Greece: PAME Conference – Greeting of the WFTU General Secretary

Greeting Message
WFTU General Secretary
To the Panhellenic Conference of PAME
Dear comrades, brothers and sisters,

I convey to the Panhellenic Conference of the All-Workers Militant Front the warm, militant and combative greetings of the hundreds of trade unions affiliated with the World Federation of Trade Unions, representing more than 105 million members who live and struggle in 134 countries around the world.

Your conference is taking place at a time when global geopolitical and economic rivalries continue to directly threaten world peace and security, with the risk even of nuclear catastrophe. Imperialist wars, interventions, sanctions and blockades continue and intensify.

The genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and the unimaginable brutality of the Israeli state, the new unprovoked and murderous attack by the United States and Israel against Iran, the invasion of Venezuela and the abduction of the country's legitimate president, the terrorist threats against Cuba's territorial integrity and the attempt to economically strangle it through the disgraceful energy embargo, have once again revealed in all their magnitude the hypocrisy, cynicism and inhumane character of imperialism.

The WFTU stands actively and militantly alongside the people of Palestine, alongside the people of Iran and the other peoples of the Middle East suffering from imperialist and Zionist aggression. We stand with the people of Cuba in their struggle to defend their independence and the achievements of the Cuban revolution, and with the people of Venezuela for their right to utilize their country's natural resources and decide their own path.

Workers around the world are facing the generalization and deepening of the capitalist crisis, accompanied by new attacks on their rights and gains, by a dramatic widening of social inequalities, by further environmental degradation and by reckless overexploitation of the planet's natural resources.
Temporary, precarious and uninsured employment is expanding and has significantly undermined work with rights regulated by collective agreements.
Human sacrifices continue, as occupational safety and health are treated as undesirable costs that reduce profits.
The shift toward a war economy clearly constitutes a priority for today's ruling circles of capitalism.
The new massive increases in military spending, besides posing a threat to global peace and security, also imply even harsher austerity policies and a widening of social inequalities.

The encouraging and hopeful element in the grim picture of today's world is that workers do not passively accept the anti-people and anti-labor offensive. Guided by class-oriented trade unions, through militant struggles and mobilizations in every corner of the planet, they demand work with rights that ensure the satisfaction of their contemporary needs.

Workers' collective struggles often confront not only employers and the state, but also unions that promote class collaboration and integration into the system. Employers and governments attempt to manipulate workers' struggles, relying on the role of "yellow" unions and compromised trade union leaderships.

As workers' resistance strengthens and struggles become more massive and militant, so too do phenomena of authoritarianism and repression. The police persecution of trade union leaders and attacks on trade union freedoms, especially the right to strike, are intensifying.

For the WFTU, it is clear that only through struggles can the front be built that is capable of defending workers' rights and opening the road for a different course of political, economic and social development-one that leads to peace, social justice and the abolition of the exploitation of man by man.

On this occasion, allow me, on behalf of the leadership of the WFTU, to express our heartfelt fraternal congratulations to PAME, because through its mass and militant mobilizations it keeps high the banner of class struggle, solidarity and anti-imperialist consistency, making us all proud.

We are confident that PAME, strengthened and equipped with the decisions you will take at your Conference, will continue and further intensify its struggles for better days for Greek workers and, as a member of the WFTU family, with solidarity and internationalism, will continue to play a leading role in the struggles for a world free from imperialist wars and interventions, a world without discrimination and without exploitation of human by human.

• Long live the struggles of workers for peace and social emancipation
• Long live solidarity and internationalism!