The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) issued the following news release on February 20. The SIU is affiliated with the ITF.
Global public transport activists take message to Mayor of London
Over 120 activists from more than 60 unions in around 40 countries are going to City Hall, London, to discuss the Mayor of London’s approach of ‘productive engagement’ with unions.
This unique collection of public transport workers and activists are in London as part of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) urban transport committee who are building the ITF’s Our Public Transport program.
Our Public Transport is actively campaigning in dozens of countries for public transport based on public ownership, public investment, secure jobs and union rights for workers in public and private employers.
The attendees represent public transport workers from every region of the world, and are being received at City Hall at 6 p.m.on Wednesday, February 21, 2018.
The speakers at the event will include RMT general secretary Mick Cash, Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland and Val Shawcross, deputy mayor of London.
Steve Cotton, general secretary of the ITF, will be speaking at the reception, and voiced his support for the program: “Due to strong urbanization and a key role in fighting climate change, public transport is growing, and will continue to grow considerably in the years to come.
Cotton continued, “We must ensure that this happens in a way that serves the interests of workers as well as the users and society at large. That can only happen if we are able to keep, or bring back, public transport under democratic control.
“The transport system in London uses one way of bringing together the voices of the transport workers, passengers and private operators. I’m looking forward to hearing more about how well this works from the perspective of the Deputy Mayor of London responsible for transport,” he concluded.
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