Dear colleagues,
RICH ACTION OF THE WFTU
It is with great pleasure that we hold the WFTU Informal Presidential Council and Council of Friends formed by WFTU cadres and friends who are present these days in Geneva for the ILC. It’s been 3 months since when the WFTU Presidential Meeting held its annual meeting in Lima, Peru. Since the beginning of this year the WFTU has done progress in implementing the objectives decided by our Presidential Council by having a rich activity and presence all over the world.
The WFTU was present in important trade union events and congresses in all continents, while at the same time WFTU and its affiliates and friends all over the world were having rich action. Dozens of iniciatives and activities in every corner of the world. In many countries. In many sectors. We remind you some of these activities.
For May Day 2013 the WFTU set the slogan “Chicago showed us the way”, demanding that the 8 hours of work be respected all over the world. Affiliates and friends of the WFTU in 90 countries of the world participated and organized marches, demonstrations and strikes.
These days, here in Geneva, during the 102 ILC, the WFTU has organized important activities and meetings: Meeting on Work Health and Safety, meeting on Multinational Corporations. As you probably know, there are two more events to go, the WFTU meeting on Collective Bargaining and the meeting on the role of the IMF and the World Bank. Through these activities we receive great feedback. We value the opinion of the participants. We’ll try to materialize the proposal made during the “Work Health and Safety” meeting to build a specialized WFTU website on the subject of Health and Safety and the proposals of the WFTU.
Two successful Regional Meetings were held: the 2nd Pan-African Meeting held in Khartoum – Sudan and the Regional Meeting of Latin America and the Caribbean held in Havana, Cuba. The WFTU also held an international conference on Economic Immigrants in Brussels, Belgium on 13-14 May 2013.
Ten days ago, in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, the WFTU along with its friends and affiliates organized important activities in order to defend the life and health of the workers that lose their lives because of the squalid conditions.
On June 3rd the WFTU Secretariat hosted in Athens, Greece, a meeting with our basic cadres in the transport sector from various countries (Portugal, India, Chile, Cyprus, Uruguay).
At the same period the WFTU welcomed to its Central Offices in Athens important foreign delegations. The most recent delegation that visited the Central Offices, was of the COSATU leadership, that held an important meeting with the WFTU Secretariat.
WE MUST ALL WORK ACTIVELY
Besides the rich action of the WFTU and its affiliates, there’s still a lot to be done this year. During the next months of the 2013 the WFTU plans to continue implementing its rich action plan for 2013.
1) International Action Day, October 3 under the slogan: “We march militantly on the streets and we demand food, water, education, medicine, housing for all”. We should continue with new forms, with open demonstrations. We should pay attention to the struggle against privatizations in the WATER sector, a crucial and very serious issue in many countries. The Secretariat of the WFTU will give a new notebook computer as a symbolic gift to the organization that will organize the best activity for October 3rd.
2) Meetings of WFTU Regional Offices in North America, Asia – Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.
3) Joint activity by the WFTU and ETUF, Egypt on the issue of Economic Migration. July 1st 2013 – Cairo, Egypt.
4) TUI Congresses and preparatory meetings:
• TUI Pensioners Preparatory meeting: July 09 2013 – Athens, Greece
• TUI Metal: October 24-25 2013 – Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
• TUI Transport: Lisbon, Portugal
• TUI Public Services: Kathmandu, Nepal
5) International Conferences
i) July of 2013, South Africa: Meeting of the African Youth
ii) September 2013, Trade Union Forum of Beijing
iii) September 2013, Cyprus: Young workers camping
iv) October, Brussels, Belgium: International Meeting
v) Bahrain: International meeting on “The trade union movement in Southeast Asia”.
vi) Preparatory meeting for working women, with the objective to prepare the World Conference of Working Women in India.
vii) Regional Working Center of Larisa, Greece: Event about Food, products’ prices, cost of production, with the participation workers and farmers. Social alliance.
viii) Events of internationalist Solidarity
6) Establishment of new Regional Offices: This year, 2013 two new Regional Offices will be established A) In French Speaking Africa, with its seat in Gabon will open in October 2013 and B) great progress has been made regarding the Moscow office.
7) 2013 Trade Union Training – Seminars
a) WFTU Seminars
i) Uganda: Mass Media seminar
ii) Guyana : Hotel and Tourism
iii) Lao and Cambodia: English language / IT
iv) 21 June – 8 July, Congo: In headquarters, trade union formation seminar for 15 trade unionists from Congo on the basis of the Athens Pact.
v) Kazakhstan: The right to Trade Unionism, Trade Union Liberties, Collective Bargaining
vi) September 2013, Athens: In headquarters trade union seminar for Danish young trade unionists.
vii) Autumn 2013: Seminar about the impact of asbestos.
In cooperation with the ILO 2013
i) Bulgaria: Health and Safety for domestic workers
ii) Poland: Collective Bargaining
iii) September 6-7, 2013, Rwanda: Rural employment
iv) October 24-25 2013, Nigeria: Local development for poverty reduction. (In cooperation with OATUU)
v) December 9-10 2013, Spain: Youth unemployment
vi) Iraq: Safety and health at work
c) In cooperation with UNESCO
i) October 28 2013, Gabon: Africa: Education: “The key to the region’s development”.
ii) Uganda: Against illiteracy. Education for all the children. (in cooperation with FISE)
d) In cooperation with ACFTU China
September: WFTU Delegation of Latin American Young Trade Unionists
e) WFTU delegation visit to Central Africa
8 ) Finances – Fees Our financial situation is difficult. Until today, only 14 organizations-affiliates to the WFTU have paid their fees for 2013. Action requires financial strength. The bad financial situation of the WFTU generates difficulties for its action.
9) Preparation for the 70th anniversary of the WFTU in 2015. In 2015 we celebrate 70 years since the founding of the WFTU. We must prepare big events. We must honor the 70 years anniversary. Books and articles should be published, videos and every positive thing should be done for the anniversary. The Secretariat has already sent to all affiliates a letter requesting the affiliates’ contribution to a WFTU publication that will present Trade Union leaders who offered their lives in their countries for the interests of the working class. The titles of that publication will be “Our own heroes”.
10) 8th Presidential Council The next WFTU Presidential Council Meeting for 2014 will be held in Italy, hosted by our affiliate Unione Sindacale Di Base (USB) on February 14-15 2014.
You are all asked to take part in this rich plan of action!