The World Federation of Trade Unions honors the International Working Women’s Day on 8th March 2019, under the slogan:

“The WFTU against all forms of inequality, against all forms of exploitation”

162 years after the first uprising of women textile workers in 1857 in New York, claiming the increase of their miserable salaries, the reduction of working hours, equality in payment and social rights, the situation for the working, unemployed and young women, is extremely harsh: unemployment, flexible work, lack of free and high quality health services and healthcare for them and for their children, psychological pressure and violence mainly inside but also outside the workplaces.

Poverty, misery, the wars waged for the interests of the big monopolies, have created and continue to create millions of refugees, 50% of whom are women and girls who run the risk of violence, prostitution and abuse, during their travel and upon arrival at the destination countries.

The World Federation of Trade Unions, since its foundation, has been firmly struggling for working women’s equality and for the improvement of their position in all areas of their social life. For one more year, we join our voice with the working women and support their demands:

• Reclaim our rights! Hit back the capitalist onslaught! Defeat fascist forces!
• Decent work and dignity at work
• Equal pay for equal work
• Maternity benefit to all
• Social benefit to all
• Health and safety at the work places!

The struggle for the fulfillment of these demands, as well as for the protection against prostitution and human trafficking, are always at the center of the world class oriented trade union movement.

We always highlight the importance of organization of more and more working women to their trade unions, accordingly to the place and sector they work, the importance of their participation in militant initiatives with a substantial role, with their appointment to the Administrative Boards of their Organizations.

Aiming at a more active involvement of working women in the life and action of trade unions and at the strengthening of coordination and mobilization for the women’s issues, the WFTU organized last year, from 8 – 10 March 2018 in Panama, a World Working Women Congress, where the new WFTU Women’s Committee was elected. Such activities gave the opportunity to exchange experiences on the working and living conditions of women of the 5 continents, and decisions for coordination and militant initiatives were taken, such as the Conference organized last November in Bahrain for the working women of the Arab countries and such as the International Meeting of Working Women of Central America, that will take place in Mexico on 10-11 March 2019.

The WFTU expresses its solidarity to the working women and to the peoples of Venezuela, Palestine, Syria, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bangladesh, to all the peoples who are fighting against capitalist exploitation, against imperialism and foreign interventions. We greet the liberation of Ahed Tamimi, the girl who became a symbol of the Palestinian struggle, and also the liberation of Julia Amparo Lotan, member of the WFTU Presidential Council from Guatemala.

We greet all working women on the 5 continents, who struggle through their trade unions and within the ranks of WFTU, for stable work with rights, for a world without exploitation, imperialist wars and poverty.

We call upon all the WFTU affiliates and friends to honor the International Working Women’s Day, by organizing activities and events to stress the necessity to defend their rights, the necessity to protect their social role, the necessity to struggle for the end of exploitation and of capitalist barbarity.

#UnitedStates #WomensMovement #PeoplesStruggles #InternationalWomensDay #WFTU #InternationalWorkingWomensDay

More than 250 people gathered here on March 8, International Women’s Day, to oppose Trump’s attacks on women. After rallying in Mayday Plaza, in the West Bank neighborhood, protesters marched on the headquarters of the Minnesota Republican Party.

The demonstration was organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), and endorsed by the Welfare Rights Committee, MIRAC-No More Deportations Campaign, Anti-War Committee, MIRAC-UMN, Women Against Military Madness, Students for a Democratic Society – UMN, MN Committee to Stop FBI Repression, and others.

Jess Sundin, of FRSO told the crowd, “Despite this day being born out of the struggle of immigrant working women right here in this country, until this year, most people didn’t even know that International Women’s Day was a thing. But today, in some 30 countries, millions of women, including trans women and all gender non-conforming folks, are taking actions for women's freedom and dignity. Today, this day, is important. But it’s not just about one day, March 8, but about building a movement that can change the world we live in.”

#MinneapolisMN #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #DonaldTrump #InternationalWorkingWomensDay

The U.S. has a long history of women rising up against their bosses and demanding economic justice. The first industrial strike in the U.S. was in May 1824, when 102 women workers in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, left their looms after the mill’s owners announced a wage cut. They refused to return to their stations and, instead, gathered the rest of the workers (including children) and took to the streets. They marched to the factory owner’s house while throwing rocks and shouting obscenities. Before the strike ended, the protests affected factories in eight nearby towns. The workers only returned when the factory owners reinstated their wages.

International Women’s Day was first celebrated in 1909 in New York City. The day was organized by the Socialist Party of America to remember the 1908 strike of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. In 1910, at the International Women’s Conference, Clara Zeitkin and Luise Zeitz proposed and organized for the first International Women’s Day. In 1911, over a million people internationally marked Working Women’s Day.

It’s a powerful testament to our long history of victories and struggle that we celebrate International Working Women’s Day. All over the world, women, non-binary folk and men, will protest and march for this working-class tradition that is over a century old. On this day, we remember the struggles and victories that women have waged. And it’s become a day to look toward our future battles.

For imperialism to survive and thrive, it demands the oppression of all genders. Patriarchy – the system of male supremacy – results in real inequality and oppression for women, and puts forth the idea that women and those who present as feminine are weaker, less intelligent and less worthy than men. It’s a notion that capitalists have nurtured to pit the different sectors of the working class against each other. However, the fight for the liberation of the working class must be fought alongside the liberation of women.

All over the country, women are leading and organizing opposition to Trump's terrible agenda. The Women's Marches that took place the day after Trump's inauguration were some of the largest demonstrations this country has ever seen.

With the Trump presidency, ensuring the working class stands united against patriarchy is vital. The Trump administration has unleashed unprecedented attacks that affect all women – like banning Muslims from entering the country, lifting the protection against transgender people to choose which bathroom they can use, and attacking immigrants.

Within his first couple of days in office, President Trump reinstated the Global Gag Rule (Mexico City Policy) which prohibits international charities that receive aid from the U.S. to teach comprehensive sexual health education and family planning. Further, the Trump administration has proposed eliminating a list of federal programs, including federal grant funding to the 25 programs under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

These attacks are violent and go unopposed by his supporters. The president of the U.S. has a long history of sexual assaults and aggressions toward women. When President Trump was recorded saying he would, “grab them by the pussy”, the far right simply upheld this behavior as “locker room talk.” This attitude has blanketed every speech, policy and action coming out of the new administration.

Simply stated, the new administration’s overt disgust for women is racist, transphobic, Islamophobic, misogynist, and generally the highest form of bigotry we’ve seen in a recent administration. We’re living in a time where oppression isn’t sugar-coated with a saccharine Democrat smile, but openly waged by the far-right with aggression and impunity.

Trump’s actions have emboldened neo-Nazis and white supremacists who have taken to attacking everyday peoples. Hateful symbols are spray painted on houses and trains, slurs are shouted at passersby, Jewish cemeteries are defaced, hijabs are pulled off Muslim women, and black and brown people are attacked on the streets.

It’s in this new, openly reactionary period that we must fight harder for the liberation of women, and we need to stand with women leaders who under attack, like Palestinian American Rasmea Odeh who is facing deportation and jail on trumped-up charges.

As we’ve seen in the past, the only way to get rid of far right is to band together and punch harder. When we stand together, when we protest and march for justice, the imperialists and their cowardly allies tremble. When Trump tried to shut us down, we shut down the streets, buildings and airports. Today, we continue to feed the flame of our outrage and use it to stand up for all of the working class and all oppressed people.

Together we rebel, and together we will win.

#UnitedStates #ImmigrantRights #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #RasmeaOdeh #InternationalWorkingWomensDay #IWWD