FT-CI

Brazil: Emergency Declaration

The new accident of TAM

25/07/2007

New act of negligence by the Lula government and TAM kills nearly 200
people, among workers and passengers

Negligence by Lula’s government, through Infraero (the public
enterprise that administers Brazilian airports) and by the Air Force, as well as unbridled capitalist exploitation by the airline companies, with TAM in the lead at this moment, was the cause of the confirmed deaths of at least 200 people after a TAM airliner skidded on the landing strip of Congonhas Airport in São Paulo and crashed into the freight terminal, shared by TAM and Gol, in front of the airport. The exact number of victims among those working in the
freight terminal (around 300 employees on different shifts, and the
crash occurred while shifts were changing) is still not known, but
there is no possibility of finding survivors among the 186 passengers
and crewmembers of the plane.

Once again, workers and travelers were the ones who paid, because of
the unbridled race for profits by the airline owners and their agents,
no matter how many lives may be lost. This, and even more, the lack of
safety in the conditions in airports as well as working conditions for
airline workers in Brazil, after the worsening of the air travel
crisis with the recent accident of a Gol airplane, has been reported
by airline workers, air traffic controllers, unions and even by
international organizations.

In order to prevent tragedies like this one, hundreds of Brazilian air
traffic controllers mobilized and refused to work, as a form of
protest and to alert society, since the workers and operators are
acquainted with the serious risks entailed by the dangerous conditions
faced by the aircrews. The airline workers who mobilized were punished
and some of them imprisoned, by Lula’s government and by troops of the
Brazilian Air Force (FAB).

In the specific case of the conditions of landing strips and runways
at Congonhas Airport, it was always agreed between the air traffic
controllers and the airline workers that Infraero and the businesses
made a risky agreement to "make superficial improvements" to the
runways without closing the airport, which shows the real intentions
of the government in investing in this sector — completely aligned
with the uninterrupted lucrative interests of the airline companies,
against the minimum conditions of work and against safe conditions
for travelers.

This clash of interests is made clear when we recall that this same
month, when Nenê Constantino, the President of Gol, was charged with
involvement in money-laundering schemes and being connected to
legislators who diverted public funds, Marta Suplicy, [Lula’s]
Minister of Tourism, with complete insolence, even proposed that
passengers should "relax and enjoy," faced with the complete absence
of support from their government and the airlines for travelers who
must now approach the right to fly as a question of risking death.

It is in view of this new tragedy that we feel it is necessary to
unite the workers and their associations and unions to create bonds of
solidarity immediately between the relatives of the victims among
travelers, crewmembers and freight terminal workers, to denounce the
government and TAM as the ones really responsible for the deaths, and
so that the authorities and leaders should pay for this; to forge an
open people’s committee that can bring together different unions and
social movements to investigate this and the rest of the accidents,
and to struggle in every way possible to demand all the necessary
compensations for the relatives, up to prison sentences for these
leaders of the capitalist airlines, for the deaths. This unity,
independent of the government and the bourgeoisie, should serve to
call on the population to discuss, from the causes to the solution of
the "chaos" in air travel; to show that the race for more profits will
only be solved by radical methods, and by organizing the airline
workers for better working conditions and to oppose repression against
those who struggle. Without attacking the cause, we will not solve the
problem of commercial aviation. Only the workers can find a
fundamental way out of the air travel crisis by preventing future
tragedies resulting from the bosses’ uncontrolled search for bigger
profits.

*Translation by Yosef M.

  • TAGS
Related articles

No hay comentarios a esta nota

Newspaper

  • PTS (Argentina)

  • Actualidad Nacional

    MTS (México)

  • EDITORIAL

    LTS (Venezuela)

  • DOSSIER : Leur démocratie et la nôtre

    CCR NPA (Francia)

  • ContraCorriente Nro42 Suplemento Especial

    Clase contra Clase (Estado Español)

  • Movimento Operário

    MRT (Brasil)

  • LOR-CI (Bolivia) Bolivia Liga Obrera Revolucionaria - Cuarta Internacional Palabra Obrera Abril-Mayo Año 2014 

Ante la entrega de nuestros sindicatos al gobierno

1° de Mayo

Reagrupar y defender la independencia política de los trabajadores Abril-Mayo de 2014 Por derecha y por izquierda

La proimperialista Ley Minera del MAS en la picota

    LOR-CI (Bolivia)

  • PTR (Chile) chile Partido de Trabajadores Revolucionarios Clase contra Clase 

En las recientes elecciones presidenciales, Bachelet alcanzó el 47% de los votos, y Matthei el 25%: deberán pasar a segunda vuelta. La participación electoral fue de solo el 50%. La votación de Bachelet, representa apenas el 22% del total de votantes. 

¿Pero se podrá avanzar en las reformas (cosméticas) anunciadas en su programa? Y en caso de poder hacerlo, ¿serán tales como se esperan en “la calle”? Editorial El Gobierno, el Parlamento y la calle

    PTR (Chile)

  • RIO (Alemania) RIO (Alemania) Revolutionäre Internationalistische Organisation Klasse gegen Klasse 

Nieder mit der EU des Kapitals!

Die Europäische Union präsentiert sich als Vereinigung Europas. Doch diese imperialistische Allianz hilft dem deutschen Kapital, andere Teile Europas und der Welt zu unterwerfen. MarxistInnen kämpfen für die Vereinigten Sozialistischen Staaten von Europa! 

Widerstand im Spanischen Staat 

Am 15. Mai 2011 begannen Jugendliche im Spanischen Staat, öffentliche Plätze zu besetzen. Drei Jahre später, am 22. März 2014, demonstrierten Hunderttausende in Madrid. Was hat sich in diesen drei Jahren verändert? Editorial Nieder mit der EU des Kapitals!

    RIO (Alemania)

  • Liga de la Revolución Socialista (LRS - Costa Rica) Costa Rica LRS En Clave Revolucionaria Noviembre Año 2013 N° 25 

Los cuatro años de gobierno de Laura Chinchilla han estado marcados por la retórica “nacionalista” en relación a Nicaragua: en la primera parte de su mandato prácticamente todo su “plan de gobierno” se centró en la “defensa” de la llamada Isla Calero, para posteriormente, en la etapa final de su administración, centrar su discurso en la “defensa” del conjunto de la provincia de Guanacaste que reclama el gobierno de Daniel Ortega como propia. Solo los abundantes escándalos de corrupción, relacionados con la Autopista San José-Caldera, los casos de ministros que no pagaban impuestos, así como el robo a mansalva durante los trabajos de construcción de la Trocha Fronteriza 1856 le pusieron límite a la retórica del equipo de gobierno, que claramente apostó a rivalizar con el vecino país del norte para encubrir sus negocios al amparo del Estado. martes, 19 de noviembre de 2013 Chovinismo y militarismo en Costa Rica bajo el paraguas del conflicto fronterizo con Nicaragua

    Liga de la Revolución Socialista (LRS - Costa Rica)

  • Grupo de la FT-CI (Uruguay) Uruguay Grupo de la FT-CI Estrategia Revolucionaria 

El año que termina estuvo signado por la mayor conflictividad laboral en más de 15 años. Si bien finalmente la mayoría de los grupos en la negociación salarial parecen llegar a un acuerdo (aún falta cerrar metalúrgicos y otros menos importantes), los mismos son un buen final para el gobierno, ya que, gracias a sus maniobras (y las de la burocracia sindical) pudieron encausar la discusión dentro de los marcos del tope salarial estipulado por el Poder Ejecutivo, utilizando la movilización controlada en los marcos salariales como factor de presión ante las patronales más duras que pujaban por el “0%” de aumento. Entre la lucha de clases, la represión, y las discusiones de los de arriba Construyamos una alternativa revolucionaria para los trabajadores y la juventud

    Grupo de la FT-CI (Uruguay)