Thread by @andreasbotsch

Letter from ФНПР, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of #Russia (FNPR) to Vladimir Putin. Affiliated to @ituc, FNPR have now 'suspended' their membership. Up until a week ago, @SharanBurrow has done everything she could to keep them in. 🧵⤵️ 1/

Bona fide democratic trade union organisations had to enforce the @ituc leadership to consent to an inquiry on whether or not the values of ФНПР are consistent with the ITUC statutes. Tricky: a 75% majority is needed to suspend an affiliate from the very ITUC membership. 2/

It is by far easier to mobilise pro-Putin forces against their own suspension than to make a clear cut decision that the #Kremlin mouthpiece and #warmonger is unwanted in a global organisation of 332 national workers' and trade union organisations that represent >200m workers. 3/

It should be clear to all who haven't lost their senses that ФНПР's proneness (to say the least) for an aggressive war against #Ukraine is inconsistent and incompatible with the @ituc basic values as laid out in the constitution: ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ituc_c… 4/

That is why a suspension and subsequent expulsion of #FNPR from @ituc membership, on the agenda of the General Council on 18-20 May, is inevitable. Make no mistake: if leadership continues to stick to a blocking minority of 25%+1, the organisation is dead. 5/

Both braindead and politically dead. Some of the most influential affiliates will be thinking of just voting by their feet.
More tricky: the 5th @ituc World #Congress in Melbourne is approaching fast this November. #FNPR accounts for almost 10% of paying membership. 6/

Back in 2018, @SharanBurrow was re-elected for a third term as General Secretary by a narrow majority. She owed her (pyrrhic) victory to the 10 million votes of ФНПР/FNPR. Pyrrhic, since the @ituc has been in decline over the last four years w/o any sensible project. 7/

Nothing much has happened since 2018. Some of the best staff have left in dispair, fed up by the autocratic style of their boss. The lack of internal democracy in @ituc governing bodies is notorious & abhorrent to the principles of a democratic labour organisation. 8/

In 2018, @SharanBurrow had a serious contender for her job: @SusannaCamusso, former General Secretary of @cgilnazionale 🇮🇹. It quickly became clear that a change of leadership would be detrimental to the ФНПР/FNPR interests. So they supported Burrow, who stayed in power, 9/

thanks to the lackeys of Vladimir #Putin.
In Nov 2022, @SharanBurrow will be history since she will not stand for a 4th term. What will be her legacy? Hard to tell at this moment where she might be held responsible for a deep divide of the international labour movement.
/10

For her succession, there is one self-declared candidate ready. He has proven as autocratic as the incumbent, mostly deficient of any humbleness for a most difficult @ituc mandate, i.e. to reconstruct genuine global unionism by uniting the working class. No name here!😜 /11

Workers, particularly in the global south, need a strong global trade union organisation that helps & protects them in their struggles and they can identify with. Union power is needed where formal employment & welfare state structures are absent. Informal labour = /12

exploited labour. An @ituc that is operating like any other random global NGO (yet without their professionality) is doomed to failure. Pure lobby work by the leadership won't do the job, QED. This organisation needs a new business, err, labour model. It needs /13

internal democracy and inclusion of all its @ituc affiliates. It needs an internal clean-up & separation from transmission belts à la FNPR. And it needs a new, credible, and genuine trade union leadership.

This #thread is to be continued as things are evolving. Stay tuned. /14

cc: @erictlee @labourstart @labournet_de @mcwalker64 @ituc_africa @itucasiapacific @RafaelFreireCSA @carolinvollmann @mirkofes @FESonline @Treadreaderapp unroll