Workers tactic

To interfere in the elections debate without forgeting the fight for salary

With the international conjuncture a lot troubled, the second semester will be marked by important political and economical challenges for Brazilian workers.The nation will choose the next president of Republic (man or woman) and the parliamentarians for the Senate and the Houses of Representatives.

At the same time, the trade union movement will try to make real their national project of development, whose document, named Working Class Agenda, will be delivered to the candidates for president.

Collective negotiations
The trade unions will have to comand the salary campaign for the second semester, period in which the great workers categories negotiate the collective convention.

The six strategic ways of the agenda are growth with income distribution; valorization of decent work; state as development inductor; democracy with people participation; sovereign and international integration; and trade union rights and collective negotiation.

Conference
It’s been approved by about 30 thousand people during the Working Class Conference, at the 1st of June, at Pacaembu Stadium, in São Paulo, in unitary act promoted by Força Sindical, CTB, CUT, CGTB and Nova Central.

João Carlos Gonçalves,
Juruna, General-Secretary
of Força Sindical

According to the general-secretary of Força Sindical, João Carlos Gonçalves, Juruna, the document contains the unitary banners of the trade union centrals.

Claims
The claims close to the day-by-day of workers, which are in the six ways of the agenda, are the workload reduction, without cut in the salaries, recuperation of the affordability of salaries and retires, right to strike without restritions, confirmation of the Convention 158 of OIT, land reform, investments in education, health, habitation, infra-structure and interests reduction.

“We will have to coordenate the politic agenda with the salary campaigns of the seconds semester, which get together the biggest categories of workers of the country” proposes Juruna.

Speech
In the opinion of the general-secretary, the speech is to make campaign and to elect only the candidates commited with the claims of the Working Class Agenda. He highlighted that the country needs a new model of development which gives value to work and income distribution.

“We also want a seat at the Monetary National Council, institution which stabilishes the monetary politic at the country”, claims the president of Força Sindical-SC, Osvaldo Mafra.

Adesions
“Because of that, the Brazilian trade union movement will have to search for the adesion of the candidates (man or woman) to our proposals”, says the president of the Metallurgist Federation of the State of São Paulo, Cláudio Magrão de Camargo Crê.

“If the worker elects candidates contrary to our proposals, we are going to lose rights”, warns the president of the Toys Trade Union of São Paulo, Maria Auxiliadora dos Santos.

Movement of pressure
“But the popular pressure will be decisive to the next president (man or woman) put the proposes in practice”, recognizes the president of the Central-AP, Maria de Fátima Coelho.

“We won’t give up of the developement with sustainable growth, against social inequalities, for the enlargement of workers rights and generation of new job posts”, observes Mequíades de Araújo, president of the Workers in Food Industry Federation of the State of São Paulo and vice-president of Força Sindical.

Miguel Torres, Substitute President of Força Sindical

Focus at elections
and salary campaign

The Brazilian workers will have two important challenges to be overcome until the end of the year: the elections of October and the salary campaigns of the great categories of workers as metallurgists, chemicals, graphics, workers in commerce, gas station attendants and people from food industry.

It’s calculated that more than 2,5 million Brazilian workers linked to Força Sindical will have to renew the collective convention. We’ll focus at inflation reposition, real salary increase, renew of the social clausules and workload reduction without cut in the salaries.

It’s still fundamental to define in who to vote for president of Republic and for deputies and senators. The proposal is to choose the candidates who close with us and who defends our general and specific proposals.

We have to put to win the national project of development approved in the Working Classes Conference, happened recently in São Paulo. The agenda will be delivered to the candidates to president of Republic. We want to know their opinion about our claims.

In the several salary campaigns of the second semester, we have to keep the unit in action to mantain and enlarge rights, increase salaries, amke better the work conditions and reduce the worked hours with the mainteinance of gains.

The worker has to have the main role at the social transformations which Brazil needs so much. There is space for achievements as the real increase of salaries and the reduction of the worked hours because stimatives tell that Brazilian economy may grow between 6% and 6,5%. The companies have been acumulating expressive gains and we will demand our share.

Nilton Souza da Silva, Neco, President of Workers in Commerce Trade Union of Porto Alegre

We have to fight for the rule of the profession

OIT promotes the World Day Against Children Work
The World Day Against Children Work will be commemorated in the 12th of June, 2010 with the purpose to build a political and popular commitment to the combat to children work, with social partners, having the civil society a role of leadership at the effort to conscientiouness. According to OIT, millions of workers children are benefited with the principles of convention which prohibits practices as use of children in slavery, forced works, traffic, server by debts, sexual exploration, pornography, military recruitment and armed conflicts and other ways of work that may by risk to physical and moral health of these children.

There were advances, but there is still a lot to do
However, despite the advances, there is still a lot to do. Many children still are arrested in unaceptable ways of work. The state-members of OIT have the objective to eliminate the worse forms of children work until the year of 2016. To reach this objective it’s necessary to increase the effort and the commitment. The wanted following to the Global Conference, of May, 2010, will be an opportunity to the countries to assess the obtained progresses man how much is left to reach the wanted goal.

Job increases and income falls
The get better of the job market and the increase in the vacancies offer lead many people to come back to look for job last April. More than 131 thousand posts have been created in the country since March, what shows the best scene for April in six years. Despite this, the massive income of these workers have shrunked 1,6% between March, 2009 and this year. Research of Seade/Dieese Foundation shows that the number of unemployed was in 2,92 million, with one thousand workers unemployed less than the previous month.