Speech of Babis Vortelinos, TUI PS Vicepresident - Coordinator of Europe at the Secretariat meeting of TUI PS on June 23, 2022
Speech of Babis Vortelinos, TUI
PS Vicepresident - Coordinator of Europe at the Secretariat meeting of TUI PS
on June 23, 2022.
Dear Colleagues,
There has been a very important change in the leadership
of the WFTU. We must support the new leadership to continue to walk in the same
militant and class oriented path.
The previous leadership of the WFTU had great
successes following the principles and values of the class oriented trade union
movement. The new leadership must follow the same successful and tested
tactics.
We insist and mention this because we were concerned
reading the WFTU statement for the 110th ILC that mentions decent work as
mentioned by the ITUC. It needs attention. We have positions as WFTU that are
collectively decided. Our positions are our strength.
On our congress issue.
During our meeting in Rome we made a proposal verbally
that our next congress should be held in Portugal. We think it is a correct
proposal and this is the reason we insist because:
The banners and the positions of the WFTU must also
appear in Portugal so that the working class of Portugal, which has a rich
history, can begin to have a more solid basis with the WFTU.
To be an ideological and organizational response to
the dirty line of the ETUC which isthe ITUC subsidiary in Europe. The ETUC is a
mechanism of the European bourgeoisie and is a puppet of the imperialists.
In order to help the Portuguese comrades to understand
that within their country they must promote and demonstrate the WFTU and the
role of the WFTU. In our opinion, it is not possible for an affiliate of the
WFTU, in whatever way it is affiliated, to adopt and support the positions of
the ETUC and the ITUC.
So we propose that there should be an activity of the
WFTU in Portugal, the excuse put forward by the Portuguese comrades is about their
congress. In our opinion there is enough time and we can help as we did in the
Cyprus Congress. The main objective is to have an activity with the banners of
the WFTU.
Dear Colleagues,
During the past period, there have been important
struggles all over Europe against the anti-popular policies of the governments,
all these struggles taking into account the conditions in which the struggle
was being developed because of the pandemic, were fought against the
governments, the business groups, but also against the ITUC-ETUC member unions,
completely subordinated to the wishes of the employers and the
governments.
The class struggle and the experience of the workers
themselves enable them to better understand who the class opponent is, how to
face it, to draw conclusions at each stage of the struggle about who is on the
side of the workers and who is against them. That is why we must continue to build
on our experience. That is why we think it is very important to see and discuss
what we need to do to strengthen our TUI, the WFTU, the coordination of the militant
unions.
At the same time the task of the militant unions is to
expose those trade union forces that serve the interests of the employers and
the imperialists within the workers.
Organizations that call themselves trade unions, but
are in fact organs of the multinationals and capital, such as the anti-worker
and anti-communist European Trade Union Confederation - ETUC and ITUC. It is
typical that the ETUC is funded by the European Union and intervenes in trade
unions to promote an image of the European Union as democratic and pro-workers. At the same time, all over Europe, EU
governments and employers are banning strikes, persecuting unions and trade
unionists, sacrificing workers' lives for the profits of the multinationals. They
use money to buy off trade unionists, undermine struggles and foster inertia,
frustration and fatalism.
It is the duty of the militant unions to expose the
role of these forces, to isolate them from the workers and to strengthen the
militant unions and the WFTU.
In our opinion, in the coming period the trade unions
in Europe must highlight the following problems:
Measures to deal with the
pandemic as well as measures to protect health and safety in the workplaces.
The struggle against high pricing
and the protection of people's income.The high prices and inflation are eating
away people's incomes.
The struggle against privatizations,we
are of the opinion that we should go with as many mass procedures as possible,
assemblies and gatherings in the workplaces and make as many events in as many
places as possible this will help us to come in greater communication with
fellow workers and make them understand that privatizationsare happening all
over the world and is the strategic tool of the bourgeoisie to achieve
profitability and competitiveness.
We must not lose sight of the
issue of repression, both state and employer repression.Employerterrorism, the
strikes by the repressive forces, the massive presence of police forces and
other mechanisms.
The dismissals of pioneering
workers and trade unionists.
The struggle for wage increases
and the signing of Collective Labour Agreements. Combined with precision and
low wages, there is a great intensification of work that exhausts and worries
the vast majority of workers.
We continue our solidarity with
the peoples of Cuba, Palestine and Venezuela.
We believe that today the experience exists; the
potential exists to take new, militant steps forward until our congress in
November 2023 to have vibrant, militant unions, defenders of workers, at the
forefront of the struggle against capitalist exploitation. And not
bureaucratic, corrupted trade unions, servants of the governments and the
capitalists. We can and must strengthen the WFTU in Europe and worldwide.
Thank you