The World Federation of Trade Unions follows the developments about the situation of workers of Arab countries, which is being deteriorated due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Except for the consequences on their health, the workers are called to pay the price for the consequences that the Pandemic and the lockdowns have brought upon to the economies of their countries.

In Algeria, Air Algeria plans to reduce the salaries of its employees. In Jordan, the government reduced the salaries of 100.000 workers on the occasion of the Pandemic. In Qatar, Air Qatar has announced to the workers the intention to lay off a big part of them. In Tunisia, many job positions have been suspended with the workers with short-term contracts being the first victims of unemployment. In Lebanon, the COCA COLA factory will close down until the end of May. In all Arab countries poverty, unemployment and insecurity are on the rise.

Under these circumstances, the WFTU calls upon the workers to struggle inside and outside the workplaces, for the protection of their Health, for the immediate covering of all shortages in staff and infrastructure of the Public Health System. For the preservation of job positions; no worker must lose his/her job. Against the cuts in their salaries and rights.

The big business groups, the monopolies, the airlines, the big hotel owners, do not have other interest than the continuation of their profitability. While they had turnovers of trillions, now they are threatening with lay-offs, salary cuts or even closure, because they saw their profit margins being decreased. But their profits come from the work of their employees, who work under harsh exploitation.

In their largest part, the governments’ budgets are based on the taxation of workers and the People, so governments have the responsibility to immediately equip the Public Hospitals with all the necessary supplies for the struggle against the Coronavirus and take measures of support for the unemployed, the workers and the People in general.

We call on workers of the Arab countries to strengthen the participation in their trade-unions, to enhance their struggle for the protection of their health, their work, with improvement of their working conditions. The workers and popular strata must not pay for the crisis!

#International #CapitalismAndEconomy #Labor #OppressedNationalities #MiddleEast #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #WorldFederationOfTradeUnions #COVID19

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 Aug. 5 statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

The World Federation of Trade Unions condemns the assassination attempt against Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro that took place in Caracas, Venezuela during his public speech at a military event.

The class oriented international trade union movement is on the side of the popular strata of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and, once again, clearly states that the only competent to determine the future of the country is its own people. The World Federation of Trade Unions, as the only trade union International that fights against imperialism and capitalist exploitation, will continue to show its active solidarity with the Venezuelan working class.

We call on the Venezuelan people to be vigilant in the face of events and to fight for the deepening of their social achievements, until the dawn of a new world, without the exploitation of man by man.

#athens #Venezuela #Assassination #WorldFederationOfTradeUnions #Socialism #NicolásMaduro #Americas

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), representing 92 million members in 126 countries around the world, reiterates its internationalist solidarity with workers in France who will strike on 19 April.

In an international context where capitalists, multinationals and European bourgeoisies attack labor rights, promote anti-worker policies, reduce pensions and wages, dismantle social gains and union rights, European workers must organize their own counter attack. Today, it is more than ever necessary for workers to coordinate their struggles globally, under the values of internationalism and class solidarity.

At the same time, workers around the world must be well aware that the same political forces – like the Macron government – that are eliminating their labor rights are the same forces that bombed Syria a few days ago; they are the same imperialists who contribute to NATO and EU interventions and who, by assassinating peoples, maximize their profits. So, our answer must be the anti-imperialist struggle.

In this context, the WFTU expresses its solidarity and it guarantees the workers of France that will continue to firmly support their just claims.

Long live internationalist solidarity!

The Secretariat

#France #WorldFederationOfTradeUnions #WFTU

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) in the name of its more than 92 million affiliates all over the world salutes, on the occasion of this great day, all the workers who live, work and struggle in every corner of the world. May Day was, is and will be a beacon for the struggles of yesterday and tomorrow despite our enemies’ efforts. May Day has to be a message of resistance against bourgeoisie, imperialists and their international alliances’ policies.

At the same time, the workers’ blood which was shed in Chicago on 1886 reminds us of our duty today; it reminds us that nothing is given for free; every right or freedom that was conquered by our class has been won through sacrifices, conflicts and organized struggles.

Today, whilst technology and scientific progress have contributed to the increase of the produced social wealth, our class’ living conditions have been deteriorating. In every capitalist country, the bosses attack our class achievements: they are sweeping through salaries, pensions and social security; they are privatizing everything, they don’t hesitate to attack even the sacred right to strike! Strike is the most powerful weapon we have in our hands and we are not going to allow anyone to limit, confine or convert it to a dead letter!

At the same time, they are intensively preparing and conducting regional wars. They pave the way for new massacres that will maximize their profits, for new imperialist interventions that will destroy nations, spill peoples’ blood and deprive them of their natural resources. The ongoing imperialist intervention in Libya and Syria, the growing aggression against Venezuela, the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the massacre of Saudi Arabia against Yemen, the tension on the Korean peninsula, they are all indications that multinationals have smelled new profitability areas; and every time this goes through the dead bodies of workers.

Under the current conditions of the deep economic crisis of capitalism and intense competition among various imperialist centers to control new markets, our most powerful weapons are INTERNATIONALISM and SOLIDARITY. No worker must feel alone. All together, we must move on with Solidarity and Internationalism, building the Unity of the working class to give practical effect to Karl Marx’s motto “proletarians of all countries unite”.

In this context, and on this anniversary, the WFTU expresses its solidarity with our persecuted brothers, the immigrants and refugees, who either because of imperialists’ bullets or because of poverty and misery generated by this system, are forced to leave their homeland. The WFTU will continue to be on their side, fighting for a world without exploitation and refugees. Immigrants must become an integral part of unions, unite with local workers and fight together for wages, rights, against wars and interventions.

We join our voice with the heroic Palestinian people in order to gain their own independent and democratic homeland.

At the same time, we stand by the side of the struggling female worker, the one who suffers from double exploitation. The WFTU female members, at the recent World Women’s Congress in Panama, declared loud and clear that they want equal rights to work, society and life. The WFTU also fights and will continue to fight for this equality. It’s the same orientation that we follow for the the youngsters, as the new generation of workers have the task to honor the best May Day struggle traditions.

This year, the WFTU, by giving its hand to anyone who has stood up, has announced the year of trade union education and training. Our purpose is that the new shifts of workers be insubordinate, militant, enemies of class compromise and collaboration. We honor the year of trade union training and we call on every union to contribute to the militant truth, revealing the true meaning of May Day and the sacrifices the working class made for it. By rescuing the past, the very memory of our movement, we leave a legacy for tomorrow’s struggles and we also have a tool for the future. It is a duty to know the history of our movement.

The WFTU takes steps forward, strengthens and grows: and that’s what frightens our opponents. There is no other way than to make it present everywhere, in every corner of the world, so that there is no longer a hungry, dismissed, hunted or persecuted worker. The WFTU must be a “trench” of struggle for a future without exploitation of man by man. This is how the vision of the first Secretary General of the WFTU, Luis Saillant, envisioned in 1945 will be brought to life: “The WFTU for the workers of the whole world!”

LONG LIVE MAY DAY! The Secretariat

#UnitedStates #MayDay #PeoplesStruggles #WorldFederationOfTradeUnions #WFTU