Fighting for a safe and responsible steel industry

“The members of IndustriALL’s affiliated unions are the ones who make the steel. They are the ones who either live or die, who return in either good or bad health from their workplaces in the steel industry. If anything goes wrong, they pay with their health, or even with their lives. That is why we support every effort to improve working conditions and occupational health and safety measures.

“IndustriALL is a member of ResponsibleSteel as it is important to represent our affiliates in a growing organization aimed at producing steel in a responsible way. Within ResponsibleSteel, we, as a global trade union can give the men and women working in the industry a voice in the discussions on Responsible Steel’s standards and on what producing steel in a responsible manner means for workers and their unions around the world. Having this multi-stakeholder approach is crucial.

“A general understanding and respect for ILO Core Labour Standards and Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work are crucial in every steel and mining operation that seeks to be certified by ResponsibleSteel.

“Today, on International Workers' Memorial Day, we are remembering our colleagues who have died or have been left disabled in the steel sector. A core question is to make sure that the ILO conventions on health and safety are respected and reviewed during certification procedures. The conventions are:

“It is also crucial to adopt a general approach of Just Transition in the steel industry. We think that a changing steel industry needs the workers’ perspective when it comes to piloting through the upcoming changes in our important industry.

“A global standard for the steel industry can help to protect workers’ rights. Workers’ and unions’ rights must become indispensable when certifying steel. ResponsibleSteel can deliver and support this – especially if we train our certification bodies accordingly.

“Steel producers along the value chain must accept responsibility for fair treatment of their employees, including sub-contractors. The ILO conventions above are key. If all steel producer in the world applies these standards, we will make huge progress for the workers, but also for the industry as a whole.

“We demand what we call Just Transition. This simply means that no worker – regardless of blue or white collar, regardless of directly employed or subcontracted – is left behind in the transition process that the steel industry will go through.

“In other words: we want to see a climate-neutral steel industry that still offers clean, healthy and good workplaces, were men and women in the industry are proud to contribute to responsibly produced, climate-neutral steel. This is what sustainability is all about.”

The fundamental right to be safe at work

“A fundamental rights approach to health and safety provides a human rights lens. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights include a duty and responsibility to protect the health and safety of workers. Such a human rights-based approach will have the effect of creating coherence between human rights and occupational health and safety standards and reinforce the principle that all workers share the right to a safe and healthy working environment,”

says IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kan Matsuzaki.

While IndustriALL Global Union applauds the ILO Governing Body’s decision in March to agree to put forth the discussion for an amendment to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work to include occupational safety and health during the International Labour Conference in June 2022, we demand no less than an agreement. It has been three years since the ILO Centenary Conference agreed to the amendment and in that time

“around 8.1 million people have died as a result of their work and even more now live with life-altering injuries and illnesses,”

says ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow.

According to an estimate by the Workplace Safety and Health Institute, across the world in 2017, 2.78 million deaths were the result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases. The biggest share of work-related mortality was from work-related illnesses, which accounted for 2.40 million (86.3 per cent) of the total estimated deaths. Fatal injuries accounted for the remaining 13.7 per cent.
In 2019, the World Health Organization estimated that workplace-related deaths exceed the average annual deaths from road accidents (999,000), war (502,000), violence (563,000) and HIV/AIDS (312,000).

“Many of IndustriALL’s sectors, like mining, shipbreaking, chemicals and textile and garment, mirror these statistics, which also show a stark regional difference,”

says IndustriALL mining and health and safety director Glen Mpufane.

 

In combination with other fundamental principles and rights, recognizing health and safety as a fundamental principle offers workers a fighting chance to win the war. IndustriALL is calling on its more than million members across the world to participate in events and activities on 28 April, demand that employers and governments act by: 

Let us know what action you are taking in making the demand for the recognizing of health and safety as a fundamental principle and right – it could be webinars, protests, online statements, petitions, workplace inspections. Please tag IndustriALL on social media and use the hashtag #IWMD22

The ILO is hosting a webinar, Act together to build a positive safety and health culture – World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2022, with ILO Director General Guy Ryder and global leaders and experts. You can register here.

Cover photo: Marcel Crozet / ILO

Poland’s mines claim more lives

Five people were killed and seven are still missing after an accident at the Pniowek mine on 20 April. Only three days later, an accident at the Zofiowka mine claimed one life and several people are missing.

According to reports, the accidents are believed to have been caused by methane blasts, exploding around 1,000 meters below the surface. Both mines are believed to be owned by Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa SA.

Over recent years, Poland has experienced several accidents relating to mining.

“We urge authorities to carry out a thorough investigation, with the participation of trade unions, and implement measure to avoid similar accidents in the future. It is unacceptable that Polish mineworkers continue to die in coal mining, considering the advances in safety technology and knowledge,”

says IndustriALL mining and health and safety director Glen Mpufane.

“But there is a solution; ratifying and implementing ILO Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines. The Convention provides the organizing space for unions to build a workplace safety culture from the ground up.”

28 April is a day to remember and honour workers who were injured or died in the course of their work. While ILO Convention 176 is key to resolving the challenge of occupational safety and health in the mining industry, and IndustriALL reiterates the call on Poland’s government to ratify the Convention, the expected recognition by the ILO of health and safety as a fundamental principle and right at work, will contribute significantly to efforts to improve health and safety in Poland’s coal mines.
 

Mexico to host the World Social Forum: “Another world is possible”

The 14th edition of the World Social Forum, “Another world is possible”, will be a hybrid event, combining in-person and online activities. The overarching aim is to foster dialogue processes capable of boosting alliances, projects and initiatives at national and international level.

The forum will provide participants with an opportunity to articulate their visions and formulate common global agendas. They will also work on developing strategies capable of addressing the major structural problems they are confronted with in their respective countries.

An international Facilitating Group made up of over 100 organizations has been meeting online, on a weekly basis, since February, to coordinate the event, and will continue to do so until the start of the forum in May. The aim is to facilitate a horizontal and decentralised meeting, with hundreds of activities and self-organised action initiatives.

Some of the central themes are:

•    Democracy, political participation and critical global citizenship building
•    Emancipatory economies, work and workers, the struggle against the debt system and socioeconomic justice
•    Defending life and territories in the face of the global crisis of civilisation and ecocide, occupation and dispossession, agroecology, the right to the city, health and climate justice
•    Original, indigenous, ancestral, black, Afro-descendant and diaspora peoples, self-determination and the fight against racism
•    Peacebuilding, disarmament and strategies to deal with war, structural violence and migration.

Activities will be organised on specific issues linked to the central themes, such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and its impact on workers or environmental and workplace disasters such as Brumadinho, in Brazil, or Pasta de Conchos, in Mexico, and labour rights violations by mining companies.

Sessions will also be held on the energy transition, sustainable development, sustainable industrial policies and the challenges faced by women in the context of precarious work, issues which are among the strategic priorities set out in IndustriALL’s 2021-2025 action plan.

IndustriALL’s regional secretary, Marino Vani, said:

"We invite all affiliates, union leaders and workers to take part. It is crucial that trade unions participate in the debates and contribute to the political articulation of our agenda and the challenges of the working class. Another world is possible if we succeed in taking part, in being agents of change and coordinating dreams, projects and alternatives. We have to build the power and the will of the people to fight together for the world we dream of."

CMPC union network highlights company's growth in Latin America region

Union leaders met online on 7 April to exchange experiences about the conflicts facing their organisations, the company's productivity levels and next steps as a network. The group has a good track record of conducting physical and virtual activities, meeting with the company, supporting each other and visiting major factories in Chile and Brazil.

IndustriALL Global Union's director of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, pulp, paper, and rubber industries, Tom Grinter, provided an overview of the situation of the pulp and paper sector globally, with a special focus on CMPC. He explained that the pulp and paper sector was considered an essential sector during the pandemic, and that it is performing very well globally in 2022.

He said that there was a significant supply chain disruption in the industry during the pandemic. Although the situation has now improved, problems remain. For example, he mentioned that raw material from Russia was largely removed from the supply chain due to the invasion of Ukraine.

In relation to CMPC's situation in the region, the Brazilian union leaders pointed out that the company is becoming a very strong power and is investing money in various production units. In Rio Grande do Sul, for example, it has created 7500 direct jobs. It is also trying to reduce its environmental footprint.

In the case of Chile, workers said that "CMPC is living a moment of glory" with high profit levels. They explained that they recently completed a collective bargaining process at the end of which they were able to reach a good agreement with the company.

The picture was different in the other countries. In the case of Uruguay, workers reported problems with the number of jobs. They explained that the company has been restructuring for the last three years, reducing jobs due to technological change and the loss of market share. They said that the factory is selling less and less, due to the import of products from Argentina and Brazil.

The situation did not seem to be much different in Peru either, where workers explained that CMPC Protisa does not want to give workers a share of its profits and is cutting jobs due to organisational restructuring. So far the company has dismissed 10 employees affiliated to the union, and the union is trying to negotiate with the company to avoid further dismissals.

Members of the CMPC union network agreed that they will continue to work together to fight the problems they are facing in some countries. They said they will develop further online meetings and will probably hold a face-to-face meeting.

Military vehicle rams into trade unionists, three detained in Yangon, Myanmar

The arrested activists in the detention camp. Left: unknown protester, middle: Khaing, right: Ei.

The Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar (CTUM) has confirmed that Khaing Thinzar Aye, the head of communications at CTUM, and Ei Phyu Phyu Myint, a member of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) are among the detainees.

The demonstration was organized by umbrella body the Myanmar Labour Alliance, CTUM and IWFM. The Alliance demands the restoration of a democratic society and end of military rule.

CTUM president Maung Maung issued a press statement to condemn the inhuman and violent attack against the women unionists. He called for the immediate release of Khaing Thinzar Aye, Ei Phyu Phyu Myint and another unknown protester.

Khaing Zar, the treasurer of CTUM and president of IWFM, says:

“The escalating violence against citizens and unionists shows the military regime is turning the country into a killing field. No one is spared from violent repression, including young women, who are the economic backbone of the garment industry in Myanmar.

“How can businesses continue their operation when every day massacre happens side by side with the business?”

Four months earlier, a military truck hit a group of demonstrators in Yangon. A person was critically injured and another two were injured. The soldiers arrested 11 people.

Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary of IndustriALL said:

“IndustriALL condemns the absurd crackdown and demands the immediate release of the three young women, including two trade union activists. We reiterate our call that businesses cannot continue to operate under such abnormal circumstances.

“The international community must heed the call of the Myanmar Labour Alliance and impose comprehensive economic sanctions now with the aim of restoring civilian rule and saving lives.”

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, as of 20 April 2022, 1,779 people had been killed and 10,271 are in currently being arbitraryly detained by the junta.

Dozens of trade unionists have been killed, and tens of thousands of workers participating in the civil disobedience movement have been dismissed or blacklisted.  

Rana Plaza: from tragedy to an International Accord to make garment factories safe

Nine years ago, one of the biggest industrial homicides in the history of garment production happened in Bangladesh. Five thousand workers were forced to go to work in a factory that had clear warning signs of an early collapse. 1,132 workers died and more than 2,500 were injured.

Finally, IndustriALL and UNI Global Unions managed to convince the brands that they had to resume responsibility. We created the Bangladesh Accord. Nine years and thousands of factory inspections later, close to 200,000 potentially deadly traps in 1,600 factories have been fixed. People do not die anymore in an industry which costs hundreds of lives also in the years before Rana Plaza.

A factory inspection

Together with 160 brands, we have now created the International Accord. We have agreed to expand the scope of the Accord to more countries than Bangladesh. This means that we will be able to save lives in more countries. It means that millions of more workers will benefit from safer factories.

The universal question remains though, how can we provide for this fantastic opportunity to all textile and garment workers around the world? Garment workers need safe factories. So our work needs to continue. We need to engage more brands to join the Accord, especially in North America, to gain the leverage we need to make this a truly global Accord.

Workers who produce the clothes that we wear deserve a workplace that provides them with a living wage and decent working conditions, not a workplace and threatens to take their lives. Help us expand the Accord even further, and save lives.

Women’s involvement needed to stop gender-based violence in mining

The research in the mining sector is based on individual and group interviews with 21 women and two male leaders of IndustriALL-affiliated unions in South Africa (NUM and NUMSA), Colombia (Sintracarbon), and Canada (Unifor and USW).

The research finds that sexual harassment and sexual violence are pervasive in the mining sector. Women spoke about the remoteness and relative isolation of mining sites, which makes women more vulnerable to violence. Sexual harassment and sexual assault remain significant concerns for women workers.

Women are also overlooked for promotion, and have undervalued skills and lower earnings compared to men. In addition, women and men work and live in the same communities, making it harder to make complaints against a colleague or a supervisor.

Women’s low representation in mining jobs makes them particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment and sexual assault. Further, a lack of policies to address gender inequalities – or failure to implement them – sustains the masculinized culture of the workplace, which is also reflected in union structures and leadership.

“[Male colleagues and union comrades] question your dignity, attack you for lacking family values and they try and undermine your credibility and reputation,”

said Hidanora Pérez of Sintracarbon.

A consistent message in the interviews is the importance of women having leadership roles in unions. Union leaders also stressed the critical importance of women have responsibilities for collective bargaining, as this is where they can influence change.

“Women must be part of the negotiations as the branch chair is always male, we should make sure it is women who are at the table to discuss maternity and gender-based violence, otherwise it doesn’t get raised,”

said Mathapelo Khanye, national secretary for women in NUM.

Despite some positive developments, many women workers have not seen real change on the ground and in the workplace. Internal policies and mechanisms to address GBVH are considered largely ineffective and there was a general lack of awareness about complaints mechanisms, including whether the company even had a policy.

Domestic violence is a significant concern for women in mining. Every worksite should aim to have a policy on domestic violence, with paid leave and other support for survivors.

“If someone experiences domestic violence and they open up about it, we give them support. How do we get someone to open up about these issues, it is so awful to see them going through so much and we can’t help them as they can’t open up…we still have a lot to do,"

said a workplace union representative from South Africa.

Recommendations of the women interviewed include:

IndustriALL director for the mining sector, Glen Mpufane, said:

“This research presents an important milestone in the fight against the scourge of GBVH. Besides the invaluable contribution to the body of work on GBVH, it present a powerful perspective from women’s voices that are marginalized, unseen and unheard, made vulnerable by their position in the corporate and workplace hierarchy and in society.

“The recommendation for the effective integration of GBVH into occupational health and safety provides an important pathway to dealing with this scourge, given the pending repeal of the outdated Underground Work (Women) Convention, 1935 (No. 45), and the intention to mainstream women in mining into the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, 1995 (No. 176) and the Safety and Health in Mines Recommendation, 1995 (No. 183).”

Photo: Ghana Mineworkers' Union

Repression against independent unions in Belarus must stop

The latest blatant attack on the independent union movement in Belarus occurred on 19 April:

The offices of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) and its affiliated unions, including two IndustriALL affiliates – Free Metal Workers’ Union (SPM) and Belarusian Radio and Electronic Industry Workers' Union (REP) – were searched. Union leaders’ and activists’ homes were also searched, and digital devices and union paperwork was seized. Union leaders and activists were detained, including Alexander Yaroshuk, Sergey Antusevich, Irina Bud-Gusaim, Nikolay Sharakh, Gennady Fedynich, Yana Malash, Vitaly Chichmarev, Vadim Payvin, Mikhail Gromov, Aleksander Bukhvostov, Igor Komlik, Vasiliy Bersenev, and Dmitry Borodko.   

Alexander Yaroshuk

Earlier, on 7 April, the Committee for State Security of Belarus (KGB) listed the Belarusian Radio and Electronic Industry Workers' Union as an extremist organization and banned its activities. REP asked for a written explanation from the KGB as to why the union, which runs its activity in careful compliance with national and international legislation, was deemed an extremist formation. New searches and detentions came as a response.

Unions in Belarus have been under attack since August 2020, with searches of union offices and homes of union leaders and activists, administrative penalties, detentions and imprisonments of those who fight for workers’ rights. Recently, there has been an increase in interrogations of union activists, the illegal installation of video and listening devices in union offices, and pressure placed on union members to resign from their union has become widespread.

By oppressing its democratic workers’ organizations, Belarus is violating its international obligations, including the ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, which has been ratified by Belarus.

In March, the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association heavily criticized the government of Belarus for its continued failure to implement key recommendations of a 2004 ILO Commission of Inquiry. A number of the union representatives who provided testimony to the ILO on Belarus in recent years are amongst those detained. IndustriALL Global union calls on the ILO to intervene urgently in the situation.

These violations must stop immediately.

We demand the immediate release of all detained union leaders and activists, for all charges to be dropped, and to allow unions to perform their union activity in line with national and international legislation. It is imperative that the Belarusian Radio and Electronic Industry Workers' Union be removed from the list of extremist organizations and be allowed to continue carrying out its trade union activity.

We also urge Belarus to stop all repression of the union movement, and to start building a working relationship with trade unions based on social dialogue.  

South African metalworkers conference discusses bargaining strategies in a changing world of work

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) held a national bargaining conference on 11-13 April in Boksburg, near Johannesburg, to discuss the metalworkers’ bargaining strategy for the 2022 round of negotiations. The conference focused on living wages, benefits, and conditions of service.

The conference was attended by 288 delegates from the sectors that NUMSA organizes including automotive, motor components, garages, and tyre manufacturing. Other key sectors are the energy sector that covers workers from the power utility Eskom, and the metals and engineering sectors. In-house agreements where the union allowed some companies to negotiate separate house agreements – outside of central bargaining – were also discussed.

Speakers at the conference were drawn from the department of mineral resources and energy, Statistics South Africa, and research institutions that included the Trade and Industrial Policies Strategies (TIPS) and provided the country’s social and economic context and the implications for collective bargaining.

The national bargaining conference made recommendations on the various sectors. For example, on the auto sector, the conference concluded that the transition from the internal combustion engine to electrical vehicles must not lead to job losses but should instead protect workers’ interests as per government policies that included the 2025 automotive masterplan. Further, local procurement of some components remained key for the survival of some industries on the value chain.

On Just Transition, the union says this must be done in a sustainable and affordable way that considered the country’s energy mix of coal, nuclear and renewable energy. Further, coal power stations must not be shut down without guarantees of job security and a Just Transition plan that protected workers and human rights. The conference urged Eskom to stop power outages that have led to huge losses for the economy.

On state-owned enterprises, the conference recommended wage increases that cushioned against inflation of at least 7 per cent at Eskom while wage arrears should be paid to workers at South Africa Airways and Denel. The conference rejected the privatization of state-owned enterprises, arguing that they produced public goods.

In the steel and engineering sector, the union said the steel masterplan must be preserved to promote manufacturing and stop the deindustrialization of the sector which is leading to job losses.

Irvin Jim, NUMSA general secretary said: 

“This conference is a platform for us to discuss not only how we must position ourselves organizationally, but also how we envision organizing and mobilizing beyond this round of negotiations to consolidate workers’ bargaining power.

“The national bargaining conference’s task is to continuously reposition NUMSA’s bargaining strategies in relation to the engagement with the Fourth Industrial Revolution which has moved beyond globalization in the restructuring of the workplace. However, the implementation of the latest technologies without careful consideration for the Just Transition and the future of work puts existing jobs under threat.”

“The robust discussions at the national bargaining conference show that NUMSA is embracing the transformation that is taking place in the world of work and ensuring that its shop stewards are well-equipped with negotiation and bargaining skills and can effectively use digital technologies to understand industry trends and other critical information on complex supply chains. This dynamic approach is critical to collective bargaining and ensures that workers retain benefits and living wages,” says Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa.