Dear colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen
The year 2025 humanity honors the great victory of the peoples against the fascist – Nazi onslaught. In 2025 WFTU celebrates 80 years since its foundation.
It is not a coincidence, of course.
The new breath of fresh air that brought with it hope for a better world, with peace, democracy, and social justice, was the same that resulted in the creation of the WFTU on October 3, 1945.
Unfortunately, 80 years later, these hopes and expectations do not seem to have been fulfilled. The imperialist wars, interventions, sanctions, and blockades continue and intensify. Fascism is on the rise and threatening again.
The genocide of the Palestinians of Gaza from the murderous Israeli state continues unabated, with the support or the tolerance of USA, EU and their allies.
The rights of Palestinian workers have been brutally violated for decades.
It is high time at last that the Director-General’s report on the situation of workers in occupied Palestine, is not merely a description of the dramatic situation, but it should also recommend effective measures for those suffering the consequences of the occupation and Israeli apartheid. As far as the elevation of the status of Palestine from a “Liberation Movement” to a “Non-member state observer”, it is the least that the ILO should decide.
In today’s world, the reality experienced by workers is one characterized by unemployment, precarization, temporality, insecurity, uninsured work that is expanding and consolidating, deregulation, and the deterioration of living and working conditions. Democratic and trade union freedoms are shrinking, social goods and benefits are being privatised, and the arbitrary increase in retirement age thresholds is being systematically continued.
For the sake of the profitability of multinational companies, the system resorts to a “war economy”, which, apart from being a threat to world peace, means even harsher policies of austerity and social inequality.
This is the brutal reality, which cannot be concealed behind the catchy slogans adopted by the ILO about “new social contracts”, “decent work”, etc.
What workers are demanding are decisions and policies that practically support their rights and freedoms, not declarations and empty words without impact.
The encouraging and hopeful aspect of this picture of today’s world, is the fact that workers are not passively accepting the anti-grassroots and anti-worker capitalist attacks; rather they are choosing the path of struggle to meet their contemporary needs and defend their trade union, social and political rights.
Their weapon is solidarity and internationalism. The WFTU remains firmly committed to these principles. It continues its 80-year path with the same vision that inspired its founding: a world without wars and imperialist interventions, without exploitation and discrimination. A world where work will be permanent, stable, regulated, and safe.
Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues
Before I leave the floor, allow me to refer to a discussion that is not currently before the plenary but has started in the governing body, on the democratization of the ILO’s governance.
In our point of view, for this debate to be worthwhile, it must begin with the abolition of the unacceptable monopoly of workers’ representation by a single International Trade Union Organisation
We know that employers and governments are satisfied and comfortable with this monopoly. They thus avoid annoying voices defending the class interests of the workers and opposing the double-standards policy and the selective targeting of countries for the convenience of the dominant circles. Nevertheless, the WFTU will never stop fighting for a representative and pluralist ILO because that is what workers and their unions need.
The WFTU organized a Panel discussion on “Democratization of the ILO” within the framework of the 113th ILC, which is being held today, June 10th, in Geneva.
The panel discussion is taking place in view of the relevant discussion within the ILO Governing Body, which is linked to the issue of ratification of the 1986 Instrument for the Amendment of the Constitution of the ILO.
The WFTU General Secretary presented a complete and documented position for the WFTU’s understanding and notion for the democratization of the ILO, which could not be limited to or achieved just and only with the possible implementation of the 1986 amendment.
For the WFTU, a democratic and representative ILO Workers’ Group, that indeed echoes the workers’ voice and interests, means a Workers’ Group that is pluralistic and representative with a proportional participation of all the currents of the international trade union movement.
In the panel discussion participated trade unions from the five continents and several regional and national organisations presented their approaches in this vital discussion.
The WFTU first side-event on the framework of the 113th ILC realized today, on June 9th in Geneva, under the title 80 years of struggle with
internationalism and solidarity, the history and the future of the International Class Oriented Trade Union Movement. Friends and members of the WFTU participated in this important event of celebrations for its 80th anniversary, which will culminate in our main event, that will take place in Paris on October the 3rd.
