As the 46th International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) Congress opens in Marrakech, Morocco, more than 2,000 transport trade unionists from ITF affiliates around the world united to move the world forward.
As delegates of ITF affiliates packed out the main theatre of the Palais des Congrès, they united as one around the reality that the first ITF Congress to be held in the Arab World must not just be about talking – it must be about doing. And what must be done is to build a better future for all transport workers – with no one left behind in the face of the overlapping crises confronting the world.
ITF Vice-President for Women and General Secretary of the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU), Mary Liew, said: “Today, we have come together, from every corner of the globe, to chart a way forward through these turbulent times. Since we last gathered in Singapore, the world has changed in ways we could never have imagined.”
In the five years since the ITF’s 45th Congress in Singapore, transport workers across the ITF’s maritime, land and air sections have confronted the Covid pandemic, the ensuing crew change crisis in shipping, mass layoffs in aviation, the rise of far-right governments, and the devastation wrought by natural disasters and wars around the world, whether in Ukraine, Sudan, Congo, Palestine, Israel or beyond.
The 46th ITF Congress is hosted by Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT – The Moroccan Workers’ Union).
UMT General Secretary, Miloudi Moukharik, said: “This 46th ITF Congress is a historic event in the history of trade unionism. Brothers and sisters, members, guests, this Congress is convened at a critical moment as global crises worsen, impacting economies, logistics and directly threatening the rights of workers globally.
“The presence of youth and women will underscore their rights in the transport sector worldwide. We are the beating heart of transport. It is thanks to you that world economies move forward. Up with activism, with global trade unionism and solidarity!”
ITF General Secretary Stephen Cotton reminded Congress of the vital role played by UMT and other unions across the region – and in France – in fighting colonialism, leading to Morocco winning its independence in 1956.
“Transport workers have always, always been at the forefront of change and challenge,” he said. “Our actions have always transcended borders.”
“Whatever it takes, transport keeps moving, whether it’s medicines, protective equipment, food, energy – always, transport workers are at the forefront.”
The ITF General Secretary explained that as the ITF unites in confronting challenges facing the world over the next five years in order to demand and win change for transport workers, it must have a clear vision.
Cotton outlined the ITF’s uncompromising six demands, to be debated at Congress: Rights, Equality, Safety, Future of Work, Accountability, Sustainability.
“We have new challenges, but as we bring 2,000 people together we hope that we will have new answers. Let’s have debates, the arguments we need to have – but let’s come out of this week with a clear plan that includes all of us.
“It’s our responsibility as trade unionists to make sure that people who suffer rise up and have representation. People are rising up, they are mobilising – and we understand that the world will not change, unless we, the trade unions, give them voice.
“We have to campaign fearlessly, making sure your members have a voice in any forum that has the ability to influence workers’ lives. Let us commit ourselves to this fight, and let’s move the world together.”
ITF President, Paddy Crumlin, praised the role of trade unionism as a collective power in the struggle for freedom, including in shaking off the shackles of colonialism in Morocco.
“We don’t lose our individualism by coming together – we build our spirit, and in building our spirit we build our world,” he said.
“We are a political movement as well as an industrial movement – a movement of courage, empathy, compassion, a movement where no one gets left behind.”
Crumlin explained his belief that there are different types of power.
“There is the power of elitists, of greed, the selfishness of mindless accumulation, regardless of the costs – separating your actions from the outcomes. That’s the power of unregulated, raw, capital.
"Our power is a different power: it is power motivated by injustice, the power to heal and help, to have decency and dignity on the job.
"This is ITF power. This is union power.”
