Entebbe airport drivers and conductors (Image: ITF)

The Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union of Uganda (ATGWU) – the ITF’s largest affiliate in Uganda and a mentor union for the ITF Informal Transport Workers’ Project – has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Entebbe Stage Drivers and Conductors’ Association, boosting its membership to close on 9,000.

The MoU covers operators of taxis and minibuses from Entebbe International Airport.

ATGWU general secretary Azizi Kiirya said: “This is the seventh and biggest association to join us, and brings an additional 1,200 new members. The transport sector can only become stronger when the rights of all forms of transport workers are protected. That’s why we need ongoing support from the ITF as we continue to organise workers in the informal sector.”

Other organisations that have joined the ATGWU include Uganda Bus Drivers and Allied Association, Entebbe Airport Taxi Services, Entebbe Airport Casual Labourers’ Association and Entebbe Airport Cargo Transporters’ Association.

ITF Africa regional secretary Joseph Katende congratulated the ATGWU and commented: “It is practical brotherhood, strategic innovation and adaptation to new concepts in trade union work that have kept the ATGWU alive and growing. We praise your commitment to engaging with informal and precarious transport workers.”

Five informal workers’ associations announced their affiliation to the ATGWU during a workshop in Kampala which brought together women activists from unions in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to share and learn new practical techniques to build informal women transport workers’ union power.

(Article originally published on the ITFglobal.org site, 07.08.14)