KPI to enter into regional federation

Indonesia’s Sea­farer Uni­on, Kesatu­an Pelaut Indonsia (KPI) has agreed to enter into a fed­er­a­tion with trans­port uni­ons from Pap­ua New Guinea, Aus­tralia and New Zea­l­and after a form­at­ive meet­ing in Kupang today.

The Mari­time Inter­na­tion­al Fed­er­a­tion (MIF) aims to bring togeth­er uni­ons with sim­il­ar inten­tions in order to secure jobs for loc­al mari­time work­ers to ensure wealth cre­ated in the region is bene­fit­ing loc­al com­munit­ies.

The meet­ing also endorsed an offi­cial launch date of the MIF at the begin­ning of the next fin­an­cial year.

In addi­tion to KPI, the MIF con­sists of the Mari­time Uni­on of Aus­tralia (MUA), Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and (MUNZ) and Pap­ua New Guinea Mari­time and Trans­port Worker’s Uni­on (PNGTWU) and has the poten­tial to include the East Timorese uni­on, SMETL and oth­er uni­ons in the Asia Pacific region.

Inter­na­tion­al Trans­port Work­ers’ Fed­er­a­tion (ITF) Pres­id­ent and MUA Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Paddy Crum­lin said private com­pan­ies sup­por­ted by cer­tain neo-lib­er­al gov­ern­ments were con­sist­ently try­ing to under­mine organ­ised labour and to defend against these attacks, uni­ons had to work togeth­er.

“One of the major growth areas for jobs is the Asia Pacific and the inter­na­tion­al trade uni­on move­ment hasn’t been able to keep up with this growth,” Mr Crum­lin said.

“We need a new mod­el and a fed­er­a­tion of like-minded uni­ons is one of the ways we can change the old, tired mod­el to build capa­city and drive mem­ber­ship.”

KPI Pres­id­ent Hanafi Rus­tandi said the MIF was an excit­ing concept and would give the uni­on more bar­gain­ing lever­age and abil­ity to organ­ise mem­bers.

Mr Rus­tandi talked about how a MIF would help the uni­on extend into the bur­geon­ing hydro­car­bon industry, at places like Kupang.

MUNZ Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Joe Fleet­wood said uni­ons need to secure decent pay­ing jobs to cre­ate a future and a career path for all.

“A fed­er­a­tion with our neigh­bours works in the interest of New Zealand’s work­ing class, as well as the work­ing class in the oth­er coun­tries,” Mr Fleet­wood said

“Some of the com­pan­ies we come across have the wealth to influ­ence Gov­ern­ments, some com­pan­ies, like Chev­ron, are fin­an­cially big­ger than New Zea­l­and.

“As a res­ult we need to grow our strength using our sheer num­bers.”