In the light of the changed political climate in Gambia, a mission was organised from 17 – 21 July 2017 by the ITUC and the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) to the Gambia to get a view of the general situation on the ground in The Gambia post-Jammeh. The mission also sought to Identify possible local actors that can work with subregional, regional and international organisation in their quest to rebuild and refocus The Gambia trade unions.
Representatives of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Organisation of Trade Unions in West Africa (OTUWA), and Global Union Federations (Education International (EI), Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) and International Union of Food (IUF)) were also part of the delegation.
The mission was consisted initially of meetings with representatives of trade union organisations, government officials and personalities. The delegation also met with other sectoral formal and informal trade unions at their offices. Informal meetings by the GUFs were also conducted with the unions under their coverage and scope of representation.
Towards the end of the mission, a workshop was organised with all unions organisations representatives on the 19th July 2017 at the Kairaba Beach Hotel, Banjul with the view to seeking practical ways to address some of the observations and concerns noted during the meetings.
At the end of the workshop discussions, which largely dwelt on how to practically improve the current trade union situation in The Gambia, an agreement was reached and signed by all the trade union organizations present at the workshop - Gambia Labour Congress (GLC); Gambia National Trade Union Congress (GNTUC); Gambia Teachers Union (GTU), and the Gambia Press Union (GPU) in aim to achieve a unified, big, strong and influential trade union movement in Gambia.
