Nine workers injured at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant

Workers were clearing a track to move the slag pot when the accident occurred. Three workers suffered serious burn injuries, one of who is in critical condition. This incident happened at the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), an entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.

According to Indian National Steel, Metal, Metalmines and Engineering Employees’ Federation (INMMS&EEF) and Steel, Metal & Engineering Workers' Federation of India (SMEFI), IndustriALL affiliates, the accident was caused due to management’s negligence in ensuring adequate safety mechanisms at the plant. They have also submitted a letter to the management demanding that they invest in the proper training for workers, including contract workers. They must also appoint members from every department to the safety committee.

Additionally, the steel plant's general hospital lacks the resources necessary to handle such severe injuries.

Rajshekar Mantri, working president of INMMS&EEF, says:

“Visakha Steel General Hospital must be upgraded with necessary resources to prevent the severity of accident-related injuries. Instead of referring workers to super-speciality hospitals, the burn ward should have had adequate facilities to provide treatment beyond first-aid in such an emergency.”

The Indian government is set to privatise the steel plant in the near future. IndustriALL affiliates have voiced concerns regarding this and even staged protest action last year, where they handed management a memorandum opposing the privatisation of this profitable state-owned plant.

Apoorva Kaiwar, South Asia regional secretary of IndustriALL, says:

“Occupational health and safety is the fundament right of workers but in India, workplace safety continues to be undermined. RINL management must ensure that proper safety mechanisms are put in place so that workers’ lives are not lost.”

Ukrainian unions set to fight rights’ violations

Representatives from the ILO and the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission for Ukraine (HRMMU) presented on major rights’ violations, how to detect and report them, and how to use the tools.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan, said:

“We are here to discuss human and labour rights violations and receive insights on how they have been committed, and also to strategize the way forward in a way to support and assist our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian affiliates reported how the war has caused job losses and destroyed industries. Participants heard about forced labour (e.g. in the nuclear sector), hazardous health and safety standards in mines, and the difficulties of union membership in occupied areas. Keeping track of membership or engaging in social dialogue is reported to be a challenge.

Natalie Levytska of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine, NPGU, says:

“Mines have been destroyed and thousands of workers have lost their jobs. We need to think about rebuilding and protecting workers’ rights.”

“I commend you on your internal solidarity among the unions in Ukraine, throughout the war you have stood together to fight for workers, we know that you are often in meetings while shelling is happening, yet you continued with the work. We will help you as much as we can, we know you will prevail as an independent nation and create a just environment for your people,”

said Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary.

The ILO presented on workers’ rights violations and how to detect them. The importance of reports was provided to the session. ILO conventions are very clear, if any items are contradicted, it is a violation. Reports can be used to file action against perpetrators, and they serve as evidence when addressing violations.

IndustriAll Europe general secretary, Luc Triangle, welcomed the affiliates to industriAll Europe and Ukraine's application to the EU as a future Member State. He pledged that industriAll Europe would do all it could to support the EU process, but also to contribute to the fight against the rollback of Ukrainian labour legislation, including by raising the issue with EU institutions.

“We and all European workers have the highest respect for the Ukrainian people. You are fighting for our shared democratic and human values. We stand with you and will support you together with IndustriALL Global Union. In the coming months, the Ukrainian affiliates will be integrated into our European trade union work. This will bring us even closer together,”

said Luc

The UN Human Rights Mission works on developing reports on human rights violations. Reports are developed through confidential interviews with victims or witnesses. Trade unions can be a huge assistance to the development of such reports, by having members share their experiences.

The next steps, in the joint work of IndustriALL Global and industriAll Europe with Ukrainian affliliates, will include raising awareness of the violations, how to report them and how to safeguard members’ rights.

Union solidarity leads to significant pay rise

Negotiations leading up the agreement have been marked by protests. When buying the mine from the state, the Chinese company had agreed to leave the existing CBA in place. But instead, the employer introduced a unilateral code of conduct. The union tried several times to negotiate a new agreement, but with no response from the employer, the workers took action and launched protests and strikes.

In December last year, IndustriALL Global Union and IndustriAll Europe sent a letter of support to SSMS, GS RIE Nezavisnost and ISS in their negotiations.

But the union and worker persistence paid off. On 8 February, IndustriALL affiliates SSMS and GS RIE Nezavisnost, signed a CBA with management at the mine, with the full support of all unions present in the workplace, including IndustriALL affiliate Industrial Trade Union of Serbia (ISS).

"The trade unions are satisfied with the agreement reached at the end of the negotiations, after several protests due to the arbitrary adoption of the work regulations that preceded the beginning of the negotiations,"

said Časlav Garić, GS RIE Nezavisnost president.

A central issue in the negotiations was the hourly pay. In the new agreement it has been successfully increased by 15 per cent, from RSD177 (US$1,6) to RSD192 (US$1,7) per hour. Working hours were increased and a payment of 4,000 dinars (US$36) is included in the basic salary.

Says IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan:

“IndustriALL congratulates the workers and the unions at the ZiJin Bor copper mine on this important win. It is a strong demonstration of solidarity and shows yet again, that when we come together, we win.”

The collective agreement was signed in the presence of the Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Policy, Nikola Selakovic.

Call for solidarity with unions in Turkey

In the areas hit by the earthquakes, IndustriALL Global and European Trade Unions affiliates have members in the manufacturing, energy, and mining sectors. We are receiving reports indicating that many unions have members that have been killed, or have lost members of their families.

The facilities of some of our affiliated unions in the affected region have been seriously damaged.

“Affiliates from all over the world have reached out asking how they can help. To show our immediate solidarity and support, we encourage you to send solidarity messages to our Turkish sisters and brothers,”

says Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary.

"After the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey, thousands of people need our support. IndustriAll Europe stands with our Turkish comrades in these difficult times and encourages everyone to send solidarity messages and any help possible,"

says industriAll Europe general secretary Luc Triangle.

Those unions who wish to assist financially can contribute to the solidarity fund that we have just set up, see details below.

Bank name: Cler Bank

Bank address: 6-8 Place Longemalle, CH – 1204, Genève, Switzerland

Account holder's name: IndustriALL Global Union

Account holder's address: 54bis, route des Acacias 1227 Carouge Genève, Switzerland

Swift code: BCLRCHBB

Iban code: CH70 0844 0145 2523 1139 0

Bank account number: 145252.311390-0

Currency: Euros

Photo credit: Öz İplik İş

Changing the narrative on poverty in mineral rich African countries

Even where artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is formalized through national laws and policies, implementation remains weak. This has resulted in life threatening working conditions with limited health and safety adherence. The miners do not get value for their minerals and continue to live in poverty while digging for high value minerals.

An IndustriALL Global Union panel at the Mining Indaba on 8 February, Artisanal and small-scale mining and stakeholder convergence of interests to mitigate ESG impacts on miners – policy challenges and approaches to formalization, discussed how formalization can benefit the ASM sector and the role that unions play in organizing the miners.

The DRC, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are some of the countries with the minerals needed for the transition to renewable energy. About ten per cent of the cobalt mined in the DRC is from ASM, counting about 200,000 miners, according to PACT DRC.

“ASM is important for the global mineral supply and local job creation. But natural resources governance must improve. The DRC ranks low on Human Development Index with low life expectancy, poverty, sexual exploitation, human rights violations, modern slavery and debt bondage. A country rich in mineral resources with millions living in poverty is unacceptable,”

said Luc Asosa, programme director, PACT DRC.

“ASM can be a game changer, and this means adopting ILO Recommendation 204 on the transition from informal to formal economy. That would allow the sector to deal with environmental, social issues, human rights, decent work, and other deficits,”

said Abdul-Moomin Gbana, Ghana Mine Workers Union general secretary.

Fletcher Mushimbwa, Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) national coordinator, said:

“Although artisanal and small-scale miners are illegal, the union sees them as workers creating employment and livelihoods for communities, thus contributing to local economies. We advocate for formalization and have started building union power by organizing the miners.”

Gender expert Bashiratu Kamal explained that the sector’s many women are invisible.

“Although women are involved in buying and processing the ore, there are no bathrooms and water at mine sites, no contracts or fair wages, no maternity protection, no access to newer technologies, no social protection, or laws to protect women. Formalization can help redress this situation.”

“With over nine million ASM miners supporting 54 million people, this is an important sector for job creation and improvement of livelihoods on the continent. Formalization of the sector will further facilitate the organizing of these workers into unions,”

said Tendai Makanza, IndustriALL regional officer and panel chair.

This, and an earlier panel discussion on beyond climate, puts IndustriALL on the global stage with an influential audience that normally lacks access to real experiences of workers, thus opening spaces for further dialogue and collaboration.

Uruguayan government officials illegally surveil union president

PIT-CNT issued a statement on 1 February rejecting the illegal surveillance of union leader Marcelo Abdala by the former presidential security chief Alejandro Astesiano.

Uruguayan media have published audio recordings of Alejandro Astesiano confirming that he used surveillance cameras from the Ministry of the Interior to follow Abdala’s route on a public highway after he was involved in a traffic accident in February 2022.

The PIT-CNT executive secretariat says that this “violates individual rights and civil liberties, and calls into question Uruguay’s democratic quality”.

In a statement, it described the incident as “extremely serious”, given that state resources and equipment were used for “spurious ends” and in total conflict with the interests that should guide the actions of government officials.

The executive secretariat is considering the possibility of taking political and/or legal action at national and international level to defend democracy, the Republic and freedoms.

UNTMRA also issued an official statement, expressing solidarity with union leader Abdala:

“We condemn the anti-democratic practices conducted by President Luis Lacalle Pou's government. We emphatically reject such practices, which violate individual rights and civil liberties.”

IndustriALL’s regional secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, Marino Vani, says:

“We stand in solidarity with our fellow metalworker and Uruguayan trade union leader, Abdala, as well as with the leadership of the unions and the Uruguayan trade union centre. This is an attack on the individual and collective freedoms of workers.
We deplore the fact that politicians and officials of the Uruguayan government use the state apparatus for illegal and anti-democratic practices. We hope this will not be repeated and that those responsible, at every level, will be held accountable.”

IndustriALL panel at mining indaba demands decent work during energy transition

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining, chaired the panel, “A conversation with the unions – beyond climate change, what are the other drivers of the impact in the world of work in the current transition, and trade union proposals for a mitigation pathway”, with presenters from IndustriALL affiliates; Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU), National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and UASA – the Union.

IndustriALL emphasized the important role that labour plays in sustainable mining and environmental, social and governance strategies. The panels are a culmination of the recognition that unions have gained at the mining indaba through IndustriALL engagement with mining companies and conference organizers to recognize labour as a key stakeholder in the mining industry.

Phestus Motshabi, NUMSA shop steward said:

“Workers are deeply concerned about the transition. There are fears that mines will be closed because of decarbonization. We demand a Just Transition that is based on decent work and respect for fundamental rights at work in the International Labour Organization conventions. We want a conversation with mining companies where they are transparent and share their plans and strategies. The plans should cover the whole value chain.”

Tebogo Moepeng, NUM shop steward, added:

“The future of decent jobs is dire because precarious unsustainable jobs are expected to replace permanent jobs. But as unions we will continue to stand for decent, permanent jobs.”

Kitso Phiri, BMWU executive secretary, said social dialogue that includes key stakeholders is important.

“Social dialogue fosters consensus among stakeholders and can be used as a risk mitigation tool. To be effective it needs strong workers’ voices. In Botswana there are gaps in the social dialogue processes as workers voices are missing, especially in the high-level consultative forum at sectoral level where decisions are made. Workers are only participating at enterprise level.”

Towards Sustainable Mining – a global standard for sustainability in the mining sector – was mentioned as one of the tools that can be used to promote social dialogue in Botswana.

Melanie Roy, research manager for NUMSA’s economic research and policy unit emphasized:

“Union demands must address the dual nature of jobs – job creation and retraining/reskilling for new jobs. The transitioning of jobs in the automotive, energy, and mining sectors, policy cohesion, equity and diversity should be considered. For example, in the automotive sector, workers must acquire skills to produce electric vehicles.”

Franz Stehling, UASA divisional manager, said resources must be made by government to support retraining of workers for future jobs.

“In the case of South Africa, Just Transition should be discussed in the National Economic Development and Labour Council and resources for reskilling can be drawn from the Sector Education and Training Authorities.”

Glen Mpufane, said:

“Labour market sustainability is important in discussions on where the decent jobs will be created. Today's discussions resonated with the recommendations of the ILO Global Commission on the future of work which must be our reference point when we discuss a Just Transition. The commission’s recommendations respond to technological innovations, environmental and climate change, demographic shifts, global inequalities, and other factors.”

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining

The mining indaba was officially opened by the presidents of South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyril Ramaphosa and Tshisekedi who emphasized on the importance of minerals to socio-economic development in the two countries and cooperation through trade. The countries have minerals that are used in the manufacture of electric vehicles that include cobalt, lithium, manganese, nickel, and other rare earth metals.

Ashok Leyland workers demand end to precarious work

Ashok Leyland currently employs about 10,000 contract workers, and 4,000 permanent workers. Unions affiliated to the WPTUC launched a protest on 27 January to demand that all contract workers should be made permanent workers of the company.

As interim measures, the union is demanding that the disproportionately high number of contract workers be reduced, and that their wages be raised to at least INR25,000 (US$302). In comparison, permanent workers earn in between US$785 – US$1,026. Equal facilities, like canteen access, must also be made available to non-permanent employees. Additionally, workers are demanding that the retirement age be raised to 60 years.

On 29 January, workers went on a one-day strike in protest of management’s unfair labour practices.

Ashok Leyland management has forced workers to work on Sundays without paying double pay for overtime, instead asking them to take compensatory time off on a weekday.

Along with other demands, the union is calling for a revision of the collective bargaining agreement that was signed by the previous union as it includes anti-worker clauses regarding outsourcing, wages, productivity, and leave policies.

Apoorva Kaiwar, IndustriALL regional secretary, says:

“IndustriALL stands firmly with Ashok Leyland’s workers in their struggle against precarious employment and unfair labour practices. We call on management to immediately consider the rightful demands raised by the union.”

Fiber producer SASA must respect workers’ rights

It is reported that SASA Polyester Sanayi A.Ş. is exerting pressure on workers, conducting anti-union practices, and violating the right of workers to freedom of association. The company’s management, in the last two months, has put in place a series of practices to de-unionize the workplace.

The measures include conducting individual and collective meetings with union members to force them to leave IndustriALL’s Turkish affiliate Petrol-İş. The company has offered financial advantages, like wage increments, to workers deciding to resign from Petrol-İş. Those who refused to leave their union were not given any wage increment.

This is a clear violation of the right to free choice to be a union member. The anti-union practices aim to undermine and reduce union membership preventing Petrol-İş from renewing its collective bargaining agreement certificate from the Minister of Labour and Social Security.

Petrol-İş president Süleyman Akyüz says:

“Petrol-İş has organized at SASA, negotiating CBAs with the company, since 1975. The violations and deterioration is unacceptable. We thank IndustriALL Global Union for intervening and supporting the struggle of SASA workers.”

SASA Polyester Sanayi A.Ş has systematically refused Petrol-İş' ,the authorized bargaining agent, offer to engage in dialogue.

Petrol-İş general organizing and education secretary Niyazi Recepkethüda underlines that:

“The union busting are a clear violation of trade union rights and we cannot accept that. We call again on management to respect the organizing rights of SASA workers.”

Major customers and business partners of SASA Polyester Sanayi A.Ş. are called upon to conduct due diligence at the company’s operations in Adana.

Textile world conference vows to strengthen collective agreements

IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie said:

“We are stepping up our campaign for comprehensive economic sanctions against Myanmar and are working hard with brands to exit the country responsibly and protect workers at the same time.”

Discussions centered around providing strong support for organizing campaigns, especially using global framework agreements to protect workers’ rights to form trade unions and bargain collectively. The Migrant Resource Center in Mauritius gave an update on the mobile app, Just Good Work Mauritius. This app, developed last year in collaboration with IndustriALL, Anti Slavery International and online clothing brand ASOS, provides information and education on workers’ rights. Migrant workers are informed about their rights and can report cases of abuse. The information is accessible in Bangladeshi, English and Malagasy.

Campaigning for safe factories is central in the sector, and in December 2022 the International Accord was expanded to Pakistan. Affiliates from the MENA region added that a regional campaign on safe factories has been launched and called on the expansion of the International Accord to the region.

Affiliates pledged support for trade union networks at multinational manufacturers. Interventions from Bangladesh spoke of the benefits of being part of the Coats global trade union network and how the network supported the reduction in contractual work, helped to ensure that wages were above the national minimum level and promoted industrial relations.

In a report ‘Risks of gender-based violence and harassment: union responses in the mining, garments and electronics sectors’, Jane Pillinger, highlighted the risks faced by women in the garment sector, like employment insecurity, low wages, gender inequalities and discrimination, and dangers travelling to and from work. To combat these risks, women need a strong presence in leadership positions to raise awareness, and for collective bargaining agreements to include clauses on GBVH and creating safe complaints systems for women.

Indonesia and the MENA Women’s networks showcased the Zero Tolerance Campaign. Unions and employers in the H&M, Nike and Adidas supply chains attended a social dialogue conference for a joint commitment, signed by ten unions and companies. Through the policy, unions and employers will develop strategies on how to ensure that reported sexual harassment cases are not left unresolved. The policy will be integrated into collective agreements and ensure safe workspaces and will also raise awareness on zero tolerance of violence and sexual harassment.

A four-year sectoral action plan was debated and approved. The action plan on industry wide collective bargaining focuses on promoting industry bargaining to reduce inequality, lift wages and conditions and prevent lower standards being used to give companies a competitive advantage. The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) spoke about their collective bargaining process, indicating that bargaining was mandated by the members and that mandates are collected from members before negotiations. SACTWU highlighted their Covid-19 agreement where workers received full pay during the hard lock down, secured through negotiations between unions and employers.

Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL textile director, said:

“Collective action – the hallmark and the power of the international labour movement- has given us the ability and the tools to transform the global supply chain. We must make sure that our members’ lives improve. IndustriALL is committed to empowering a sectorial solution by pressuring and securing the commitment of global brands, suppliers and governments in our fight for decent work. We will continue our campaign for an industrial relations system that changes the balance of power in the supply chain.”

Participants chose to elect four co-chairs for the sector. There will be two men and two women, two of the co-chairs will be from production countries and two from consumption/brand countries.