BRIEF REPORT OF XIII WORLD CONGRESS OF TUIPS&A HELD AT LARNACA, CYPRUS ON 16TH& 17TH NOVEMBER- 2019
The XIII World Congress of the TUI, PS&A was held at Parvolia, Larnaca, Cyprus (Europe) on 16th and 17th November, 2019.Altogether 92 delegates from 22 (Twenty Two) countries across the world had participated in the congress. 19 (Nineteen) Women Delegates from different countries were also the part of total number of delegates.
Following delegates representing confederation of Central Government Employees and workers and All India State Government Employees Federation from India took part in the Congress.
1. Com. Ram Niwas Parasar, Asstt. Secretary General, Confederation of Central Government Employees and workers.
2. Com. Vrigu Bhattacharjee, Financial Secretary, Confederation of Central Government Employees and workers.
3. Com. Subhash Chander Lamba, President, All India State Government Employees Federation.
4. Com. Chandrappa Raghavan Jose Prakash, All India State Government Employees Federation.
5. Com. Gopalan Motilal, All India State Government Employees Federation
6. Com. Thoonikaril Chacko Methew Kutty, All India State Government Employees Federation.
7. Com. Shiv Pratap Singh, All India State Government Employees Federation
8. Com. Chandra Sekhar Reddy Nalamaru, All India State Government Employees Federation.
a. Com. Anbarasu Muthuvijayan, All India State Government Employees Federation.
The consecutive Sessions of XIII Congress were presided over by a composition of presidium which were headed by Com. Artur Sequeira, President, TUI PS&A.
The XIII Congress was inaugurated at 10 AM on 16th November, 2019. The welcome address was offered the General Secretary, Receiption Committee, Cyprus.
Com. Peirpaolo Leonardi, General Secretary, TUI PS & A had placed the introductory speech in terms of the report circulated on behalf of the Secretariat. In his speech he explained the Global scenario and endeavored to stress the need for building up the united struggle of working class worldwide against privatization and defending the rights of working class. He had also appealed upon the delegates to participate in the deliberation critically so that proper review of the activities could be done and future path of TUI PS & A could be decided in a right direction.
Following the introductory speech of the Secretary General, 38 (thirty eight) Delegates participated in the discussion representing their respective organizations and countries. On behalf of All India State Government Employees Federation, Com. Subhash Chander Lamba, President, Com. Chandrappa Raghavan Jose Prakash and Com. Chawla Sekhar Reddy Nalamaru addressed the house. Com. Vrigu Bhattacharjee, Financial Secretary addressed the houserepresenting the Confederation of Central Government Employees and workers’.
Com. Ram Niwas Parasar, Asstt. Secretary General, Confederation of Central Government Employees & workers and Com. Subhash Chandra Lamba, President, All India State Government Employees Federation were made the members of the presidium during the session that had continued on 17th November, 2019.
While endorsing the report, the Delegates who participated in the discussions narrated the challenges facing by the working class of their respective countries and the approaches being adopted by them to fight the challenges. Majority of the speakers expressed their opinion for forging unity among the workers across the world and building up strong resistance against fascism, capitalism, racism, gender discrimination and communalism etc. the incidents of Privalisation, outsourcing, work shrinkage, unemployment, jobless growth and curtailment of Trade Union rights worldwide were finding prominence in the deliberations of Delegates.
The delegates from India in specific have appraised the house that totality of working class of the country shall embark on a day’s strike on 8th January, 2020 opposing the anti-people and anti-worker policies of the present Government. They reported that the country is in recession and National Pension System, Privatization, outsourcing, denial of minimum wage, closure and retrenchments are the major confronting issues for the working class of the country and they are committed to fight the onslaughts. All the speakers have also offered their assurances of implementing the decision of XIII Congress of TUI PS&A. The participants in the deliberations have also stressed that the TUI PS &A needs to be and expended and strengthened further by composing Continent wise regional organizations and adopting the mechanism of democratic centralism.
Delegates from different organizations and countries have greeted the President and the Secretary General by presenting mementosrepresenting the tradition and culture of their countries and ethos of workers class movements.
The Indian delegation has also presented two separate mementos to the president and the Secretary General of TUI PS&A.
After the deliberations by the Delegates were over, Com. Gorge George Mavrikos, General Secretary, WFTU had offered his valuable speech enrichened totally with the guiding principles and road map for the unity and struggle. He had presented an in-depth analysis of the challenges before the working people of the world. He had appreciated that the presentations made by Delegates were truthful and confined with progressive thoughts. Appreciating the reporting’s and proposals of speakers from All India State Government Employees Federation and Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers of India, he greeted the Indian working class who are embarking on a day’s strike on 8th January, 2020 against the anti-working class and anti-people policies of Government of India. He also stated that; working class of India should not feel isolated in the struggleas WFTU and totality of its membership stand beside Indian working class. Referring to proposal for expansion of the formation of democratic forum of TUI PS&A by forming Continent wise regional platforms and infusing the practice of democratic centralism in decision making, he appreciatedthe proposal. He also informed that Com. Swadesh Deb Roy, who is the Deputy General Secretary of WFTU and TUIS and also the Internal General Co-ordinator from India, has already engaged himself for the task. Com. Mavrikos appraised the house that, more and more organizations and countries are aligning with the WFTUs and TUIS. World Congress of Textile workers and various other cross sectionsof working people are in the pipe line. Further, as per the target set in Durban, the strength of membership of WFTU has reached to 97 Million and it is expected that target of 100 Million would be able to be reached before the next Congress.
Summing up the discussion Com. Peirpaolo Leonardi, General Secretary had proposed a panel of 14 (fourteen) office bearers and committee members and 4 (four) Financial Committee members. The proposals were unanimously accepted by august House. Com. Artur Sequeira (Portugal) has been re-elected asthe President and Com. Zola Saphetha (Africa) has been elected as the new General Secretary of TUI PS&A for the next term. Com. Sree Kumar, Secretary General, All India State Government Employees Federation and Com. M. Krishnan, Secretary General, Confederation of Central Government Employees and workers from India have been re-elected as the Deputy Secretary General and one of the Committee members respectively from India.
After being declared as elected Com. Zola Saphetha, newly elected General Secretary addressed the house. In his brief but inspiring written speech Com. Saphetha re-affirmed that the slogans of “Workers of the world Unite-Workers have nothing to lose but their chain” is still relevant. He further stated that, all workers of the world shall be appealed to join the struggle against privatization. He also proposed that an urgent Secretariat shall be convened in South Africa by March, 2020 to decide about the further approach to be adopted to build up unity to carry forward the struggle to promote the causes of the working class throughout the world.
The XIII Congress was declared concluded with the decisions that-apart from implementing thedecisions of the XIII Congress, the occasion of 75th year of the WFTU shall also be celebrated with enthusiasm and seriousness throughout the world.
