Today I had the honor to speech at the congress of the Nordic Transport Workers’ Federation.
You can read my full speech below.
Brothers and Sisters,
Dear friends,
Comrades,
Today I am glad to be here with you, the Scandinavian unions that are members of ETF .
It is an honour for me to speak at your congress and to tell you that I am a proud ETF President.
Proud of what the ETF has accomplished since the Barcelona and Budapest congresses in 2017 and 2022.
Proud of the transition ETF has gone through so far.
Because, let’s admit it. Before the Barcelona congress ETF had become too much of a lobby group, too much of a bureaucracy, and too selforiented.
It was time to make a radical change, turning ETF over in a dynamic and strong counterforce in Europe.
And yes, I am proud of what a strong and efficient organisation the ETF has become.
And all of this was realized thanks to the strong support from you, from the Scandinavian unions.
The strong support from NTF.
NTF is one of the strong holders within ETF.
There is a very strong commitment of the NTF unions, in all sectors in which you are active, and I hope this will set an example for other unions all over Europe.
We can only encourage this because ETF needs more active and engaging unions like yours!
So I would like to take this opportunity to really put the spot light on the role of the Nordic unions within the ETF.
I do not exaggerate when I underline that we would not have a mobility package like we have now, without the strong commitment of the Nordics.
I do not exaggerate when I underline how crucial your role has been up to now in the discussions about platform work.
And don’t we forget how important your role was in the Fair Transport Campaign.
The NTF affiliates were deeply engaged in this ETF campaign.
Unions in Sweden, Finland and Denmark managed to collect more than 50.000 signatures during the campaign, and were – together with my own union – the goal getters in that campaign.
We, in the rest of Europe know, that when it comes to sustainability, we have a lot to learn from the Nordic countries.
You always seem to be one step ahead of the rest of Europe when it comes to ecology and sustainability.
And of course within ETF we appreciate the Nordic pressure for decent living conditions for the transport workers, for example in the Ikea global transport chain or in the struggle with Nemlig.com.
Stephen Cotton was clear about the challenges we face on a global level.
Still, I would like to emphasize the solid link ETF has today with ITF and the importance of a strong European voice within ITF.
There was a time that the communication and coordination amongst ITF and ETF were not what they should have been.
Together with Livia Spera, our GS, and with the full support of Steve, we were able to change this fundamentally.
Today, we are working together, we coordinate, we talk with each other, and we are stronger that way.
Because for you, the affiliates, this is what makes sense.
But we cannot deny that within ITF, other parts of the world are growing stronger.
Which is good news. There is an increase of membership of unions in South East Asia, in Africa and in the Arab world, … And there is a relative decline in membership in Europe.
But more worrying is that some of the European affiliates are not enough engaged in ITF.
It is my ambition to ensure that the voice of the European unionscontinues to sound loud enough to be heard in our global organisation.
We must speak with one European voice and give our full support to the strategy the General Secretary of ITF has worked out up to congress and for the next years to come.
That’s why I think Europe should give Steve full support for his re-election.
Brothers and sisters, I want to share with you a very big concern. It is the growth of far right and populism all over Europe.
Far right is back! Much more dangerous than ever before. If they don’t wear boots marching in the streets, they do wear fancy 3 piece suits, nice shirts and ties. And they became more and more arrogant and influential.
Extreme right is gaining more and more power in Europe. In different countries in Europe.
Also here, in Finland and in Sweden for example.
Far right political parties try to clean up their image and succeed in becoming part of the government. Far right pretends to defend the workers’ rights, but we know better.
History learns us that once fascists have the power, they attack workers’ rights and they attack their unions.
They have to be stopped. We have to keep informing the workers of the dangers of extreme right, especially with the European elections coming up next year.
We have to do everything we can to avoid people from casting a vote for Far right out of dismay.
We have to raise awareness that there are other alternatives, our alternatives!
But therefore we have to be active, take initiatives. And I am sure we can count on your unions to turn these initiatives into a success.
That’s why, today, I’m wearing this red triangle on my vest. The symbol of the fight against fascism, racism and division.
That’s also why ETF is pleading for the 8th of May, the day that Nazi-Germany was defeated in 1945, to be a European holiday.
To end, I would especially like to thank Jan Villadsen, current president of NTF, and also vice-president of ETF, for the good job he has done for NTF and ETF.
I hope that the collaboration with the next president of NTF will be as fruitful as this one has been.
And last but certainly not least, I want to congratulate Anu and her team for all the good work she has done as General Secretary of NTF.
And remember Brothers and sisters:
Divided we fall,
Together we are strong!