Pakistan’s deadly coal mines

On 19 May, a miner fell through a roof and died at work in the Ghazi mine.

Just two days later, on 21 May, a worker was electrocuted in the Duki coal field, and a landslide killed another miner in the same field. And on 22 May, three miners were injured in a gas blast in a mine belonging to Shakot Charat Coal Company.

And importantly, the hazardous conditions are made worse by an inherent neglect of workers’ safety by both mining companies and state authorities.

“There is an urgent need to health and safety in our coal mines and we appreciate the steps taken by IndustriALL Global Union to improve working conditions in Pakistan’s mines,”

says Sultan Khan, PCMLF president.

“The poor working conditions pose a real threat to workers’ lives and we need assistance in training, organizing and awareness raising activities for our workers.”

PCMLF estimates that Pakistan’s coal mining sector employs more than 100,000 workers in 400 coal mines. Miners usually start working at the age of 13. By the time they reach 30, they are forced into unemployment due to chronic respiratory illnesses, tuberculosis, loss of eyesight, and injuries.

Poverty and a lack of job opportunities force people to start working in the mines. Workers are often forced to work for more than ten hours a day without adequate safety equipment, in violation of Pakistan’s labour laws. When accidents occur, the first respondents are usually other workers in the mine, as there is no access to well-equipped emergency response teams.

IndustriALL mining and health and safety director Glen Mpufane says:

“The situation in Pakistan’s coal mines is desperate and safety standards must be implemented to stop the continuing loss of lives. IndustriALL is calling on Pakistan’s government to ratify ILO Convention 176 on safety and health in mines.”

Organizing Madagascar’s textile and garment industries

The strategies and tactics discussed at the workshop included having an active trade union membership, shop steward training that improves negotiation skills, how to engage effectively in collective bargaining, representing workers’ interests in social dialogue, defending workers’ rights through enterprise committees, fighting gender-based violence and harassment in factories, and electing effective and democratic trade union leadership.

Further, shop stewards were urged to study and understand the labour code and important provisions including on labour inspectors, and international labour standards, and how to leverage on existing global framework agreements. Currently, there are global framework agreements with ASOS and Inditex.

The workshop also discussed the importance of learning about the textile and garment industry global supply chains, and how they were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Knowledge about the supply chains is important to collective bargaining.

On living wages, the workshop agreed to demand living wages of at least 600 000 Malagasy Ariary (US$150). The government’s proposed 260 000 Ariary (US$65) is seen by workers as a poverty wage. The workshop stated that some of the negotiating strategies and tactics that were useful in wage negotiations involved having valid arguments that are backed by statistics and data on wages. This bolstered the living wage demands.

Lovasoa Fetra Harinoro, the women’s chairperson for IndustriALL Madagascar which is made up of IndustriALL affiliates from island and one of the facilitators said:

“One of the goals of this workshop is to build dynamic unions in Madagascar. When unions are dynamic, they can quickly embrace change and are always learning new ways of organizing and developing new union cultures. Being dynamic allows unions to adapt to change and deal with challenges.”

Barson Rakotomanga also from IndustriALL Madagascar was the co-facilitator.

Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa said:

“This is a valuable shop stewards’ workshop as it builds on the skills acquired through previous training. These skills are key to unions’ capability to demand improved working conditions and living wages in the textile and garment sector. We commend IndustriALL Madagascar for facilitating this crucial workshop, and for their active participation by the shop stewards and trade union representatives. Unions are living in a changing world and must keep adapting their skills set to meet the needs of the changing factories and the future of work.”

The workshop, which was held with support from the Sub-Saharan Africa regional office and FES Madagascar, was attended by 39 participants from factories in Antananarivo and Antsirabe who are members of IndustriALL affiliates FISEMA-SEMPIZOF and SEKRIMA. Other participants joined the meeting online.

Union busting at steel plant in India

MLU, affiliated to SMEFI, counts 3,487 members out of the total 5,000 employees in Viraj Steel’s seven plants.

On 14 April, MLU submitted a charter of demands, but management refused to negotiate. 52 security guards in plant No.1, members of MLU, were transferred to another plant.

At the beginning of the month, the MLU announced a strike for16 May, citing harassment of union members, reduction in salary, lack of basic facilities like drinking water, chairs, tables for doing work, canteen facilities and toilets, as well as physical assault on union members by goons employed by management.

On 7 May, management at Viraj Steel Limited tried to engage contract workers at plant No.1, where permanent workers had previously been employed. The permanent workers tried to stop the contractor and contract workers from entering the workplace, who started throwing stones and bricks on the police and union members.

The employer filed a complaint with the police against the union representatives. The general secretary of MLU and 70 representatives were arrested and are still in police custody.

Sanjay Vadhavkar, SMEFI general secretary and member of IndustriALL executive committee says:

“Viraj Steel management is relentlessly trying to bust the union. They have directed police and local administration to attack union leaders and demoralize the unionized workers. But the union members stand united and are ready to face the challenges posed by the management.”

IndustriALL South Asia regional secretary Apoorva Kaiwar says:

“IndustriALL strongly condemns the attack against the union representatives and the workers. The union leaders should be released immediately and management should engage with the union and resolve the matter.”

Photo: Steel plant in Goa, India

Rescue efforts for miners trapped underground for 33 days in Burkina Faso continue

Hopes that the workers, six Burkinabe, a Tanzanian, and a Zambian, could have made it to the rescue chamber were dashed when the chamber was found empty. A rescue operation is in progress with reports indicating that millions of gallons of water have been pumped out from the mine. But the muddy water has made it difficult for the rescue operations.

Ouindpanga Ouedraogo, Federation des Travailleurs de la Metallurgie, general secretary, says:

“The rescue effort has always been a race against time, and we are devastated that no one was found in the rescue chamber. As unions we are always insisting on accident prevention through elimination of risk to avoid such disasters. We sympathize with the workers families who are anxiously waiting to hear what happened to their loved ones.”

The Burkinabe government has called for a judicial inquiry to investigate the flooding and find out whether the mining company is complying with the national laws on occupational health and safety. The government concurs with the unions that the adoption of safer work practices by mining companies will improve safety in the mining industry in the country.

Trevali, a Canadian base metals mining company with operations in Burkina Faso, Canada, Namibia, and Peru, owns the mine, and says it is working with the government in the rescue efforts. Operations at the mine were suspended after the flooding.

Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa says:

“Multinational mining companies have a responsibility to provide a safe working environment for workers, and for conducting risk assessments to prevent accidents. The flooding of the zinc mine at Perkoa could have been prevented through early warning systems and mine safety protocols. There is also a case to be made for Burkina Faso to ratify ILO Convention 176 on safety and health in mines. The convention provides an international framework which specifies that employers should eliminate risks, control them at the source, and adopt safe work systems.”

Seven workers killed as skip falls 240m at gold mine in Zimbabwe

The accident happened at Bucks Mine near Gwanda on 14 May and the bodies of the deceased workers have since been retrieved after recovery efforts by the ministry of mines and mining development and other mine rescue teams. According to reports, by using an 8 mm wire rope to hoist the skip to the surface, the mine owners were dicing with the workers’ lives.

According to a government audit of occupational health and safety in the mines, there is inadequate monitoring of small and medium scale mines resulting in most of the mines not complying with health and safety standards. Mining inspection were also not being carried out.

Further, there were no risk assessment policies and programmes at the mines, and workers were not provided with personal protective equipment. The audit recommended comprehensive training for the mine managers.

Justice Chinhema, general secretary of the Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union says:

“We would like to express heartfelt condolences to the families of the seven workers who died in the accident. Our union has repeatedly raised concerns that safety regulations are being ignored in the artisanal and small-scale mines. This accident could have been avoided if safety standards were practiced. The union will assist the deceased workers families to sue the mine owners for compensation as the deaths are due to negligence.”

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining, who is also responsible for health and safety says:

“We are shocked to receive the news of the death of the mine workers due to negligence by the employer. It is the responsibility of mine owners to ensure that they always adhere to mine safety standards. It is appalling for mine owners to use sub-standard and makeshift equipment that put the workers lives at risk. To deal with this violation of workers’ rights to safety, we will continue to advocate for unions to demand better health and safety conditions in the mines and have set up the Sub-Saharan Africa health and safety platform to equip unions on how this can be done.”

13-month campaign leads to union win

The 1,388 workers were fired without notice in March 2021 as the factory, supplying lingerie brands Victoria’s Secret, Torrid and Lane Bryant, suddenly closed, using the pandemic and a lack of orders as reasons.

The workers, mostly women, were left in dire conditions in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the factory owners refused to pay wages, overtime, holiday and severance pay owed.

The Thai labour inspector ordered the company to pay THB 242million (US$7.4 million) for violating the country’s labour laws. The company offered to pay workers in instalments over a 10-year period. When this was rejected by the union, the company went into liquidation and promised to fulfil its legal obligations.

Since there was no further movement, TITLU, together with the Textile Workers Federation of Thailand (TWFT) and the Confederation of Industrial Labour of Thailand (CILT), held several demonstrations demanding that the company and the government fulfil workers’ rights under the labour laws.

On 14 February, Valentine’s day, IndustriALL organized a regional day of action and unionists from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines and Thailand participated in store actions, a social media campaign and sending protest letters to the brands, demanding that the workers be paid immediately.

After negotiations, the company has now agreed to pay US$8 million in total to the lingerie workers by the end of April. The amount includes the wages, overtime, holiday and severance pay that BAT owed the workers, as well as eight per cent per annum interest.

“It is a great victory which is the result of the international labour movement cooperating to protect the rights of 1,388 workers to receive their severance pay. Thank you for all the efforts that led to this success, including Solidartiy Center who have been very active in helping us find a solution,”

says Prasit Prasopsuk, CILT president.

Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL director of textile and garment industry says:

"Through the perseverance of the workers, the Triumph union leadership and countless international actions of solidarity, a 13-month long struggle concludes with an agreement that pays the BAT workers their legal severance.
“This is why IndustriALL is demanding that a strong social safety net be the solution to the continued problem of wage theft that plagues the textile and garment supply chain. Now is the time for a global and enforceable agreement between trade unions, global brands, and their suppliers on social protection."

Chemicals unions from across Latin America come together to coordinate their work

The online event was attended by Lucineide Varjão, IndustriALL Global Union’s Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean and chair of the executive committee of IndustriALL affiliate CNQ/CUT. She spoke about how important the chemicals sector is for IndustriALL and about the need for policies and actions that will strengthen the sector in the region.

President of FEQUIMFAR and joint president of IndustriALL’s chemicals sector, Sergio Luis Leite, was also present. He highlighted the role that workers in the health sector and pharmaceuticals industry played in supporting the global population during the pandemic, stating that they were true heroes in the fight against COVID-19. He explained that the aim of the meeting was to discuss the situation of the chemicals sector both globally and regionally in order to come up with a programme of work for this year and the next.

Daniel Ferrer, an economist from Brazil's Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese), was invited to speak about the chemicals sector at the regional level. He said that the outlook for the region's chemical and pharmaceutical sector in 2022 was good, given the high demand for pharmaceutical products.

However, he added that Latin America was the region that had seen the largest decline in market share in the sector (–41.2%), while China had experienced solid growth. The region's market share will remain at 2.7% up to 2030, with growth in the region’s chemicals market expected to be stagnant.

When asked about the role of women in the chemicals sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, Ferrer explained that the segment with the lowest proportion of women was alcohol and biofuels, while the hygiene and cosmetics segment had the highest proportion.

Tom Grinter, the director of IndustriALL's chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and plastics sector, provided an overview of the international
chemicals market, adding that growth would be strongest in the Asia Pacific region.

He also spoke about IndustriALL's work worldwide. He described the campaigns to make workplace safety a fundamental right, the work being done by European unions to bring in legislation on due diligence along the supply chain, and the global campaign against violence and bullying in the workplace.

Lastly, IndustriALL's deputy regional secretary, Cristian Alejandro Valerio, invited unions from the sector to attend the meetings of the manufacturing macro sector in September, the seminar on regional manufacturing policies to be held in July and the seminars on gender-based violence in the chemicals sector to be run by IndustriALL in August. He called on union leaders to join the regional networks of workers for each sector and sub-sector that would be set up after the meeting.

Tom Grinter, director of IndustriALL's chemicals sector, concluded by saying:

"IndustriALL's affiliates in the region represent chemicals and pharmaceutical workers from all countries and at major multinational companies. The network is filled with admirable leaders and workers who are committed to building international solidarity. We have come up with an ambitious workplan that is in line with our strategic aims."

IndustriALL denounces further escalation of repression against Belarus unions

The latest report details how Zinaida Mikhniuk, political prisoner, activist and former chairperson of IndustriALL affiliate Radio and Electronics Industry Workers Union REP, has been condemned to two years’ imprisonment for "insulting Lukashenka”. The verdict is considered harsh compared to other cases for similar offences.

Zinaida was detained on 25 March after her home and union office were searched. Zinaida was held in a pre-trial detention facility, where she also remained during the trial. At least 20 people, including her husband, tried to attend the hearing, but were all denied access.

The day before Zinaida’s trial, union leader Maxim Poznyakov was detained after accompanying his twin-daughters to kindergarten. Maxim Poznyakov is chair of IndustriALL affiliate Belarusian Independent Trade Union BITU, members of the Belarusian Congress of Independent Trade Unions. Maxim’s arrest is likely connected to him becoming acting BCDTU president after both BCDTU leaders were arrested.

Both cases are part of the more than 20 union leaders arrested on in April. Maxim was the last chair of leading independent trade unions to be arrested. At this moment in time, all leaders of independent unions in Belarus have either been arrested and later released but prohibited to leave the country or disclose any information about their case, or considered offenders and remain in prison, like the president of the Belarusian Congress of Independent Trade Unions Alexander Yarashuk, and its vice-present Sergey Antusevich.

There are also reports that teachers and student members of the Free Trade Union of Belarus SPB, affiliated to BCDTU, are subject to mounting pressure from authorities to leave the "criminal" independent union and instead join the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, partly controlled by Lukashenko.

IndustriALL condemns in the strongest terms the attacks against trade union leaders and activists. They must all be immediately released, and all charges should be immediately and irrevocably dropped.

As part of the Council of Global Unions, we denounce the repression in Belarus and demand the right to visit the jailed trade unionists and to send a solidarity delegation to Belarus.

Together with our sister global unions, IndustriALL has launched a LabourStart campaign against the biggest attack on trade unions in Europe and we call on everyone’s support.

The future of mobility – options in the public space

Together with the International Transportworkers Federation (ITF), UNI Global Union and German FES, IndustriALL presented a study on who the key players in future mobility markets are, what changes we can expect and what will be the impact on labour and unions during a webinar on 17 May. The results were discussed by the more than 100 participants from over 40 countries.

The researchers presented a near future where change is driven by digitalization and where the new generation of consumers seem to walk away from cars as a primary mobility device. The existing transportation systems with cars at the centre are not fit for the future.

Instead, the future of mobility lies in the digital networking of different means of transport in the public space, where use is more important than ownership.

Gender equality is an important aspect when preparing for the future.

“Urban transport planning is currently being designed by men for men,”

says Claire Clarke from the ITF.

She explained how mobility plays a particularly important role in women’s lives taking children to school, going to work, accessing public services, wich is why the demand for gender neutrality is key.

Jobs in public transport are also highly gendered. Less then 15 per cent of the global workforce in public transport are women, and they are over-represented in lower paid and precarious work. Men are often the drivers, while women are the ticket-sellers. There is a lack of maternity rights, health and safety and women often suffer violence and harassment from colleagues and passengers.

The study shows that many new jobs will be created and that these will make up for the number of jobs being lost. However, new and different skills will be required in the future. This leads to the key question: How do we re- and up-skill the women who lost her job to an automatic ticket machine?

“We know that future mobility concepts will mean a huge change for workers, and we need to be clear in our demand for a Just Transition. We need comprehensive training programmes to ensure that the workers of today are the workers of tomorrow,”

says Georg Leutert, IndustriALL auto director.

“As unions, we need to make sure that we stand side by side with the workers in transition and – at the same time – we need tailor-made offers for the new workers in the sector so that they immediately understand that their future will look far brighter if they join a union and bargain collectively."

Ground breaking legislation for garment workers in the US

The FABRIC Act, introduced by Senator Kristen Gillibrand, will reinforce protection for workers in the garment industry. According to IndustriALL affiliate Workers United-SEIU, the FABRIC Act includes several crucial elements that will benefit American workers.

The bill establishes joint and several liability requirements through which workers can hold fashion brands and retailers responsible for the labour practices of their US contractors, bringing a level of legal accountability that has previously been lacking. This provision will allow workers to pursue legal remedy from the same brands and retailers whose business practices lead to labour abuses and who have managed to evade responsibility for decades.

As a group, garment workers suffer the second-highest rate of wage theft of all US workers. Using payment-by-piece-rate compensation schemes as base pay will be prohibited, while the bill aims to ensure manufacturers provide minimum wage as a pay floor, with the option to pay piece-rate above and beyond initial wages.

"Workers United is proud to endorse the FABRIC Act, which establishes important liability requirements to hold fashion brands and retailers accountable for the labour practices of their US contractors. This provision, and the establishment of a minimum wage floor, will help ensure that jobs in the US garment industry are good jobs with dignity and respect,"

says Edgar Romney, secretary-treasurer at IndustriALL affiliate Workers United-SEIU.

In a statement, Senator Gillibrand says:

“Supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic have only exacerbated these ongoing issues, which are disproportionately shouldered by women, people of colour, and immigrant workers. The FABRIC Act would protect nearly 100,000 American garment workers and help revitalise the garment industry in the United States by improving working conditions and reforming the piece-rate pay scale. Women are leaders in the cut-and-sew apparel manufacturing industry, making up 61% of workers, and following heavy job losses for women during the pandemic, we need to invest in them and this crucial industry.”