A unified workers central union is expected to emerge from the fusion of the two largest workers centrals currently in existence: the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the World Confederation of Labor (WCL).
The debates over the creation of a new workers central union took place during the IV World Union Forum, an event parallel to the V World Social Forum in Porto Alegre.
According to the president of the Workers Central Union (CUT), Luiz Marinho, who participated in the union forum, “the creation of a unified international central union is very important” at a juncture in which the world is confronting grave social problems.
For Brazil’s Minister Luiz Dulci, who addressed the gathering of union leaders and is chief of the Presidential General Secretariat, the quest for unification must occur through a “process,” rather than bureacratic decisions made at the top.
“We can fortifiy the struggle for a new world economic and political order even more through this international alliance, which is also struggling against poverty and hunger.”
According to the deputy secretary general of the WCL, Eduardo Esteves, the international labor union movement should fight for more jobs in a society centered around work with respect for human beings.
“Trade union structures remain very traditional and are not managing to adapt naturally to the changes and all the categories of workers around the world.
‘We are in Porto Alegre to try to discuss actions and seek paths to reach this new, different, more just and more humane world we believe is possible in order to construct a civil society capable of changing the world.”
Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil