IEMF 51ST CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETING WAS HELD BY VIDEO CONFERENCE
The 51st Central Committee Meeting of the International Eurasian Metal Workers' Federation was convened by video conference on June 30, 2021 under the President Pevrul Kavlak. The meeting started with the evaluation speech of IEMF Secretary General and our Vice Precident Yusuf Ziya Odabaş to the participants about the content and agenda of the meeting.
Pevrul Kavlak, President of UAMIF and our union, made the opening speech of the Central Committee Meeting. Kavlak started his speech by reminding that the world has been going through a difficult process for about 1.5 years due to the coronavirus epidemic, and pointed out that the epidemic highlights the destruction caused by human beings in nature. Kavlak, “This case showed us that human ambitions, mistake habits, it cost us expensively. So, on the other hand, the global economy has growed fıve times in the last 50 years. The world has been richer, industry, technology developed, but that growth and Enrichment It has a huge cost to the environment and nature. Global population has doubled since 1970 average wealth has also doubled. However, today, 1.3 billion people in the world are in poor status. 700 million people are fighting famine one million life species are in danger of extinction. 90 percent of people live with dirty air. Toxic air, dirty water and earth, causes at least 9 million deaths a year. This is one-sixth of the total death.” said.
Humanity owes the working class
Kavlak stated that not only environmental problems, but also the problems of the working class and all employees increased visibly during the epidemic process, and said: “It is not politicians, employers or others who have come out of this process we are living through and deserve all praise and applause… Only the working class deserves this. If it were not for the sacrifice, effort and self-sacrifice of the working class, humanity would have experienced this pandemic conditions very heavily. If the working class did not produce at the cost of its own life, the wheels of the global economy would not turn. There would be no life if the working class did not work to death. For this reason, I think that humanity owes not only to the working class, to the workers, to the producers, but also to the global scale.”
We must work for the reconstruction of the social state
Stating that in the transformation process experienced all over the world, technological developments should not be seen as a profitable production tool, but as a phenomenon that will facilitate human life, President Kavlak said, “We must continue our struggle for a decent job and life. Because the new era carries great risks for all of us. I think it is necessary to fight for the creation of a more just world. Because today, even the most important actors of the global economy, big investors, say that this order is unsustainable. In a report published by the International Labor Organization (ILO), it unequivocally emphasizes the welfare state. It advocates the reconstruction of the social state, which was abandoned with neo-liberal policies. We must fight for it too. We must work for the reconstruction of the social state. Because they are all interconnected. As the welfare state re-emerges and humanity slowly returns to its essence, the world will become more livable for us.
Your support will give us strength
In his speech, Kavlak also mentioned the group collective bargaining agreement process that our union will initiate with the Turkish Employers’ Association of Metal Industries (MESS) shortly, and said: “We have already started preparations. We conduct two surveys of our members, giving a good example of industrial democracy. We make an effort to learn their views on the contract and to get their expectations. A difficult period awaits us. We will also need international solidarity in this process. Your support and solidarity will give us strength.” President Kavlak concluded his speech with the wish that the Central Committee Meeting of IEMF held would be the last meeting held by video conference method.
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After Kavlak's opening speech, the impact of the epidemic process on working life and unions and the activities carried out by the unions that are members of the federation in this process were evaluated. Again in this section, the socioeconomic status of Eurasian countries and the new education models planned by IEMF for the upcoming period were discussed.
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International Eurasian Metalworkers’ Federation (IEMF) The 51st Central Committee Meeting of the International Eurasian Metal Workers’ Federation (UAMIF) was attended by 29 central committee members from 18 countries, including our Financial Secretary Murat Salar.
