International money and capitalist crisis has led to increased attack on industrial workers worldwide leading to ‘hire and fire’ culture, outsourcing and contract employment, said Trade Union International (Metal & Mining) general secretary Igor Urrutikotexea on Tuesday.
He was delivering the keynote address at the TUI (MM)’s two-day executive council meeting here – the first to be hosted in Asia.
The meeting attracted several foreign delegates, including Xoan Xose Aboi, TUI (MM) vice-president and secretary-general, CIG-Metal from Galicia, Rigos Panagiotis, secretary of International Relations and Solidarity, Syndicate from Cyprus, and Francisco Jose Sousa E. Silva, secretary, international relations, FITMETAL from Brazil.
Mr. Urrutikotexea, who is a prominent trade union leader from Spain, said the capitalist crisis had led to cut in wages, more workload on workers, closure of factories, loss of jobs and food crisis.
“Today unemployment rate is more than 26.6 per cent in Spain and it is over 45 per cent among young people,” he said.
Stating that the trend had become global, he said whether it was Europe or Africa or Asia, everywhere the multinationals were calling the shots dictating terms in deciding the economic policies to further their interests. He also cited instances how workers in Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba and Nicaragua were in the forefront of defeating imperialist forces.
United struggle
He said TUI (MM) and World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) had decided to unite the working class for launching an effective struggle to foil the sinister designs of capitalist forces, as the problems faced in all the countries by the industrial workers were the same.
Pointing out how safety was being compromised due to globalisation forces, he said “there were one million accidents in mines and mineral sector in past three years. An estimated 2,000 were dying at work spots in mining fields every year.” He also paid tributes to the trade unions which had fought united against privatisation of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. On the request of TUI (MM), Steel Workers’ Federation of India had taken the initiative to host the conference, reception committee chairman Ch. Narsinga Rao said.
