11 Dec 2022
Statement from World Federation Of Trade Unions:
The arrest of Luca Visentini, Secretary General of the ITUC, as well as the arrest of important officials of the European Union and more specifically of the European Parliament, following investigations that seem to have been ongoing for some time, demonstrate another disgusting side of the political system and the European Union Bureaucracy; corruption and decay. This incident brings to light unholy deals and bribes, which in this particular case are linked with the cover-up of terrible crimes committed against thousands of workers, many of whom lost their very lives during their daily work, so that the propaganda fiesta of a corrupt regime be carried out; so that incredible profits of various business groups be ensured.
Although the interrogations continue and without wanting to prejudge them, the arrest of the former Secretary General of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and recently elected Secretary General of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), also brings to the surface the issue of corruption within the Trade Union Movement itself.
The incorporation of the “official” Trade Union Movement, i.e. the ETUC, and its substantial support of the neoliberal, anti-labor policies of the European Union, the absence of a substantial reaction on its part in a course of continuous undermining and attack on the labor and social rights of workers, clearly coexists with the corruption and use of Trade Union positions for purposes foreign to the class interests of the workers.
We recall for the record that the World Federation of Trade Unions and its affiliate, the Trade Union International of the UITBB, which represents construction workers, have timely denounced and carried out campaigns to condemn the crimes and exploitative indecency against workers in the preparation process of the World Cup.
The WFTU will closely monitor the development of this dark case; it also demands that the investigations reach as much depth as possible and that all the shady background that has taken place behind the massive labor and social crime that has been carried out to make possible the holding of the football world cup in the Emirate of Qatar be revealed.
