Brazilian union organizer shot dead

international | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Monday April 17, 2006 14:29 by mick b

On April 10 ,Anderson Luiz Souza Santos , Brazilian union activist and organizer for the fourth international was shot dead in São João do Meriti while on his way to a union meeting. The International Secretariat of the Fourth International and their Brazilian section O Trabalho have called for a full investigation into the murder which they term “an attack on the whole labour movement”.

The International Secretariat of the Fourth International and National Leadership of O Trabalho have issued the following statement on the assasination :

It is with great sadness and sense of revulsion that we have received
news of the murder of our comrade Anderson Luiz Souza Santos, militant
activist of the Fourth International, member of the O Trabalho current
of the Workers Party, and president of the Rio de Janeiro and Baixada
Fluminense branch of the processed meat workers' union.

At 8.30 am today [Monday, April 10] Anderson was shot and killed in
São João do Meriti, as he was walking from his house to the bus stop
on his way to a union meeting.

He was a determined unionist and political activist from an early age.
He chaired the Meriti School students' union, and led the youth
movement that mobilised and won the right for students to ride for
free on the city buses.

At that time, in 1998, whilst studying and also working at the
multinational Nestlé factory, Anderson threw himself into setting up a
factory committee. This was when Anderson came into contact with the
Fourth International and became a member.

He decided to join following a series of discussions with a group of
Black militant youth from Baixada Fluminense which took place at the
same time a meeting was held with Pierre Lambert, leader of the Fourth
International, who was passing through Rio.

A defender of trade unionism based on class independence and a
many-times delegate to the CUT's Annual Convention, Anderson never
failed to build and strengthen his union's links with its rank and
file. He led the struggle at Nestlé that finally put an end to the
flexible working hours (banco de horas), and most recently he was
focused on negotiating agreements to help the workers at the Sadia and
Rica companies.

Anderson was able to face up to every kind of pressure and every kind
of political or other attacks on the workers' class independence. He
was a militant activist who remained faithful to his class and to the
Fourth International right up to his final moments. This was
demonstrated by his role at the last meeting of the Fourth
International in which he took part, this past Saturday (April 8],
where he reaffirmed his agreement with the programme and decisions of
the General Council of the Fourth International.

The International Secretariat of the Fourth International and the
National Leadership of the O Trabalho Current pay tribute to comrade
Anderson, and share their condolences and their support with his
companion, Aline, and with his friends and family.

This crime is an attack on the whole of the labour movement.

The International Secretariat of the Fourth International and the
National Leadership of O Trabalho call on all workers, on every
organization that stands for the working class and democracy, to
demand that every fact surrounding this crime is uncovered.

The International Secretariat of the Fourth International and the
National Leadership of O Trabalho call on the President of the
Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on the Minister of Labour, Luiz
Marinho, on the National Secretary of Human Rights, Paulo Vanucchi,
as well as on the Governor of Rio de Janeiro, Rosinha Garotinho, and
her Secretary for Public Safety, et Roberto Precioso Junior, to demand
the most complete enquiry possible into this crime, and that those
responsible together with their silent accomplices, whoever they may
be, be brought to justice.

São Paulo, 10 April 2006

The International Secretariat of the Fourth International
The National Leadership of O Trabalho

Send messages of solidarity to: julioturra@cut.org.br