarers have become a force to be reckoned with in the global seafarer labour market, particularly against the backdrop of the manning crisis. Compared with other groups of seafarers dominating the market such as the Filipinos and the Indians, they are commonly associated with perceptions of low cost, poor English skills, different safety/work culture, problems with the International Transport Workers’ Federation, etc. This article identifies transformations and continuities of problems related to Chinese seafarers in the global market in the last two decades or so by reviewing relevant Lloyd’s List reports as well as official documents and previous research. The review shows that Chinese authorities have been taking various initiatives to take advantage of the manning crisis and to expand and promote seafarer education, supply and export, which in general serve to make seafarers better educated and improve their communication skills. Although such initiatives have helped increase seafaring labour export, the success is nevertheless limited by tight government control on recruitment, which makes some foreign managers reluctant to employ Chinese seafarers.

Towards resonant places: reflections on the organizing strategy of the International Transport Workers’ Federation

This article explores a geographical dilemma at the heart of union organizing in transnational corporations; namely, how to circulate union power across different spaces when existing labour struggles are generally restricted to single sites. Reflecting on the experience of the International Transport Workers' Federation, this paper argues that single site campaigns have been crucial to its organizing programme. Analysing cases involving dock workers in India and logistics workers in Turkey, it is noted that these struggles are resource intensive but potentially transformational, and should be theorized as ‘resonant places’ in a wider global organizing strategy.

Korean Railway Workers' Union Rights under Attack from the Neoliberal State

railway industry in the neoliberal direction. The KRWU came out on strike to protest against the government’s unilateral action on 9 December. The KRWU’s strike action was carried out in accordance with the legal process of labour dispute, including the National Labour Relations Commission’s mediation process, union members’ strike ballot (turnout rating 91.3 percent and approval rating 80.0 percent), and restriction of industrial action in essential public services. Park’s government, however , declared that the strike was illegal and took hard-line steps to break the KRWU’s strike. The government threatened to discharge 8,565 union members taking part in the strike action and ordered the striking workers to return to work. It also issued arrest warrants for 194 KRWU officials, including union leaders. The government and Korail management sent in strike breakers (including army forces) to replace strikers and filed a legal tort claim against the KRWU, requesting payment of a colossal amount of damages in compensation (16.2 billion Korean Won, approximately amounting to 13 million euro). The police raided the union offices and arrested union leaders, while the Korail management recruited 660 strike-breakers. Moreover, on 22 December a force of 5,500 police, without a warrant, attacked the headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), a national centre of democratic Korean unions with which the KRWU is affiliated, in order to arrest KRWU leaders. The raid by the police troops failed to catch the union leaders, and instead resulted in the arrest of 135 KCTU members who attempted to block their entry. Despite the union’s strong opposition and growing public concern, the government granted business license to the SR for running KTX lines, as intended. The police attack on the KCTU headquarters as well as the government’s unilateral restructuring action triggered rage amongst the organised labour community and widespread criticism from civil society movements. On 28 December, the KCTU and its affiliates waged anti-Park demonstrations as a means to protest against the government ’s union suppression and railway privatisation , in which many civil NGOs and opposing parties participated. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), another national centre, announced its decision to stop policy dialogue with Park’s government and joined the KCTU-led demonstrations. Around 100,000 people gathered at the KCTU-led anti-Park demonstrations on December 28th. International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and many national centres of foreign countries, such as TUC (UK), CUT (Brazil), ACTU (Australia), and TCTU (Taiwan), sent their strong solidarity support for the struggle of the KCTU and KRWU against Park’s government. Amnesty International also criticised Park’s govWhen railworkers took strike action to protest against the privatisation and break-up of the railways the government declared that the strike was illegal, threatened thousands of dismissals, and ordered all strikers to return to work INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 18 Volume 22 Issue 3 2015 BYOUNG-HOON LEE is a professor at the department of Sociology, Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea. T he railway system in South Korea has been a core target of neoliberal restructuring pursuing market competition and privatisation since the late 1990s. The Korean railway system was run by a governmental organisation named the Railway Office until 2003. The Railway Office, however, was divided and transformed into two public enterprises, respectively accountable for the operation (Korail) and construction (KRNetwork) of the railway system, in accordance with the government’s railway restructuring roadmap formulated in 2004. The conservative government (2008~2012), led by President Myung-bak Lee, took a public stance on the privatisation of the railway system, but did not produce the intended outcome, owing to the Korean Railway Workers Union (KRWU)’s strong opposition , including its seven-day strike action. President Geun-hye Park, the eldest daughter of Jung-hee Park, who was the despotic president of the Korean developmental regime (1961-1979), was elected in December 2012, drumming up strong support from conservative political groups and elderly people. During the period of the presidential campaigns, in responding to the KRWU’s open inquiry concerning her policy plan for the railway system, President Park made clear that she opposed the privatisation of...

Report: Kenya's anti-union highway

the KLDTDAWU called on the ITF family for international solidarity support. The ITF immediately launched a campaign calling for an end to the violence and for the company to negotiate with the union. The first step was to raise the flag and stop the police aggression. The ITF’s General Secretary, acting on behalf of 4.5 million transport workers, contacted the CEO of Agility Logistics and urged the company to negotiate with workers . Meanwhile, the ITF set about spreading the word amongst the union family about the shocking violence Agility workers faced for demanding their rights. A LabourStart campaign was launched and within two days more than five thousand people sent a message to CEO Tarek Abdul Aziz Sultan calling for respect and union recognition. At the end of March an ITF monitoring team, accompanied by an official from the Britain’s UNITE the Union, arrived in Kenya to meet with the Agility CEO in Kenya, Kola Saibaba. The team gathered evidence and workers’ stories needed for a strategic campaign. In Nairobi, the team met with truck drivers and mechanics at Agility’s Gilgil Road depot and the Agility warehouse at Broadway. The ITF team also travelled to meet with workers at the Agility branch in Mombasa. At the Gilgil Road depot, workers told the ITF about their unsafe and unfair working conditions. “We are working 24/7. When it comes to accidents we just take care of ourselves. When it comes to payment, it’s very little . We have families and we can’t make it with this salary”, explained Ronald, an Agility Logistics trucker based in Nairobi. At the Broadway warehouse , workers told the ITF that their jobs were to be outsourced with only a few days notice and that their new employer was trying to force them to sign a new contract, which failed to give any information about their new terms and conditions . Workers feared that they could be forced to work in different locations far away from their homes. Workers also reported that management had required them to work an extra three hours, apparently in an attempt to prevent them meeting the ITF team. Then, in Mombasa, four Agility workers, who were active members of the union, told the ITF that they had recently received notice that they would be transferred to new workplaces. The workers reported that they were given only nine days’ transfer notice. Truck drivers involved in the recent strike also complained that they were facing reprisals from management. They reported that they had been sent on journeys without enough fuel, leading to some of them becoming stranded. Agility told its workers that their salaries would be delayed, a move which workers regarded as retaliation for the recent strike. Drivers who had been involved Agility Logistics workers demand decent work and a voice at work INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 18 Volume 22 Issue 2 2015 ISABEL CORTES, International Transport Workers' Federation, London T ruck drivers, warehouse and clerical workers in Kenya are demanding a voice at work and safe and fair working conditions. They are all employees at Agility Logistics, one of the world’s largest logistics companies, headquartered in Kuwait. Together they facilitate the flow of goods on Kenya’s Northern Corridor, a key route linking land-locked Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi with Kenya’s maritime port of Mombasa. Agility joins a list of companies operating in this region that are notoriously anti-union. In March this year a group of Agility truckers began a peaceful protest against excessive working hours, intimidation and denial of union recognition. Police responded with violence and intimidation. Four months later, following a call for international solidarity and many broken promises from Agility, the workers and their union, the Kenya Long Distance Truck Drivers and Allied Workers Union (KLDTDAWU) remain determined and are standing firm in their fight for rights along the anti-union highway. The trigger On 3 March, drivers parked their trucks on the main highway between Mombasa and Nairobi in a peaceful protest against excessive working hours, intimidation and denial of union recognition by Agility Logistics. A second group of drivers gathered near to Mai Mahui, on the road between Nairobi and...

A human right curtailed

INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 5 Volume 21 Issue 4 2014 text message following a coordinated sick leave action taken in response to the Turkish government ’s decision to add aviation services to the list of industries where industrial action was prohibited . Turkey currently has one of the worst rates in the International Trade Union Confederation’s (‘ITUC’) Global Rights Index. It is quite clear from these examples that the critical economic role of transport is being used as a pretext to defend the free movement of passengers and goods beyond the rights of people involved in the transportation itself. This trend is especially concerning as transport workers, including those employed in aviation , trucking and commercial seafaring, have some of the most dangerous jobs in the world. This is why the protection of the right to strike under Convention 87 of the International Labour Organisation (‘ILO’) and its enforcement through the ILO’s supervisory mechanisms is particularly important for transport workers. Not only have these supervisory bodies acknowledged the right, they have developed clear principles which have subsequently been relied on by national and regional courts. For example, it has been unequivocally held that the right to strike may only be restricted or prohibited in the public service for those exercising authority in the name of the state or in essential services in the strict sense of the term (that is, services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population). Furthermore, it has also been held that transport generally does not constitute an essential service and that minimum operational services can only be applied to non-essential services in very limited circumstances. Notwithstanding this extensive jurisprudence, the Employers’ Group at the ILO has since 2012 been doing its best to undermine the authority of the ILO’s supervisory mechanisms. Not only has it questioned the mandate and capacity of the Committee of Experts, it has challenged the very existence of a right to strike under Convention 87. The Employers’ continued intransigence has left the Workers’ Group no alternative but to call on the ILO’s Governing Body to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (‘ICJ’) on the question of the existence of a right to strike. There is little doubt that the ICJ will recognise the right’s protection under Convention 87. Railway personnel in Korea and Thailand, Turkish flight attendants and workers all around the world depend on it. There can be no compromise on the right to strike. There can be no compromise on human rights. “I t is good to finally shake your hand; the last time I saw you, I was in prison”. These were the poignant words Myounghwan Kim, President of the Korean Railway Workers’ Union (‘KRWU’), greeted me with when we met at the International Transport Workers’ Federation’s 43rd Congress in Sofia earlier this year. Indeed, the last time we spoke, we had to do it through a prison intercom system as Kim, along with other leaders of the KRWU, was being detained for organising a strike in opposition to rail privatisation. Despite complying with all ‘essential services’ requirements under Korean law, the authorities declared the action illegal even before it began. Kim and his colleagues are now facing so-called ‘obstruction of business’ charges which carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison or a fine not exceeding 15 million won (US$14,000). Furthermore, the state rail operator is pursuing a damages suit against the union and its leaders for 16.2 billion won (US$16 million) together with separate proceedings for alleged ‘damage to brand value’ amounting to 1 billion won (US$990,000). These legal actions are just the tip of the iceberg . Hundreds of strikers have been dismissed or relocated and the union’s assets have been seized by the authorities. All this simply because the KRWU sought to defend its members from an ill-conceived privatisation drive that would have heavily diluted terms and conditions of employment . What this example illustrates is that despite being a fundamental human right enshrined in international law, the right to strike is certainly not guaranteed...

Intersecting arcs of mobilisation: The transnational trajectories of Egyptian dockers’ unions

This commentary explores the development of Egypt’s dockers’ unions since February 2011 in terms of two interlinked trajectories. On the one hand, the Egyptian revolution has provided the primary impetus for dockers’ industrial activism, as, like many other workers throughout Egypt, they have taken advantage of the political space suddenly opened up. However, although the Egyptian revolution may seem the most obvious driving force behind the growth of unions on the country’s docks, these advances also conform to a regional pattern. Since 2007 a campaign by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has seen new unions formed and collective bargaining rights won in many ports across the region, including in Bahrain, Jordan and Morocco. It is argued that the technical and industrial resources made available through the ITF’s activities and networks have, therefore, played an important role. The uncertain political environment in Egypt, however, threatens to stunt both the growth of independent unions, and curtail the support they receive from the international labour movement.

Report: Rights at Sea

REPORT ❐ MARITIME WORKERS’ LEGAL RIGHTS or not. The challenge now is to make it work and to make it universal. Each and every one of us has a job to do to put pressure on those countries that still haven’t ratified . Ratification and clear implementation will give this Convention the force it deserves and help ensure that seafarers everywhere finally get the rights and recognition that they need and deserve. The ITF has promised to dedicate all its resources to helping it make real changes to the lives of all seafarers. The ITF recognises the MLC as the first ever true bill of rights for those working at sea. The ITF has worked alongside shipping organisations, the ILO and governments for over a decade to jointly create and shape the MLC, and is committed to monitoring and assisting its implementation and persuading many more countries to ratify it. For nations in the Asia Pacific region, which supplies the majority of the world’s seafarers and where the bulk of global sea trade is concentrated , the MLC will underpin new seafarer employment opportunities and is a key plank in the global shipping regulatory framework designed to secure the future of a high quality and competitive shipping industry. It has been a hard-won victory to reach this moment. Now the same coalition of the ILO, unions, maritime organisations and governments have to continue to jointly build on and support the convention, and make sure that as many countries as possible ratify this landmark piece of legislation. The ITF is supporting the MLC’s launch with a range of advice and materials designed to help seafarers understand and apply it. These include a dedicated web area complete with advice and Q&As at www.itfmlc.org; a new leaflet for all those working on cruise ships, The Maritime Labour Convention 2006 – what does it mean for cruise crews, which can be downloaded at www.itfglobal.org/infocentre/pubs.cfm; and more, including the previously published, in-depth guide A seafarers’ bill of rights, available at www.itfglobal.org/infocentre/pubs.cfm/detail/23556. The MLC is also welcomed in a short film featuring Paddy Crumlin and Steve Cotton, which can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CmXhW-JSA4. The ITF is also collaborating fully with the ILO’s welcoming publicity around the MLC, which can be seen at www.ilo.org/global/standards/maritime-labour -convention. Rights at Sea Every ship over 500 gross tonnage operating internationally will have to have a maritime labour certificate issued by its flag administration following an inspection INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 24 Volume 20 Issue 3 2013 Steve Cotton is Acting General Secretary at the International Transport Workers’ Federation (‘ITF’) in London The ITF is committed to making the MLC a success for seafarers. To find out more please visit www.itfmlc.org W e’ve been waiting over a decade to say this, and now we can: as of 20 August, a seafarers’ bill of rights exists. The Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (‘MLC’) has come into force. The MLC lays out minimum rights for seafarers and promotes good employment practices across the shipping industry. It incorporates and builds on 68 existing maritime labour conventions and recommendations to ensure decent working and living conditions. The Convention also stipulates that everyone working on board a cruise ship making international voyages is a seafarer and is entitled to the protections it guarantees. These include the right to a safe and secure workplace; fair terms of employment; decent living and working conditions ; access to medical care, health protection and welfare. The MLC has been described as the fourth pillar of shipping regulation, alongside The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (‘SOLAS’), the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships (‘Marpol’) and the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Convention (‘STCW’). The new instrument is intended to be strictly enforced by flag states and port state control. It should provide a ‘one stop shop’ for labour standards. This will mean that all seafarers should be able to enjoy comprehensive protection of their fundamental rights, and it should also ensure good employment practice across the industry...

“The Ships Must Sail on Time”: Histories of Longshore Workers and Why Their Unions Still Matter

Before dawn on Sunday morning, June 20, 2010, upwards of one thousand people gathered near the Port of Oakland, an industrial, sometimes barren section of west Oakland. They then converged on four gates operated by the Stevedore Services of America, one of the main shipping companies on the US Pacific coast and in the world. The protesters were awaiting the arrival of an Israeli cargo vessel in order to protest Israel's ongoing blockade of the Palestinian residents of Gaza as well as the recent Israeli assault on Turkish vessels in the Mediterranean that had resulted in the deaths of nine civilians, part of an international group sympathetic to the Gaza Palestinians. For hours activists protested, including a chant that referenced both the Wobblies and antiapartheid struggle: “An injury to one is an injury to all, bring down the apartheid wall.” Crucially—and not coincidentally—members of Local 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) refused to cross this picket line, citing safety reasons. After several hours of negotiations, an arbitrator agreed with the ILWU members that the situation could cause harm to the workers, who therefore could not be punished for not unloading the vessel. Subsequently, the Zim (Israeli shipping line) vessel departed from San Francisco Bay, looking to be unloaded in nearby Monterey Bay. Simultaneously, dock unions in Norway, South Africa, Sweden, and Turkey—all members of The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF)—also announced that they would join the “Boycott against Israel campaign.” These dramatic, militant, and overtly political actions by longshore workers across the globe are not unprecedented—at least for union dockers—though they are almost unheard of in the twenty-first century for other sorts of workers on any continent.

Sweatshops at Sea: Merchant Seamen in the World's First Globalized Industry, from 1812 to the Present (review)

Reviewed by: Sweatshops at Sea: Merchant Seamen in the World's First Globalized Industry, from 1812 to the Present James P. Kraft Sweatshops at Sea: Merchant Seamen in the World's First Globalized Industry, from 1812 to the Present. By Leon Fink. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011. 288 pp. $34.95 (cloth). Labor historians have studied myriad occupational groups, almost all of which are "landlubbers." In this interesting new book, Leon Fink focuses on seafarers, and more specifically on their changing conditions of employment. Sweatshops at Sea: Merchant Seamen in the World's First Globalized Industry, from 1812 to the Present, shows how a host of American and British labor laws gradually abolished sweatshop-like conditions in the commercial shipping business. It also shows, however, that contemporary maritime workers still face major problems and challenges. The book relies on a wealth of primary and secondary sources, from trade union records and parliamentary debates to fictional accounts of life at sea. The result is a meaningful contribution to labor and maritime history. The work begins in the early nineteenth century, when the British Royal Navy boarded scores of American merchant ships for the purpose of impressing alleged deserters. By the War of 1812, the Royal Navy had impressed several thousand American sailors (typically the most skilled and capable). The practices of "press gangs" riled up British and American citizens, and brought much needed attention to conditions of employment in shipping. After the war, social reformers increasingly championed "sailor's rights," insisting that public authorities apply national principles to the high seas. In the 1830s and 1840s, the British Parliament finally dismantled a longstanding regulatory regime that showed little regard for the safety and welfare of maritime labor. Parliament consolidated new maritime regulations in the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, which further liberalized the British economy. The United States had already embraced relatively liberal, "free-trade" principles, but had done little to advance the welfare and safety of its own maritime workers. Nineteenth-century novels spoke pointedly to the paternalistic and often brutal nature of labor relations in the nation's shipping industry. The riveting, sea-based stories of "realist" writers like Herman Melville and Richard Henry Dana described the tyrannical relationship between many shipmasters and the men they commanded, and thus added momentum to campaigns against sailor abuse. By the Civil War, Congress had passed several bills that improved the lives of seafarers, including legislation that regulated the practices of port-city boardinghouses, where "crimps" had their own ways of exploiting seafarers. Efforts to improve conditions at sea often collided with sectional concerns. Southern legislators successfully [End Page 443] blocked efforts to allow free black sailors to leave ships that docked in Southern ports, and almost prevented Congress from passing a naval appropriation bill that included an anti-flogging measure. The conditions of seafarers were intimately connected to race relations in the South, and to disciplinary practices on Southern plantations. The future of ordinary seamen looked bright in the early twentieth century. In Great Britain, new legislation had not only provided seafarers with better living accommodations but also eight-hour work shifts and representation on new maritime agencies. It had also required shippers to prove that their ocean-going vessels were "seaworthy" (and not "coffin ships"), which reduced the high casualty rate among seamen. American officials soon passed similar legislation, including a bill that prohibited the imprisonment of maritime workers for desertion. Of the various legislators who supported such reforms, none was more important than Samuel Plimsoll or his American counterpart Robert La Follette. Both men championed sailors' rights in the face of fierce opposition from shippers and conservative politicians, who saw this liberal activism as an attack on the basic foundations of free enterprise. Trade unions played a major role in this story, especially the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). Established in 1896, the London-based labor organization brought a variety of transportation workers under a single umbrella, including dockworkers as well as ordinary seamen. An ITF strike against ocean liners and shipping associations in 1911 produced tangible benefits for the union and created a new sense of global solidarity among maritime workers. But the coming of...

Organising, politics and education

FOCUS □ TRADEUNIONEDUCATION Organising, politics and education The roleoftrade unioneducation has been consciously recognised bythe ITFas a necessary and integralpartof the process to repositionunions and defendrights ALANA DAVE IsEducation Officer with the International Transport Workers Federation In London At the Federation theITF International global (ITF) Congress adopted Transport in1998, Mobilising affiliates Workers' of the InternationalTransport Workers' Federation (ITF) adopted Mobilising Solidarity , a programme whichasserted theneed to developa strategic responseto the negative impact ofneoliberal transport restructuring on the rights oftransport unions andworkers world-wide. This programme providedthe foundation from whichthemajority ofsubsequent policydecisions have evolved resulting in the current Strong Unions, Sustainable Transport policyframework. Since1998,thescaleoftransport restructuring and theaccompanying shifts in employment relationshipsand rights, has necessitated a muchdeeper, morecritical interrogation ofunionapproaches to organising, bargaining andcampaigning. Significantly, theroleoftradeunioneducation has been consciously recognised bytheITF as a necessary andintegral part oftheprocesstoreposition unionsand defendrights. Withtheshift in approach of the ITF articulatedinitiallyin Mobilising Solidarity , came a redefinition of the federation's education work. TheITF'sOrganising Globally- Fighting for our Rightsprogramme states: 'ITFeducation workhas changeddrastically .Previously mainly delivering basictradeunion educationcoursesfordeveloping countries, itis now dealingwiththeglobalrestructuring in the transport industry, industrial priorities of ITF industrial sections, and building organising, analytical and campaigning capacityon a regional, subregional and globallevel.Bothindustrialised anddeveloping countries aretargeted'. However,thereare severalchallengeswhich need to be faced forthe ITF to delivertrade unioneducationwhichleads to actionand ultimately contributes to socialchange.Firstly, how to developan educational approachto strategic organising. Secondly, how to bringpoliticsand ideologyintothefederation's tradeunioneducation discourse.And thirdly, how to link the processof educationto organisational developmentand growth atglobaland national levels. Educationand organising Organising inthetransport sectortakesdifferent forms, from international organising acrossbordersin multinational companiesor alongtransportcorridors , to organising a particular occupationalgroupofworkers within one company, to organising workerswithno clear employment relationships. Mostimportantly, andregardless of the formof organising, it is the workerswho need to be readyfororganising and driveand control thecampaign from below.Thisapproach presentsa politicalchallengeforinternational organisations, whereorganising priorities agreed ata globallevelmight ormight notcoincidewith thereadiness andmoodofrank-and-file workers and unionmembers to assertand defendtheir rights. In suchsituations, cantradeunioneducationcreatetheconsciousness necessary forinternationalorganising campaigns,or do workers and unionsturn to tradeunioneducation when thereare alreadyhighlevels of consciousness creating a demandand searchfornew ideas, skillsand strategies? These are the conceptual questions whichhavetobe asked,so that we can better understand thepossibilities andlimitations ofeducation fororganising at different moments and indifferent contexts. Whena unionor groupofworkers decidesto organise, thereshouldbe a close and dynamic interrelationship between theorganising strategy of a unionanditsformal andinformal education programme . However, often therolethateducation can playis too narrowly defined. In manycases, thelink between education andorganising isinterpreted as theneed to train organisers. Whilst the training oforganisers isindeedessential, education should not be limitedsolelyto thisfunction. Education mustplaya rolein everyaspectofa union's life, so as toincrease andstrengthen workers 'participation and control - building effective leaders,strengthening democratic structures and stimulating an active, involved andpolitically consciousmembership whoareprepared toarticulate andfight for working classrights andinterests. Likewise at an international level,thedifferent facetsof theITF'soveralleducation programme, needto be understood holistically inrelation to a globalorganising agenda. Whilst someprogrammes might be tailor-made to support theeducational needsofspecific organising projects, broader education programmes ona widerange ofissues affectingtransport arejustas essential tobuilding a cultureofsolidarity andorganising amongst affiliates. The participatory and collaborative practices of tradeunioneducationenablescollective knowledge , commoninterests and sharedneeds to emerge whichought todrive international organising campaigns. Without thisdeeper processof knowledgebuildingunderpinning international organising campaigns, theability to win internationalunionrights as well as to exercisethem, couldbe seriously weakened.An appreciation of themeaning ofthisprocessis captured byArlette Gayfrom an ITF affiliate in Chile:"Inorganising, thefirst thing we do is to shareinformation with other workers tobuilddeep confidence with each other and to buildtherealand deep solidarity of workers actingcollectively. Organising is fundamentally aboutbuilding thebase oftheunionand thedemocratic structures. Organising helpsmake ourunions moredemocratic". In relation to specific organising targets, there are particular educational challenges. Likeother unionorganisations, ITF affiliates arefacedwith INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 6Volume 19Issue 1201 2 thechallenge oforganising growing numbers of precarious and informal transport workers. The findings of an ITF global researchprojecton organising informal transport workers showthat unioneducation programmes mustbe specifically tailoredto addressthe needs and rights of informal workers. In manycases,unionorganisersand educators withexperience oforganising andeducation forformal workers finditdifficult to relateto the situation of informal workers. Thusthetraining oforganisers andactivists needs toaddress theparticular issues,situations anddifficulties of organising informal workers such as overcoming suspicion andbad experiences, dealingwithunionplurality , overcoming theoppositionoftheemployers or authorities, motivating workers tojoinunions, understanding their interestsandrights , andfinding thetimeandplaceto meetwithinformal transport workers. Educating, building capacity and empowering leadersintrade...

The Role of Organised Labour in Preventing a ‘Race to the Bottom’ for Filipino Seafarers in the Global Labour Market

AbstractThe aim of this article is to demonstrate how organised labour at both the national and global level can influence the nature of global labour markets. This aim is achieved through an empirical investigation of the restructuring of the global labour market for Filipino seafarers, and the influence of the Associated Marine Officers and Seamen’s Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in this restructuring process. The article concludes that despite the global attack on labour unions, organised labour continues to be a powerful agent in preventing ‘a race to the bottom’ for Filipino seafarers working conditions and wages.

Collective Labour Law after Viking, Laval, Rüffert, and Commission v. Luxembourg

The judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the International Transport Workers’ Federation and Finnish Seamen’s Union v Viking Line ABP and OÜ Viking Line Eesti (hereinafter ‘Viking’), Laval un Partneri Ltd v Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet and Others (hereinafter ‘Laval’), Dirk Rüffert, in his capacity as liquidator of the assets of Objekt und Bauregie GmbH & Co. KG v Land Niedersachsen (hereinafter ‘Rüffert’), and Commission v. Luxembourg cases have given rise to much criticism. The ECJ has given priority to free movement principles over fundamental collective labour rights. In this contribution, the author analyzes the consequences of these judgments for the collective labour law of the Member States. Some Member States will have to adapt their labour law. It must not be overlooked that the ECJ also offers support for collective labour rights. For the fi rst time, the right to bargain collectively and the right to take industrial action have been recognized as fundamental rights in EU law. Moreover, the ECJ explicitly recognizes that the protection of jobs and employment conditions of workers is an overriding reason of public interest, which can justify collective actions restricting the fundamental freedoms of the Treaty.

Vale Inco Miners

REPORTn VALEINCOMINERS Vale Inco Miners Striking workers fromCanada were invitedto testify about their struggleto a foreign government 8,000 kilometres away KEN NEUMANN Is National Director for Canada, United Steelworkers A America, few United days Steelworkers to ago, meet I was with delegation honoured Brazilian to to Senators lead South a UnitedSteelworkers delegationto South America, to meetwithBrazilianSenators who have expressedconcernovertheplight of Canadianmineworkers. Itwas an extraordinary event - striking workers from Canadainvited to testify abouttheir labour struggle toSenators ofa foreign government more than8,000kilometres away.Notto mention the fact that Brazilian Senators voicedsupport forthe Canadianminers, whoareembroiled ina historic strike against ValeInco,subsidiary ofBrazil-based ValeSA,theworld'ssecond-largest mining company ."I wantto offer myfullsolidarity to the workers of Canada", Senator Paulo Paim exclaimed intheBrazilian Congress inNovember, whenhe calledfora hearing intotheValeInco strike. "Forthe record,I feelindignant at how Valeis behaving overthere", Senator PauloPaim said. "Fromthe reportI have heard,thisis a humanrights issue.You can counton thissenator 'ssupport and,I'm sure,on thesupport of a significant majority ofmembers ofCongress. Your struggle is ourstoo,whichis thefight forworkers 'andretirees' rights". Thestrike against Valeby3,500Canadianmine workers is now intoitssixth month. The dispute was provoked byValewhen,despiteitsmassive profitability, itdemandeddeep concessions from workers' bonuses,pensionsandjob andseniority protections. The demandsforconcessionsfromworkers werecontrasted byhugesalary increases for Vale management. The company's top six executives receivedpay increasesof 121 percentin two years, together pulling downUS $33 million last yearalone! The attack on workers also cameon theheels ofValeInco reaping record profits - US $4.2billionovertwoyears .Theseearnings weregreater thanthecombined profits earnedbypredecessor Inco Ltd.overthepreviousdecade. The wealth generated byValeIncoworkers alsohelpedVale's globaloperations earna record profit of$13.2billionin 2008.Eventhrough theglobaleconomic crisis, Vale remains remarkably profitable. As of thespring of 2009,ithad cash assetsofUS $22 billion.In thethird quarter ofthisyear,itsaftertax profits rose 112 percentfromthe previous quarter, to US $1.7 billion.AndVale executives predicted thecompany's earnings willcontinue to rise. Valealso admitted in itsthird-quarter financial report that itaccepteda combined $518million in lostrevenueand extraexpensesduring thefirst twoanda half months ofthestrike itprovoked in Canada.Thecompany's report notedthat "dueto thestrike" inCanada,itlost"$319million ofrevenue fromreducedsales" and incurred "extra expensesof$209million". Allofthesefinancial reports onlyreinforce the fact that Valedoes notneedconcessions from its workers. Itsdemandsclearly reflect an agendaof extracting ever-greater amountsof wealthfrom Canada'sresource-based communities, attheconsiderableexpenseofworkers , their families and thosecommunities as a whole. Unprecedentedsolidarity Therefore, while it may be unprecedented for Canadianstrikers to be invited to appear at a Brazilian Senatehearing, thisdevelopment makes eminent sense. It underscores thefactthatthe strike againstVale represents a battleforrights and livingstandards thatis relevant to working peopleandcommunities inallcountries inwhich Valeandsimilarly-motivated corporations operate. Italso highlights theunprecedented scopeand success of an international solidarity campaign launchedbytheUnited Steelworkers prior tothe beginning ofthestrike, whenitwas clearworkers 'rights andliving standards wereatrisk dueto Vale'sagenda. WhenValebought IncoLtd.in2006,theUnited Steelworkers knewwe were no longerdealing witha Canadiancompany withlong-running ties toourcommunities andcommitments toourlocal economies.We werefacing a multinational corporationprimarily concernedwith generating profits forinvestors, withlittle regard forCanada orCanadianworkers. BecauseVale'smanagement, topinvestors and mostimportant relationships werein Brazil, we knewwe had to be there, too. Longbefore the strike began,theUSWdiligently worked tobuild strong relationships withmajorunionsin Brazil that represent Valeworkers. Whenthestrike started ,we hittheground running. In July,USW International President Leo W. Gerard signedan agreement with Artur Henrique da SilvaSantos, President ofCUTBrazil, thecountry 's largest tradeunion,forming a strategic partnershipto supportworkersin theirrespective negotiations withVale. In the ensuingmonths, we have developed unprecedented solidarity withBrazilianunions. Several USWdelegations havetakenourmessage directly toBrazilian workers andpoliticians, directlyconfronted Vale'smanagement, and convinced theBrazilian government toputpressure onVale. WhileBrazilremains an important front inour globalfight, we alsoareexerting pressure onVale in everypartof theworldwhereitoperates. In the process we've gained incredible levels of globalsupport - from organisations representing morethan168million workers around theworld. USWmembers havechasedVale'sshipments of Canadianminerals acrosstheAtlantic andprotestINTERNATIONAL union rights Page 10 Volume 16Issue 52009 ed at portsin Swedenand Germany, joinedby European allies including the International Federationof Chemical, Energy,Mine and GeneralWorkers' Unions(ICEM),IF Metall,the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF). We'vebeenrepeatedly welcomedintheUK by our sisterunion,Unitethe Union,which has joinedus in confronting Vale at a high-profile investors' conferencein London and helped organise a week-long seriesofactions insupport ofourbattle. Unite also helpedachievetheintroductionof a motionin the British House of Commons supporting the3,500Canadianstrikers andrebuking Vale'sagenda. TheUSWalso hasforged alliances withunions and workers in Australia,Indonesia, New Caledonia, SouthKoreaandAfrica. Unionsrepresenting Valeworkers on Africa...

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? The Viking and Laval Cases in the ECJ

This article analyses the judgements of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Case C-438/05 International Transport Workers' Federation and Finnish Seamen's Union v Viking Line (Judgement 11 December 2007) and Case C-341/05 Laval v Svenska Byggnadsarbetareforbundet (Judgement 18 December 2007). In these cases, the ECJ held that where industrial action infringes an employer's free movement rights under Article 43 EC (freedom of establishment) and Article 49 EC (freedom to provide services), respectively, these Treaty provisions can have horizontal direct effect against the unions organizing the action. Unions may defend themselves against these claims by asserting a right to strike (which the Court recognized as a fundamental right within Community law) but only where they are acting proportionately in the exercise of that right. The article explores the key elements of the ECJ's decisions on direct effect, fundamental rights and proportionality, and draws out some of the implications of these cases for English law. © 2008 Industrial Law Society; all rights reserved.

The War on Europe's Waterfront - Repertoires of Power in the Port Transport Industry

When the European Commission proposed a Directive On Market Access to Port Services in February 2001, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) issued a declaration of war on Europe’s waterfront. To protect established terms and conditions of employment in the port transport industry, the ITF developed a strategy of internationalization that required dock workers to engage in a new politics of scale wrought by globalization. A new repertoire of collective action — based on more effective union articulation (i.e. stronger interrelationships between the workplace, national and international levels of organization) combined with the activities of new labour networks that connected port workers at the trans-national corporation, port range and pan-European levels — enabled dockers to sink the Directive in the European Parliament in November 2003. The dockers’ victory will not be lost on other European unions or indeed other global union federations, although their success will doubtless prove more difficult for other occupational groups to emulate.

Union Networks and Global Unionism in Maritime Shipping

Under the auspices of the International Transport Workers’ Federation’s (ITF) Flag of Convenience campaign, maritime unions have developed transnational global structures exploiting interdependencies in transportation production chains. The ITF, a London-based association of transport unions, connects the struggles of seafarers and port workers through a global strategy of union networking and coordinated industrial action. Seafaring unions draw on the industrial leverage of port workers to negotiate minimum standard pay agreements, while dock unions leverage the growing influence of the ITF in fighting union busting in ports. A global transnational ship inspector network provides the power basis for imposing collective agreements on shipowners. Although conceived as a resource for organizing seafarers, the inspectorate also provides port unions with leverage.

Smoke, Mirrors and Spooks: The International Transport Workers' Federation Vigilance Committees, 1949-1953

Smoke, Mirrors and Spooks: The International Transport Workers' Federation Vigilance Committees, 1949-1953

Global Collective Bargaining on Flag of Convenience Shipping

AbstractThe most significant case of transnational union bargaining co‐ordination in existence is in the maritime shipping industry. A global union association, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), and a global employers’ federation, the International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC), now negotiate over pay scales for seafarers on Flag of Convenience (FOC) ships. These negotiations set the pattern for pay and working conditions for a signifi‐cant portion of the global seafaring work‐force. The ITF brought about global wage bargaining by building and enforcing a global inter‐union consensus between developed and developing countries around a uniform wage rate.

Cabin Pressure

This article examines the recent history of female airline cabin crew. Through an analysis of 'emotional labor', it explores how women workers have successfully challenged and redefined their position and role in the airline industry. The main body of the article discusses the International Transport Workers Federation anti-sexism campaign and British Airways' cabin crew strike, both of which occurred in 1997. These are set in the context of action by cabin crew in the late 1960s and 1970s, and the impact of deregulation and heightened competition in the 1980s and beyond. The central argument is that such competition increased the power of cabin crew and that, despite airlines' increased reliance on emotional labor, cabin crew were able to carve out a new autonomy through struggles over control of their bodies and their jobs.