Trade union harassment continues in Belarus

On 21 March, the union office at oil company Naftan was searched and turned upside down. Equipment, including union computers, documentation and union flags were seized by the police.

Union activist Nina Barysava was detained for a night, her home was searched and her phone was taken by the police. The apartment of Gennadz Vorona, BITU vice-chair at Naftan, was also searched.

Volha Brytsikava, chair of BITU at Naftan, is in prison after receiving three terms of 15 days arrest for her anti-war position.

According to reports, the searches and arrests are carried out by the police to scare the union into disclosing the lists of remaining members at Naftan, as demanded by the prosecutor’s office.

Last month also saw police cracking down on trade unions. 67-year old Aleksandr Yevdokimchik, deputy head of IndustriALL affiliate SPM, was detained on 24 February when he came to work in the union office. At a trial four days later, Yevdokimchik was convicted for hooliganism, allegedly committed at the police station, and spent 17 days in jail.

Says IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie:

“As long as the brutal harassment of trade unions continues, IndustriALL will continue to fight for our unions. The violations must stop and Belarus must respect the obligations of ILO Convention 87, which the government has ratified.”

Strong solidarity in North American cement network

Two labour conflicts were discussed at the meeting. A group of 150 members of Unifor local at Joliet Ash Grove (owned by CRH), Quebec, Canada, have been locked out since May last year. And as the employer prepares to shut down two out of four kilns, dozens of members are at risk of losing their jobs.
 
330 truck drivers in Seattle, US, went on strike in November last year when a group of employers, including multinationals HeidelbergCement and Taiheiyo cement and two local cement producers, refused to bargain in good faith. Since then, a big part of US$23 billion Seattle construction business has been on a standstill.
 
A few days after the network meeting, on 14 March, more than 40 ready-mix concrete drivers and support staff at Cadman’s ready-mix concrete facility on East Marginal Way and Salmon Bay’s ready-mix concrete facility in Ballard agreed, as a good-faith gesture, to return to work. However, Cadman (owned by HeidelbergCement) has refused to return the mixer drivers in a timely manner or provide them with a return date. So continued support for the Teamsters on strike is still important.
 
The meeting adopted a solidarity statement with the Teamsters on strike in Seattle. A similar solidarity statement will be prepared for Canadian and US colleagues at Ash Grove Joliette.

 

 
The human and economic consequences of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine reverberate beyond the region. Eight out of 12 cement in Ukraine are owned by multinational cement companies including Irish CRH, Italian Buzzi Unicem and Russian Eurocement. CRH has already suspended production and declared assistance to employees and their families to escape the conflict. The company has also stopped all operations in Russia. Buzzi Unicem announced the deployment of a contingency plan in order to guarantee the safety of its employees and their families in Ukraine. So far there is no information about Eurocement's operations and employees in Ukraine.
 
Delegates discussed industry transformations on the global and regional levels. The cement industry is under pressure to neutralize its carbon emissions by 2050 in order to achieve the UN sustainable development goal on combatting climate change and its impacts on the industry. In order to make the union voice heard in this process, IndustriALL is initiating work in line with the Just Transition declaration adopted at COP26 in Glasgow last year.
 
Alexander Ivanou, director of materials industries, says:

“Our network continues to build strong solidarity, and both Teamsters and Unifor can count on us. We raise our voice against the war in Ukraine and express full solidarity with the people of Ukraine. Those who can contribute, please follow this link.
 
“Our networks will apply more efforts on Just Transition in the cement sector, which is extremely timey now.”

Lockout at Canadian Rolls-Royce site

The 530 aircraft engine maintenance workers have been without a collective agreement since March 2020. Negotiations had been progressing slowly, and at the meeting, workers voted 94 per cent in favour of giving their union a mandate to call a strike at the appropriate time. During the meeting, the president of the company declared a lockout. The union responded by exercising its mandate immediately, and called a strike. The workers have been picketing outside the factory gates since the beginning of the lockout at 1pm that day.

The workers are represented by IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Syndicat des travailleuses et des travailleurs de Rolls-Royce Canada (CSN). The union wants a five-year contract. Among other things, they are demanding the elimination of orphan clauses in the pension and group insurance plans, improved wages and work schedules, and enhanced leave.

“For months we have been arguing at the bargaining table for the needs of Rolls-Royce workers to be taken into account,” explains union president Frédéric Labelle.

“The employer's response has been disappointing. The more dismissive they are, the more our sense of belonging erodes. We are the core of this business. Without our work, which is recognized in the industry as being of outstanding quality, Rolls-Royce could not call itself a leader. We want to be treated with respect again.”

Prior to yesterday's strike vote, the union organized a number of actions to make it clear to the employer that the workers are committed to their demands. There was strong participation by the membership. There have been 25 bargaining sessions over the past few months, and members have followed the progress closely. There is strong support for the bargaining committee.

IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie sent a message of support to the union, saying:

“We find it unconscionable that the company in the middle of negotiations opted for a lockout rather than a social dialogue, particularly bearing in mind that the 530 specialized workers at the Côte-de-Liesse factory have been without a collective agreement since March 2020.”

Photos: CSN

Successful union building in Morocco

IndustriALL Global Union has been running a union-building programme in Morocco for eight years. In February, the two new unions, Fédération Nationale des Travailleurs de Sidérurgie  et des Industries Synthétiques de la Métallurgie et de l'Electronique  (FNTSIME-UMT)  and Fédération Nationale des Travailleurs du Textile, du Cuir, des Chaussures et de L'habillement (FNTTCCL-UMT), held founding conferences in Casablanca.  

The two conferences were held under a unified slogan "For a strong union in which rights are preserved and freedoms are protected". Hundreds of delegates and leaders attended the two conferences, as the administrative committee and national offices were elected.

FNTTCCL-UMT elected 72 members for its administrative committee and 25 members for its national offices. FNTSIME-UMT elected 91 members for the administrative committee and 23 members for national offices. A number of women and youth leaders who have been active within IndustriALL networks and training programmes over the past years were elected.

Both unions belong to Morocco’s largest national centre, UMT. During the opening session, UMT general secretary Miloudi Moukharik praised the struggles of the workers in the face of the systematic attack on the rights and gains of the working class. He criticized companies restricting union work and called for more unity and labor solidarity in order to anticipate the future in an organizational framework that unifies and supports the sector's struggle.

"We are establishing these unions to meet the challenges, enhance solidarity and build union strength in the sectors. IndustriALL’s support and solidarity have been vital in accomplishing this important achievement."

Abdelmajid Matoual, far right in the picture, from UMT and IndustriALL’s vice president of the MENA region, also attended the conferences.

"After years of work, we now see the birth of two new unions with many challenges ahead. We congratulate UMT and the comrades from the textile and metal sectors and renew our commitment of solidarity with the two unions.”

Kemal Özkan IndustriALL assistant general secretary, said:

"The two new unions represent an important addition to the union strength in the sectors at regional and global levels. The cooperation with UMT in accomplishing this initiative represents a model of international solidarity that’s based on the committed work of our Moroccan sister and brothers."

Eswatini police disperse workers petitioning for living wage

Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) says this action by the police violates national and international labour standards that include Convention 87 (freedom of association and protection of the right to organize) and Convention 98 (right to organize and collective bargaining).

ATUSWA is rejecting the 6 per cent wage increase being offered by the employers, with support from the Textile and Apparel Wages Council (TAWC). The union wants minimum wages of E2923 (US$194) per month.
 
ATUSWA, affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, says there is over-reliance by the employers and the government on the Wages Council to determine wage increases. The union says this is beyond the Wages Council’s role which is to regulate minimum terms and conditions of employment as opposed to negotiations and collective bargaining.

Further, in the last three years, the TAWC has failed to reach consensus on the workers’ demands for living wages. Unfortunately, the council always seems to rule in favour of employers, who have become arrogant while workers continue to earn low wages, says ATUSWA in the petition.
 
Wander Mkhonza, ATUSWA secretary general says:

“After intense consultations with our members and those workers who are yet to be organized; the workers resolved to reclaim their fundamental rights and demand decent wages and better living conditions in and outside their workplaces.

“What worsens the problem is that collective bargaining has been actively stifled by government through the department of labour which is neglecting its oversight responsibilities. This neglect makes it possible for employers to suppress the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.”

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

“We commend ATUSWA members for their courage to stand up for workers’ rights in a hostile environment in which workers live in fear and are dispersed by the police for picketing for living wages.”

IndustriALL’s 3rd Congress passed a resolution for democratic reforms on Eswatini and for the government to respect “freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of opinion and expression which are essential for human and trade union rights and that the government of Eswatini must adhere to United Nations Conventions including the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights.”

IndustriALL has written letters to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the Southern African Developing Community to call upon the Eswatini government to protect workers and human rights.
 
ATUSWA and other trade unions are campaigning for democracy and an end to the country’s absolute monarchy under King Mswati III. Proposed dialogue by the government towards a constitutional democracy is yet to take place.

Divided we beg, united we bargain, says Eswatini union

Global trade unions prepare for future mobility markets

Mobility concepts of the future, particularly Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in an urban environment, will differ quite a bit from what we know today – more shared services, less individual mobility, digital connectivity between people, vehicles and infrastructure, driverless vehicles.

Digitalization, urbanization, climate change, new mobility habits and traffic congestion are probably the most important drivers of this change. The interests of the different players also vary – big tech companies dream of a fully digitized and automated system, sociologists and urban planners develop new cities with far less traffic and roads, some groups see the option to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector, commuters want more flexible transport solutions.

The future has already begun with the uberization of mobility. Platforms connecting drivers and riders, with precarious working conditions for their drivers and other service personnel.

Starting with a webinar on 22 November 2021 IndustriALL Global Union, the International Transport Workers’ Federation and UNI Global Union, embarked on a three-year project in close cooperation with German Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) to find out what trade union strategies are required to ensure decent working conditions and pay in in the future.

The webinar, which brought together more than 100 trade unionists and experts from 31 countries from around the globe, was an ideal start the exchange between trade unions from a large range of sectors linked to mobility: the automotive industry, public transport, coach drivers, taxi drivers, call centers, ride hailing services, business service centers and many more. In general, everyone agreed that it is high time for unions to engage in the topic on the global level and to develop joint demands and strategies.

Discussions mainly centered on three questions:

1)    What role will large tech companies play on future markets and what regulations are required to ensure a level playing field between the different market players, and to secure workers’ rights and decent working conditions and pay?

2)    How to develop a supply-network approach to enable a fruitful and effective cooperation between unions from all angles of the future mobility sector?

3)    How to apply a concept of Just Transition to provide training and support to the existing workforce in order to secure their employability in the future?

Many questions were asked regarding the number and the area of expected job losses, but also related to new jobs. In addition, the expected power relation between the traditional players (auto industry, public transport, taxi services etc.) and the new players (tech companies, service providers etc.) was a hotly debated issue. A team of experienced scientists was assigned to develop a related study.

The research will be presented on 17 May, to be debated at a global workshop later in the year, probably end of September.

A gender mainstreaming policy will be applied, as well as the principle of balanced views and inputs from the global North and South. To secure proper implementation, there will be two observers.

Shipbreaker physically assaulted

In February, the cutter at Kabir Steel shipbreaking yard was sacked without a written order. Despite interventions by IndustriALL affiliate, the Bangladesh Metal Workers Federation (BMF), management refused to reinstate him. BMF then lodged a formal complaint with the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE).

Angered by the worker’s action of complaining to the DIFE, management abused him and, according to the worker, also physically assaulted him. 

“We strongly condemn this act of violence meted out to a worker for complaining against Kabir Steel management. These intimidation tactics are unacceptable and action should be taken against the assaulters,”

says IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kan Matsuzaki.

DIFE recommended that the union and the employer try to settle the matter. After a bipartite meeting 15 March, management apologized to the worker and agreed to compensate him by 20 March. The employer also took responsibility for the assault.
 
There has been several accidents at the Kabir Steel shipbreaking yard due to the unsafe working conditions. On 31 January, a worker was killed while working at the yard at night. Local press report that the Ministry of Industry ordered a temporary closure of the yard as the worker’s death created ‘negative perceptions about the ship recycling industry in home and abroad’.

In November last year, the ministry fined Khwaja ship breaking yard, also known as Kabir Steel Ship Recycling Facilities, BDT500,000 (US$5,700) and banned the company from importing scrap ships for four months due to environmental concerns and lack of safety measures at the yard. Operations at the yard were suspended for similar reasons in 2019.

According to reports, Kabir Steel shipbreaking yard has applied for the Hong Kong International Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships (HKC).

What will it take for the Hong Kong Convention to come into force?

IndustriALL calls for a gender-transformative and inclusive Just Transition

CSW66 – Opening Session in UN General Assembly Hall. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

The UNCSW66 takes place from 14 – 25 March. During the Commission’s annual two-week session, representatives of UN member states, civil society organizations, include trade unions, and UN entities will meet, both in person at UN headquarters in New York, and virtually.

The debates will focus on achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes. Parties will make recommendations that will take the form of negotiated agreed conclusions on the priority theme on gender equality and women’s empowerment in climate change.

IndustriALL made clear when setting trade union priorities that Just Transition plans must be coupled with the implementation, involving trade unions, of sustainable industrial policies aimed at creating decent work, especially for workers who will be impacted by industrial transformations. These policies must guarantee equal opportunities for both men and women, by addressing existing gender inequalities.

“Policies on energy transition must seek to achieve, with the involvement of trade unions, decent working conditions for men and women workers in the renewable energy sector and its supply chain. These policies must also address structural and behavioural gender inequalities to allow women, especially young women, to participate in jobs and sectors from which they have been traditionally excluded, including in sciences, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). They must meet women’s needs, addressing gender energy poverty though universal access to energy, ”

said Diana Junquera Curiel, IndustriALL director for energy and Just Transition.

IndustriALL joined other global unions in a joint statement calling on member states to act immediately by adopting ambitious Just Transition plans that preserve our planet and adequately address the profound inequalities and inequities in the world of work. These plans are fundamental for building resilient, sustainable and just societies, equipped to respond to the climate emergency, and to meet the targets set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Adequate and increased investment in a Just Transition towards a gender-responsive and inclusive green and caring economy is critical. This requires guarantees to provide decent work for all, including the formalization of informal work and universal access to social protection. Universal access to public quality care, health and education services, including transport services, overcoming sectoral and occupational segregation, realizing equal pay for work of equal value, eradicating wage and skills gaps and providing occupational health and safety are also central tenets of a Just Transition.

The UNCSW66 is a key opportunity to influence states to develop gender-transformative and inclusive Just Transition plans. The agreed conclusions will be an important tool for IndustriALL, and its affiliates, to advocate and negotiate with governments and corporations to ensure that their response to climate change addresses the specific impact, and the related transformation in the world of work, on women. IndustriALL will build on the outcomes of the UNCSW66 to develop further strategies.

Currently, gender equality is absent from many government Just Transition plans. It is also missing from the agenda of many trade unions. The UNCSW66 is an occasion to raise the visibility of gender equality in our ranks, and to articulate the importance of integrating gender in our action around Just Transition.

A series of important virtual side events, open to all, have been organized during the UNCSW66 on a range of issues related to the impact of climate change on women and to a gender-transformative and inclusive Just Transition, including equal pay, women in STEM, and feminist solutions to climate change.

Main photo: CUPE/Hatnim Lee

Health and Safety must be a fundamental principle and right at work

The amendment would see OHS joining the four fundamental principles and rights at work that the Declaration currently recognizes: freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively; the prohibition of forced labour; prohibition of child labour; and the elimination of discrimination in employment.

The Governing Body meets three times a year, in March, June and November. It takes decisions on ILO policy, decides the agenda of the International Labour Conference, adopts the draft programme and budget of the organization for submission to the conference, and elects the Director-General.

The call by global unions’ is consistent with the 2019 ILO Centenary Declaration on the future of work and a global campaign for OHS to be added to the fundamental principles and rights at work. In June 2019, UN experts urged the ILO to immediately recognize and adopt safe and healthy working conditions as one of its fundamental principles and rights at work. A follow-up to the resolution on the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work called for proposals, including safe and healthy working conditions, to be added to the ILO’s framework of fundamental principles and rights at work.

According to the first joint WHO/ILO monitoring report, released on 27 September 2021, at least 1.9 million workers lose their lives every year due to the work-related diseases and injuries. However, when adding causes of death by risk factors not included and filling in information gaps from poor record-keeping, the number is closer to a staggering three million deaths.

“Health and safety at work is neither a perk to be bargained for nor a favour to be asked. It is our right,”

said IndustriALL mining director and OHS lead, Glen Mpufane.

“No wage is worth our health or our life, and no remedy can be granted by an arbitrator that will restore our health or our life, once it is lost.”

At the November 2021 meeting of the ILO Governing Body, global unions finally secured agreement that the agenda for the 2022 International Labour Conference would include an amendment to the ILO 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work to achieve this.

On the back of this achievement, and to maintain the momentum and ensure that the  ILO Governing Body takes the decisions workers need on OHS, IndustriALL Global Union calls on its over 50 million members and affiliates to amplify the call by the ITUC to call on governments and employers:

“The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights include a duty and responsibility to protect the health and safety of workers. With the United Nations’ resolution recognizing access to a healthy and sustainable environment as a universal right, another historic moment awaits the Governing Body to make the correct decision,”

said IndustriALL assistant general secretary, Kan Matsuzaki.

Unions on strike at South African gold mines

The strike began with the night shift on 9 March after Sibanye Stillwater’s fifth proposal on the wage negotiations fell short of the workers’ demands and was rejected by the unions.
 
Earlier, the NUM held joint mass meetings with other unions including IndustriALL affiliate, UASA, over the mining company’s refusal to meet the wage demands. Protracted negotiations have also taken place before the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), but an agreement was not reached.

 

The CCMA issued a certificate of non-resolution which allows unions to give a 48-hour strike notice. According to South African labour laws, labour disputes can be referred to the CCMA for conciliation.
 
According to the NUM, the unions are demanding an increase of R1000 (US$65) per month for surface and underground miners, and 6 per cent for artisans, miners, and officials.

William Mabapa, NUM acting general secretary says:

“Mineworkers are determined to embark on the strike action until their demands are met. The union has noted the arrogance of the employers in maintaining that they are unshakable in their 5 per cent and R700 (US$46) pittance offer. However, the NUM is unshakable too in its demands for a living wage.
 
“The NUM has been reluctant to take industrial action in favour of negotiations but given the arrogance of Sibanye Stillwater the union is forced to embark on the nationwide industrial action that will change the gold mining landscape forever. The captains of the industry have continuously awarded themselves huge bonuses while mineworkers are earning poverty wages.”

 Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining, says:

“We support the strike for living wages by gold mineworkers at Sibanye Stillwater and commend the NUM for its solidarity with other unions. Workers’ unity is important in this strike. Further, this strike is also about preserving the gains that workers have made as found in existing collective bargaining agreements between the employer and the unions,”

Sibanye Stillwater, which employs 31,000 workers in gold mining, also mines platinum group metals in South Africa and the USA. The company is also involved in the mining of battery metals. The company is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.