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| Working for worldwide solidarity: UE's Director of Organization Bob Kingsley helps lead a march in Mumbai, India, as part of the New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) Congress which got underway this week. More than a thousand trade unionists and supports were on hand for the opening session (below). |
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The still-deepening global recession makes international labor solidarity more important than ever to the well being of working people, UE Director of Organization Bob Kingsley told delegates to the New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) Congress in India this week.
Speaking to a crowd of more than a thousand gathered for the opening session of the congress, the UE officer urged workers to "resist and reverse a worldwide corporate agenda that impoverishes the many to enrich the few."
Union leaders and activists from across India, some attired in turbans or colorful saris, attended the outdoor meeting in busy Mumbai. The 1.1 million members of the NTUI come from more than 100 unions spread across 20 Indian states.
'JOBS, PEACE AND A BETTER WORLD'
"Together, we can win jobs, peace, justice and a better world for ourselves and our children," Kingsley told delegates.
Noting that the U.S. government has bailed out banks and bosses but hasn’t done enough to help working people, Kingsley shared stories of UE's fight-back activities, including recent campaigns targeting Wells Fargo Bank and Bank of America. He also reported on plant closings and layoffs that have hurt UE members, and he gave an overall assessment of the damage done to working people by the worst recession since the Great Depression.
NTUI, which is holding only its second Congress to set policies and elect leaders, is a new Indian labor federation formed with the goal of creating a more dynamic union movement shaped around the principles of "Unity, Democracy and Militancy." Unlike most federations in India, NTUI is independent of political parties and has built its reputation around activism in pursuit of its members’ demands. UE initially established ties with NTUI based on solidarity work in the General Electric chain. Then last year an NTUI representative attended UE’s National Public Employee Conference and Convergence in West Virginia, to compare notes on public sector issues. Shared values of independence, militancy and democracy have helped the two organizations forge a relationship.
SOLIDARITY AND ACTION
Kingsley also brought greetings to the NTUI meeting from U.S. Labor Against War (USLAW) and from the Authentic Workers Front of Mexico (FAT), a close UE ally that was unable to send a representative of its own. UE helped NTUI draft a resolution of solidarity with the Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union (SME), which is under attack by the Mexican government as part of an effort to privatize the state light and power company.
The UE officer is also meeting this week with NTUI organizers to discuss efforts to organize temporary workers, a concern at the heart of UE’s new Warehouse Workers for Justice Campaign. In India, NTUI has been successfully organizing temporary workers who are cleaning the streets of Mumbai. On Monday, Kingsley visited drivers and laborers who are part of the street-cleaning operation, bringing them a message of solidarity as they staged a brief but victorious strike over issues of pay and conditions.