Brazil: Unions and "Social Pact" Update
Articles reprinted from the Dec. 4-18, 2002, issue of the O Trabalho
newspaper in Brazil)
The Unified Workers Confederation of Brazil (CUT) and the Social Pact:
"Don't Give Up Rights and Conquests!"
Leadership Meeting of the CUT Starts the Debate for the 8th Congress in
May 2003
The National Leadership of the CUT met this past Nov. 28-29. The
meeting began with reports from Joao Felicio and Vaccari, the president
and secretary-treasurer of the CUT respectively, on the open situation
of the election of Lula and the Nov. 26th meeting of the president-elect
with unionists of various federations.
Felicio characterized the victory of Lula as a "synthesis of more
than 20 years of struggle that opens up the possibility of building a
new economic model." He continued, "As opposed to the unions
in Western Europe, which are transmission belts for the government, the
CUT will maintain its autonomy, but with responsibility." On the
meeting with Lula and the other union federations, Felicio said that
"it did not help us": "We believe the CUT positions
should be the reference point for any such discussions." He
concluded by affirming that the CUT should "exert pressure so that
reforms occur in favor of the workers."
Vaccari, for his part, rejected the conception of the "Social
Pact" presented by Mr. Piva, president of the Sao Paulo Employers'
Association (FIESP), noting further that "autonomy is different
from submission or subordination." Moreover, he stated, since
within the government there are "conflicts of interest, nothing is
more fair than for us to defend our own interests."
In the debate, Julio Turra proposed a resolution on the question of
negotiations and the Social Pact [see article below] and argued against
the idea that "privileged" sectors among workers should exist,
for example, in the area of social security benefits for federal
workers, an idea that was supported by Torquato, vice president of the
Federal District CUT and by Roberto Luque, from the CE CUT. He explained
that the "gap" in social security benefits is due to the
misallocation of resources and the exemptions given to businesspeople,
and that a "single system that is public and divided equally among
the workers and that doesn't level to the lowest common denominator, but
guarantees complete retirement for all workers, is possible and
necessary."
Spis, the president of the São Paulo CUT, provoked reactions when he
said, "We support the PT election program, and Lula did not say he
would break with the IMF, the people did not vote in favor of such an
orientation." Jorginho, from the Executive Board of the CUT,
responded: "Stop right there. The CUT is in favor of breaking with
the IMF. Trade union independence and autonomy means we maintain our
positions!" Jesualdo Campos, from the CE CUT, added: "The
people voted for Lula with the hope of transformation. For me, a PT
government must attend to this, something which will only be possible by
breaking with the FTAA and the IMF."
Three Positions Voted On
The day closed with the approval of working groups to address, on
the basis of the historic positions of the CUT, the "reforms"
that the new government announced on the issues of Land Distribution,
Taxes, Welfare, and Labor/Unions.
On the following day, three proposals on the relationship of the CUT
with the new government, the bosses and other federations, went to a
vote. The first proposal, defended by Julio Turra and Jorginho [see
article below], received 14 votes from the close to 80 CUT leaders
present.
The second position, presented by Ze Maria and defended by Dirceu from
the PSTU, stated, "There is no sense in participating in pacts,
councils or forums of any kind that gather workers, businesspeople and
governments to seek consensual resolutions to the crisis that our
country is living in." This position obtained 6 votes.
The third position was defended by CUT President Joao Felicio, Rosane
(from the CSD, current led by the Social Democrats) and Wagner Gomes (of
the CSC, led by the CP). It stated, in part: "We are for autonomy
in relation to the government. ... [A]t the same time, [the CUT] will
stimulate the implementation of the political, democratic and popular
programs that Lula represents." It concluded with the call to
"participate in all of the national negotiation forums (Council of
Economic and Social Development, the National Labor Forum, and the
Sectoral Assemblies); develop forces for the creation of a United
Workers Forum; and call all of the affiliated unions to participate in
the national movement to fight hunger."
The leadership of the CUT also moved up the dates of the 8th National
Congress of the CUT to the 27th through the 31st of May 2003. Until that
time the important discussion opened in the CUT will be continued; a
discussion that has as its center the defense of the independence of the
federation -- the independence which permits it to continue to be an
instrument of struggle for the workers. - O Trabalho Current of the
Workers Party (PT)
*********
Negotiation, Yes -- Social Pact, No!
[Note: Following is the proposal presented to the CUT national
leadership gathering by CUT Executive Board members Julio Turra,
Jorginho, Lujan and Themistocles. Their proposal obtained 14 votes, out
of the 80 members present at the leadership meeting.]
On the negotiation with the government and bosses,
1. The CUT, with the objective of the development of the negotiations,
without any previous imposition or limitation, on the basis of concrete
agendas with the bosses and the government, declares its intention to
participate in the conferences and meetings promoted by the new
government with the trade union federations and employer entities.
2. Considering that, historically, all attempts at "social
pacts" among oppressors and oppressed, among antagonistic classes,
aim to cushion conflicts and stifle the workers' capacity for struggle,
the "social pact" is not a banner of the CUT. The CUT rejects
the proposal of a "social pact" expressed in the declarations
of the president of the FIESP, for whom "businesspeople and workers
will have to lose a little" or one in which "wages and prices
should be frozen." For the CUT, it is out of the question to give
up the rights and conquests of the workers or to fail to use the
legitimate instruments of class struggle, such as strikes, in the face
of the bosses' threats and attacks or the need to struggle for more
jobs, against layoffs and for better wages.
3. With respect to the work groups among the trade union federations and
the National Labor Forum, the CUT is willing to meet with the other
federations to explore the possibility of arriving at common positions.
We know the differences that separate us and also of the role played,
for example, by the Força Sindical and the SDS, in the attacks on labor
and social rights, aligning themselves with the bosses and the FHC
government. For this reason, the participation of the CUT in these
meetings will occur on the basis of the positions and proposals adopted
in their entirety.
4. At the current time the CUT reaffirms its historic positions of:
- Defense of trade union independence,
- Defense of Social Healthcare and Welfare that is public and based on
solidarity and is divided equally among the workers,
- Defense of the labor rights codified in the CLT, and the demand for
the withdrawal of the Dornelles project in the Senate,
- Recuperation of the buying power of wages and the creation of new job
positions,
- Reduction of the work day to 40 hours, without salary reductions or
flexibilization of hours,
- Revoking of the provisional measures and laws of flexibilization of
the labor rights adopted in the FHC government (temporary
contracting-out, layoffs, flexibilization of hours, CCPs, etc.).
********************
Lula and the Union Federations
(reprinted from O Trabalho)
Three hundred unionists attended the meeting with Lula in São Paulo
on the 26th of November, the majority from the CUT (according to the
IBGE, the CUT has 66% of unions affiliated to a federation, followed by
the Força Sindical with 19%).
Calixto, an old pelego [trade union bureaucrat from the days of the
government-run unions of the military dictatorship-Translators' Note]
from the CNTI, accused Joao Felicio of "terrorism" for
speaking of "imploding the union movement." He said he
represents the majority of those not affiliated to any federation and
that "we are not going to amend the proposals of the CUT."
Santiago, of the SDS, defended the reduction of the social security
contribution of employers "in order to generate jobs and
income".
Laerte, of the CAT, criticized the use of the funds of the FAT, while
Neto, of the CGTB, spoke of the "broadest possible national
union."
Salim, of the CGT defended the trade union unicity [based on the lowest
common denominator positons of all the federation] and the union tax.
Paulinho, of the Força Sindical, called for consensus: "If there
is an accord, take it to the government, if not, don't take it".
Manoel de Serra, of the Contag and Joao Felicio, were the CUT
representatives who spoke.
The senator-elect Mercadante reminded the attendants of Conclat in 1981,
"where everyone was united" to say that "you all do not
have the right to be divided" in order to have dialogue with the
Congress".
Lula spoke for almost 1 hour. He said that the reforms "will be
debated" and that "all would be called to assume their
responsibilities." He argued that the "organized portion of
the workforce will have to extend their hands to the excluded. It is not
the minimum wage that is the priority but the fight against
hunger," said Lula, after affirming that "if there is no way
to increase the minimum wage, I will personally tell the people that it
won't work".
Will Lula also explain to the people why the country should continue to
pay the foreign debt, the demand of the IMF, which prevents not only a
minimum wage but the solutions to the aspirations that are the basis of
the mandate for change that he received?
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