ITF Panama meeting is launchpad for international action
The ITF has used a high level meeting in
Panama to make major national and international decisions. It chose the country
as the location for its executive board to meet last week in recognition of its
status as a key global transport hub, and in line with Panama’s role in the
ITF’s plans for building the future of work.
24/10/2016
The two day EB meeting, which closed on
Friday afternoon, followed a successful ITF women’s meeting and preceded one by
ITF youth. The executive board – the ITF’s senior decision making body, which
governs it between its four yearly congresses – then addressed an agenda packed
with reports on unions’ work, concerns and challenges worldwide, and formulated
the strategies and tactics to address them.
ITF president Paddy Crumlin explained the choice of location: “Panama is a key
focus for us, and site of a major union-building programme in concert with our
Panamanian member unions. The nation is also an important high growth country,
part of a changing landscape of global trading patterns in which the voices of workers must and will be
heard.
ITF general secretary Steve Cotton applauded the welcome offered by Panama and its trade
unions and the success of the event. He said that Panamanian transport workers
face challenges, but they do not face them alone. He described Panama as an
exciting place with an exciting future and said the ITF would help to to ensure
that that future works for all.
Delegates – who represent transport
workers’ unions around the world – also spoke out publicly on two issues. They
united in condemning TiSA (the Trade in Services Agreement and CETA (the
Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement) and once again raised the alarm
about a culture of privatisation and failure to involve workers that is putting
operations in the new Panama Canal locks at risk.
You can catch up on last week’s events in
Panama on Twitter using the hashtag #ITFPanamaEB and at www.facebook.com/ITFglobal
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