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New Pan African Trade Union to be out-doored
Accra, Nov. 26 Ghanadot/GNA - A new and Pan-African Trade
Unions Organisation would be formed on Tuesday in Accra
following the dissolution of the International Confederation
of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) Africa Regional Organisation
(AFRO), the Democratic Organisation of African Workers Trade
Unions (DOAWTU) and other independent trade unions on the
continent.
The new union termed; International Trade Union
Confederation-United African Regional Organisation
(ITUC-UARO) was established out of the desire to form a
strong, united and competent regional trade union
organisation that could effectively champion the cause Of
the people in face of the numerous problems being engendered
by globalisation.
In November last year, the former ICFTU, of which the ICFTU-AFRO
was the African regional body merged with the former World
Confederation of Labour (WCL) of which DOAWTU was the
African regional organisation to form the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
At the founding congress of the ITUC, the ICFTU-AFRO and
DOAWTU made a pledge to unify within one year in order to
actualize a widely held view among working people worldwide
that unity was necessary to build workers power in order to
effectively and confidently rise up to the challenges of
globalization.
Mr Andrew Kailembo, out-going General Secretary of ICFTU-AFRO
said the union had played a critical role in championing the
cause of Africa workers by \advocating for improved
conditions of Labour through the promotion and defence of
the rights of working people.
He called for the strengthening of the structures of trade
unions on the continent in order to have a unified regional
body that could spearhead the labour and trade issue for the
continent.
Mr. Kailemo also urged trade unions in Africa to continue to
confront the injustices of free trade which, he said, the
was not in the best interest of the working people of the
continent.
He said the exploitation of workers, especially women, in
the emerging export processing zones (EPZs) in several
African countries, provide a concrete demonstration of how
African government were succumbing to the pressure of
unregulated international competition to deny trade union
rights.
He said, the union carried forward its struggle to eliminate
child Labour and ensure that every African child can go to
school and rejected arguments that child labour was
inevitable as well as beneficial to the children concerned
and their families.
Mr. Guy Ryder, General Secretary of ITUC expressed concern
about the liberalization of the public sectors such as
water, power, health and education.
He said the privatization of such essential services would
lead to profit making by Multinational Corporation, which
excluded the poor majority who cannot afford the cost to
access such basic amenities.
He called on the union leaders in Africa to effectively deal
with the concerns and expectations of young workers and
achieving their full integration into trade unions, which is
crucial to strengthening, revitalization, creativity and the
future of the trade unions movement in Africa.
GNA
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