Messages from Trade Union Locals to UGTG Convention and Solidarity Rally/Press Conference

April 2, 2014

Attention :

Elie Domota
General Secretary
General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe (UGTG)
Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe

Dear Brother Domota,
Dear Sisters and Brothers of the UGTG gathered at your 14th National Convention,

On behalf of my union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 808 in Long Island City, New York, I send greetings to your convention and wish you full success in your deliberations as you put together your plan of action in defense of your members — and in defense of all the oppressed and exploited people of Guadeloupe — for the coming period.

I was very much hoping to be with you both at your April 3-5 UGTG convention and at the International Solidarity Rally on April 7, where I could have personally joined my voice to yours and so many others in demanding that the French colonial authorities put an immediate halt to the repression facing leaders of your federation. Unfortunately pressing union matters here at home have prevented me from joining you at your gatherings.

I was fortunate to be able to welcome Brother Jocelyn Lapitre of the UGTG to our union hall last October and again this past January. I listened carefully to the appeal that he relayed from Brother Domota and your federation. It became very apparent that the French government is seeking to make you pay, dearly, for daring to rise up as you did in a 44-day general strike in 2009 to demand justice and dignity.

We cannot allow such a travesty of justice and trampling of basic labor rights to stand. We cannot allow the powers-that-be to lash out at you — and at all of us — with the repressive powers of the State when we take collective action, as you did in the name of the UGTG and of the broadly based LKP coalition.

That is why I join you in demanding that the French government respect the Bino Agreements, which were signed at the conclusion of your successful strike (but which the French authorities have refused to implement), and, even more important, that the French government drop all the bogus charges against Brother Charly Lendo and the other UGTG unionists.

Please feel free to add my name to the Appeal that is being sent out to French Justice Minister Christine Taubira demanding that all these charges be dropped.

Stop the repression of the trade union movement in Guadeloupe !

Forward Ever, Backward Never !

In solidarity,

Chris Silvera
Secretary-Treasurer
IBT Local 808

Message from UE Local 150

North Carolina Public Service Workers Unions
UE Local 150
805 New Bern Ave.
Raleigh, North Carolina

Comrades and workers in Guadeloupe led by your militant trade union the UGTG,

We write this letter as the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union-UE Local 150 in the State of North Carolina inside the United States the leading imperialist encouraging and supporting many of the actions by colonial authorities and anti-working-class parties and movements that place profits over the human needs and rights of the masses of people.

We want to first express our hopes and confidence that your national convention has prepared the workers to meet the challenges to end the French colonial domination of the people of Guadeloupe, and to bring the Guadeloupe working-class to power to bring about the fundamental changes that meet the human needs and rights of the people. An important part of this struggle is demanding and building power to force the release of the trade union fighters that have been arrested for engaging in the human right to protest against injustice.
We in North Carolina, living in a so-called democracy controlled by the capitalist elites, are experiencing efforts by the state to criminalize the right to protest against injustices. From March 2013 to June 2013 there have been 940 activists arrested in the Moral Mondays Campaign to protest against the injustices of the North Carolina legislature. A labor delegation organized by the Southern Workers Assembly founded by our union participated in the May 13th Moral Monday action where several members of our union were arrested including the President, Vice President, Shop Steward, Organizer and International Representative.
The arrest of the fighters from both of our trade unions is a result of the fighting spirit and commitment we have to organizing and mobilizing the power of the working-class to be the driving force for the radical transformation of our respective and global society. It is this common struggle that offers hope for our peoples ; and a hope that the organized and powerful international working-class is spreading and giving concrete reality to for the billions of people throughout the world.
Please include our union on your petition to the French colonial authorities. We also call on you to communication to the Governor of North Carolina calling for the dropping all charges and convictions against the 940 Moral Monday Arrestees.

On behalf of the members of the NC Public Service Workers Union-UE Local 150, We express our Solidarity.
Angaza Laughinghouse
President

Larsene Taylor
Vice President