July 31st, 2003
IDC reinforces presence in Africa and extends to the Caribbean
Algeria and the island of Martinique, overseas French department, are both new territories that have been added to the structure of the IDC, the union organization that brings together thousands of dockworkers worldwide. With these incorporations, the IDC reinforces its presence in America and Africa, two continents in which the great need of a strong union organization is clearer day by day.
The Algerian workers, 14, 000 altogether, have joined the IDC through the UGTA, General Union of Algerian Workers. The dockworkers in the capital, Algiers, joined through UGTA Dockers of the Port of Algiers; those in the rest of the country joined the IDC through the Federation of Transport of the UGTA. With this decision, the presence of the IDC in North Africa is reinforced to a great extent, having added to the structure of the organization significant ports as Oran, Annaba or Algiers. It is important to remember that the Moroccan dockworkers are also part of the IDC, which means that this organization has a major role both sides of the Mediterranean, the European coasts (majority presence in Spain, France, Greece and Cyprus) and the African coasts.
The incorporation of workers from the island of Martinique, overseas French department, is also very significant, it allows the IDC to start working in the Caribbean. The dockworkers of the capital, Fort-de-France, have joined the IDC through the union CGTM des Dockers of Martinique. The importance of the incorporation of these dockworkers to the IDC goes much further than the number of members, 180, it is the opening door to future incorporations of dockworkers unions of the many islands in the Caribbean.
