Dear Comrades,
PAME welcomes the WFTU Women’s Congress which coincides with WFTU’s 70 years of internationalist and militant action. We also thank the comrades of PEO for hosting this conference.
Dear comrades, the issue we are discussing today is very important and the experience to be gained can be a weapon for our organizations because the stable and more comprehensive orientation of trade unions on women’s issues can contribute essentially to the reconstruction of the workers’ and peoples’ movement. It should be clear that the promotion of trade unions’ work on women is not only a matter of some appointed committees, but is duty of all members of a union’s leadership as well as all the members of the trade unions.
The situation of working women today
The situation that the working or unemployed women are currently living – flexible hours of work, family care (children, elderly), due to the shrinking of social support structures – creates problems, puts additional obstacles to their participation in the organization of the struggle in the workplace, in the trade union. Additional obstacles come from the reactionary and increased aggressiveness of the system, the overthrows in the former socialist countries, the temporary defeat of the workers’ and peoples’ movement that have led to the decline that the movement generally displays today. This decline is expressed even more strongly to the difficulty of women’s joining the organized struggle. On the other hand, monopolies want the woman to be cheap labour and use her as a tool to make the labour force cheaper, to channel fatalism, defeatism and fear in the ranks of the labour movement.
The role of Employers’ Trade – Unionism
In this direction, they exploit the employer-governmental trade-unionism, which has heavy responsibilities for the decline of the labour movement. For example, the ETUC and the ITUC lead to the integration. They take advantage of real problems in order to promote the demands of the capitalists against the workers. They accept the logic of competitiveness, of capitalist development, the capitalists’ need for profits. As a result of their logic, they sacrifice any labour right, they accept wage cuts and layoffs. They do not deny the “right” in the exploitation of labour force. They reduce working women’s problems to issue of sex, hiding its class roots. They accept measures that severely harm women of the working class and the popular strata, in the name of “equality ” (e.g. increased limits for women’s retirement age) or “service” of their role in the family (e.g. flexible hours, part time job). They want a movement out of the work places, with no class-orientation. On March 8, International Day of working women, these organizations publish support announcements for FEMEN, promoting as women’s “right” and “participation” in the struggle, to get naked!!!.
It is no coincidence that these organizations, the ETUC and ITUC with their members, supported the imposition of the new memorandum in Greece. Now a days, while women and children get drowned every day in the Mediterranean, the ETUC and ITUC call for a strengthening of the EU Treaty Schengen, namely the policing of people and limiting the entry of refugees in accordance with the requirements of the EU and the multinationals for a few refugees who will be skilled, cheap labour force. And of course, they openly supported the imperialist interventions and wars in Ukraine, in Syria; they supported the intervention in Libya and go on supporting the murderer state of Israel against the people of Palestine, equalising the murdered with the victim. When women of the working class see the executives of the ETUC and ITUC presenting themselves as “trade unionists”, they do not want to have any relation with them. This is a sensible reaction. For all these we need to have a clear and distinct position opposed to ETUC and ITUC.
The class-oriented trade unions and the working women
The working women and the working class today, need militant, massive, class – oriented trade unions in conflict with employers, governments and imperialist’s organizations. But this alone is not enough. The class movement needs adequate infrastructure in order to multiply the informed working women, to deepen their consciousness in the class roots of the problems, for more women to join the unions, to strengthen them, to raise the numbers of organization of women in every place of work, trade union and organization, people’s committees, in women’s organizations, with a view to changing the correlation of forces. This is a very demanding job; it needs specific content and persistent planning that affects the women of the specific industry, the specific branch, or workplace. Each union has to form specific goals for women. It has to find out ways for women to overcome the fear or apathy and to be attracted in their participation in the union, in action, in the unions’ leadership and the unions’ committees. Even more special work has to be done for young working women, who are confronted with new barbaric labour relations, even greater unemployment, the threat of dismissal if they get pregnant, the even greater difficulties to create a family in today’s conditions.
The unions of PAME make such an effort, it needs, however, continuous improvement. For example, there are many interventions of the unions of PAME against the dismissals of pregnant working women. They demonstrate and fight for special measures to protect the health and the reproductive capacity of the young woman (not to work evening hours, not to lift heavy objects, to have breaks, etc.). They form on struggle demands (maternity protection, hygiene and safety of women at workplaces, kindergartens, schools, retirement). They demand from the state and the employers with multiform interventions and mobilizations. They coordinate with the people’s committees, the women’s associations. They organize events – discussions for women, for young couples, for children. The Unions made real steps ahead by the organisation of cultural events for workers’ children, the establishment together with People’s Committees and operation of tutorials for the employees’ children. Nevertheless, we are behind the needs that exist today, when the developments in Greece bring new offensive to women but also to the entire working class.
Developments in Greece
For this we need to draw conclusions and experience from the new obstacles the workers’ and women’s movement is facing. In Greece, on January 2015, a Government was formed by the Social democratic party of SYRIZA. This Government was prepared even before the elections under the slogan “First time Left” and under this banner created many hopes to the workers that it would implement a less harsh policy, it would lighten the consequences of the anti-people’s policies. SYRIZA, since the beginning showed that whatever hopes existed, were illusions. In the Government of SYRIZA, 1/3 was former Ministers, MPs, etc of the former Governments of the Social democrats and even the Conservatives. SYRIZA allied with the far-right, racist party of ANEL. It expressed its support to the fascist Government of Kiev, while at the same time moved forward with a provocative cooperation with the Murderer-State of Israel. At the same time, since February 2015, it signed the extension of Memorandum 2, which had been signed by the previous Greek Government with the IMF-EU-ECB. Till June 2015, the Government of SYRIZA – ANEL went on negotiations with the Troika, aiming the capability of the Greek State to give bigger support and finance to the Greek Business Groups. On this issue there was conflict between SYRIZA-Troika. They both agreed, however to new anti workers’ measures.
So, the Referendum called by SYRIZA, aimed to make the people choose between two butchers. So the NO to the Memorandum of the Troika, became YES to the Memorandum of Tsipras, which had the complete support of all the bourgeois political parties, of the previous governments, of the conservatives of ND, of the social democrats of PASOK, POTAMI, etc. The imposition of the Memorandum No 3 by SYRIZA led big numbers of workers to disappointment. This caused a great absence in the elections of September. The Government that came through those elections is the same with the former one (SYRIZA – ANEL) and aims to realize the demands of the business groups for immediate imposition of the Memorandum.
It promotes now the predetermined reforms to Social Security within the framework of capital requirements and the EU, through the “Trojan horse” of social dialogue.
• It reduces pensions to charity benefits.
• It increases the age limits up to 67 and 40 years of insurance.
• It supports the business groups, exempt from debts, dramatically reduces popular income.
And next is coming: the complete abolishment of labour relations and Collective Agreements, the trade union freedoms and the right to strike, and also the imposition of new privatisations.
All this will be done according to the “European” standards. This is the EU; an imperialist organization which is not pro-people – as argued SYRIZA, who cultivated such illusions-. EU aims steadily to ensure the profitability and strengthen the competitiveness of the monopolies. That promotes anti-popular measures and capitalist resformss everywhere.
Working women, self-employed, poor farmers, women of the popular strata receive big blow from these measures. They lose conquered rights for maternity, they face the elimination of social structures and benefits and they are burdened even more today by the taking care of family, children, elderly, etc.
The role of PAME
Against all this, against the current, the retreat, the frustration, the compromise, PAME fights for the reconstruction of the workers’ movement, to conquer the working class’s ability to defend itself and fight back with massive and powerful unions, with lively work. To demand the recovery of the losses the working class had in recent years. To highlight its own demands, based on today’s modern needs and the wealth it produces. To fight from better positions against the anti-people’s policies and strategy of the capital, which creates and reproduces problems. The working class to promote its own perspective of the path of development for the economy and the society, according to the interests and needs of the workers, men and women, for the abolition of exploitation. In this direction we rally forces.
At the same time, we fight each day to develop multiform action, intervening to every problem of workers to workplaces in sectors, neighbourhoods without bowing under the negative correlation of forces. We develop joint initiatives within the framework of the social alliance in anti – monopoly direction with the organizations of the self-employed, the small farmers, womens’ associations.
Through this effort, PAME manages to perform successfully coordinated struggles, rallies, work stoppages and strikes in industries and workplaces, protests to ministries, local authorities, and national general strikes. In this process, which is a conquest for all workers, we have to face continuously our own shortcomings and weaknesses; we try to improve our work.
Now we are in front of a new National General Strike on November 12th – response to the attack against the social security system of “the second time left” government.
PAME fights for the success of this strike, opening the debate within the workers, with collective procedures and the decisions by the masses, with meetings of the leaderships of the trade unions and their General Assembly.
We have to give a strong fighting message both to the employers and government, to form the conditions for escalation of the struggle, to strengthen the unions involving more workers, men and women, to open the perspective for the abolition of exploitation of man by man, for the liberation of women from the bonds of class exploitation.
