Tag: ITF

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Joint GLI-ITF Initiative on Integrating Labour Impact Assessments into Transport Planning

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and Global Labour Institute (GLI) have announced a new initiative that will see the application of labour impact assessments in transport planning around the world. 

The initiative, announced at the Transforming Transportation conference organised by the World Bank and the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, is supported by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF) as a special study within its research program ‘Informal and Shared Mobility in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. 

The project will launch an action agenda for the application of Labour Impact Assessment approach and methods in the procedures and policies of city authorities, national governments, multilateral development banks, and other international stakeholders which is set to greatly benefit sector actors, transport planners and policymakers concerned with wider reforms in the public transport sector, including informal transport. 

A first stage of the initiative will be reviewing and synthesising findings and methodologies from Labour Impact Assessments of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects in Nairobi, Dakar, Kampala, Accra and Abidjan and other initiatives designed to improve the quality, efficiency and decarbonisation of urban public transport in the informal economy. The synthesis of the major findings, lessons learned and recommendations for sector actors, transport planners and policy-makers concerned with wider reforms will then be produced and presented to major stakeholders. 

The labour impact assessments include participatory research methods, innovative research tools, a broad and inclusive definition of ‘transport worker’ to include all those directly dependent on informal transport for their livelihoods, partnership with local academic institutions, and support for constructive dialogue and engagement between trade unions and transport authorities. 

This initiative is another crucial step in adding workers’ voices to the changes in public transport and ensuring that workers’ livelihoods are protected and improved moving forward. 

Click here to read the full press release.

Click here for more information about GLI’s work on informal transport.

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Article Latest Trade Unions

Global Unions respond to ICJ ruling on Gaza Genocide case

GLI Manchester supports the statement from Global Unions.

The Global Unions signatory below note the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Order issued in the case filed by South Africa against Israel regarding the application of the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip, which demonstrates the vital importance of the international rule of law and effective enforcement.

The ICJ’s binding provisional measures address the urgent need to protect and prevent further harm to the Gazan population. The ICJ and the convention exist to protect human rights and the safety of vulnerable people and rely on the support of the international community. Now is the time to amplify trust in the international legal order.

The Global Unions emphasise the gravity of the situation. Our members in Gaza are being killed while they go about their work including teachers, healthcare workers, transport workers, journalists, UN staff, international aid workers and many others.

We urge Israel to comply with the ICJ’s Order to take immediate steps to prevent acts of genocide, punish incitement to genocide, and facilitate the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

The signatories also request the following actions from the international community:

  • All States Parties to the Genocide Convention to fulfil their obligation to prevent genocide: The UN Security Council and member states must take collaborative action to ensure that the provisional measures are implemented in full.
  • International Criminal Court prosecutor must expedite investigations into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel and Palestinian armed groups: A thorough and independent investigation is crucial to bring perpetrators to justice and prevent future violations.
  • World leaders to prioritise diplomacy and dialogue over violence: Secure the release of all hostages and work towards an immediate and lasting ceasefire that guarantees the safety and security of all Palestinians and Israelis.

While expressing support for the UN’s internal investigation, the people of Gaza and our members depend on the lifesaving support UNRWA provides. The Global Unions urge countries who have suspended their funding of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to re-consider.

The Global Unions below represent millions of workers across all sectors of the economy around the world. We are committed to promoting and protecting human and trade union rights around the world, and we will continue to raise our voices in defence of working people.

Signatory Global Unions

Building and Woodworkers’ International
Education International
IndustriALL
International Federation of Journalists
International Transport Workers’ Federation
Public Services International
UNI Global Union

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Informal Work Latest Report

Abidjan Bus Rapid Transit and Metro: Labour Impact Assessment 

Abidjan faces major problems in passenger transport, most of which is in the informal economy. Services are frequently slow and unreliable, roads are congested and poorly maintained. Most services are provided by numerous gbâkâs (minibuses) and wôrowôros (taxis), mostly old environmentally harmful vehicles operating on a target (‘la recette’) system that encourages dangerously long working hours and on-street competition between drivers.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Metro systems offer the prospect of more efficient, cleaner, and faster passenger transport. At the same time, they potentially threaten the livelihoods of thousands of people who currently depend on the employment provided by the informal transport industry.

This labour impact assessment attempts to build a comprehensive understanding of the composition and characteristics of the workforce, the issues that workers face in their day-to-day work, and detailed illustrations of the microeconomy, as well as an attempt to estimate the number of livelihoods in the transport industry at risk or to be created through the introduction of BRT and Metro.

This report of research was commissioned by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) from Global Labour Institute (GLI) and Université Alassane Ouattara (Côte d’Ivoire).

Click here to read this report in English.

Click here to read this report in French. 

Read this report via Academia.edu here.

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ITF People’s Public Transport Policy

Public transport plays an important role in the lives of women. But it remains male-dominated, both in its design and in its employment. Public transport can only be gender-responsive if there are women employed in the industry and if women are involved in decision-making and policy about public transport.

GLI was commissioned by the International Transportworkers Federation (ITF) to produce a chapter on ‘Women in Public Transport’ to outline it’s vision for women in public transport, and to inform policy proposals on gender equality for the ITFs People’s Public Transport Policy as part of the Our Public Transport programme.

The ITF’s Our Public Transport programme promotes a social model of public transport. A social model includes organisational and employment rights for workers and requires that any expansion of public transport guarantees decent jobs. The People’s Public Transport Policy provides the ITF vision for a social model of public transport. The 28 policy demands relate to six key areas of public transport: public ownership, public financing, employment and decent work, women in public transport, worker control of technology and climate change.

The chapters are based on three sources: existing ITF policies and statements; recent developments and experiences in the urban transport sector; and external contributions from organisations and activists. Each chapter includes case studies, as well as supporting campaign materials and education resources.

The ITF women transport workers’ committee has decided to make this campaign a core pillar of the ITF women’s programme. Gender-related issues and women’s participation and leadership are integrated in every aspect of the OPT programme.

Our Public Transport Programme:

  • works in target cities to strengthen the voices of workers in the development of new urban transport modes, including bus rapid transit (BRT), and in negotiating the transition from informal to formal work
  • campaigns to improve working conditions for all public transport workers – informal transport workers in particular – through increasing their industrial power. This includes building union networks in public transport multinational corporations, developing alliances with passengers, communities and other organisations and promotingwomen’s employment in public transport
  • works to develop an alternative public transport policy – one that is built on public ownership, public financing, decent jobs and union rights for workersThe ITF women transport workers’ committee has decided to make this campaign a core pillar of the ITF women’s programme. Gender-related issues and women’s participation and leadership are integrated in every aspect of the OPT programme.

Click here to read and download the chapter.

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Informal Passenger Transport Beyond COVID-19: A Trade Union Guide to Worker-Led Formalisation

Pictureformalisation

Covid-19 has already had a profound economic and health impact on the lives of millions of informal transport workers, and the crisis shows little sign of abating. As with all crises, it is the most vulnerable in the workforce who have been hit the hardest.

GLI Manchester was commissioned by the International Transportworkers’ Federation (ITF) as a contribution to the ITF’s Our Public Transport (OPT) programme to produce a guide to worker-led formalisation in informal passenger transport.

This guide aims to support unions in both responding to the immediate challenges posed by the pandemic and embarking on new campaigns to positively shape urban transport in the interests of workers, passengers and communities beyond the crisis.

Click here to read the guide.

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Dakar Bus Rapid Transit Report

Dakar 1Dakar Bus Rapid Transit: Labour Impact Assessment Research Report

GLI Manchester is pleased to announce that the Dakar Bus Rapid Transit: Labour Impact Assessment Research Report is now available to view and download in both English and French.

Click here to read this report in English.

Click here to read this report in French.

This is the provisional report of research commissioned by the ITF and undertaken in partnership with the Laboratoire de Géographie Humaine at the University of Dakar (UCAD), and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing & Organizing (WIEGO). It is a contribution to the ITF’s Our Public Transport (OPT) programme.

This project is the second BRT Labour Impact Assessment undertaken on behalf of the ITF. The first, completed in January 2019, was carried out in Nairobi by GLI in partnership with the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Nairobi. This report is available here.

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ITF Nairobi Bus Rapid Transit Report

BRT.jpg-180x110

GLI Manchester is pleased to announce that the Nairobi Bus Rapid Transit Report is now available to view and download.

This report of research has been commissioned for GLI Manchester by the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) as a contribution to the ITF Our Public Transport (OPT) programme.

This report assesses the potential impact of the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit on the workforce of Nairobi’s informal transport (‘matatu’) industry, and seeks to encourage the active engagement of matatu workers’ representatives in shaping a modern, accessible, efficient and environmentally sustainable transport system for the city.

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FILM: “The Power of Informal Transport Workers” – exploding the myth that informal workers can’t be organised

Click above to watch “The Power of Informal Transport Workers“

GLI Manchester is pleased to announce that our new short film, “The Power of Informal Transport Workers“, is now available to watch online.

“The Power of Informal Transport Workers” shows how informal transport workers across the world are organising in trade unions to fight back against precarious and dangerous working conditions.

Produced as part of the ITF Informal Transport Workers Project, which GLI Manchester coordinates on behalf of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the film brings together interviews with union activists from seven different countries who talk about the challenges that informal workers face and the ways in which their unions are building informal worker power.

The film highlights how women workers, who generally occupy the most precarious and poorly paid jobs in the sector, are joining unions to fight back against societal discrimination, sexual harassment and abuse at work.

According to Jodi Evans, ITF Women’s Officer, the pioneering work of unions involved in the ITF Informal Transport Workers Project has “exploded the myth” that informal workers are unorganisable.

The film ends with a powerful call to action by union organiser John Mark Mwanika from ATGWU Uganda who calls on trade unions to embrace mass membership of informal transport workers and to “globally mobilise” around the Informal Transport Workers’ Charter, which demands decent work and union recognition for all transport workers.

Watch the film here: The Power of Informal Transport Workers

Read the Charter in full here: Informal Transport Workers’ Charter

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ITF Informal Transport Workers Project: Report of Activities 2013-14

ITF Report
Click to download

We are pleased to announce that the  ITF Informal Transport Workers’ Project: Report of Activities 2013-14 is now available to view and download.

This report gives an overview of the ITF Informal Transport Workers’ Project, its activities and what has been learned in its first year, 2013-14.

GLI Manchester coordinates the ITF Informal Transport Workers’ Project, which is running from 2013 to 2016, on behalf of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).

Further information, plus news and updates about the project, can be found on the Informal Transport Workers Blog.

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New Informal Workers Blog

blog

Working in partnership with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the Global Labour Institute is very pleased to announce the launch of the “Informal Workers Blog“.

The Informal Workers Blog is intended to form a central online space for the sharing of news, updates, resources, links and other information associated with the ITF Informal Transport Workers’ Project.

The ITF Informal Transport Workers’ Project is being coordinated by GLI on behalf of the ITF and is running from 2013-16.

For further information about the project, take a look at our Informal Workers Project webpage.