WFTU honors this year’s March 8th, almost a century since Klara Tsetkin has suggested celebrating this day every year as the anniversary of the sacrifice of women Textile strikers held on March 8, 1857 in New York.
We honor and celebrate the struggles for the equality of women, for social equality and continuation of our action against the capitalist attacks in the achievements and rights of women worldwide.
The women’s issue is a complex of economic, political and cultural inequalities and discriminations that occur in all social relations and derives from the class relations of exploitation. Experience and life have shown that the liberation of women from the class exploitation and the double oppression can only be done by eliminating the exploitation of man by man.
Nowadays, in conditions of global economic capitalistic crisis, the attack of capital against workers’ rights is affecting women worker’s rights even more. Unemployment, part-time jobs, layoffs, increase of the retirement age, reduction of pensions and limitation of the medical and pharmaceutical coverage attack women diametrically.
WFTU supports the struggle of women, workers, unemployed, farmers, youth, migrants, against the policies of the capital, monopolies and multinationals. WFTU sends warm militant class oriented greetings to PAME in Greece, where a big demonstration is going to be organized on 10 March. PAME along with the other militant rallies in women’s, farmers’, self-employed workers’ and students’ fronts demonstrate and celebrate the International Women’s Day.
WFTU honors the past struggles and continues on the same course so as the struggles to come, will be bigger, more intensive and effective than before, will open a way for a future devoid of the exploitation man by man.
Towards the celebration of the 16th World Trade Union Congress, the WFTU will support the participation of women trade unionist in the new leadership and the struggle of working women.