We're committed to dignified life for those in the food sector-IUF

January 11, 2011 Tema, Jan. 11, GNA - The Co-ordinator of the International Union of Food (IUF), Mr Kirill Buketov, has said the Union was committed to a dignified life for "those who plant, harvest, process, prepare and serve the food we all depend on."

For this reason, he said, IUF would continue to play active roles at both international and national levels on food policy issues.

Mr Kirill made these remarks at a sub-regional seminar of International Labour Unions organised by the IUF in Tema on the theme: "Organizing Tool: Concept and Approach in Strengthening West African Beverage and Food Unions."

The participants for the two-day seminar were drawn from Switzerland, Benin and Nigeria as well as Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) Executives in the Food and Beverage sector in Ghana.

Mr Kirill explained that as an International Federation of Trade Union with international labour solidarity as its guiding principle, the IUF would actively defend trade unions, human and democratic rights of individuals and ensure that those rights were secure and not violated.

Mr Morgan Ayawine, Acting Deputy General Secretary of the ICU in charge of Operations, said effective organization was key and the lubricant of any successful business entity and trade union in this era of globalization.

Mr Ayawine said those who work in this sector must see themselves as stakeholders whose contributions to the socio-economic development of their nations.

He was of the conviction that trade unions could only remain vibrant if they continued to increase their memberships, deepen trade union democracies, and more importantly, bring about improvements in the conditions of services of members to enable them gain dignity and hope in life.

Mr Ayawine said there was the need for trade unions in the sub-region to critically examine their labour laws and to dialogue with their social partners and governments "to continue to fine-tune the laws so that they will become employer and employee-friendly, than we have at the moment."

GNA