GFTU BGCM Minutes 2017

BRO CHARLIE SARELL (SUE): Did you say every union is entitled to a seat?

THE GENERAL SECRETARY: Yes, but these were those that had been nominated

in the first round of nominations, which was extended, by the way.

BRO CHARLIE SARELL (SUE): Okay, thank you.

THE GENERAL SECRETARY: Every union is entitled to a seat, but does need to

make a nomination. So we are sorted on the Executive.

INTERNATIONAL WORK

The next item on the agenda is the GFTU’s international work, the Executive

Committee to report.

SIS SARAH WOOLLEY (Executive Committee): I am just going to touch on one

aspect of international work that we have done at the GFTU. Last year at the

end of January, myself, Bindu Paul, Dami Benbow and Deanne Ferguson

visited Greece. We went to gain a true picture of what is going on in a country

that had been slurred by our mainstream media as one that was spending

beyond its means and subsequently was paying the price of greed and a

country that had been let down disgracefully by the very constitution that was

supposed to support and strengthen it. We visited at a time when the country

of Greece was broken, banks were shut down, stopping the country in its

tracks. Civil servants were being told that they had to stay at home because

there was no money to pay them and retirees were looking towards a life of

absolute poverty as their pensions were being stripped back to barely anything.

That being said, what we found when we arrived was a country that, regardless

of being on its knees, crippled with debt and being blackmailed from the EU

and the IMF was a country that was welcoming with open arms refugees

fleeing the terror in Syria with people on the left opening up their homes to

them, despite having very little themselves, and Greece on the whole was

sharing what little they had with those who had even less.

As you can see from the report that is in the book, and it is a very

comprehensive report, so please read it, we visited a number of charities

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