THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WFTU TUIS*
22-04-2024
*George Mavrikos’ Speech at the 3rd TUI Pensioners Congress
Athens, Greece – 15 of April 2024
Dear comrades, brothers and sisters,
It is an honor and a pleasure for me to be with you today, together with comrades with many of whom we have fought side by side for 50 years; with comrades from all over the world who have fought in the bodies of the WFTU for almost three decades.
All of us who co-decided in 2011 to found, under the wings of the World Federation of Trade Unions, the TUI of Pensioners and Retirees feel a special satisfaction because it has been strengthened very quickly and today is one of the most active and militant sectoral organizations of the WFTU.
The sectoral organizations of the WFTU have always been and must be the essential link of the WFTU with the factory and sectoral proletariat. They are the eyes, ears and feet of the WFTU in the workplaces. That is where the heart of the world working class beats.
Anyone who goes back to the archives of the WFTU will see countless discussions, agreements, disagreements, searches, questionings and continuous meetings, around the character of these international sectoral organizations affiliated to the WFTU, precisely because their role and character is particularly crucial. So much so that they have a significant impact on the very character and orientation of the WFTU.
When we took over the WFTU in December 2005 there were four TUIs. In 2022 we delivered 11 TUIs. The debates in the WFTU bodies were persistent.
Should we create others, new TUIs, or unify the sectors in the existing structures?
All this, of course, is ultimately answered by life itself, on the ground and over time; bearing in mind that any organizational structure, any apparatus in itself can neither make a work “flourish” nor destroy it. The structure may help more or less but the structure will not be the determining factor. The final judge is life itself, in time and place. And of course the logistical possibilities at any given time. I remember in 1976, on a visit to the headquarters of TUI Forestry and Agricultural Products in Sofia (socialist Bulgaria), the TUI employed 80 people in Sofia alone. A few years later, in 1983, in Budapest, at the headquarters of the TUI Transport, we saw a staff of more than 150 personnel and staff. Because at that time such were the possibilities. Much better than the conditions that formed after the 1989-1991 overthrows.
And in the two years from 2007 to 2009, when it was decided to create this TUI, there was no shortage of persistent discussions. We were in a phase of rebuilding the WFTU and its structures. Many were in agreement, others suggested we wait, etc.
We dared and life justified that choice. The whole WFTU class-oriented family is proud of the vanguard action of this organization.
And let me point out that in this successful path, two comrades have played the leading role. The Spanish Quim Boix as well as Dimos Koubouris. Together with the entire leadership of the TUI each time.
We all know comrade Dimos. But let me tell you something about Quim. He is very respected in the ranks of the WFTU. He has a straightforwardness, whether you agree with him or not. He belongs to that generation of Spanish militants who stood tall and firm in “the camps of undesirables” in the desert of the then Spanish Sahara during Franco’s dictatorship.
Of course we agree that above all and in the first place the collective effort is the engine, but the militants who have the responsibility of planning, organizing and executing a plan of struggle have their share. These two and together with them, by their side, dozens of leaders and dozens of unions of retirees from all corners of the planet have ensured that this TUI is today an example to be followed by all within the WFTU.
I have been fortunate to work with them over the years, in which they have supported and spearheaded the strengthening of the WFTU organizationally and ideologically. We express to them a sincere thank you in comradeship.
In conclusion, let me inform all delegates and all unions that together with important veterans of the WFTU as Valentin Pacho, H. Mahadevan and others from 17 countries (who we are in the rear but always with the rifle at our side) we have founded the International Workers’ Institute (IWI) as a contemporary auxiliary tool, next to the WFTU and together with all the class-oriented unions of the world with the aim of giving theoretical and ideological support especially to the militants and younger cadres of the class struggle. We have already organized 11 international seminars and conferences and we continue to move forward.
The next one will take place on May 9, on the subject of the achievements of the working class in the USSR. Participation is free.
Finally, I consider it necessary to underline the primary task of the moment for the entire international militant trade union movement. The task of actively supporting the heroic struggle of the Palestinian resistance, the heroic struggle of the Palestinians in Gaza and throughout Palestine. To support and express in practice our internationalism towards the Palestinian people and, at the same time, to condemn in practice and without ambiguity the crimes of the Israeli governments that, with the support of the European Union, NATO, the USA and its allies, have murdered 33 thousand Palestinians, among them thousands of children, since October 2023. This is genocide. And the UN pretends to be asleep. In fact, it is not asleep. Today it is an instrument of the imperialists.
Dear comrades, brothers and sisters,
Here, in this international trade union apparatus, there is a rich experience of struggle. There is faith and knowledge and the will to transmit all this to the younger ones.
With militants like this, battle-hardened in the class conflicts in all corners of the planet, we have the right to be optimistic.
We wish you success in your Congress.
Health and strength. Until the final victory.
Thank you.
GEORGE_MAVRIKOS, IWI, PENSIONERS, PENSIONISTAS.