ELA-Gizalan will be invested in the consolidation of public employment and in dignifying care work

Jun 15, 2022
The 219 delegates of ELA’s Gizalan Federation have re-elected Igor Eizagirre as the General Secretary of the Federation at the congress held today in Burlada (Nafarroa), with the backing of 94% of the votes issued. Mitxel Lakuntza has demanded a change in taxation and real consolidation processes defending public services. The ELA-Gizalan (Public Services) Congress held at the Casa de Cultura in Burlada (Navarra) under the slogan ‘Guztiona, lehen lerrora’ (‘Above all, common to everyone’) has passed four resolutions amongst which the ones demanding the right to live and work in the Basque Country, guaranteeing some universal, free, high-quality public services (with particular emphasis on the care sectors), as well as the organisational need to systematically face up to the many labour conflicts.

This Federation has 33,676 members, of which 66.9% are women.

In total, 219 delegates seconded the Federation’s line, which is going to concentrate on the work of dignifying the conditions in the care sectors, along with the consolidation of public employment and closing the way to privatisations. Additionally, they have re-elected (with a 94% vote in favour) Igor Eizagirre as the General Secretary, who will be accompanied on the Permanent Commission by another eleven people with the following responsibilities:

⦁    Igor Eizagirre Alza: General Secretary
⦁    Iratxe Mier Villarias: Organisation. Bilboko koordinazioa
⦁    Esther Saavedra Sanmiguel: Osakidetza
⦁    Miren Zubizarreta Juaristi: Education.
⦁    Ane Bilbao Alzelai: Hezkuntza / Education (Planifikazioa)
⦁    Eba Arrieta Insausti: Independent, Estatua eta Justizia
⦁    Urdax Bañuelos Ruiz de Erentxun: Gasteiz
⦁    Aintzane Orbegozo Zigaran: Gipuzkoa (Udal-Foru eta Soziosanitarioan)
⦁    Txomin Lasa Ormaetxea: Donostia eta Soziosanitarioa
⦁    Julio Fombellida Fernández: Bizkaia (Udal-Foru eta Soziosanitarioan)
⦁    Izai Bujanda Cambra: Nafarroa
⦁    Uxue Mingo Arruabarrena: Gender Equality. Transport and Communication

Defence of public services

In his speech, Eizagirre underscored that “the Gizalan Federation is immersed in the defence of the Public Services: we are promoting demonstrations in all the sectors, such as health, education, care, etc. Today, more than ever before, we have laid down the fight against job insecurity and defending public employment as our priority goal, the only way to guarantee the quality of these services.”

At the same time, Eizagirre has once again defended his commitment to “some universal, quality public services; with this goal, we present a popular legislative initiative and meanwhile, we will continue fighting, centre by centre, to improve living and working conditions.”

Taxation and consolidation

The ELA-Gizalan Congress included a speech by Mitxel Lakuntza, the General Secretary of ELA, who also defended some quality public services.

The General Secretary accused both the Government of Navarra and the Basque Government of turning their backs to the consolidation processes, as thousands of workers were left out of these processes. “In Navarra, for example, 8 out of every 10 temporary workers in the public sector will continue in the same situation.” He also assured that the shortage of professionals in Healthcare is a direct consequence of the lack of planning by the Governments of Iruña and Gasteiz, a situation that ELA has been warning about for years. He also criticised the situation in Education, indicating that the agreement between the trade unions and the Basque Government is not only vague, but it hardly brings about any improvements: “The agreement will mean having another teacher for each 39 classrooms. This is the reality of the agreement announced with such media and political hype.” And the fact is that 13,000 teachers will not be able to stabilise their work situation.

Likewise, the General Secretary affirmed that if the public services are to be defended, taxation must be changed. “Those in charge of the Treasury have not taken a single step to limit the shameful profits from companies. And even knowing that the political parties are not all the same, what we are seeing is that nobody is talking about taxation in the agreements; in practice, there is a consensus to not raise taxes. There is a lack of left-wing policies in these agreements.” For this reason, Lakuntza is demanding a 25% of minimum tax on company profits. “If our proposal were to be accepted, the ACBC would receive 2,300 million and 1,200 million in Navarra. Which could be used to guarantee the public services.”

In view of this situation, Lakuntza underscored the importance of demonstrations and strikes to reach good agreements. “Without trade union and social struggle, it will be difficult to reach good agreements.” Even less so in the female-dominated sectors. “We must promote strikes and feminist struggles with all our strength.” All of this to improve working conditions, on the road to equality and to defend the purchasing power and the salaries of the workers.