17.04.2002

Resolution of the National Workers' Assembly

This National Workers' Assembly considers that: 1. The Duhalde government is an enemy of the working class and the people, responsible for the devaluation that destroyed our wages, for the confiscation of small savings, for the 'pesification' that reduced at our expense the debts of the native exploiters, and for the commitment to pay the foreign debt. It is a government that conceals with lies about 'national sovereignty' its policy of plunder at the service of the great monopolies, while simultaneously carrying out the dictates of the IMF. We put forward for the consideration of all workers our plan of struggle, whose ultimate aim is to provide a way out of the crisis for the people. That means the expulsion of Duhalde and the class of plunderers that put him in government. 2. The 'agreement' sponsored by the catholic church and the United Nations is a political manoeuvre directed at coopting, manipulating and dividing the workers' organisations in order to preserve the regime. Consequently we repudiate the 'agreement' and denounce the support for this policy by the unions and political forces (PJ, UCR, Frepaso, ARI, Polo Social, Frenapo). 3. The 'crisis councils' or 'consultative councils', through which the government tries to channel its social plans, are organisations aimed at turning social aid into a source of capitalist business and manipulating or debilitating the genuine organisations of unemployed people. We denounce the use of employment plans in order put cheap manual labour at the service of the bankrupt companies for 50 dollars. We call for a boycott of these 'committees' of 'emergency' or 'crisis' and for mobilisation for the totality of our demands and their control by the unemployed organisations. 4. The popular assemblies (including the Inter-Neighbourhood Assembly of Parque Centenario in Buenos Aires) and the picketers and workers' assemblies are organising a huge number of struggles. They must take into their hands the solution of the most urgent problems of the masses: work, health, education, housing. We must build and strengthen the popular assemblies all over the country in order to provide a workers' alternative to the current situation. The strategy of the picketers and the combative unions grouped in this National Assembly is to incorporate into the present picketers' struggle the industrial labour movement and the great privatised public services. It is impossible to defeat the present government and the prevailing regime without the support of the workers at the main centres of production and the essential services like electricity, gas, telecommunications and transport. 5. The CCC and FTV-CTA must break off all negotiations with the government behind the back of the picketers' movement and join the struggle to guarantee its triumph. The policy of harbouring illusions in governments at the service of native and foreign exploiters has failed. In opposition to that policy we put forward the picketers' programme, which not only demands work schemes under the control of the unemployed organisations, but also the rejection of devaluation, the non-payment of the foreign debt, the nationalisation of the banking system, and that the minimum wage and unemployment benefit should cover the minimal expenses of an average family. We call for a discussion over such a programme to begin right now with these organisations, in the framework of the struggle and the plan of struggle. 6. In the light of the situation we raise the following programme: * Freedom for Raul Castells, Emilio Alà, Peralta and the rest of the imprisoned comrades. * The dropping of all charges against militants. * The trial and punishment of those who directed and carried out the murders committed on December 19 and 20. * The trial and punishment of the murderers of the comrades in the provinces of Salta (Justiniano, Gà³mez, Verà³n, Barrios and Santillán) and Corrientes. * Non-payment of the external debt. * Nationalisation of the banking system and of the main enterprises. * Statisation of pension funds. * The prohibition of dismissals and suspensions. * Statisation and operation under workers' control of all companies that close down or fire employees, and, under the same conditions, the reopening of all those that have closed. * Immediate devolution of small savings. * For genuine and permanent work, through the distribution of available working hours, without affecting the minimum wage. * Wages and unemployment benefits must cover the minimal expenses of an average family and be adjusted in line with inflation. * Out with Duhalde and the IMF. For a workers' government. 7. This assembly represents a continuation of all the movements of struggle and organisation that turned the picketers' movement into a decisive factor in the national political situation. A continuation of the Santiaguenazo and the Cutralcazo, of the uprisings of Mosconi and Tartagal and of the massive road blocks in La Matanza. These struggles open up the possibility of resolving in favour of the workers the crisis of power affecting the system of exploitation in our country. 8. We must act, because the tenacious action of the people has still not culminated in a victory, but in the usurpation of an illegitimate government, which is a puppet of the plunderers. For that reason we propose the following plan of struggle: * From February 18: rebuilding of road blocks, to be kept in place indefinitely. * February 20: road blocks, national mobilisation and cacerolazo [demonstration with pots and pans], together with the popular assemblies and the Inter-Neighbourhood Assembly, in Plaza de Mayo and all the seats of government in the provinces, two months after the popular rebellion and the murder of the comrades. * February 25: the blocking of access to the oil companies and the privatised enterprises. * March 2: national mobilisation for the freedom of Alà, Castells, Peralta and all the incarcerated workers, for the freedom of Bértola and Quinteros and other political prisoners, and for the removal of all charges against the comrades. Trial and punishment of those responsible for December 19 and 20. * Monday March 4 to Friday March 8: national demonstration of workers, coordinated with the popular assemblies, assembling in Plaza de Mayo from the interior of the country. Coordination with the boycott of the launching of the new educational year. * Active support for the occupations of Zanà³n, Bruckman, for the blocking of roads, for the mobilisation of the unemployed in the city of Buenos Aires, for the struggle of the railway workers of the Sarmiento line, for the workers of Quebecor and similar struggles. A new Assembly of Employed and Unemployed Workers is called for April 2. February 17 2002