Preamble:
In solidarity with the first trade union action initiated by the workers of the forest sawmills in 1908, who demanded improved working conditions and environment, wielding the weapon of peaceful civil strike in the face of colonialism for the rights of workers to a dignified life.
Inspired by the steadfastness of the Railway Workers’ Affairs Committee and its success in securing workers’ rights in 1947, while standing in support of the Sudanese people’s struggle until the evacuation of the colonizer.
Guided by the clear vision of the Professional Front, which ensured independent representation for workers, farmers, and professionals in the Council of Ministers of 1964, as well as in legislative and oversight councils, and guaranteed women the right to vote.
Proudly recalling the name of the Trade Union Alliance, which stood tall on April 6, 1985, seizing the right of the trade union movement to nominate and oversee the Council of Ministers.
Remembering the steadfast December chants uniting under one banner, led by the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, representing the hopes and struggles of the masses aspiring for freedom, peace, and justice—until the overthrow of the dictatorial National Congress regime on April 11, 2019.
Nothing will deter us or shake our conviction that no slogan can better express the aspirations of the Sudanese people for a secure future free from injustice, fragmentation, dictatorship, and narrow political rivalries than the slogans of the trade union movement—as a guarantee of people’s authority and a defense of their right to freedom, peace, and social justice.
The trade union movement has always been the driving force behind popular mobilization and persistent peaceful struggle in the battles for trade union rights, national agendas, and the consolidation of the people’s rights to freedom, peace, and democracy.
It has also remained the principal guarantor of every safe and popularly accepted transition from silence to expression, from suppression to freedom, and from individual rule to the broad domain of democracy.
United within the Trade Union Front, we seek deep awareness of the urgent need for trade unions and forces closest to the people’s interests—by right and necessity—to form an active unity. This unity is imposed by the violent and oppressive reality before us, which threatens people’s safety and right to a free and dignified life. It is also necessitated by the consequences of weakening the oversight role of unions and civil society organizations closest to the grassroots’ interests after every revolutionary opportunity—due to the misguided interpretations by political and military bodies of the people’s real needs.
As a result, trade unions and other genuinely interested forces in comprehensive transformation have repeatedly been pushed back to square one, returning to arenas of struggle for the people’s interests anew.
Now the time has come for the Trade Union Front to unite and mobilize the forces with the most stake in change—to guarantee the people’s authority and their legitimate right to freedom, peace, and social justice—and to insist on maintaining its stable and legitimate role in monitoring and safeguarding those interests in truth and deed.
We, the undersigned unions to this Charter, pledge to unify our visions and all our forms of work based on the following principles:
Principles:
  1. Adopting the preamble of this Charter as an integral part of its principles and shared vision among the signatory unions.
  2. The Trade Union Front commits to standing for and defending the interests of the majority of the Sudanese people without exaggeration, neglect, or bias toward any other interest, whether personal or ideological.
  3. Every union signing this Charter fully commits to its principles and works to achieve its goals across all spheres of its activity.
  4. The Trade Union Front adopts a strategy founded on the unity, independence, and democracy of unions—mobilizing ideas and capacities and striving to realize these upon the ground as a continuously renewed objective through the extended history of union and popular struggle.
  5. The Trade Union Front affirms the necessity of trade union representation within the structures of state formation and democratic civil authority as a guarantor and monitor during the stages of consolidating people’s power.
Relying on these principles as a solid and stable ground and a reference for measuring our differences and unity, we aim to achieve the following objectives:
Objectives:
First:
To work toward building a sound, grassroots-based Sudanese trade union movement, in partnership with all categories of workers, to establish their unions, branches, and professional bodies across all regions of Sudan—drawing upon the experiences and heritage of the Sudanese trade union movement.
Second:
To defend the professional and trade union rights of workers and improve their conditions in all work sites across the public, private, informal, and voluntary sectors.
Third:
To stand firmly against the theft of union votes and the hijacking of members’ will.
Fourth:
To recognize trade union organizations as key partners in drafting laws and regulations governing union activities and aligning them with ILO Convention No. 87 of 1948 and its subsequent developments or amendments.
Fifth:
To participate in designing and defining a clear vision for establishing a democratic civil state and institutional governance from the grassroots upward—and to defend its existence and continuity.
With regard to its future national and struggle-related positions, the Trade Union Front will issue subsequent statements grounded in the principles and strategic objectives of this Charter.