The ITUC hides its face and target
"Employees of the IMF"
The second Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation – ITUC was held in Vancouver, Canada, on June 21-25, 2010 with the participation of 692 delegates. Many people will wonder:
- Why did ITUC leaders choose the city of Vancouver, probably the most expensive city in the world? Why did they choose Canada, a country without trade union struggles and no class-oriented trade union movement? Did they really want a congress of bureaucrats away from workers? Were they looking for a working class congress or for trade union tourism? Why on the same day, in the same city and at the same time, met the G-20, the dominant capitalist tool?
- What does the central theme of the congress “Now the people” mean? That is, now the people to become rich or poor? Now the people to pay for the crisis or now the people to profit from the crisis? ITUC leaders hide behind vague words, generalities. Everyone can interpret this their own way, as they want, because the ITUC leaders believe that ideologies have come to an end. What does "global justice" mean? NOTHING.
- From a social and class-oriented perspective, what does the word people mean? When, for example, when we speak about the German people, what do we mean? All German persons? Poor, rich, self-employed, middle class, homeless, workers, unemployed, etc. That is, everyone. Therefore, the generality "now the people" does not refer to anything specific. All together, workers and capitalists. It's different when you say "long live the struggle of the Spanish people against the IMF." Then, you make clear what you mean. In short, once again the ITUC is hiding its face. Why?
- The official opening of the Congress was made by the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Mr. Strauss-Kahn, murderer of labor rights in Argentina, Ireland, Hungary, Romania, Greece and elsewhere. Together with the Director of the IMF was the Greek prime minister, born, raised and educated in the U.S., who has destroyed the rights of Greek workers and enslaved their country for the next 50 years. Even Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director General of the WTO and the popular former prime minister of Denmark, precursor of flexicurity and now president of the Reformist World Forum took the floor in the Congress. "They all did their monologues without the possibility of any participant to give them an answer. This is their democracy... the monologue.
- Why there were no elections to elect their leaders? Who decided in advance? Where were decisions made? Which ministries of foreign affairs resolved all these issues? The outrage among the conference participants was very big. Once again, it became clear that the strategy and tactics of the ITUC are decided by the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany and Israel. The rest are there for the photos, to receive a salary or to ask for a title, as requested the Palestinian delegate to be appointed Vice President, as it was promised after the Congress the appointment of a Deputy General Secretary from COSATU and begs the trade unionist from Nepal for a position, etc. They all know that they have no power in the policies and the direction of the ITUC. By the way, what position will be granted now to the former general secretary of the ICFTU-ITUC?, "Will he follow the steps of former President of the ICFTU, Mr. Trotman who is now co-directing the ILO? And you may wonder, what wages do they all receive from ILO?
- What was the reason for rejecting the request of South Africa to approve a resolution in favor of the Palestinian people? Was it just a slap for South Africa? NO. When the ITUC calls for "living together the peoples of Palestine and Israel” they are being clever. It's the same thing that Obama and the EU are calling for, living together in one state with Israeli army, Israeli border only, Israeli economy and 2 or 3 Palestinian cantons surrounded by Israeli troops. These are the positions of the ITUC and these are the positions of the Vice President of ITUC Mr. Ofer Eini, an important leader in Israel. However, the Palestinian people struggle for their own independent state with its own borders, its own capital, its own economy and their own government. Why was rejected a resolution on Western Sahara?
- The positions of the ITUC on privatization, market economy, labor relations, health, education and the role of international organizations are the same as the positions of the G-20, the EU Commission and the IMF. All of them want a capitalism with a human face, but capitalism is cruel and brutal, by its nature, with the working class. The ITUC considers multinationals and the capital as partners for social changes. This reflects its character and objectives. The discussions on the final resolutions were deeply undemocratic. Democracy and meaningful discussions were absent.
- All these facts prove that the theories sold for years by the leaders of CCOO in Spain, CGT France, CUT Brazil, CGIL Italy and all the Scandinavian countries about "changing the ICFTU (ITUC) from the inside" were rhetoric of hypocrisy. Not only they have not changed the ITUC, but they have changed themselves and now these leaders are partners in the capitalist system and enemies of the working class in their own countries. That is the truth and they should think about who has changed.
Some of them try to hide their own responsibilities now by suggesting the unification of the WFTU with ITUC. These people are not serious, and cannot make a theoretical analysis to see that the WFTU and the ITUC are two completely opposite views on the labor movement. The WFTU struggles against capitalism and the ITUC struggles for it. So why should they unite? Those who support these ideas either have no ability ideologically or try to hide their own responsibilities. They lack of the Marxist analysis of social classes.
Conclusion: The ITUC is not a labor union organization. It is a powerful mechanism of the international capitalist system. This is what they prove through their pro-capitalist positions, their performance, their anti-communism and the hatred of its leadership towards Cuba, Venezuela and socialism. This is proved by their anti-democratic role played by the ILO.
Therefore, there is no way to hide. We are all aware and we realize, so everyone can take over their own responsibilities.
Quim Boix
Spanish veteran trade unionist
