A dossier of weekly information published by the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples
April 18, 2005
Issue 179
INTRODUCTION:
Messages from all over the world have been sent in solidarity with
the campaign demanding that all the truth come out concerning the assassination
of our comrade, Brazilian unionist Anderson Luiz Souza Santos. A "Committee
for the Truth Concerning the Assassination of Anderson" has just
been created. It calls on "unionists, parliamentarians, artists,
and celebrities who struggle for democracy and justice to join this
committee. This is a crime against all the workers´ movement and
we demand that the truth come out concerning the barbaric assassination
of Anderson"
United States: Powerful mobilizations took place in defense of the
rights of immigrant workers. We are publishing below the joint declaration
of the partisans of the ILC in Mexico and the U.S.; the resolution voted
by the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Labor Council on April
3, 2006; the declaration edited by the March 25 Coalition that initiated
the historic march which took place in Los Angeles. All these texts
demand immediate amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
Bolivia: The COB (Bolivian Workers Federation) has called for a Second
Summit of Workers and Peoples. Our correspondent explains the purposes
of this summit in the contribution you will find below.
Spain: Zapatero announced his reform of public administration, in order
to reach "greater flexibility in the implementation of policies
concerning human resources, thus avoiding rigidity"
Belgium: We are publishing below a letter from a unionist who condemns
the European Union: "The only goal of all this is to make irrational
profits, which threatens humanity and the very survival of our planet"
Germany: After nine weeks of strikes in public administration, what
is the situation? What are the obstacles facing the workers?
Bangladesh: We have just been informed of the brutal attacks on comrade
Haroun Chowdury, a railway unionist, who was a delegate to the international
conference of railway workers which took place in Paris, and who is
a member of the national committee of the Democratic Workers Party of
Bangladesh
Pakistan: An international appeal by the APTUF concerning attacks against
workers´ rights and union rights
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-----
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
p. 1: Introduction
p. 2 - United States: In defense of immigrants´ rights
p. 3 - 4 - Brazil: Campaign calling for all the truth come out concerning
the assassination of our comrade, Brazilian unionist Anderson Luiz Souza
Santos.
p. 4 - Bolivia: The COB calls for a Second Summit.
p. 5 - Spain: Zapatero announces his reform of public administration
p. 6 -Belgium: Concerning the European Union.
p.7 - Germany: After nine weeks of strikes in public administration,
what is the situation?
p. 8 - o Bangladesh: Brutal attacks on comrade Haroun Chowdury.
Pakistan: Attacks on workers´ rights and union rights
---
Contact:
Informations internationales
Entente internationale des travailleurs et des peuples,
87, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis -75010 Paris - France
Tel: (33 1) 48 01 88 28
E.mail: eit.ilc@fr.oleane.com - Site: www.eit-ilc.org
********************
UNITED STATES
Over the past six weeks, huge mass demonstrations have erupted in Chicago,
Los Angeles and other major U.S. cities in opposition to HR-4477, the
anti-immigrant bill submitted by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.)
that would criminalize all undocumented immigrants and build a Wall
along the border. The Los Angeles Times of March 26 called these "the
large immigrant rights demonsrations ever."
On March 10, more than 500,000 people demonstrated in Chicago against
HR-4437. On March 25, more than 1 million people took to the streets.
Political, community, trade union, and religious leaders on both sides
of the border have denounced this bill.
The protests were organized largely by immigrants' rights groups, trade
unions, and civil rights organizations. Many are calling this the emergence
of a New Civil Rights Movement -- a reference to the Black Civil Rights
Movement in the U.S. South during the 1960s.
In response to this massive rejection of HR 4437, as the partisans
of the ILC in Mexico and the United States, write in a Binational Appeal,
"a sub-committee of the U.S. Senate agreed upon a 'bipartisan compromise
bill' that removed some of the more extreme proposals contained in HR4437
(such as the wall along the border) but retained other anti-immigrant
measures such as increased border enforcement, employer sanctions, and
a new guest worker (or bracero) scheme aimed at providing cheap, segregated
labor to employers.
The mobilizations are continuing to demand the total withdrawal of
HR-4437 and full legalization and equal rights for all undocumented
immigrants.
-------
"It's Time to Say No!"
S.F. Labor Council Resolution on Immigrant Rights
Whereas, on March 25 well over one million undocumented workers, legal
residents and their supporters took to the streets in Los Angeles in
support of the call for amnesty, full legalization and equal rights
for undocumented immigrants;
Whereas, the national labor leadership is urging all its affiliates
to support the April 10 National Day of Action for Immigrant Rights;
Whereas, a demonstration demanding a "General Amnesty for All
Undocumented Immigrants" will be held Monday, April 10 at 5 p.m.
in San Francisco, with a march from the 16th Street and Mission to 24th
Street and Mission; and
Whereas, the March 25 Coalition, which organized the mass protest of
more than one million people in Los Angeles is calling for May 1st demonstrations
across the country in support of amnesty, full legalization and equal
rights for undocumented immigrants;
Be It Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council supports the call
to mobilize in support of amnesty, full legalization and equal rights
for undocumented immigrants and urge its affiliates to participate.
Be It Finally Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council supports
the call for the May 1st Day of Protest in support of these same demands
and will call on its affiliates to participate.
-----
BINATIONAL APPEAL For
* AMNESTY FOR ALL UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS!
* PAPERS FOR ALL!
* NO WORKER IS ILLEGAL!
(brief excerpts)
All anti- immigrant laws -- all laws that contain border walls, whether
physical or "virtual" (with new electronic sensors) -- will
not stop people from continuing to come to the United States so long
as the U.S.-imposed "free trade" policies continue to devastate
the economies south of the border, increasing the gross economic inequalities
in the hemisphere. Such laws will simply lead to more exploitation and
death.
All laws containing bracero programs are discriminatory; they offer
no solution to immigrant workers. Guest-worker programs keep workers
at the mercy of the employers; if workers protest their poor wages or
working conditions, they can be deported with no legal recourse.
Immigrant workers -- in the building trades, services, agriculture,
and beyond -- are part and parcel of the U.S. working class.
This Is Why We Demand:
- Amnesty for all undocumented immigrants! Papers for all!
- Stop HR 4437 and all other anti-immigrant bills currently discussed
in the U.S. Congress!
- Repeal NAFTA and all the "free trade" agreements that are
devastating the economies of the continent!
- No worker is illegal!
----------
Statement by the March 25 Coalition, which called the historic demonstration
of more than 1 million people in Los Angeles
We call for Amnesty & Full Legalization
The massive March 25 demonstration in Los Angeles of well over one
million undocumented workers, legal residents and their supporters -
along with protests and walkouts through-out the United States - is
irrefutable evidence that a new Civil Rights and workers' rights movement
is on the rise.
On the lips of every marcher, representing millions more, was the demand
for equality and the rights that all working people should enjoy. Those
rights cannot be realized with anything less than a comprehensive, all-encompassing
process of full legalization for all immigrants.
The schemes being debated in Congress only aim to either criminalize
the undocumented and by extension all immigrants, or to provide an extremely
limited possibility for undocumented workers to be able to live, work
and remain in the country they have adopted as their own.
The immigrants' rights movement cannot be satisfied to accept "guest
worker" or other repressive schemes from Congress or Bush. Some
say that amnesty and legalization are not realistic, and that it is
even dangerous to raise the demand for full equality. The lessons of
history in the United States provide us with great examples of how the
perseverance of a people's movement is the only way to overcome brutal
discrimination and achieve full rights.
Let us remember the 1955-56 Montgomery, Alabama boycott of the heroic
African American people in that city. It was the people, the domestic
and hotel maids, gardeners, cooks, seamstresses and the whole community,
who said, "enough is enough." They demanded nothing less than
full equality. By their persistence they were victorious and made history.
Today this new Civil and workers' rights movement demands amnesty,
legalization and full equality.
*************************
BRAZIL
The truth must come out about the assassination of our comrade, Brazilian
unionist Anderson Luiz Souz Santos
Comrade Anderson Luiz was buried on the morning of April 11, 2006.
Hundreds of comrades were present and expressed their indignation concerning
the assassination of a young unionist and member of the O Trabalho current
of the Workers Party. The flags of the CUT (United Workers Federation
of Brazil), the PT, and the Fourth International covered his casket,
because, as his partner Aline, said, "that´s how Anderson
would have wanted it."
Among the hundreds of people present were two members of the national
leadership of the CUT (Lucia Reis and Julio Turra), the president of
the National Federation of Food Workers (Siderlei Silva), the president
of the CUT of Rio de Janeiro (Jayme Ramos), and a state deputy, Allessandro
Molon. Messages were read from the ILC and the International Secretariat
of the Fourth International. A message from Antonia Carlos Spis, Secretary
of Communication of the National CUT, as well as a message from Arthur
Enrique, General Secretary of the CUT, were also read.
A tremendously moving moment occurred when, before the burial of the
body, his partner Aline asked all present to chant what Anderson always
chanted in rallies and demonstrations: "United Š Workers Š Federation."
-----
Messages of Solidarity have been sent from:
Algeria: Parti des travailleurs;
Bangladesh: National Federation of Workers of Bangladesh (BJSF);
Belgium: Belgian section of the Fourth International (OSI);
Bolivia: La Chispa, sympathizing section of the Fourth International;
Burundi: Burundi section of the Fourth International; Free Union of
University Workers of Burundi (STUB);
Chad: Teachers Union of Chad;
China: Cai Chongguo, China Labour Bulletin;
Ecuador: Electricity Workers Union of Ambato; Ecuadorian section of
the Fourth International (OSRT);
England: The Link; professor Nat Queen, Birmingham University (AUT),
6 English unionists in a personal capacity; professor Dr. John O´Dowd
(unionist, University of Glasgow);
Germany: editorial board SOPODE; ISA. Michael Futterer, Brigitte Klein,
Margit Weisskirchen, unionists; Christian Hass, Axel Zutz, Heinke Först,
Birgit Schöller, activists of the SPD; Volker Prasuhn, unionist;
Heinrich Becker (GEW); Michael Altmann, SPD; Beate Sieweke, Afa of the
SPD; Anna Schuster, Ver.di; H.-W. Schuster, Afa of SPD; Eva Gürster,
member of the leadership health care union Rhineland -- North-Westphalia,
member of the regional leadership of the Afa of the SPD;
Guadeloupe: Fourth International Group; UGTG;
Haiti: Confederation of Workers Forces of Haiti (CFOH);
India: All India Blue Star Employees Federation (AIBEF);
Morocco: Editorial Borrad of La Tribune des travailleurs;
Martinique: Fourth International current of Alliance ouvrière
et paysanne
Pakistan: Pakistani section of the Fourth International; APTUF; APFUTU
Palestine: Committee for a Democratic and Secular Palestine;
Peru: Peruvian section of the Fourth International;
Philippines: UNORKA; Workers Party of the Phillipines; Renato B. Magtubo,
MP of the Workers Party;
Portugal: Portuguese section of the Fourth International (POUS); Aires
Rodrigues, former representative in the Constituent Assembly;
Russia: Free Union of Subway conductors of St. Petersburg; Union of
Communist Youth in the city of Krasnodar; civic organization "Center
in Defense of Rights," Toula; district branch of the Union of Communist
Youth in the Lipetsk district; Civic movement in support of social initiatives
in Russia "Alternatives", Galina, member of the Union of Communist
Youth of Krasnodar;
South Africa: Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA);
Spain: Spanish section of the Fourth International (POSI); union UGT
BBVA, Barcelona; editorial board of Informacion Obrera; FES UGT, Compeboel;
Switzerland: Public services union of Lausanne, health sector;
Togo: Liaison Committee of Trostkyists in Togo (CLTT), Marius, Lome;
Norbert Gbikpi-Benissan, General Secretary of the UNSIT;
Ukraine: Union Borotba;
United States: Larry Duncan, co-producer of Labor Beat TV Show; Walter
Johnson, Treasurer Emeritus of the AFL-CIO of San Francisco; Alan Benjamin
and Ed Rosario, Continuations Committee of the OWC; Nancy Wohlforth;
Millie Philips; Clarence Thomas, co-coordinator of the Million Workers
March;
Venezuela: Ismael Hernandez, Regional Union of Workers of Carabobo,
UNT.
Due to limited available space, next week we will continue with the
list of messages received. The French section of the Fourth International
and the Workers´ Party have also sent messages. A large number
of French unions have sent messages of solidarity.
More than 100 unions have taken positions: fédération
FO des personnels des services des départements et régions;
SNFOLC; SNUDI-FO: FNEC-FP FO; union départementale CGT de la
Vienne; FNEC-FP FO des Alpes-de-Haute-Provence; FNEC FO des Alpes-de-Haute-Provence;
SNFOLC des Alpes-de Haute-Provence; CGT Equipement des Alpes-de-Haute-Provence;
union départementale FO du Var; commission exécutive de
la section FO du personnel de l'Equipement du Var; syndicat départemental
de l'Action sociale FO de Haute-Savoie; bureau du syndicat départemental
du SNUDI FO de la Loire; SNUDI FO de la Loire; syndicat départemental
de l'Action sociale FO de l'Essonne; syndicat FO de la fonderie Perfect
Circle; section départementale de la FGF FO de Charente-Maritime;
FO Com Toulouse; FO EDF de la région Sud-Ouest; syndicat départemental
de l'Action sociale FO de Haute-Savoie; syndicat FO de la Sécurité
sociale de Haute-Garonne; FNEC-FP FO des Yvelines; SNFOLC de l'académie
de Grenoble; les travailleurs du centre postal Rondelet de Montpellier,
avec leur section syndicale CGT; SNUDI-FO des Côtes-d'Armor; SNFOLC
des Côtes-d'Armor; union locale FO de Dreux; FGF FO de Charente-Maritime;
syndicat départemental des employés et cadres des organismes
de Sécurité sociale de Haute-Garonne; SNUDI FO d'Eure-et-Loir;
FNEC-FP FO d'Eure-et-Loir; syndicat CGT PTT de l'Eure et-Loir; syndicat
FO des communaux de Clichy; union locale FO de Clichy; syndicat FO Fournier
(Metz-Tessy); syndicat FO Nobel explosifs France; FNEC-FP FO de Seine-et-Marne;
SNFOLC de Seine-et-Marne; SNUDI FO Seine-et-Marne; section locale du
SNUDI FO de La Ferté-sous-Jouarre; SNUDI FO du Val-d'Oise; FNEC-FP
FO du Val-d'Oise; union départementale FO du Val-d'Oise; syndicat
des employés et cadres des organismes de Sécurité
sociale FO du Val-d'Oise; section FO de l'hôpital Joffre-Dupuytren
(Val-d'Oise); chambre syndicale des employés et cadres FO des
organismes de Sécurité sociale de la région Ile-de-France;
syndicat FO du personnel des organismes sociaux de la région
parisienne; syndicat CGT de la Direction informatique et télécommunications
d'EDF-GDF; section syndicale SNES du collège Croix-d'Argent à
Montpellier; union départementale FO de l'Hérault; union
départementale FO du Puy-de-Dôme; union départementale
FO de la Haute-Loire; section CGT du centre de tri Bobigny; syndicat
CGT des salariés de la MGET; syndicat CGT des Gobelins (Paris);
section syndicale CGT PTT, syndicat des postiers de Paris (Ve); syndicat
FO du centre hospitalier intercommunal de Créteil; section CGT
de l'hôpital de Dieppe; union départementale FO du Maine-et-Loire;
syndicat FO du personnel de la région Ile-de-France; SNUDI FO
du Gard; syndicat FO de l'hôpital du Vinatier, à Lyon;
groupement départemental du Rhône des syndicats des services
publics et de santé FO; FGF, section départementale d'Eure-et-Loir;
syndicat FO de la CAF du Calvados; SNUDI FO de l'Aisne; syndicat tourangeau
des artistes musiciens CGT; SNPREES FO de l'université de Brest;
section départementale FO de La Poste de l'Yonne; SPASEEN FO;
FO DDTE d'Eure-et-Loir; syndicat FO COM des réseaux opérateurs
et système d'information, Paris; union locale CGT d'Issy-les-Moulineaux;
syndicat FO de l'Institut Gustave-Roussy; syndicat départemental
des employés et cadres FO des organismes de Sécurité
sociale de Seine-Saint-Denis, section de l'URSSAF; syndicat départemental
CGT des salariés du secteur des activités postales et
de télécommunication de la Vienne; SNFOLC des Ardennes;
FNEC-FP FO des Ardennes; syndicat CGT de l'Agence de l'environnement;
section syndicale FO d'Alstom Saint-Ouen; syndicat national CGT de la
géologie-géophysique; MODEF de l'Hérault; syndicat
CGT DDTEFP de la Haute-Garonne; SNPREES de Montpellier; SNUDI FO de
l'Eure; bureau syndical FO santé, HIA Saint-Anne; union locale
FO d'Ivry-Vitry; SNPREES FO d'Indre-et-Loire; FNEC-FP FO de l'Yonne;
bureau du SPASEEN de la Gironde; union locale CGT de Monthermé;
union départementale FO de l'Aisne; section syndicale CGT Amadeus;
SNFOLC des Alpes-Maritimes; secrétariat académique du
SNFOLC de Créteil; bureau de la FNEC-FP FO de l'Aisne; union
des syndicats FO de la chimie, du pétrole et activités
connexes du département du Rhône; bureau syndical de la
FERC-Sup CGT, université de Bordeaux-II; syndicat général
FO Aéroports de Paris; union régionale FO des cheminots
de Saint-Lazare; union départementale FO du Gard; syndicat du
personnel CGT du Centre hospitalier spécialisé du Jura;
secrétariat de l'union syndicale départementale de la
santé et action sociale CGT du Jura; union régionale FO
des cheminots de la région de Paris-Nord.
-----
Founding Declaration of the Committee For the Truth Concerning the
Assassination of Anderson
We call on unionists, parliamentarians, artists, and celebrities who
struggle for democracy and justice to join this committee. This is a
crime against all the workers´ movement and we demand that the
truth come out concerning the barbaric assassination of Anderson.
Signed: Jayme Ramos, president of the CUT in Rio de Janeiro; Sergio
Pinto Soares, Secretary General of Sintrafrios; Julio Turra, national
leadership of the CUT; Sindipétro leadership of Rio de Janeiro;
Alessandro Molon, MO, PT Rio de Janeiro; Jurema Batista, MP, PT, Rio
de Janeiro; Christiane Granaha, member of O Trabalho, member of the
leadership of the PT, Rio de Janeiro.
Send messages of solidarity to julioturra@cut.org.br (Send a copy to
the ILC: eit.ilc@fr.oleane.com )
Send messages demanding the truth to come out and for the punishment
of the culprits to:
-- Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president of the Republic,
Palacio do Planalto, Praça dos Très Poderes, Brasilia/DF,
CEP 70250-900. e-mail:protocolo@planalto.gov.br
-- Roberto Preciosio Junior, Secretary of State Public Security of Rio
de Janeiro. Email: ssp@ssp.rj.gov.br
-----
Homage to our comrade Anderson Santos
It is a tragic era which sees an activist, our comrade Anderson Luiz
Souza Santos, assassinated by a group of killers in the pay of a political
system whose only purpose is, by all means necessary, to preserve super-exploitation
and to kill landless peasants. Because these people aspire to freely
live from their work, they have been murdered for the benefit of the
large landowners.
I met Luiz Souza Santos in 1998, when he was a high school student.
He invited me to a meeting of Black youth organized in the favelas of
Rio de Janeiro, where they lived in the most miserable conditions. We
discussed the Black question, and I remember how the girls and boys
sought to understand the reasons why Black people make up the poorest
section of the exploited Brazilian population and how they discussed
the political proposals of the members of the O Trabalho current, the
Brazilian section of the Fourth International, who were preparing the
world congress of youth -- which took place in the year 2000 and which
constituted the Revolutionary Youth International.
It is always hard to write a eulogy. Comrade Luiz Santos was assassinated
by killers in the pay of the most ferocious exploiters. They aimed at
a president of a union affiliated to the CUT (the Brazilian Federation
of Workers).
A militant for the emancipation of the exploited is dead. But the enemies
of the Fourth International, the enemies of the exploited, will not
triumph.
- Pierre Lambert
(Excerpts from Informations Ouvrieres (Labor News), France, Issue 739,
April 20-26, 2006)
***********************
BOLIVIA
The National Executive Committee of the COB (Bolivian Workers Federation)
has called for a second National Summit of Workers and Peasants to be
held on April 18-19. This Summit will be organized by the COB, the Mineworkers
Federation (FSTMB), the Departmental Branch of the COB (COD-La Paz),
the Peasants Union (CSUTCB). This Summit will take place at the beginning
of the electoral campaign for the Constituent Assembly, which will take
place at the beginning of August.
----
The Evo Morales government is calling for a Constituent Assembly to
regionalize the country
On December 18, 2005, the MAS of Morales won the legislative and presidential
elections. The mandate of the majority of workers and peasants who voted
for Morales was the nationalization without compensation of the hydrocarbons,
the unanimous demand of the nation -- as well as the calling of a Constituent
Assembly with full power.
Four months after the elections, the government has just announced,
through its minister of planning, Carlos Villegas, that nationalization
will not mean expropriation.
At the same time, the government has passed in Parliament a law convoking
the Constituent Assembly that links it to a referendum on "autonomies";
these results will be binding on the representatives in the Constituent
Assembly. Thus, this Constituent Assembly must codify the regionalization
of the country, giving much larger powers to the governors, including
the possibility to directly negotiate contracts with the multinationals.
This has been the demand of the multinationals that evidently prefer
to deal with the local oligarchies, instead of the national government.
At the same time, this Constituent Assembly will only have the powers
to reform the existing constitution -- thus it will not have full powers.
In recent months, the majority of workers´ and peasants´
organizations have come out against this "Constituent Assembly."
On December 11 and 12, 2005, the COB, with the support of the ILC,
organized the first National Summit of Workers and Peoples. The conclusion
of this summit was the need to create Popular Assemblies, centered on
the demand for the nationalization without compensation of the hydrocarbons.
The Popular Assemblies are the traditional organizational form raised
in the past revolutionary processes in Bolivia by the workers and their
unions.
Thus, during the uprising of May-June 2005, a Popular Assembly with
representatives from the unions, factories, and poor neighborhoods took
place on June 6, in the city of El Alto, the working-class suburb of
La Paz.
The ILC, on April 7, sent an appeal to all its affiliates, calling
on them to support the Summit and to send delegations and messages.
The ILC´s appeal notes: "This Constituent Assembly has as
its purpose the regionalization and dismantling of the nation. As Miguel
Zubieta, the leader of the COD-Oruro (COB), has said, the referendums
that will take place aim to preserve the control of the multinationals
of the natural resources of the countries. For us, the ILC, the solution
for the workers and peoples of Bolivia is the implementation of the
mandate of the Summit of Workers and Peoples which took place in December,
2005 in El Alto: the organization of regional popular assemblies to
elect delegates to a national popular assembly."
The organization of the workers and peasants movement of a Popular
Assembly is the guarantee of the convocation of a real Constituent Assembly
will full powers.
- Correspondent
************************
THE BERLIN CONFERENCE
On February 25 and 26, in Berlin, 200 delegates from 15 countries came
together at a European Conference organized by German unionists and
the ILC.
The delegates decided to lay the groundwork for an European Alliance
of Workers and Peoples.
To achieve this goal, they decided to publish a monthly bulletin. The
conference also adopted the resolutions of the commissions on health
care, hospitals, and universities.
The commission on health care decided to constitute a liaison committee
and publish a bulletin concerning the destruction of hospitals as well
as the resistance to these policies dictated by the European Union.
The conference decided to fight for the liberation of the imprisoned
Romanian mineworkers. A decision was taken to register a new complaint
with the ILO. An appeal was also launched to raise funds to support
the imprisoned Romanian mineworkers.
************************
SPAIN
Zapatero announces his reform of public administration: More flexibility
in human resources by the "autonomous regions"
At a moment in which the Socrates government announced in Portugal
his plan to dismantle public administration, the Zapatero government
presented in Spain his draft law creating a "base contract for
functionaries" (EBEP).
The introduction of this "base contract" is due to the need
to adapt public administration to territorial decentralization and the
European Union. The goal is clearly defined: It is necessary to create
a "base statute" which is "lower in regulamentary density
than the existing contract", in order to reach (especially in the
autonomous communities) "greater flexibility in the implementation
of policies concerning human resources, thus avoiding rigidity."
The draft law establishes that complementary wage remunerations (between
50 and 60% of wages) are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the autonomous
governments and introduces as an element of wage remuneration "the
effort implemented to the task on the work site," which "requires
the existence of a system of objectives, which allows for a way to evaluate
investment or measure output."
The functionary will have the right to "be a permanent civil servant,"
but "public administration will be able to transfer their functionaries
for reasons the needs of services or of different units, departments,
or public institutions or distinct entities from that of their assignment."
In short, what this statute is introducing is the individualizing of
wages and working conditions in public administration, thus the loss
of all guarantees of independence for functionaries.
The unions call for a "Social Forum"
The method used for the elaboration of this draft law was the usual
method of the European Union and the ETUC: The government organized
a group of "experts" who consulted with various institutions,
including the unions of the working class. The elaborated texts served
in the negotiations in the Interterritorial Council of Public Administration,
composed of the Minister and the Councilor of the Sector´s Autonomies.
The unions then were informed of the discussions.
In February, the unions organized a forum of social dialogue - an organism
of consensus constituted by the Zapatero government with the public
service unions - so that they could express their contributions. In
March, the minister presented to the Congress a pre-draft of the EBEP
law, with the accompanying phrase: "A life-long job is over for
all functionaries."
The UGT, the CCOO, and the corporatist CSIF announced that they rejected
the "unfortunate declarations" of the minister. This is a
strange way of characterizing this destructive plan, organized by those
who demand "a new round of negotiations that should be, we say,
organized in responsible manner and without the interferences produced
up to the present."
More social dialogue? To the contrary, shouldn´t the repeal of
the EBEP be demanded? Shouldn´t the functionaries be mobilized
until they reach this goal? Shouldn´t the unions break with the
anti-democratic structures of the monarchy of autonomies and the European
Union.
This is what the functionaries and numerous unionists and their organizations
want. Thus, after months, union locals of the FSP-UGT and the FSAP-CCOO
have rejected the EBEP; the regional congress in Madrid of the FSP-UGT
demanded that a full discussion take place before the organization take
a position. In Valencia, too, dozens of unionists have rejected this
law.
In various workplaces and local administrations, both autonomous and
central, civil servants have called for unity for the repeal of the
EBEP.
- Blas Ortega, Unionist
***********************
BELGIUM
Close to 200 delegates from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France,
Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania,
Serbia-Montenegro, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine came together in
Berlin on February 25 and 26 at a European Conference organized by German
unionists and activists.
The interregional union of Brussels of the CGS-Education was represented.
One by one, 41 delegates spoke of the conditions in their countries,
in the sector to which they belong. All the speeches came together like
pieces in a puzzle to reveal that ultraliberal forces are shattering
the dream of a Europe of the peoples, by attacking the agricultural
and industrial bases of our countries, by destroying the sovereignty
of our nations, and by pillaging our social conquests, which were won
in the historic framework of the nation.
These forces are causing terrible social regression for the working
classes in the countries of the continent. Their actions constitute
a true barrage against human civilization, organized through the means
of European dictates and policies.
The policies of the European Union have accelerated after the implementation
of the Maastricht treaty in 1993. We are seeing a wave of lay-offs and
out-sourcing, which goes beyond just the 25. Capital´s policy
of out-sourcing is blackmail, which aims to impose deregulation and
to lower labor costs. Multinationals are given subsidies to move their
factories to the East, where the workers are super-exploited or unemployed,
due to the privatization and dismantling of their state enterprises;
these privatizations were the shameful pre-condition for joining the
European Union!
Thousands of dictates reign down on the governments that we have elected
to represent us and implement our social and political demands. These
governments are obliged to impose the confiscation of our social patrimony,
the destruction of our intellectual potential, the privatization of
our public goods, the destruction of our industry and agriculture, and
the enslavement of our men, women, and children, in the game of savage
competition.
The only goal of all this is to make irrational profits, which threatens
humanity and the very survival of our planet. The result is social regression.
The strategy is the total deregulation of the labor market and the creation
of precarious labor contracts.
No collective bargaining contract will be free from facing these attacks.
More and more, all the public services of Europe are being privatized:
mail, electricity, transport, water, and even education. More and more,
all the systems of social security, all the pensions systems, and all
the hospitals are passing into private hands. Are the workers living
too long?
Let's remember when Jacques Chirac and Silvio Berlusconi cordially
shook hands at the springtime European Summit of the heads of state.
The decency and reserve shown to Jord Haider were done away with! What
a cordial entente! As Socialist Josep Borell, president of the European
Parliament, said in the article of Philippe Regnier (The Evening, Friday,
March 24, 2006, p. 13), energy is a special sector, because it constitutes
-- in the eyes of many states -- a field of "national sovereignty".
Berlin, London and Paris would balk to confer new powers on Europe.
And the press laments that Europe lacks great projects! And Guy Verhofstadt
denounces the protectionism of the very people who are presented as
champions of Europe!
To attempt to prevent resistance from being organized in the framework
of nations, they are organized the dismantling of nation-states. Belgium
has already advanced quite a bit down this road.
Attacks on the unity of the French republic and the French communes;
the reform of Federalism in Germany; the division of the Italian Republic
into twenty little Italies; autonomy reforms in SpainŠ the sordid aim
of all this is the balkanization of the countries of Europe, as has
already happened in other continents, for example in Afghanistan and
Iraq.
The ultraliberal objective is to release the politicians from any obligation
to have their state respond to their citizens. If we do not take action,
the workers of tomorrow will be defenseless slaves, without public services
or health care. Inequality will rise. We will see the absolute submission
to the 3% limit of the public deficit dictated by the "stability
pact," which obliges our elected representatives to privatize what
is coveted and to give up the rest.
It is shameful that for more than half a century they have been transforming
the European institutions, the states, and the regional institutions
into servile instruments of the multinationals, aiming to turn Europe
into a field offered to the financial speculators and the investment
funds dominated by the super-rich!
Everything that is human is being threatened in Europe and throughout
the world. Only the free union of peoples, states, and nations, will
allow for the renewal of the full sovereignty of the citizens and their
representatives. We want this on the European continent. We will no
longer let a few people crush our democratic structures, in the benefit
of the lovers of misery and hatred.
We should be ready to reject this alternative and demand that our elected
representatives act with us.
"Is this a generic cancer, or does it have a brand name?"
(Pierre Kroll, on March 26, 2006, in Mise au Point)
- Jacqueline Muret, Secretary General of the Brussels Interregional
branch of CGSP-Education and delegate to the Berlin conference.
(Excerpts from The Workers´ Tribune, newspaper of the Movement
of Workers, MDT, Issue 127, March 26, 2006)
***********************
GERMANY
Contributions to the debate begun during the European Conference in
Berlin:
After nine weeks of strikes in public administration, what is the situation?
After nine weeks of striking, the communal unionized workers of Bade-Wurtember
finally approved, by 68.7% of the votes, the contract negotiated with
the municipal employers. This result expresses quite a bit of contempt
and skepticism.
Why? The agreement lengthens the workweek from 38-30 to 39 hours for
all workers - but this in not even the worst aspect of all this. The
workers understand that all the agreements signed in the past week,
presented as "good compromises", further dislocate framework
of the collective bargaining contract with covered all them just a little
while ago.
In Lower-Saxony, after weeks of the strike, the leadership of Ver.di
also signed a "contract" which stipulates that the 38-30 work-week
will only continue for those workers with hard jobs (childcare, hospitals,
etc.). But for the rest, the 39-hour workweek will be implemented.
In Hamburg we have another version of what they would like to present
to us a "contract," which was signed after the strike. It
stipulates that the length of the workweek varies depending on wage
levels, age, and number of children. For example, the people in categories
1 through 9 (that is, the workers) work 39 hours if they are less than
49 years old, and 38-30 if they have children under 12 years of age.
What is going on?
The reaction of the unionists was clear: Over 60% of them rejected
the agreement that, however, will be implemented, due to the peculiarities
of German legislation. (1)
In Bade-Wurtermburg, Lower-Saxony, and Hamburg, the leadership of Ver.di
failed to raise the demand to reconquer equal workweek lengths in all
the Federal Republic.
These regional strikes are a break with the tradition of the labor
movement for the past 40 years. Up to the present, strikes have been
massive and united in public services. Last time, in 1992, hundreds
of thousands defended their wages and contracts through a national strike.
In that era, the struggle took place concerning the national united
contract, the BAT/BMT-G. (Read below.)
After the end of the strike in Bade-Wurtemberg, the fabric of the national
collective bargaining contract has largely been torn apart. Now there
is a patchwork of different contracts, with different lengths of the
workweek, different labor regulations, and different employment contract
lengths.
Our brothers and sisters have confronted all this through Germany in
their strike, which has gone on for almost two months. In the CHU of
North Rhine-Westphalia, the strike is entering its tenth week.
- Henning Frey
(1) German legislation states that 75% of votes are need to approve
an agreement proposed by the employers and the leadership of the union.
-----
Confrontation between leaders of Ver.di and unionists: What obstacles
are facing us?
There is a history to the obstacles facing us. Since 2003, the leadership
of Ver.di has lead, without the mandate of the ranks, talks with the
bosses concerning a new "modern" collective bargaining contract.
The leadership aimed, by creating an "intelligent" and "flexible"
labor contract, to counter the withdrawal of the bosses from their employers
associations, which allows them to be exempted from the need to respect
the collective bargaining agreement.
A framework was created: a "process engagement" which stipulates
that the national labor collective bargaining contract of employees
(BAT) and of the workers (BMT-G) in the public services was to be ended
by January 2005, at the latest. The Ver.di leadership signed this agreement
during the end of the contract of January 2003, those the ranks had
previously decided that the discussions should only affect salaries,
not a new collective bargaining right.
The confrontation with the ranks was brutal. Thus, union delegates
from the municipal enterprises of Duisburg demanded, during an assembly
in North-Rhine-Westphalia, that Bsirske and his cohorts be kicked out
for not respecting their mandate!
Since the year 2003, the leadership of Ver.di has refused to give the
workers a possibility to defend BAT/BMT-G through massive mobilizations,
despite the fact that the ranks have demanded just this through petitions
and declarations.
-----
The break-up of the BAT/BMT-G has opened the way to the federalist
"reform"
Up to now, there has been a joint contract for the functionaries of
the federal government, the Landers, and the communes. This was the
implementation of the constitutional principle that obliged the legislators
to "assure the same living conditions throughout all of Germany."
This constitutional principle is an integral part of the unity of the
German nation, as it was re-established after 1945, after the catastrophe
of fascism. The government of the "grand coalition" aims,
with the mandate of the European Union, to abolish this constitutional
principle, in order to make Germany and its Constitution "Euro-compatible."
The EU wants to impose a "competitive federalism," in which
the different Landers will be in competition with each other, under
the direct pressure of the budget criteria of the Maastricht treaty.
This threatens Germany as a nation-state, as reconstructed in 1945.
The ultimate goal is for the united public services of the whole federal
state to be disintegrated.
***********************
BANGLADESH
Attacks against Brother Haroun Chowdury
I have just been informed of the brutal attacks on comrade Haroun Chowdury,
a railway unionist, who was a delegate to the international conference
of railway workers which took place in Paris, and who is a member of
the national committee of the Democratic Workers Party of Bangladesh.
On April 12, 2006, while he was returning from work, he was stabbed
twice in the chest. Fortunately, the attackers missed their target.
Brother Haround Chowdury is currently in the hospital in a serious condition,
but the doctors hope to save him.
We ask you the send to the ILC messages of solidarity, demanding that
the government of Bangladesh organize an immediate inquiry into these
attacks, so that the perpetrators can be promptly arrested and brought
to justice.
- Daniel Gluckstein,
Co-coordinator of the ILC and National Secretary of the PT (France)
(Send your messages to the ILC)
*************************
PAKISTAN
Attacks against workers´ rights and union rights
Greetings!
I would like to inform you that International Apparel (Pvt) Ltd. situated
in Kot Lakhpat area Lahore, Pakistan manufacturing garments, exporting
in America, UK and other European countries, have employed 200 women
workers and 50 male workers.
The management of the factory has stopped the formation of the union
when the workers unite. The management wants to bust workers´
unity and violate the labour laws because the employer is very influential
and has direct relations with the Chief Ministers.
The workers tried to form a union under the Industrial Relation Ordinance
with the assistance of All Pakistan Trade Union Federation. The employer
lockout the factory and turned out all the workers from the factory
without giving any written notices. The owner has refused to pay the
salaries from December 2005 to March 2006. Workers in their meeting
in the federation office decided to approach the courts for the payment
of the wages as well as their other legal dues.
Now management, instead of paying the wages, harasses their families
as well as the women workers and compels them to stop the legal procedures,
otherwise the goons hired by management will abduct the women workers.
The poor workers are very frightened due to the threats by the employers
and the so-called muscle man; they are very much afraid.
The All Pakistan Trade Union Federation filed their payment of wages
in the Court of the Compensation Commissioner, Lahore but the employer
did not allow the workers to attend the court and give evidence. In
this situation, the APTUF is arranging for a few women workers to guard
them. The situation is dangerous: even the families of women workers
are victimized and compelling women workers to withdraw their cases
from the court. But despite all the obstacles and pressure, the WWO
encourages women workers and has arranged for their safety.
In this regard, the APTUF is mobilizing and on April 15th it has been
decided to hold demonstrations in front of the Chief Minister´s
House.
On behalf of the APTUF, we request that you kindly circulate our appeal
to all trade unions and political parties.
- Rubina Jamil
Send your protest letters to:
Mr. Salman Habib
Chairman International Apparell (Pvt) Ltd. 4th Floor, Imperial Courts
Dr. Zia Ud Din Ahmed Khan Road, Karachi, Pakistan.
Mr. Parvez Ellahi Chief Minister of Punjab, 7-Club Road, Lahore, Pakistan.
(Please send a copy to the General Secretary of the All Pakistan Trade
Union Federation: e-mail: aptuf@brain.net and the ILC)
Contact
Entente internationale des travailleurs et des peuples
87, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis 75010 - Paris - France
Tél: (33 1) 48 01 88 28 Fax: (33 1) 48 01 88 36 E.mail eit.ilc@fr.oleane.com
Site: www.eit-ilc.org
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