To the delegates of WFTU’s 17th Congress, Durban 2016
Dear comrades, dear brothers and sisters, friends,
Let me offer you our most cordially greetings for WFTU’s 17th Congress on behalf of Trade Union Association of Bohemia, Moravia & Silesia, Czech Republic. Since our Trade Union Association to be established in 1991, after the United Revolutionary Trade Union Movement to be broken in former Czechoslovakia, we have been members of the WFTU, the world’s only class-orientated trade union movement. It gives us a fellow feeling in the process of trade union movement’s unification. In the same time, within the European Union, of which the Czech Republic is one of the member states, it puts immensely difficult demands on us due to the policy of the pro-EU, pro-IMF and pro-European bank orientated ETUC. For us, it means a permanent struggle against the politics of basic interests of both workers and other working people to be sold, and it means, too, an endless defend of social and economical rights of the workers.
It can be seen that some trade union centrals and a large part of TU leaders, who collaborate with the capitalist social order, are willing both to sell and to restrict the working people’s basic rights, to be so hard won during the long past, for some tiny concessions What occurred in France this year as for the Labour Code, we experience currently the same in Czech Republic under the Soc-Dem government. We struggle against the fact that although the unemployment rate dropped down statistically onto the lowest level during last 25 years, the real incomes, in the worker jobs especially, are deeply under current approximate incomes in Czech Republic. It is one of the reasons we are very grateful to the WFTU for its solidarity given to the workers of the car industry. In contrast to the “yellow” ETUC, a huge wave of solidarity was arisen both internationally and domestically, what has helped to win this struggle successfully. Similarly to it, we wage the struggle for the wages of bus drivers to increase. We have reached some wins in these struggles just thanks to both the solidarity and the scrupulosity in the class approach, although the struggle still remains to continue, a long way still waiting for us.
Comrades, brothers and sisters, by this, I’d like to express deep thanks to the WFTU all members, to the WFTU leadership, to the EUROF head, comrade Pieris Pieri, to the WFTU Gen-Sec, comrade George Mavrikos as well as the WFTU 17. Congress’ hosting South African Trade Unions, the COSATU Affiliates. We honour their work immensely.
In this context, if you shall trust on us, I’d like to express our strong determination to continue in our work within the EUROF Secretariat.
Accept please my swift apology for being not presented in so important event as the WFTU 17th Congress. We are represented there by comrade Martin PEC, actively working amongst young trade unionists and enjoying from our full confidence. Our participation, and my personal one especially, on the WFTU 17th congress, has been limited by urgent and serious inner-political situation in Czech Republic, given by the critical regional election, in which the Communist Party of Bohemia & Moravia, in which I am a member and of which I am an MP, defends its electoral large representation in each region of our country. It is deeply important also for the current position of our Trade Union Association to strengthen. The second imperative fact I need to be in our country just now, it is the state of strike emergency, and, maybe, the strike itself as well, in some public transport stations, with bus drivers organized in our Trade Union Association as the main strike force. In my mind, however, I am amongst you, the delegates of the WFTU 17th Congress.
Our Trade Union Association denounces the war conflicts unleashed by the imperialist aggressiveness, denouncing also the Pharisaic approach by global capitalist powers like the US, the Germany, the France, but also by the IMF, towards current migration crisis, because neither the misery nor suffering of ordinary people are dealt with. The global capitalist powers have made the commodities from those both misery and suffering for the benefit of the trans-national capital. Given by it, we see to be imperative, together with the struggle for a fair wage, against both the modern slavery and the neo-colonialism, to build up the largest possible front of the struggle for peace all around the world.
The Trade Union Association of Bohemia, Moravia & Silesia is a firm part of the WFTU. 25 years having passed since our establishing, it shows that even in the middle of the European Union, it is possible both to build and to organize a class-orientated trade union movement, although this road often appears to be difficult, going across frequent painful obstacles. Nevertheless, we believe the future is ours.
With comradely fraternally greetings,
Wishing you the Congress’ successful processing and our WFTU emerging even stronger from it
Long life the workers’ solidarity!
Long life the WFTU!
Fraternally
Stanislav Grospič
Chairman of Trade Union Association of Bohemia, Moravia & Silesia
In Prague, Czech Republic, October 3, 2016