News online
Said Elhairech
The newly created global union federation Industriall has expressed its backing for the struggle to release two Moroccan dockers’ unionists who were arrested in Casablanca on 16 June.
In a letter to ITF general secretary David Cockroft on 9 July, Industriall’s general secretary Jyrki Raina strongly condemned the arrests of Said Elhairech, general secretary of the ITF-affiliated Union des Syndicats UMT des Transports and chair of the ITF Arab World regional committee, and Mohamed Chamchati, general secretary of the Merchant Seafarers’ Union. He said the arrests were a clear attack on trade union rights and freedoms in Morocco, which could not be tolerated.
He stated: “We do believe that genuine trade unions and civil society have played a crucial role in the Arab Spring to bring a democratic environment to the Middle East and northern Africa. It is now time for all our global unions to consolidate our powers to be able to build up a background as a base for real, independent and democratic trade unions in the region. The Moroccan case for which you have been campaigning is one of the important test cases.”
He expressed “heartfelt solidarity to its sister organisation ITF in its campaign for the release of arrested Moroccan comrades.”
For more information about the case, visit the ITF’s solidarity site:http://www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/Said-Elhairech.cfm
.
