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It’s the fifth congress of the European arm of the ITF – the theme this time around is “Fair Transport for Europe – social justice, solidarity, unity.”
The event will focus on transport policy and sustainable transport, labour and trade union rights, organising globally, cross border representation and coordination, and capacity building via training and education. Outcomes will be fed into the ITF congress in Singapore 2018 and help shape the direction of the ETF and ITF for the next congress period.
In addition, a dedicated young transport workers’ conference and a women transport workers’ conference were held on Monday and Tuesday.
Paddy Crumlin, ITF president and dockers’ section chair, will attend the congress. He said: “Across Europe and the whole of the ITF global network, transport workers are facing huge challenges – just look at the ongoing attempts to ‘reform’ port labour right here in Spain, a move that shows no regard for the jobs and lives of ordinary working women and men.
“The mission here this week is to develop and cement the response to these types of challenges and also work together to make the most of our opportunities.
“Transport unions in Europe have a huge amount of clout within their sectors and this congress serves to remind people of that power.”
ETF general secretary, Eduardo Chagas spoke about the event saying: “At this congress the ETF members will shape the future of the ETF and the transport sector in Europe. 3.5 million transport workers count on ETF to eliminate social dumping practices in the sector and improve their working and living conditions. That is at the core of ETF’s as well as ITF’s priority work and we are ready to move Europe forward and fight for fair transport for its workers and citizens.”
You can follow the action live from Barcelona by searching #ETF2017 on social media