When IndustriALL affiliate Garteks formed a factory-level union at the company's factory in North Jakarta in August last year, union president Ahmad Faisal, vice president Tulam and vice secretary Hendra Radista were dismissed on the pretext of refusing to transfer to a different factory.
Disregarding IndustriALL’s outreach to solve the situation, Tainan Enterprises Indonesia has instead escalated the conflict with the union.
Under intense pressure, the union secretary Edison was forced to resign from Garteks and join a yellow union. The union treasurer Ibran Susan was forced to resign from his job. The deputy union secretary Sriwahyuni was transferred from North Jakarta, and union member Undi Cahyadi was demoted. In May, the company dismissed vice union secretary Rahmawati.
The union busting runs deep. During the engagement with IndustriALL, Tainan Enterprises Indonesia concealed the recommendation given by the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower on 24 December 2021 that the three Garteks union leaders should be reinstated.
“Acting on good will, Ahmad Faisal, Tulam and Hendra Radista signed a settlement agreement with the company in February, accepting severance pay on the condition that the company stop union busting. And yet management has continued to persecute union members. It is unethical and must stop, and all unionists must be reinstated,”
says Garteks general secretary Trisnur Priyanto.
IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie says:
"We urge the company stop deceiving Garteks’ members and stop violating national law in place to protect workers from anti-union discrimination. Tainan Enterprises Indonesia should adhere to the Ministry of Manpower’s recommendation and reinstate all Garteks members with back pay and seniority."
The trials of BKDP and its affiliates will continue in the Supreme Court this month:
12 July – Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU or BNP) 12 July – Union of Radio and Electronics Workers (REP) 14 July – Free Trade Union of Belarus (SPB) 18 July – Belarusian Congress of Democratic trade unions (BKDP) No trial date is yet set for Free Trade Union of Metalworkers (SPM)
IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie joins ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow in condemning the Belarusian authorities’ total disregard for due process and the basic rights of working people.
“IndustriALL will continue to call out the government’s relentless oppression of democratic unions. The global labour movement stands firmly with the workers and activists in Belarus fighting to exercise their fundamental workers’ rights,”
says Høie.
At least 15 BKDP leaders and activists have been arrested, with some already having stood trial and are in prison.
Aliaksandr Yarashuk – BKDP chairperson, arrested on 19 April, in prison.
Siarhei Antusevich – BKDP vice-chairperson, arrested on 19 April, in prison.
Hennadz Fiadynich – REP vice-chairperson, arrested on 18t April, in prison.
Vatslau Areshka – REP activist, arrested on 19 April, in prison.
Mikhail Hromau – Member and secretary of SPM Council, arrested on 19 April, in prison.
Iryna But-Husaim – BKDP media team officer and book-keeper, arrested on 19 April, held in prison at KGB pre-trial detention center.
Miraslau Sabchuk – SPM activist, drafted an appeal by Minsk Tractor Plant (MTZ) in which workers condemned the violence and demanded new fair elections in 2020. Arrested on 19 April.
Yanina Malash – SPM deputy chairperson and organizer, arrested on 19 April, in prison.
Vitali Chychmarou – SPM council member and labour inspector. Fired in 2020 over trade union activities, arrested on 19 April.
Vasil Berasneu – Acting REP chairperson, arrested on 19 April.
Zinaida Mikhniuk – REP deputy chairperson, arrested on 25 March 25 charged with defamation of the president, prison for two years.
Aliaksandr Mishuk – BITU vice-chairperson at JSC Belaruskali. Arrested on 25 May, in prison at KGB pre-trial detention center.
Ihar Povarau – BITU activist at Belarusian Metallurgical Plant, BMZ, in prison for 3,5 years for an attempted warning strike in August 2020.
Yauhen Hovar – BITU activist at Belarusian Metallurgical Plant, BMZ, in prison for 2,5 years for an attempted warning strike in August 2020.
Artsiom Zhernak – SPM chairperson at Minsk automobile plant, arrested on 17 November, 2021, in prison at a pre-trial detention center.
The KGB has arrested the chairperson of the SPB primary organization at the Belarusian Research Center for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, Yulia Zharankova. Aliaksandr Mialeshka was detained the same day. He had previously been a member of the governing body of the same primary union. According to the union, several members from the health sector have been subjected to interrogation and are not allowed to disclose any details.
If you haven’t already done so, please help put pressure on the authorities; sign and share the LabourStart solidarity campaign.
UNION PROFILE: Collective action builds union power, says Rose Omamo
UNION PROFILE
From Global Worker No 1 June 2022
Country: Kenya
Union: AWKMW
Text: Elijah Chiwota
According to Sister Rose, as she is affectionately known, another valuable quality of a trade unionist that union leadership must always keep in mind is to remain loyal to the collective’s cause. This means that as a union leader you must ensure that the union provides service, listens to its members, adequately represents them in labour disputes, and fights for living wages.
But for a unionist to confidently stand up for workers’ rights they must find their voice and be able to speak about the workers struggles with more clarity, commitment, and passion.
“It took me many years to find my voice. But now that I have a voice, I use it to advance the rights of women workers, demand decent working conditions, and for the ratification of Convention 190 to eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work. For example, we must use the power of our voices to name and shame the perpetrators of GBVH, act against them, and bring them to account,”
she reiterates.
Sister Rose has appeared on various media platforms and forums to advocate for gender equity and equality as well as for the setting up of gender champions as a strategy to fight GBVH at the workplace. She has also campaigned against domestic violence which increased during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
At a Sub-Saharan Africa GBVH workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa, in April, Sister Rose, said one of her unique personal qualities is to sing and dance after a union victory. She describes this as part of the repertoire for celebrating workers wins. Together with other campaigners, she danced when Convention 190 and Recommendation 206 were adopted at the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland in 2019. She says celebrating union victories is joyful especially as it comes after tough negotiations that take a lot of time and effort. In most instances this will be against employers who are unwilling to agree to the workers’ demands.
A board member and women’s leader at the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) – a confederation of Kenyan trade unions – and co-chair of the IndustriALL Sub Saharan Africa region, Sister Rose was recently appointed to yet another leadership position. This time as a trustee of Kenya’s National Social Security Fund (NSSF) which administers a national pension fund with responsibilities in health insurance, occupational health and safety, and social protection. She will be one of the two workers’ representatives on the board as per national laws and says she will approach her responsibilities in ways that are influenced by her rich union background.
“As unions we will work together in solidarity with other social partners that include the ministry of labour and employers to protect the NSSF, and to ensure that there is investment to grow the fund. Further, we will provide oversight so that the workers money is safe and is invested as per the fund mandates. Again, the experience that I gained in working with other organizations to protect workers interests will be useful because the board represents the collective interests of all key stakeholders,”
she says.
Rose Omamo – AUKMW
Lifelong learning is an integral feature of the trade union movement, and this is the path that Sister Rose, walked in the last 30 years. Her union journey began as a shop steward at an automotive assembly plant in Mombasa before emerging into her current positions as general secretary in 2016, and re-elected at the quinquennial conference in 2021. Her union experience shows that the trade union movement is a learning space for workers because of the diverse skills that unionists acquire over the years: from organizing workers at the shop floor, negotiating with employers and governments in the board rooms, to campaigning for workers and human rights at the global level.
Sister Rose suggests that unions should explore ways of working with the informal sector workers, and to that end the AUKMW has signed an agreement with the Jua Kali Association of road-side mechanics and informal artisans. She sees this as some of the first steps to organize the informal sector. Jua Kali, means hot sun in Swahili and is the name that has become common in describing the informal sector workers. They work under the hot sun, exposed to the elements but with unionization their working conditions can be changed.
Rose IndustriALL co-chair of Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as vice president of the region.
AUKMW
AUKMW was founded in 1971 and has 4160 members, 800 from the informal sector
The union organizes in the automotive sector and its value chain, including artisans and panel beaters in tyre manufacturing, spray painting, exhaust systems, and other auto components. The union also organizes workers who manufacture electrical appliances such as fridges, insulated wires and electrical cables, and telecommunications cables. It also organizes workers in suppliers and manufacturers of medical equipment, and those who manufacture mobile construction equipment e.g. wheel barrows.
Unions sign wage deal at power utility Eskom in South Africa
The deal, which was signed at the Central Bargaining Forum (CBF), includes a 7 per cent wage increase over a year (1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023), a R400 (US$24) housing allowance increase, and a commitment to continue negotiations to improve wages and working conditions.
Additionally, the deal reinstates working conditions prevailing on 30 June in which workers would have lost R9 000 (US$547) in benefits had the unions not protested. The CBF, which represents 28,300 workers at the state-owned enterprise, is a forum where employers negotiate with the unions.
“We are pleased to have finally resolved this round of wage talks, particularly given the difficult circumstances we faced. The conditions of service, which were unilaterally withdrawn and caused so much pain to our members, have been restored. We have also secured an improvement from last year, after Eskom imposed 1.5 per cent, and we want to thank the negotiating team for their tireless efforts in finding a solution. NUMSA will always fight to improve the conditions of the working class,”
says Irvin Jim, NUMSA general secretary.
During the strike and the negotiations, which deadlocked after Eskom management declared a dispute and walked out of the talks, the workers argued that Eskom could afford the increase and were against an increase that was below inflation increase as what happened last year. Inflation in the country for 2021 was 5.9 per cent.
“The NUM wishes to express its sincere gratitude to its members at Eskom for their conduct during the negotiations until when they gave us a mandate to sign the agreement. On disciplinary and grievance procedures and the recognition agreement a task team will be established consisting of at least three persons from each party. The task team will report back to the CBF within three months,”
says William Mabapa, NUM general secretary.
On-going electricity outages due to insufficient power generation were blamed by some media outlets on the striking workers as part of a disinformation campaign, says the unions. For example, fake news announced that an agreement had been reached before the unions had even signed or consulted their members on the wage offer.
“We call on media houses to be responsible in their reporting. When they publish fake news, this can have a detrimental impact on the negotiations,”
cautioned NUMSA and the NUM, who are affiliated to IndustriALL, in a statement.
Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL Global Union regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa says:
“We are pleased that NUMSA and the NUM continue to fight for living wages and better working conditions for workers at Eskom. As Eskom embarks on a transition to renewable energy sources, workers' interests remain paramount and must be protected. This is why IndustriALL campaigns for a Just Transition that is inclusive of the decent work agenda.”
Atle Høie: Welcome to Global Worker (#1 2022)
GS Corner
From Global Worker No 1 June 2022
Welcome: from general secretary Atle Høie
The report on future mobility concepts details how unions arepreparing for the mobility sector of the future. What are the main elements and what are the challenges? And most importantly, how are unions best positioned to defend workers’ rights, as well as decent work and pay going forward?
Finnish paper union Paperliitto won a resounding victory this spring, when a collective agreement was finally signed after 112 days of strike. The employer wanted to break the right to collective bargaining, but the union stood strong and defended this fundamental right. Read about the union win in the Union profile.
In the interview I say that as general secretary, defending the right to collective bargaining is key to what we do. Basic trade union rights – the right to organize and to collective bargaining –provide workers with the foundation for everything else, like safe workplaces and freedom from discrimination.
Collective bargaining is also the best tool to address the gender pay gap, which currently stands at an average of 20 per cent across the world. How do we raise the wage floor and what can unions do to include pay equity in all that we do?
It is the collective that builds union power and that is where its strength lies, says Rose Omamo from Kenya in the Union profile. As an international trade union, we have called for solidarity and action for our brothers and sister in Myanmar. The situation for workers has drastically deteriorated since the military coup in February last year. Most unions are banned, and many workers who were once protected by collective agreements have been fired and replaced by casual workers with no rights. As a collective we must act, and IndustriALL reiterates our call for comprehensive economic sanctions. The longer companies act like it is business as usual, the more prolonged the agony of Myanmar will be.
Atle Høie
General secretary
Making workers heard along the battery supply chain
The battery supply chain is growing fast, fuelled by the increasing demand for electric vehicles (EV), and with that the creation of new jobs. In Europe alone, employment related to the EV industry is estimated to increase by 500,000 to 850,000 by 2030. The auto industry has a relatively high level of unionized workers, but the number decreases along the supply chain, where workers’ rights violations, as well as forced and child labour, increase.
Every region makes up different parts of the battery supply chain. There is a lithium triangle in Latin America, most mining is done in Africa, Asia Pacific is seeing new battery investments and there is booming investment in electric vehicles in North America and Europe.
Among the challenges for unions, Jojo Nem Singh from the International Institute of Social Studies, mentioned that focus on mining policies is important. The access to raw materials is a battlefield in the global south.
China is the world’s largest battery producer, a country where even though unions may be present, they play no role in sector bargaining. IndustriALL’s electronics director Alex Ivanou talked about the Foxconnization of the car manufacturing industry, with lwith harsh living and working conditions and internal labour migration.
“We want to increase our leverage along the battery supply chain, which starts in the mines, passes through the chemical industry with its refineries, to the packaging of batteries, to the end-user. We need to accelerate our organizing drive to match the expansion,”
said IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kan Matsuzaki.
“We need to develop due diligence tools and have an increased focus on the growing number of women workers and gender issues, including gender-based violence."
Inga Petersen from the Global Battery Alliance, a global public-private platform mobilizing to ensure that battery production not only supports green energy, but also safeguards human rights and promotes health and environmental sustainability. The organization is behind the Battery Passport Action Partnership, which, if it works, could be a way to establish global criteria, data and benchmarks for a sustainable and transparent battery market.
Alejandro Gonzalez from the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations talked about the EU batteries regulation proposal with requirements on sustainability, labelling and information on batteries, as well as on the collection, treatment and recycling. The proposed regulation lays down supply chain due diligence obligations covering human and workers’ rights, as well as health and safety.
Building capacity on how to integrate the gender perspective is crucial, as is advancing gender equality in the battery supply chain. That means equal rights, treatment and opportunities for women and men, said IndustriALL women director Armelle Seby.
“One of our main challenges is to move from principles to action,”
said Glen Mpufane and Georg Leutert, IndustriALL mining and auto directors.
“Real due diligence needs the voice of workers in social dialogue to safeguard freedom of association, collective bargaining, health and safety and decent work.”
Going forward, IndustriALL will build union capacity in the battery supply chain through:
developing effective due diligence tools to organize workers
creating platforms with multinational companies and other stakeholders
developing communications with Chinese companies and workers
ensuring gender is integrated in union activities and that
focusing on sustainable industrial policy and Just Transition
“Levi's is dangerously behind the curve when it comes to making garment factories safe places to work. Levi's has decided to pursue a voluntary approach to factory safety, which we know from many years of experience does not work. It is well past time for Levi’s to sign the Accord and ensure the safety of their workers,”
said Kalpona Akter, president of Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation.
It’s been nine years since 1,138 workers died at Rana Plaza and nearly one year since the Accord–the most successful workplace safety programme in modern fashion history–was renewed and expanded into an international agreement.
Under the Accord, Bangladesh’s brutal history of garment factory deaths was halted. And even though 175 other brands, including Uniqlo, Zara, and H&M support the new International Accord agreement, Levi’s has refused to sign, threatening to undo progress.
"Since its inception in 2013, the Accord has achieved immense progress in making garment factories in Bangladesh measurably safer, saving countless lives. As a company that prides itself on sustainability in action and living its values, Levi's has a responsibility to sign the International Accord and ensure safe workplaces for the workers in its supply chain. No worker should have to risk their life in order to go to work,”
said Edgar Romney, secretary-treasurer, Workers United.
Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL textile director, said:
“Levi’s claiming commitment to ethical supply chains without signing onto the Accord is just lip-service in a world where complacence is a matter of life and death. We join our affiliates’ call and urge Levi’s to sign this effective and legally binding safety agreement.”
A new social contract is needed to stop intensifying workers’ rights violations
The ITUC Index, launched online on 28 June under the theme – “Rebuilding trust with a new social contract” – is an annual survey of 148 countries.
Based on the findings, the Index is stressing that trade unions must fight against the push back on workers fundamental rights by employers and governments as seen in murders of trade unionists, violent attacks, arbitrary arrests, and detentions. Human rights and civil liberties are also being violated.
The ITUC Index states that trade unionists were murdered in 13 countries: Bangladesh, Colombia, Ecuador, Eswatini, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Iraq, Italy, Lesotho, Myanmar, Philippines, and South Africa.
Further, harassment, arbitrary arrests and detentions took place in 69 countries with worst cases reported in Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Myanmar.
The worst violations of workers’ rights occurred in the Middle East and North Africa while conflicts and coup d’états worsened the conditions for workers.
Additionally, restricted access to justice is also increasing in Africa with reported incidences rising from 76-95 per cent from 2021 to 2022.
The world’s 10 worst countries for workers identified in the Index are Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Eswatini, Guatemala, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Turkey.
These countries are vicious against trade unions. They use regressive and repressive criminal laws, impede union formation, force unions to close, arbitrary and mass arrests of union leaders, anti-union discriminatory measures, union-busting and unfair dismissals of union leaders, violate collective agreements, murders and impunity, prosecution of strikers, violate freedom of assembly, police violence and brutal state repression of strikes and protests.
Several speakers narrated what is happening in their countries as confirmed by the ITUC Index.
Maung Maung from Myanmar said despite trade unionists having been killed, arrested, imprisoned, and harassed, “the revolution is holding on.” However, most of the union leadership is in hiding or exile.
“The government of Brazil is hostile to trade unions and there is regression on workers’ rights which are violated daily without limitation, especially against Black women workers,”
said Rosa Souza Fernandes.
Maksim Pazniakou said:
“There are unprecedented repressive measures in Belarus characterised by trumped up charges against union leaders. Further, the public prosecutor wants independent trade unions to be banned.”
“There is hostility against trade unions and protesters including workers. Workers have been killed when state security forces used live bullets to disperse protesters,”
said Mduduzi Gina from Eswatini.
“It will take a new social contract with jobs, rights, social protection, just wages, equality, and inclusion to rebuild the trust that has been shattered by repressive governments and abusive companies. The social contract has been torn apart. But together we can write a new one,”
said Sharan Burrow, ITUC general secretary.
She said the new social contract must address precarious work, job creation and the Just Transition. Further, the social contract must find solutions to the high inequality, climate emergency, and the post-Covid 19 economic downturn.
“IndustriALL Global Union welcomes the ITUC Global Rights Index, which mirrors our campaigns against the gross violations of human and workers’ rights in Myanmar, the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of trade union leaders in Belarus, and the use of violence against striking workers in Bangladesh and Eswatini.
"It is tragic to see that the situation for workers is worsening in country after country. Unions must be firm in their fight back, and IndustriALL will stand with our affiliates to win back the rights that have been taken from us, and to win new ones,”
says Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary.
The ITUC Global Rights Index has 97 indicators, derived from ILO fundamental rights at work, especially Convention 87 (freedom of association and protection of the right to organize) and Convention 98 (right to organize and collective bargaining), as well as international human rights law. The current report is for the period March 2021 to April 2022.
Bangladesh launches employment injury scheme for garment workers
The employment injury scheme (EIS) is a social protection scheme including compensation for medical treatment and rehabilitation services, as well as income loss caused by occupational injuries and disease. The pilot project aims to top up the lump sums already paid in Bangladesh for death and permanent disability due to work injury, and to ensure that work-related compensations are line with international labour standards.
The project, which is funded by the governments of Netherlands and Germany, will also gather data on average medical costs for a worker in case of injury, benefits provided in case of temporary incapacity, along with capacity-building on occupational accidents, diseases and rehabilitation, with the aim of fine-tuning what the cost of a fully functioning EIS could be in Bangladesh.
Around 150 RMG factories will participate in the first part of the pilot, which will initially run for three years, with the option of being extended for another two. If the pilot proves successful, it could be extended to other sectors of the economy.
Rashadul Alam Raju, general secretary of IndustriALL Bangladesh Council and Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union Federation (BIGUF), says:
“This scheme is an important step towards ensuring workers’ safety and well-being in case of a workplace injury, as well as for providing rehabilitation services when returning to work. Having said this, we need to wait and see how effective the plan will be once it is implemented and the procedures for filing for compensation is made clearer.”
A tripartite committee with representatives from the government, employers’ associations and unions, has been set up, under which the process of paying compensation and ensuring medical care of the injured will be done. International brands and retailers will provide voluntary contributions to cover the top-up payment and administration costs. The injury-related compensation mechanism under the scheme is based on a no-fault and risk-sharing approach and provides for long-term periodical payments instead of a lump sum settlement for economic loss.
So far seven brands, including Bestseller, Fast Retailing, the H&M Group, KiK Textilien und Non-Food GmbH, Primark and Tchibo, have signed pledges as commitments for voluntary financial contributions.
Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL textile director, says that this is an important first step in developing a strong social safety net for the workers, but more brands need to join to make the pilot sustainable.
“It is part of the responsibility of global brands and retailers to contribute financially to this kind of system. We call on global brands and retailers take responsibility for the workers in their supply chains."
Japanese metalworkers seek involvement in due diligence plans
The Japanese government has been preparing guidelines on human rights due diligence to help companies identify and prevent human rights abuses in their global supply chains.
On 21 June, Akihiro Kaneko, president of JCM, submitted the union’s due diligence request to a member of the house of representatives, Kazuchika Iwata. Iwata is the parliamentary vice-minister of economy, trade and industry.
JCM’s request contains the following:
specify the involvement of labor unions in human rights due diligence;
ensure that indirect business partners, such as second-tier subcontractors and beyond, are subject to checks and actions related to human rights due diligence; and
if domestic laws do not meet international standards, then companies must comply with international standards that go beyond the level of domestic laws.
Kaneko, explained that
“JCM is actively implementing initiatives and measures, such as including human rights due diligence inits spring labour offensive policy. However, spreading this to small and medium-sized enterprises is dependent on the government’s ability to act. JCM is determined to promote discussions between labor and management going forward, including with small and medium-sized unions.”
The parliamentary vice-minister Iwata reposnded that;
“We will seriously assess the content of the JCM’s request. Human rights due diligence is a major trend in international economic activities, and Japan will also assimilate this and work to promote it. We want to ensure companies can voluntarily work on solving human rights issues and engage in sound economic activities. Concerning guidance, we are proceeding with discussions while maintaining an awareness of international standards, and as METI, we would like to move forward resolutely.”
Although the METI draft guidance has not yet been published, it will be open to public comment soon. JCM is currently discussing the points for labor unions with regard to handling human rights due diligence, which is to be finalized in August.
