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MAY DAY 2000 – A TIME FOR SOLIDARITY AND STRUGGLE
The National Union of Government and Federated Workers sends May Day greetings to the working class and oppressed peoples of the world.
At the dawn of a new century, the NUGFW declares that we must strive to see an end to the misery that means billions throughout the world go without the most basic necessities. Even the World Bank acknowledges that in their economic system, half the world’s population survives on less that US$2 a day.
We celebrate May Day against a background of workers throughout the world actively struggling for their rights.
In South America there have been massive strikes in Ecuador and Bolivia. Africa has seen major struggles developing in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Workers in Korea are planning a major strike to defend jobs. In France, Germany and Eastern Europe workers have taken strike action over pay, conditions, jobs and the threat of privatisation.
Here in the Caribbean there are strikes in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the year has seen protests in Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Dominica and, of course, Trinidad and Tobago with the steel workers and currently the nurses taking action.
International Workers Day is our opportunity to highlight the growing gap between rich and poor countries. But more importantly, it is our opportunity to say that it is time for action to end this state of affairs.
As we mark May Day 2000 in Trinidad and Tobago, the National Union of Government and Federated Workers calls for the basic rights of workers to be dramatically improved:
- Increase
the National Minimum Wage to $10 per hour
- Give
proper health and safety rights at work – pass the Occupational Safety and
Health Bill
- All
workers should have the right to strike – amend the Industrial Relations
Act
- Workers
should have the right to have their unions recognised – get rid of the
delays caused by the Recognition Board
But on International Workers Day we must acknowledge the international nature of the struggle we are facing.
International capitalism is running riot. At the start of the 19th century the ratio of real incomes between the worlds richest and poorest nations was three to one. By the year 2000 it had risen to 60 to one.
The only way to overcome the system of inequality and poverty is through a decisive struggle to abolish capitalism and landlordism on a world scale. This May Day, the National Union of Government and Federated Workers once again commits itself to the task of representing the interests of the working class in Trinidad and Tobago.
The experience of all workers is that without their collective strength it is not possible to win any lasting victories. Everything we have won has been through our own sacrifice and struggle. And we are seeing victories!
In France, the trade union movement has secured a national 35 hour working week in the face of opposition from the employers. The World Trade Organisation suffered a major setback at Seattle when thousands of trade unionists forced an acknowledgment that globalisation is leaving millions in poverty and that the minimum labour standards of the International Labour Organisation must be the bedrock of world trade.
Little wonder that in many countries trade union membership is on the increase as workers solidarity wins concessions from the capitalist class.
It is for this reason, too, that the NUGFW calls for unity in the trade union movement. Only the enemies of the working class can benefit from divisions in the labour movement. Those who split us are, in effect, acting as agents for the employing class.
On May Day 2000, the National Union of Government and Federated Workers is firm in its call …
WORKERS UNITY IS WORKERS STRENGTH!
WORKERS OF THE CARIBBEAN UNITE!
WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!
1st May 2000