British unionists reaffirm solidarity with Venezuela

On September 13 Britain's Trade Union Congress (TUC) reaffirmed its solidarity with Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution at its annual conference, backing Venezuela's decision not to renew the public-broadcast license of the private TV station Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), which had "supported the military coup [in 2002] against the democratically elected government of Venezuela".

The motion, moved by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) with support from the Hands off Venezuela solidarity campaign, instructed the TUC (which represents more than 7 million workers) to "ensure information on the positive work of the Venezuelan government and the achievements it has made for the people of Venezuela is circulated widely".

Moving the motion, FBU president Mick Shaw pointed out: "The government of [Venezuelan President] Hugo Chavez is using the oil wealth to benefit the poor of his country. It is the duty of all working people to support the gains in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America."

In 2005, TUC became the first European union federation to pledge solidarity with Venezuela, stating it "congratulates and supports the Venezuelan government for its utilization of the country's wealth and resources for reforms to benefit working people, the poor and the landless".

[Reprinted from http://www.vheadline.com.]

From GLW issue 725