In Quito, Ecuador, under the banner of “Change, Honesty, and Work”, a group of workers, on April 24, formed a new trade union center. “We, the workers of Ecuador, present a new trade union organization, heir to our country’s class-conscious and revolutionary trade unionism, which we have called: Ecuadorian Solidarity Workers Confederation (CTSE),” announced the workers in a launch statement.
“Our thinking and political position is aligned with our proletarian heart, as pillars of the constitution of the CTSE,” they explained, adding the CTSE is a “new type of union,” which “represents a historical and renewed trade union perspective.”
“Our principles are attached to the struggle of the working class in Ecuador and the world, committed to pushing the historical project of emancipation of the people, and as a guide for actions based on the unity of the working class of the countryside and the city,” they further explained.
In only the past three months of organizing, the CTSE has successfully united hundreds of workers from different sectors.
On April 28, in a press conference, the presidency of the union center called on its bases to partake in the May Day march and protest in the streets of Quito, demanding the removal of the current neoliberal government led by Guillermo Lasso.
“We demand the dismissal of Guillermo Lasso, because his government condemns the population to live in misery, misgovernment, structural violence, insecurity and the narco-state,” said the CTSE in the statement, calling on the workers to join its “Great National Mobilization for May 1” in the capital.
In this regard, the CTSE emphasized that it is independent from the Unitary Front of Workers (FUT), a central organizing body for the main trade unions in Ecuador, alleging that it has pledged to the interests of the bourgeoisie.
“We do not adhere [to the call made by] the Unitary Front of Workers (FUT), although we respect its honest bases, nevertheless, a good part of its leadership has taken advantage of its position to negotiate with the interests of the working class,” the CTSE added.
On May 1, hundreds of members of the CTSE gathered in the Santo Domingo square and marched to the House of Ecuadorian Culture, marking the union’s first massive action. The union center stressed that its members took to the streets “to demand Lasso’s expulsion; to protest the imposition of policies that exploit the workers, criminalize the popular organizations, and denigrate the life of the people; and to demand with all the strength of the working class that our rights be guaranteed.”
During the May Day march, Juan Rodríguez, president of the CTSE, told Peoples Dispatch that the CTSE is “a new type of confederation, which is focused on the defense and rights of workers.”
The president of the CTSE underlined that “we want to forge a new union organization that is dedicated to the defense of the workers, so that there will be a true social system in our country, not a neoliberal one that attacks the workers and only looks out for the elites of this country.”
With respect to some of the urgent demands of the country’s working class and the union’s objectives, Rodríguez said that “we demand that the government withdraw the decision that allows the carrying and use of weapons by civilians. The workers and the people do not endorse this decision, it is against the security of the country.”
The union leader added that the CTSE is “an anti-patriarchal confederation,” and will promote and support struggles for expansion of women’s rights in Ecuador. “We want women to occupy the space they deserve in our society,” he said.
Rodríguez reiterated that the CTSE is “a proletarian and revolutionary confederation and we seek the renewal of union leaders, democratically.” “There must be leadership cadres that manage the organizations with new ideas and proposals to raise the union level and impact the struggle against the system,” he stressed.
