CC.OO., together with the French CGT and the Italian CGIL, signed this Monday the "Declaration of Barcelona", a text that proposes to oppose class consciousness, anti-fascism, and internationalist trade unionism to new authoritarians and the advance of the far-right. The signing took place within the framework of the 35th CC.OO. Summer School, which is being held until Tuesday in Barcelona under the slogan "Class trade unionism in the face of the new world (dis)order".
In a press conference, the scope of the agreement was detailed by the general secretary of CC.OO., Unai Sordo; the general secretary of CC.OO. in Catalonia, Belén López; the general secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini, and the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet.
The document is structured around four main strategic axes: it defends class internationalism and rejects xenophobia to prevent the fragmentation of the working class; it dismantles the "anti-system discourse" of the far-right; it sets the protection of human rights as an inviolable line; and it claims organization and collective bargaining as essential instruments.
López stressed that, in the face of a paradigm shift in international relations that directly impacts the working class, class trade unionism must "practice its internationalist vocation more forcefully".
In this regard, she emphasized that the Declaration focuses on the need to preserve internationalist spaces and democracy "as one of the bulwarks for the working class to advance in rights".
For his part, Sordo highlighted that the European trade union and political situation must gain weight in the current context: "Either we deepen a process of political integration in the European Union that facilitates gaining spaces of strategic autonomy in our territory, or Europe may become geopolitically irrelevant in the world".
He also pointed out that the European trade unions that accompanied CC.OO. on this day are two "reference organizations in the history of European trade unionism, in the fight for democracy, and in the fight against fascism".
CGIL and CGT warn of the advance of inequality
Landini pointed out that this coordination space is key at a time when capitalism is widening social gaps: "There is a very worrying process of privatization of social rights".
For this reason, he has defended the need for a shared strategy for the world of work that places issues such as a living wage and wealth distribution at the center, and has insisted that this battle "is not from country to country, but worldwide and in Europe."
Binet has warned that the rise of the far-right not only curtails labor rights, but also pits workers against each other, and has stated that in Spain, "very important at the European level" labor reforms are being promoted.
He has also denounced that the working class is bearing the cost of the war through the increased price of gasoline and food products.