Worker rights violations under spotlight at the ILO

16.06.2016 The ILO Committee on Application of Standards at the 2016 International Labour Conference in Geneva heard testimonies from workers around the world facing increased repression and difficulties in exercising their rights enshrined in ILO Conventions.

ILO’s Committee on Application of Standards (the Standards Committee or CAS) dealt in June with a number of complaints on violations of workers’ rights, with special focus on countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia and Mexico.

Bangladeshi union representatives told the Committee that while there was progress in improving safety in the major garment industry, freedom of association remained a problem.

In the immediate aftermath of the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013, many new unions in the Bangladeshi ready-made garment sector were registered. In the last two years, union registration has become increasingly difficult with about 70 per cent of new registrations being rejected, in particularly those filed by independent unions.

IndustriALL regional secretary Apoorva Kaiwar told the Standards Committee that aggressive union busting by management has led to a reduced number of active unions, leaving workers with little or no protection against employers. In addition, trade unions are completely banned in Bangladesh’s export processing zones.

As a result of the increasing anti-union climate in the country and the feeble efforts taken by the government to ensure workers’ rights under ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association and the right to organize, the ILO Standards Committee put the country on its “black-list”, also known as “special paragraph”.

Worker representatives from Indonesia testified about violent attacks on workers by police and armed thugs.

Prihanani Boenadi, from IndustriALL affiliate FSPMI, called on the government to stop violations against workers and that state security is not used to suppress the right to freedom of association, as happened in November 2015 when 25 demonstrators were arrested in Jakarta for protesting against being shut out of the wage-setting process.

The Standards Committee “expressed deep concern regarding the numerous allegations” and urged the Indonesian government to ensure that workers are able to engage freely and that those responsible for the violence are charged.

Ath Thorn from Cambodian IndustriALL affiliate CCAWDU told of violence against trade union leaders, illegal terminations of union leaders, political interference, short term contracts and discrimination against pregnant workers.

The Committee decided to send and ILO Direct Contacts mission to Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Swaziland, Kazakhstan and Mauritania, to assess progress related to conclusions from the CAS.

Mexican mining union Los Mineros’ president and IndustriALL Executive Committee member Napoleón Gómez addressed the Standards Committee on the widespread use of protection contracts made between yellow unions and companies without workers’ consent, and the intimidation and threats to trade unions. Gómez called for an immediate finalization of a labour law reform, based on proposals made in April 2016.

The Mexican government had brought a delegation of 70 representatives from government, business and trade unions to the ILC. However, only one single trade union representative in the delegation was from a democratic union.

The Standards Committee urged the government to fulfill legal obligations and ensure that “trade unions are able to exercise their right to freedom of association in practice”.

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Demonstrations in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil in defence of democracy

Demonstration in support for President Dilma Rousseff’s government and former president Lula da Silva

IndustriALL’s affiliates in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil participated in a day of action held simultaneously in the three countries in support of the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, democracy and the rule of law.

31 March was a day of action and struggle. In Uruguay, demonstrators, including members of IndustriALL Global Union affiliates, the PIT-CNT and other social movements, protested in front of the Brazilian embassy. In Argentina, demonstrators gathered in front of the Obelisk and marched to the Brazilian embassy. In both countries, protestors personally delivered letters of support for Dilma Rousseff and former president, Luiz Inácio da Silva.

The biggest protests were in Brazil. Demonstrations were held simultaneously in all of the country’s 27 states to express support for President Dilma Rousseff’s government and former president Lula da Silva.

Demonstrators protested at “the coup”, alluding to threat to impeach the president. They emphasized their commitment to democracy and the rule of law and opposition to those who are planning to impeach the president without any legal basis.

The day on which action was organized was not chosen by chance. The 31 March was the 52nd anniversary of the military coup that established a 21-year dictatorship in Brazil. Many sectors of society in these countries went out on to the streets to demonstrate their opposition to the political procedure that aims to overturn a legitimately elected government. They declared their will to fight against the coup and defend democracy, rights and a better Brazil.

Marino Vani, IndustriALL Global Union’s assistant regional secretary, represented the organization at the demonstration in Uruguay and said:

The solidarity of workers in various parts of the world, especially in Uruguay and Argentina, strengthens the Latin America working class and hinders those promoting a “soft”, media-led, judicial, political and employer-led coup similar to the ones that took place in Honduras and Paraguay. Industriall supports the struggle for democracy. The Struggle Continues!”

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 IndustriALL Condemns Arrests of Thai Union Leaders

Around 500 locked-out union members at Japanese auto-supplier Sanko Gosei rallied outside the Ministry of Labour on 6 January 2016.  Source: IndustriALL

The unionists were prepared to stay all night outside the Ministry of Labour until they were broken up by police.  Source:  IndustriALL

Jan 07, 2016:  IndustriALL Global Union strongly condemns the Thai military government after it invoked new powers under the Public Assembly Act 2015 to end a peaceful protest by union members in Bangkok yesterday (6 January).

It followed a rally of 500 locked-out workers at Japanese-owned auto-part supplier Sanko Gosei outside the Ministry of Labour on 6 January.

At 19.00 three police units and military forces were used to break up the demonstrators who were planning to spend the night there. Shortly afterwards two union leaders, Chalee Loysoong, Vice President of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC) and Amorndech Srimuang, President of the Sanko Gosei Workers Union, which is affiliated to IndustriALL through TEAM, were questioned by authorities.  

During this time their phones and ID cards were temporarily confiscated and they were escorted at all times, even to the bathroom.  

The union leaders had taken part in mediation negotiations with Sanko Gosei and the Ministry of Labour during the day, as the rally was taking place outside.

“We are gravely concerned that the government is using the Public Assembly Act to curb the legitimate rights of workers to gather peacefully,” said Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL. “This goes against all norms and international standards.”

The Public Assembly Act carries a penalty of up to ten years in prison for causing a disturbance or disruption of public services.

“The crackdown is particularly disappointing considering our positive meeting in December at which the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Labour said the government shared IndustriALL’s will to protect the rights of workers,” added Raina.

In October 2015, IndustriALL filed an official complaint to the International Labour Organization against the government of Thailand for serious violation of trade union rights.

More than 600 Sanko Gosei workers, who are all union members, have been locked out after negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement and bonuses broke down. The company claims that it is unprofitable. In the meantime, casual workers have been brought in to replace the locked out workers.

The Sanko Gosei Workers Union accuses the company of using the dispute to bust the union and replace permanent workers with subcontractors.

The Minister of Labour, General Sirichai Distakul, has reportedly promised to attend the next mediation meeting between the union and the company.

For more information, please contact: Leonie Guguen, Communications Officer, IndustriALL Global Union – lguguen@industriall-union.org or tel: +4179 137 5436.

The global framework agreement with Swedish retailer H&M is already proving useful.

Agreement with H&M Proves Instrumental in Resolving Conflicts

Jan. 07, 2016:   A global framework agreement (GFA) signed between IndustriALL Global Union and Swedish clothing company H&M has been an accelerator in reinstating sacked workers at garment factories in both Myanmar and Pakistan just a couple of months after it came into force.

The GFA, which was signed in November 2015, serves to protect the labour rights of 1.6 million workers in H&M’s global supply chain.

In Myanmar, the GFA was key to getting trade unionists back to work, as well as achieving trade union recognition at the Jiale Fashion factory in Yangon.

Eight union leaders were sacked at the garment factory in October 2015, leading to a month-long strike. The Confederation of Trade Unions in Myanmar (CTUM) reported the dispute to IndustriALL’s South East Asia regional office, which invoked the GFA with the H&M Sustainability offices in Yangon and Sweden, especially as the case raised issues on freedom of association.

H&M Sustainability then pushed for dialogue through both their local office in Yangon and Jiale Fashion’s owners in Hong Kong.  H&M Sustainability, IndustriALL and CTUM were involved throughout the process until an agreement was reached between workers and the factory.

As well as reinstating the dismissed workers, the factory agreed to recognize the factory trade union, the Jiale Basic Labour Organization, which is affiliated to CTUM and IndustriALL through the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM).

Khaing Zar, assistant general secretary of IWFM said:

“Building trust between workers and management is the key to industrial peace. The formation of the Workers’ Coordinating Committee at the factory will improve workplace cooperation and, of course, the biggest achievement is the recognition of the trade union at Jiale Fashion.”

IndustriALL textile director Christina Hajagos-Clausen said:

“The GFA is founded upon a shared belief that well-structured industrial relations are essential to a stable and sustainable production model. This type of collaboration is crucial for lasting improvements for the garment workers in H&M’s supply chain.”

In November 2015, 88 workers at the Denim Clothing Company (DCC) factory in Pakistan were sacked for demanding their rights. The dispute began when five worker representatives were sacked on the spot for asking to discuss issues such as a lack of social security, insurance, and salaries below the minimum wage that often were paid late. When 83 of their colleagues stood up for them, they also lost their jobs.

As part of the newly signed GFA with H&M, both parties worked to bring the 88 workers back to work through joint negotiations with IndustriALL Pakistani affiliate NTUF and the local management at Denim Clothing. All workers were reinstated with full pay from 26 November, the date they had been fired.

Nasir Mansoor, deputy general secretary NTUF, says that thanks to the GFA and the efforts from IndustriALL’s regional office the issues were speedily resolved:

“With a proactive brand the GFA is an efficient tool for dispute resolution and a great instrument to protect workers’ rights.”

Abdul Jabbar, one of the affected workers, concludes:

“This shows us the power of workers coming together and the strength of international solidarity to resolve crises. It not only gave us great courage, but did the same for other workers in the factory, as well as workers in other factories in the area.”

Women Affiliates Trained in Myanmar

Jan. 6, 2016:  Some 68 women leaders and members of IndustriALL Global Union’s affiliates in the textile, garment and mining industries in Myanmar have been trained in team-building and leadership skills.

Women trade uninists in Myanmar get training in team building and leadership skills.   Source: IndustriALL

The Confederation of Trade Unions in Myanmar (CTUM) in partnership with IndustriALL, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) organized the training in Yangon and Sagaing from 15 -16 and 18 – 19 December 2015 respectively.

The workshops aimed to increase awareness and strengthen women’s participation in leadership and decision-making positions, as well as deepen participants’ understanding of leadership concepts and principles. Participants also learnt basic skills in communication as well as how to facilitate meetings and group discussions.

In a session on sharing and group discussions, most participants said it was the first time that they has been able to share their situations as women and as workers. They raised issues such as occupation health risks in the workplace, working hours and low wages. They also said that despite their paid jobs they still had do all the house chores and take care of the children and elderly which usually hinder them from actively participating in trade union activities and taking leadership positions.

Sexual harassment, invisibility and multiple-burden were some of the concerns that were discussed which participants were not aware of.  The women expressed their desire to learn more about these problems.

IndustriALL presented the advocacy for women particularly on gender quotas and maternity protection. The ILO explained core labour standards and instruments related to workers.

Participants formulated their action plans to increase women’s participation in trade unions and leadership positions through formation of functional women committees and through solidarity with other women workers to improve and respond to women’s issues and concerns.

Drive by shooting aims at FESTU General Secretary    Source: IndustriALL

IndustriALL Solidarity for Somali Union Leader After Assassination Attempt

January 7, 2016:  An important leader in Somalia’s independent trade union movement, Omar Faruk, closely escaped gunshots from three hit men outside the FESTU union office in Mogadishu on 29 December.

IndustriALL Global Union joins the ITUC in denouncing the attempted murder and in calling for action from the Somali government to stop the intimidation and take all appropriate measures to prevent further attacks on trade unionists in the country.

Omar Faruk Osman is General Secretary of the ITUC-affiliated Federation of Somali Trade Unions (FESTU). FESTU is the first independent and democratic trade union centre in the country.

The FESTU General Secretary was entering the union’s office when three armed men sprayed his car with bullets on Taleex Street. It is only by good fortune that Omar Faruk escaped death, but one of his bodyguards and two pedestrians were seriously wounded.

It is well known that Omar Faruk has been threatened many times by some radical groups and other members of the Somalian government because of his commitment to build a strong and independent union in his country. This assassination attempt can also be linked to Omar Faruk’ s recent position denouncing a controversial media law passed by the Somalia parliament which is described as a threat to media freedom in the country.

In a public statement, FESTU president Ahmed Osman said:

“FESTU is here to stay and no amount of attacks and attempts on the lives of our leaders will stop us from fulfilling our historic mission, which is to liberate workers from exploitation, oppression and subjugation.”

IndustriALL has reported in the past of intimidation, threats and bombs against FESTU and its efforts to organize workers.

Application Open for Global Labour University

January 5, 2016  The Global Labour University (GLU) is inviting applications for its courses as 2016 begins.

Trade unionists and social activists are encouraged to apply to for its Masters’ Programmes in Germany, India and the USA. Students have the opportunity to benefit from the expertise of the international GLU network of universities, international and national trade unions, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The Masters’ programmes focus on policies for social justice including global governance, international labour standards, development, economics, trade, and multinational companies.

The programmes include discussions, internships and field research with trade unions and other progressive movements to provide unique insights into the international world of labour. A limited number of scholarships will be awarded. For more information and application forms visit http://www.global-labour-university.org

The GLU is also running an online course, starting on 3 March 2016. The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy is jointly taught by academics, ILO and trade union experts.

The course runs over eight weeks and is free or costs 49 Euros for a recognized certificate awarded by the GLU and Penn State University.

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Strike a Volvo Brazil Ends With Worker Victory
Indonesian Workers Strike Against Philips Union Busting
Blame for Rana Plaza Runs Far and Wide
Global Network Formed to Fight anti-Union Behaviour at Huhtamäki
Strike Ends in Victory for Israeli Chemical Workers
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Strike at Volvo Brazil Ends With Worker Victory 

Credits: Official web page of Confederación Nacional de los Trabajadores Metalúrgicos (CNTM)

Credits: Official web page of Confederación Nacional de los Trabajadores Metalúrgicos (CNTM)

04 Jun 2015  Workers at Volvo Brazil have ended the longest strike in the company’s history. An agreement on pay and on job security was finally reached on 1 June, ending a 24-day strike that was called in response to company threats to dismiss workers.  

Members of the Curitiba Metalworkers’ Union (SMC), affiliated to the National Confederation of Metalworkers (CNTM), in turn affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, voted to strike on 8 May in response to Volvo Brazil management’s threat to make workers redundant. The strike ended on 1 June after an agreement was reached.

Volvo’s Curitiba plant employs around 3,500 workers. On 7 May, the company reached an agreement with the Ministry of Labour establishing a 15 day period for negotiations with the union to seek an alternative to the dismissals. However, on the same day, the company began to inform workers that it would be dismissing 600 workers.

The union therefore called a strike. Sergio Butka, union president, said from the start that he was open to negotiations to discuss options for Volvo to guarantee job security.

Negotiations Reach an Agreement Benefiting Workers

On 12 May, Volvo organised a secret ballot on a proposal to make a 50 per cent reduction in payments due this year under the company’s profit-sharing scheme. It also proposed flexibilisation of rights in the pay agreement. However, 77 per cent of employees rejected the proposal, with 23 per cent in favour.

With no further response from the company, the workers decided to continue the strike until the company was ready to negotiate. Finally, on 1 June, Volvo agreed to sit down with the union at the negotiating table and presented another proposal on profit-sharing. It proposed an increase of R$ 5,000-8,000 for the first instalment and a ceiling of R$30,000, depending on production levels. Finally, it negotiated the possibility of a voluntary redundancy plan, in which employees accepting redundancy would receive their pay plus other rights.

“Fernando Lopes, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union said, This victory shows that the workers must get behind their unions. We can win if we remain united”.

Industriall Global Union welcomes the negotiations and agreements between Volvo and its employees and the company’s decision to listen to their grievances and agree to accept collective bargaining.

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Indonesian Workers Strike Against Philips Union Busting 

Workers praying out the building.

Queue to the rest room.

4 Jun 2015  600 workers at PT. Philips Industries Batam, members of IndustriALL Global Union through the Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers’ Union (FSPMI), went on strike on 3 June in protest at the union busting and unfair dismissals by company management.

The workers demand that Philips management:

• reinstates unfairly dismissed union officials and members of FSPMI dismissed as part of the union busting campaign started by the management;
• starts respecting Indonesia’s labour rights and the International Labour Organization’s Freedom of Association Convention;
• respects the union PUK PT Philips and restarts negotiations.

So far the management refuses to satisfy workers’ demands and applies tactics of intimidation and bad treatment, blocking the strikers from access to any facility including toilets, the canteen or the use of the mosque for prayers.

According to FSPMI, the union PUK PT Philips Batam was registered on 18 March 2015. Batam is an Indonesian municipality granted the status of a Free Trade Zone, notorious for its increasingly hostile attitude towards trade unions.

On 9 April 2015 the PT. Philips Industries Batam management received an official notification of registration of the union. The very next day the management called in rank and file members of the union one by one and put them under strong pressure to sign a letter of termination of their employment. They were both permanent and contractual workers.

The workers, supported by the union officials, refused to accept their dismissals and were forcefully evicted from company grounds. They were not even given a chance to take their personal belongings from their lockers. In total, 83 FSPMI union officers and members were dismissed by PT. Philips Industries Batam in April this year.

The union has tried to negotiate with management on a number of occasions to discuss reinstatement of those unfairly dismissed. However, every time the management referred to work efficiency as the reason for the sackings.

The dismissed workers have received substantial support from their colleagues. An additional 519 workers out of about 1900 employees became new union members by the end of April.

Having used all other possible measures and failed to convince the management to reinstate the workers, the union announced a strike at the end of May and notified the management.

The strike continues to date. IndustriALL has contacted the local and global leadership of the company seeking a fair solution of the conflict. Addressing the CEO of Philips in the Netherlands, as well as the Senior director of PT. Philips Industries Batam in Indonesia Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL General Secretary urged them “to immediately reinstate the unfairly dismissed union officers and members, to stop harassing workers and to respect their right to join the union of their choice.”

Raina also called on PT. Philips Industries Batam “to resume the collective bargaining negotiations with the FSPMI to achieve a fair and just resolution of this conflict as well as create a constructive relationship between labour and management.”

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Blame for Rana Plaza Runs Far and Wide 

Compensation for victims is still US$2.3 million short out of a target of US$30 million.

2 Jun 2015  Culpability for the Rana Plaza disaster, which killed more than 1,100 people and injured 2,500, is widespread, says IndustriALL Global Union as the owner of the factory complex and 41 other people have been charged with murder over the building’s collapse in Bangladesh two years ago.

Murder charges have been brought against the owners of garment factories in the building and more than a dozen government officials, who are accused of ignoring warnings not to enter the building the day before the collapse on 24 April 2013.

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL, which represents garment workers in Bangladesh, said:

“Rana Plaza victims and their families deserve justice. Responsibility for Bangladesh’s worst-ever industrial disaster runs far and wide.  The Rana Plaza collapse was the culmination of an unsustainable system of production that demands suppliers produce more for less, and depends on cheap labour and low costs no matter what the consequences.”

“Now, factory inspections carried out by the Bangladesh Accord mean that responsible brands no longer rely on self-controlled auditing systems which failed so miserably in the past.” 

“However, two years on and Rana Plaza victims are still waiting for full and proper compensation. We urge that brands sourcing from country, as well as the Bangladesh government fulfill their obligations and give the US$ 2.3 million needed to complete compensation payments to victims.”

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Global Network Formed to Fight Anti-Union Behaviour at Huhtamäki 

Participants at the global trade union network meeting in Helsinki, Finland

3 Jun 2015  Unions from Huhtamäki plants around the world met in Helsinki on 1 June to establish a global trade union network. There are currently a number of disputes between the employer and workers at Huhtamäki’s packinging operations, in countries including India, Turkey, and the United States.

Participants at the global network meeting spoke about bad relations between management and trade unions. Very often union representatives have no right even to enter the factory, and in many countries health and safety rights are violated frequently.
 
Workers at the Commerce, California plant faced harsh working conditions with temperatures often reaching above 40 degrees Celsius. When they decided to organise  the company refused to meet with them and brought in anti-union consultants who held mandatory meetings urging workers not to unionize. In 2014, the company spent US$430,000 on anti-union consultants.
 
Huhtamäki’s Code of Conduct and Code of Conduct for Group Suppliers recognize all fundamental ILO Principles, including the right of employees to associate. However Huhtamäki’s Vice-President, Sami Pauni, told union representatives that in countries that have not ratified ILO Conventions the company follows national law, even if it is weaker than the Conventions. In fact, more than 75 per cent of Huhtamäki’s workforce is found in countries that have not ratified ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association.
 
Sami Pauni participated in the meeting and gave a brief presentation on the company situation. However, after a question on why Huhtamäki spends a lot of money to fight the unions instead of establishing social dialogue with them, Mr. Pauni became annoyed and left the meeting room.
 
Commerce worker Levi Ross, who participated in the global network meeting on his holiday time, said on the incident:

“I came all the way to Finland hoping to have a serious dialogue with the company, but I feel like they turned their back on me and the workers in Commerce.”

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina said:

“This meeting was only the first step in the fight to restore the rights of the workers and trade unions at Huhtamäki plants. The struggle will continue as long as the owners of the company will not agree to respect the workers’ rights and start a serious dialogue with their unions.”

The global trade union network meeting was held on the initiative of IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union and attended by workers’ representatives from Huhtamäki plants in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, UK and USA.
 
The participants of Huhtamäki Global network meeting adopted a statement, proposing steps to improve conditions for Huhtamäki workers and establishing a dialogue with management.

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Strike Ends in Victory for Israeli Chemical Workers 

3 Jun 2015  Israeli trade union, Histadrut, has succeeded in saving hundreds of chemical workers’ jobs in an agreement reached on 28 May, bringing an end to a four-month-long strike.

Around 2,000 workers went on strike on 2 February 2015 after Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL) threatened to lay off hundreds of employees at its Dead Sea Works and Bromine Compounds factories in the south of Israel.

In the new deal, reached between ICL, Histadrut and employees’ committees at both factories, only 38 workers (19 from each factory) will be laid off. However, they have until the end of the year to prove themselves, when their future employment will be considered. All of the laid-off workers will receive severance pay of 300 per cent.

ICL employs 4,500 workers in Israel, of which 3,500 are based in the south of the country. A further 25,000 workers are dependent on ICL for business.

The victory will protect the workers and economy of the south of Israel, where unemployment rates are high and job opportunities low, says Histadrut Chairman, Avi Nissenkorn:

“We are returning 2,000 people to work, the South wins…No worker has been laid off at this stage.”

Approximately 100 workers from both factories will be forced to retire, in addition to 100 employees that have retired in recent months. Histadrut has been able to secure a greatly improved conditions package for the retirees.

Chairman of the Dead Sea Works Employees’ committee, Armond Lankri, said: “This was one of the most significant battles…Thankfully, the whole country supported us. I’m glad we finished a difficult period and we succeeded in maintaining the status and rights of the workers.”

Chairman of the Bromine Compounds employees’ committee, Avner Ben-Senior, said: “We struggled not for money and improved conditions, but a struggle of principle that a profitable company doesn’t fire workers, first and foremost!”

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Right to Strike Upheld at ILO
Benetton Agrees to Pay Rana Plaza Compensation
Rio Tinto Seeks Conflict With Unions at Global Meeting
USA: Workers Fight Back Against Giant Oil companies
IG Metall Secures 3.4 Per Cent Industry Pay Rise
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Right to Strike Upheld at ILO 

February 26, 2015  After months of pressure from trade unions, the right to strike has been recognized by the employers’ group at the International Labour Organization (ILO) following a crucial tripartite meeting in Geneva from 23 to 25 February. 

Unions in India march in defence of the right to strike on 18 February 2015.

A joint statement from the employers’ and workers’ groups at the meeting affirms that the right to industrial action is recognized by the ILO.

The bilateral ceasefire promotes a package of proposals to end the deadlock that has led to an impasse at the ILO since 2012.

The proposals will now be put to the ILO’s governing body in March for approval.

Employers’ groups have been challenging the right to strike because it is not explicitly expressed in ILO Convention 87, even though for years it has been universally accepted by governments, workers and employers alike.

This has meant that cases of serious labour violations in many countries have been left unaddressed by the ILO as the employers’ group refused to budge on the issue.

The statement follows a global protest day in defence of the right to strike by union federations on 18 February, involving more than 100 actions in over 60 countries, and including IndustriALL Global Union affiliates. The protests were designed to put pressure on both governments and employers at the ILO.

Significantly, the Government Group, which had previously been split on the issue, strongly endorsed the right to strike at the February meeting. In a statement at the discussions it said:

“The Government Group recognizes that the right to strike is linked to freedom of association, which is a fundamental principle and right at work of the ILO. The Government Group specifically recognizes that without protecting a right to strike, Freedom of Association, in particular the right to organize activities for the purpose of promoting and protecting workers’ interests, cannot be fully realized.”

Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL’s general secretary, said:

“The recognition by employers of the right to strike is a very positive step forward. Credit must go to our affiliates that have fought hard in defence of this fundamental right. However, the battle is not over. We must remain vigilant and ensure that employers don’t take the right to strike hostage again.”

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Benetton Agrees to Pay Rana Plaza Compensation

February 20, 2015  In reaction to news that Benetton will compensate victims of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh, IndustriALL Global Union and UNI – the two global unions that have been campaigning on behalf of the victims – issued the following response. 

Families of some of the 1,134 Rana Plaza victims hold a candlelit vigil for the dead.

 IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina said:

“We are pleased that at long last Benetton has promised to pay into the Rana Plaza Trust Fund. Now, it’s time for Benetton to show us the colour of their money.

“We call on Benetton to do what’s morally right and compensate with compassion. We expect to see a significant contribution to the Rana Plaza Trust Fund by Benetton in keeping with a major brand that sourced from Rana Plaza and has a considerable investment in Bangladesh.”

UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings said:

“We understand that Benetton promises to step up and take their share of the responsibility for the victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy.

“For a company with a profit of more than US200 million dollars and turnover of US1.6 billion dollars, we expect Benetton to show their most generous colours. UNI and IndustriALL are ready to talk to ensure fair compensation.”

Although IndustriALL and UNI are welcoming the move with caution, they highlighted some outstanding issues that urgently need to be resolved with regards to Benetton’s payment.

• Almost two years since the Rana Plaza tragedy, the global unions questioned Benetton’s decision to delay its payment further and to confirm the amount it intends to pay. The unions call on Benetton to clarify these points well ahead of the second anniversary of the disaster on April 24th 2015.
• The process on who will decide the amount that Benetton will pay remains unclear. Benetton says an “independent, globally recognised third party” will advise the company but refuses to reveal its identity.

The two global unions also urged caution regarding Benetton keeping its promises of payment and pointed out that Benetton was initially involved in the U.N.-backed Rana Plaza compensation arrangements from the beginning but pulled out before the trust fund was set up.

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Rio Tinto Seeks Conflict With Unions at Global Meeting 

February 23, 2015  Rio Tinto cut short a meeting with global union leaders when the leaders rejected the company’s demand to end their campaign exposing Rio Tinto’s unsustainable practices.

Rally against Rio Tinto’s unsustainable business practices in Cape Town, 2014.

The meeting was held at Rio Tinto’s office in Zurich on 6 February. It was jointly agreed to by a Rio Tinto Executive Committee member and IndustriALL Global Union, with the backing of a global network of unions at Rio Tinto. The company had agreed in advance to a fixed agenda for the meeting.

“Rio Tinto behaved arrogantly from the start of the meeting, issuing ultimatums, threatening legal action and talking over us. I’ve rarely seen that sort of behavior by management since the apartheid era ended,” stated National Union of Mineworkers South Africa General Secretary and IndustriALL Vice President Frans Baleni.

“I made the trip from Australia to Switzerland in the hopes of making progress on problems that Rio Tinto’s Australian management has refused to address. These include extensive bullying and alleged sexual harassment at the company’s Hunter Valley Coal operations,” said CFMEU Mining & Energy General Secretary and IndustriALL Mining Chair Andrew Vickers.

“Instead, Rio Tinto said they were only willing to talk if we accepted their ultimatum to end our campaign. The company publicly claims they are willing to work with key stakeholders like unions, but the message they sent to us was ‘my way or the highway’.”

“Rio Tinto’s behavior in Labrador, Canada is bad for business and bad for workers. There are 2,300 outstanding grievances that are demoralizing the workforce, and local management refuses to work with the union to address them,” said USW staff representative Euclid Hache.

“We hoped that Rio Tinto’s corporate management would work with us to find a path toward less conflictual labor relations in Labrador. Instead they rejected dialog and escalated the conflict.”

“Unfortunately I was not surprised,” said Rio Tinto European Works Council Secretary Véronique Roche. “Rio Tinto routinely fails to dialogue with or respect their European employees and unions.”

“IndustriALL has over the last year run a campaign to expose the huge gap between Rio Tinto’s sustainability claims and its actual practices. Our aim – as we have made clear over the course of the campaign – is to convince Rio Tinto to live up to its own claims. That would make Rio Tinto a better, more successful company and be good for all the company’s stakeholders,” said IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Kemal Özkan.

“Unfortunately the campaign has not yet achieved its aim, as Rio Tinto corporate management demonstrated by refusing to continue dialog with us. So we will redouble our efforts.”

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USA: Workers Fight Back Against Giant Oil Companies 

February 24, 2015  Thousands of members of IndustriALL affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) National Oil Bargaining Program have gone on strike over health and safety issues in the industry.

Striking for safe jobs and safe communities (photo USW)

US oil industry collective bargaining agreements expired starting 31 January. Since the industry has refused to offer a reasonable proposal, workers are now on strike at 15 facilities across the USA. The strike includes 7,000 workers at 12 refineries, representing about 1/5 of the total oil refining capacity in the whole country.

Health and safety issues are key to this dispute. In 1973, a predecessor of the USW won a hard-fought nation-wide strike against Shell Oil for improvements in health and safety. However, in the decades since then, those gains have been eroded by staff reductions, contracting out, and cost cutting.

Corners are cut on maintenance, equipment is purchased on “low bid”, and more and more skilled refining jobs are contracted out to lower-paid and more easily intimidated, usually non-union, temporary workers. This has left US facilities with less than a skeleton staff of professionals – in many cases, there are not enough staff on the site to deal safely with normal operations, let alone an unplanned emergency. Short staffing leads to inhuman shift schedules and chronic stress and fatigue.

The oil industry is one of the richest industries on the planet. Yet it consistently displays contempt for the health and safety of the people who earn their profits for them and those living in nearby communities.

IndustriALL’s 50 million affiliated workers worldwide fully support the United Steelworkers in their struggle against a rich and dangerous industry, and major oil industry unions are taking solidarity actions.

IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Kemal Özkan says:

“We will continue to support our brothers and sisters in the US oil sector and will do everything in our power to help them reach victory.”

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IG Metall Secures 3.4 Per Cent Industry Pay Rise

February 24, 2015  German metalworkers’ union, IG Metall, has succeeded in securing a 3.4 per cent pay rise in a deal with employers following warning strikes by more than 850,000 workers nationwide.

More than 850,000 IG Metall workers staged warning strikes during bargaining negotiations.  Source: IG Metall

The agreement was reached in the early hours of 24 February between IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, IG Metall, and employers’ groups.

The deal, which affects 800,000 metal and electronics workers in the key German industrial region of Baden-Württemberg, will provide the basis for bargaining agreements in other regions across the country covering a total 3.7 million workers.

The pay rise is due to take effect in April and marks an important victory for the union:

“With this result we are bringing stability to the German economy,” said IG Metall’s president Detlef Wetzel.

More than 850,000 IG Metall workers from all over the country staged warning strikes from the end of January as union leaders and employers’ groups battled over pay and benefits for the next 12 months.

Workers will also be paid a one-off payment of 150 Euros to cover January to March following the end of the previous collective agreement.

Further gains were made in relation to early retirement, in particular for lower paid workers. In the future, employers will pay 90 per cent of salaries while workers work through a period of early retirement, which will then be continued once they have stopped work and up until their official retirement age. It means that early retirement will be more affordable for lower income employees, particularly on assembly lines and in general production.

In addition, money not used by companies in funding early retirement (which must be accessible to a minimum of 4 per cent of the workforce), must now be used to pay for staff training schemes.

The IG Metall president marked the progress as “the first important step” in establishing a model for workers’ rights for career development.

IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“We congratulate IG Metall on this considerable achievement. IG Metall has once again shown its muscle and won a significant pay rise for workers in the metal and electronics sector. The massive support from close to a million workers in a series of warning strikes is a tribute to the power of worker solidarity.”

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The post IndustriALL Headlines #130, February 26, 2015 appeared first on IAMAW.

Global Unions say to Benetton ‘Pagare’/Pay Up!
Hands off our right to strike!
IndustriALL Global Union signs global framework agreement with Gamesa
IndustriALL calls for justice on the ninth anniversary of the industrial homicide at Pasta de Conchos
Suffering of Soma survivors continues

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Global Unions Say to Benetton “Pagare”/Pay Up! 

Benetton is the only major international brand confirmed to have sourced clothing from Rana Plaza which has not paid a cent into the compensation fund for victims.

$9 million still missing from compensation fund for victims of Rana Plaza tragedy.  Source: IndustriALL

IndustriALL Global Union and its sister global union UNI are leading demands for Benetton to do the right thing and pay into the fund. The fund is US $9 million short of the US $30 million needed to fully compensate the victims, as the countdown to the second anniversary of the tragedy on 24 April begins.

Pressure is mounting on the Italian clothing giant Benetton after one million consumers signed an Avaaz petition calling on the company to pay compensation to victims’ families and the survivors of the deadly Rana Plaza factory collapse.

IndustriALL Global Union’s General Secretary, Jyrki Raina says:

The magnitude of this on-going tragedy cannot
be brushed aside. Children lost their mothers,
families lost their incomes, and many of the
survivors were so seriously injured physically
and mentally that they can no longer work or

feed their families. There are other brands too
who should be paying more compensation
but Benetton must take a lead – the door to
discussions is always open. Benetton the
responsibility lies squarely with you.

“After everything we have been through, we should not be forced to beg or to rely on charity for a living,” says Mahinur Begum, a Rana Plaza survivor. “We are entitled to full and fair compensation.”

UNI Global Union General Secretary, Philip Jennings has this message for Benetton management, “Benetton it’s time for you to change your colours! The clock is ticking and time is fast running out as we approach the second anniversary of the worst garment factory disaster in history. Benetton you produced at Rana Plaza now deliver for the victims you can afford it.”

Rana Plaza Tragedy

More than 1,100 people died in the Rana Plaza collapse, which happened on the morning of 24 April 2013 in the Savar suburb of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka. Despite clear warnings that the building was about to collapse, including a newspaper report, workers were told to be in work or lose their jobs. That threat cost many more lives.

Over the past year, the Rana Plaza Donors’ Trust Fund, set up under the stewardship of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has raised around US $21 million in donations from global brands, the Bangladeshi Prime Minister’s Fund, trade unions and civil society. However, $9 million is still needed in order to reach the estimated funding gap.

To date 5,000 people – dependents of the deceased as well as injured workers – have received 40% of the total compensation payment due to them, according to the Rana Plaza Coordination Committee, which is chaired by the ILO.

The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, which was founded by IndustriALL Global Union and UNI in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza collapse has now been signed by around 200 global brands. The Accord, which carries out independent factory inspection programmes on two thousands garment factories in Bangladesh, is helping to improve safety and sustainability across the country’s garment sector.

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Hands Off Our Right to Strike! 

February 19, 2015  Workers around the globe staged a series of protests against employers’ attempts to challenge and potentially remove workers’ fundamental right to strike. This right is an integral part of the ILO Freedom of Association Convention 87.

Source:  IndustriALL

On 18 February, a global day of action in defence of the right to strike was called by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and supported by IndustriALL Global Union. Workers of the world brought to their governments an uncompromising message to stop attacking workers’ right to strike.

The global call is a response to the attacks of Employers’ Group within the International Labour Organization (ILO) over ILO Convention 87 (C87) or the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize. C87 ensures the fundamental right of all workers to strike.

In Geneva, IndustriALL Global Union together with sister global unions BWI, IUF, PSI and UNI, representing collectively over 100 million workers, delivered letters to the missions and representations of the countries where workers’ right to strike is challenged or not supported. One of them is Turkey, where recently IndustriALL affiliate Birlesik Metal Is has faced a ban on its metal industry strike under the argument that it is “prejudicial to national security”.

The joint union delegation also visited Angolan and Indian missions and delivered letters demanding that governments of these countries “immediately support the global right to strike and end their opposition in the ILO Governing Body to referral of the dispute over this matter to the International Court of Justice.»

When addressing the gathering in front of the Mission of Angola, Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary said, «We will never give up, we will continue to struggle, since without our right to strike we can’t make sure our goal is achieved for everyone to live in equality. Hands off our right to strike!»

A similar message was also addressed in front of the Indian permanent mission.

The global call for action has been widely supported by numerous actions and demonstrations organized by IndustriALL affiliates in many countries, among others Chile, France, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Philippines, Turkey, Switzerland and United States.

Photos from the actions are available on IndustriALL’s flickr account. At https://www.flickr.com/photos/industriall_gu/sets/72157648579233394/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/industriall_gu/sets/72157650841241246/.

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IndustriALL Global Union Signs Global Framework Agreement With Gamesa 

February 18, 2015  Gamesa, the Spanish wind turbine manufacturer, has signed a Global Framework Agreement covering social, labour and environmental issues with IndustriALL Global Union and its Spanish affiliates, CCOO Industry, MCA-UGT and FITAG-UGT.

IndustriALL Global Union signs global framework agreement with gamesa.  Source: IndustriALL

Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL and José Antonio Cortajarena, Gamesa.  Source: IndustriALL

This agreement, the world’s first involving a company in the renewable energy sector, was signed on 18 February in Madrid by IndustriALL general secretary, Jyrki Raina, Gamesa Chief Executive Officer, José Antonio Cortajarena, Gamesa Human Resources Director, Javier Treviño, and Carlos Romero, Antonio Deusa and Agustín Martín, general secretaries of the MCA-UGT, FITAG-UGT and CCOO Industry unions respectively.

The agreement, which will apply to all companies in the Gamesa group and to all its employees worldwide, includes new clauses that strengthen the rights of workers and trade unions, introduce the principle of neutrality, establish the pre-eminence of international agreements over potentially lax national standards, ensure the right of access to workplaces by workers’ representatives and strengthen trade union networks.

One of the most innovative points of the agreement is that Gamesa management will monitor and supervise the agreement jointly with IndustriALL and the national trade unions (FITAG-UGT, MCA-UGT and CCOO Industry). A new coordination and monitoring body will be created and will meet regularly. It will produce a report every two years on progress in implementing the agreement with a view to updating the agreement.

Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL’s general secretary, said:

IndustriALL is convinced that global framework agreements are important instruments for trade union organization and for improving labour relations in multinational companies and their subsidiaries.

The global agreement signed commits the company to the development and protection of its workers worldwide and makes health and safety at work, working conditions and equal opportunities key issues for company action, said Carlos Romero.

Antonio Deusa said: “The importance of achieving this agreement is that it highlights the commitment of the signatory organizations to Gamesa employees, wherever their workplaces are located.”

Agustín Martín said that global agreements like this one “give substance to trade union attempts to persuade companies to adopt genuine corporate social responsibility practices throughout their production networks. This guarantees an improvement in labour standards and working conditions at the global level, in accordance with the particular circumstances in each country and region of the world”.

The Global Framework Agreement for the Gamesa Group includes the following provisions:

• A commitment to the development and protection of employees worldwide;
• It strengthens social, labour and environmental rights already contained in the Group’s Code of Conduct; makes health and safety at work, working conditions and equal opportunities key issues for company action; guarantees implementation and promotes the conditions for a social dialogue at the international level;
• It will apply to all companies in the Gamesa Group and to all its employees. Gamesa, which is based in Spain, currently has operations in Germany, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Costa Rica, USA, Egypt, Finland, France, Greece, Honduras, Hungry, India, Ireland, Italy, Morocco, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Romania, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Turkey and Uruguay, as well as in our own country;
• A commitment to respect basic social rights (especially labour rights and trade union representation), human rights and civil liberties, equal opportunities, merit and non-discrimination on grounds of race, sex, ideology, nationality, disability, beliefs or any other personal, physical or social condition. A commitment to observe ILO Conventions on age of access to work, the worst forms of child labour, forced labour, non-discrimination in labour relations, equal pay for work of equal value, freedom of association and the protection of trade union rights, the right to organize, to collective bargaining and to employee representation in order to prevent any kind of discrimination against workers involved in trade union activities;
• Principle of neutrality: in accordance with ILO Conventions 87 and 98, the agreement clearly establishes a commitment to observe the principle of neutrality, which requires companies to respect workers’ decisions regarding the election of their representatives and the creation and operation of unions of their choice;
• Rejects corruption and bribery;
• A commitment to inform suppliers, contractors and collaborators of the contents of its Code of Conduct and this Global Framework Agreement;
• Company management, IndustriALL Global and the national trade unions will jointly supervise this GFA using mechanisms described in the text of the agreement.

About Global Framework Agreements

Global Framework Agreements (GFAs) protect the interests of workers employed in all operations of the multinational companies who sign them.

GFAs are negotiated at the global level between trade unions and a multinational company. They establish the best possible standards on trade union rights; on health, safety and environmental practices; and on the labour relations principles adhered to by the company in its global operations, regardless of the standards existing in a particular country.

GFAs must:

• Include all the operations of a company throughout the world, without exception;
• Make a firm and unequivocal commitment by the multinational company in question that suppliers and contractors will adopt these same standards for their workers;
• Guarantee the company’s commitment to maintain a positive attitude towards trade unions, abstain from all anti-trade union activity and remain strictly neutral with regard to their employees’ preferences regarding joining, remaining in, changing to or leaving any particular trade union;
• Allow trade union representatives reasonable access to workplaces;
• Contain effective implementation and compliance mechanisms and a binding dispute resolution procedure.

GFAs should make explicit reference to and recognize the rights set out in ILO Conventions, including the following:

• Freedom of association and collective bargaining (Conventions 87 and 98);
• Discrimination (Conventions 100 and 111);
• Forced labour (Conventions 29 and 105);
• Child labour (Conventions 138 and 182).

In addition, GFAs must be approved by the trade union affiliates of IndustriALL that represent the majority of trade union members among the employees of the corresponding multinational company.

Once a GFA has been signed, it must be translated into the agreed languages and made available to all company employees, whether employed directly or indirectly.

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IndustriALL Calls for Justice on the Ninth Anniversary of the Industrial Homicide at Pasta de Conchos 

February 19, 2015  Nine years have gone by since tragedy struck at Pasta de Conchos. Sixty-five miners lost their lives after being trapped by an explosion at this Grupo Mexico mine. Sixty-three bodies were never recovered and are still in the mine.     

A miner’s routine consists of working hundreds of metres below the ground and he only sees daylight at the end of his shift. It is one of the most dangerous of jobs and miners are at a much greater risk of suffering workplace accidents than workers in other professions.

On19 February 2006, industrial homicide was committed at Grupo Mexico’s Pasta de Conchos coal mine 8, at San Juan de Sabinas. An explosion inside the mine trapped 65 miners. Two bodies were recovered in 2006 and 2007 but no further attempts have been made to recover the other bodies.

The fight to recover the bodies

The families of the dead miners have been fighting for nine years to have the bodies of the miners recovered and for the right to honour their deceased relatives. The Catholic church in the coalfield has spoken out in support of the families and called for justice and for the authorities to respond positively to the requests made by the families. The church held a special mass at the mine to pray for eternal rest for the 63 dead miners.

19 February 2015 will be the ninth anniversary of the tragedy. IndustriALL Global Union supports demands for the state and federal governments to inspect the mines and protect the lives of miners; for the bodies to be recovered and given a decent burial; for a thorough investigation into what happened and punishment for those responsible.

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Suffering of Soma Survivors Continues 

February 19, 2015  2,800 Turkish miners who lost their jobs at Soma have been denied severance pay by the mine’s operator. It follows the deaths of 301 miners at the mine last year.

Miners from Soma protest outside the Turkish parliament in Ankara on 10 February.  Source: Maden-IS

Soma Holding is refusing to pay severance pay to miners it sacked by text message on 1 December.  Source: Maden Is

Miners learnt they were being laid off by the Soma Holding Company via text message on 1 December. The company has since refused to compensate them, saying that its assets have been frozen.

Soma miners from IndustriALL’s Turkish affiliate Maden-Is marched in front of parliament and the Ministry of Labour in Ankara on 10 February to demand compensation, which according to Maden-Is amounts to roughly US$17 million.

However, mining regulations should also guarantee that the state-owned Turkish Coal Enterprises (TKi) step in and give the miners what they are due.

While Soma Holding and TKi argue over who should pay, the miners and their families are suffering over winter without any income.

“Don’t continue to victimize the surviving Soma miners and pay their severance payments,” demanded Nurettin Akcul, General President of the Turkish mineworkers’ union, Maden-Is, in his call to the Government. “All the dismissed miners must have jobs.”

The industrial homicide at Soma on 13 May 2014 was the country’s worst mining disaster. An explosion and carbon monoxide poisoning in the mine, in Turkey’s western Manisa province, led to the deaths of 301 miners, with many more injured.

Many of the families of these dead miners have yet to receive compensation.

An independent report into the disaster listed point after point of gross negligence surmising that accident was entirely preventable. Miners died needlessly from carbon monoxide poisoning due to inadequate ventilation systems and broken gas masks. Exits were blocked, warning systems were faulty and safety reports were consistently fabricated.

IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary, Kemal Ôzkan, said:

Withholding severance pay to the sacked miners at Soma simply adds insult to injury. The government must step in, take responsibility and see that the miners are properly compensated. Many of them have already lost family and friends in the industrial homicide at Soma. Now they have lost their jobs. To let these miners go a whole winter without pay is further proof of contempt for their welfare.

The Turkish public prosecutor’s office is currently investigating the disaster. Soma Holding, meanwhile, denies blame saying that there is no proof that safety procedures were violated.

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The post IndustriALL Headlines #129, February 19, 2015 appeared first on IAMAW.

Oil Strike Escalates in US
Switzerland: Workers Fight to Save Jobs at Tamoil
Georgia: Mineworkers Fight Against Severe Union-Busting
Bangladesh: Union Strength and Brand Pressure
Ghana: IndustriALL Members Locked Out at Crown Holdings
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Oil Strike Escalates in US

USW Local 7-1 Indiana – Oil workers strike at BP Source: USW

USW Local 7-1 Indiana – Oil workers strike at BP Source: USW

February 12, 2015  Faced with increased employer intransigence in the US the United Steelworkers (USW) oil industry strike, principally in support of demands for improved safety provisions has escalated as it entered its second week.

Workers at BP refineries in Ohio and Indiana have joined the walkout that began on 1 February at nine other refineries. From California to Kentucky this is the first nationwide strike in the industry for 35 years.

There are now more than 5,000 USW members on an unfair labour practice strike at 11 refineries owned by Shell, Marathon, Tesoro, BP and LyondellBasell. THe strikes began after Shell failed to offer serious proposals to address the USW’s concerns about safety, onerous overtime and unsafe staffing levels.

Shell is leading the employer side of negotiations for a new national contract. On 6 February the Houston area oil workers took part in a noon rally at Shell US Headquarters to show management that union members are united in their drive for a fair contract that improves safety throughout the industry. The following day, on 7 February, one week into the strike, refinery workers around the country participated in a National Day of Action for Safe Refineries, Secure Jobs and Healthy Communities. Local USW unions carried out actions in solidarity with striking locals, which included a mix of plant gate rallies and rallies at local union halls.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the USW is clear that the main priority of the national strike is refinery safety and resolving the issue of chronic understaffing. USW International Vice President Gary Beevers, who heads the union’s National Oil Bargaining Program, stated that

“This work stoppage is about onerous overtime; unsafe staffing levels; dangerous conditions the industry continues to ignore; and flagrant contracting out that impacts health and safety on the job.”

In addition to the health and safety issues, the USW unfair labour practice (ULP) strike is over the oil companies’ bad faith bargaining, including the refusal to bargain over mandatory subjects; undue delays in providing information; impeded bargaining; and threats issued to workers if they joined the ULP strike.

The union is committed to negotiating a fair contract that improves safety conditions throughout the industry and USW negotiators are determined to resolve the members’ central issues.

This week has also seen a delegation of striking refinery workers bring their campaign for a safer oil industry to Europe at meetings with allies from trade unions in the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

The group includes striking workers from refineries owned by Shell, Marathon and Tesoro. Shell, which has taken the lead on bargaining for the companies, has its headquarters in the Netherlands. The USW members met with leaders from the FNV oil workers union at Shell and LyondellBasell in the Netherlands and then travelled to the United Kingdom to meet with leaders from Unite the Union, the largest industrial union in Great Britain and Ireland.

INFO

IndustriALL Global Union has issued an initial press release and sent a message of support to the workers which you can find at: http://www.industriall-union.org/usw-oil-workers-stage-nationwide-strike

This is potentially a long and difficult struggle. We stand ready to increase our solidarity actions in support of our US affiliate in their fight for safe workplaces.

You can access the latest information from the union at:   http://www.usw.org/union/mission/industries/oil

Audio file at:  http://www.usw.org/news/media-center/articles/2015/health-and-safety-must-come-first-in-oil-bargaining

Sign USW petition “Safe Refineries Save Lives”:  http://www.usw.org/act/oilsafety

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Switzerland: Workers Fight to Save Jobs at Tamoil 

©UNIA – Blaise Carron UNIA representative addressing Tamoil workers

February 12, 2015  In early January Tamoil Collombey announced the closure of its refinery in Valais, Switzerland. This decision will affect over 250 jobs, an outcome that, IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, UNIA is not willing to accept.

For almost one month UNIA together with the Syndicats Crétiens du Valais (SCIV), representing the workers at Collombey, have been fighting Tamoil’s decision to layoff staff without a real social plan in place. After a number of attempts by the union to negotiate a better outcome for Tamoil staff, it is still unclear what the company will decide.

On 4 February the workers decided to interrupt their shifts from 1pm to 3pm. During this strike they were met by over 600 public supporters from the area, in a demonstration of solidarity for their struggle.

©Neil Labrador, ES – Tamoil staff released 258 ballons; each ballon had the name of one of the workers that would love his/her job.

To demonstrate their commitment to the refinery and the disastrous consequences potential closure, some staff released 258 balloons; each balloon had the name of one of the workers that would lose his/her job. Others marched to the sound of funeral music and symbolically planted crosses decorated with their tools (helmet, lamp, tools, etc.). Another group set up a display presenting the quality of their skills at the refinery.

Following Tamoil’s decision to suspend operations at the refinery and fire staff, UNIA had called a general assembly in early January. From the beginning of this struggle, workers’ representatives made it clear that “It is unacceptable that Tamoil proceeds with the collective dismissal of staff without exploring solutions that could maintain jobs and the expertise at the worksite in Collombey, we therefore must come together to show Tamoil our will to keep jobs here and to explore the different avenues that will enable us to achieve a better outcome.”

©Neil Labrador, ES – Tamoil staff symbolically plant crosses decorated with their tools

As a result of the general assembly a resolution was adopted calling on Tamoil to withdraw the collective redundancy procedure, file a formal request to activate temporary layoffs, and waiver all layoff procedures until notification by the competent authority of its decision on possible measures of layoffs. Despite UNIA’s demands Tamoil pressed on with its original layoff procedure.

Furthermore, employees also called on cantonal authorities to support the steps for removing the collective redundancy procedure initiated by Tamoil and asked them to take the necessary steps with federal authorities to investigate the possibility of increasing the length of compensation for layoffs to 24 months.

“It is important that UNIA members are now more determined than ever while negotiations continue between UNIA, SCIV and Tamoil”

said Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary.

“IndustriALL will continue to give support and solidarity to this important struggle as it develops.”

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Georgia: Mineworkers Fight Against Severe Union-Busting 

February 12, 2015  The management of RMG Copper and RMG Gold, mining enterprises located in Kazreti, Georgia, began a fight against the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCIWG), an affiliate of IndustriALL. As a result of the union busting, 120 workers have withdrawn from the union within the last few days.

Recently the employer’s representatives have visited the enterprises spreading the drafts of resignation letters to withdraw from the union. They force the employees of both enterprises to leave the union under the threat of dismissal and other trouble.

As a result more than 100 union members could not resist the management pressure and signed resignation letters. The union at RMG Copper had 690 members back in January, but 96 people have withdrawn over the last few days. 14 members out of 320 have left the local union at RMG Gold.

The union busting began after the management once again received a letter from the union reminding that the obligations under the agreement signed back on 23 March 2014 after the end of a 40-day strike have not been fulfilled:

• the collective agreement draft prepared by the union and sent to the employer for review back in April-May 2014 has still not been reviewed;
• the company has not taken measures to increase the workers’ salary;
• in case there is a vacancy the company hires an employee from the labor market instead of using the candidates pool list created by the union;
• the labor disputes commission had to be created in April 2014, but only met in August 2014 for the first time and so far three meetings out of seven have been held.

On 14 February 2014, exactly a year ago, the miners of Georgian enterprises RMG Copper and RMG Gold went on strike after the management refused to fulfill its obligations according to the agreement signed back in November 2013 and fired more than 180 employees under the pretext of reorganization in January 2014. After a 40-days strike the union and the management signed an agreement to reinstate 80 dismissed workers, to reinstate other workers later in case the economic situation at the company improves, to sign a collective agreement and increase the salaries. However, the agreement reached at the price of a long strike has still not been fulfilled.

“RMG management must withdraw from disgusting anti-union tactics and stop union-busting immediately, without any delay,” said IndustriALL’s General Secretary Jyrki Raina. “The company must fulfill their obligations according to the agreement.”

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Bangladesh: Union Strength and Brand Pressure 

February 12, 2015  Being a union leader in Bangladesh is often challenging. For representatives of IndustriALL affiliate BIGUF at the Global Garments factory in Dhaka, it has also meant persecution and for some even violent attacks.

The Azim Group is one of Bangladesh’s most important and influential employers. They have consistently refused to recognize trade unions at the Global Garments factory.

Union representatives at the factory are no strangers to harassment, false charges and even physical violence. A CCTV (close circuit TV) recording from November 2014 shows two separate instances where female union leaders were beaten up by thugs.

Police did nothing about the violent attacks. In an effort to put a stop to the harassment and anti-union behaviour, IndustriALL Global Union American affiliate Workers United took action and approached the US brands sourcing from the factory.

After discussions the brands held off placing new orders or resuming production until Azim recognized the union in the workplace.

In December, an agreement was reached where the trade union has the right to represent workers in the factory. It states that factory management and union officers are “working together with good faith and into a friendly environment”. A further agreement was reached at the beginning of this month.

Jeff Hermanson from Workers United says:

“This has been a long and complex struggle, and it is far from finished. By our collective action we have won a temporary truce and hopefully helped save the GGLWU and GTLWU from destruction.”

The brands have also committed to establishing a bipartite commission with Workers United and the Solidarity Center to visit the Azim factories regularly to ensure the agreements are implemented and to help encourage improved labour relations.

IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Monika Kemperle says that the Azim case is the latest in a growing number of cases of harassment against unions.

“These systematic attacks against unions are increasingly violent and aimed at destroying factory level unions. Together with a growing number of arbitrary rejections of applications to register a union, they mark a changing attitude of employers and government who are trying to slow the steady unionization of garment workers following the collapse of Rana Plaza.

Attacking freedom of association is unacceptable and IndustriALL will continue to support the courageous fight of union representatives fighting for a better workplace.”

Jeff Hermanson concludes:

“Hopefully this resolution may have a broad impact and demonstrate that the use of violence against trade unionists will not be successful. Instead, it will cause the employers who use violence to suffer great damage to their reputation and face the possible destruction of their business.”

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Ghana: IndustriALL Members Locked Out at Crown Holdings 

February 11, 2015  IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Industrial & Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU) protest against the lock out at Crown Holdings in Ghana.

On 27 January, workers at Crown Cans Ghana Limited, specializing in the manufacturing of metal packaging for the food industry, staged a protest in front of the company gate. Management had without any preliminary notice closed the gate. The only information given was a piece of paper left at the gate saying “factory shut until further notice” and undersigned in smaller letters “management”.

For three years the ICU has encountered a number of difficulties in organizing the factory and tough resistance from management. When the union finally succeeded to organize workers, the company management in retaliation dismissed all the initial union executives.

Later, Crown Cans refused to negotiate with the ICU and announced the closure of the factory. The union submitted the case to the National Labour Commission (NLC) and as a result Crown Cans was instructed to negotiate with ICU representatives.

Eventually Management informed the union that they were ready to start negotiating but only after removing their machinery and equipment from the factory. Obviously based on previous negative experiences the ICU rejected the proposal from the company.

The NLC requested that the two parties select mediators/arbitrators to enable negotiations. The ICU complied with this proposal, but Crown Cans management refused and instead decided to bring cranes into the factory to remove the machinery and equipment.

In response to the workers resistance, Crown management requested protection from the local police from the workers. The company’s demand was rejected and instead the police advised that the company follow the due process.

In view of current situation the NLC has requested an emergency meeting between Crown Cans management and the ICU aiming to resolve the dispute.

In his letter to Crown Holdings’ CEO, Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL General Secretary exposed the facts about the workers’ rights violations at the factory in Ghana and urged the company to reopen the factory, and to start negotiations with ICU representatives in good faith.

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•  Don’t tarnish your love with Rio Tinto’s dirty diamonds and gold! 
• Metalworkers’ strike banned in Turkey
• Nissan rejects US government offer to mediate dispute with UAW 
• Iranian workers continue fight for basic rights 
• Global fight for workers’ rights continues at Crown Holdings

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Don’t tarnish your love with Rio Tinto’s dirty diamonds and gold!

February 4, 2015  This Valentine’s Day, world’s largest jewellery retailer challenged to clean up its supplier of dirty diamonds and gold. International coalition of labour, environmental groups calls upon Signet to put its money where its mouth is on responsible sourcing. Sign the LabourStart campaign here.

This Valentine’s Day, IndustriALL Global Union, London Mining Network, Earthworks, and LabourStart are challenging the world’s biggest jewellery retailer Signet to demand that its major diamond and gold supplier, multinational mining company Rio Tinto, clean up its mining practices so that they respect worker rights, indigenous peoples and the environment.

With global sales of US $6 billion annually, Signet’s 1,400 Kay and Jared jewellery shops are in every US State, 1,600 Zales stores are throughout the US and Canada, and 500 H. Samuel and Ernest Jones shops are visible on UK high streets. The National Retail Federation anticipates that twenty-one per cent of US shoppers will gift jewellery to their loved ones on Valentine’s Day this year, fuelling US jewellery sales of nearly US $5 billion.

The coalition is calling on Signet to abide both by its own Responsible Sourcing Policy, and its 2006 public endorsement of the No Dirty Gold campaign’s Golden Rules for more responsible mining. Signet’s Responsible Sourcing Policy declares the company “committed to the responsible sourcing of our products and the respect of human rights, and we expect the same from our suppliers around the world.” Endorsement of the Golden Rules, endorsed by over 100 jewellery retailers around the world, commits signers to pressure their suppliers to come into compliance with the Rules — which are drawn from broadly accepted international human rights laws and basic principles of sustainable development.

But Rio Tinto is a notorious violator of labour rights, communities, and the environment.

Rio Tinto’s campaign to undermine workers’ fundamental organizing and bargaining rights has recently been documented in the report Rio Tinto and ‘Direct Engagement’.  The company’s abuse of human rights, communities and the environment has recently been profiled in the report Unsustainable: The ugly truth about Rio Tinto.

Although the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has certified Rio Tinto, unfortunately the RJC is highly flawed.  It is neither independent – it is governed by industry, excluding labour, civil society and impacted communities. Nor is it transparent – it is impossible for the public to determine whether an RJC-certified company complies with RJC’s own certification requirements, let alone international human rights and environmental standards.

IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Jyrki Raina states: “Until Rio Tinto drastically changes its ways, the company will sully the reputations of all its major business partners. Signet is no exception. Signet says that its involvement in non-independent business-run social auditing programmes is a sufficient response to our concerns. This is insulting to all those affected by Rio Tinto’s anti-social conduct, not least Signet customers.”

Earthworks’ No Dirty Gold campaign director Payal Sampat declares: “Nobody wants their symbol of love made with gold or diamonds that harmed ecosystems or communities. Signet can’t provide a meaningful guarantee that its jewellery isn’t made with dirty gold or gems. It’s high time that the world’s largest jeweller cleaned up its supply chain.”

Richard Solly, Co-ordinator of London Mining Network, said: “Rio Tinto has a long history of violating indigenous peoples’ land rights, dividing communities, polluting land and water and attacking unions.

There are continuing real concerns about the human and environmental impacts of its copper and gold mining operations at Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, and at Grasberg in Papua, where its violations of indigenous peoples’ rights and environmental destruction led the Norwegian Government’s state pensions fund to disinvest.”

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Metalworkers’ strike banned in Turkey
 

There is a strike at this workplace.

January 30, 2015  The Turkish Government has issued a Cabinet Decree to postpone the metal industry strike launched by IndustriALL affiliate Birlesik Metal-Is in 19 companies on 29 January. The decree also covers 18 companies where the strike will start on 19 February.

Turkish Law on Trade Unions and Collective Labour Agreement, coded 6356, has a provision which rules that “a lawful strike or lock-out that has been called or commenced may be suspended by the Council of Ministers for 60 days with a decree if it is prejudicial to public health or national security. The suspension shall come into force on the date of publication of the decree“.

The Government decree, signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu and the entire cabinet, consideres the metalworkers’ strike as “prejudicial to national security”.

This is not new to the Turkish trade unions – in 2014, strikes in the glass and mining sectors were banned by the same Government with the same argument.

“The right to strike no longer exists in Turkey”, says Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union Assistant General Secretary. “This fundamental right, guaranteed by the Constitution of the country and international norms ratified by the government, exists only on paper, not in reality”.

The law also reads “if an agreement is not reached before the expiry date of the suspension period, the High Board of Arbitration settles the dispute upon the application of either party within six working days. Otherwise, the competence of the workers’ trade union shall be void”.

This clearly means that so-called “postponement” is actually a “ban” in real terms as there is no chance to continue to strike after the 60-day period.

Birlesik Metal-Is will certainly apply to the State Council for nullification of the Government’s Decree with a demand of suspension of its execution for being able to continue to strike.

However last experience in the glass industry in 2014 was not positive as the State Council ruled in favour of the Government, the contrary to its earlier jurisprudence on the basis of economic arguments rather than protecting fundamental rights.

Kemal Özkan further states:

“It is shameful for the Turkish government to violate fundamental rights in a reckless way. However we will never give up and continue to give our support and solidarity to Birlesik Metal-Is.”

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Nissan rejects US government offer to mediate dispute with UAW

February 3, 2015  Nissan Motor Company has refused a US government offer of mediation to resolve a longstanding dispute with the United Auto Workers (UAW) and IndustriALL Global Union over the company’s anti-union practices in the United States. The State Department-based US National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines said on Friday “the issues raised by UAW and IndustriALL are material and substantiated and merit further examination.”

The UAW and IndustriALL accepted the NCP’s offer of mediation and joined a preliminary information session in November with mediators from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to learn about the mediation procedures.

“It is clear Nissan behaves one way in some parts of the world but is grossly exploiting workers in the United States. The fact that the company continues to ignore the severity of the situation and its refusal to end these abuses or engage in dialogue that could result in a positive step forward for both workers and the company is absolutely unreasonable.” said UAW President Dennis Williams.

Jyrki Raina, head of IndustriALL, which represents 50 million workers globally including 150,000 Nissan workers and a majority of Renault autoworkers worldwide, expressed grave disappointment at the news. “UAW and IndustriALL affiliates have repeatedly made attempts to meet with Nissan North America to resolve this issue. Nissan’s unwillingness to engage in the OECD process sends a very worrisome message to its partners at Renault and Daimler as well as the global investment community.” Raina said adding, “We have known Nissan for its respect of workers’ rights elsewhere in the world, but in the US we have heard evidence of intimidation and exploitation of its workers and their communities. This is a troubling step backwards for Nissan.”

The U.S. NCP also noted that it had shared information on the case with the NCPs of Japan, France, and the Netherlands and that “those NCPs remain available to offer assistance to the parties.” Nissan is a Japanese corporation, but France-based Renault owns 43.4 percent of Nissan and the Renault-Nissan Alliance is incorporated in the Netherlands. Following the U.S. NCP’s Final Statement, the UAW and IndustriALL are now considering moves to those forums in an effort to resolve the dispute.

The U.S. government is recommending that Nissan should “conduct a corporate-wide labour rights review” of its adherence to the OECD Guidelines and that Nissan should consider other forms of mediation to resolve the issues raised in the OECD case.

Link to the Final Statement:  http://www.state.gov/e/eb/oecd/usncp/links/rls/236972.htm

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Iranian workers continue fight for basic rights  

February 5, 2005  There have been a number of major strikes and industrial actions taken by workers in Iran in recent months. Iranian independent trade unions have been strongly supporting the struggles of workers in a number of different sectors such as mining, automotive, transport and other industrial sectors.

Miners: In January this year, 150 coalminers went on strike protesting the company’s plans to close the mine. The workers at the Sangroos Coalmine are also demanding the payment of over 8 months of non-paid wages; they are also raising issues to management regarding the health and safety issues.

Bus Drivers: On 6 January, bus drivers from the Union of Tehran Bus Transit Workers (VAHED) protested against the unfair sacking of workers and the failure of the company to fairly grant promised funding for worker’s housing.

Teachers: Three months into the start of the academic year, members of the Teachers Trade Association of Iran (ITTA) are protesting the three month “overtime salary” delay for nearly half a million teachers.

Metalworkers: While the cost of living continues to increase in Iran, wages remain very low. On 7 January 2015, at the Iran Khodro Industrial Group IKCO (an auto assembly plant), workers began a hunger strike to increase their low wages. The strike spread to all sections of the plant.

Iran, a country with little respect for fundamental human and trade union rights continues to be an important priority for IndustriALL Global Union.

“These actions are really encouraging and inspiring”, says Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary. “Our solidarity and support towards our Iranian sisters and brothers continue.”

In the meantime, the Union of Metalworkers and Mechanics of Iran (UMMI) continues to defend and advance trade union rights in very difficult conditions. With its new web site, the union wants to make its communication with workers stronger, trade unionists and friends of the labour movement in Iran and around the world.

The website is bilingual, Farsi and English, and covering materials and statements of Iranian independent labour unions in English.

This new website is the fruit of labour of the workers whose hearts beat for unity in the labour movement and belongs to all Iranian labour unions,

says the UMMI.

UMMI website: http://sfelezkar.com

UMMI weblog: http://felezkar.com

UMMI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metalworkers

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Global fight for workers’ rights continues at Crown Holdings

February 5, 2015  IndustriALL Global Union stands firm with Crown workers all over the world fighting for their rights against the unscrupulous US-based multinational packaging producer.

Some 120 workers of Crown Holdings at the company plant in Toronto, Canada, who were all once awarded a top company honour for “dedication, commitment and personal accountability”, are now in the 17th month of a strike, which began in September 2013. Workers were forced to take strike action when Crown management demanded huge concessions, including a 42 per cent pay cut for new employees and permanent lower wage scale, trying to build even bigger profits on workers’ backs.

Last summer Crown made a miserable offer to the workers. While removing the demand for a two-tier wage system, the company demanded a 30 per cent cut of all wages instead. Workers overwhelmingly rejected this proposal by 117 to 1 vote.

IndustriALL has given solid support to its affiliate United Steelworkers, USW, which has launched a special campaign “Take-Backs No More!”.

In April 2014, IndustriALL and USW organized a special protest action in Philadelphia at the Crown annual general assembly of company shareholders. Further protest actions were staged in Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, and France.

However, instead of changing its behaviour Crown announced that it wants to replace three quarters of the workforce at its Toronto plant, even if the dispute is settled. It means that striking workers will lose their jobs.

In Turkey, Crown used gaps in local legislation to avoid negotiating with the officially-recognized bargaining counterpart, IndustriALL affiliate, Birlesik Metal-Is. The company rejected good faith negotiations, and in violation of principles of freedom of association, has dismissed union activists for no good reason.

In October last year, IndustriALL  with fellow global union, IUF, wrote to Crown’s customers denouncing the company’s dishonest behaviour towards its workers.

At the end of January 2015, Crown once again showed its ugly union busting face in Ghana. Without any preliminary discussion or warning, local management locked out 42 workers who are affiliated to IndustriALL through the Industrial & Commercial Workers’ Union, ICU. The workers staged protests in front of the closed factory demanding their severance packages that have been in discussion since last year and are determined to continue with protests until their claims are met.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary said:

“Our entire 50 million strong IndustriALL family stands in firm solidarity with Crown workers in Canada, Turkey and Ghana. We are determined to escalate our global campaign against Crown Holdings and we will challenge their union busting practices by all possible means at national and international level. We will continue to raise the issue with all their board members and major customers and suppliers, and will inform the general public about every single step they take.”

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Turkey: Time for global solidarity with metalworkers’ mass strike
Unions mobilize globally for workers’ rights at Holcim Lafarge
Miners protest against destruction of coal mining in Ukraine
Indonesia: Another fatality at the Grasberg mine
Citizens’ initiative to end zero-hours contracts in Finland

Turkey: Time for global solidarity with metalworkers’ mass strike

Jan 29, 2015  IndustriALL Global Union is mobilizing support for its affiliated union Birlesik Metal-Is in the sector-wide strike launched today, 29 January. The strike covers some 40 workplaces with 15,000 workers in Turkey’s metal industry.

Members of Birlesik Metal-Is voted to strike in rejection of an offered three-year collective agreement with the metal employers association MESS.

Priority demands of the strike include:

• Increasing the sector’s low salaries,
• Reducing the wide gap in pay between different job categories and seniority levels,
• And keeping the length of the agreement at two years instead of three.

IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan stated:

“The metal industry in Turkey can and must pay higher wages. We staunchly support our Birlesik sisters and brothers in their strong stand for fair and dignified salaries.”

The massive strike was kicked off at 9am this morning with loud and colourful marches, mobilizations, and pickets. Birlesik has divided the companies they organize into two groups; the strike began today at half of them, with workers at the second group to stop work on 19 February.

Five of the affected 40 companies organized by Birlesik attempted to manipulate the labour law by pressuring mainly white-collar employees to call for a workplace strike ballot at eight factories. All five strike ballots, run by the Labour Ministry, resoundingly supported the strike.

The majority of the companies are international suppliers headquartered in Germany, France, US, Holland, Japan and elsewhere. The companies produce electrical, heating, and mechanical systems. IndustriALL is contacting those multinationals to call on them to meet with the union and discuss workers’ demands in good faith.

Another common anti-union practice of employers in Turkey when their staff votes to strike is to request the government to postpone the strike by 60 days over so-called arguments about “public health” and “general security”. This bad labour law allows for a strike to be postponed if it risks public safety or security, and effectively bans the strike entirely.

All staff at Birlesik are going unpaid during the strike so that full resources can be committed to the action. IndustriALL Global Union will join the strike picket next week.

Click here to send your message of solidarity to the striking Birlesik members.

Unions mobilize globally for workers’ rights at Holcim Lafarge

Spain – Click here to see additional photos at IndustriALL.

Jan 26, 2015  Last week, on 15 January Lafarge and Holcim workers and their supporters in 30 countries organized a series of actions as part of a global campaign launched by IndustriALL Global Union, Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) and European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW).

On this day the message of “No merger without workers’ rights!” resonated globally. The campaign is in response to the failure of the two largest cement companies in the world to engage with trade unions on the effects of the merger on workers.

Over 7,000 protest messages with workers’ demands have already been delivered to the leadership of both companies through the web-based resource LabourStart. More electronic petitions in support of workers’ demands to the leadership of Lafarge and Holcim can be sent via www.labourstart.org/go/nomerger.

A number of trade unions in Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Uganda, and Zimbabwe used the opportunity of the global action day to outreach to workers at the various cement plants operated by Lafarge and Holcim.  Union leaders distributed flyers and explained the implications of the merger on the workers’ future.

In Colombia, France, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Nigeria, Philippines, and Romania unions mobilized workers and conducted pickets and rallies in front of the Lafarge and Holcim plants.  Following these actions, some of the unions held work stoppages surprising the company management.

Press conferences were organized by unions in Egypt, Nigeria, Mauritania, and Serbia resulting in significant national press coverage. Other countries where actions took place include Cambodia, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland and Thailand.

“The strong global mobilizations are indicative of the anger and frustration of the workers and trade unions at Lafarge and Holcim plants in being side-lined and not consulted throughout the entire merger process,”

stated Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of BWI.

“Workers are demanding respect and the first step would be for the Holcim and Lafarge management to include workers and trade unions as the merger moves forward.”

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union commented,

“We fully support the workers’ demands on guaranteeing the respect of existing collective agreements, and the conditions of workers in parts of the business that will be sold off, as wel as maintaining global level social dialogue and a framework agreement.”

The three unions will continue to coordinate further actions until their key demands are met by the Lafarge and Holcim.

Miners protest against destruction of coal mining in Ukraine

Jan 29, 2015  1,500 coal miners from IndustriALL Global Union affiliates across the Ukraine launched a protest action picketing the Cabinet of Ministers building today (28 January) in the capital Kiev.

Workers are demanding that the government reviews the state budget for 2015 and includes the necessary funding to pay wage arrears, save mining operations, improve health and safety, and restore social guarantees for workers and retirees in the industry.

Social benefits such as miners’ preferential taxation and free domestic fuel, have already been abolished, and a lower threshold for the pension taxation has been introduced. Some workers have not received their wages since August 2014. Wage arrears now amount to 600 million hryvnia (USD 38 million) and keep rising.

At the same time, the state budget is earmarking the closure of coal mining enterprises. The government’s decision to withdraw financial support will result in mass unemployment in the industry. More than 50,000 workers could lose their jobs and as many as 150,000 people, including workers’ families, could be without any income at all. Towns and villages where coal mining enterprises offer the only place to work, will be thrown into decline.

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union urged the Prime Minister of the country to review the state budget of Ukraine for 2015 in line with the demands of coal miners.

Indonesia: another fatality at the Grasberg mine

Jan 29, 2015  A mine worker was killed on 24 January at Rio Tinto’s minority-owned mine in Papua, Indonesia. This brings the death toll at the mine over the last two years to a staggering 39.

A worker at the Freeport copper and gold mine in the Indonesian province of Papua was killed in a workplace accident on 24 January.

Mining giant Rio Tinto, who owns a stake in the mine, is consistently failing to take public responsibility for the numerous deaths at this site. In internal e-mails to the staff following the two most recent fatal incidents at the mine, Rio Tinto’s CEO Sam Walsh even blames the workers themselves for the accidents, citing bad driving practices and workers being “complacent”.

The Freeport mine has a chequered history when it comes to work related accidents.

In May 2013, 28 mineworkers died at the mine in what was described as the worst mining accident in the history of Indonesia. The roof on a non-operational underground tunnel collapsed during a safety training session, killing 28 miners.

In September 2014, another five workers lost their lives in two separate fatal incidents at the mine.

IndustriALL Global Union Assistant General Secretary Kemal Özkan slams Rio Tinto’s blatant avoidance of responsibility:

“It is always very convenient for the company to blame the “careless worker” without addressing the workplace culture. Workplace safety culture comes from the top, with management overtly or subtly rewarding risk-taking in favour of production.

“Rio Tinto must own up to its responsibility as part-owner of the mine and stop treating workplace deaths lightly. It’s time to clean up, Rio Tinto!”

Citizens’ initiative to end zero-hours contracts in Finland

Jan 29, 2015  Zero-hours contracts should be outlawed, according to a citizens’ initiative aimed at the Finnish parliament. If the initiative succeeds in collecting 50,000 signatures, the Finnish Parliament will be forced to debate on the matter.

Behind the initiative are young trade union activists. “Zero-hours contracts and part-time work are a reality for many young workers,” says Tatu Tuomela, Youth Secretary of the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions, SAK.

These are contracts where the weekly working hours vary from zero to 40, and give employers the possibility to hire staff with no guarantee of work. Employees therefore work only when they are needed and don’t usually know in advance how many hours to expect.

Young activists have started Operaatio vakiduuni (Operation steady job) to fight against zero-hours contracts. They are demanding that zero-hours contracts are outlawed and that part-time jobs should guarantee at least 18 hours of work per week.

Other demands include more advanced notice on working hours, better unemployment benefit for part-time workers and more rights for people working for temporary work agencies.

The citizens’ initiative is one part of the campaign. If a minimum of 50,000 Finnish citizens of voting age submit an initiative to the Parliament to pass an act. The initiative must include a bill or a proposal to start drafting legislation and the reasons for the proposal. There is a six month time period to collect signatures.

IndustriALL Global Union has an on-going campaign to STOP Precarious Work – to combat the growing trend of full-time workforces being replaced by temporary, part-time, agency and on-call workers.

The post IndustriALL Headlines #126, January 29, 2015 appeared first on IAMAW.

IndustriALL signs Global Union Agreement with Total
Why won’t Roche stop the abuse of workers making their product?
Framework agreements signed by Polish miners and government
Turkey: Remarkable achievement for precarious textile workers
NUM strike upholds rights at Northam Platinum

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ILO’s Guy Ryder applauds the signing of the IndustriALL/Total agreement in Davos.  Source: WEF/Benedikt von Loebell

IndustriALL signs global union agreement with Total

Jan 22, 2015 IndustriALL Global Union has signed a landmark agreement with Total, the French oil and gas giant, guaranteeing employee rights across the company’s international operations.

As part of the agreement with IndustriALL, Total, which employs 100,000 workers in more than 130 countries, pledges to:

• Uphold the rights of workers to form trade unions
• Act with complete neutrality in dealing with unions and exclude any form of discrimination against employees based on union activity
• Take all necessary measures to encourage social dialogue with workers
• Recognize that health and safety of contractor and supplier employees is as important as the health and safety of its own staff
• Defend the right of freedom of expression guaranteeing that no one should be harassed on account of his or her opinions
• Ensure that maternity absences have no negative impact on employees’ pay or career progression
• Provide Life insurance for all Total employees

Furthermore, Total agrees to promote the agreement among the many suppliers and contractors in its supply chain, even going so far as to terminate contracts with those who do not comply.

Jyrki Raina stated:

“We applaud Total for its commitment to better rights and conditions for workers. IndustriALL’s agreement with Total makes it clear that trade union rights and freedoms must be upheld across the company’s operations and throughout its global supply chain. Total promises to act in strict neutrality in its relations with unions and is prepared to terminate contracts with suppliers if they breach the agreement. It sends a strong message to Total’s suppliers and provides new levels of protection for workers.”

A committee including representatives from Total, IndustriALL and its trade union affiliates will meet annually to ensure the agreement is implemented.

“I am pleased to sign this first agreement with IndustriALL Global Union, which is designed to extend the Group’s tradition of corporate social responsibility to all of our operations around the world through quality social dialogue and insurance coverage for employees,” said Total’s Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Pouyanné.  

The agreement also abides by the guiding principles on Business and Human Rights approved by the United Nations Human Rights Council, as well as key ILO Conventions on freedom of association, equal pay, discrimination and child labour.

ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, praised the agreement between IndustriALL and Total:

“I am pleased to witness the signature of this agreement between Total and IndustriALL Global Union, an organization that represents millions of workers around the world and that contributes extensively to the fight for better working conditions and for the respect of labour union rights. Companies such as Total have a major role to play in promoting decent working conditions in their host countries and in ensuring that their employees benefit from tangible measures to improve their work life.”

Contact: Leonie Guguen, Communications and Media Officer, IndustriALL Global Union. Tel: +41 (0)22 308 50 24 Mobile: +41 (0) 79 137 54 36. Email: lguguen@industriall-union.org

www.industriall-union.org

What is a global framework agreement?

Multinational companies operate in many locations with many fully or part-owned subsidiaries, and often rely on hundreds or even thousands of suppliers.

Global framework agreements are negotiated between IndustriALL and multinational companies to protect the rights and working conditions of people at all stages of a multinational company’s global supply chain, including people working for suppliers and contractors.

Why won’t Roche stop the abuse of workers making their product?

Jan 22, 2015  “Let me tell you four things: Do not record this. There will never be a union in this workplace. Leave the union now and get a 30 per cent pay rise. Stay in the union and get sacked.” This was the announcement made by Deva Holdings management to workers after the Turkish Labour Ministry ordered the company to recognize the workers’ trade union.

Pharmaceuticals giant Roche has failed to intervene and stop its Turkish business partner, Deva Holdings, carrying out an aggressive attack on workers’ attempts to form a union.

IndustriALL Global Union called on Roche to intervene at a critical juncture at the end of November when a response to the Labour Ministry edict was needed.

Roche sent its Turkish management to meet Deva in mid-December. Roche concluded however that Deva was acting in compliance with Turkish law, regardless of international law and Roche’s sustainability and compliance commitments. Roche failed to address the mass sackings and other grave labour rights violations.

Since the Turkish Labour Ministry instructed Deva to begin collective bargaining with Petrol-?? as its recognized bargaining partner on 14 October, the company management has continued sacking trade union members, given pay rises to workers leaving the union, threatened further action against anyone refusing to quit the union, tampered with Labour Ministry classifications to skew the bargaining unit, and built up a climate of fear and intimidation inside the workplace.

IndustriALL affiliated Petrol-?? has filed a court case against these actions, but during the delay Deva continues to sack union members and offer pay rises to those who quit the union. The first court hearing of this case will be 1 April 2015.

Deva began the year 2015 with the same behaviour, sacking union members Sercan Kambur and Can Topçu on 8 and 9 January respectively. See the table of all 32 Deva employees who have been sacked since 20 June simply for being members of the union.

IndustriALL general secretary Raina wrote to Roche on 20 January:

“The simple fact is that a considerable portion of Deva’s workforce is being treated without dignity and respect, and aggressively denied their right to join and be represented by a union. This situation should be unacceptable to Roche, both instinctively and in compliance with your company’s sustainability and compliance commitments.

IndustriALL will be forced to escalate a public campaign if the situation is not remedied by the end of February.”

The Deva management has been sent thousands of protest messages as part of a global LabourStart campaign supporting the Deva workers.

In the years following Deva’s 2010 union busting of Petrol-?? at the three sites in Çerkezköy, Kartepe and the Topkap? area of Istanbul, working conditions have deteriorated. Workers have suffered non-payment of wage increments, harassment, wrongful dismissals, and poor occupational health and safety. These worsening conditions moved the workers to rejoin Petrol-?? in 2014.

Framework agreements signed by Polish miners and government

Poland’s Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz and Dominik Kolorz, President of Silesian Solidarity.

Jan 21, 2015  January has seen 2,000 miners in Poland protesting against government plans to close a number of mines in the country. On 17 January, a framework agreement was reached between the trade unions and the government, putting an end to the protests.

After 11 days of protests, Poland’s Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz and representatives from all trade unions in the mining sector signed the framework agreement. It guarantees the involvement of the energy sector in restructuring the mining sector, the transfer of four mines to a mine restructuring company, as well as the possibility of selling the mines to investors.

The agreement also opens for talks on a new collective bargaining agreement for the mining sector, state aid for energy-intensive industries and the reindustrialization program for the Silesia and Malopolska Region. There will also be negotiations on the future of Polish industry and jobs.

Social dialogue between the government and the trade unions will continue.

Dariusz Trzcionka, President of IndustriALL affiliate KADRA said:

“The success of the negotiations would not have been possible without the support and solidarity of workers, residents, local governments, European and international trade unions, IndustriALL and the Polish trade unions. We thank you for supporting the miners in these difficult times!”

Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said on the agreement:

“I wanted to thank you for a good, healthy compromise. Good is not for us, but for the future of Polish mining.”

Turkey: Remarkable achievement for precarious textile workers

Jan 21, 2015   IndustriALL Global Union’s Turkish affiliate DISK-Tekstil has achieved an unprecedented step forward at Greif Enterprises, an American packaging company, by making more than 1,200 contract workers permanent through an agreement between the union and the company.

DISK-Tekstil have made their struggle against sub-contracting a priority and through their strategic work managed to put an end to the sub-contracting system in place at Greif Enterprises in Turkey.

“The sub-contracting system has become prevalent in the industrial and service sectors in Turkey. The informal economy thrives off it; it triggers unfairness in wages; increases social vulnerability; endangers occupational health and safety; and lowers the quality of the product and service,”

said Ridvan Budak, General Manager of DISK-Textile Workers’ Union

“The struggle against sub-contracting has become one of the primary objectives of our union. With the regulations on our collective labour agreement, we have made progress.”

A consulting firm by the name of StratejiCo was called in to carry out research on the internal operations at the four Greif plants. The firm’s findings clearly showed the benefits of making contract workers permanent and further reinforced the union’s demands.

In line with the collective labour agreements signed between DISK-Tekstil and Greif FPS management, they succeeded to resolve the sub-contracting issue at four plants in total, including the two Greif subsidiaries Sunjut and Unsa.

Following the decision between the union and management, an action plan was put into place to facilitate the transition of the contract workers to permanent worker status. As permanent staff of Greif, they will benefit from the collective labour agreement in place.

FACTS

In 2010, Greif acquired the top three producers of flexible intermediate bulk containers, and a large regional distributor of the “big bags.” Storsack, Unsa and Sunjut, along with Benelux-based distributor Ligtermoet, which make up Greif’s Flexible Products & Services business segment. (http://www.greif.com/company/history/)

NUM strike upholds rights at Northam Platinum

Jan 22, 2015  A 6-day strike by 5,000 members of South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) at Northam Platinum ended on 20 January after workers’ accepted a draft memorandum of understanding developed with management.  

Protesting workers at Northam’s Zondereinde mine in South Africa were unhappy at management plans to unilaterally change recruitment and sick note policies.

“There were clear indications to divide, weaken and reverse all the progressive policies that are regulating the employment relations at Northam Platinum Mine. (For example) workers discovered that a white female employee was employed without following proper procedures. When management was alerted to this malpractice they tried to justify it. Employees further demonstrated against this practice. Management responded by threatening disciplinary action without dealing with the actual issues,” said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, NUM, says the company also attempted to discipline workers who had valid sick notes and force them to work while they are injured or unwell.

“Workers were also subjected to unfair dismissals for being on valid sick leave. We suspect that management wanted to alter these policies for intentions known to them without informing the union leadership and without following the due processes,” Baleni added.

As a result of negotiations, a draft memorandum of understanding was accepted by the workers, in which the parties have agreed the following:

• To jointly design a process with no conditions or pre-conditions, which will focus on issues raised prior to and during the strike
• That the Peace and Stability Framework will be adhered to.
• Not to dwell on the past but commit to a multi-stakeholder healing process aimed at resetting the relationship
• Both parties must appeal for peace and industrial relations stability
• That the above agreement will be effected on the proviso that all striking employees must return to work

Northam Platinum produces around 1,000 ounces of platinum group metals per day, which is 65 per cent of the mining company’s total output.

The post IndustriALL Headlines #125, January 22, 2015 appeared first on IAMAW.