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WFTU solidarity statement with Independent Mine Workers’ Union in Turkey

Aug 28

1 min read

28 Aug 2026

by WFTU HQ

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing more than 105 million workers in 133 countries worldwide, expresses its internationalist solidarity with the Independent Mine Workers’ Union (Bağımsız Maden-İş) and its cadres who have been detained for their trade union action.

We condemn the arrest of Gökay Çakır, the General President of Bağımsız Maden-İş, and Başaran Aksu, the union’s Organizing Specialist, who are remanded in custody as part of an investigation on the charge of “inciting the public to hatred and hostility.”

The WFTU stands firmly on the side of its affiliated union and denounces the prosecution of its cadres, which violates even the most fundamental trade union and democratic rights.

The WFTU demands the release of the two-trade unionist the uninterrupted implementation of the democratic freedoms including the freedom of association and protest and the full respect of the right to organize and all trade union rights.

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Workers and Retirees vs. Milei: The Fight for a Shared Future

Class War and Market Predation

Contra la privatización: La clase obrera argentina en lucha

We must be clear: the assault on Argentine retirees is a direct attack on the entire working class. While the capitalist media distracts us with the president’s erratic social media outbursts, we recognize these as a smokescreen for the systemic dismantling of our social security. We refuse to be passive observers as the wealth we generated through decades of labor is handed over to private financiers and local oligarchs under the guise of austerity.

This is not a crisis of leadership—it is a brutal class war.

Our demand is non-negotiable: we must establish a new public, non-state, pay-as-you-go, and solidarity-based pension system. This structure must be managed and administered directly by those it serves: active and retired workers. We refuse any attempt at privatization or the further erosion of our dignity by a government that views the elderly as liabilities rather than the builders of our nation’s heritage. The struggle of the retirees is the struggle of every union member today.

International Solidarity Against Capital

The core issue is not the president’s personality, but the predatory capitalist agenda he enforces. As rival factions of the right-wing elite squabble over the spoils of the state, the working class continues to suffer. Whether it is the internal corruption of 'Freedom Advances' or the boardroom battles between industrial giants like Paolo Rocca and the Clarín Group, the outcome for us is always the same: austerity, layoffs, and the theft of our futures. We stand with those defending public education, healthcare, and science against a 'lion' who is nothing more than a puppet for global capital. No worker is left behind in this fight.

Argentina, May 18, 2026
NATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF RETIREES' AND PENSIONERS' ORGANIZATIONS OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC