La Red Europea de sindicatos alternativos y de Base

Hace 20 años, diferentes organizaciones de la izquierda sindical europea empezaron a mantener contactos y encuentros europeos para intercambiar experiencias y abordar conjuntamente los problemas de la clase trabajadora.

Fruto de estos contactos, en el año 2003 se constituyó formalmente la Red Europea de sindicatos alternativos y de Base. Desde entonces, hemos visto como las condiciones laborales y de vida de las clases populares han empeorado sin cesar. Este retroceso ha ido acompañado de una actitud claudicante, cuando no de complicidad, por parte del sindicalismo institucional.

A partir de la crisis financiera, que se transformó rápidamente en una crisis global, las políticas de la Unión Europea siguiendo las directrices de los poderes financieros internacionales han intensificado de forma brutal los recortes de derechos sociales, laborales y democráticos de la mayor parte de l@s ciudadan@s de Europa.

El sindicalismo de la CES no ha querido o ha sido incapaz de afrontar esta situación con la movilización del conjunto de la clase trabajadora en todo el ámbito de la UE. Solamente el sindicalismo alternativo y de base, y algunos sectores del sindicalismo institucional, hemos intentado combatir las políticas criminales, decididas por los gestores del sistema capitalista.

Nuestro sindicalismo no reconoce ningún interés general común entre clases y grupos sociales antagonistas, entre sectores oprimidos y sectores opresores en la organización de la sociedad desigual que combatimos. Tampoco reconoce la imparcialidad o la neutralidad de ninguna institución de esta sociedad, que sea susceptible de encarnar el interés general.

El sindicalismo alternativo y de base defiende la organización permanente de la clase asalariada por la lucha, para asegurar el desarrollo acumulativo de prácticas contra- hegemónicas y el avance de la autoorganización de l@s asalariad@s.

Durante los últimos años, la red ha crecido con la incorporación de organizaciones y, entre nuestros objetivos a corto y medio plazo figura la ampliación a otras organizaciones y sectores de la clase trabajadora, para poder hacer más efectivas las convocatorias de movilizaciones coordinadas en el ámbito europeo.

MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN NETWORK OF ALTERNATIVE SYNDACALISM - Rome, Jan 26 to 27 February

CONCLUSIONS OF THE MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN NETWORK OF ALTERNATIVE SYNDACALISM
ROME Jan 26 to 27 February 02 2013

The meeting of the European Network of Alternative Syndicalism was held in Rome on 26 and 27 January 2013 and was organized by USI, Unicobas and CUB.
It was attended by delegates from 10 organizations,  USI,  Unicobas, CUB, CGT Espana, Solidaridad Obrera, IAC, Intersindacal, CNT France, Solidaires, SUD, TIE,  from Italy, Spain (from Catalonia too), Switzerland, Germany, present as an observer of Slai Cobas per il sindacato di classe, Coordinamento Precari della Scuola and a USB assignee.
The meeting opened with a discussion on the first item of the agenda. Each organization has exposed the working conditions and status of union rights in their own country, the IAC discussed the situation in the autonomous region of Catalonia. A situation substantially homogeneous emerged:  an alarming increase in youth and women unemployment, with record highs of unemployment in Spain. Everywhere there is the progressive separation pay, with impoverishment for employees and also increases dizzying payroll for executives and managers . There is also a very high level of corruption and cronyism. In every single country, social welfare and pension system have been subjected to harmful reforms, who moved forward the retirement age, increased contributions and reduced the amount of retirement allowance. Everywhere, the measures to guarantee the safeguards for the employees have been erased; in extreme situations, dismissal can be prepared by the employer unilaterally, with the motivation that the trust relationship with the worker has failed. The strike right is affected by restrictive measures and regulations, and in Germany, the self-organization is actually impractical, because the trade union right is the privilege of the official trade union organization.  Mobilization and struggle initiatives that were anyway made in recent years remained uncoordinated and therefore not very effective.

Second point of the agenda:
All presents agreed about the importance of the forthcoming enlargement of the Network, including section meetings with other organizations that are not yet part of the network. A first opportunity will be the international meeting that will be hold in Paris on 23 and 24 March, sponsored by Solidaires and CGT Spain. It was established to engage the spread of the DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES through a multilingual poster / manifesto.

Third point of the agenda:
It was decided to activate a multilingual blog, at Resistencia Rezisti.org (mailing list “RESISTENZA”), where each organization  can post documents, photographs and publicity material. Each year, an organization will turn to the presentation of the network, starting from CGT Fr. The management of the blog is entrusted to USI.

Forth point of the agenda:
For the date of May 1^st  it was decided to create a poster with a few precise words and spread it within mobilization initiatives.


Fifth point of the agenda:

All unions which are part of the network shall indicate the areas in which they are present, even filling in the form prepared at the time.  
It was decided to organize an international conference of school and education. USI has made a commitment to explore the possibility of holding this meeting in Rome, in the month of June or  in autumn.