"It's a very cold winter. Food is running out. This is a great humanitarian tragedy,” one trade union leader.
Due to the difficult conditions, only half the affiliates were able to join the meeting. Those who were able to join appealed for help for people who are in grave danger from the Russian invasion, staying in shelters or fleeing. For people in beleaguered cities, life has come to a standstill without electricity or water.
The workers’ representatives explained the situation in different sectors and regions in great details. Only half of the country's companies are still working, and many struggle with supply problems. Many trade union members are now soldiers.
Nuclear workers raised the very real dangers caused by the Russian attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and the occupation of the Chernobyl site.
IndustriALL president Jörg Hofmann reiterated IndustriALL’s solidarity pledge:
“We demand an immediate end to the war and the withdrawal of Russian troops. We will continue to help those affected and refugees with concrete solidarity in the form of donations and aid deliveries. We stand with Ukraine.”
As the humanitarian situation in Ukraine is worsening, there is a need for solidarity and financial assistance in all parts of the country. If you want to help, please make your donation, in euros to reduce transaction costs, to IndustriALL Global Union’s bank account.
Closing the gender pay gap
A need for an inclusive collective bargaining
The gender pay gap is the result of gender inequalities in society, the economy and the labour market. Recent legislation, like in Spain, takes a broader approach with compulsory development of equality plans for companies that analyse and respond to possible discrimination in recruitment, promotion, pay, health and safety, etc.
Through collective bargaining trade unions play a central role. Collective bargaining can be used as a tool to promote equality in the workplace and address many of the entrenched misconceptions about the role of women workers. Evidence shows that collective bargaining contributes positively to reducing pay inequalities between women and men.
Ensuring gender balance in decision-making, social dialogue and collective bargaining teams is key. Women’s positions in union leadership and presence on collective bargaining teams has a significant impact on the extent to which collective bargaining outcomes are gender sensitive. Many equality issues are only included in collective agreements when women participate directly in negotiations
Unequal distribution of unpaid work and childcare
The magnitude of unpaid work is huge. Substantive progress to close the gender pay gap cannot be achieved without effective recognition, valuing and redistribution of unpaid work between men and women, but also between families and quality care public services. Over 70 per cent of unpaid care work is still done by women, and this amount significantly increases with the presence of young children in the household. On average, women’s share of childcare is three times that of men’s.
The unequal share of unpaid work and childcare comes back to old stereotypes where men are seen as the primary breadwinners and mothers as the primary caregivers. Tackling entrenched gender norms and stereotypes is a first step in redistributing responsibilities for care and housework.
The unequal distribution has a direct impact on the gender pay gap and contributes to the motherhood pay gap, as illustrated by the ILO.
Ongoing trade union campaigns show how investing in care – health, education, child and aged care and other social care services – is crucial in enabling women’s effective participation in the broader economy.
Many unions in Europe have prioritized policies on the reconciliation of work and family life, including provisions of childcare to promote more equal parenting and to close the gender pay.
Based on the spirit of the Childcare and Family Care Leave Act, unions in Japan will discuss measures to promote active parental leave for fathers this spring. The aim is to promote the formation of a society in which men and women can participate together through child-rearing, which is currently biased toward women.
Undervaluing women’s work
“As unions, we often believe that because we have bargained a wage grid, there’s no gender pay gap; women and men performing the same job will be paid the same. But that is not enough as it does not automatically eliminate the factors that contribute to a gender pay gap, like occupational segregation, undervaluing of work that women are more likely to perform, unequal access to bonuses and allowances. We need to bring the value of the work carried out to the centre of negotiations,”
says Christine Olivier, IndustriALL assistant general secretary.
Social norms and gender stereotypes keep women away from the better paid industries and sectors, like sciences technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Women in these sectors face discrimination, making it professional development difficult. On average, their salaries are lower than that of their male colleagues. In the energy or ICT sectors, the wage gap globally amounts to 31 and 25 per cent respectively.
A recent report from Comisiones Obreras in Spain, shows that almost forty per cent of the monthly pay gap between women and men is found in allowances/bonuses. These additions reward typically male aspects of work, like physical effort, hardship and night work, while parts of work like attention, precision, endurance are not rewarded.
Pay transparency initiatives like equal pay audits and surveys can help highlight the low pay of work performed by women. The ETUC and European unions are calling for a European Directive making all employers produce pay information (audits) and annual action plans on pay equality, and supporting unions to negotiate with employers to tackle the pay gap.
Even more critical are gender-neutral job evaluations and classification, as they address gender bias in assessing women work and fight against the historically undervaluing of women skills and work. Job evaluation schemes will perpetuate existing inequalities if they if they are not designed to address equal pay for work of equal value.
The Icelandic Equal Pay Standard is widely regarded as a best practice of how equal pay for work of equal value can be achieved. The employers should show evidence that a uniform and non-discriminatory system has been established for comparing jobs through a job classification and job evaluation ranking system, across four main criteria: expertise, responsibility, effort, and work environment, and sub-criteria must be formulated and weighted in ways that are relevant to each company or institution.
It is crucial to take the gendered nature of wage setting into account, otherwise collective agreements will continue to institutionalize and legitimise the undervaluation of women’s work.
Trade unions, like USW in Canada or Unite in UK, have developed guidelines on what to bargain on in order improve, existing legislative provisions with regards to pay equity, equal pay surveys or gender-neutral job evaluation.
Vulnerable categories of workers
In many countries women in the informal economy represent the majority of women workers. Campaigns and negotiations towards universal social protection for everyone are key in closing the gender pay gap. Working with other social partners is important as the formalization of the informal economy will help in building a conducive environment for collective bargaining.
Key for closing the gender pay gap is to ensure women’s decent work and to address women’s disproportionate role in precarious and low skilled, low paid and low valued jobs. There needs to be a political commitment on redistributing resources towards low paid women’s jobs and sectors.
The concentration of women at the very bottom of global supply chains, where regulations are likely to be the weakest and the competitive pressures the strongest, also contributes to the gender pay gap. Global framework agreements with multinational companies can play an important role in improving working conditions as well as negotiations to set national level living wages or sector specific minimum wages. The ACT process will also play a key role in raising women’s salaries in the supply chain.
Urgent need to stop mine accidents at Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park
During a visit to the regional labour office on 23 February, National Industrial Workers' Union Federation (SPN), Mining and Energy Federation (FPE-SBSI), together with the head of the regional labour office decided to form a tripartite taskforce to discuss and resolve issues concerning health and safety at IMIP.
For years, members of SPN FPE-SBSI have been raising concerns over the around 1,800 accidents and five fatalities that happen every year, demanding that the employer acts.
The unions have also demanded improvement of the toilet situation at the mines. The open-style toilets are dirty and insufficient; one of the mine sites provides a mere three toilets for 2,500 workers. Indonesia’s Manpower Ministerial Decree No. 5/2018 requires employers to provide one toilet for every 15 workers.
One of the toilet facilities
“Health and safety at IMIP is impoverished and the situation needs to change. I urge the labour office and employers to engage in social dialogue to improve working conditions. We also need more training to increase awareness of workers’ rights,”
says Iwan Kusmawan, chairperson of IndustriALL Indonesia Council.
The employer has ignored the unions’ demands, but the joint commitment calls for improving the poor sanitary conditions, preparing enough and decent toilets at mine sites, and it should be done through company regulation, collective agreements and the formation of an health and safety committee.
“There must be an end to the extraordinarily high accident rate and the unsanitary conditions at IMIP. IndustriALL is calling on the authorities to conduct a labour inspection, formulate a concrete, corrective and preventive action plan to create safe and healthy workplaces for all IMIP workers,”
says Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director.
The industrial park, is a joint venture between Indonesia's Bintangdelapan Group and China's Tsingshan Group, part the Belt and Road initiative. It mainly produces nickel and stainless steel in 19 smelters in Morowali, employes around 54,000 workers.
Photo: SPN and FPE members from IMIP joined a workshop on 24-25 February to discuss issues facing workers at the mine sites.
Talking Threads podcast: Episode 1 – the women behind the label
This podcast is all about putting grassroots stories first, giving garment workers – especially women – a platform to have their voices heard. It is a union production, made by women, and features real sounds captured from the unionized factories that IndustriALL represents.
The podcast is available on all major platforms – subscribe today.
Episode 1: The women behind the label
On International Women’s Day, we hear from women garment workers about the issues they face on the factory floor, and look at how IndustriALL’s campaign aims to achieve better social protections for workers in the industry.
This first episode is dedicated to all the women – around 63 million of them – that work in the garment sector.
Contributors:
Garment workers Sulata* and Muniya* (not their real names) from near Dhaka in Bangladesh
Evelyn Astor, Adviser on economic and social policy, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
IndustriALL is looking for a project coordinator in Nepal
Support unions in Ukraine
IndustriALL’s twelve unions and their members in Ukraine are fighting for their lives and are in urgent need of solidarity and financial support.
According to reports from Ukrainian affiliates, trade union leaders, officials and members are fighting for survival, hiding in underground shelters against attacks, while still trying desperately to support their members. It is further reported that most of the factories have stopped production and some of them are already under occupation. Workers cannot work and there is a huge concern about their livelihoods. Trade unions cannot perform their duties as they are facing an existential threat.
There is a need for immediate support, as well as long-term assistance in the eventual reconstruction of union structures. For direct humanitarian support, we propose that you donate to the international humanitarian organizations that operate in Ukraine, but if you want to help our affiliates directly, please make your donation, in euros to reduce transaction costs, to IndustriALL Global Union’s bank account.
We appreciate your support to our sisters and brothers in Ukraine at this most difficult time.
Bank name: Cler Bank Bank address: 6-8 Place Longemalle, CH 1204 Geneva Switzerland
Account holder's name: IndustriALL Global Union Account holder's address: 54bis, route des Acacias, CH 1227 Carouge
IndustriALL Global Union, online clothing brand ASOS, Anti-slavery International, and the Confederation des Travailleurs des secteurs Publique et Prive (CTSP) teamed up to establish the resource centre to protect workers and human rights of migrant workers against modern slavery that includes bonded labour, debt bondage, and debt slavery.
Speakers at the official opening event on 8 February said the partnership strengthened the cooperation between brands and unions. Further, the centre complemented the CTSP, which is affiliated to IndustriALL, in its on-going campaigns to stop the migrant workers’ rights violations.
ASOS, which sources garments from RT Knits, Tropic Knits, CMT, Denim De L’ile and Star Knitwear factories that employ thousands of migrant and local workers, says it is committed to responsible sourcing. As well as providing ongoing support for the Migrant Resource Centre, the online fashion destination, which has a Global Framework Agreement in place with IndustriALL, has developed a mobile app that provides information and education on workers’ rights for migrant workers in Mauritius.
According to CTSP, most of the 50,000 strong migrant workers across Mauritius are at risk of being paid poverty wages that are below the country’s minimum wages of 10575 rupees (US$246) for non-export enterprises. This often comes as a shock to the workers and dampens their expectations. Worse still, as most of them will be paying back agency fees for the journey from their home countries often at inflated interests’ rates.
The journey for migrant workers who end up in the factories of the island begins in countries thousands of miles away – in Bangladesh, Nepal, India or even China – as well as nearby Madagascar. But the journey does not always deliver the promised decent jobs and wages.
Some employers violate workers and human rights that are protected by the country’s constitution and the Workers’ Rights Act among other laws. Further, the migrant workers have limited access to health care. Health and safety conditions are ignored, with some workers getting injured at work while squalid conditions in workers dormitories are common.
The CTSP runs the resource centre. For example, awareness raising sessions for migrant workers are held on Sundays — the only day that most migrant workers are off. The union says the awareness campaigns are also part of social events for migrant workers.
Reeaz Chooto, CTSP president says:
“The resource centre is making the following demands: that migrant workers should come to Mauritius without having to pay any agent fees and wants a one-stop shop to be set up for migrant workers by the government. This will facilitate fair contracts with decent wages, access to public health facilities, health and safety at workplaces, provision of decent accommodation, and the involvement of migrant workers in collective bargaining.”
Further, the centre wants repatriation to be done in a fair manner that protects the rights of migrant workers. The law should also provide for emergency repatriation. Repatriations must also be cleared by the government to avoid situations where workers are sent back to their home countries before the conclusion of labour disputes.
For example, the labour laws should specify the time upon which the employer should repatriate workers after the expiry of their contracts to avoid situations where workers are stranded in the country without jobs, food, and accommodation. The centre is proposing that a refugee centre be set up for workers who would have been physically assaulted or become homeless.
“We are incredibly proud to be standing with our critical friend Anti-Slavery International, the team at CTSP and migrant workers in Mauritius to officially open the Migrant Resource Centre.
"Since the Centre was established over two years ago it has helped migrant workers on the ground in Mauritius better understand and realise their fundamental human rights and has been instrumental in directly resolving grievances and holding employers to account,”
says Simon Platts, ASOS responsible sourcing director.
“We would like to congratulate ASOS and CTSP for championing the rights of migrant workers through this partnership. Hopefully, the resource centre will bring about decent working conditions,”
says Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL textile and garment director.
Greek unions demonstrate against Kavala Oil layoffs
The demonstration was organized by the Pan-Hellenic Energy Federation (PEF), the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Metal Workers (POEM) and the Federation of Chemical Industry workers of Greece (OEXBE). PEF and POEM are affiliates of IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union.
The unions were protesting the layoff of 122 workers at Kavala Oil, layoffs at LARCO, the state-owned ferro-nickel production company, and the growing use of temporary contracts at Kavala Fertilizers.
Kavala Oil operates the only oil field in Greece, and is owned by London-listed Energean. The company received €100 million of EU Covid support – taxpayers’ money – as part of the State Aid Temporary Framework to support and maintain employment during the pandemic. PEF and its affiliate, the Kavala Oil Workers’ Union, supported the proposal to finance the company on the condition that workers’ rights be respected.
Instead, the company launched a restructuring programme in April 2021, laying off 40 workers and moving another 40 from permanent to contract positions. The company also announced €6 million cuts in salaries and allowances.
More workers have subsequently been laid off, bringing the current total to 122.
In 2021, industriAll Europe wrote to the European Commmission, and a Greek MEP from the Left group raised the issue in the European Parliament. In December, workers occupied the facility. The occupation was broken by riot police on 21 December, with 17 arrests. No charges were filed and the workers were released. On 1 January, the workers went on strike.
Workers occupying Kavala Oil
IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll Europe wrote a joint solidarity letter ahead of the demonstration.
In the morning before the demonstration, the presidents of the federations and the unions held a meeting in the Greek Parliament with representatives of the radical left (SΥRΙΖΑ), the Communist Party of Greece (ΚΚΕ), and the centre-left Movement for Change (KINAL). They raised the layoffs, the use of precarious contracts, and the increase in the prices of essentials and gas, electricity and oil.
The unions’ goal was to show that the workers are the foundation of these industries and not a burden on employers and the state, and to demand that the government provide solutions.
IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:
“Energean have shamefully abused taxpayers’ money by laying off workers after taking €100 million in Covid support. This was a solidarity fund created to sustain employment, not a money-making opportunity for greedy corporate bosses.
industriAll Europe’s general secretary Luc Triangle said :
“The company must engage in meaningful social dialogue with our affiliate PEF the Kabala Oil Workers’ Union, desist from unlawful dismissals, immediately reinstate dismissed workers, stop the precarization of labour contracts, and ensure the health and safety in the oil and gas installations.”
IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll Europe will continue to support PEF and the workers in the Kavala Oil Workers’ Union, and continue their joint actions.
Photos: Supplied by PEF, Kavala Oil Workers' Union, Petrol-Is
Bangladesh’s government must implement roadmap for workers’ rights
In 2019, several workers’ organizations in Bangladesh submitted a complaint under article 26 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Constitution. The complaint concerned the non-observance of a number of ILO Conventions, including on freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively.
As a result, the governing body of the ILO requested that the government of Bangladesh develop a roadmap of actions in response to the country’s non-observance of the Conventions.
The Bangladeshi government has submitted a progress report, providing updates on the four priority areas of the roadmap, including labour law reform, trade union registration, labour inspection and enforcement, and addressing acts of anti-union discrimination/unfair labour practices and violence against workers.
However, commitments made in the time-bound roadmap have yet to be fulfilled. And in the consultation meetings of IndustriALL affiliates in December and January, affiliates revealed that they had not been consulted or included in any of the meetings held on the roadmap.
“From the government’s report, it appears that no meaningful consultation has been held with trade unions. Since the most important sector in Bangladesh is the ready-made-garment (RMG) sector, any meaningful consultation will necessarily have to be done with IndustriALL’s affiliates, which has not been done,”
says Apoorva Kaiwar, IndustriALL South Asia regional secretary.
IndustriALL Bangladesh Council's list of demands aligns closely with the roadmap and includes:
proper payment of wages and over-time wages
easing the process of registration of trade unions
amendment of Bangladesh Labour Act and Bangladesh Labour Rules, in line with ILO conventions
increasing the number of labour courts
social protection, including employment injury, unemployment benefit, housing and food support
establishment of hospitals in industrial zones
establishment of health and safety and anti-harassment committees at factory level
disbanding of the industrial police as they target worker unfairly
“IndustriALL calls on the government of Bangladesh to make sincere efforts to implement the roadmap in full consultation with trade unions, particularly IndustriALL affiliates, through genuine social dialogue. The government must consider the amendment proposals made by our affiliates to the labour legislation. The concerns of RMG workers must be reflected; IndustriALL’s affiliates in the sector should be made a part of the Labour Act and Rules amendment sub-committees,”
says Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary.
Sri Lankan unions launch campaign for minimum wage rise
IndustriALL Global Union affiliates the Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees’ Union, Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya and Ceylon Mercantile Industrial and General Workers Union are part of the campaign.
With the high cost of living hitting Sri Lankans hard, the announcement by the government on 3 January 2022 granting an allowance of 5,000 Sri Lankan Rupees (LKR – US $25) to government employees came as a disappointment, as only public servants and pensioners benefit and private sector employees are excluded. The government refuses to extend the allowance under the pretext of economic crisis. Private sector employees get just 16,000 rupees (US $80) per month as the minimum wage.
Anticipating the situation ahead of the budget, unions – including IndustriALL affiliates – which are members of the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC), submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Finance in October 2021 to increase the minimum wage of private sector employees to 26,000 rupees (US $129), and for a 50 per cent reduction in the price of essential goods in the 2022 budget.
Following this, the cabinet instructed the Minister of Labour to make the necessary arrangements to pay the 5,000 rupees allowance for the private sector employees. The Minister of Labour called a meeting with the members of the NLAC on 7 January, followed by a meeting with the employers’ associations on 10 January.
Employers refused to pay the 5,000 rupees proposed by the unions, citing economic losses due to COVID. On the issue of minimum wages, employers claim that they already pay the minimum wage of 26,000 rupees, which unions know to be untrue. NLAC has asked unions to provide evidence, and IndustriALL affiliates are engaged in a campaign to collect pay slips from employees in order to show the truth about wages.
The unions held a joint conference on 19 January, followed by an island-wide protest on 21 January. Currently the unions are also campaigning with parliamentarians to introduce a private member’s bill on the minimum wage in Parliament.
Anton Marcus at the 21 January protest
Anton Marcus, joint secretary of the Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees’ Union, said:
“Unions have resolved to convene and establish provincial and village committees of social activists across the country to mobilise citizens to demand from the government to pay 5,000 rupees as monthly allowance to all categories of workers, to increase the minimum wage of private sector employees to 26, 000 rupees and to reduce the prices of essential food items by 50 per cent.”
Photos: Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees’ Union
