Information is Power

By Rod Pickette

The potential of a global organising and campaigning resource for dockers' unions

Since the launch of the ITF's campaign against "ports of convenience" (POCs) in 2006, dockers' unions have been increasingly focused on the need to put in place global minimum standards for labour rights, health and safety. The National Secretary Paddy Crumlin, as chair of the ITF dockers section has led the ITF initiative with section secretary Frank Leys as essential organizing tool for the protection of dockworkers rights in every country.

In the year leading up to the launch of the campaign, the ITF dockers' section secretariat organised a series of regional strategy seminars aimed at consulting unions on the key issues that the campaign should address and developing the strategy to be signed off at the ITF Congress in Durban in August 2006.

The regional seminars identified five key themes for campaigning - casualisation, competition, Global Network Terminal (GNT) operators, privatisation and trade union rights.

At the Asia Pacific regional strategy seminar in Bangkok in February 2006, the MUA proposed the development of a POC database. The concept was to develop a resource which would be accessible by any member of any affiliate anywhere around the globe, providing information, statistics and network links that could be applied to dockers' organising and campaigning initiatives.

The concept was strongly supported by affiliates represented at the Asia Pacific regional seminar and by the dockers' section secretariat. As a result, Paddy Crumlin, national secretary of the MUA committed the MUA to develop a prototype POC database.

The ITF Congress in 2006 endorsed both the POC campaign and development of the POC database, and the MUA has since worked jointly with the ITF to progress this project. Both parties have contributed financial and other resources, and have worked closely to develop procedures for the uploading and management of the database.

The MUA commissioned technical work to a trade union-friendly Australian database company and undertook to populate the database with information and data on APM Terminals and DP World.

These global network terminal (GNT) operators were chosen because of their special international significance. The takeover by DPW of P&O Ports provided an opportunity for ITF engagement with the company about how it would conduct its labour relations globally. As part of the AP Moller-Maersk Group, APM Terminals was an obvious candidate because of its significance in the ITF Maersk Network campaign.

Key features

The database has been designed to be accessible and easy to use and allows dockers' unions, delegates and members to readily obtain information that can help their organising and campaigning objectives.

When launched, it will be accessible by logging on to the dockers' extranet on the ITF website. Users do not need computer or technical skills - so if you can access the internet, you can access and use the database.

• The database is an organising aid, and has been designed for practitioners at all levels of union organisation - from national official to rank and file member, though it is only available in English. The database contains information on:

• ports where GNTs operate

• terminals (linked to a port)

• GNT operators (the parent of the terminal operator)

• stakeholders (showing relationships, where the terminal operator is not exclusively owned by a single corporation).

A campaign resource

The ITF hopes the POC database will help its affiliates to gain a better understanding of the GNTs that operate terminals. Where an affiliate is negotiating or having problem with a particular GNT, the database will indicate what other transport and/or logistics operations the company is involved in and where. It will show their global ranking, their global throughput; and in what ports their terminals operate - all potentially vital information to back up a trade union campaign.

Affiliates will also be able to find out which unions are covering the workforce in any particular terminal or port featured. For a given terminal operator they will know which ports it is involved in, in which countries, which affiliates cover the workforce and what is the union density.

It is intended to improve the content of the database over time, so that ultimately it will contain a range of other key related information - such as, in a given port, the situation vis a vis collective agreements, disputes, campaigns, networks and so on.

The database is designed to include documents such as the texts of collective agreements, industrial relations histories or campaigns and web links, for example to company website, annual reports, and research.

The content of the database can be viewed (on screen), searched for or printed out. Data can also be downloaded as a spreadsheet, allowing the user to produce tables and graphs to suit their needs.

Calling all users

Affiliates and users must remember that a database is only as good as the information entered into it - the content. The task of data/information entry and updating as well as monitoring of data/information quality will be crucial in gaining and maintaining affiliate confidence in the usability of the database.

This task, coordinated by the ITF, will require the assistance and contribution of all affiliates. The MUA has committed to continuing to assist in meeting these objectives, and calls on all affiliates, particularly those who are better resourced, to take ownership of the database, and commit to making it a success.

It is hoped that following its launch with DPW and APM data included, other affiliates will volunteer to collaborate with the ITF dockers' section and help populate the database on other GNTs/terminal operators. We would like to reach a target of including data on the top 20 GNTs by the end of 2008.

Launched by the ITF last year, the database is accessible to anyone with password access to the dockers' section extranet. The ITF dockers' section secretariat is following the launch with a rollout program of training and the release of a users' manual.

All inquiries should be directed to Sharon James, assistant secretary, ITF Dockers Section, London at james_sharon@itf.org.uk.

Rod Pickette is Communications and Research Officer for the Maritime Union of Australia