Hyderabad: Ms Sharan Burrow has been re-elected as the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) while Dr G. Sanjeeva Reddy has been elected as its vice-president.
Dr Reddy is a Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha MP. Dr Reddy joined the trade union movement as a young worker in 1948. Mr Reddy was elected Vice-President of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in March 1988 at Melbourne and he has since been re-elected continuously by the World Congress, the last one held at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 2010.
The ITUC 4th Corld Congress was held in Copenhagen from December 2-7with the theme “Building Workers’ Power: Change the Rules”. The event which happens once in four years, was attended by 1200 trade unionists from more than 130 countries.
ITUC called for every country to commit to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to renounce weapons and to reduce military spending, to unleash investment in the services, infrastructure and
jobs that the world needs desperately.
Speaking on the occasion, Sharan Burrow said, “Our world is fractured and people feel insecure. Conflict, dictatorship, fascism — the extremes battled against in the last century are again the battles of today. It will take workers’ power and inter-generational solidarity to win the fight for peace, democracy rights and social justice.”
A new global trade union petition supporting the NPT was launched by Ms Tomoko Yoshino, vice-president of JTUC-RENGO Japan to say “no” to nuclear weapons and reduce military spending, to fund vital social and economic investments.
