NIGERIA: In 2005, the Nigerian government passed the Trade Union Amendment Act. One of the key changes for the labour movement was that union membership would now become voluntary. While such freedom is in principle to be welcomed, it was widely believed that the main aim of this change was to weaken the cohesion and unity of the trade union movement. Former IMF affiliate, Steel & Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN) fell prey to this strategy, unable to manage the challenges of organizational change needed for the union to recruit and organize workers, the union split in four along sub sector lines and was expelled from the IMF in 2008.

Recognizing the need to rebuild worker power through unity two of the emergent unions from SEWUN and two staff associations, made up of workers that were previously not allowed to join a trade union have come together to build one strong union. These parties have made significant progress, having already drafted a constitution. However, the Trade Union Amendment Act does not allow for a trade union to be registered to represent workers in a sector where a trade union already exists, requiring SEWUN to be deregistered.

This part of the Act is one of issues that the ILO has taken up with the Nigerian government, to ensure that workers have the right to form and join organizations of their own choice even if another organization already exists. In the report of the committee of experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations in all member states of the ILO recently released by the ILO headquarters, attention is brought to this part of the act which is in violation of Article 2 of the Convention No. 87 of 1948 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize which states that workers have the right to establish and join organizations of their own choice without distinction whatsoever.

Despite this setback, the parties remain committed to a merger and in the meeting formulated a programme of collaboration which includes joint workshops for shop stewards. They have also agreed to joint plant visits and worker meetings as well as to establishing a joint approach to bargaining to strengthen the position of workers in the bargaining council. 

INDIA: A spirited May Day rally was organized by Alang Sosiya Ship Recycling and General Workers Association (ASSRGWA) at Alang, where more than 2,000 shipbreaking workers participated in the Rally. Extending the solidarity of International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) Sudhershan Rao, Director, IMF South Asia Office, participated and addressed the workers’ rally. Sudhershan Rao said, they are not alone in their fight for union rights and better working conditions.  He also called for an effective social dialogue for shipbreaking workers and said IMF will support workers with all possible means to strengthen their cause. VV Rane, General Secretary, ASSRGWA, congratulated workers for their successful May Day rally and called on workers to strengthen the union by incorporating more workers into its fold. The union with the help of IMF will forge a strong network among shipbreaking workers in South Asia. Further, VV Rane said that workers safety and implementation labour laws in shipbreaking yards are immediate priorities of ASSRGWA.

Participation of officials from Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) in the workers activity is one of the significant aspects of May Day Celebrations on 2011. The rally covered seven kilometer from the Training and Welfare Centre at Alang and culminated at Sosiya Shipbreaking yard. In the evening, workers from the union participated in cultural programmes and sports events organized by GMB.

In Pune city and in Shikrapur-Shirur Industrial estate Pune Council (Shramik Ekta Maha Sangh (SEMS)) organized rallies, in which around 6,000 workers participated. Workers from around 46 unions in national and multinational companies participated in the rally. Addressing the workers, Jagdale and Kishore Dhokle emphasized workers’ unity and need for increased representation for women in trade unions. Further they called on the workers for strengthening national and international workers’ movement by building strong union networks.

A motor cycle rally was organized by affiliates of INMF from Champa to Patari in Chhattisgarh. Around 500 workers participated in the rally which culminated at the gates of Lanco Amarkantak Power Ltd to extend solidarity with striking workers. Sanjay Kumar Singh, General Secretary, INMF Chhattisgarh called on the management to restrain from using repressive tactics and instead negotiate with the workers’ union. Around 1,400 Bhilai metal workers marched under the leadership of SM Pandey, General Secretary, INMF Chhattisgarh, with the demand of equal benefit to contract workers on par with permanent workers.

MEXICO:  During the IMF’s Regional Conference for Latin America and Caribbean affiliates, held in Mexico, about 50 trade unionists from the region joined the Workers’ May Day march in solidarity with miners to call for the freedom of association. ICEM representatives from the Geneva office and some affiliates also took part.

The IMF delegation, led by its General Secretary, Jyrki Raina, marched together with the Mexican miners from the Fine Arts Museum to Zócalo,  Constitution Square, where a commemorative rally took place.

The IMF once again showed its support and solidarity for the miners and reiterated its demands to the Mexican government:

• Bring to justice the employer responsible for the explosion in the Pasta de Conchos mine and the government officials implicated in the tragedy.
• Stop the systematic violation of the freedom of association, including the "protection contracts" imposed by employers and interference in trade union elections.
• Stop the repression and political persecution of Mexican trade unions by the state and the private sector.

GLOBAL: Tens of thousands of people across the Arab world have demonstrated to demand decent jobs, social justice and an end to repression on May Day, reports the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) at: http://www.ituc-csi.org/may-day-arab-workers-demands-for.html

At trade union rallies across the region, from Iraq in the east to Mauritania in the west, workers from all walks of life added new momentum to the groundswell for democracy and workers’ rights following the fall of the dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia.

Some 77 national trade union centres and sectoral trade unions, including affiliates of the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), across the region have also signed an "Arab Countries Declaration for Democracy and Social Justice" ( http://www.ituc-csi.org/declaration-of-trade-unions-from.html?lang=en ) adding even further pressure to change to the Arab Spring movement.

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow joined Palestinian workers and their families at the Palestinian trade union centre PGFTU’s march and rally in Ramallah, to support their demand for a minimum wage, social protection, labour law reform and the setting up of labour courts to tackle exploitation.

ITUC reports that in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, a peaceful rally was violently attacked by thugs believed to be from the Mubarak regime’s discredited official "trade union" ETUF. Despite being pelted with stones and bottles, the workers from the new independent union EFITU carried on with their rally, with the crowd swelling to some 50,000 marchers.

Elsewhere in the Arab world on May Day, actions took place in Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania and Iraq.

IMF affiliates representing Caterpillar workers in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the USA and the United Kingdom are working together to achieve better wages, benefits, working conditions and job security.

Created in 2010, the network aims to regularly exchange information on collective bargaining and industrial relations in the various countries, work together to advance workers’ rights at Caterpillar, its suppliers and sub-contractors throughout the world, and extend solidarity support to each other when needed.

The network is seeking to initiate and build up a constructive dialogue with management at Caterpillar, the world’s largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment.

GLOBAL: Nokia announced on April 27 that it would reduce its global workforce by 4,000 over the next two years, mostly in Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom, to reduce costs by one billion euro. A further 3,000 jobs will be affected worldwide by a move to outsource its Symbian software operations to Accenture.

The company announced that 700 of the job cuts would be made in the UK, a plan branded as "another dark day for the British economy" by Unite, an IMF affiliate. Unite said that it would take part in a concerted campaign to halt the job losses which will hit Nokia sites in the UK. Unite had commenced an organizing campaign at Nokia sites in the south of the UK and anticipates that its newly recruited members could be transferred to Accenture.

Nokia employs around 2,400 staff in the UK, with main sites in London and Farnborough, Hampshire. Nokia said the jobs would largely go across research and development and in software roles and plans to shut its office in Southwark, London, when the lease expires, with staff at this site expected to transfer to technology-consulting company Accenture under the Symbian outsourcing deal.

"What is very disheartening is that mobile phones and their associated technology are one of the growth areas in the British economy, yet this still does not stop  a successful company such as Nokia throwing people out of work," said Tony Burke, Unite Assistant General Secretary.

In Finland, the company announced its plans to cut 1,400 jobs by the end of 2012. Unions affiliated to the IMF with workers in Nokia, that feared the cuts could have been as high as 5,000 in Finland, began negotiations with the company in March.  The company has agreed to assist employees made redundant with re-employment and re-education and will look for possibilities to transfer into new jobs with pre-existing terms and conditions.

"It is clear that Nokia has social responsibility to support redundant employees financially with all available instruments," says Pertti Porokari, Chairman of UIL, an IMF affiliate in Finland.

Antti Rinne, Chairman of Pro, another Finnish IMF affiliate, expressed concern about the situation for workers in Nokia’s subcontratcors. "It is necessary to clarify how the reorganization influences subcontractors in Finland as soon as possible. For example Ixonos and Digia, – MeeGo and Symbian developers – have already given proposals for commencement of co-operation negotiations," said Rinne.

According to Rinne, Nokia should safeguard for their long-term employees jobs within Nokia, its’ subcontractors or affiliates. Employees over 50 are treated with disdain by employers despite of higher education, and are therefore in need of special support.

"The positive side is that a significant number of employees will be offered the possibility to transfer into another company with pre-existing terms and conditions and with their continuous employment preserved.  However 1,400 terminations is such a number that active transition assistance programmes are necessary to safeguard their future re-employment," said Heikki Kauppi, Chairman of Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff YTN.

GLOBAL: Today as trade unionists around the world celebrate the role of workers in the fight for democracy and social justice, the international union movement takes inspiration from winds of change sweeping across Arab countries.

Global Unions salute the courage of working men and women and the independent trade unions in the vanguard of this historic fight for freedom.

We pledge our support to their struggle and we condemn without reservation the tyranny of regimes, in the Middle East and elsewhere, who continue to deny their people fundamental rights and who use violence to silence voices of dissent. We urge the international community to act to end this oppression.

At the same time, in the name of hundreds of millions of working people who yearn for an end to inequality, discrimination and exploitation, Global Unions reaffirm their demand for a full-scale transformation of the world economy.

We seek an end to the culture of political and corporate neglect that has created a gulf between rich and poor and we call for new commitments to respect workers’ rights, to create the framework for social justice and to combat the scourge of unemployment.

The time has come to turn away from the failed policies of the past. We must abandon programmes of austerity that tear into the fabric of society and that diminish people’s lives. We must end the scandal of falling living standards caused by the growth of informal, unprotected and precarious work and, particularly, the grotesque exploitation of migrant workers. There must be action now to rescue a lost generation of young people who yearn for jobs and a decent future.

But none of this will happen unless governments put their people first by regulating the finance sector and by curbing the excesses of corporate power.

All governments must invest in job creation, in education and training, in programmes to strengthen investment in quality public services and in providing a universal social protection floor. The largest and most powerful economies, in the G20, must provide the lead for this.

Governments must put finance at the service of the real economy and reclaim the wealth needed to put the world economy to rights by taxing banks and finance, including urgent action to introduce a financial transactions tax.

States must confront corporations who profit from scandalous exploitation of vulnerable workers and who fail to respect union rights and global labour standards.

Unless there is an immediate change of direction in governance and management of the world economy, the noble aspirations of the Millennium Development Goals will not be met and there will be no progress to stop the catastrophe of climate change.

Globalisation can only work if it brings sustainable wealth for all and promotes action for a just transition to a sustainable world built around principles of strong economies, social justice, and green jobs.

Global Unions will work together to expose governments who refuse to change and who are withdrawing from provision of services, imposing fiscal cuts and attacking public sector workers with devastating effect on the lives of all people, particularly women.

We will continue to isolate, condemn and target those companies that are reckless in their disregard for labour standards and who prey upon the weakest in the workforce.

Finally, Global Unions in the Middle East and elsewhere will continually strive for peace in the face of dictatorship and corruption. Exploitation and political instability caused by an absence of the rule of law and democracy and economic injustice means that war and social conflict is a constant risk.

Today the global challenges are as great as we have ever faced, but the union movement is in good heart. Our proud traditions of solidarity are the foundations of social progress, democracy and peace, and they give us the strength to make real the dream of a global economy based upon justice, equality, humanity and sustainability.

Ghana: Participants discussed civil unrest in North Africa and condemned military and police repression on people who peacefully advocate for a political system based on economic and social justice. The conference called for political stability and sustainable development for job creation. The conference called on governments in the Sub Saharan region to create an environment for economic growth and job creation, including commitment of  10% of national budgets to agriculture for food security.

The conference also discussed foreign investment on the continent by multinational companies and called for conditions to be imposed on these towards improving economic growth, preventing environment degradation, creating employment, and improving working conditions in Africa.

The conference also called for a continuation in trade union building to strengthen worker representation in the region and hailed the proposed integration of the ICEM, IMF and ITGLWF as "a progressive move that unites workers and builds international solidarity."

The General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers’ Union (GMWU), Prince William Ankrah, was elected regional chairman of the SSARO. Christine Olivier, Second Vice President of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), was elected as SSARO Women’s Chairperson while Frans Baleni of South Africa, Achese Igwe of Nigeria, and Paul Felex Bayiha of Cameroon were confirmed as ICEM Executive Committee members for three of SSARO’s seats on the governing body.

Liberia: 15 years of civil war left Liberia in ruins. Not only is there much work to be done in this post war era to re-establish infrastructure, the country is also engaged in nation building including revitalizing the educational, health, security, economic and governance sectors. For the last seven years Liberians have been consolidating peace, receiving support for development from the international community and making strides in securing foreign investment attracted by the countries abundant natural resources.  

Whilst some multinationals like Firestone have been in Liberia for many decades, ArcelorMittal and BHP Billiton are the new kids on the block, with substantial recent investments in iron ore extraction. Historically, foreign companies that have been granted concessions have been expected to take care of service delivery to people in the area, in the form of housing, education and health services. This system still exists today and further disempowers workers to challenge employers as it is not only their jobs at stake but also their homes.

Organised labour has recognized that unity is needed for bargaining power to stand up to these multinational companies and meet the challenges to build worker rights, create decent work and improve the lives of workers. Liberia’s two labour federations have united to form a strong single federation in the country. The forestry union and mining union merged to create UWUL. Now, building on these successful mergers and encouraged by their benefit for worker power, UWUL and MMECAWU have agreed to work towards a merger.

At the April meeting, the unions formulated and signed a memorandum of understanding committing to form a joint committee to develop a programme of collaboration that would culminate in a merger within a 24 month period.  Central to the joint work would be organizing workers of multinational companies.

The unions agreed to take the memorandum of understanding to their constituencies to gain the support of workers for the merger. The IMF has offered support and guidance to the unions’ efforts in the interest of building strong worker representation in Liberia.    

ASIA: On April 20, 2011, the ITGLWF, representing workers in the garment industry  released a damning report on working conditions in Asian sportswear supply chains. The report focuses on conditions in 83 factories in Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Indonesia which together employ over 100,000 workers.

Not one of the 83 factories surveyed was reported to pay a living wage. Workers in the Philippines explained that by the end of the month they had no choice but to pawn their ATM cards in exchange for loans. Some factories denied workers the legal minimum wage, while others linked the payment of basic wages to unachievable production targets which workers struggled to meet.

Although international labour standards restrict overtime to twelve hours a week on a voluntary basis, workers told researchers they regularly work up to 100 hours of overtime per month. In many cases workers could not refuse overtime. In Sri Lanka workers who tried to leave at the end of their shift were denied permission to go and harassed by their supervisors.

Contract, agency and other precarious workers, representing 25 per cent of the workforces covered, were likely to suffer exploitation. Although these workers were paid even less than their permanent counterparts they told researchers they feared they would lose their job if they complained.

"The multinational companies sourcing from these factories need to live up to their rhetoric and ensure that every single workplace in their supply chains complies with national law and international labour standards," concluded Patrick Itschert, ITGLWF General Secretary.

See key Findings of the ITGLWF report (PDF) here: http://www.itglwf.org/documents/ITGLWFSportswearReport2011.pdf
See full ITGLWF report at: http://www.itglwf.org/documents/ITGLWFSportswearReport2011.pdf