The WFTU unreservedly condemns this attempt by the French government’s police to intimidate trade union action, Jean-Paul Delescaut and his comrades must not be prosecuted, and the right to demonstrate in support of the Palestinian people who are being bombarded must be guaranteed.

The WFTU stands in solidarity with comrade Jean-Paul Delescaux, and calls its members to express their support by submitting the attached letter to the embassies and consulates of the French government all over the world, in a way to show practical solidarity and support.

The post The WFTU Strongly Condemns the Conviction of Comrade of Jean-Paul Delescaux appeared first on Labor Today.

The Carnation Revolution, which took place on April 25, 1974 led to the fall of the dictatorship regime, the end of Portuguese colonialism in Africa, and the transition of Portugal from an authoritarian regime to a democratic state.

The World Federation of Trade Unions intensified its principled struggles for social justice, workers’ rights, and equality that were at the heart of this revolution. We commemorated the courage of those who stood up for their rights and changed the course of history.

This anniversary inspires us to continue the struggle for a human-centered world where social justice will prevail, and the worker will enjoy the fruits of their labor. We stand together, united, and committed to the principles of internationalism and class solidarity until the emancipation of the working class and the abolition of all kinds of exploitation and oppression.

Today, as the achievements and demands of the carnation revolution are being questioned and under attack, we salute the Portuguese working class and the class-oriented trade union movement. We express our solidarity with their struggles to complete and achieve their goals and visions.

The post WFTU Commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the Carnation Revolution appeared first on Labor Today.

The protection of workers in all aspects of their life is a main duty of the class-oriented trade union movement. We will relentlessly continue our struggle for the determination and implementation of health and safety measures in the workplaces, for free and safe vaccine for all, for public free and high-quality healthcare to all.

NO MORE RANA PLAZAS – NO MORE BLOOD FOR PROFIT!!!

The post WFTU Statement on the 11th Anniversary of Rana Plaza Collapse appeared first on Labor Today.

Trade unionists Mohammed Blaidi, Suzan Abdel-Salam and Yahya Arqawee spoke about the humanitarian drama and struggle of the Palestinians who are under constant bombardment and attacks by the Israeli army

In her address, PEO General Secretary Sotiroulla Charalambous stated that “PEO, as part of the international class movement under the umbrella of the WFTU, stands firmly and over time on the side of the Palestinian workers and the Palestinian people in general. This is what we have always done, this is what we have been doing since the first moment of the Palestinian genocidal operation in Gaza.”

She also denounced the fact that the US and the European Union cover up and encourage Israel’s forces to promote their own geopolitical interests in the region, while regarding the stance of the Cyprus government, she described it as provocative and problematic since it is increasingly tied to US and NATO policies. 

Present at the event were the Ambassador of Palestine to Cyprus Abdalla Attari, the General Secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) Pambis Kyritsis, the President of the Cyprus Peace Council Tasos Costeas, the Head of AKEL’s International Relations Department Vera Polycarpou and members of the General Council, the Executive Council and the Executive Bureau of PEO.

The post CYPRUS: PEO Solidarity Event with the Palestinian People appeared first on Labor Today.

In late January of this year, Alphabet laid off an unprecedented 12,000 employees, leaving the remaining workers demoralized and unmotivated. In a meeting with investors, Google CEO Sundar Pichai briefly thanked “the Googlers leaving us,” before checking off other important topics to discuss in the meeting, such as competing with ByteDance’s American subsidiary, TikTok.

Despite not being strong enough to negotiate with Google directly, the AWU has legal ammunition to use against the tech industry giant. On January 3^rd of this year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Google’s decision to avoid bargaining with contract workers represented by AWU violated federal labor laws.

Workers of the staffing firm Cognizant Technology Solutions were subject to many changes in working conditions without representation throughout their contract work with Google, including but not limited to requiring hybrid and remote workers to return to the office as well as a revocation of the workers’ sick pay during their work for YouTube Music. The Cognizant contractors unanimously voted 41-0 to join the AWU, a vote which Google appealed citing that it “did not have enough control over the workers to be considered a so-called ‘joint employer’ that must bargain with their union.”

The NLRB applied a rule on joint employment adopted during former President Donald Trump’s administration stating that businesses have to exercise direct control over workers to be required to bargain with unions. The NLRB stated that not only does Google directly supervise workers provided by Cognizant, but it also has direct control over their hours and benefits. However, the precedent for deciding when businesses are joint employers of contract or franchise workers has been in question since the Obama administration. An NLRB rule taking effect in February says companies are joint employers even when their control over working conditions is indirect. This decision is currently being challenged by several major business groups.

In November of last year, a group of about 120 employees of Google contractor Accenture, who work on AI, voted to unionize. According to an article by Meg Duff of Slate, “Google claims it is not the workers’ joint employer and is challenging the results of that election.” According to Katie-Marie Marschner, a YouTube Music worker and AWU member, “any future appeals by Alphabet are just an attempt to avoid collectively bargaining with the union and pad the pockets of shareholders and executives.”

The post Google Contract Workers Continue to Join Alphabet Workers Union-CWA as Layoffs Increase appeared first on Labor Today.

Tania Singh is a leader in the Minnesota Nurses Association, an affiliate of National Nurses United, who had organized a campaign to unionize sexual assault examiners. Her positive activity in the union made no difference when she was placed on administrative leave after stating on social media that she supports oppressed people’s right to resist in any way they see fit. She considers this to be new-age McCarthyism.

Dr. Zaki Masoud was terminated after posting a statement on Instagram supporting the Palestinian resistance. One week after NYU Langone terminated the doctor, Masoud received recognition for “Outstanding Patient Care” from his residency newsletter. Over 100,000 have signed a petition demanding his reinstatement.

This retaliation is unfortunately not unique to healthcare workers.

Zainab Chaudry, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) office in Maryland stated, “There’s a very real sense of fear within our communities about the implications of these kinds of incidents and the consequences of reporting and coming forward to demand justice. There’s a fear of consequences, of backlash, of intimidation, harassment, further perpetuation of the aggressions against the victim.”

From October 7 to October 24, 2023, CAIR received 774 requests for help and reports of bias incidents from Muslims across the US (182% increase). “We’re working seven days a week, around the clock, fielding incoming complaints.”

The post Workers Face Retaliatory Firings for Supporting Palestinian Human Rights appeared first on Labor Today.

On behalf of the leadership of the WFTU I transmit to you and through you to the workers of agroalimentary chain  all over the world, class and militant greetings.   Moreover I would particularly like to thank our hosters, the National Union of Food Industry Workers of Senegal for there hospitality and there care to provide the appropriate conditions for a successful congress.

Your congress is taking place in a period that  the nature of imperialism is once again revealed in all its hypocrisy, cynicism, and inhumanity.  The massacre and genocide of the Palestinians of Gaza continue unabated and this heinous crime is being shamefully attempted to be presented as Israel’s right of self-defense.

Right of self-defense for a state that for decades has illegally occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories, that has uprooted and displaced millions of people out of their homes and land, that denies the Palestinians the right to have their own independent state and continues the settlements, murders, and arrests, establishing in practice an Apartheid regime.

WFTU from the very first moment, stood by the Palestinian people and highlighted the real cause of instability, violence, and unrest in Palestine, which is none other than the Israeli occupation and settlements, the usurpation of the rights of the Palestinian people that has been going on for decades.

We are proud that millions of workers in tens of countries around the world are mobilizing, with the WFTU flags, in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Within the International Trade Union Movement, not everyone can feel proud.  Some have lost their voice and remain silent in the face of this crime.  They insist on an equal distance stance and their ‘yes, but’ positions, equating the perpetrators with the victims.

WFTU demand justice and freedom for Palestine, immediate ceasefire, and the creation of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

For WFTU which born in the ashes of world war the  struggle for peace is inherent and integrated with the broader struggles of the labor movement for a better world.  It is obvious that the world peace is threatened. Not for human rights, as some would prefer us to believe, but for imperialist geopolitical and economic interests.

We demand an end to NATO’s war with Russia in Ukraine which they maintain by all means, and to replace weapons with diplomacy.  For us the struggle for peace  has a specific content. It means first and foremost a struggle for the dismantling of NATO and all military coalitions, a struggle to defend the right of every people to choose the path of their economic and social development without interventions, sanctions, blockades, and economic wars. Against the double-standards policy where international law ends up being in practice the law of the strong.

Dear comrades, brothers and sisters

We live in a period that the crisis of capitalism is generalized and deepens. Social inequalities are widening dramatically and democratic and trade union freedoms are under a harsh new attack.

The high cost of living and inflation are brutally undermining workers’ and pensioners living standards. Τhe right to organize and collective bargaining and the holy right to strike are under attack.

Individual contracts, privatizations, outsourcing, teleworking and “service leasing” are just some of the forms taken by this harsh neoliberal attack.

Major social achievements such as social security and public health care are being privatized while the authoritarian and arbitrary increase of the retirement age methodically continues.

In the sectors covered by your Trade Union International, the problems of the workers are certainly no different in substance from those in any other sector. The systemic crisis is manifesting itself, not only as an economic crisis, but also as a food and environmental crisis.

The harsh realities experienced by those who earn their livelihood working in the agri-food sector, are far from approaching the otherwise nice-sounding slogans of the sustainable development and the social and justice green transition.

The intensification of imperialist aggression, interventions and military conflicts are leading agricultural resources to destruction and large parts of the sector to collapse.

The increasing penetration of multinational monopoly capital into agricultural holdings and the food chain in general, is leading to the plundering of natural wealth and an unprecedented attack on workers’ labour, social and trade union rights.

By the ruling circles of the system and the huge business groups, unfortunately, the primary priority remains their unbridled speculation and the control of the global agro-industrial chain.

Economic, technological and productive inequalities, instead of being reduced, on the altar of profit are constantly widening, with the result that vast areas of the world with populations of billions of people remain fortuned to poverty and underdevelopment.

The results of monopolistic penetration and exploitation of agricultural and food production are increasingly felt not only by the workers in the sectors, but also by small and medium-sized farmers who see their incomes reduced and their efforts destroyed.

The outpouring of their anger is evident in the huge farmers’ mobilisations that we have witnessed in recent years, not only in Asia, Africa and Latin America, but also within Europe as well.

We stand in solidarity with these struggles.

It is obvious that the burden of the capitalist  crisis, is being attempted once again to be put on the shoulders of the working people and the weak popular strata in general.

The workers and poor farmers do not passively accept the neoliberal, anti-grassroots, and anti-worker attacks.  They refusing to pay the bill of the capitalist crisis.

With militant mobilizations in all corners of the globe, they demand the satisfaction of their contemporary needs. They demand agreement-regulated, permanent, and stable work. Safety and health at work, social security, reliable public health systems, full, free and universal education, and the right to leisure, culture, and intellectual development.

The sharpening of state repression and authoritarianism is the response of the bourgeois governments to the just popular demands; unfortunately, very often under the cooperation or tolerance of surrendered trade union leaders along with yellow unions.

For the WFTU is clear that only through struggles the workers can build a militant front able of defending their rights, principles, and values, and pave the way for another course that leads to peace, social justice, and the abolition of man-by-man exploitation.

Dear Comrades,

Just few weeks ago the Presidential Council of WFTU had its annual meeting in Sao Paolo where estimated our action and collectively decided about our plan for the next year.

In 2023 we had implemented a rich action plan after a fairly long period of mandatory restrictions on our activities due to the COVID pandemic.

Our ambition for the 2024 action, is to be even rich and more multilayered.

There is no doubt that TUI’s action must remain at the center of our attention. Through this action we come closer to the contemporary needs and daily struggles of the workers in the sectors they work in.  Closer to the demands for work regulated by collective agreements and for guaranteed labor rights and trade union freedoms.

An ambitious Action Plan for the next years I am sure that will adopted from this congress that it will be rich and diverse to develop the coordination and guidance of the struggles, the expression of solidarity and internationalism, the dissemination of information, the intervention in international organizations the continuous upgrading of the educational work within the workers and of course the organizational development and the expansion of the prestige and influence of the International class oriented movement.

On behalf of more than 105 million members from 133 countries in all corners of the world, I wish every success in the work of your congress and in your future struggles.

Be certain that you will never be alone in your struggles. You can always rely on the solidarity and support of the WFTU.

The system that generates crisis and reproduces exploitation can be defeated.   The weapon of the working class is Solidarity and Internationalism.

For the class-oriented International Trade Union movement, for the workers who resist, who do not compromise with oppression, discrimination and exploitation, there is only one path of dignity: the path of the struggles.

Long Live the Trade Union Class Struggle!
Long Live solidarity and internationalism!

The post Speech of WFTU General Secretary, Pambis Kyritsis, at 5rd Congress of Trade Union International Agroalimentary, Food, Commerce, Textile & Allied Industries (UISTAACT) appeared first on Labor Today.

We the port workers, part of labor unions, would always stand against the war and killing innocent people like women and children. The recent attack of Israel on Gaza plunging thousands of Palestinians into immense suffering and loss. Women and children have been blown to pieces in the war. Parents were unable to recognize their children killed in bombings which were exploding everywhere.

At this juncture our union members have collectively decided to refuse handling all types of weaponized cargoes. Loading and unloading these weapons helps provide organizations with the ability to kill innocent people.

Therefore we, the Indian port and dock workers from various major ports active in the ground of cargo handling sector, call on our members to no longer handle any ships which carry military material to Palestine/Israel.

We therefore also call for an immediate ceasefire. As the responsible trade unions, we declare our solidarity with those who campaign for peace. We call upon the workers of the world and peace-loving people to stand with the demand of free Palestine.

T Narendra Rao
General Secretary

Image Courtesy of The Revolution Report

The post INDIA: Dockworkers Take a Collective Stand Against Gaza Genocide appeared first on Labor Today.

The labor movement for decades has been weakened due to the McCarthyite era when the C.I.O.—leading to its weakening and merger into the AFL to form the AFL-CIO—became an appendage of the US state department, expelling communists and left-wing leaders from their unions; the very people who worked to heighten the militant workers struggle. At our congress, we reaffirmed our position supporting and expanding democratic freedoms within the trade unions, the reunification of the world trade union movement with the WFTU including the dissolution of the US State Department dominated International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and exposing the State Department involvement in the “Solidarity” Center.

A major task moving forward for LUEL, besides working within the unions to build worker consciousness, is the building of a labor party in America that truly represents the working class and is not beholden to the Republicans or Democrats which are both controlled by the bosses of monopoly capital. With the working class of America falling further into destitute positions and their unions being attacked daily, the sharpening of the working class into a fighting force against the bosses is necessary and can only be accomplished with Class-Oriented Trade Unionism.

The post LUEL 1st National Congress Calls on Our Past and Paves the Way for Our Future appeared first on Labor Today.

On behalf of the leadership of the WFTU I transmit to you and, through you, to the pensioners all over the  world, class militant greetings.

First of all, allow me to congratulate the leadership of the TUI P&R for the realization of its 3^rd  Regular Congress as well as for the preparatory work that has been done with the holding of several regional and local meetings through which a rich, democratic, and free discussion was held, underlining the challenges, anxieties, and priorities of the thriving and vibrant movement of the pensioners.

Moreover, Ι would particularly like to thank the Greek pensioners, as well as PAME that supports them, for hosting this event and creating the right conditions for this conference to be successful in every aspect.

The WFTU is proud to have in its ranks the Pensioners’ UIS, which brings together class organizations and pensioners’ militants from all corners of the planet and is in constant mobilization and demand. Because our retired veterans have made an invaluable contribution to society and undoubtedly deserve much more than they currently enjoy.

Your congress is taking place in a period that  the nature of imperialism is once again revealed in all its hypocrisy, cynicism, and inhumanity.  The massacre and genocide of the Palestinians of Gaza continue unabated and this heinous crime is being shamefully attempted to be presented as Israel’s right of self-defense.

Right of self-defense of whom? A state that for decades has illegally occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories by the force of arms, that has uprooted and displaced millions of people out of their homes and land, that denies the Palestinians the right to have their own independent state and continues the settlements, murders, and arrests, establishing in practice an Apartheid regime.

WFTU from the very first moment, stood by the Palestinian people and highlighted the real cause of instability, violence, and unrest in Palestine and the wider Middle East, which is none other than the Israeli occupation and settlements, the usurpation of the rights of the Palestinian people that has been going on for decades.

We demand justice and freedom for Palestine, immediate ceasefire, and the creation of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

We are proud that millions of workers in tens of countries around the world are mobilizing, with the WFTU flags, in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

I regret to say that within the International Trade Union Movement, not everyone can feel proud. Unfortunately, some have lost their voice and remain silent in the face of this crime.  They insist on an equal distance stance and their ‘yes, but’ positions, equating the perpetrators with the victims.

For WFTU which born in the ashes of world war the  struggle for peace is inherent and integrated with the broader struggles of the labor movement for a better world.  It is obvious that the world peace is threatened.  We demand an end to NATO’s war with Russia in Ukraine, which they maintain by all means, and to replace weapons with diplomacy.  For us the struggle for peace  has a specific content. It means first and foremost a struggle for the dismantling of NATO and all military coalitions, a struggle to defend the right of every people to choose the path of their economic and social development without interventions, sanctions, blockades, and economic wars. Against the double-standards policy where international law ends up being in practice the law of the strong.

Dear comrades, brothers and sisters

We live in a period that the crisis of capitalism is generalized and deepens, social inequalities exploitation and poverty are widening dramatically.

The high cost of living is brutally undermining workers’ and pensioners living standards. The right to organize and collective bargaining are under attack.

Individual contracts, privatizations, outsourcing, teleworking and “service leasing” are just some of the forms taken by this harsh neoliberal attack.

Major social achievements such as social security and public health care are being privatized, while the authoritarian and arbitrary increase of the retirement age continues methodically.

With public money, they save the banks and strengthen big capital, without caring at the same time about the dramatic expansion of poverty and social inequality.  Large groups of the population, especially the most vulnerable, such as pensioners, are pushed even further into misery, abandonment and social marginalization.

The workers and pensioners do not passively accept the neoliberal capitalist, anti-grassroots, and anti-worker attacks.

With militant mobilizations in all corners of the globe, they demand the satisfaction of their contemporary needs.  Social security, health and safety conditions at work, free and universal public education, dignified life for pensioners and the elderly, and possibilities of creative and quality leisure.

The sharpening of state repression and authoritarianism is the response of the bourgeois governments to the just popular demands; unfortunately, very often under the cooperation or tolerance of surrendered trade union leaders along with yellow unions.

Dear Comrades,

Just few weeks ago the presidential Council of WFTU had its annual meeting in Sao Paolo where estimated our action and collectively decided about our plan for the next year.

In 2023 we had  implemented successfully a rich action plan after a fairly long period of mandatory restrictions on our activities due to the COVID pandemic.

Our ambition for the 2024 action, is to be even rich and more multilayered, to develop dynamically the coordination and guidance of the struggles, the expression of solidarity and internationalism, the dissemination of information, the intervention in international organizations and especially in the ILO, the continuous upgrading of the educational work within the workers and of course the organizational development and the expansion of the prestige and influence of the International class oriented movement.

An important development in the field of trade union education, is  the initiative of creating the International Labor Institute, by old distinguished WFTU cadres as well as scientists and academics linked to the class-oriented trade union movement. With this Institute the WFTU will  have a close cooperation to upgrade the WFTU’s educational activity.

There is no doubt that TUI’s action must remain at the center of our attention. Through this action we come closer to the contemporary needs and daily struggles of the workers in the sectors they work in.  Closer to the demands for work regulated by collective agreements and for guaranteed labor rights and trade union freedoms.

Dear comrades, brothers and sisters

Workers and pensioners march together, shoulder to shoulder in the struggles for a better world without wars or imperialist interventions, without social marginalization, without discrimination of any kind and without exploitation of man and man.

The International Class-oriented  Trade Union Movement, is firmly on your side and fights with you in the great trade union battle for pensions. Against the privatization of social security and the arbitrary and autocratic increase of retirement limits. For the right of pensioners to a dignified life, housing, food, health, culture and leisure with an adequate level of quality.

On behalf of more than 105 million members from 133 countries in all corners of the world,  I  wish every success in the work of your congress and in your struggles to defend and expand the rights and improve the quality of life of pensioners around the world.

The system that generates crisis and reproduces exploitation can be defeated.

The weapon of the working class is solidarity and internationalism. For those who resist, who do not com promise with  oppression, discrimination and exploitation there is only one path of dignity, the path of struggles.

Long live the Trade Union Class Struggles
Long live solidarity and internationalism

The post Speech of WFTU General Secretary, Pambis Kyritsis, at 3rd Congress of TUI Pensioners and Retirees appeared first on Labor Today.