BELARUS: A two-day international trade union forum held in Minsk on April 5-6 to discuss trade union repression in Belarus has called on the government there to take immediate steps to comply with recent International Labour Organisation conclusions and recommendations concerning breaches of ILO Conventions on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
Belarus trade union officials reported that at the same time as government authorities are assuring the ILO in Geneva that they are rectifying the situation, additional instructions to limit trade union rights are being given in Belarus.
An official of the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association, in Minsk, stated that “the ILO will have to take appropriate measures up to the introduction of sanctions” should the Belarus government not live up to its assurances.
The two-day meeting in Minsk was organised by the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities in conjunction with the Belarus trade unions and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Since the Asian financial crisis in 1997, occupational health and safety in the Korean shipbuilding industry is basically being ignored, as attention is focused on improving productivity, to the exclusion of all else.
Furthermore, where production has been increased, no fulltime additional labour is employed, and the total employment figures have remained unchanged for the last ten years.
However, where it is necessary to take on additional workers, companies resort to using higher levels of sub-contract labour, who receive much lower wage levels and have significantly worse working conditions, and the unions claim that the government has encouraged the companies to do so.
Where the unions have sought to organise the workers employed by sub-contract companies, the employer, on finding out that the sub-contracted workers have joined or formed a trade union, simply terminates its contract with the sub-contract company, and then seeks out another sub-contractor whose workers are not organised.
While the legal working week is still 44 hours, with every other Saturday off, many of those working in the bigger shipyards have negotiated a 42-hour working week, but the average actually being worked is between 56 and 58 hours per week. In addition, many workers do not take their holiday entitlement, preferring to receive the extra money they get for working overtime, which is 50 per cent.
The unions report that workers who suffer from back injuries or from some form of stress-related illness are not classified as incurring occupational injuries or illnesses; therefore, they are not entitled to receive any sickness benefits. Furthermore, some workers who become ill are dismissed and then do not receive any form of sickness benefits or payment from the company which employed them.
This serious situation is made much more difficult by virtue of the fact that the fulltime trade union officials are not allowed to become involved in OH&S activities in any of the companies.
It should also be pointed out that sub-contract workers account for in excess of 50 per cent of the workforce in most of the unionised shipyards.
The unions would very much like to have the opportunity to make contact with workers in European shipyards to learn about OH&S provisions in other countries, and the IMF will try to help organise such visits.

SPAIN/FRANCE: On March 28, a joint declaration concerning ETA terrorism was issued by six trade union organisations in Spain and France: the Spanish CC.OO. and the UGT, and the French CFDT, FO, CGT and UNSA. This declaration, supported by the European Trade Union Confederation and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, is reprinted here in extenso.

FOR FREEDOM AND AGAINST TERRORISM
Faced with the intensification of terrorism perpetrated by the terrorist group ETA, the trade unions who signed the Joint Declaration,
– Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT),
– Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT),
– Force Ouvrière (FO),
– Union Nationale des Syndicats Autonomes (UNSA),
– Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT),
– Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO.),
declare the following:
– The defence of the right to life, the freedom for all citizens, the struggle against all forms of totalitarism, are basic for all workers and their union organisations. We express our deepest solidarity with all terrorist victims, their families and the social sector affected.
We commit ourselves to the promotion of as many social initiatives as necessary among the workers of the Basque Country, the rest of Spain and France in order to fight against ETA’s terrorism and to defend human rights, democracy and civil rights.
– ETA’s violence and the organisations it controls is directed preferably, in this last period, against important members and elected representatives of the two main political parties (PP and PSOE), as well as against journalists and members of the security forces, and no social sector which opposes such barbarity is free from its threats. It is important to bear in mind the fact that various trade unionists have been assassinated and trade union offices attacked. Moreover, a large number of persons threatened, among them university teachers, intellectuals, and artists, have had to abandon the Basque Country. A criminal violence is exercised against normal citizens for thinking in a different way from ETA. This way of acting, indignant and intolerable, is comparable to fascist methods.
ETA’s terrorism and the violence that it generates are used, as instruments for political action and these are inadmissible forms of totalitarism aimed at preventing the exercise of freedom and democracy, and imposing on citizens and the Basque society, a totalitarian project.
As members of the European Trade Union Confederation, we will be promoting in its headquarters and among all European trade unions, as well as in the international sphere, the information and debate necessary so that workers and citizens of the Basque Country and those that suffer from ETA’s terrorist campaign receive adequate support and solidarity on the part of workers and the entire international trade union movement.
– We are calling on all nationalist political parties inside and outside the Basque Country to defend their ideas by democratic means and to work within the political and institutional framework existing in the European Union, France and Spain, which guarantee the defence of any democratic political objective.
– We ask all trade union organisations that share our democratic values to break their allegiance with trade unions, social and political organisations that act within the context of ETA.
– We urge the unconditional dissolution of the ETA terrorist group. The Basque social and political organisations worried about their culture and identity should defend their political objective exclusively through democratic channels. There is no political objective that could be legitimately endorsed in democracy by means of coercion and assassination.
All political programmes or objectives are acceptable if they form part of the debate on ideas, in the respect for democracy and in the framework of rights and constitutional methods that guarantee equality between citizens.
This contributes in giving more strength and legitimacy to all projects within society.
In a democratic society no objective justifies the use of terrorist action and assassination as a means of self legitimation.
– The trade unions who signed this declaration, and who have traditionally been active participants in the struggle for democratic freedom, in the defence of workers and citizens interests, endorse it because we consider that on this occasion one has to act again in order to defend freedom and fundamental human rights.

KOREA, REP: On behalf of 23 million metalworkers worldwide – amongst them millions of autoworkers – represented by IMF-affiliated organisations, IMF General Secretary Marcello Malentacchi has once again written to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung about the still unresolved fate of Daewoo Motor Co. and its workers. Not only does the future of Daewoo Motor continue to be uncertain, which is a great source of concern to Korean autoworkers, but the situation has been aggravated by the fact that unions are being excluded from consultations about the fate of the company.
“Our view,” writes Malentacchi, “has always been that consultation and dialogue of all parties concerned is the best way to find solutions.” The IMF general secretary is urging the South Korean president to see to it that trade unions are immediately included in talks for resolving the situation. Instead of prolonging the current crisis, this would most likely lead to an equitable resolution of the crisis.
As a basic principle of the trade union movement, Malentacchi says that “no matter what solution is found, the parties in control of Daewoo Motor management, be they government representatives, private enterprises or both, must negotiate any change in employment levels, wages and working conditions with the affected unions.”
The IMF is keeping a close watch on the evolution of the Daewoo situation.

KOREA, Rep: During the recently held meeting of the IMF Shipbuilding Working Group, in Mok-po, the IMF-affiliated Federation of Korean Metalworkers' Trade Unions reported that work in the shipbuilding industry is second only to construction as the most dangerous occupation in South Korea.

According to the Korean Ministry of Labour, in 1999, 957 workers were injured in accidents in the shipbuilding and repair industry and 26 died. In the same year, overall figures for industrial accidents in South Korea amounted to 55,405, with 2,291 deaths.

Since the financial crisis in 1997, the union said that health and safety provisions in the shipbuilding and repair industry have deteriorated, with the number of accidents and fatalities in the last two years on the increase. Many injured workers are being dismissed, while those suffering back injuries or stress are not classed as suffering industrial injuries and, as a result, they do not qualify for sickness benefits. Fulltime trade union officials are not allowed to get involved in workplace health and safety issues.

The FKMTU said that following their participation in the IMF Seminar on Occupational Health and Safety in March 2000, they had asked for assistance in helping to learn from Western systems of occupational health and safety, however nothing has been done since then, and Korean employers ignore their legal obligations with regard to occupational health and safety.

For the union, the most important priorities are for the right of national trade union organisations to be involved in occupational health and safety activities at the national level, that the government should strengthen OH&S legislation, with increased penalties for employers who fail to meet their obligations, and working time had to be reduced, without loss of pay.

KENYA: It is with deep regret that the IMF informs its readers of the death on April 4, 2001, of Ben Bowers Wanyanga, general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metalworkers, chairman of the IMF East African Sub-Region and member of the IMF Central Committee. He had been ill for several years.
Ben Wanyanga was active already long ago in IMF activities, having attended IMF health and safety education programmes back in the 1980s. Most recently, only a few months ago, he participated in the IMF regional conference in South Africa.
Remembering him well, Marcello Malentacchi, IMF general secretary, said that “despite the hard times that Kenya and the trade union movement there have been through, with a difficult economic and political situation, Ben managed to keep his organisation alive and active. We will miss him.”
The IMF extends its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Ben Wanyanga and to the Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metalworkers.

BRAZIL: The new minimum monthly wage in Brazil has been set at $84.50, an increase of 19 per cent over the current minimum of $71.
Although the country’s president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, has acknowledged that this is not enough to cover the “basic needs of workers”, unofficial estimates maintain that nearly half of Brazil’s 80 million employed workers earn the minimum wage or less. The real gain represented by this increase is said to be 12.5 per cent in workers’ purchasing power.
To cover the costs of the increase, Brazil’s Congress has passed three bills aimed at fighting tax evasion. This is expected to bring in an extra $4.3 billion.
The new minimum wage went into effect on Sunday, April 1, 2001.

BELGIUM: Collective bargaining for blue-collar workers in the Belgian metal construction industry was finalised at the end of March. The agreement, negotiated by the CMB and CCMB with Belgian employers in this sector, runs for 2001-2002.

Principal elements in the package deal, which totals 7.26% over the two years, include the following:
1. Salary increase (effective + minimum wages):
– BEF 5 per hour, effective as of May 1, 2001 (= 1.16% on the average wages per hour (BEF 430 per hour);
– BEF 3 per hour, effective as of April 1, 2002 (= 0.7% on the average wages per hour (BEF 430 per hour);
– 1% salary increase to be implemented as of January 1, 2002.
2. Compensation with respect to inflation, on top of the salary increase:
– estimated inflation rate of 2%, 2001;
– estimated inflation rate of 1.7%, 2002.
3. Improvement of the existing extra-legal pension scheme for the metallic construction sector (1%) by 0.5%, or 1.5% in total.
4. Improvement of holiday pay of 0.2%.

Also, in addition to the possibility to take paid leave of up to three years for “unspecified” reasons, with an allowance of a maximum BEF 20,000 per month, additional measures now offer the option of up to three years’ paid leave for “specified” reasons, such as taking care of children or parents, reducing work pressure on workers over 50 years of age, and personal training. The maximum allowance in this case is BEF 27,000 per month.

NOTE: 45 Belgian francs (BEF) = US$1

GREAT BRITAIN: The results were announced on April 2, 2001. Members of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union and the Manufacturing, Science & Finance Union — both affiliated to the IMF British Section — have voted overwhelmingly in favour of merging their two organisations. By means of a secret ballot, 84.3 per cent of the AEEU membership and 79.8 per cent at the MSF approved the proposal.
One of the main priorities in the first year for the new “super” union, which will represent over one million members in all branches of the British economy, will be recruitment, targeting the manufacturing industry, finance and other key sectors.
Initially, the new union will be called the AEEU-MSF, until a new name is agreed, and will be led by joint general secretaries – Sir Ken Jackson, who is the current AEEU general secretary, and Roger Lyons, the MSF’s general secretary.
In a press statement issued on the merger, Ken Jackson declared that the AEEU-MSF would have “the resources to set the agenda across every sector of the UK economy.” Roger Lyons, who said the membership would see huge benefits through this merger, declared that the new union would be “a force to be reckoned with both industrially and politically, at home and in Europe.”

PARAGUAY: It has been one month since Hugo González Chirico, president of the IMF’s Paraguayan affiliate, FETRAMPAR, began a hunger strike in protest at the steel company ACEPAR’s abuse of workers’ rights. González commenced his strike when company management not only suspended collective bargaining negotiations and dismissed over 20 workers without justification, but also reneged on agreements and commitments it had established through collective bargaining.
FETRAMPAR’s education secretary, Genaro Hector Jara, has informed the IMF that González’ state of health is now very weak. Although the conflict with ACEPAR is still not resolved, Jara says González remains optimistic that a solution will be found.
The union and its president have expressed their thanks and appreciation to all those who have given their support to this cause.