The conference represented the culmination of the Trade Unions in Post Conflict Societies programme, funded by the SEUPB. The project seeks to explore, analyse and share learning from regions dealing with conflict with a focus on the role of trade unions in the development of shared and just societies.

The conference brought together trade unionists, activists and academics from Britain, Ireland, Iraq, Palestine, the Basque Country and Andalusia who talked about the challenges faced by trade unions in societies in transition.

The conference focused on:

  • Labour and transition from conflict
  • Labour rights as human rights
  • Austerity and inequality
  • Alternatives for transition

Speakers were:

Peter Bunting
Ass. Gen Sec Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU)
Ainhoa Etxaide
Gen Sec Basque Nationalist Workers’ Committee (LAB)
Abdullah Muhsin
Trade union Friends of Iraq (NASUWT)
Representative
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)
Professor Mary Mellor
Sustainable Cities Research Institute
Northumbria University
Professor Kathleen Lynch
Equality Studies, School of Social Justice UCD
María José Lera
Andalusian Workers Union (SAT)
Daniel Blackburn
International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR)
Dr Zak Cope
Researcher in Political Theory
Erick Gcilitshana
South Africa National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
Adam Letshele
Compensation Officer at the NUM
Mariela Kohon
Justice for Colombia

This Project is part financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund through the EU’s Pease III Programme for Peace and Reconciliation managed by the Special EU Programmes body. www.seupb.org