World Federation of Trade Unions chief urges workers to unite against policies of MNCs, governments

George Mavrikos, World Federation of Trade Unions president, urges united worker fight against pro-corporate government policies.

Veteran Greek trade union leader and the working president of World Federation of Trade Unions George Mavrikos called for a united fight by workers against the policies of governments that favour big corporations.

Mr. Mavrikos, speaking at a seminar here on Monday (December 2, 2024) on world trade union movement, said no matter who makes governments, policies are not in favour of people and they do not work to improve the lives of people. “For example, in United Kingdom or in France, they might have some differences in the parties who form government, but they follow the same policies. They are anti-labour and anti-people,” he said.

Mr. Mavrikos also spoke about his book titled ‘Critical Notes on the History of the World Trade Union Movement’. He said on one hand, there is accumulation of wealth and profits and on the other hand, extreme poverty and exploitation of work are increasing. He said multinationals are getting stronger every day and there are alliances of giant forces at the expense of the working class and poor farmers. “Unfortunately, the progress in technology has not benefited workers and the people. The working class will have to fight to get the results of the progress made in the modern days.”

He said the capitalist system has hit its limits and has failed to provide solutions to the problems of workers. “The imperialist powers such as USA, EU and the NATO have lost their ground. China and other forces are growing. The capitalist countries fear that they will lose their position in the system and they are creating many problems in many countries,” he said citing the examples of Arab Spring, and the US ‘making their puppets’ rulers in many West Asian countries. “They are trying to divide Russia. They tried to establish Israel as the policeman in the region,” he said. Mr. Mavrikos said workers should uphold internationalism and fight imperialist forces. “We need to support Palestinian people. We need to support peace,” he said.

He said big countries create immigration crisis and use it to spread racism and xenophobia among people. “Eight million immigrants from Syria had to go to countries all over the world. Who is responsible for this situation? The policies of the USA, NATO and European Union are the reason for this,” he said. The fascist phenomenon seen in many countries around the world is a result of this set of policies, he said, and added that imperialist forces are trying to revise history by undermining the collective struggles of working people. “We have to strengthen unions to organise counter attacks,” he said.