Aug 08 - Joint Trade Union Statement Urges “Good Neighbourly Relations”
A statement subscribed to by Unite the Union, CCOO (Comisiones Obreras) and UGT (Union General de Trabajadores):
Internationally little is known about Gibraltar and its reality. This border zone is characterized by family ties, common interests and a peculiar cohabitation that depends on a fragile equilibrium upon which everyday life unfolds with cyclical ups and downs. Any diplomatic scuffle and/or show of strength by one or all of the parts involved, has immediate and negative consequences for the people who live on either side of the border.
Around 10,000 Spanish and 2,000 other E.U. frontier workers cross the border each day in order to go to work. To this number we must add those who cross for leisure or to visit their relatives. There is also a significant number of Gibraltarians who reside in Spain or frequently go there for the same purposes with complete normality, as is to be expected of neighbouring towns and people who share a common history: that of a prosperous region which benefited from Gibraltar's strength and that of a slammed fence that mutilated a regional economy and sowed the seed of ignorance, mistrust and resentment.
Agreed solutions for shared problems is the historical demand which has presided Union movements on either side of the border over the years. People's interests should be above state policies or other interests which are not always made clear. Gibraltarians and 'Campo-gibraltarians' are the ones who pay the cost of these interests. The defense of good neighbourly relations is what has defined cross-border relations for various generations of trade unionist on either side of the border.
In recent times we have witnessed escalating tension between governments, leading to immediate negative consequences for the citizens of the area. There has also been the announcement of further measures which will incur more negative repercussions upon the employment, quality of life and social relations in this southern european area, all of which falls under EU jurisdiction.
As a result, the trade union movements on both sides of the border, represented by the UNITE,CCOO and UGT unions, have agreed to subscribe to and present the following manifesto to our societies and political representatives:
- We call upon our governments to make use of political dialogue and reason; thus banishing provocations and confrontation from the relationship between states which call themselves friends, partners and allies.
- We reaffirm the desire for cooperation of the working class and that of its representative organizations: we wish to be allowed to live as neighbours and achieve the socio-economic development of an area in which cooperation plays a key role in the development of its potential growth and the creation of wealth and employment.
- We maintain our rejection of confrontational policies, wherever they come from, for they are failed and historically redundant measures.
- We call for an agreement which combines the sustainability of the marine biodiversity in the waters surrounding the Rock with the traditional fishing in the area. This is a good time to remember one of the major industrial struggles of our times, the fishing dispute of the late 80's, which could not have been maintained without the help of Gibraltarian Trade Unions, which provisioned the ships involved in a dispute in Algeciras from Gibraltar so that they could maintain their struggle for better working conditions. This was crucial aid provided by neighbours who never asked for anything in return, and for which the Spanish trade unions of the area are eternally grateful.
- We affirm that the Gibraltarian and Campo-gibraltarian societies cannot afford to pay for policies dictated without the interests of the people in mind but in the name of State Policies which we do not share, accept and are not willing to suffer for again.
- We call upon citizens on both sides of the border not to fall for traps and provocations and maintain relations fitting of two mature and democratic societies of the XXI century. The working class of any country is beyond patriotic proclamations, what it needs is honest governments that manage general interests with talent and care and who always work towards agreements that are beneficial for the prosperity of their people. Any other resolution, particularly in times of great difficulty for society, will have electoral consequences for its instigators.
