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.

This is our opinion and we submit it here to our respective and collective body. We also propose that we invite to our conference the honorary president of the WFTU, comrade George Mavrikos

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