Fellow workers in public services Europe,
A wave of struggles has already started, in several trade unions in Europe, with the main demand of these struggles being wage increases, measures against inflation and rising prices, against the acceleration of privatisations of strategic sectors.
The common belief is that the coming months will be difficult, for the workers. Everyone is talking about a recession that will hit working people’s families. The impact on people’s incomes will be great. We are facing the unbearable accuracy in electricity, fuel and other basic consumer goods, miserable wages and pensions, and degraded health and
welfare services in the midst of the pandemic with thousands of deaths.
We are currently experiencing the highest inflation in Europe during the last 40 years. Large increases in the prices of energy, food, have contributed decisively to the rise in inflation. The workers all over Europe are thus being asked to pay for the policy of ‘green’ business, sanctions and counter-sanctions in the context of imperialist war and the ‘return’ to stricter fiscal policy, after having paid for expansionist policies and the provision of cheap money for business groups.
The governments are trying to fool the workers and the popular strata with various crumbs of benefits. These cannot be used to counter the attack on workers’ incomes by the huge inefficiency, the uncontrolled prices of energy, food, and a range of popular consumer goods.
It is not possible to deal with accuracy with crumbs of benefits if income is not supported by increases in wages, by reductions and price caps, but also by abolishing VAT on basic goods. Can there be a solution to energy poverty if there is no plan for the immediate exploitation of all energy sources against the EU’s commitments to ‘green growth’ and emissions trading? Without abolishing the Energy Stock Market and all the contracts that determine the indexation clauses? Without stopping sanctions from EU countries to Russia? Without abolishing taxes on fuel and
electricity?
Our struggles can bring results, our struggles are what the employers, their state and governments fear and fight. The images from many countries such as recently in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, with the big strikes show how the pot boils. These struggles are something promising. They show that the working class has not said its last word.
We demand generous increases in our wages to meet our needs.
We demand price reduction and abolishment of VAT on basic consumer goods.
Price reduction in fuel, energy, and transportation.
Trade Unions of TUI PS Europe of WFTU
Athens,28.9.22