On March 6-7, 2020, the World Federation of Trade Unions held the Founding Congress of the TUI Textile-Garment-Leather (TUI TEXGAL) in Cairo, Egypt, with great enthusiasm and the massive participation of delegates from all over the world.
Militant trade union leaders of the sectors of textile garment and leather form India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Russia, Egypt, RD Congo, Sudan, Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Brazil, Argentina, Greece and Cyprus participated in the Congress, hosted by the General Union of Textile and Garment Workers of Egypt. The WFTU General Secretary, comrade George Mavrikos also participated and delivered a speech during the Opening Ceremony of the Congress, stressing the importance of the new TUI in such a strategic sector for the covering of workers’ and ordinary people’s needs, which also employs millions of workers all over the world who toil in harsh and often dangerous working places. Brother Ghassan Ghosn, Secretary General of ICATU also participated.
Mr. Mohamed Saafan, the Minister of Labour of Egypt and Mr. Fayez Ali Al Mutairy, director of the Arab Labor Organization attended the Opening Ceremony.
The TUI TEXGAL Congress elected brothers Abdel- Fatah Ibrahim-Egypt, Textile and Spinning workers union, as General Secretary and Ernesto (Quiqui) Trigo-Argentina, SAMC, as its President.
It also decided to hold an International Action Day every year on April 24th, commemorating the victims of the Rana Plaza garment factory and promoting the health and safety measures inside the workplaces.
The TUI TEXGAL Founding Congress, which coincides with the 75th anniversary of the WFTU, consists of a great step forward for the international coordination and solidarity which will strengthen the struggles of workers of the respective sectors and will support the improvement of their working and living conditions, based on the principles of class struggle, against capitalist barbarity and exploitation.
