News

"Dear colleagues,



Let me first express my appreciation to our affiliates here in Montevideo, Uruguay for their support to UNI Americas.



Montevideo is our new home. They have made us welcome and helped us get established.



We thank them for their support for this important conference.



We thank them for having secured the invitation of the President of the Republic, Compañero Mujica. A remarkable man. He stands in contrast to the elites that once ran this continent. A man of deep conviction and humble means. A man for the people. A key figure of the new Americas. Among many new progressive and political actors.



I would like to recognize Ruben Cortina, our active, dynamic, indefatigable President. You could not have done more to build the new UNI Americas.



I recognize Adriana Rosenzvaig, Regional Secretary. I miss her at UNI head office. She has put all her passion and determination into building the new UNI Americas. Not a minute to lose. No obstacle too large. Adriana gets things done.



I am proud of Ruben and Adriana and all the new team for all the great work they are accomplishing.



We recognize all of those who have contributed to our work since our creation in 2000.



Cien mujeres de las Américas han llegado hasta aquí para seguir rompiendo barreras por la igualdad, para combatir la violencia de género, para organizar más y más mujeres. Hoy, un nuevo Comité de Mujeres de UNI Américas, está batiendo tambores, están listas para seguir en la lucha.



Nuestro compromiso como UNI, es lograr una representación del 40 % de mujeres en todas las estructuras de la UNI para el beneficio del movimiento sindical y de la sociedad en su conjunto y ASÍ LO HAREMOS!



I also want to thank affiliates from North, Central and South America and the Caribbean for your engagement, involvement and commitment to UNI Americas.



This is a region of vast contrasts: from the world’s number one economic power, the USA, to the rising power of the economies of Latin America to the smaller nations of Central America and the Caribbean. Yet all united in a UNI Americas community.



A region where Colombia remains the most dangerous place to be a trade unionist in the world.



A region where the number one economy has turned its back on working people.



A region where, in the South, we see progressive policies in action. I am mystified as to why the right wing in the USA want their country to be the way that Latin America once was.



That is why we must be united in this region for progressive policies and social justice to succeed in every country.



We never take the support of unions in UNI Americas for granted.



We know that when we come together, draw up plans together, act together, campaign together, we can win.



I am proud of this fighting spirit in the UNI Americas.



You have inspired the entire UNI Global Union family with your campaigns.



You are leading by example. UNI Global Union is in full support with you.



You have made our Breaking Through strategy a reality in the region. It has transformed the work of the sectors, the inter-professional groups, the Executive and indeed this Conference.



We must never forget the journey that the people have travelled for independence, democracy and a more just society.



In our living memory, much of this continent was a different and darker place.

Dictatorship, murder, disappearances, families torn apart, loved ones lost, political repression, but this never destroyed the hope that one day the voice of the people would triumph.



The dream of freedom could not be extinguished by the boot or the gun. The trade union movement has been that permanent flame of hope, the alternative for victory for people.



We remember the lost decade. The neo-liberal experiment which bankrupted economies, impoverished the people and blighted a generation.



A lost decade, yes, but inequality was sewn by the colonial power of the Conquistadores. The root of inequality was planted in those colonial times.



You were hammered on the anvil of IMF politics. The discredited Washington consensus lived here and must be buried here.



Today, let us celebrate a new UNI Americas – a new Americas.



Recent events in Paraguay are a tired, sad reminder of how things were. We condemn the coup in Paraguay. We had thought that chapter closed. It reminds us of our need to be vigilant and militant in defence of your democracies.



We do not want our progressive democracies to be threatened by authoritarian rule or by over mighty multinational companies.



I am angered and disgusted at Prosegur in Paraguay who organized a coup of their own and sacked over 300 workers.



I am angered that a vulture fund in the USA can sequester an Argentine vessel in Ghana. This is an act of violence and piracy.



Today the Americas is a place where the world looks for answers to the most profound social and economic issues.



From our youth, we have the symbol of Che but today, the story is of trying to make progressive policies work. To give them oxygen. How?



Through political leadership that rejects neo-liberalism, that will not be dictated to by the market.



We will not be blown off course by a financial market that tries to dictate to us.



Leaders have taken a stand. The world has noticed and wants to learn from your experience.



We need a new reference point in the global struggle for social justice. You are that point of reference. It is as valid to the USA as it is to the new democracies of the Arab Spring. Why is your success so important? Because there is so much in this global economy that is deeply troubling.



Today we have over 220 million people unemployed. Of the 3.2 billion people in the world’s labour market, half of them have no contract. Half of them survive on a few dollars a day.



Collective bargaining coverage is in retreat. Precarious work continues to grow. The share of wages in the wealth produced continues to shrink. Inequality is rising relentlessly.



The top 1% are grasping the majority of the wealth created. The Walton family, the owners of Walmart, have as much wealth as 40% of the entire US population.



We see the rise of the global business conglomerate. The rise of a global supply chain that is taking us on a race to the bottom.



In the space of weeks, over 500 lives were lost in two garment factories in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Burned alive. Trapped in factories. Just like the New York Triangle fire of 1911.



In Europe, we are fighting for our social Europe.



Working people being crushed by austerity. They are paying the price for a reckless finance sector.



In Europe, we have 12% unemployment. In Spain, Greece, Portugal, over 25%. Youth unemployment in some countries is over 50%.



In Europe, we have the Troika, a triple headed devil that is eliminating collective bargaining, taking away collective rights, insisting on individual contracts, demonizing unions. A global dictatorship of misery.



The unions of Europe are fighting back: General strikes. The cry of “basta” heard in the streets. Fighting for a change of course.



The working people did not cause this crisis but they are paying the price. It is the shop assistants, the postmen and women, the call centre workers, the bank counter staff, the media technicians, the graphical workers, the security guards and the students who are in the frontline of attacks.



It is our members, ordinary working people, who are paying the price.



Americas, we look to you for new answers.



We say, once and for all, that we reject a market-driven agenda which only serves the 1%.



Your progressive governments here are using policy tools which target the poor and needy.



We know Carlos Slim, the worlds’ wealthiest man, and there are many like him. The richest 20% of the population here earn on an average 20 times more than the poorest 20%.



We know inequality is still a major issue throughout the Americas yet here in Latin America we are beginning to witness a turn in the tide against poverty.



Investments in infrastructure, health, education a social safety net, social transfers are working. Commitments to growing the minimum wage. Enabling unions to negotiate and to take action.



We must show that another world is possible and that is what you are doing here.



The job is not complete. The economic engine is beginning to move for working people but the job is not done.



That is why our Breaking Through dreams must become a reality.



We are fighting for a new economic order. Fighting for new values, new ethics to drive an economy for the common good.



We do have the answers.



We must put the case for the alternative. To put our case we must be strong. The Breaking Through approach is to build strong unions. To recruit new members. We have the most ambitious regional and global organising plans that the world has seen. We have good examples everywhere.



We aim to build. This is just the start.



With Occupy Wall Street we see an awakening.



When the workers of Walmart take to the streets in USA, we can see an awakening.



When the students take to the streets of Chile, we can see an awakening.



When we organise the workers of Carrefour in Colombia, we see an awakening.



When we say in the Caribbean we will organise Digicel, we see an awakening.



Let us continue to bang the drum for union organising – to show more successes at our UNI Global Union Cape Town Congress in 2014.



We will continue our push for global agreements.



We will continue to build Global Union Alliances.



We will take our message and our work to the roots of our movement.



We will take the initiative to business leaders in our objective for a new more prosperous Americas in which we have participation, and in which the principles of a socially responsible business are mainstreamed throughout all business activities:



The right to organise, the right to negotiate, a work place free of discrimination of gender equality.



Global agreements as the new benchmark for fair play at work.



We must continue to convince the business community that that when they take away the pillars of social justice from their business, then societies are poorer as a result.



You buried the Washington consensus here. Let us bury the Walmart business model as well. In the USA, it has exacted a heavy price.



Companies have been spending millions to crush organising efforts. “A USA labour market not for export.”



Today, in the USA there is only 6% coverage of the private sector by collective agreements. The result: record inequality and shrinking economic demand. Insecurity. Anger. This model does not work. Obama, the unions helped you to victory. Deliver justice for workers!



I appeal to you all to push for global agreements, as we push for the extension of collective bargaining



The extension of collective bargaining is vital in the fight for more just societies to vanquish inequality.



Our push for global agreements should be seen as our effort to promote new corporate values, for a new era of social responsibility.



Our Breaking Through programme is committed to obtaining decent work, a voice for working people, a seat at the table.



We must have a voice in the process of regional integration. A voice for the human rights’ component in trade agreements. A voice for sustainable economies.



The jobs of the future will be in services. We must organise the new world of work.



We must be innovative in how we run our own business. That is why I salute the work of our Women’s Committee. The 40% rule is becoming a global reality. We are the first. It is changing us. Changing the way we do our union work.



We must be innovative in our approach and communications. We must apply ourselves. Breaking Through must work. We are fully engaged in the social media revolution and we will build these new platforms.



In conclusion, we have the ideas. We have the energy. We have the people. We have the commitments.



You have won a new Americas.



UNI Americas and UNI Global Union – Together.



Breaking Through – Together."