World Federation of Trade Unions [WFTU] and the General Confederation of Workers of Peru [CGTP] Announce
" First International Trade Union Youth Conference".
In issuing this Call for Conference, the WFTU and CGTP state that, "Youth unemployment is one of the major problems in the World for both men and women. According to reports by the International Labor Organization [ILO], the number of unemployed people in the world increased during the decade 1995 to 2005 from 74 million to 85 million, that is an increase of 14.8%. And from then to present, according to unofficial figures, the number of unemployed young workers is over 100 million."
The convening unions Call to Conference then focuses on Latin America: Regarding the number of unemployed young workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, it increased from 7.7 million to 9.5 million during the same years as cited above." Their invitation then cites the economic crisis for the working youth. 35% of those who still have jobs. Latin American and Caribbean do not overcome the poverty threshold because of low wages, while 6.3 million live in extreme poverty.
The invitation then cites the subcontracting, outsourcing of work from union jobs. In fact they stated that, "outsourcing is being institutionalized by laws imposed by the neoliberal government." The direct aim of these governments is anti-union, preventing, "youth from participating in trade unions."
A major section of the Invitation deals with the rights of immigrant workers who are seeking work around the world. Corporations in the USA, Japan and the European Union countries are taking advantage of imperialist trade agreement, which force workers to move between countries to find work. The Call documents the Mexican/US border as being a particularly cruel border crossing.
The WFTU reminds people of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And, the WFTU has ever since its founding of the UN in 1945 has been organizing workers and their unions to defend and extend these rights.
As the only anti-imperialist international trade union organization, the WFTU associated with unions like the CGTP, are holding this youth conference to help young workers defend themselves against the onslaught of neoliberal policies.
Neo Liberal Means Anti-Government; Only Corporate
The Call cites the dictatorial international power of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. Their policies believe that: "the State should no interfere in the economic policies, the best is the privatization of strategy sectors of nations and [then] it is needed to implement adjustments of deregulation and reforms of the State." "To achieve this objective [privatization], they developed policies to destroy the trade union movement and to abolish workers' rights.
THE CONFERENCE AGENDA
See the WFTU webpage to see how you can attend this conference.
The Conference Agenda
The titles of the conferences main topics are:
The world capitalist economic and financial crisis;
Role of transnational Corporations.
Immigrant Workers
World Geopolitics, the role of imperialism and national struggles
Youth and the Class oriented trade unionism
Objectives of struggle of trade union youth
Action plan of trade union youth
"TODAY'S YOUNG WORKERS ARE THE FUGTURE OF CLASS-ORIENTED TRADE UNIONISM"
Invitation was signed by:
Mario Huaman Rivera, Secretary General CGTP
George Mavrikos, Secretary General, WFTU
