Under the leadership of Memur-Sen Confederation, the International Confederation of Labor was established in Istanbul with the participation of labor organizations from more than 20 countries. It has been reported that more than 25 million workers will be represented within the International Confederation of Labor, while 4 regional labor organization confederations operating in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas participated in the founding meeting, which included 5 observer countries.
With this program, the foundations of the International Confederation of Labor were laid. With the program in question, labor organizations in Europe and Asia came together with the slogan of "noble struggle from local to universal". Representatives from many countries took part in the program, which was also attended by the Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Bilgin. In his speech, Minister Bilgin said, “I congratulate you for your cooperation and work at a time when the world is in crisis. Organizations struggling in the name of labor have great duties. Under what conditions do workers struggle? We witness what they do. We saw the last example of this in Bartın. The workers are working under difficult conditions. Your cooperation is extremely important in the labor struggle.”
THE CAUSE OF THE CRISIS IS THE SYSTEM ITSELF
Ali Yalçın, Chairman of Memur-Sen Confederation, also addressed the participants at the founding program of the International Confederation of Labor. In his speech, Yalçın said, “Economic and political crises affect humanity deeply. Global problems need to be addressed. Humanity must establish a strong consultation mechanism. Trade union structures marginalized by the neo-liberal system have to take more initiative. The reason for the global crisis is the system itself. The current system excludes labor. We stand together against this exclusion. Labor is the subject of production, not cost. An economic order based on co-production and fair sharing should be established.”