Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions.

The International Class-oriented Trade Union Movement, the workers, and the militant unions all over the globe honor with struggles the 139th anniversary of the workers’ struggle in Chicago in 1886. The World Federation of Trade Unions, the most historic international trade union organisation, representing more than 105 million workers all the length and breadth of the world, sends a cordial and militant message to all the workers and farmers, to the ordinary people of toil and labor, on the occasion of International Workers Day, which constitutes a lasting and bright milestone of struggle.

This year’s May Day coincides with the 80th Anniversary of the WFTU, which was born in the ashes of the most destructive war in the history of humanity in the revolutionary fresh air of the great anti-fascist victory of the peoples with the Soviet Union at the forefront, and completes 8 decades of continuous and uninterrupted struggle for the rights of workers, for justice and social progress, against all forms of discrimination, against wars and imperialist interventions, against may by man exploitation.

Both the messages and demands of the Chicago pioneers of 1886 and the needs that inevitably led to the establishment of the WFTU remain relevant and necessary today. The crisis of capitalism deepens and is generalized. Social inequalities are widening dramatically. Democratic freedoms and trade union rights are under attack all over the world, and the imperialist wars and interventions are on the daily agenda.

The genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank, the bombing in Lebanon and other countries of the wider Middle East region, with the support and encouragement of the USA, the EU, and their allies, continues, revealing in all its grandeur the hypocrisy, cynicism, and inhumane nature of imperialism.

At the same time, global defense spending rose to 2.46 trillion USD last year, with big budget increases in countries of Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. Notably, there are examples of countries that are almost doubling their defense spending. At the same time, the USA President Trump calls for a minimum spending of 5% of GDP among NATO members, and the EU Commission Summit decided to finance 800 billion euros for military armament within the ReArm EUROPE project.

The shift towards a war economy is clearly a priority for the ruling circles of capitalism, as it incites profitability for multinational monopolies and the expansion of the geopolitical power of developed imperialist states.

These new massive increases in military spending, apart from being a threat to global peace and security, also mean even harsher austerity policies and widening social inequality. The resources that would be destined for families, workers, and ordinary people are cut and diverted to rearmament, and civil and social rights and liberties are placed under guardianship, because in the preparation for war, different opinions are not allowed.

The WFTU and the class-oriented trade unions strongly condemn the war preparations of the bourgeoisie. The popular strata have nothing to expect from a new widespread and generalized war but death, poverty, destruction, refuges, and hardship. We demand spending for the contemporary needs of the workers and the peoples. We demand adequate education and healthcare and not weapons. We demand dignified working and living conditions and not ammunition and missiles. We demand spending on culture, sport, and recreation, and not fighter aircraft and naval vessels.

We demand measures against rising inflation and living costs that erode living standards. We oppose privatization, outsourcing, and flexible forms of work that intensify the precarious employment and exploitation, alongside extended retirement ages.

The Workers and social achievements are under relentless attacks and challenges undermining labor rights, collective agreements, and democratic freedoms. Workplace safety remains neglected, causing daily injuries and fatalities. Despite global challenges, workers do not passively accept the anti-labor offensive on their rights and freedoms. Millions mobilize worldwide for dignified work and the protection of trade union and social rights with the WFTU members to be firmly at the forefront of these struggles. The response of bourgeois governments to the just popular demands is the sharpening of state repression and authoritarianism. At the same time, employers and governments are attempting to manipulate labor struggles, betting on the role of yellow unions and compromised trade union leaders.

In our era it is obvious that the prerequisites for truly dignified working and social living conditions for all workers exist in abundance. The class-oriented trade union movement fights so that the huge productive capabilities are not utilized to increase the profits of capitalists and create unimaginable wealth for a few, but to ensure dignified living and working conditions for those who create and produce the wealth.

Organization and struggle is the only path that can overturn the existing realities of misery, exploitation, and social injustice. The weapon of workers everywhere is solidarity and internationalism. The WFTU remains firmly committed to these principles. It continues its 80-year path with the same vision that inspired its founding: for a world without wars and imperialist interventions, without exploitation and discrimination. A world where work will be permanent, stable, regulated, and safe.

On the occasion of May Day 2025, the WFTU calls upon the class and militant trade unions around the world to take initiatives and organize this year’s campaign and activities under the slogan:

Their profits or Our lives – Hope lies in peoples’ struggle

ΝΟ to war economies

YES to the class struggles:

-against the imperialist wars and interventions,

-against capitalist exploitation,

-for the satisfaction of the workers’ contemporary needs.

Let the WFTU flag proudly wave along with the flags of the militant trade unions in the uninterrupted class struggle for stable work with rights, social security, free public, and universal health and education, a dignified life. This will be the highest and proper celebration of the glorious 80-year course of struggles, sacrifices, and dignity of the international class-oriented trade union movement.

LONG LIVE MAY DAY!

LONG LIVE INTERNATIONALIST SOLIDARITY!

LONG LIVE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WFTU!

#International #Labor #WFTU

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing 105 million workers across the globe, extends its fullest support to the militant strikes being launched by the U.S. Teamsters Union members against the gigantic Amazon corporation. Thousands of workers at 7 Amazon worksites across the United States struck on December 19, and additional strikes are planned. The Amazon corporation continues its lawless and dictatorial campaign against its workers who want to join trade unions, and are demanding better pay and conditions. Inaction and paralysis on the part of the U.S. government in the face of this outrageous Amazon company conduct has pushed the workers to take this strike action.

The class struggle in the U.S. is sharpening, and the WFTU extends its complete support for the just demands of the Amazon workers and encourages all its affiliates and friends to express their solidarity the strikers. Workers at Amazon all across the world are in motion, organizing against the company and its monstrous treatment of its employees. Support the Amazon Workers! Support the Amazon Strikes!

#Labor #WFTU #Amazon #Strike

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing more than 105 million workers who work live, and struggle in 133 countries all over the world, strongly condemns the continuation of military interventions and wars, the accelerated militarization of international relations and confrontational rhetoric, the soaring of the military expenditures, as well as the NATO plans amid the escalating intra-imperialist confrontation. The 2024 ΝΑΤΟ summit which will take place in Washington D.C. on 9-10-11 July 2024, constitutes one more step toward the intensification of NATO’s aggressive imperialist plans, interventions, and wars.

NATO has already announced an increase of its military budget for 2024 by 12% to 2.03 billion euros and its civil budget by 18.2% to 438.1 million euros increasing even more the operating capacity of NATO Command Structure headquarters, missions, and operations around the world. This year’s figures confirm the continuation of an at least 10 years-long course of moving towards a “war economy” for the member states of NATO, with NATO’s Secretary General emphasizing that “burden sharing is improving within NATO” while military spending is up 18 percent across European Allies and Canada in 2024, and 23 member states will spend at least 2% of GDP in military spending this year.

The International class-oriented trade union movement unequivocally condemns the war plans of the imperialists and strongly opposes the uninterrupted increase of the NATO budget which sharpens even more the confrontation and deepens the preparations and the risk for a generalized imperialist conflict with disastrous consequences for the popular strata and the ordinary people who always pay the cost of the imperialist antagonism.

NATO’s history demonstrates nothing but interventions, wars, juntas, refugees, starvation, destruction, and death. In addition, the continued soaring in military spending constitutes a provocation for the people who constantly see their living standards affected due to generalized price rises, inflation, and long-term austerity policies.

The militant class-oriented trade union movement intensifies the struggle against imperialist wars and the system that creates them. The WFTU fights for the dissolution of NATO which constitutes an aggressive war machine in service of the imperialist interests of its member states, aiming to maintain, and expand if possible, the existing favorable correlation of forces for the NATO countries in order to safeguard the profits of their monopolies.

Simultaneously we reiterate our firm demand for the immediate dissolution of all military coalitions, the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, an immediate end to all imperialist armed conflicts, and full respect for the sovereignty, independence, and right of every people to freely choose their present and future. We denounce the exclusions, discriminations, embargoes, and sanctions imposed by the US, NATO, and the EU against various countries, negatively impacting the standard of living of low-income families, workers, poor small farmers, and popular strata in general.

The WFTU calls upon workers all over the globe, the militant trade unions to join the ranks and the struggles of the international class-oriented trade union movement for lasting peace, for a world free of imperialist interventions and man-by-man exploitation.

#WFTU #NATO #EU #Militarization #Imperialism #Exploitation #Peace #Labor #TradeUnion

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions.

The World Federation of Trade Unions, on behalf of its 105 million workers in the 5 continents, expresses its full and unconditional solidarity with the workers of the automotive industry in the companies of GM, Ford, and Stellantis in the United States of America.

Thousands of workers are on strike for the last weeks, demanding wage increases, insurance, decreasing of working hours. Their just demands, are faced with a full-frontal attack by the employers, who have started the redundancies.

The WFTU expresses its firm internationalist solidarity with workers in the USA and fully supports their just demands, especially at a time when the companies are gaining millions in profits and the workers are suffering the aftermath of the new capitalist crisis and inflation.

#WFTU #Statement #UAW #Strike #Autoworkers

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing 105 million workers in 135 countries, expresses its solidarity with the workers of France who will go on an indefinite strike, on Tuesday, March 7, against the pension, a reform project that President Macron wants to impose.

Indeed, after 5 days of strikes and demonstrations throughout the country since January 19, the class-oriented trade unionists of France have decided to launch a new strike in the strategic sectors of the country to make the government bend.

Calls for a renewable strike and economic blockage have been launched among railway workers, at the RATP, in refineries, in energy, in Agroalimentary factories, in trade, in chemicals, in ports and docks, among garbage collectors and sewer workers, highly organized sectors where the WFTU has many affiliates in France.

The challenge is to lead all the workers and the popular masses to get out of the losing strategy of “trade union lobbying” and “social dialogue” to go and demand, through strikes and struggle, the satisfaction of goals against a government that brutally defends the exclusive interests of the big capitalist companies.

Far from the hypocritical support of the ETUC and the ITUC for the “demonstrations”, the WFTU will strongly commit itself to the unfailing and concrete support of the strikers in France, as it did in 2019.

We call on all WFTU affiliates to concretely express their support for the workers of France in the struggle.

Comrades and workers of France: as in 2019 when you brought down President Macron’s points-based retirement plan, we have confidence in your militant spirit and your ability to win!

#France #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #WFTU

On Monday morning 6th of February, a massive earthquake reaching 7.8 degrees on the Richter scale struck the region of southern Turkey – north Syria, followed by tens of aftershocks and a second major earthquake reaching 7.5 degrees.

At the time the shocked humanity is still counting the victims in both Turkey and Syria, as the death toll reached 15 thousand, tens of thousands are injured, and hundreds of thousands are homeless seeking shelter in severe weather conditions. WFTU can’t stay silent about the fact that imperialist forces have imposed sanctions on Syria.

The sanctions on Syria have been affecting the Syrian people for years now, resulting in a lack of fuel, electricity, medical supplies, and industrial machines that are essential to every country and nation for their daily life. The Syrian people had already suffered enough from the war, and they deserve a chance to live freely and with dignity.

Today in light of this catastrophe, these sanctions must be lifted immediately, as they are affecting the search and rescue operation after the disastrous earthquake. The sanctions against Syria are prohibiting heavy machinery and medical supplies even food supplies from entering Syria and now, more than ever, they are necessary for the survival of tens of thousands, and for rescue operations of people that are still stuck under the debris of their own homes.

The WFTU demands the immediate withdrawal of the imperialist sanctions against Syria, to put an end to the barbaric and inhumane policies of blockades and embargos. These policies are killing people that are stuck under the debris, killing the injured with a lack of medical supplies, leaving tens of thousands in streets to face harsh weather conditions, and leaving hundreds of thousands without any usable infrastructure.

We stand beside the General Federation of Trade Unions of Syria and the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions and we support their struggle for the release of affected people. We once again call the Trade Unions and the workers all over the globe to express their practical solidarity and practical support through the launched campaigns to make less painful this huge disaster.

The Secretariat

#Syria #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #WFTU

The World Federation of Trade Unions, which represents 105 million affiliates in more than 130 countries around the world, expresses its solidarity with the workers of France who are called for a general strike and demonstrations throughout the country on Thursday January 19, 2023 against the Macron government’s plan to raise the legal retirement age to 64.

The WFTU recalls that the French Social Security, which is an achievement resulting from the workers’ resistance against the Nazi occupation and which was set up by Ambroise Croizat, the CGT leader and communist Minister of Labor at the Liberation, is far from being in bankruptcy.

It is put in financial difficulty by the exemptions from huge social security contributions that the Macron government grants to the big capitalist monopolies.

The WFTU trusts in the great combativeness of the workers of France and their class struggle unions, which are many of its affiliates, to defeat this government attack as they did during the historic general strike from December 2019 to March 2020, when the Macron government had to withdraw its unjust reform.

As usual, the WFTU and its affiliates from the 5 continents will support the struggle of the workers of France until victory!

#France #AntiwarMovement #generalStrike #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #WFTU

Rome, Italy – The 18th Congress of the World Federation of Trade Unions is being held in Rome, Italy May 6 – 8. Nearly 500 delegates came from 96 countries, with many more participating online. The WFTU represents 110 million workers in 133 countries, mostly in the global south. For the first time in over 50 years, there were delegates from the United States, with representatives from AFSCME 3800, the University Minnesota clerical workers union, and Roofers Local 36 from Los Angeles. Both unions have affiliated to the WFTU in recent years. Also participating from the U.S. was a leader of the newly-formed Starbucks Workers Union, who attended as an observer.

The first day featured speeches from General Secretary George Mavrikos (Greece) and President Mike Makwayiba (South Africa) who both called for the unity of the working class under a banner of militant class struggle oriented unionism. Also speaking were union leaders from Brazil, Nepal, France, Cuba, India, Venezuela, Trinidad, Guatemala, Palestine, Laos, Peru, Nigeria, Colombia and Germany. All talked about the failures of capitalism to address the pandemic, the need to build democratic, fighting unions, international solidarity, and to stand strongly against imperialist war and aggression.

#RomeItaly #Rome #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #WFTU

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

Dear colleagues,

Another year is coming to an end. Another year is added to the history of the WFTU and the world class-oriented movement. Another year made us cry and laugh, without losing not even for a moment our optimism for the best days to come for our class, thanks to our struggle and our firm political perception.

Making a brief assessment, as is usual at the end of each year, we will see that some things are repeated monotonously, but also new things are born, filling us with optimism for the future of the working class and popular strata.

In 2021, the inadequacy of this system to provide a solution to vital issues of humanity was revealed even more strongly. It was revealed that no matter how tearful the speeches of the political servants of the great multinationals are, they are not at all interested in the life and prosperity of the poor, the workers and the peasants, the women and the youth.

Since health and science serve the profitability of big capital, they can not deal with the pandemic properly and hundreds of thousands of people are still losing their lives due to COVID-19, due to the inadequacy of downgraded health systems, and not because the disease is invincible. In addition, to cover their own responsibilities, they skillfully try to divide workers, between vaccinated and non-vaccinated. But they have no answer for the millions of people in poor countries of the third world, that do not have access to vaccines due to financial weakness!

In 2021, we experienced once again the drama of refugees being used as a lever to pressure foreign policy of the states. They care very little about people drowning in the sea, or dying from landmines trying to cross borders and from hardship and diseases in hot spots. Their wars for the control of the wealth and the quest for new fields of profit are an unstoppable machine of misery.

In 2021 we faced the explosion of high prices in energy and in all basic goods, because as always the price of the economic crisis is paid by the peoples so that the big capitalists do not pay.

Repeated lockdowns have caused great losses in the world trusts and now they have to make up for the lost profits. Therefore, in the 21st century, even in the so-called countries of the first world, people are in danger of dying from the cold and from starvation!!!

In this framework, and despite the difficulty of distance meetings, the WFTU and the world class-oriented workers’ movement took action. Many seminars were held on issues that concerned and still concern workers around the world and mobilizations were organized on the occasion of every small or important issue of the working class in each country. The WFTU World Action Day on October 3 highlighted the timely demand of workers for a dignified life. International Campaigns for Palestine and international solidarity symposiums with Cuba and Venezuela were organized.

In 2021 significant strikes that resulted in the conquest of workers’ demands also took place. The repression and legislation that in many countries tried to put obstacles in trade union action did not discourage the workers, but instead increased their determination and militancy.

Finally, in 2021 with great sorrow we bid farewell to some historic cadres of the WFTU, whose contribution is invaluable. They were tireless fighters of the movement, always loyal to the WFTU and unwavering defenders of the class-oriented struggle. The World Federation of Trade Unions will always honor them and make sure that the next generations of workers in the world get to know their work and contribution.

So we enter 2022 with optimism and militancy, as befits the class-oriented movement. The coming year, apart from the strong challenges that it will bring for our organization, will also be a historic year, since the 18th World Trade Union Congress will take place. As always, this is a milestone in the global class-oriented workers movement, a celebration of the world working class, as well as an extremely important process in which the course of the WFTU is mapped out for the coming years. It is therefore very important in the new year for all WFTU members and friends to give their best so that this Congress is a success, worthy of the history and legacy of the WFTU.

The Secretariat of the World Federation of Trade Unions wishes its 105 million members and millions of friends from 133 countries around the world 2022 to be a good and militant year, a year that will contribute even more to our final goal of freeing humanity from exploitation of man by man. Because only then can we talk about real freedom, peace and prosperity.

Until the final victory!!!

#AthensGreece #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #WFTU

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

Dear colleagues,

Another year is coming to an end. Another year is added to the history of the WFTU and the world class-oriented movement. Another year made us cry and laugh, without losing not even for a moment our optimism for the best days to come for our class, thanks to our struggle and our firm political perception.

Making a brief assessment, as is usual at the end of each year, we will see that some things are repeated monotonously, but also new things are born, filling us with optimism for the future of the working class and popular strata.

In 2021, the inadequacy of this system to provide a solution to vital issues of humanity was revealed even more strongly. It was revealed that no matter how tearful the speeches of the political servants of the great multinationals are, they are not at all interested in the life and prosperity of the poor, the workers and the peasants, the women and the youth.

Since health and science serve the profitability of big capital, they can not deal with the pandemic properly and hundreds of thousands of people are still losing their lives due to COVID-19, due to the inadequacy of downgraded health systems, and not because the disease is invincible. In addition, to cover their own responsibilities, they skillfully try to divide workers, between vaccinated and non-vaccinated. But they have no answer for the millions of people in poor countries of the third world, that do not have access to vaccines due to financial weakness!

In 2021, we experienced once again the drama of refugees being used as a lever to pressure foreign policy of the states. They care very little about people drowning in the sea, or dying from landmines trying to cross borders and from hardship and diseases in hot spots. Their wars for the control of the wealth and the quest for new fields of profit are an unstoppable machine of misery.

In 2021 we faced the explosion of high prices in energy and in all basic goods, because as always the price of the economic crisis is paid by the peoples so that the big capitalists do not pay.

Repeated lockdowns have caused great losses in the world trusts and now they have to make up for the lost profits. Therefore, in the 21st century, even in the so-called countries of the first world, people are in danger of dying from the cold and from starvation!!!

In this framework, and despite the difficulty of distance meetings, the WFTU and the world class-oriented workers’ movement took action. Many seminars were held on issues that concerned and still concern workers around the world and mobilizations were organized on the occasion of every small or important issue of the working class in each country. The WFTU World Action Day on October 3 highlighted the timely demand of workers for a dignified life. International Campaigns for Palestine and international solidarity symposiums with Cuba and Venezuela were organized.

In 2021 significant strikes that resulted in the conquest of workers’ demands also took place. The repression and legislation that in many countries tried to put obstacles in trade union action did not discourage the workers, but instead increased their determination and militancy.

Finally, in 2021 with great sorrow we bid farewell to some historic cadres of the WFTU, whose contribution is invaluable. They were tireless fighters of the movement, always loyal to the WFTU and unwavering defenders of the class-oriented struggle. The World Federation of Trade Unions will always honor them and make sure that the next generations of workers in the world get to know their work and contribution.

So we enter 2022 with optimism and militancy, as befits the class-oriented movement. The coming year, apart from the strong challenges that it will bring for our organization, will also be a historic year, since the 18th World Trade Union Congress will take place. As always, this is a milestone in the global class-oriented workers movement, a celebration of the world working class, as well as an extremely important process in which the course of the WFTU is mapped out for the coming years. It is therefore very important in the new year for all WFTU members and friends to give their best so that this Congress is a success, worthy of the history and legacy of the WFTU.

The Secretariat of the World Federation of Trade Unions wishes its 105 million members and millions of friends from 133 countries around the world 2022 to be a good and militant year, a year that will contribute even more to our final goal of freeing humanity from exploitation of man by man. Because only then can we talk about real freedom, peace and prosperity.

Until the final victory!!!

#AthensGreece #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #WFTU

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

Dear colleagues,

Another year is coming to an end. Another year is added to the history of the WFTU and the world class-oriented movement. Another year made us cry and laugh, without losing not even for a moment our optimism for the best days to come for our class, thanks to our struggle and our firm political perception.

Making a brief assessment, as is usual at the end of each year, we will see that some things are repeated monotonously, but also new things are born, filling us with optimism for the future of the working class and popular strata.

In 2021, the inadequacy of this system to provide a solution to vital issues of humanity was revealed even more strongly. It was revealed that no matter how tearful the speeches of the political servants of the great multinationals are, they are not at all interested in the life and prosperity of the poor, the workers and the peasants, the women and the youth.

Since health and science serve the profitability of big capital, they can not deal with the pandemic properly and hundreds of thousands of people are still losing their lives due to COVID-19, due to the inadequacy of downgraded health systems, and not because the disease is invincible. In addition, to cover their own responsibilities, they skillfully try to divide workers, between vaccinated and non-vaccinated. But they have no answer for the millions of people in poor countries of the third world, that do not have access to vaccines due to financial weakness!

In 2021, we experienced once again the drama of refugees being used as a lever to pressure foreign policy of the states. They care very little about people drowning in the sea, or dying from landmines trying to cross borders and from hardship and diseases in hot spots. Their wars for the control of the wealth and the quest for new fields of profit are an unstoppable machine of misery.

In 2021 we faced the explosion of high prices in energy and in all basic goods, because as always the price of the economic crisis is paid by the peoples so that the big capitalists do not pay.

Repeated lockdowns have caused great losses in the world trusts and now they have to make up for the lost profits. Therefore, in the 21st century, even in the so-called countries of the first world, people are in danger of dying from the cold and from starvation!!!

In this framework, and despite the difficulty of distance meetings, the WFTU and the world class-oriented workers’ movement took action. Many seminars were held on issues that concerned and still concern workers around the world and mobilizations were organized on the occasion of every small or important issue of the working class in each country. The WFTU World Action Day on October 3 highlighted the timely demand of workers for a dignified life. International Campaigns for Palestine and international solidarity symposiums with Cuba and Venezuela were organized.

In 2021 significant strikes that resulted in the conquest of workers’ demands also took place. The repression and legislation that in many countries tried to put obstacles in trade union action did not discourage the workers, but instead increased their determination and militancy.

Finally, in 2021 with great sorrow we bid farewell to some historic cadres of the WFTU, whose contribution is invaluable. They were tireless fighters of the movement, always loyal to the WFTU and unwavering defenders of the class-oriented struggle. The World Federation of Trade Unions will always honor them and make sure that the next generations of workers in the world get to know their work and contribution.

So we enter 2022 with optimism and militancy, as befits the class-oriented movement. The coming year, apart from the strong challenges that it will bring for our organization, will also be a historic year, since the 18th World Trade Union Congress will take place. As always, this is a milestone in the global class-oriented workers movement, a celebration of the world working class, as well as an extremely important process in which the course of the WFTU is mapped out for the coming years. It is therefore very important in the new year for all WFTU members and friends to give their best so that this Congress is a success, worthy of the history and legacy of the WFTU.

The Secretariat of the World Federation of Trade Unions wishes its 105 million members and millions of friends from 133 countries around the world 2022 to be a good and militant year, a year that will contribute even more to our final goal of freeing humanity from exploitation of man by man. Because only then can we talk about real freedom, peace and prosperity.

Until the final victory!!!

#AthensGreece #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #WFTU

The World Federation of Trade Unions expressing the voice of more than 105 million workers in 132 countries, stands in solidarity with the workers of Amazon in their four days strike demanding the recognition of collective bargaining agreements, health and safety measures and salary increase. The strikes are taking place in warehouses in Rheinberg, Werne, Koblenz, Leipzig and two sites in Bad Hersfeld.

The international class-oriented trade union movement supports the fair demands of the employees and workers of Amazon and calls upon them to intensify and extend their struggle for the satisfaction of their contemporary needs.

#Germany #PeoplesStruggles #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #WFTU #Amazon

The popular outrage that erupted a week ago in the United States after the cold-blooded murder of 47-year-old African-American worker George Floyd by police in Minneapolis is continuing against the state repression and the brutal force used by the police. Hundreds of thousands of Americans took the streets over the weekend in more than 80 major cities, in two-thirds of the country’s states, to protest state barbarism and racist violence, of the repressive forces.

Despite the outcry over the 47-year-old’s death, the government is escalating threats to the masses and offering “more military means if governors and mayors need it and cannot control the situation”. One more time the capitalists and their governments prove that the life of the ordinary people has no value for the capitalists.

The organizations of the working class must be now in the forefront of the struggle for social justice, equality, against state oppression. The WFTU calls every trade union, every trade unionist who respects itself to support the struggle of the people in USA. We demand the immediate end of police violence. The unemployed and the poor must be supported. The murderers of the Afro-Americans must be punished.

The WFTU calls its affiliated organizations in every corner of the world to participate in the WFTU Campaign by taking pictures in groups, submit solidarity statements to the U.S. embassies and take any support initiatives they can.

The WFTU Secretariat

#World #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #InternationalSolidarity #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #Antiracism #WFTU #MinneapolisUprising

THE WFTU STANDS SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH WORKERS AND THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD AGAINST THE ATTACKS AT THE EXPENSE OF WORKERS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

The World Federation of Trade Unions, its 100 million members and friends of militant workers around the world, we express our internationalist solidarity and support to workers and the peoples of all countries affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.

What is once more reaffirmed is that in difficult times, such as during extreme natural phenomena, wars, disasters, pandemics, it is the workers and the poor people who are at the forefront of danger. The workers are required to pay the price of the pandemic’s effects on both their health and their working rights, so that large business groups, multinationals and big companies can ensure their profitability.

From the first days of the spread of the Coronavirus up to the present day, where many countries register thousands of cases and victims, violations of rights, redundancies, restrictions on trade union rights and freedoms by governments and employers have not stopped. They take advantage of the pandemic in order to generalize anti-labor measures and tactics.

Thousands of layoffs have taken place since the beginning of the month in sectors where the turnover has fallen due to the pandemic, as illustrated by Greece’s example, which measures 41.000 layoffs in the first half of March. In Austria, in March, 74.000 workers lost their jobs, in Sweden the automotive industry announced 20.000 suspensions. Still other businesses have been generalizing flexible working hours and forcing workers into compulsory leaves, as denounced by unions in Europe, France and Latin America, in countries such as Panama and Venezuela. Airlines like the colossal Turkish Airlines, Imperia, Lufthansa and Emirates have forced tens of thousands of workers to unpaid leaves, threatening them with layoffs, as did travel agencies, hotels and tourism companies in general.

Many businesses, as workers in Italy denounce, continue to operate normally without the necessary protection measures against the Coronavirus for workers who went on strike across the country last week. In Peru, mining companies also force workers to work without any security protocol. In Serbia, in Turkey, the trade unions in transport, in metal, in other sectors demand the implementation of health and safety measures in the workplaces.

In Portugal, a few days ago, the dockworkers of the port of Lisbon who went on strike because of the lack of basic protection measures, were called to work after the government announced a civil requisition.

On the other hand, in businesses where turnover is rising sharply due to the Coronavirus pandemic, such as in Supermarkets etc, they are forcing workers to intensify their work. These workers are suffering exhaustion and occupational “accidents” and diseases. These “accidents” are often not even recorded by the Labor Inspection, which has been closed under these circumstances, instead of being present and carrying out intensive inspections. Also employees are denied leaves and day-offs, there is no information about COVID-19 cases in their workplace, the employers hide such cases so that a large number of staff is not quarantined.

In countries such as Palestine, measures for workers whose workplaces were closed due to the Coronavirus are summed up in a miserable allowance while Israeli forces continue to violate rights and also murder Palestinian workers. In Jordan and elsewhere there is growing concern about the unsecured workers and those who work in the informal sector, who have been found with no income and are not entitled to allowances as it is the case for the long-term unemployed workers in many countries.

In India, trade unions condemn the government’s attitude of leaving the masses of workers helpless, without financial support, while showing tragic shortcomings in the necessary material to deal with the Coronavirus, such as medical ventilators.

In the USA, in New York alone, 21.000 unemployment applications, a record number, have been submitted in just one day.

In Africa, COVID-19 outbreaks are on the rise in more and more countries of the continent, with workers in South Africa, the second-most-affected country, calling for protection measures for the most vulnerable groups of the population, and those already suffering from other diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis.

The policies of the vast majority of African governments, along with multinationals and monopolies, are responsible for the serious survival problems of workers and the popular strata, as well as for the tragic shortcomings in health systems and in securing access to clean drinking water and suitable housing for the populations.

The rights of workers who are at the frontline of the struggle against the Coronavirus, are also being violated. We are referring to doctors and other health-care staff, whose work is intensified to the fullest extent due to under-staffing and under-functioning of public health structures. Their risk of exposure to Coronavirus is high, they are required to work even if they themselves are ill, there are no protection measures for vulnerable groups among them. In countries such as Italy, where around 300 hospital beds correspond to 100.000 persons, the Health Workers are called upon to decide which patients to save and who to leave without the necessary medical care.

Today, in the face of the pandemic, and with a steady stream of aid to large companies, with billions being offered to them in various countries, all lost jobs must be restored and secured, without any conditions. All the changes in working relationships that employers have made with the cover of governments must be taken back.

The big trade union family of the WFTU, its trade unions members and friends on the 5 Continents, we are not passive observers – we continue our action to protect the lives and working rights of workers!

Under these difficult circumstances, we find the right ways to keep our workers informed and continue to play our role. We must continue our daily struggle to defend our rights without “discounts” and compromises.

Governments are announcing measures against the spread of the Coronavirus, putting forward the personal responsibility. However, it is revealed that gathering restriction measures and information campaigns for the implementation of personal hygiene measures cannot hide the inadequacy of public health systems to meet the requirements of hospitalization and health-care, due to the Coronavirus. Inadequacy that results from the deliberate undermining of all governments (both social- democratic and neo-conservative).

– The governments have the primary responsibility to provide public, free, high quality and modern Health services.

– The governments have the responsibility to stop the speculation of the capitalists.

– The governments have the responsibility to ban the dismissals and the cut of salaries and working rights.

In these difficult times, we are strengthening internationalism and solidarity among the workers of the world. We salute the initiative of Cuba to send 52 specialized doctors to Italy to help treat the pandemic.

No one must feel alone!

We are fighting to defend our health and our rights!

We are fighting for a system that prioritizes human beings and their needs and utilizes the scientific achievements to deal with a pandemic, or other catastrophic events in a timely and planned manner.

We once again congratulate the workers who continue in these difficult times to move the cogs of life, producing food, medicine, transportation, communication, services, even at the risk of their own lives.

LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

THE SECRETARIAT

#World #International #CapitalismAndEconomy #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #InternationalSolidarity #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #WFTU #COVID19

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) condemns the coup against the elected President of Bolivia, Evo Morales.

We denounce, in the eyes of the world working class, the dirty role of the USA and the Organization of American States (OAS) as well as the reactionary forces of Bolivia that have organized the fascist coup.

That coup against the people of Bolivia confirms that imperialism acts ruthlessly. In Bolivia, almost the same methods are implemented again as in Chile, during the coup d’etat of the dictator Pinochet; when Salvador Allende stayed there and fought against the putschists, becoming a heroic symbol.

We express our internationalist solidarity to the working class, the indigenous, peasants and the people of Bolivia that resist against the coup and the puppets of the imperialists.

We say out loud that murders, kidnappings, arsons against those that defend the right of peoples to decide democratically and freely about their present and future must stop now.

We call on the affiliated unions and friends of the WFTU in Bolivia to continue on the front lines of the struggle, informing the people that the coup was perpetrated so that capitalists can plunder the wealth and destroy the civilization of Bolivia.

On behalf of the 97 million of our affiliates in 130 countries on the five continents, we add our voice to that of the Peoples who resist against the imperialists; we believe it is a good opportunity so that those who still have illusions and believe in class collaboration draw their conclusions, if they are able to do it.

The lesson we maintain is that the class struggle continues. It never stops.

George Mavrikos

#Bolivia #AntiwarMovement #Labor #OppressedNationalities #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #Antiracism #Antifascism #WFTU #PinkTide

The WFTU, representing more 97 million workers in 130 countries expresses its sincere condolences and sympathy to the friends and relatives of the 4 people who lost their lives after the collapse of a construction crane in Seattle of USA on Saturday April 27th, 2019.

The two of the dead were the crane operators and the other two were in cars when the crane collapsed and crushed in the road close to the under-construction building. It is reported that three other people were injured and hospitalized, also, material damages were caused.

This accident confirms once again how topical and crucial is the workers’ demand for health and safety in all aspect of the lives and particularly in the workplaces.

The international class-oriented trade union movement demands the investigation of the accident causes, the punishment of the responsible ones and the immediate and constant implementation of adequate protection measures in all the workplaces and industries in the United States of American and worldwide.

The Secretariat

#SeattleWA #PeoplesStruggles #WFTU

The WFTU, representing more 97 million workers in 130 countries expresses its solidarity and support the dockworkers in Japan who are taking dynamic measures against the unacceptable and demand of the Japan Harbor Transportation Association for abolishing the current system for determining dockworkers’ minimum wage.

The employers are insisting to present their fake argument that the determined minimum wages of the workers are against the anti-monopoly rules despite the fact that even the labor relations authority rejected this fake argument, clearly declaring that the minimum wage system for dockworkers does not infringe on anti-monopoly rules.

Those who earn countless profits from the daily heavy and painful work of the dockworkers are trying to intensify the exploitation against them. The thirst for profits is not hiding behind the hypocritical supposed interest of the employers to protect the anti-monopoly rule. The workers know that employers are seeking more profits by exploiting more and more those who create everything but have almost nothing.

The World Federation of Trade Unions condemns the anti-labour intentions of the Japan Harbor Transportation Association to create an even more flexible working conditions and cheaper workforce. The class-oriented trade union movement expresses unlimited support to the dockworkers of Japan who went on strike a few days ago and call them to continue relentlessly their struggles.

The Secretariat

#Japan #PeoplesStruggles #WFTU #JapanDockworkers

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

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), representing 95 million workers of the five continents as well as the world class-oriented labor movement, strongly rejects the attempted coup d’état against the legitimate government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

This interference, orchestrated by the US government, NATO and the EU and executed by the representatives of the transnationals and monopolies in the country, constitutes a flagrant violation of the most elementary rules of international law and of the Venezuela’s sovereignty. For the WFTU, it is an inalienable right of each people to decide for themselves, without outside interventions, on their present and future.

At the same time, the WFTU reaffirms, as it has already done on several occasions, its solidarity with the Venezuelan people, with the working class and our affiliated organizations in the country in front of this imperialist threat. In addition, we call on the Venezuelan people to reject the maneuvers of the imperialists and their lackeys in the region, to condemn the plans of the murderers of the peoples. We will continue to support the Venezuelan working class, for the deepening of the Bolivarian process, until the abolition of man by man exploitation, towards a new world, without wars and imperialist barbarism. This is the only way forward to repel the plans of the imperialists.

Long live internationalist solidarity!

#Venezuela #PeoplesStruggles #WorldFederationOfTradeUnions #WFTU #Americas

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), representing 95 million workers in 130 countries across the globe, sends its internationalist and militant greetings to the teachers of Los Angeles who took the streets and organized a huge strike in order to defend their labor rights.

During their mobilizations more than 30,000 teachers signed in on picket lines across Los Angeles, more than 900 schools sites also participated while more than 10,000 parents, students and working people showed their solidarity with the teachers in struggle. The strikers not only have been struggling for a public education but they also intend to rebuke the anti-worker agenda which seeks to starve and privatize the schools.

The class-oriented WFTU family will firmly continue to support the strikers’ rightful demands against the anti-worker US bourgeois government’s agenda.

We call upon the US working class to join its voice with the strikers and to demonstrate their solidarity with the LA teachers in their struggle for a quality, public and free education system.

LA teachers are not alone! Long live internationalist solidarity!

The Secretariat

#LosAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #teachersStrike #Strikes #WFTU #UTLA #TeachersUnions