On 18-19 of November, 2018 in Antwerp, Belgium, there was held the Statutory Congress of Belgian Transport Union ABVV BTB, entitled ‘Fair transport for all’. At the event, the MTWTU was represented by its Chairman Michael Kirieiev.
Delegates from 25 transport trade unions from 14 countries of 3 continents came to participate in the Congress. Among the participants were European Parliament member Hugh Bayet, ITF General Secretary Stephen Cotton, ETF General Secretary Eduardo Chagas, ITF Dockers’ Section Vice Chair and ver.di Maritime Coordinator Torben Seebold, as well as the other delegates from trade unions of Italy, Spain, Norway, Croatia, Romania, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, France, Canada, USA, etc.
The Congress was predominantly dedicated to the presentation of main achievements of Belgian Transport Union that have been obtained for the last five years. The results of the re-election of ABVV BTB’ Federal Secretariat have been also presented to the audience. Another issue of importance of the Congress was countering the liberalization policy of the Belgian and EU government, which formed as a consequence of a free movement of goods and services on the labor market. This anti-social policy threatens to reduce the cost of services and, accordingly, wages in transport sector. The issue of global modernization, digitalization and automation of port terminals was also widely discussed, since it may lead to reduction of jobs and working hours. Those were the main work priorities for the ABVV BTB’ management for the nearest future.
During the Congress opening ceremony, the MTWTU Chairman Michael Kirieiev presented a commemorative plaque to the President of ABVV BTB Frank Moreels, as a symbol of solidarity and fraternal relations between the two trade unions. Michael Kirieiev noted that aside of the membership in the ITF and ETF, the MTWTU and the Belgian Union are bound by strong and long-lasting fraternal relations and friendship. For years both trade unions have been successfully defending the rights of maritime transport workers.
“We hope to strengthen our friendship and develop further effective cooperation in implementation of various joint initiatives and projects that will benefit our members,” Michael Kirieiev emphasized.
All Congress delegates have also participated in the filming of a short video, where everyone could thank the event organizers in their own language, as well as express support or wish success for the future. The video of solidarity was shown at the Congress on November 19th. As the President of ABVV BTB Frank Moreels stated, the video was deliberately shown without subtitles and translation, because all the participants spoke the language of solidarity and wished for only one thing— development and prosperity for the transport trade union movement worldwide.
