Congress of South African Trade Unions condemns the coup attempt in Venezuela

A statement issued by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)

COSATU condemns the imperialist attack fostered mainly by the United State government, under the helm of Donald Trump, to overthrow the constitutionally elected government through a coup d'état.

Venezuela has, for while, been at the receiving end of multi-forms of aggression and economic sabotage spearheaded by the US. The most recent aggression comes after the US refusal to recognise the legitimate electoral process that took place in May 2018. This despite the fact that everything was done in accordance with the laws and norms that govern the Venezuelan electoral system.

COSATU stands firmly in solidarity with the people of Venezuela in their struggle to assert their national independence, right to self-determination and justice. We implore Venezuela to never surrender the rights of its People and the resources of its territory to the will or caprice of foreign powers.

The federation also calls on the governments of the world and all progressive forces to speak out and wage a fight against the United States of America. This is the time for strengthened solidarity networks in defence of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in ensuring that their self-determination and their own kind of democracy prevails.

We offer our solidarity to the leadership of the Bolivarian revolution led by President Nicolas Maduro, who is under attack from the imperialist forces and their internal rightwing agents.

Issued by COSATU

Sizwe Pamla (Cosatu National Spokesperson)
Tel: 011 339 4911
Fax: 011 339 5080
Cell: 060 975 6794

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Workers in Greece battle bosses’ austerity with two general strikes

G. Dunkel
Workers World
February 12, 2012

For the big-business media like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and CNN television, the big news from Greece involves what is going to happen to Greek bonds, the euro, the European economy and the world economy. For these media and their owners, the hundreds of billions, even trillions of dollars at stake explain this emphasis.

But the true essence of the events in Greece is the heroic struggle of the Greek working class, in this small country of 11 million people, to defeat the cruel, draconian austerity being imposed by the European big banks.


This struggle is vitally important for workers and the poor throughout the world and deserves solidarity and support worldwide.

Economists predict that given the recent vicious cuts imposed by the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and accepted by the Greek government, the Greek economy — already in five years of recession — won't come out of its spiraling downturn until at least 2015.

Four right-wing cabinet ministers and two socialists resigned from the coalition regime because they refused to identify themselves with this new round of austerity. For its own ultra-nationalist reasons, the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), a small, near-fascist party, left the cabinet.

The coalition cabinet still managed to patch itself back together, and the Greek parliament voted Feb. 12 to accept this austerity plan.

Meanwhile, 25,000 union-organized protesters were demonstrating outside Parliament, which was protected by 3,000 police, who used tear gas against the demonstrators. On the edges of the protest, youth battled police, some throwing firebombs, and parts of Athens were on fire.

Vicious austerity cutbacks

What people now call the Troika — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — is demanding the following vicious cuts in return for a bank bailout:

• Cutting the minimum wage for private sector workers by 22 percent and for those newly hired at the minimum by 32 percent; workers at the minimum have already lost 45 percent of their 2009 wages;

• Collective bargaining agreements between the unions and companies in a particular sector of the economy are abolished;

• Cuts in supplementary pensions, soon to be followed by cuts to basic pensions;

• 15,000 public sector employees will lose their jobs this year followed by 150,000 two years after this, in an economy where unemployment is officially over 20 percent;

• Cuts in social services; those in health care will place human lives in danger;

• Stepped up tax enforcement against self-employed workers and small businesses in order to support the tax exemptions of big capital.

Since the minimum wage is the benchmark for most union/company agreements in Greece, lowering it will lower all private sector wages.

Workers fight back

In a working-class response to this latest wave of austerity, the three main unions in Greece called for a general strike on Feb. 7, which was widely followed. The strike stopped train and ferry services nationwide, while many schools and banks were closed and state hospitals worked with skeleton staff.

The steelworkers union, which had been on strike for 100 days, led a march on Parliament. There were some scattered sharp skirmishes between protesters and cops on the edges of the crowd, which drew a lot of press attention — more attention than did the tens of thousands who were protesting.

Some demonstrators burned a German flag, reflecting popular anger at the German government's role in imposing this new round of austerity. According to the website of the Greek Communist Party, there were protests and demonstrations in 62 cities around the country. (inter.kke.gr)

The E.U. finance ministers then called for “implementation before disbursement” (additional cuts), for the Greek Parliament to endorse the measures on Feb. 12, and for the Greek parties in the coalition government to sign promises to maintain this agreement even after the upcoming election.

All three Greek unions reacted by calling another general strike, this time for 48 hours on Feb. 10 and 11. The strike protested the depth and extent of the cuts being imposed, as well as the deadlines the Greek government had to meet.

PAME, the union confederation associated with the Greek Communist Party (KKE), broke the ground for the general strike by leading a large march through Athens in a driving rain storm the night of Feb 9. Ilias Stamelos, a leader of PAME, condemned the new austerity measures as barbaric and called on the working class not only to drive out the parties in government but also to overthrow the class which is in power. (inter.kke.gr)

Feb. 10 strike even stronger

The strike on Feb. 10 was even more solid than the earlier one. Two major unions – GSEE, which represents workers in the private sector, and ADEDY, representing civil servants – marched on Syntagma Square, while PAME marched to the Ministry of Labor.

PAME workers occupied that building, and others hung a big banner on the outside of the ministry, reading: “No to the new massacre of the people, Down with the government, The Troika must go, Disengagement from the EU.”

There were also large rallies in Thessaloníki, Piraeus and other major cities throughout Greece.

The next day, Feb. 12, the unions held a big demonstration in Athens' main Syntagma Square that encircled the Parliament building to try to prevent members from entering and approving the austerity plan.

Aleka Papariga, the general secretary of the Greek Communist Party, released this statement: “Even if the workers give their own flesh to pay off the debt, the savage bankruptcy will not be averted. Consequently, there is one solution: Disengagement from the EU and unilateral cancellation of the debt. This is the solution; anything else will constitute a tragedy for the workers.” (inter.kee.gr)

The two parties in the coalition government — PASOK and the New Democracy — have formally agreed to uphold this austerity plan after the upcoming elections, which could come as early as April. There is no guarantee they will win the election, according to some polls.

According to the Kathimerini newspaper, there is a sharp rise in support for left parties. Its early February polls show 12 percent supporting the Democratic Left, 12.5 percent supporting the Greek Communist Party and another 12 percent supporting the Coalition of the Radical Left. Greece's Green party might also enter parliament for the first time, Later polls showed an even bigger leftward movement.

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COSATU response to the G20 2 April 2009 London declaration

The Congress of South African Trade Unions broadly welcomes the G20 London Summit Declaration but rejects some of its conclusions.

COSATU regrets that the G20 meeting did not clearly acknowledge that the global economic crisis has been caused by the policies of the Washington Consensus, which propagated a ‘one size fits all’ economic model based on withdrawal of the state from the economy, emphasis on market fundamentalism, deregulation, privatisation, trade liberalisation, cuts in government spending and high interest rates, implemented through lending conditions attached to IMF and World Bank loans for poor countries. This policy led to gross imbalances in the global economic system, overproduction and over-accumulation, and non-regulation of the financial services sector.

This resulted in rising unemployment, income inequality and poverty, stagnating wages, cuts in social protection, erosion of workers’ rights, and increased insecure work. The International labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that 50 million jobs could be lost and 200 million people could sink into poverty as a result of the current economic crisis.

In South Africa, contrary to the local proponents of the Washington consensus, workers are being laid off or put on short time, and wages are being reduced; there is a decline in exports, a fall in commodity prices and decline in manufacturing and mining sectors.

COSATU therefore rejects the G20’s reaffirmation of a free market policy to address the international crisis, which is precisely the result of such free market policies.

We had expected that there would be a paradigm shift in policy away from the Washington Consensus. The real economy, decent work, and poverty reduction were treated as marginal to the crisis, with the main focus on finance issues. The G20 should have focused more on social issues, and particularly on jobs. We are very unhappy that the Summit did not adopt the Global Jobs Pact on the social dimensions and employment impact of the economic crisis, as proposed at the ILO.

The G20 should have followed the South African example and called on governments, business, labour and the community to work together to protect the poor, the working class and vulnerable groups from the effects of the crisis through industrial, fiscal and social measures.

However, we commend the G20’s position on following social measures:

Its acknowledgement that the crisis unfairly affects the poor and the vulnerable in poor countries and a need for a collective responsibility to mitigate the effects of the crisis on the poor.
An increase in resources for social protection for the poorest countries and investment in long-term food security, and increased resource allocation of more than $1trillion to assist emerging markets and poor countries,

The UN to monitor the impact of the crisis on the poorest and the vulnerable
A commitment to meet Millennium Development Goals and implement pledges for aid as per the Gleneagles commitments, and more development assistance.

Support for employment by investing in education and training and through active labour policies focusing on the most vulnerable and the role of ILO to assess actions taken and those required for the future,
An undertaking to reach an agreement on the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Macroeconomic policies should address world trade imbalances which have resulted in inequality, poverty and unemployment. They should deal with equity and redistribution of wealth to close the widening income inequality, eradicate poverty and achieve the MDG goals to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014.

COSATU calls for a significant revision of the world’s social architecture to place workers’ rights and development at the absolute centre of the new global agenda.

Other social measures to address the impact of the crisis on the poor, which should be at heart of the stimulus packages, should include:

Commitment by all ILO member states to ratify ILO convention and comply with all labour standards. We are disappointed there was no express provision for adoption of the ILO decent work agenda. Decent work is the foundation of the fight against poverty and inequality and it should be at the cornerstone of the responses to the economic crisis.
Implementation of the ILO Declaration on social justice for a fair globalisation.

Adoption of the Global Jobs Pact on social dimensions and employment impact of the economic crisis, as proposed at the ILO.
Measure to curb speculation in staple food prices,
Measures to avert unemployment, wage losses, and to provide income support.

Support to companies that are temporarily affected by credit difficulties in order to protect jobs.
Putting more money into the pockets of the poor and working class in order to stimulate the economy. This would boost growth, as the poor are more likely to spend their cash quickly and thereby stimulate the economy. This can be done through increased benefits, direct job creation schemes such as investment in public infrastructure, and tax breaks.

COSATU agrees that countries should strengthen financial supervision and regulation among others:

Public control, oversight and regulation of all financial products and transactions in particular, hedge funds
Introduction of measures to address executive pay and bonuses that are behind much of the risky investments and regulation of remuneration schemes by law.
Introduction of laws to regulate corporate social responsibility of firms
Stopping the race to the bottom between tax jurisdictions which is eroding tax revenue for most countries and introduce sanctions against non cooperative jurisdictions including tax havens.
Requiring of oversight and registration of credit rating agencies which are responsible for hiding some of the risks associated with the current crisis

The G20 Summit called on central banks to lower their interest rates, so that government investment in public infrastructure can be financed at a low interest rate cost. We demand that our SARB take heed of the G20’s call.

We welcome the commitments to reform the IMF, in particular for appointments of head of international financial institutions on merit. We regret that there was no commitment to reflect developmental objectives including the social mandate of decent work which means increasing employment and improving the quality thereof in the IMF mandate.

There should have been commitments to abolish lending requirements for the IMF and WB that leave developing countries with little or no policy space to develop their economies. The G20 should address the US veto powers and representation of the developing countries on the IMF board.

COSATU deeply regrets that the IMF has been given an enhanced role in coordinating the global financial reform. This organisation has been responsible for actively pursuing policies which have contributed to the current crisis, and indeed is still pursuing them during the crisis. Its policy mandate, governance structures and policies must be transformed. An unreformed IMF could aggravate rather than resolve the crisis. Otherwise the coordination should be done by the UN.

We regret that the Financial Stability Board, which is meant to provide early warning on macroeconomic and financial risks in cooperation with IMF, is not representative of the poor countries; only one regional organization, the EC is represented. Other regional organisations such as the African Union and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries should have a place in the G20 just like the European Commission.

On protectionism, we regret that the G20 did not reprimand the rich countries for breaching their November 2008 Washington declaration not to impose protectionist measures. Since Nov 2008, 17 of the G20 countries have imposed trade-restricting measures, through among others, export subsidies in the form of fiscal measures.

Poor countries should not accept calls to avoid protectionism, which are in fact designed to stop poor countries from using targeted trade measures to protect their industries from the crisis, whilst the rich countries are using fiscal measures to protect their industries.

We regret that the G20 did not reaffirm the mandate of the Doha round to put the interests of developing countries at the heart of its programme. We still demand that trade policy negotiations in the WTO must be developmental in character and Non-agricultural-market-access (NAMA) provisions should not result in further trade liberalisation of markets in developing countries and job losses.

The next G20 meeting should be convened within 6 months to enhance coordination and a common approach to the crisis. COSATU demands that the trade unions should be directly represented at that Summit.

The G20 should ensure that there is a paradigm shift in policy making away from an economic model which focus on one option namely of opening markets and deregulation to a model which focuses on decent work, economic, environmental and social sustainability, an economic model that puts people first.

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