ITF Dockers News.

Knowledge is power!

Training kicks off for dockers’ organising and negotiating tool

http://www.itfglobal.org/en/news-events/news/2015/april/knowledge-is-power-training-kicks-off-for-dockers-organising-and-negotiating-tool/

“The experience you gain won’t stay in this room, it will be taken back and shared with your colleagues for the real, tangible benefit of workers.”

09/04/2015

That was the opening line from ITF Asia Pacific regional secretary Mahendra Sharma as training on a new dockers’ organising, bargaining and negotiating tool kicked off in Indonesia last week.

Participants from six countries across South and South East Asia, including several ITF inspectors, were among the group being skilled up on the dockers’ port intelligence (DPI) database.

They are the first to be trained on the reworked system which is a space to house information on GNT (global network terminal) ports around the world. This centralised information source allows unions to compare working conditions, collective bargaining agreement terms or wage provisions when they are preparing for bargaining talks or negotiations. They can also use information taken from the database as organising issues.

DPI is a foundation stone of the ITF four lever priorities set out at congress in Sofia in 2014, one of which was organising in hubs and corridors. Mapping and organising in ports has been identified as critical because of their position as hubs, bringing together dockers, truckers, seafarers and railway workers.

Porjead Dangchod, a DPI training participant from the Thai workers’ union, said: “DPI is going to open up the scope of what we can do as a union, particularly around collective bargaining and improving safety standards for workers. We can see what’s going on in ports around the world via this database. This training has been really informative and now we’re going to inform our members about what we’ve been doing and what it means for them. DPI is going to be a powerful tool for us.”

Three more regional training sessions are planned for 2015 with the aim to have 20 percent of ITF dockers’ unions using the database by the end of the year. 

Cotton hails ‘momentous day’ for Myanmar labour movement

http://www.itfglobal.org/en/news-events/news/2015/april/cotton-hails-‘momentous-day-for-myanmar-labour-movement-(2)/

ITF general secretary Steve Cotton hailed a momentous and historic day for the labour movement in Myanmar when he spoke at the inaugural congress of the Independent Federation of Myanmar Seafarers (IFOMS) on 31 March.

10/04/2015

In the presence of IFOMS union activists, a large international union delegation, Tin Mar Htwe, deputy director general of the Myanmar labour department, and Toe Myint, director of the seafarers division of the ministry of transport, Cotton warmly congratulated the delegates and the newly elected executive committee and officers of IFOMS.

He said: “As Myanmar undergoes a transition towards a more democratic form of government, independent labour unions will be crucial in building a new Myanmar.

“IFOMS has demonstrated its capacity to represent its members but this federation will have an impact far beyond the confines of its growing membership base. Our new affiliate IFOMS is the best possible example to workers in Myanmar on how to build a strong, democratic and effective labour organisation.”

IFOMS’ general secretary Aung Kyaw Linn thanked the ITF for its tremendous support and encouragement and for backing IFOMS despite so much opposition. He called it a fantastic day for all Myanmar seafarers.         

Until recently independent labour unions were proscribed in Myanmar. After a long struggle, IFOMS finally won government recognition as a legitimate union on 6 March. The ITF has been working with the union to build its capacity to operate and organise.

IFOMS is already helping seafarers win back pay claims and compensation in cases involving injuries and death in service, as well as pursuing criminal cases against agents who have stolen and withheld seafarers’ documentation.

One of those who has pushed for the new union is Shwe Aung, who was a Myanmar seafarer and is now an ITF inspector with the Seafarers International Union (SIU) in the United States and the ITF’s IFOMS project coordinator. Read his remarkable story at http://goo.gl/n3Anmb. Shwe commented that he used to despair that Myanmar seafarers would never have an independent and democratic union fighting for their rights but now the activists in IFOMS had built such a union. He added that all Burmese seafarers must now get behind and support the union, and he and his fellow inspectors would spread the message to Burmese crew across the globe: stand together, stand with IFOMS.