WFTU TRADE UNION
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE & ALLIED,MESSAGE OF SUPPORT TO THE WFTU 76TH
ANNIVERSARY.
“DIGNIFIED LIFE FOR
PUBLIC SERCVICE WORKERS”
“Workers of the
world unite you have nothing to lose but your chains”
Sunday,3October
2021
The Trade Union
International-Public Service & Allied joins millions of workers in all
corners of the world to celebrate the WFTU International Day under the theme: “Dignified Life for workers and the Peoples
around the world”. In the specific context of the TUI-PS&A, the
practicalisation of this slogan of our mother body translates into concrete
action for a “Dignified life for Public Service workers”.
However, the
struggle of Public Service workers and their unions in the class oriented trade
union movement is not just a struggle to improve the working conditions of
workers in the sector but also about transforming the sector as a whole sector
in order to give it a human face.
Further, it is about
ensuring that every state delivers on its social mandate to the people without
the mediation of the capitalist profit motive which makes social services
inaccessible to the majority of the people.
Our affiliates and
their members have been in the forefront in the struggle against this
devastating COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers and other frontline workers
have risked and sacrificed their lives in this struggle to maintain the health
and save the lives of their populations against this pandemic.
To us, the theme of
this years’ WFTU celebration is a tribute to all these frontline workers and an
indictment on the capitalist system that puts profits before the welfare and
health of people.
WFTU
TUI-PS&A Role in the Fight for Public and Free Healthcare for All
Our struggle for
public provision of free healthcare for all and our opposition to the commodification
of healthcare has been a central pillar of our fight against capitalist
barbarism.
So, our demand for
safe and free vaccines for all and our opposition to the commodification of
vaccines and medicines in general is rooted in the humane struggle of the class
oriented trade union movement against capitalist barbarity that deprives
workers and the working class of free quality healthcare that should be
provided by the state to them.
All our affiliates
and regions as the TUI must continue and intensify this struggle, our TUI is at
the coal face of this struggle since it is our unions that organise in this
space – hence we are expected to take the leading role.
Our
Fight for the Living Standards of Workers and Pensioners
In the Public
Service the privatisation of social services, the outsourcing of state
functions, contract work, short time work, the general attacks on workers’
pension benefits and other attacks on workers, pensioners and the general
public have led to the deterioration of
the living standards of the majority of the people in the world. These attacks
have led to the growing inequality, poverty and unemployment that has
manifested itself in different parts of the world.
So, our opposition
to privatisation, restriction of pension benefits and the commodification of
social life in general is aimed not only at defending the working conditions
and wages of workers while they are still employed, it is also aimed at
improving and protecting their living standards and that of the general public
even outside the workplace and in their old age when they are pensioners. This
is an ongoing struggle that is inseparable from our day-to-day work as a trade
union movement.
Action
Against Racism and Discrimination
The historical and
material basis of the racism and xenophobia confronting many parts of the world
stems directly from the imperialist policy of colonialisation which today
expresses itself through their policy of regime change and war mongering in the
name of “democracy”.
These policies
create the migrant and refugee crisis the world is witnessing and thereby
reinforces the negative stereotypes about certain groups of people based on
their race, language, nationality or religion.
It is thus important
to understand our struggle against racism and discrimination as a struggle
against imperialist aggression and exploitation of workers. Equally, the
question of women is fundamentally a question of the reproductive rights of
women and their exploitation.
On
the Protection of the Environment
We must continue our
struggle against both the degradation of human life and the destruction of the
natural environment on which we depend as a human family. The capitalist mode
of production understands only the logic of profit; it pollutes our rivers, oceans
and the air we breathe thus causing rising global temperatures accompanied
natural disasters and extreme whether events.
Such developments
threaten the livelihoods of millions of poor people around the world who rely
on the land to subsist. Equally, environmental destruction also threaten the
wellbeing and existence of humanity.
Accordingly,
environmental protection should be one of our main areas of focus as we fight
in defense of the working class and humanity as a whole.
On
Worker Solidarity
As part of the WFTU
family of red trade unionism, our TUI is fully committed to the fight against
imperialism everywhere in the world. The greatest strength the working class
possesses in the global fight against capitalism and imperialism is working
class solidarity.
It is only through
building closer bonds and unity with workers and the working class globally
that our campaigns in defense of workers and their unions will gain momentum
and make a difference.
Workers, their
unions and the working class are not just under attack in one industry or
country; they are being attacked everywhere in all corners of the globe and in
all industries by a global system that needs to be confronted by a unified global proletariat led by progressive forces.
The WFTU TUI-PS&A
thus sees its campaigns and struggles as part of a much larger progressive
movement in the struggle against capitalism for a socialist future.
The
Right of Peoples to Decide their Present and Future
On the international
front, our TUI will remain firmly focused on working class internationalism by
continuing to support the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggles of the
oppressed peoples in different corners of the world.
Our support for the
struggles of the people of Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, Afghanistan and Yemen to
free themselves from the stranglehold of imperialist aggression and war is
inseparable from the struggles of the Palestinian and Sahrawi people against
the occupation of their lands.
As the WFTU
TUI-PS&A, we will continue support all struggles in the world aimed at
opposing western unilateralism, regime change wars, and arbitrary sanctions
against countries that threaten the interests of Western imperialism and the
unfair trade and financial architecture that presently define the international
monetary system and trade regime.
Conclusion
The WFTU TUI-PS&A
once again joins other WFTU TUI’s and affiliates to commit itself to resolutely
pursue the objectives the WFTU has set for itself by intensifying our work in
all the areas discussed above.
Our regions and
affiliates will select different themes from the above struggles confronting
the working class internationally to develop campaigns around them as part of
the WFTU 76th anniversary international action.
By this action, we
hope to shine a spot light on the key challenges confronting the working class today
and thus contribute in directing the energies of the international public
sector workers to these common struggles of the international working class.
Long Live WFTU -
Long Live
Thank you
Issued
by Zola Saphetha General Secretary TUI-PS&A
