Union in deal to donate confiscated garments to South African flood victims

So far, the agreement has resulted in the donation of 1,600 blankets, garments, textile, footwear, and leather products, to the flood victims. The donated goods were seized at ports of entry by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for customs regulations’ flouting by some importers.
 
The framework agreement aims at stopping the smuggling and to mitigate against market disruptions, corruption, and the threat to jobs. Additionally, it promotes industrial and trade policy tools aimed at securing and growing local jobs and manufacturing industries. The agreement was signed under the auspices of the Retail, Clothing, Textile, Footwear and Leather (R-CTFL) masterplan.
 
Importantly, the agreement was bolstered by a recent court case in which SARS won against the smuggling syndicates. The court confirmed that SARS acted lawfully by seizing 19 containers of undervalued imported garments in 2020. The union says the undervaluation is a common strategy used by corrupt importers to avoid paying import taxes.
 
In a statement, SACTWU says:

“We applaud SARS for its reinvigorated campaign to obliterate customs fraud in the garment, textile, footwear, and leather industries. We hope that this outcome sends a strong message to fraudsters and expect that swift seizures, arrests, and criminal charges will become the norm on illegal imports.”

“We initiated and concluded this new framework agreement as a determined effort to contribute concretely towards the alleviation of severe hardships that flood victims are experiencing, while simultaneously protecting our members’ jobs,”

 says André Kriel, SACTWU general secretary.

“This initiative is a testimony that tripartite agreements, as shown by the R-CFTL masterplan, are key instruments to ending the smuggling of garments and textile goods. We support SACTWU efforts to save local manufacturing industries,”

says Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa.
 
In April heavy rains of over 450 mm were recorded in some areas over 48-hours. The unusual down pours, attributed to extreme weather conditions caused by the climate crisis, caused havoc in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, North West, and Free State provinces. According to the South African government over 489 people lost their lives whilst over 63 were reported missing. Further, 4 000 homes were destroyed, and over 40 000 displaced.
 
The signatories to the agreement are SACTWU, another union, and the employers’ organizations: the South African Apparel Association, the Apparel and Textiles Association of South Africa, the Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa, the Textile Federation of South Africa, and the South African Footwear and Leather Export Council. The government is represented by the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition, and SARS.
 
Retailers that signed are the National Clothing Retail Federation, representing Mr Price Group, the Foschini Group, Truworths, Woolworths, Pick ‘n Pay, Cotton On, Cape Union Mart, and Queenspark. Pepkor, Superbalist, and Retailability also signed.
 

Preventing abuse of Malaysia’s migrant workers

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss remediation of migrant worker recruitment fees and related abuse, and to call on governments to implement a worker-driven remediation process to protect migrant workers’ rights.

The ILO estimates that in 2017, 24.9 million people were in forced labour and eight million people were in debt bondage. Migrant workers take loans with high interest rates to pay illegal or excessive fees to recruiters. They become trapped in low-wage, abusive and modern slavery conditions.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kan Matsuzaki said:

"It is important to organize migrant workers and to address issues like high recruitment fees, lack of health and safety, lack of social protection and freedom of association.

“IndustriALL’s affiliates are actively organizing migrant workers but need stronger tools and a reform of the union recognition procedure.”

 

A human rights approach, where the state involves the rights holders in the design and implementation of the remediation process, is necessary. Effective remedy should ensure that migrant workers are capacitated, participate and are empowered in the overall process.

Companies that violate the rights of migrant workers must acknowledge and apologize for the harm caused and provide guarantees that it will not be repeated. Participants urged countries on both sides to implement a genuine government-to-government recruitment process to put an end to the multimillion-dollar exploitative middlemen.

Most participants agreed that trade unions play a vital role in protecting migrant workers’ right to seek justice. Safe spaces for organizing are needed and there should be no retribution for joining a union.

Gemma Freedman, UNISON international officer, said:

"We need an overarching policy and a common standard for the remediation process. We need to help public sector buyers to understand the issue, using their buying power to help workers elsewhere."

The meeting was organized by IndustriALL, UNISON, Electronics Watch, Tenaganita and Electronics Industry Employees Union Western Region (EIEUWR) and attended by participants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Geneva and the UK.

The workshop was supported by the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Business Human Rights and the Environment Research Group at the University of Greenwich.

Worker dies at Bangladesh shipbreaking yard

Both worked as cutter men at the yard and were cutting the steel plate of a tank at the time of the accident. After cutting a section of the tank, the workers fell from a height of around eight metres along with the detached steel plate. Sadekul Islam Bulbul (37) was killed and Mohammed Harun (40) was rushed to hospital for treatment of his injuries. The workers had not been provided with safety harnesses, and the proper safety measures were not followed.

A. M. Nazimuddin, Bangladesh Metal Workers Federation (BMF) president, says:

“The wounds from the recent disaster in Sitakunda, where at least 49 people were killed and more than 450 others were injured, had not yet healed when news of another accident in the district arrived. This time it happened in a shipbreaking yard.

“The district has become a death trap, with migrant workers getting killed due to the hazardous working conditions and criminal negligence on the part of employers, who fail to maintain workplace safety. We demand full compensation for all workers killed in these accidents, as well as prompt and quality treatment for all injured workers."

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates BMF and the Bangladesh Metal, Chemical, Garment and Tailor Workers Federation (BMCGTWF) have continuously raised the issue of unsafe working conditions at the shipbreaking yards.
 
This year alone, there has been more than 20 accidents, five with a fatal outcome. There are around 100 shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh but only one has been issued a compliance certificate under the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships: PHP Shipbreaking and Recycling. But despite the certification, accidents have still occurred at the PHP yard, demonstrating a lack of effective workplace safety mechanisms.

IndustriALL sector director Walton Pantland said:

“Shipbreaking must be made safe and sustainable. The way to do this is to combine ratification of the Hong Kong Convention with strong unions that can ensure safety measures are followed properly.
 
“Employers and the government must act urgently take to prevent further accidents. The government of Bangladesh must ratify the Hong Kong Convention.”

Photo: Shipbreaking yard in Bangladesh

Government of Belarus ignores ILC conclusions

The Prosecutor General, Andrei Shved, has just announced a plan to eliminate independent unions. He submitted a petition to the Supreme Court to terminate the activities of a number of trade unions:

The Prosecutor General claims that the activities of independent unions have been politicized, and their leaders are engaged in "destructive activities." Criminal proceedings have been instituted.

IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie says:

“The appearance of the government of Belarus at the CAS was clearly a charade – they had no intention of complying with the conclusions, as shown by the fact that they moved to ban unions before the conclusions were even announced.
 
“In the seventeen years since an ILO Commission of Inquiry found that the government of Belarus had undermined union independence, no progress has been made. Instead, Belarus is moving in the opposite direction, abusing the processes of international diplomacy to provide cover for its retreat from democracy and brutal suppression of all dissent. There must be serious diplomatic consequences.”

Caterpillar workers on strike in Northern Ireland

The current increase of the cost of living in the United Kingdom stands at 11.1 per cent and is likely to increase even further. Caterpillar’s offer of salary increases of 2.6 per cent in 2021 and 6.4 per cent this year, are below inflation and was overwhelmingly rejected by the union members. The company has also attempted to tie a basic pay increase to the introduction of compulsory overtime.

IndustriALL affiliate, Unite the Union, represents the Caterpillar workers in Northern Ireland. Senior union representative Paula Hurst says:

“Caterpillar want to drive down wages and increase working hours, this model of compulsory overtime is on the back of making 700 workers redundant, including 400 hourly paid skilled workers in 2020/2021. Unite rejects any attempt to tie a basic pay increase to the introduction of compulsory overtime. With the cost of living rising and only likely to rise further, workers are striking to win a fair pay increase.”

Unite has lodged a complaint with the Agency Inspectorate due to Caterpillar deploying union busting tactics by commissioning untrained scab labour from sites in the UK (office workers) and paying them a bounty.

 

The company management have refused to sit down with the union to resolve the dispute, despite requests from Unite and the Labour Relations Agency (ACAS).

Says Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL director for mechanical engineering:

“We have seen it before in other countries – Caterpillar is again failing to respect its workers. It is always the same; management makes decisions without consulting the workers.
 
“We urge the Caterpillar management to come back to the table and enter into real negotiations over wages and working conditions. Collective bargaining in good faith is different from making one-sided announcements. It means sitting down with respect for each other and finding a compromise that helps workers, their families as well as the company.”

Guatemala must respect freedom of association

In the garment sector, an important part of Guatemala’s economy, freedom of association is virtually impossible and there is an immense pressure on unions. Workers are often intimidated, threatened, blacklisted and even fired, and fear that employers will retaliate if they join a union.

The government of Guatemala was invited to submit information to the CAS on individual cases concerning the application of Convention 87 on freedom of association and the protection of the right to organize.

On 6 June, IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan, raised on behalf of the workers’ delegation, the violations against IndustriALL's Guatemalan affiliate FESTRAS (Federación Sindical de Trabajadores de la Alimentación, Agroindustria y Similar de Guatemala).

Özkan explained that workers in Guatemala face threats and intimidation that prevent the full exercise of Convention 87. He noted that FESTRAS informed IndustriALL that one of its affiliates, the SITRAWINNERS union, faces violations of Conventions 87 and 98.

Winners, owned by South Korean company SA-E SAE Group, does not respect the right to freedom of association. A fortnight ago, the company shut down its operations and dismissed a number of workers in an attempt to prevent union membership. The former Winners employees tried to get new jobs, but claim they were not hired due to the conflict at the previous employer.

According to the workers, Winners management use physical and psychological violence, intimidation and threats against the union. The local union general secretary was harassed and received death threats, and was forced to move to a safe place.

In his statement, Kemal Özkan, said:

"The attacks against trade union leaders happen every day, as they defend workers’ rights.

“We therefore urge the government of Guatemala to take immediate steps to create an environment where workers can exercise their fundamental right to freedom of association, with clear timelines and in compliance with Convention 87".

Global call for Belarus to release detained unionists

The Belarussian government continues to blatantly ignore its obligations under ILO Convention 87. 18 years after the 2004 Commission of Inquiry recommendations, no meaningful progress has been made towards its implementation.

The situation has dramatically deteriorated since 2020 and even more so in the last two months, with targeted, politically motivated suppression of independent trade unions. The government is systematically destroying independent and democratic trade unions, whose leaders are under constant attack.

At the moment, 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 remain in prison.

Hundreds of union members have been subjected to harassment and intimidation and pressured to leave their unions. Activists have been interrogated and union offices have been bugged.

Workers in Belarus still need authorisation to establish a union. CAS has repeatedly demanded that all obstacles for registering unions are removed, both in law and in practice, and that there should be no special treatment of any particular union.

Over the last two years, the government of Belarus has grossly violated freedom of opinion, expression, assembly, freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, and a right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial judiciary – all basic preconditions for freedom of association. CAS has urged the government to amend several laws in conformity with freedom of association principles.

CAS is demanding:

The apparent lack of action by the government to follow up on the 2004 Commission of Inquiry recommendations and the 2021 CAS conclusions demonstrate a lack of commitment to ensure respect for its obligations under the ILO Constitution, and the lack of respect for the ILO supervisory system. Therefore, CAS is demanding to refer this issue to the session of the ILO Governing Body in November 2022 for consideration of additional measures.

In a joint statement on behalf of IndustriALL, PSI and ITF, IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“We urge the Belorussian government to change their course and commit to global democratic standards, and to demonstrate this commitment by releasing those union leaders who have been arrested and dropping all charges.”

"Present, present, present"

 

Trade unionists around the world demonstrated in solidarity with the imprisoned leaders of independent unions in Belarus today. In Geneva, representatives of the global labour movement gathered outside the UN building at Place des Nations, holding pictures of those who have been arrested. This was a reminder that attacks on unions are not just attacks on institutions, but on people – and that our brothers and sisters in Belarus are in prison for the crime of representing workers.

A symbolic role call was held: the names of the imprisoned trade unionists were read out, while the crowd responded “present, present, present.”

Speakers linked the recent wave of repression in Belarus with the war in Ukraine, pointing out that attacks on independent trade unions intensified when union leaders spoke out against the war. Union leaders have consistently condemned the war, and called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Belarus.

The demonstration was attended by a delegation of Ukrainian trade unionists, and Mikhailo Volynets, the chair of the Ukrainian miners’ union NPGU, spoke in support of his Belarusian colleagues.

 
 

India: gas leak in garment factory

Some workers fainted, others complained of headaches, stomach pain, vomiting, nausea, and burning eyes. According to media reports, workers had to wait for ambulances as management looked for hospitals in the region.
 
The factory employs 22,000 people, 18,000 of which are women, and clearly lack healthcare facilities on site.
 
Contract workers make up the majority of the workforce in India’s special economic zones. The entry of trade union office bearers into SEZs is restricted, making organizing difficult. And the low unionization rate makes it difficult for workers to speak out against plant owners’ negligence.
 
Apoorva Kaiwar, IndustriALL South Asia regional secretary, says:

“The dismal industrial safety situation in the SEZ is again exposed by a gas. The authorities in charge have failed to provide workers with safe working conditions, showing serious lapses on the part of the regulatory bodies. The only way to change this is to ensure that trade unions have access to SEZs.”

What kind of gas was leaked and where it came from have yet to be determined.
 
Two years ago, lethal styrene vapours leaked from a factory in the city, prompting the government to appoint a committee. The committee made recommendations, including the need for a comprehensive industrial safety audit of all hazardous industries in and around Vishakhapatnam, located in the same region as Brandix India Apparel garment factory, but the occupational safety and working conditions in the city's industrial units remain precarious.

Photo: Brandix Apparel

Kazakhstan must respect union rights

Since the tragedy in Zhanaozen in 2011, there has been no substantial progress in trade union rights; Kazakhstan continues to avoid fulfilling its obligations under ILO Convention 87.

An actual ban on the creation of independent trade unions, repression against union leaders and the criminalization of strikes deprive workers of their rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and create conditions for new social conflicts.
Over 60 large spontaneous strikes, mainly in the energy and oil sector last year, and massive protests in January 2022 where at least 160 people were killed, clearly demonstrate that the demolition and oppression of democratic institutions leads to tragic consequences.

The longstanding issue of the registration of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan (KNPRK), dissolved in March 2017, and the last KNPRK affiliate, the Trade Union of Fuel and Energy Industry Workers, suspended in February 2021, has yet to be resolved.

CAS is demanding that any legal and practical obstacles preventing the registration is removed.

The registration procedure is complex and serves to prevent the creation of free and independent unions. The registration of the local branch of Trade Union of Fuel and Energy Industry Workers in the Atyrau region was denied six times, each time with a new reason. The union branch in Almaty has had its registration papers rejected on four separate occasions, over alleged irregularities of the paperwork.

The practice of judicial harassment of union leaders continues. Independent union leaders Erlan Baltabay and Larisa Kharkova are still banned from public activity, including union activities.

CAS has repeatedly demanded that the ban is lifted.

The government of Kazakhstan has announced amendments to legislation to improve human rights by the end of 2022. However, independent unions have been excluded from the government’s working group on labour legislation reform.

In a referendum on 5 June, a majority of the voters approved a number of constitutional reforms, which means returning to a parliamentary system, among other things.There is an urgent need to establish genuine social dialogue and to remove the legal and practical barriers unions face in exercising freedom of association.

In a statement at the CAS, IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“We once again urge the government to take all necessary action to make sure that Kazakhstan complies with its international obligations. The union registration procedure should be simplified and based on notification of the creation of the union, any restrictions on union activity shall be lifted and all charges against union leaders dropped, including removing the charges from the trade union leaders’ records.”

Building social protection for garment workers

On 31 May, IndustriALL and ILR School’s New Conversation Project hosted a webinar to launch the recent report, “Security for Apparel Workers: Alternative Models”. The report, commissioned to examine past efforts and possible models for advancing social protection in the global apparel and footwear sector, outlines existing approaches that have attempted to provide apparel workers with some degree of income security, and use those to assemble the necessary elements of a way forward for the development of sustainable systems of social protection.
 
Executive director of the ILR School’s New Conversation Project Jason Judd, says:

"Covid was a stress test for systems – private ones run by fashion brands and public ones built by national governments – to protect workers in the global apparel industry. Most were found wanting."

After addressing several other systems – including funds that were set up in the aftermath of a tragedy, like the Rana Plaza accident, as well as one responding to COVID-19 – the paper highlights that one match for the goals of a global social protection would be to set a model similar to the International Bargaining Forum. The Forum is the industry-wide framework established in 1999 for collective bargaining between the global seafarers’ union, the International Transport Workers Federation– now representing nearly 150,000 seafarers – and a consortium of European vessel owners and shipping management firms.

“Of all the agreements and mechanisms reviewed above, we see this as the strongest in that it is specific and binding, covers multiple countries and is global in scope, includes industry funding for independent enforcement and work welfare, and has a governance structure rooted in collective bargaining. All of these elements could figure in a global social protection agreement, beginning with its form: a transnational collective bargaining agreement between unions such as IndustriALL and its affiliates, buyers and suppliers.”

"The current supply chain model is built on cheap labour and avoiding responsibility; taking production to countries with no labour rights and little social protection. Without social protection, societies fall apart. Social protection is a public issue, but until that is a reality, we have to build a system with incentives to push governments and companies in the countries where they operate,"

says IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie.
 
The report recommends:

Photo: Factory assessment in Cambodia, ©ILO