Carlos Amorín for Rel-UITA.
On November 5th, the 1st Trade Union Workshop was held in Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay) and Europe (Spain-Italy), whose focus was “Environment and climate change in the production chains/value chains of agribusiness and tourism.”
The objective of the meeting ─ held virtually ─ was to integrate the Latin American and European trade union movement for an organized and qualified trade union action at the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 30).
Convened and coordinated by the Latin American Regional Office of the IUF and the Observatory of Health and Work in the Agroindustry (OBAGRO) of Brazil, the event was mediated by Occupational Physician Roberto Ruiz, director of the Department of Health and Safety at Work at the IUF.
The participating organizations¹ expressed their strong concern about climate change, how it affects employment, the health of workers and also the planet.
Gerardo Iglesias, IUF Regional Secretary for Latin America, said that “with Dr. Roberto, we have been working for several years on the idea of creating a space, an area to denounce precarious working conditions, and I am happy to kick-start this initiative.”
I would like to acknowledge that we have learned a lot from the 1º de Mayo Foundation and from ISTAS of the CCOO, with whom we have worked together for a long time and have cooperation agreements, which were later joined by FLAI from Italy in the food sector, as well as the contacts made through the NGG struggle in Germany in the meat sector.
The voice of the voiceless
The massacre that is taking place all over the world against the health of our workers must be denounced. Doctor Christophe Dejours states that suffering and work go hand in hand, and adds that today this suffering is suffered in silence, alone, because it is not reported for fear of losing one’s job.
Therefore, it is up to the trade unions and the international workers’ movement to be the voice of those who suffer, as well as to denounce, create spaces for discussion, train cadres on these issues and give delegates tools to defend safe work. We live in a time when the only thing that matters is the well-being of transnational corporations and the financial system.
The health of workers, the damage caused to the environment and the safety of the food produced do not matter, even if more defenders of the environment and human rights are murdered in Latin America than in any other part of the world.
The IUF in Latin America faces many challenges, but the ideas and the will to work are intact, and it is great news that we are launching this Observatory today,” he emphasized.
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¹The National Confederations of Food Workers of Brazil (CNTA and CONTAC/CUT), the National Confederation of Rural Workers and Family Farmers (CONTAG), the National Confederation of Tourism and Hotel Workers (CONTRATUH), the national agroindustry federations of Argentina, and the national agroindustry federations of Uruguay, in Europe the Federations of Workers of Industry and Services – Comissiones Obreras (CCOO – Spain) and the Federazione Lavorati AgroIndustria – FLAI/CGIL (Italy)
Supported by the Public Ministry of Labor (MPT) of Brazil, the Occupational Health Laboratory (LASAT) – Department of Public Health – Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) – Brazil, the Complutense Institute of Sociology for the Study of Contemporary Social Transformations (TRANSOC), the Professional School of Labor Relations of the UCM and the 1st Foundation of May – (CCOO – Spain), as well as the METES Foundation (CGIL – Italy).
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