FEB, 2012 (Vol. V, Issue-X) New Delhi Presidential Council Meeting of WFTU · 2014. 1. 30. ·...

FEB, 2012 (Vol. V, Issue-X) New Delhi

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Presidential Council Meeting of WFTUH. Mahadevan

WFTU forges ahead conducting continuous activities in 2011.... affiliating new organisations from different continents

....chalking out programmes for 2012 and beyond.

The 6th presidential Council meeting of the WFTUheld at Johannesburg, South Africa on 9-10, Febru-ary 2012 was a very important event in the new courseof the organisation's as well as the trade union move-ment in South Africa. This was not just an annual af-fair but qualitatively a rich event, paving way for thefurther growth and consolidation of the world work-ing class movement.

The four nationwide federations of South Africa,NEHAWU, NUMSA, POPCRU, CEPPWAWU whichhosted this historic meeting organised the event in amost memorable manner, which exhibited their enor-

mous enthusiasm and commitment to Socialism andclass based trade unionism. COSATU PresidentCom. Dlamini who participated in the inaugural aswell as the conclude sessions spoke very highlyabout the WFTU’s role in the struggle against apart-heid and national liberation of South Africa. He wasconfident that the ensuing conference of COSATUscheduled to be held in September 2012 will decideabout the future, much closer relationship betweenCOSATU and WFTU.

The evening before the commencement of thePresidential council meeting, on the 8th Feb., a galaopening ceremony was organized. That was to hon-our the surviving martyrs of the South African trade

Inauguration of WFTU Africa Office inJohannesburg Com. Valentine Pacho and Com. H.

Mahadevan at the enterance

Com. George Mavrikos, General Secretarypresenting the Report

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FLASHES FROM WFTU 2 FEBRUARY, 2012

union movement of the earlier decades and theirfamilies, recalling their valiant and valuable services,most of them with the WFTU, encomium paid to high-light their struggles and sacrifices. The participantswere emotionally surcharsed. Those who are still alivespoke of their experiences, commitments and con-victions under WFTU, recalling the glorious chaptersof the rich history of their class based organisation.

The president of the South African Republic Mr.Zuma was to inaugurate the meeting in the openinggala, but due to his last minute departure to CapeTown for the ‘State of the Nation preparation, sentwith apologies his video-link greetings. It containeda lot of historic informations and good wishes toWFTU. The leaders and cadres present from SouthAfrican trade unions in their traditional way sang anddanced with revolutionary chants.

On the 9th, PC meeting began its work, underthe Presidium consisting of Coms. H. Mahadevan (In-dia), Pambis (Cyprus), Abdul Rehman (Syria),Marsella (Venezula), Presidents of NEHAWAU &CEPPWAWU, Inbrahim Gowdar (Sudan), with thepresentation of the main intervention by Coms.George Mavrikos, General Secretary. On the 10thFeb. the Presidium was replaced with Coms. Valen-tine Pacho (Peru) and members from Brazil, Leba-non, France, Cuba and Nepal.

The Speakers in the Presidential Council onthe 9th & 10th February 2012 included ComradesComs. H. Mahadevan, Swadesh Devroye- Secre-tariat members WFTU, India; A.K. Padmanabhan– CITU, India; C.H. Venkatachalam, TUI-Finance,India; Debanjan Chakraborthy–TUI (Construction),India; Mauhuza Khanam FISE, Bangladesh;Wajedul Islam Khan – BTUC-Bangladesh; VladimirR Tupaz, TUPAS, Philipines; Tran Van Ly, VGCL,Vietnam; Premal Kumar Khannel – CONEP, Nepal;Choe Han Chun GFTUK, DPR Korea amongst oth-ers, from the Asia-Pacific Region.

The Report of the GS traced the events followingthe ATHENS PACT adopted in the 16th Congress,deepening capitalist crisis, intra-militarialist conflicts,the struggle of the working class becoming more in-tensive giving more hope, adoption of more barbaric,anti-labour measures, regressive taxation, cut insalaries and pensions, job losses, attack on tradeunion freedoms, privatization and selling of publicwealth amongst others. He emphasized the need forInternational solidarity, besides struggle by the un-ions and class oriented country wide struggle thatare taking place in several parts of the world, theorganizational improvement, the functioning of the

regional offices and TUIs and the necessity for cor-recting the deficiency in some of them, the difficultfinancial situation and urged for payment of affilia-tion fees/contribution of solidarity fund.

An elaborate Action Plan for 2012 was also placedas a part of the Report of the GS. The importantamongst the Action Plan, as was concluded by thepresidential council after 40 members from differentcountries, sectors and TUIs spoke on the report, in-clude the following:

* 3rd Oct. 2012 – Day of International Action* 23rd & 24th March 2012 – Joint Forum of

TUIBIFU Banks with NUBE, Malaysia on LabourRights, Democratic Freedom

* 23rd Feb. International Action Day in Europe ofTUI Public Services.

* 8th March – International Conference of Soli-darity with Palestine people

* 29-30 April – Second International Confer-ence of working youth in Havana, Cuba

* April 2012 – Brussels, Belgium – Seminar on thedevelopment in North Africa, Mediterranean &Middle East.

* 1st May 2012 – May Day with several Pro-grammes, Banners, Posters etc.

* June 2012- WFTU’s effective intervention in theILC, Youth global Employment and ILO relatedinternational initiatives.

* Working Women Conference in India, Forma-tion of WFTU Secretariat on Women.

* Trade Union Education for Asia-Pacific in Viet-nam with VGCL.

* International TU Forum in Beijing along withACFTU, ICATU, OATUU

* Regional Meetings* 20-21, Feb. 2012 Athens European Region.* Jan. 2012, Sudan Khartoum African members

meeting.* 11th Feb. – Inauguration of African Regional Of-

fice in Johannesburg* 28th April – Cuba, Latin America and Caribbean

Region.* July 2012 – Meeting of affiliates in North America* July 2012 – Colombo, Asia-Pacific Regional

meeting* TUIs

* Formation of the new TUI for retired people/pen-sioners with HQ in Spain

* TUI Energy CongressContd. on page 10

FEBRUARY, 2012 3 FLASHES FROM WFTU

Speech of the General Secretary of the WFTU,George Mavrikos on February 9th, 2012

- Angola 47 years; - Chad 49 years; - Lesotho 47years; - Mozambique 49 years; - Rwanda 49 years; -Nigeria 49 years;

In total 16 African countries have average lifeexpectancy under 50.

Throughout the world the great problem forthe working class, for youth and working womenis UNEMPLOYMENT. The capitalists, under con-ditions of deep economic crisis, are trying to di-vide a job among 2-3 part-time employees.

Unemployment, however, cannot be faced withsuch anti-labor policies. It will grow continuously. Onthe basis of the recent data published by the ILO,there are already one billion unemployed poor work-ers in the World. 900 million workers live with “in-come” lower that 2 Euros per day.

- In Spain there are 5.3 million unemployed work-ers, 3 million in France, one million in Greece. Thetotal real number of unemployed workers in the Eu-ropean Union exceeds 24 million; the majority of themwomen and young workers.

So the immediate task for the unions is to sup-port unemployed workers to survive, to make surethat they have food, electricity, medicines, clean wa-ter; that they have economic and social support fromthe government and public institutions. At the sametime we need to uncover the causes of unemploy-ment. To make the working class understand that afinal solution within capitalism cannot be given. Tounderstand that the struggle against unemploymentis a main basic front for the WFTU.

Second, a main characteristic of this periodis the tension of intra-imperialist rivalries andtheir expression through the tough aggres-siveness of NATO, the EU and their allies. Inthe last period there is a strong imperialist ag-gression especially against those peoples whoare resisting the plans of the USA, NATO andtheir allies.

In Syria the foreign imperialist aggression contin-ues. Arab countries that have kings and reactionaryregimes are used to promote the plans of the impe-rialists. In Libya the conflicts continue. While in thePersian Gulf the imperialists, the European Unionhave imposed an embargo on Iran with the excuse

Dear comrades,

We are meeting ten months after the historic con-gress of our organisation which strengthened theWFTU. Ten months after the 16th World Trade UnionCongress where the WFTU showed that it’s alive andstrong, that it represents the international class-ori-ented trade union movement and it is able to organ-ize open and democratic congresses. Ten monthsafter that, the decisions that we took - ‘The AthensPact’ is not only a question of present interest butalso proves the right analyses that we made for to-day’s politico-economic situation and that we areready to organize the struggle in a better way.

We meet in South Africa, in the country with arich history of struggles and we express our respectand our appreciation to this country and its people.We express our thanks to the leaderships of NUMSA,NEHAWU, CEPPWAWU and POPCRU for their hos-pitality, their reception and the cover of such Meet-ing with the participation of high level trade unionistleaders from 28 countries of the five continents. Wethank all those who have helped us to be here today.

Today, there are three basic facts in workers’ re-ality and life.

First of all - a deepening capitalist crisis to-gether with an effort of the bourgeoisie to losethe minimum possible in the crisis by transfer-ring a big burden to the working class and thepopular layers.

The crisis started in the USA, embraced all Eu-rope and it is expanding throughout the World. Thecrisis sharpened the inter-capitalist rivalries betweenthe Euro and the Dollar, between Germany andFrance and among their allies. The crisis is usedand salaries, pensions and social rights are cutwhile privatizations are generalized. The situationis also difficult in most African countries for ordi-nary people. Colonialism ended but capitalism con-tinues. Colonialists left and come right backthrough transnational corporat ions, cartels,monopoles, through neoconservatives and socialdemocrat governments. Africa is very rich in re-sources but it has very poor workers. This is con-firmed by the UN data published in December 2010on average life expectancy:


of its nuclear program. The USA and the EuropeanUnion slander socialist Cuba with the pretext of thedeath of a criminal in prison; Israel continues its at-tacks on the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian Peo-ple. The Government of Turkey threatens Cyprus andit uses the “Muslim brothers”. In fact, Turkish govern-ments are the most firm allies of the USA and Israelin the region.

The position of the WFTU is firm. The peopleare the only responsible to decide freely anddemocratically for the present and future. TheWFTU is against the plans of imperialists andagainst imperialist wars and it organizes cam-paigns for internationalism and solidarity withthose people suffering from the imperialists.

The WFTU affiliates and friends in Nigeria and inAfrica need to be in struggling readiness becausethe USA, the transnational corporations and the in-ternational capital have plans for the division of thewealthy Nigeria in two or more States.

The third characteristic, we have the struggleof the working class and the popular layers thatgets more intense and gives more hope and per-spective to the peoples and the workers. The lat-ter fight back and their struggle intensify everyday.

The example of the great strike in Nigeria withmany deaths, the many months of struggle of SMEin Mexico, the strike of many days of the heroic steelworkers in Greece, the strike of workers inKazakhstan, the workers in the banana plantationsin Panama, the struggle of workers in the PanamaCanal, in Portugal, in India, in Thailand, in Italy, inPoland, in Bulgaria, in Belgium, in the metal sectorand transnational corporations in South Africa, in thefood sector in Colombia, in the mining sector in Peru,in the public sector in England, the youth in Chile,the protest in Wall Street… all these examples provethat big sections of workers in all continents resistthe anti-labour policies applied by both neoliberal andsocial democrat governments. Today, under condi-tions of deep capitalist crisis, under conditions ofdecay of the capitalist system, the struggles of work-ers, of poor peasants, of the youth are the optimistichope and the only way to generalize the counterat-tack of workers against the system of capitalist ex-ploitation.

Nowadays, under such conditions, the ex-pression of internationalist solidarity is more

than necessary. On one hand, the struggle ofeach trade union organization in its country be-ing class-oriented, confronting the employerswith acute forms of struggle and keeping pacewith other popular layers are a great contribu-tion to the internationalist duty. On the otherhand, the expression of solidarity with the strug-gle of our comrades in other countries shouldget stronger. This solidarity should be a subjectdiscussed at factories, at workplaces whereworkers will be informed, encouraged and willunderstand that they are not alone in the strug-gle, that working class unity at international levelcan bring positive results. Inside transnationalcorporations and strategic branches. Every-where.

Our efforts should be at such a scale that thevarious arguments used by governments and themass media to slander the working class strug-gles cannot be applied. Another essential aspectof internationalism and workers solidarity is thesharing of experience, the use and transmissionof this experience for struggles to become moreactive, to be better organized and to get betterresults for the working class. We all have the dutyto continuously reinforce the internationalist char-acter of the WFTU.

What kind of trade unions we want?We as the leadership of today’s FSM claim that,

under the conditions we live in, the international work-ing class and the people need an international tradeunion organization which will basically have the fol-lowing main characteristics and those are the char-acteristics that we would like and we try to have theWFTU:

1. Class orientation and revolutionary thinking,which will emphasize that we’re talking about an or-ganization of workers that firmly fights against capi-tal and against imperialism. Trade unions that areindependent from governments and capitalists.

2. Democratic and open dealings with simple peo-ple; reforms at all levels, supporting leaders who willcome from the basis of society, who will be honest,will respect criticism and self-criticism, and also dis-cipline, leaders who will fight bureaucracy and cor-ruption.

3. The kind of unity that will unite all workers,irrespective of sex, color or religion; it will unite work-ers, poor farmers and the youth in order to include


them all in the fight against capital and the monopolistcompanies; it will unite them in the struggle and teachthem not to step back or give up.

4. Its international character, workers’ solidarity,cooperation and support (both ethical and economic)for each country’s working class, for each branch thatfights for its freedom, for its trade union and demo-cratic rights, for its life and rights.

5. The use of all kinds of class struggle, from thesimplest to the most complex; launching ideas andgoals that will demand satisfaction of the present-day needs of all workers, and will at the same timelead to a class struggle to end the exploitation ofman by man.

6. The use of international organizations to im-plement the ideas of the workers; coordinating theactions of different movements that are fighting forthe same goals.

7. Education for the working class, especially sothat the workers will love the history of their nation,the traditions, the culture and the history of the inter-national working class movement; providing an edu-cation to make the workers cleverer as a class, tobelieve in the values of the class struggle, and toknow the class struggle.

The WFTU has made many positive steps, butthe sector with most difficulties is finances. The basiceconomic support that the WFTU receives comesonly from seven WFTU affiliates and friends. Withoutthe assistance of our friends the situation would beworse. We want to highlight and to thank also theorganizations that every year send us their small butconstant contribution. Our organizations from El Sal-vador, from Colombia, Guyana, Sri Lanka and Bang-ladesh send small amounts of 300 or 500 Eurosshowing that they support our joint efforts. They sendletters saying that we stand together in our struggle.These are small amounts with a very big symbolism!The problem though still remains and it is a big prob-lem. The needs are also big. We underline the factthat the WFTU does not receive any money fromgovernments nor from employers.

Dear comrades,

For the year 2012, the International Action Daythe WFTU we suggest to be Wednesday October3, 2012. The success of the previous initiativesand the conditions that we live in put us in frontof an additional duty for the success of the day- the organization of initiatives by all our mem-

bers and friends in their countries in the frame-work of the Action Day.

We recommend the International Day of Actionto promote the needs and the demands of workersfor everyone to have food, housing, clean water, freeand public health care system and education sys-tem, free medicines. We should reveal by data themillions of children dying from hunger and thirst, themillions of people who are starving, who have nomedicines while their countries are rich and theirnatural resources have been plundered by multina-tionals and monopoles. An international effort shouldbe made to reveal and condemn the reasons for thissocial phenomenon. The trade unions that are mem-bers of the WFTU as well as its friends should leadthese actions at every workplace, in all sectors, in allcountries, in order that specific initiatives to take place.Information should be gathered, protests to be or-ganized, events to be held as ‘courts’ at the expenseof multinational companies speculating on water,medicines, food, books and others. We should de-mand solutions to be given with no delay. The mate-rial gathered after the initiative and the actions to bedeposited to the UN, ILO, FAO, and UNESCO by bigdelegations of our affiliates and friends.

About the prices in foodstuff, about the cartel insupply and distribution of food and seeds: to attemptin coordination with colleagues from Italy and Eu-rope to organize a dynamic protest in the offices ofFAO in Rome Italy.

The 2012 Action Plan that all of you received isvery rich in activities and they are all important, allnecessary. The objective of the activities is tostrengthen through the trade union movement: In thedocuments you have received there is a monthlydetailed action plan for this year. Here we will dis-cuss free and democratically for two days and weare convinced that the final action plan that will be-come after your proposals, observations and criti-cisms will be even richer, more current.

Comrades, after the 16th World Trade UnionCongress we are more optimistic. We all got op-timism, encouragement and strength. The newPresidential Council and the new Secretariat, to-gether with the leaderships of the TUIs and theRegional Offices, have the capability and thestrength to respond to our new and difficult butnecessary duties.

(Actions decided by PC is given separately)


THE WORLD’S BIGGEST EVER STRIKE, INDIA,28th FEBRUARY 2012

On February 28th 2012 over 100,000,000 In-dian workers will come out on strike. Workersfrom many unions and sectors are trying to gainimprovements in areas such as, pay, pensions,and employment rights.

The strike has been called because workers havesaid ‘enough is enough’, after two years of the gov-ernment refusing to negotiate with unions on any is-sue. Indian’s are sick of the rich getting richer, recordeconomic growth, whilst 400 million people have notgot a pot to piss in.

On February 28th 2012, an estimated one hun-dred million Indian workers will all walk out of workfor twenty four hours in what is likely to be the big-gest strike in world history.

Over a dozen of India’s largest trade unions havecalled for and signed up to the strike. The strike willaffect many sectors, including public sector banks,ports and docks, railways, insurance, road transport,energy workers, miners, and aviation workers.

“Recent months have seen a mounting wave ofmilitant worker struggles in India, strikes for unionrecognition in India’s expanding auto sector, includ-ing a ten-day occupation of a Hyundai plant, a wild-cat strike by Air India personnel, and walkouts bytelecom workers and coal miners against the centralgovernment’s privatization plans.”

The different unions have a variety ofdifferent demands, they include gaining thesame rights and protection for temporaryand contract workers that permanent work-ers have, raising and extending the mini-mum wage, resisting the attacks on tradeunions, stopping price rises, the creation ofa national social security fund, increase inpensions, and combating corruption.

Despite seeing growth of around9% each year, more than four hundredmillion Indians live in absolute pov-erty. Only a handful of countries en-joy similar growth, yet Indian workershave not even been flicked so muchas a crumb from the bosses table.Working and living conditions are

equal to, and actually worse than some Afri-can countries that are not experiencing thesame economic growth.

Indian workers are starting to switch on to thefact that the ‘system’ only serves the wealthy and thebosses. The last few years has seen a dramatic risein the number of millionaires and billionaires, yet jobsare lost, wages cut, and unions rights pushed back.India’s richest fifty five people have 1/6th of all thecountry’s wealth.

[SOURCE : WORKING CLASS SELF ORGANISATIONBLOG- LIB COM. ORG]

WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONSAthens, February 14, 2012

Dear comrades,

The WFTU is organizing the 2nd InternationalConference of Working Youth in Havana, Cubaon April 29-30, 2012. Confirm now your participa-tion by e-mail: [email protected],[email protected] Every participant will coverhis/her own plane ticket. All participants will takepart at the great May Day demonstration with theWFTU flags. Confirm your participation as soonas possible.

THE SECRETARIAT


WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONSAthens, February 24, 2012

To: Dr. Manmohan Singh

Hon. Prime Minister,

Government of India, New Delhi, India

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

We address you this communication from the World Federation of Trade Unions, the premierInternational Trade Union organization representing workers in 120 countries from all the conti-nents. Needless to add that we also represent about 10 million workers in India encompassingmajor Central Trade Unions like AITUC and CITU as well as TUCC, AICCTU, AIUTUC etc. besidesnumber of workers in various sectors and industries.

We are concerned to write to you because we observe that the various economic policies being pur-sued by Indian Government are adversely impacting the living conditions and livelihood of the commonmasses of workers. We are aware that India is a fast emerging economy in the world and its more than400 million workers are a great human asset in shaping the country as a strong and vibrant economy.

But it is distressing and disappointing that the workers are being denied of their legitimate and justifiedshare out of the prosperity and progress. On the other hand workers are confronted with problems ofhuge job losses, retrenchments and lay-offs, underpayment of wages, elongated working hours, denial ofbasic trade union rights, violation of labour statutes, outsourcing and contractualsing regular jobs, denialof social security benefits, denial of maternity benefits for women workers, exploitation of unorganizedworkers, increased peril to jobs and job security, etc. In short workers are being treated unfairly andwithout equity and justice.

It is also a matter of intrigue that while India is a founder member of ILO, Resolutions likeConventions 87 and 48 relating to right of association and organizing trade unions, etc. are yet tobe ratified by the Indian Government.

Further, in the anxiety to pursue the policies of globalization and liberalization, the welfare of workersis being ignored. Labour is said to be an equal partner in development and progress but ostensibly, thescales are not held evenly.

It is in this situation, after repeatedly drawing the attention of the Government to correct the situationand having failed to get any positive outcome, the entire trade union movement and workers class of Indiahas risen as one man to register their stout opposition to these policies through a General Strike on 28,February, 2012.

The fact that all the Central Trade Unions have come together and jointly given the call for the strikeaction itself is a pointer to the deteriorating conditions of the labour class in India and the concern of thetrade unions to espouse their cause. It is expected that nearly 100 million workers will be joining thisprotest action to press their 10 point charter of demands.

From the World Federation of Trade Unions, we express our full support to the working class ofIndia and total solidarity with the trade unions who have given the call for the strike. We urgeupon the Government of India to appreciate the genuine concerns of the trade unions and takeall steps to protect the interests of the workers and address the demands of the traded unions.

Thanking you,Yours sincerely

GEORGE MAVRIKOSGENERAL SECRETARY

WFTU LETTER TO INDIAN PRIME MINISTER


ALL WORKERS MILITANT FRONT (W.F.T.U. affiliate)February 9th, Rally of PAME

WORKERS AND THE PEOPLE OF GREECE CONTINUE THE PATH OF HONOURAND DECENCY, THE PATH OF STRUGGLE. 48 HOUR GENERAL STRIKE ON

FEBRUARY 10-11


FIBEN NATIONAL CONVENTION, NEPAL

Political Rights with Trade Union RightsOur Concern is

• Viable financial institutions

• Efficient management

• Deciplined trade unions

• Self-governing economic policies

Bank, Insurance and Finance Unions- Nepal (Bifu-Nepal)- Renamed FIBEN

Resloutions passed by 4th National Conventionof Bifu-Nepal held on 17th and 18th Feb. 2012 atADBL, Central Training Institute, Bode, Bhaktapur.

1) National Convention concluded that assurancelimited only speech and paper decisions of mainpolitical parties. Realising this fact people of Nepaland international societies are not confident to makenew constitution and logical end of peace processwithin the stipulated time of constituent Assembly. Inthis way the major political parties are detoriatingtheir image day by day. We strongly demand to draftFederal Democratic Republic constitution and endthe peace process in a logical way withing the stipu-lated time.

2) Nepalese trade unions are playing vital role forthe establishment, enhancement and promotion ofdemocracy, peace,press freedom, human rights inthe political history of Nepal. Evaluating higher levelcontribution and dedication of trade union role in thecritical position of the country, ensure political rightwith trade union right to the trade unions and makeconsititutional provision to represent at least 10 per-cent seat in the federal as well as state lagislatureparliaments..

3) Agricultural Development Bank, Nepal is fullygovernment owned bank but now it has only 51 per-cent share of Nepal Government. Government ofNepal has already decided to sell its own 30 percentshare to the strategic partner and starting the proc-ess gradually in this direction. We strongly condemnthe decision of Nepal Government to privatise thisbank and we also demand to the Government toensure at least 51 share of Government in this bank.

4) Now other Government bank, Rastriya BanijyaBank has nearly 9 billions negative networth. As perthe Nepal Rastra Bank directives it should have atleast 2 billions paid of capital, now it has only117crores paid of capital. Our convention strongly

demand to formulate capital restructuring plan andimplement it immediately.

5) Government of Nepal approved the capitalrestructuring plan of Nepal Bank Ltd.We stronglydemand to implement its capital restructuing actionplan immediately.

6) 5 Regional Level Rural Development Banks arein the phase of critical financial position. Implementessence and spirit of the recommendation of taskfoce formed by Nepal Rastra Bank and we demndto the Nepal Rastra Bank and Government of Nepalto play vital role to make it central level rural bankassuring job security, social security, opportunitiesof career develomemnt of the staff and make arrange-ment to enlarge its service in remaining remote dis-tricts to deliver micro finance service to the extremelypoor people in these areas.

7) Government of Nepal is trying to privatise Ne-pal Bank Ltd, Rastriya Banijya Bank and AgriculturalDevelopment in the name of financial sector reform.We strongly criticize step taken by the Governmentand demand to operate these bank as the stateowned banks.

8) Our convention draws attention to the concern-ing body toward making separate regulatory body offinance company and we demand to stop Governmentforceful lending from Karmachari sanchayakosh.

9) We also demand to establish separate regula-tory body for monitoring, supervising and evaluatingthe growing micro finance companies to improvetheir financial position and make them transparentfunctioning and responsible institutions. In the timeof handover in the development bank, there shouldbe provision to address the staff of DEPROSC Nepalin the earning capital and liability. We demand withthe management of DEPROSC Nepal to do so ac-cordingly.

10) There is partiality, lack of good governance,weak performance in the bank, insurance and financeinstitutions.In the name of open competition to se-lect the CEOs mainly in the government owned banks,CEOs are appointing in the pressure of party leaderand government denying the norms and standardset for the appointing CEOs. No efficient, experiencedand capable leader in the banks. We strongly de-mand to set the criteria for the appointment of CEOs


and appoint the CEOs as per the set standard toimporve the financial performances of the banks.

11) There is strong pressure from the power-ful foreign countries and multinationals finace com-pany to formulate the economic policies for the coun-try. So that we strongly demand to formulate self-governing policies relavant to Nepal.

12) we demand trade union right to the workersin various sector as per the mandate given by rein-state house of representatives up to joint secretaryof Nepal Government. We demand to make legalprovision as per the mandate given by house ofrepresentave in all professional sectors.

13) Make arrangement to approve the ILO Con-vention 87 to ensure the right to organise and free-dom of association.

14) Drafting new 6 labor laws are in the final stage.Prepare laws relating to labor market as per the setinternational as well national standard and pass theselaws from legislature parliament without delay.

15) Now Nepalese average life expectancy is 66years but service time is limited up to the age of 58and service period is 30 years. It is impractible prac-tice of tenure of working people. So make legal ar-rangement to serve up to year of 60 in all profes-sional sector.

16) Distribute bonus to all staff of all banks that isearning profit in the certain Fiscal year as per thebonus act 2030. We strongly criticise the step takenby Nepal Government in the name of circular of Com-mission of Abuse of Authority and Investigation whichis against the spirit of Bonus Act 2030.

17) Make legal arrangement to represent in therespective board of institution from authorised tradeunion.

18) 4th National Convention of Banks, Insur-ance and Finance Unions (BIFU-Nepal) (Renamedof Federation of Inter Bank Employees' Nepal,FIBEN)) strongly condemn the dismissal of vicepresident bro. Abdul Jamil bin Jalauddin andtreasurer bro.Chen ka Fatt of NUBE, Malaysia fromMaybank of Malaysia against the spirit of inter-national labor practice and collectivebargaining.We extend our solidarity to the move-ment launched by NUBE, Malaysia and strongydemand to reinstate thedischarged two tradeunion leader to their respective post.

19) Finally we approve the resolution relatingto the vote of thanks to the Chief guest Com.Madhav Kumar Nepal, Senior leader of CPN (UML)Distinguished foreign guests Bro MR Shah- Gen-eral Secretary of ARObifu, Mahesh Mishra- VicePresident of AIBEA, DD Rustagi- Joint Secretary-AIBEA, Anoop Mathur- Central Committee mem-ber-AIBEA and CH Venkatachalam- General Sec-retary-TUIBIFU, J.Solomon- Vice President ofARObifu, Lai, Wan, Chih-Treasure of ARObifu,Taiwan, Su, Yi-Chih-Deputy General Secretary ofTaiwan Federation Financials Union for theirgreeting message for the grand success of ourconvention. We also extend vote of thanks to theGS, Dty GS of CONEP and other guests from thedifferent federations. We also express vote ofthank for Convention hall to ADBL Training In-stitute and other delegates, participants, observ-ers and organising committee.

* International Days – activities on HIV/AIDS, Earth,Immigration etc.

* To create a labour- trade union News Agency tospread labour and trade union News from allacross the world to the entire world.

* The Presidential Council of WFTU congratulated Indian Working class for jointly launching All India Strike on the 28th Feb. 2012

* The PC emphasized the decision that allaffiliates must pay the annual fees, (thebetter unions more than their affiliationdues,) to the WFTU central office withoutfail. None should remain missing from pay-ment of fees.

* The next meeting of the Presidential Council willheld in Lima, Peru in 2012.

* TUI (Teachers) FISE– Congresses in each con-tinent to be organized

* TUI Transport Congress in Portugal* Seminars in Co-operation with ILO* 2 in each continent* Joint meeting of WFTU leadership with heads

of Regional offices & Sectoral TUIs – lastweek of April 2012

* Further Initiatives* Competitiveness for Energy & Oil - International

meeting in Athens.* Health Consequences in Mine workers - initia-

tive in Chile* Child labour – Child Criminality* Continuation of Struggle for the liberation of the

5 Cubans

Contd. from page 2


Cypriot Workers Solidarity with theGreek Steel workers strike of "Halyvourgiki"

On Friday evening 27th January Greek Cyp-riot and Turkish Cypriot workers in a musicalconcert expressed their support and solidar-ity with the 400 Greek steel workers who havebeen on strike for three months. PEO and theTurkish Cypriot trade unions DEV-IS, KTAMS,KTOS, KTOEOS and BES, which are affiliatedmembers of the WFTU, organised the show ofsolidarity and support to the Greek steel work-ers. The concert took place at the conferencehall of PEO.

"We are here tonight to support the strikers ofthe Greek Steelworks "Halyvourgiki" and to expressin this way our class solidarity with a struggle of hon-our and dignity, against the imposition of humiliatingworking conditions and the attempt to abolish theCollective Agreement," said the General Secretaryof PEO Pambis Kyritsis in his address. "Workers areexperiencing the harsh consequences of the globalcrisis of the capitalist system. Capital and its repre-sentatives have intensified their attacks on the la-bour movement and workers gains. They feel thatcircumstances are in their favour, that they now havethe upper hand and are trying to use the crisis toattack and abolish working people's rights and con-quests which were won by the labour movementthrough hard and long struggles.

Greece is perhaps the most striking example inEurope. Only the working people, the ones who arenot responsible for the crisis, are paying the price forthe harsh consequences of the anti-peoples meas-ures being promoted by the IMF and the Troika inthe name of allegedly tidying up finances.

The "Halyvourgiki" case of the steel workers strug-gle in Greece is a clear example of the aggressionagainst workers rights and the organized labourmovement. Our Greek colleagues with the supportof the class-based forces, especially of the AllWorkers Militant Front (PAME) have for over 3months chosen the path of dignity, struggle andresistance. This heroic struggle of 400 of our Greekcolleagues, which has become the cause of theentire working class, demonstrates again the greatvalue of solidarity among workers, both of moral soli-darity and sympathy and in terms of practical andmaterial support.

It is precisely this need for moral and materialsolidarity that prompted PEO to co-organize this soli-darity concert together with the Turkish Cypriot tradeunions who are affiliated members of WFTU: DEV-IS, KTAMS, KTOS, KTOEOS and BES. It is this soli-darity that makes the power of the working class for-midable and multiplies its power against the employ-er's arbitrariness.

By expressing our class solidarity with the"Halyvourgiki" Greek Steel workers of Aspropyrgoswe call on Cypriot workers too to be vigilant andrally their class forces for our own strugglesunderway and which it seems will be intensifyingand growing."

Voluntary contributionThe General Secretary of PEO did not fail to men-

tion that the event is entirely the result of voluntaryaction since all the artists have volunteered to par-ticipate selflessly without any costs, wishing in thisway to contribute to the support and strengtheningof the Greek strikers struggle. The President of theSteel Workers Brach Union George Syfonios madean emotional address to the working people attend-ing the solidarity concert.

"The attack waged by capital knows no bounda-ries. Capitalism attacks mercilessly where it findsunorganized workers." "We have been on strikeas one fist since October 3. We will not go back towork for 500 Euros. We demand the reinstatementof our colleagues who were fired and that theyshould be employed with fixed schedules and con-tracts. We are on strike because we refused towork five hours per day, five days per week with a40% reduction in our salaries.

We are standing upright, because we are alreadyvictorious. The employers themselves confessed thatthey did not expect such resistance, they did not ex-pect us to hold on, and they expected that we wouldhave grown tired... We have proved that we haveunstoppable power. With guard duties we are guard-ing our strike. Tens and hundreds of trade unionists,students, pensioners from Greece and people fromall over the world are expressing their solidarity withour struggle, but morally and practically. We expressour thanks to everyone.


George Syfonios made a special reference to thesolidarity of PEO and the Turkish Cypriot organiza-tions. He stressed that he is deeply moved by thesolidarity expressed by PEO and the Turkish Cypriotorganizations towards the struggle of the Greek steelworkers.

"We express to our brother workers our thanksfor your steady and moving response. You shouldknow that our own victory is a victory for the wholeof the working class. We will always be by yourside to support you as you are now in solidaritywith us and supporting us." "We are here to ex-press our solidarity with the struggle of the hon-oured struggle of our brother workers in"Halyvourgiki" in Greece, with the struggle whichhas already being going on for 3 months againstthe abolition of the collective agreement by theemployers, " said the President of DEV-IS MehmetSeyis in his own address. "From here, we join ourvoices and strengthen our solidarity with our classbrothers who are struggling against this relentlessattack". "We are in a period in which global capitalis increasing exploitation with dictates through theIMF, the World Bank and the neoliberal policiesand curbing workers human rights."

Speaking about the international situation, thePresident of DEV-IS said that, "The capitalistsand representatives of neo-liberalism are seek-ing to exploit the crisis in order to promote theirown interests and to put the burden of their cri-sis onto the backs of workers.

Hunger, unemployment and migration arespreading like an epidemic. To change this situa-tion we the workers must mobilize. Our brothers,the Steel workers in Greece have lit the flame ofthe struggle. And we must together strengthen ourinternational unity, struggle and solidarity. We sa-lute the honourable resistance of the Greek work-ers in "Halyvourgiki". Their struggle is the struggleof all workers."

The response of Cypriot workers to the vol-untary purchase of solidarity coupons wasmoving. Thousands of coupons were sold dur-ing both the concert, but also at theworkplaces. So far a big amount of money havebeen collected which will be given to the strikefund for the needs of the 400 Greek workers ofHalyvourgiki.

SOLIDARITY MESSAGE FROMBASQUE TRADE UNION LAB TO

INDIAN TRADE UNIONSLAB Basque trade union shows its solidar-

ity to Indian Trade Unions and working class intheir struggle for proper working conditions.

The labour and working condition are get-ting worse and from LAB we think it is unac-ceptable. Organising workers and is the only wayto go forward in the defence of the rights and liber-ties fo the workers. How ever, organising is notenough and we have to struggle. Beacasue of thatwe support you and we support the generalstrike you are carrying out the 28th of Februarydemanding:

- Concrete measures to contain the price rise.

- Linkage of job-security with concession/incen-tive package to the entrepreneurs,

- Strict enforcement of labour laws without ex-ception or exemption and stringent punish-ments for violation thereof,

- Universal Social Security for unorganised sec-tor workers and creation of a National SocialSecurity Fund with adequate funds in line withthe recommendations of NCEUS and the Par-liamentary Standing Committee on Labour,

- Stoppage of disinvestment in central and statePSUs,

- No contractualisation/outsourcing of regularjobs and payment of wages and benefits toexisting contract workers at par with regular em-ployees of the industry,

- Amendment of Minimum Wage Act and fixationof statutory minimum wage at not less than Rs10000/- p.m.,

- Bonus, Provident Fund and Assured Pensionto all without ceiling,

- Compulsory registration of Trade Unions within45 days.

So from LAB we want to send you the solidarityof the Basque working class, the whole of our tradeunion.

Long live to the workers’ struggles!

International Department of Basque trade union LABIn the Basque Coutry, February 15th, 2012


AN ANALYSIS

Investment terrorSince the 1990s developing nations have been on

a treaty spree, signing a vast number of bilateral andregional investment treaties to attract funds for devel-opment. But as the figure of investment treaties hasshot up so have the claims for damages from inves-tor companies, which are seeking billions of dollarsin compensation on account of regulatory laws. Poorcountries are finding that footloose investments arecutting access to water, damaging public health andthe environment, and endangering ethnic communi-ties. As transnational firms challenge regulatory laws,countries are forced to retract, and pay damages. Richstates have become equally vulnerable.

Latha Jishnu sifts through case studies and speaksto international lawyers, academics, researchers anddevelopment experts to uncover the hidden dangersof investment treaties. The most chilling feature isthe role of a cabal of claims attorneys who are mak-ing colossal profit at the cost of nations, and sustain-able life

The New Year may not have started cheerily for theclaims brigade. An international arbitration panel awardedUS oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp just $908 million in com-pensation for Venezuela’s nationalisation of its assets in2007, less than 10 per cent of what the behemoth hadreportedly sought. It was presumed that Venezuela’s feistypresident Hugo Chavez, known for his America-baiting,would be celebrating.

Not really. The compensation awarded to Exxon bythe Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)is against a claim on PDVSA, the national oil company ofVenezuela. In other words, a company-to-company arbi-tration that is routine in the course of business. What isprobably worrying Chavez is another suit filed by Exxonagainst the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela at the WorldBank-affiliated International Centre for Settlement of In-vestment Disputes (ICSID) on the same issue of expro-priation. The damages sought, according to reports in theVenezuelan press, are close to $40 billion. This claim hasbeen filed under a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) signedbetween the Netherlands and Venezuela. Exxon is takingadvantage of this treaty because the oil giant has a sub-sidiary in the Netherlands which gives it locus standi toinvoke this particular BIT. There is no treaty with the US.For Venezuela, this could prove costly since the compen-sation awarded by the ICSID will be determined by theterms of the treaty. Invariably, violations under such BITs

are larger in scope and could include additional compen-sation. Monetary damages, however, are not the biggestcost imposed on host nations, although in the case ofpoor countries these could be crippling. The more severeconsequences are on the environment and other sectorsof public policy dealing with health.

Germany has been sued by investors for phasing outits nuclear plants and for insisting on strict environmentalrules for coal-fired projects (Source: Janericloebe) (Photo:Steffen Papenbroock)

Look at what happened to Germany not too long ago.In 2007, protests against Swedish company Vattenfall’sproposal to build a massive thermal power project atMoorburg in the Greater Hamburg area reached a cre-scendo. The popular view was that Hamburg did not needsuch a large plant (2 x 820 MW units) fuelled by hard coalsince it would further endanger the environment. The pro-test was also about keeping the River Elbe clean. WhenHamburg gave Vattenfall final approval in September 2008,it imposed strict restrictions to minimise the project’s im-pact on the Elbe. It is these stipulations that promptedVattenfall in 2009 to claim compensation from Germanyat the ICSID under the terms of the Energy Charter Treaty(ECT). The treaty is a pact signed by 51 nations and theEuropean Union and it provides the same protection forinvestors that BITs do.

The Vattenfall claim, like the majority of the arbitrationsuits filed under BITs and regional trade agreements(RTAs) such as North America Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) and Central America Free Trade Agreement(CAFTA), are never made public. Nor are the terms of thesettlement revealed by either party. However, a report inSpiegel Online of July 15, 2009, describes Vattenfall’srequest for arbitration as “an explosive document” andsays it shows “just how helplessly and hesitantly cityofficials can react in their implementation of environmen-tal restrictions.”

In March 2011, Vattenfall was awarded around €1.4billion (US $1.8 billion as per current rate) it had soughtas damages from the German government, claiming thatenvironmental restrictions would make the project uneco-nomical. Shockingly, the ICSID settlement freed the Swed-ish energy giant from the earlier environmental conditions,including the requirement to build and operate a dischargecooler. Canada and the US have well established modeltreaties which they pretty much impose on others. Theynegotiate them under pressure from their industries and


big law firms Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder Lawyer atthe International Institute for Sustainable DevelopmentNathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, senior international law-yer who heads the investment programme at the Interna-tional Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), pointsout, “The conditions stipulated in the water permit arenecessary under European Law, and are consistent withthe rules imposed on industry along the Elbe River.” Whatis troubling is that Hamburg had told the arbitration panelthat it was striving to meet the EU’s Water FrameworkDirective, which requires all member-states to ensurespecified water quality in rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastalwaters and groundwater by 2015. Clearly, that did not cutany ice with the panel.

Bernasconi-Osterwalder has written extensively onarbitration cases. She says it was only in the late 1990sthat “foreign investors began to increasingly and aggres-sively sue host states under these treaties. Often, inves-tors use investment treaties in ways that can catch thehost state by surprise, as in the dispute initiated byVattenfall against Germany.”

It is significant that a foreign investor could force evena developed country like Germany to toe its line. Gus VanHarten, associate professor, Osgoode Hall Law Schoolof Toronto-based York University, underscores the funda-mental threat that investment treaties pose to “democraticchoice and responsive regulation in all countries”.

The academic, who has campaigned vigorously foralternatives to the current BITs, says: “It is true thatdeveloping countries have been by far the main targets.This reflects the structure of BITs, their origins as trea-ties designed to provide extremely generous protectionsfor foreign investors, usually transnational corporations(TNCs), where the corporate nationals of one country(originally a former European colonial power and, fromthe 1980s, the US) owned far more assets in the othertreaty signatory (the developing country). However, it isimportant to understand that the treaties are used bycompanies and the wealthy to discipline all countriesand government.”

India, despite the 80 BITs it has signed—14 are yet tobe ratified—is sitting pretty. Its only recorded brush withsuch arbitration has been the infamous Dabhol PowerCompany case initiated by the partner firms of Enron, theoriginal promoter, which used the India-Mauritius treaty towin a huge claim. None of the details of what is widelyreported to have been a $1 billion settlement, have beenmade public. More recently, Australian mining companyWhite Industries Australia filed a case against India un-der the BIT of the two countries, according to IAReporter.

This follows complaints by the company that the Indiancourts had not enforced a 2002 foreign arbitration awardagainst its Indian joint-venture partner, Coal India Ltd.Officials claim they are unaware of the case but IAReportersays it is being heard under United Nations Commissionon International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) rules.

Why are BITs so toxic? These are bilateral agreementsintended to promote and protect investments in each oth-er’s territories by companies based in either country. Ac-cording to United Nations Conference on Trade And De-velopment (UNCTAD), which promoted the concept, BITsare treaties that usually give foreign investors guaran-tees of fair and equitable treatment, and compensation inthe event of expropriation or damage to the investment.But most are loosely worded treaties open to varying in-terpretations by arbitrators and creatively by investors.Unlike the multilateral trade and investment framework ofthe World Trade Organization, it permits investor-compa-nies and their shareholders to sue sovereign states (see‘Lethal treaties’).

These pacts allow foreign firms to attack the hostcountry’s public interest laws and skirt their court sys-tems as happened with India in the Dabhol case. But whatis extraordinary is that tribunals, composed of three-mem-ber professional arbitrators, decide cases in camera,closed to public participation and input. Even acceptanceof written submissions by public interest groups becomesa ponderous legal exercise. The tribunals can, and do,award unlimited compensation to corporations if they findpolicies or government decisions undermine not only theircurrent profits but also anticipated future profits. Taxpay-ers seldom know how much the government has shelledout to settle claims.

Cases for compensation are becoming legion. Accord-ing to UNCTAD, the number of known cases coming forarbitration has risen from 50 at the beginning of this cen-tury to over 350 now. UNCTAD makes it clear that this isthe number of known arbitration suits since most litigantsinsist on secrecy.

Hardly any country with resources worth exploiting hasescaped the trauma of being taken to international arbi-tration in a system that favours rich nations and a smallgroup of claim-chasing attorneys (see ‘Cabal of claimchasers’ ). All of this has weakened the capacity of sov-ereign states to regulate their environment, public healthand address livelihood concerns. In the case of develop-ing countries in particular, it has weakened the ability tointroduce policies that promote food security, poverty re-duction, equity and human rights.

The ability of nations to protect the last named objec-


tive was severely tested when a group of shareholders ofa company challenged, at ICSID, South Africa’s BlackEconomic Empowerment legislation because of its im-pact on their mining assets. These individuals used theSouth AfricaA-Italy BIT to seek a rollback of the law thatrequired mining companies to divest a portion of theirassets to increase indigenous ownership to 26 per cent.This legislation is aimed at redressing the past racial dis-crimination arising from apartheid which has left Blackpeople or the “historically disadvantaged South Africans”at the bottom of the economic heap. It was also intendedto address the exploitative labour practices, forced landdeprivations and discriminatory ownership policies thathad previously characterised the country’s mining sector.

Athough this policy was accepted by other investors,the litigants, including a Luxembourg-based company thathad sued under South Africa-Belgium-Luxembourg BITs,argued it amounted to expropriation. And they had theirway. The shareholders withdrew their claims after SouthAfrica granted them additional mineral rights.

“What is even more worrying,” says Sanya Reid Smith,a lawyer who analyses Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) forThird World Network, “is that some governments havebeen stopped from regulating by the mere threat of acase being filed. For instance, through a letter from theinvestor.” TWN is an independent global network of or-ganisations and individuals involved in issues relating todevelopment.

An analysis by the Washington-based non-profit Pub-lic Citizen finds all US FTAs, except the one with Aus-tralia, empower foreign investors to sue national govern-ments in foreign tribunals. “The ‘investor-state’ enforce-ment mechanism elevates private firms and investors tothe same status as sovereign governments, effectivelyprivatising the right to enforce public treaties’ expansivenew investor rights. There is no such private enforce-ment for labour rights or environmental standards,” it em-phasises.

Public Citizen, which describes itself “as leading thecharge against undemocratic trade agreements that ad-vance the interests of mega-corporations at the expenseof citizens worldwide”, calculates that over $350 millionhas already been paid out in compensation to corpora-tions under such cases. These include attacks on naturalresource policies, environmental protection and health andsafety measures. In fact, of the $9.1 billion in pendingclaims, all relate to environmental, public health and trans-portation policy—not traditional trade issues. For the moreegregious of these cases, see ‘Going up in smoke in Uru-guay, Australia’ and ‘Filthy underbelly of gold in El Salva-dor’ in the following pages.

There is a twist in the Vattenfall-Germany case. Months

after it won the coal case, the Swedish TNC launchedanother case on nuclear power, this time for the govern-ment’s decision to phase out old nuclear power plants inthe wake of the Fukushima disaster. The decision wasapproved by the Bundestag after a countrywide clamourby the people, but that is not stopping Vattenfall fromclaiming massive compensation, reportedly in billions ofeuros. Domestic companies that are also hit by this deci-sion cannot do so. They only have limited constitutionalremedies.

The irony is that Germany has been most active inpromoting BITs, the majority with the poorest of nations.Its tally of treaties is an extraordinary 136, of which justsix have to be ratified. Is it a case of the biter bit?

No more, say some nationsOF the 400 known investment disputes filed so far,

most (33 per cent) are against Latin American nations.Argentina, having been sued 51 times, is the favouritetarget of foreign investors. Most cases are due to thereforms programme it was forced to implement after its2001 financial crisis. Awards against it have alreadycrossed $912 million.

At the other extreme is Brazil, with not a single caseagainst it for the simple reason that predatory investorscannot use any bilateral investment treaty (BIT) to sue it.Thanks to the precautionary approach of its parliament,none of the 14 BITs signed by different governments havebeen ratified. Says Gus Van Harten, investment law ex-pert and academic: “These were signed by the executivein the 1990s, but the legislature refused to ratify them.This was all the more insightful of Brazil given that thedecision was taken before the flood of corporate lawsuitsagainst developing countries started in the 2000s.”

Agrees Sanya Reid Smith of Third World Network whopoints out that Brazilian lawmakers showed rare judge-ment because of concerns about their ability to regulate.“Brazil still gets plenty of investment since FDI is deter-mined by other factors such as market size and naturalresources.” Other nations, hit unexpectedly by investorclaims, are becoming wiser. One is South Africa. In 2009,it undertook a thorough review in the wake of arbitral pro-ceedings against the country. “Prior to 1994, South Africahad no history of negotiating BITs and the risks posed bysuch treaties were not fully appreciated at that time,” saysan official paper that has drawn up new guidelines.

Another is Australia. In April 2011, the Julia Gillardgovernment said BITs or regional pacts should not in-clude matters that would raise costs or affect establishedsocial policies without a comprehensive review of the im-plications. Change appears to be on the way.

[Source : Down to Earth]


SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE

Palestinian Flag to fly at UNESCO

Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas willbe present at the flag-raising ceremony in the Frenchcapital Paris on Tuesday. A spokesperson for Abbassaid he will also meet with French President NicolasSarkozy during his visit.

In October, Palestinians won the UNESCO seatin a Paris vote with 107 countries out of 173 voting infavor and 14 against the bid. Fifty-two abstainedfrom vote. The membership came despite mas-sive lobbying efforts by the Israeli regime and theUnited States, which cut off its annual share ofUNESCO funding in response. Palestine will be-come the 195th member state of UNESCO andthe measure is seen as a step towards the recogni-tion of Palestinian statehood.

GAZA-- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) havekilled 19 Palestinian children and wounded 200 oth-ers during attacks on the Gaza Strip in the course of

2011, medical sources said on Saturday. Spokes-man for the ambulance and emergency department,said in a statement that the youngest of those killedwas two-year-old Malek Shaat followed by three-year-old Islam Quraqai. He said that one third of thewounded in IOF attacks on Gaza in 2011 were chil-dren, noting that one of them, ten-year-old YousefAl-Za’lan, was still in intensive care after the Israeliraid on Friday in which his father and youngerbrother were killed. He charged the IOF with de-liberately targeting civilians especially children,adding that the IOF shel l ing of residentialneighborhoods in Gaza at a late night hour has itsserious psychological impact on children. He askedall human rights groups and those concerned withchildren welfare to urgently intervene and pressureIsrael into halting its crimes against children in Gazaand to secure a safe life for them.

JERUSALEM -- Palestinians in Bab El-Amudneighborhood in occupied Jerusalem were infuriatedto witness Israeli policemen savagely assaulting an8-year-old child, and threw stones at them. Eyewit-nesses said that the police forces closed off the en-tire suburb and the Old City in the wake of the clashesthat erupted between them and the angry inhabit-ants. They said that special forces and undercoveragents chased the young men who were throwingstones at the soldiers and arrested a number of themafter five policemen were reportedly hurt in theclashes.

Israeli forces prepare to fire teargas canisters atPalestinian demonstrators in the West Bank. (File

Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinian children inGaza in 2011

Israeli policemen beat up 8-year-old Jerusalemitechild, igniting clashes


photo) Israeli forces have fired tear gas on a dem-onstration held by Palestinians in the West Bank toprotest Tel Aviv's ongoing aggression towards the oc-cupied territories.

On Sunday, a demonstration was held in thevil lage of Nabi Saleh, where a funeral wasunderway for 28-year-old Mustafa Tamimi who hadbeen killed by Israeli soldiers on Friday. Tamimiwas killed during a demonstration against Israel'sseparation wall built in the West Bank. He was hitin the face by a tear gas canister. Israeli troopshave fired the canisters, which emit acrid smoke,directly at demonstrators, causing severe injuriesand death. The demonstrators in Nabi Saleh con-demned Tamimi's death and called for the removalof the Israeli barrier.

The International Court of Justice at The Haguehas described the Israeli barrier illegal. Accordingto Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, overthe past eight years, 20 Palestinians have beenkilled by Israeli forces in villages across the WestBank during anti-Israel demonstrations. An Israelisoldier arrests a man near the West Bank city ofBethlehem.

WEST BANK - (WAFA) – Israeli forces Sundayarrested six Palestinian from the southern West Bankcity of Bethlehem and the northern West Bank city ofNablus, according to security sources. Sources saidthat Israeli soldiers stormed al-Dheisheh, a refugeecamp south of Bethlehem, raided and searched Pal-estinian residents’ houses and arrested four Pales-tinians, including three youths. Soldiers also arrestedtwo Palestinian youths, 18, 24, in Awarta, a town east

of Nablus after raiding and searching several Pales-tinians houses there.

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- A man and his daugh-ter were injured early Sunday after an Israeliairstrike hit the Gaza Strip overnight. Palestinianmedical sources said ambulances evacuated ImadAqel and his daughter from the Zaitounneighborhood in Gaza City after their house washit by the strike. A Ma'an correspondent said thatat least two missiles hit the house. Aqel sustainedmoderate injuries while his daughter was seriouslywounded, medics said.

Palestinian youths stand at the door of a housedamaged by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on earlyFriday.

GAZA, -- The Israeli occupation forces fired anartillery shell at a poultry and cattle farm to thenorth of the Gaza Strip on Saturday afternoon,local sources reported. They said that the blast

Man, daughter injured in airstrike on Gaza City

Israeli forces attack protestors in WBIsraeli Soldiers Arrest Six Palestinians in West Bank

Contd. on next page


Israeli artillery fire targets cattle, poultry farm

killed many cattle heads and chicken in the BeitHanun farm, which was badly damaged in theshelling, but no human casualties were reported.Israeli raids on the besieged enclave killed fivePalestinians and wounded more than 30 otherssince Thursday.

Wapda employees protest privatisationThousands of WAPDA workers from all over the

country took out a protest rally on Tuesday in front ofParliament House under the aegis of All PakistanFederation of United Trade Unions (APFUTU) andPakistan Wapda Labour Union (PWLU), against pri-vatisation and outsourcing of chief executives of theelectricity companies.

The workers were carrying banners in support oftheir demands and raising slogans, like ‘down withIndependent Power Projects and Rental PowerHouses,’ causing price hike. The protesters called forgenerating electricity through hydel & coal-fired ther-mal power stations in the public sector to providecheaper electricity to people and overcome seriousload shedding.

They also demanded recovery of Rs one billionelectricity dues from Karachi Electric Supply Com-pany and government and semi-government agen-cies. ..........................Missing persons camp runs into2nd weekISLAMABAD: A camp established by therelatives of missing persons here in front of the Par-liament House has entered into second week, GeoNews reported.

Defence of Human Rights (DHR) on 15th Febru-ary set up a camp here at D-Chowk for indefiniteperiod to formally launch campaign for release ofmissing persons.

The Chairperson of the organization, AmnaMasood Janjua said that heirs of missing personswho came here from different destinations of thecountry would never return empty handed.

"We will die here or return with our beloved ones,"she said and added that the responsible elementsbehind this cruelty should be exposed.

Since then many political leaders and humanrights activists have visited the camp showing theirsupport the affectees.

...................NADRA Employees sindh protestingto get Permament The contractual employees of Na-tional Database and Registration Authority (Nadra)on Tuesday 21 Feb 2012 staged a protest againstthe government for not regularising them. They alsodemanded promotions for those who had been work-ing with the authority for the past 10 years.Hundredsof people, representing the non-regularisedworkforce of Nadra, had come from all across thecountry to participate in the protest that took place infront of the National Press Club (NPC).The demon-stration was held under the banner of All PakistanNadra Employees Association (EPNEA).Carryingplacards with slogans such as “We demand perma-nent, We want permanent” inscribed on them, theprotesters

rallied from NPC to the Parliament House stop-ping in front of the NADRA Headquarter. The pro-testers claimed that 14,000 people are currentlyworking for Nadra on a contract basis, and despiterepeated assurances by the prime minister the gov-ernment has not regularised them.They stated thatemployees, who have been working in Nadra sinceit was established, in 2000, have still not been madepermanent.Speaking on the occasion, PresidentAPNEA Muhammad Saleem said that the employ-ees have been working on a contractual basis sincemany years. Expressing concern, he said the Nadraworkforce is protecting the future of every citizen ofthis country by maintaing information about them,but their own future is not secure.

Contd. from pre. page


WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADEUNIONS FEDERACIÓN SINDICAL

MUNDIAL23 February 2012 European Action Day for the

protection of public services and workers’ rightsin Europe, organized by the TUI Public ServicesEurope of WFTU. The European class-oriented tradeunion forces organized several initiatives is manyEuropean cities. Below you can see some pictureswe have received until now:

PORTUGAL

ITALY

GREECE

STATISTICS

Unemployment rate goesup in Europe & USA

London. Awara Press. January, 17th 2012.The euro area (EA16) seasonally-adjusted un-employment rate was 10.3% in November2011, unchanged compared with October. Itwas 8.8% in February 2009. The EU27 unem-ployment rate was 9.8% in November 2011,also unchanged compared with October. Itwas 9.6% in February 2009. For the euro areathis is the highest rate since August 1998 andfor the EU27 since the start of the series inJanuary 2000.

Spanish unemployment shot up again in Oc-tober to 5.0 million, according to OECD, nearly23% of the workforce (48.0 % young persons,the highest in the euro area).The latest Spanishunemployment in register data show that continu-ing jobless claims October up by 134,000, big-gest rise for that month since 2008.

Among the European Union Member States,the lowest unemployment rates were recordedin Austria (4.0%). Spain has the highest joblessrate in the eurozone (22.9%), according toEurostat (Statistical Office of the European Com-munities).

In November 2011, the youth unemploymentrate (under-25s) was 21.7% in the euro area and22.3% in the EU27. In November 2010 it was21.0% and 20.6% respectively. In January 2009it was 17.8% and 17.7% respectively. The lowestrate was observed in Germany (8.1%), Austria(8.3 %) and the Netherlands (8.6%), and the high-est rates in Spain (49.6% ).

In February 2010, the youth unemploymentrate (under-25s) was 20.0% in the euro area and20.6% in the EU27. In February 2009 it was 18.4%in both zones. The lowest rate was observed inthe Netherlands (7.3%), and the highest rates inLatvia (41.3% in the fourth quarter of 2009) andSpain (40.7%).

In the USA, the unemployment rate was8.6% in November 2011. It was 9.1% in Sep-tember 2011 (9.7% in February 2010). In No-vember 2011 the unemployment rate was 4.5%in Japan. It was 4.3% in August 2011 (4.9% inFebruary 2010).

Printed & Published by H. Mahadevan, on behalf of World Federation of Trade Unions, from 4, Windsor Place, New Delhi 110001Ph: +91-11-23258683/23258685, Fax: +91-11-23258684, E-mail: [email protected] Printed at the Caxton Press,

Caxton House, 2-E, Rani Jhansi Road, Jhandewalan, New Delhi-110055 — Editor - H. Mahadevan

Flashes from WFTU RNI No. DELENG/2006/17051 DL (ND)-11/6120/2010-11-12FEBRUARY, 2012 Posted at NDPSO on 28–29, February, 2012INTERNATIONALEArise, ye prisoners from starvationArise ye toilers of the earthFor reason thunders new creation'Tis a better world in birth

Never more traditions’ chains shall bind usArise ye toilers no more in thrallThe earth shall rise on new foundationsWe are but naught we shall be all

ChorusThen comrades come rally

And the last fight let us face

The Internationale

Unites the human race

SOLIDARITY FOREVERChorusSolidarity forever!Solidarity forever!Solidarity forever!For the Union makes us strong.

When the Union’s inspiration through the workers’blood shall run,There can be no power greater anywhere beneaththe sun.Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeblestrength of oneBut the Union makes us strong.

ChorusIs there aught we hold in common with the greedyparasite Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush uswith his might?Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?For the Union makes us strong.

ChorusIt is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities wherethey trade;Dug the mines and built the workshops; endless milesof railroad laid.Now we stand outcast and starving, ‘midst the won-ders we have made;But the Union makes us strong.

ChorusAll the world that’s owned by idle drones is ours andours alone.We have laid the wide foundations; built it skywardstone by stone.It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own,

While the Union makes us strong.

ChorusThey have taken untold millions that they never toiledto earn,But without our brain and muscle not a single wheelcan turn.We can break their haughty power, gain our free-dom when we learnThat the Union makes us strong.

ChorusIn our hands is placed a power greater than theirhoarded gold;Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thou-sand- fold.We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes ofthe old.For the Union makes us strong.

Chorus

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FEB, 2012 (Vol. V, Issue-X) New Delhi Presidential Council Meeting of WFTU · 2014. 1. 30. ·...

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