The Fourth World Congress of the International Trade Unions Confederation was opened in Copenhagen. The Danish Prime Minister, Mayor of Copenhagen, Presidents of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Trade Union of International Confederations attended the opening ceremony of the world-scale Congress and delivered the speech to the participants. 1500 representatives from 164 countries are participating in the Congress.. Irakli Petriashvili is actively involved in the Congress as the President of the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation and as the President of the Pan-European Regional Council.
The congress is a special event, as it symbolises the 150th anniversary of founding the trade union movement, it is also held at the 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organization.
It shall be noted that the General Secretary and the President, deputy presidents, vice-presidents and deputy general secretaries of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) will be elected at this very Congress. Two candidates, -Sharan Burrow and Susan Camutso, – are competing for the post of the General Secretary. The tension is high, however, the trade union shall teach the world one more lesson of democracy, – this is the opinion of leaders of countries’ Trade Unions. The attention of the representatives of the trade unions of the entire world is drawn to this very Congress, as this is the place where the policy of the International Trade Unions will be determined regarding different countries, including Georgia, and the question is whether Georgia’s support will be maintained or the existing vision will be changed.
Irakli Petriashvili, the President of the Pan-European Regional Council of the Trade Unions delivered the speech on the very first working day of the Congress. In his speech, he talked about global problems and challenges. He, inter alia, emphasised the processes of uncontrolled migration, absence of decent employment in many countries, the facts of restriction of freedom of the Confederation, gender discrimination in labour, inequality in salaries and the ways of their elimination, including the necessity of implementation of the ILO’s labour standards.
Irakli Petriashvili raised the issue on adopting the resolution supporting Lula Da Silva, the former Brazilian President and against Viktor Orban, the Hungarian President, and the Congress supported it. ‘The paradox of the 21st century is that the criminal Viktor Orban is free, and Lula is in prison. Orban introduce the labour standards of medieval ages and violates the rights of our Hungarian brothers and sisters. I call on the Congress to create a text of the resolution in support of our Hungarian brothers and sisters holding wide-scale protest demonstrations against Orban’s improper actions’ – Petriashvili stated. In his own words, the issue of democracy of Trade Union Organisations remains a significant problem in a number of countries of the region, while authoritarianism, fundamental or quasi-democratic state governance are increasing. The PERC President believes that the main solution to the problematic situation is in joint struggle and solidarity. The following is the quotation from his speech: ‘Joint solidarity and support provided at due time is the important tool that may resolve a number of problems’.
