Down among the sacks of salt in Abidjan

The bags tear or leak. So the work is done with a low salt level. One of the men talks to us, he is barefoot. His feet look badly battered from the salt attacking them. “Look at me,” he says when we ask what are their main complaints and their most pressing needs. He’s working in a torn T-shirt, dirty ripped trousers. He is the only one in the team wearing gloves. Of the type my wife and I use to work in the garden. Absolutely unsuitable for the heavy and dirty work these men do.

Then a long list of complaints follows. Being sick means not working and therefore no income. Health insurance? Non-existent. Safety equipment: not provided. If they want it then they have to provide it themselves. Unfortunately, they don’t have the money for safety, as wages are extremely low. Every day is uncertain whether they will have work or not. When there are many ships to be unloaded and loaded, they can work. Sometimes there is no work at all or not enough for everyone. Then again, there is no income. Subsistence security? Non-existent.

Our team is affected when we say goodbye to the men. But at the same time, it motivates us to support the dockworkers’ unions. Because there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure these people are able to earn a dignified living.

These are projects we invest in as a Belgian trade union, because we believe we have to put our money where our mouth is. Of course, as a Belgian trade union with just over fifty thousand members, you can’t perform miracles, let alone financially support all starting trade unions in the global South.

On the other hand, it is too easy to make grand analyses without also taking action. In this sense, the slogan is right: solidarity is not just a word, it is an attitude, a behaviour. We have therefore set up – in collaboration with the ITF – two projects to support African trade unions from our sectors.

And let’s be honest: our partners in Africa do not need paternalistic partners from Europe. Yet they could do with our help. At the same time we can learn quite a lot from them. It is a partnership among equals.

Bound for solidarity

Our adventure in Kenya started in 2015. At the request of the ITF, we started a cooperation project with the Dock Workers Union (DWU) and the truckers’ union, the Kenyan Long Distance Truck Drivers Union (KLDTDU). It was not always smooth sailing, but we are proud of what we achieved together with them. With funding from my union and sponsored by the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in Belgium, we have done useful work.

Our comrades in Kenya set up study circles for transport workers, organised empowerment for women union militants, ran membership recruitment campaigns and strengthened social dialogue wherever possible. In doing so, they drew on the expertise that the PANAF programme has been developing in Africa for more than 30 years. This programme is the oldest and largest cooperation programme to do with workforce education in Africa. A lot of prominent trade union militants started their trade union careers in those study circles. I am very proud of the fact that the confederation of which my union is a member is also one of the partners of the PANAF programme.

They were also able to see the advantages and disadvantages of the Belgian approach thanks to a study visit in Belgium. Plus they picked up what they thought they could use in their own union work. We are proud of this project and we firmly believe that it is a useful one. For our partners, but also for ourselves. After each study visit, I return to Belgium with recharged batteries, with new ideas, with inspiration and, above all, with new motivation and conviction. After all, cooperation is a two-way street.

Romano is one of the unionists we work with in Kenya. He looks like a stocky battering ram. Together with his comrades from the KLDTDU, he is trying to organise the international truckers into a union. This is a very difficult task in his country. Many employers do not want to know about unions and therefore do everything they can to keep union representation out of the workplace.

Our cooperation project in Kenya has since been extended for another period and will continue until 2026. The aim of this project is for workers to become better organised and so join the union. This is so that they can assert their rights through social consultation and improve working conditions sustainably. This is often very difficult, because many companies would rather see the union go than come, just like with us in Belgium.

Other objectives of this project are to involve more women in union work at all levels and to raise awareness among workers about the risks of HIV. This is often accompanied on the ground by a general narrative about greater safety at work. Detailed reports keep us regularly updated on progress made.

KLDTDU Mombasa, which organises truckers, currently has 2,000 members who pay their union dues. Recruitment among truckers is difficult given the mobile nature of the profession. For this reason, the union has moved its office to a busy road where there is heavy truck traffic so that it can be easily accessible to their members. They are currently pushing for defensive driving courses and driver safety in general. Most accidents involving truck drivers happen mainly at night on unlit roads. Also across national borders, truck drivers were often victims of violence. The union is trying to make drivers more aware of dangers on the road and is also working with the unions of neighbouring countries to increase driver safety. Which is why, at border crossings, they now also work with local KLDTDU representatives. Distributing information to drivers, they do so mainly through the aforementioned study circles, which work around concrete work situations to find solutions to problems.

The DWU has been having tough times as the government attempts to privatise the port at Mombasa. They are fighting the good fight, keeping in mind that possible privatisation could lead to loss of members and hence loss of income. But that does not stop them from enthusiastically continuing their programme with the intention of involving even more women and young people in their operation.

Strengthening the dockworker and trucker unions in Abidjan

The project was actually supposed to start as early as 2020, but was temporarily put on hold as the situation was quite explosive in Côte d’Ivoire after the elections in October that year. After that, everything was again put on hold due to the Covid pandemic. Meanwhile, a number of necessary changes have been made and the five-year project finally started in 2022. The focus of the project is on five unions operating at the port of Abidjan.

There are two unions of port workers and three unions of truckers. The strategic objective of this project is broadly similar to the project in Kenya – i.e. to strengthen the trade union clout of port workers and truck drivers in order to strengthen and promote decent work for workers in both sectors.

The project objectives are clearly defined. Strengthening trade unions in terms of leadership, organising, negotiating and campaigning. Increasing the participation of women and youth in trade union activities and in leadership structures is also on the agenda. Strengthening and promoting decent work by improving both working and living conditions (through social dialogue to improve trade union rights, job creation and social protection) is, of course, the first priority. Improving cooperation, solidarity and unity between truck drivers and dock workers can only enhance the strength of both groups.

The goal to be achieved at the end of the project is also clear: to have a properly functioning Women’s and Youth Committee in place. A completed course of study circles on various topics such as negotiation, leadership qualities, campaigning, membership recruitment, communication and decent work.

The power of bilateral cooperation

We recently signed a cooperative agreement with the Korean union KPTU-Trucksol. We also have a common goal in mind: the defence and improvement of truck drivers’ wages, conditions and rights, road safety for the travelling public and the sustainability of the road transport sector in our respective countries and worldwide. The political, economic and social context and industrial relations in which our two unions operate are very different. Yet we also face similar challenges due to deregulation of the road transport market, concentration of power among companies at the top of road transport supply chains (economic employers) and extensive subcontracting, creating a situation of unfair competition for road transport workers that is dangerous and unsustainable.

In this context, truck drivers in both our countries face competition from drivers with worse working conditions, lower wages, more job insecurity and more pressure to engage in unsafe practices on the road. These pressures threaten the wellbeing of drivers and their families and make the roads dangerous for all.

Both our unions believe the solution to these problems lies in:

– ensuring that economic employers pay a fair and safe price for transport that covers all social costs and that they take responsibility for
upholding fair and safe labour standards in their supply chains,

– organising and building solidarity among workers in road transport supply chains.

In other words, safe tariffs and greater accountability of economic employers are the answer to how to create a fair, safe and sustainable road transport sector. The positive experience with South Korea’s system of secure tariffs between 2020 and 2022 and the experience with similar systems in other parts of the world confirm that.

As trade unionists, we embrace the idea that “Everyone belongs to this world and the world belongs to everyone” with open hearts and a firm commitment to justice. Our mission goes beyond the workplace; it extends to the broader community and society at large. We recognize that workers’ rights are human rights and that our solidarity transcends borders. By championing global solidarity, addressing inequality, and advocating for the well-being of all, we strive to create a world where everyone truly belongs and shares in the world’s abundance.

This is an absolute necessity. Around 720 million workers earn less than 2.15 dollars a day. 4.1 billion people cannot count on any form of social protection.

On a global level, we face a choice: either we retreat behind high walls and hope that the problems will resolve themselves, or we recognise the many global challenges and take action. Some argue that we are powerless in the face of all these challenges. Or that trying to find solutions is like throwing money down the drain.

Fortunately, many of us, like the trade unions, still understand that the world doesn’t work like that. Events that affect the rest of the world, such as a new virus from a daily market, a latent conflict that escalates, or a forest that disappears, all have a direct impact on our daily lives. Instead of looking in the other direction, we choose to face the world with our eyes wide open and solve problems together.

I believe that one of our priorities is to build on the foundations of a strong welfare state through international solidarity. This is what we are doing in practical terms in our partner countries through healthcare, education and decent work.

Quality education for boys and girls is the best way to move a society forward. Knowledge empowers young people around the world and makes them healthier. It also enables them to find better jobs, which benefits not only their families, but their communities in general.

When extremists are in power, the welfare state retreats. Girls’ and women’s rights are the first to be threatened. And when girls and women are oppressed, society as a whole is impoverished. The Taliban regime of terror in Afghanistan is the most painful example of this.

In the face of these extremes, we need to establish a counterweight. According to the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) World Rights Index 2022, the number of countries restricting freedom of expression and assembly has risen by 41%. The acquisition of political and social rights benefits local populations throughout the world. This is another priority for Belgian development cooperation. We created the Civic Space Fund to support civil society in our partner countries. The aim is to help social organisations or human rights defenders in regions where civil society is oppressed.

Solidarity is not a question of choice in which we must either invest in our own society or help people in precarious situations in the rest of the world. Nor is international solidarity a question of charity. It’s simply a question of common sense. By helping people around the world, we are helping ourselves. When we invest in international solidarity, we are investing in our shared future.

The section headed “everyone belongs to the world and the world belongs to everyone” touched me in particular, also because I can testify, from my position in the front row, to the importance of international trade union cooperation for workers’ representative organisations in Kenya. Kenya is a magnificent country in East Africa. I first set foot there in 1985 and since then, it has become a bit like my second home. It is a country where the gap between rich and poor is still huge, although it has narrowed, not least because the middle class has grown, thanks to the many efforts made by the government and international cooperation.

Thanks to better access to education and employment, including for girls and women, many things have improved, but there is still a long way to go, especially in rural areas and
poor urban neighbourhoods. Social security is in its infancy. A person who loses their job has no income, because the minimum income that we are familiar with unfortunately does not exist for most Africans. Nor do they benefit from health insurance or pensions, which leaves many people in difficulty, particularly the most vulnerable in society. This plight was underlined during the Covid pandemic: following the lockdowns and worldwide travel ban, tourism, a major source of income for this magnificent country with its immense nature reserves and beaches, collapsed. Many people have lost their jobs, leading to an increase in poverty, with all its consequences, particularly for women and girls.

Inequality remains a major problem throughout the world, not only between poor and rich countries, but also within the same region or country. Some indicators, such as maternal mortality, teenage pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence, are once again heading in the wrong direction, jeopardising the rights of women and girls in particular.

With the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015), we succeeded for the first time in history in reducing maternal mortality by 40% worldwide, but a woman still dies every two minutes somewhere in the world as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, mainly in low-income countries, but also in vulnerable sections of the population in the rich countries of the West. At present, we are once again seeing a rise because other priorities are on the agenda and because the women’s rights programme is being neglected or even abandoned in many countries.

No country in the world can solve this problem alone. The only way forward is through a global social struggle for equality, diversity, women’s rights and health for all. Solidarity is all the more important in a globalised world where we are all, rich or poor, confronted with the consequences of climate change, which is mainly caused by rich countries, but which has the greatest impact on the victims in poor countries.

International trade union action is vitally important. Let’s move forward together, ensuring that more women are in senior positions, that there is greater equality and solidarity, and that the world is a better place for all.

To conclude, here is a lovely African proverb: “It takes two to make a child, and a village to raise a child. Let’s all be part of the global village!”