ELA holds its congress between today and tomorrow in which it will re-elect Mitxel Lakuntza as Secretary General

The ELA union faces its XV congress between now and tomorrow at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, in which Mitxel Lakuntza will be re-elected to the post of Secretary General of being the only candidacy that has been presented. During the congress, which will take place only tomorrow due to the pandemic, they will debate and vote on the management report, the presentation that will set the course for the next four years and the Executive Committee.

ELA, the majority union in the Basque Country, will hold the Congress under the motto “Things that are really important; Activate, Achieve, Take care of” (“What really matters; Activate, Achieve, Care”), with the aim of “activating the working class and the whole of society.”

A total of 736 delegates will participate in the congress. 350 come from the counties or territories that make up the union and another 350 from the sectoral federations (Industry and Construction, Services and Gizalan). The remaining 36 people are members of the National Commission. In addition, 384 of the delegates are men and 352 women, 47.2%.

During the congress, the delegates They will debate and vote on the management report and the presentation presented by the Executive Committee, which will mark the union’s performance for the next four years. Likewise, they will vote for the proposed executive commission, headed by the current secretary general, Mitxel Lakuntza, at the head of ELA since 2019, when he replaced the historic Adolfo “Txiki” Muñoz.

The ALS National Committee has proposed three new people, all three women, to be part of the Executive committee: Leire Gallego Lopez de Goikoetxea, Alazne Mantxola Mintegi and Ane Miren Zelaia Arieta-Araunabeña. If supported by Congress, the executive It will be a joint body, made up of 6 women and 6 men and will once again have Amaia Muñoa as deputy general secretary, who will also be in charge of the international area.

ELA advocates a different collective bargaining in its presentation

she will plant “a different collective bargaining to face job insecurity”. He affirms that “the very tough positions adopted by employers and governments oblige us to place strikes and mobilizations at the center of our action.”

The union will also advocate “for an independent Basque state; for a republican culture”, after estimating that the Basque and Navarrese governments “are mere administrative managers of the decisions made in Madrid”.

Regarding the alliances, ELA considers that only the so-called “Basque union majority” – which forms together with LAB and other minority centrals – “meets the necessary conditions to form a strategic union alliance.”