The WFTU’s General Secretary, Pambis Kyritsis, delivered his intervention at the plenary session of the 112th ILC, analyzing the global situation and reiterating the positions of the WFTU to defend workers’ rights all over the world.
Beginning his speech, he expressed the WFTU’s solidarity towards the Palestinian people facing genocide “As we are giving our speeches, the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza by the murderous Israeli state continues unabated, with the support or tolerance of the USA, the EU, and their allies. This heinous crime is shamefully being portrayed as Israel’s right to self-defense. We demand immediate ceasefire, justice, and freedom for Palestine….”
WFTU’s General Secretary emphasized the struggles of the working class all over the world against the attacks of capital and its representatives “Workers and pensioners do not passively accept this reality. They resist neo-liberal capitalist, anti-worker attacks. They demand the satisfaction of their contemporary needs. They realize that only through struggle can their lives change…”
He highlighted and condemned the monopolization of workers representation within the ILO “Of course, this monopolization of the workers’ representation is not maintained by chance……… It suits them to maintain the practice of double standards….”
You can read the full intervention of General Secretary below:
Speech of Pambis Kyritsis
General Secretary of the WFTU
Plenary Session 112th ILC, 2024
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear colleagues,
As we are giving our speeches, the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza by the murderous Israeli state continues unabated, with the support or tolerance of the USA, the EU, and their allies.
We demand immediate ceasefire, justice, and freedom for Palestine, through the creation of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The struggle for peace for us has specific content: it opposes imperialistic wars and supports the right of every people to choose their own path without interventions, sanctions, blockades, and economic wars.
We are living in a period where the crisis of capitalism is generalized and deepening. Social inequalities, exploitation, and poverty are dramatically widening.
The high cost of living is brutally undermining the living standards of workers and pensioners. Individual contracts, privatizations, outsourcing, teleworking, and “service leasing” are just some of the methods being used to deregulate labor and intensify exploitation. The right to organize and engage in collective bargaining, as well as the sacred right to strike, is under attack.
Workers and pensioners do not passively accept this reality. They resist neo-liberal capitalist, anti-worker attacks. They demand the satisfaction of their contemporary needs. They realize that only through struggle can their lives change.
Unfortunately, the harsh daily reality of workers is far from the pleasant slogans that abound in ILO declarations.
This year, a new grandiose terminology has been introduced in the General Director’s report: another slogan in luxurious packaging – the “new social contract.” But what the workers need are measures. Rights. Protect of the trade union freedoms and ensure permanent and stable employment regulated by collective agreements to meet their contemporary needs.
Colleagues, Ladies and gentlemen,
This year, as we all know, is an election year for the ILO but are these elections truly democratic? Do they ensure even minimal representativeness and pluralism? NO. Absolutely NO.
It is clear that the representation of workers is systematically monopolized, and the opinions of hundreds of millions of workers represented by the WFTU and other international organizations are marginalized and ignored.
Of course, this monopolization of the workers’ representation is not maintained by chance. It suits the ruling circles. It is convenient for them to have workers represented by unions that have long abandoned class struggle and do not challenge their omnipotence. It suits them also to maintain the practice of double standards, targeting countries like Cuba, Belarus, Syria, and many others for not aligning with their geopolitical plans, while they coddle Israel and obscure their own anti-worker practices.
The WFTU will not stop fighting and demanding a genuinely representative and pluralistic ILO, with democratic and participatory functioning, as dictated by its role and the reasons for its creation.
Ladies and gentlemen, Dear colleagues,
The weapon of the workers all over the world, is solidarity and internationalism. The WFTU will continue to fight for a world without wars and imperialistic interventions, without exploitation and discrimination. Where work will be permanent and stable, regulated and safe.
Thank you.
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