CHILE: Thirty national and regional leaders of IMF trade union affiliates in Chile participated in a debate on the impact of trade agreements on Chile as part of a series of seminars and workshops organised by the Trade Union Strengthening Project that IMF has organised with its affiliates in the country.

The workshop on free trade agreements analysed the consequences and impact of free trade on employment and labour rights. This is part of an ongoing debate among IMF affiliates in the region and workshops on this issue were previously organised in Argentina and Brazil. The workshop discussed the results of a study conducted by the research unit CENDA (Centro de Estudios Nacionales de Desarrollo Alternativo) and the Instituto Observatorio Social in Brazil, with additional contributions by the IMF and its Chilean affiliates.

The study highlighted the open nature of the Chilean economy with regard to trade and the movement of capital. This means the country is not protected and the multiplicity of agreements signed by Chile (approximately 30 free trade agreements) means that it does not change the situation very much if it concedes new access facilities. The study emphasises that Chile lacks a strategy for regional integration.

More specifically, metalworking has been one of the sectors most affected by the opening up of the economy during the last decade because it was mainly focused on trade in Latin America and production for the internal market. The free trade agreements signed by Chile with the United States and Asian countries, resulted in unequal competition between imports and national production and promoted the outsourcing of the workforce.

There has been a massive increase in subcontracting.  In 2006, the number of metalworking companies  subcontracting work had risen to 53.3%, although trade union data indicates that as many as two-thirds of workers are employed by subcontractors. Subcontracting has resulted in a high incidence of outsourcing and this casualisation of the workforce has led to poorer health and safety and working conditions. Subcontracting is also a major cause of division among workers.

Carla Coletti, IMF International Officer, said the workshop had provided an opportunity for an in-depth debate and "recommendations for action were made to promote a detailed analysis of the issues, disseminate information to workers, progress the debate among IMF affiliates in Chile and mobilise workers to focus on the country’s strategic development on the basis of an exchange of experience with metalworking unions from other countries, particularly the South, within a framework of solidarity between metalworkers at national, regional and global levels."

* For more information, see the section on Trade, Employment and Development. The study will be available on our website within a few days.

CHILE:  One national and three regional workshops have been held in Chile as part of the IMF project to strengthen affiliated trade unions in Chile. The project’s main objective is to strengthen metalworking trade unions, promote cooperation between affiliated trade unions at the national level and strengthen trade union unity.

Participants at the national workshop, held in Santiago on July 29, analysed the results of the regional workshops (Antofagasta, Concepción and Santiago), which focused on collective bargaining, evaluated trade union participation in the project and identified the issues to be dealt with at forthcoming meetings. They concluded that the discussions and exchange of information generated by the workshops were positive and emphasised the importance of unity for achieving project objectives.

Marino Vani, IMF assistant regional representative and project coordinator, explained that the workshop’s objective was to analyse trade union negotiations and the current situation in Chile so that at forthcoming meetings they could go on to develop proposals to deal with the problems facing trade unionism at the national level.

Participants at the workshops stressed the importance of negotiating collective agreements by company and sector and a national collective agreement for the metalworking sector as a whole. They hope these objectives can be achieved by strengthening the trade unions but warned that structural and cultural changes to trade unionism are required as well as changes to national legislation that would guarantee national collective bargaining, remove restrictions on the right to strike and the repeal of laws that promote the atomisation of the trade union movement.

The IMF project to strengthen trade unions, implemented with the support of the Swedish trade union IF Metall, and which is also being implemented in Colombia, is to consolidate and strengthen affiliated trade unions in a context in which workers in these two countries have encountered problems in building their unions and achieving unity.

 

INDONESIA: Almost 300 permanent workers at a motorcycle plant in Indonesia are facing losing wages and their jobs after a major shareholder in the company was charged with fraud and fled the country.

PT Kymco Lippo Motor Indonesia is a joint-venture between 75 per cent majority shareholder Kwang Yang Motor Company (Taiwan) and 25 per cent shareholder PT Lippo (Indonesia). Production at the plant began to drop in September 2008 and stopped completely in October 2008. Management informed the workers, members of IMF-affiliate Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia (FSPMI), the stoppage was due to a problem with the supply of parts.

However, when a parts supplier filed legal proceedings against the company for failure to settle payments due, PT Lippo discovered that the Taiwanese management was mismanaging the company. The High Court in Jakarta later found the Taiwanese partner guilty of fraud and ordered damages for a sum of US$20 million in favour of PT Lippo and, pending the full settlement of the damages, the court ordered that company President Mr. Su Kou Chang be remanded in prison. Before the court order could be executed, the President of the company fled from Indonesia. 

The company’s operation stopped completely in October 2008 and the 300 workers have been locked out since then. The workers continued to receive their wages until April 2009. The Department of Labour at Bekasi, Indonesia has ordered the company to pay the workers but the Indonesian shareholder has refused to comply with this order and the Taiwanese majority shareholder has absconded.

The FSPMI issued a notice to the local shareholder that if this industrial dispute is not settled soon it would proceed to auction off the assets of the company and pay the workers their due compensation. IMF Regional Representative Arunasalam delivered messages of solidarity during a visit to the plant in July.

CANADA:  More than 5,000 members of the United Steelworkers went on strike on July 13 in defense of theirs jobs and conditions achieved over 20 years at Vale Inco, the Canadian operations of Brazilian multinational Vale.

The workers went on strike after the company would only accept to renew the collective agreement if the workers represented by USW agreed to a drastic reduction in conditions and increased job insecurity. Despite having made US$13.2 billion profit last year, and currently with US$22 billion in cash assets on hand, Vale’s final offer insisted on creating a two-tiered pension plan, slashing the nickel bonus and seriously damaging seniority rights.

The members belonging to USW locals in Sudbury, Port Colborne and Voisey’s Bay have created a campaign website at www.FairDealNOW.ca where details and updates about the dispute are available. In a letter to the community published on their website the striking USW members write, "Vale, the new owner who currently is a massively profitable multinational from Brazil, has chosen to use the current economic conditions as simply an excuse to extract deep long-term cuts with little regard for maintaining the family incomes that sustain our communities."

The IMF, affiliates CNM-CUT and USW, and other unions present in Vale are continuing to work together in support of the striking USW members and urge you to also show solidarity by sending letters of support to the workers in Canada. A copy of a template letter is published on the IMF website.

Send letters to:

• USW Local 6500 (Sudbury)
• USW Local 6200 (Port Colborne)
• USW Local 9508 (Voisey’s Bay)

By email to: [email protected] or [email protected]  

or

By fax to: +1 416 487 8479

Please send copies to IMF at: [email protected]

Or by fax to: +41 22 308 5055

INDONESIA: FSPMI union representatives and Toshiba Indonesia management met to discuss the dispute at the Toshiba Consumer Products Indonesia plant for the first time on July 25 following intensive international solidarity support from the International Metalworkers’ Federation and its affiliates, particularly the IMF-JC.

More than 700 members of IMF-affiliate Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia (FSPMI) went on strike at PT Toshiba Consumer Products Indonesia on April 16 after the company refused to recognize the collective labour agreement signed both by the union and management. Toshiba Indonesia also fired 15 elected trade union leaders at the plant despite stern recommendations from the Indonesian government to withdraw threats of employment termination.

A delegation of trade union leaders from Toshiba Japan and the IMF-JC travelled to Indonesia on July 23 to meet with Toshiba Indonesia management and support FSPMI in reaching a solution to the dispute. Following this intervention, a first meeting between the company and FSPMI was held where both parties stated their commitment to seeking a solution to the dispute as quickly as possible. It is expected that union and company representatives will continue to meet at the negotiating table in the coming days.

Throughout this process the IMF and its affiliates are strongly supporting FSPMI and its 700 members on strike in Indonesia and are preparing to take further action against the company if the dispute is not resolved. You can donate funds to the striking workers, who have been without wages or health insurance for more than three months, through the secure PayPal system on the IMF website here.

More than 700 members of IMF-affiliate, Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia (FSPMI), went on strike at PT Toshiba Consumer Products Indonesia on 16 April after the company refused to recognize the collective labour agreement signed both by the union and management.

Toshiba management announced a lock-out, then termination of the contracts of the workers, including 15 elected trade union leaders at the plant. Vonny Diananto, Senior Vice President of FSPMI, and Aghni Dhamayanti, FSMPI Vice President and IMF Executive Committee member are among those on strike.

The situation intensified on 5 May when police and 30 hired thugs attacked strikers outside the company gates.

Toshiba has withheld wages since April and terminated the health care coverage of all strikers, a move that is illegal under Indonesian labour law. The company is also suing strikers for 1.6 million in lost business — a clear tactic to intimidate and silence the workers.

Management has filed criminal charges against Aghni for "conducting unpleasant activity" and "property damages".  A police investigation concluded in June and Agni’s case is now in the hands of the prosecutor’s office which has the authority to arrest her at any time.

Toshiba Indonesia has also filed suit against the workers for some $1.6 million USD in lost business. The union has filed a counter criminal suit against Toshiba for union busting (unfair dismissals, non-payment of salaries, and intimidation of union leaders) under Indonesia’s Law for Freedom of Association of Trade Unions.

The IMF is asking affiliates to take urgent action in the following ways:

• Donate to the Toshiba Indonesia Workers’ STRIKE FUND.
• Call on Toshiba CEO Norio Sasaki to respect workers’ rights at all Toshiba plants worldwide.
• Alert the UN Global Compact board of Toshiba’s failure to adhere to Global Compact commitments.
• Organise actions at Toshiba or the Japanese Embassy in your home country.
• Send protest letters to the OECD contact point in your respective country.
• Send a letter of solidarity to FSPMI members on strike at Toshiba Indonesia.

Cameroon: Women are in precarious employment and have less and less access to full-time jobs.  There are wage differences between precarious and non-precarious workers and women and young people are worst affected.  Companies don’t want to recruit workers directly.  The union has been able to get casual workers made permanent.

Namibia: Workers in EPZs work only for 3 years.  They are mostly men while women work as receptionists and cleaners.  Unions lobbied government against agency work and now a new labour act which outlaws labour hire and has massive fines takes effect on September 1.  Employers are still lobbying against it.  Currently the union is negotiating in a company of 160 workers for the 100 agency workers to be employed in accordance with the labour law.

Ghana: There are not many women in the metal sector. In the participant’s company, workers were employed for up to 10 years as casuals. When legislation came in forcing companies to make workers permanent after 3 months, the long-term casuals were given the choice of leaving the company and taking an ex gratia payment for lost benefits over the ten years or keeping a job but losing all seniority with the company.  Most women opted for the latter. Casuals do not have safety equipment while permanent workers do.  Women casuals are subject to sexual harassment — they are asked for favours to get work.

Swaziland: Precarious employment is normal practice with agency work and temps.  Pay is unequal and they are not in the union.  The union has mainstreamed precarious work in collective bargaining and forced employers to take responsibility for subcontracted employees.  Collective bargaining is their main method for dealing with precarious employment.

Kenya: Women work as messengers, tea girls, receptions, secretaries and telephone operators.  Union membership is declining because of precarious work.  We are calling for a law change to get rid of casual work.

Zambia: Agency hire is the main method of precarious employment, especially in supermarkets and the building industry.  Employers take advantage of women to pay low wages.  Probationary periods are abused — workers can go 10 years with no confirmation given and are not allowed to join unions.  The union ran an education campaign on casualisation in 5 companies in each region.  T-shirts were printed ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’. They got to see the Minister of Labour who wrote the union a letter giving them permission to enter mines and recruit casual workers.

South Africa: NUMSA- Labour hire is the most common method of precarious employment.  Agencies are registered under different bargaining councils and undermine conditions.  Most labour hire workers are in assembly.  Indirect production workers are outsourced eg. cleaning and catering.  The law is that after 12 months the primary employer must make agency workers permanent, but the agencies lay people off before they reach the 12 months.  Women are not doing skilled jobs or receiving training.  A common practice is to keep people working for years on temporary contracts with breaks in employment between each one.  Workers are often sacked before they qualify for benefits suchas family responsibility leave or unemployment benefits.
MEWUSA – Agency workers sometimes only come in for 2-3 hours then are sent home, only to wait weeks to be brought in again for a couple of days.  Favouritism dictates who gets the work.  Precarious workers are forced to sign a document saying that they won’t join the union or attend meetings.

Tanzania: All features of precarious work are present in the country. EPZs are mainly textiles — young girls are employed and sacked when they get pregnant.  There is no sick leave or maternity leave.  The union has produced materials specific to the industry to promote TUICO.  They hope soon to be given access to recruit inside the EPZ.  Women are working as sweepers, parking attendants and security guards.  Women went into precarious work when men were retrenched from full-time work and they had to make a living for their families.

Mozambique: Big companies use contract services for cleaning, transport etc.  These workers do not benefit from agreements made with the principal companies.  They have 1-3 month contracts and low salaries are typical. Most employers do not recognise unions.  The union is educating workers not to sign precarious agreements.

Angola and Zimbabwe:Women are mainly in the informal economy with no labour rights.

In the discussions that followed, a key issue that arose was women’s capacity to influence the agenda within their own unions.  Improving this was seen as a key strategy towards taking actions for women precarious workers.  Precarious work was identified as a factor in the fight against poverty, as well as unemployment.  Apart from NUMSA, the participants were unaware of actions their unions are planning for the Global Day of Action on Precarious Work on October 7 2008.  NUMSA will be campaigning with COSATU on poverty eradication, job creation and job protection — precarious work is an element in this.

Participants then identified the most important action that their unions should take in order to tackle precarious work for women.  These showed different priorities, based on national circumstances.  The identified priorities are:

South Africa: NUMSA identified outlaw labour brokers as a priority, whilst MEWUSA said that management should be approached to recognise precarious workers rights (MEWUSA)
Namibia: Union to earmark funds for women’s activities
Zambia: Amend labour laws
Cameroon: Implement existing labour laws
Tanzania: Collective bargaining coverage should be extended to avoid casualisation
Mozambique: Educate workers on rights
Angola: Use collective bargaining to reduce precarious work
Ghana: Organising strategy for women precarious workers that leads to collective bargaining
Kenya: Identify women for leadership positions.
Zimbabwe: No strategy is possible because of current political crisis

It was decided that these priorities should be considered in the discussions that were to follow on the development on a way forward of the IMF gender project for the region.

Article based on a report by Jenny Holdcroft, IMF Director fir Equal Rights and EPZs.

KOREA: Over 3000 armed riot police with use of water cannons, ladder trucks and helicopters, have stormed Ssangyong Motor Pyeongtaek plant where some 800 laid off workers have been holding a sit-in strike for 61 days after the company announced mass dismissals without notice or union input.

The sit-in strikers, members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), are currently located in the paint shop building of the plant. 

A recent report from the KMWU shows the urgency of the situation. "This morning, riot police surrounding the paint shop narrowed the perimeter from 100 meters to 70 meters. Riot police have been dropping teargas on the sit-in protestors by helicopter since this morning and all day, toward evening, they began the operation to take out the sit-in protesters. The situation is getting extremely urgent and we are not sure how long the sit-in strikers can hold out. It is already 8:30 pm here, and the operation is continuing despite the fact the sun has set and amid a protest gathering outside the plant."

Workers have been cut off from water, food and medical supplies for more than a week. On July 16, riot police used excessive force and rampant arrest to block KMWU unionists and family members from delivering basic supplies to the strikers. A total of 82 were arrested and held for two days.

Strikers’ families have reported that company managers are visiting workers’ homes and threatening family members with the imprisonment of their spouses and confiscation of their homes and assets to pay the company back damages for the strike.

Under Korea’s current criminal law Penal Code 314, employers can pursue imprisonment or initiate enormous lawsuits against individuals and unions for "Obstruction of Business".  According to the KMWU, Ssangyong Motors is targeting 192 unionists to sue for obstruction of business, two KMWU officials have been arrested and another 15 arrest warrants have been issued for KMWU officers related to this strike action.

Ssangyong Motor has repeatedly violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement, including unilaterally stopping all payment of welfare provisions in the CBA and failing to pay wages for production workers dating back to March.

The IMF is urgently requesting IMF affiliates to take action in support of Ssangyong Motor workers on strike by sending letters to local Korean embassies or consulates urging the Korean government to end its use of violence and repression to solve industrial disputes and immediately call off the riot police currently surrounding the Ssangyang Motors plant, withdraw all lawsuits and charges against KMWU members supporting the strike, and urge negotiations between government, the company and the KMWU for a fair and just resolution.

RUSSIA: A German delegation headed by Berthold Huber,  IG Metall president and president of International Metalworkers’ Federation, accompanied by representatives of  VW and ThyssenKrupp Steel Works Councils paid visit to Russia 6-11 July.

In meeting with Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, Berthold Huber informed him about the role German trade unions are playing during the current economic crisis. Huber also raised with Putin the growing concern among the IMF and IMF affiliates about recent attacks against Russian trade union leaders and asked Putin to ensure that the crimes are thoroughly and transparently investigated.

In February 2009, Eugeny Ivanov, leader of the IMF-affiliated Russian Interregional Trade Union (ITUA) local union at the GM plant near St. Petersburg was assaulted outside his home and in June and July 2008, ITUA local union leaders Alexei Gramm and Sergey Bryzgalov were attacked in Taganrog. ITUA union leader Alexey Etmanov was also attacked in November 2008 in Vsevolozhsk.

To date, no one has been charged with any of these violent crimes.

The delegation paid visit to the VW plant in Kaluga. Within the plant the delegation met plant management, ITUA activists and members of the Automobile and Farm Machinery Workers’ Union of Russia (AFW).

Representatives of both unions raised similar issues. ITUA informed the delegation about their demands to the  VW management. 

Negotiations on a number of issues should start soon. Both unions and IG Metall agreed on further contact and cooperation between trade unions’ representatives at the plant level at Volkswagen in Russia and Germany, recognizing that an exchange of information is important for both sides.

At the visit’s end Huber and Mikhail Tarassenko, President of the Miners’ and Metallurgical Workers’ Union of Russia (MMWU) and a member of the IMF Executive Committee took part in a press-conference that was held at the national information agency RIA-Novosti and was nationally broadcasted.

MEXICO:  Leaders of mining and metal workers’ unions from around the world condemned the Mexican government’s failure to bring justice to the families of the 65 mineworkers who died in an explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine on 19 February 2006.

"The Mexican labor authorities are guilty of a triple failure," said Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF).  "They failed to prevent the disaster at Pasta de Conchos, they have failed to accomplish justice for the families of the victims, and they have failed to take the necessary measures to prevent future disasters."

A special committee of the International Labor Organization (ILO), in a report issued in April, concluded that "the Government of Mexico did not do all that was reasonably expected of it to avoid or minimize the effects of the Accident which had such devastating effects with the loss of life of as many as 65 miners."

The union leaders from Argentina, Canada, Peru, South Africa, and the United States met with family members of the victims and with the rescue team that is working to recover the 63 bodies that remain entombed in the mine. At the entrance to the mine, they placed wreaths in memory of the workers who died.

"Mineworkers around the world are one family," said Tim Baker, an occupational health and safety specialist for the United Mineworkers of America.  "We mourn the deaths of our brothers at Pasta de Conchos and we are outraged that Grupo Mexico and the labor authorities who are responsible for their deaths have gone unpunished, while the government continues to attack the Mineworkers’ Union."

United Steelworkers District 3 Director Steve Hunt pledged his union’s support for the families’ effort to recover the bodies of the victims, and challenged other unions to commit their resources to the cause.

The delegation was organized by the IMF, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), and the United Steelworkers.