Union wins after four-day strike at Dangote cement plant in Zambia

About 1,300 workers are employed at the plant mainly through subcontractors, with Dangote only employing 178 workers directly. Most of the direct employees are part of the management.

Workers downed tools after failed negotiations between Silondwa Engineering and the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ). Workers rejected the 15 per cent wage increase offered by the employer during the negotiations, and instead demanded minimum monthly wage increase from K1000 (US$55) to K2500 (US$136).

According to the final settlement reached between the union and the employer, workers’ wages were increased by K1000 across the board. MUZ, affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, has 445 members at the plant and signed a recognition agreement with the employer.

For some years, MUZ has campaigned for the workers to be directly employed by Dangote instead of employment through a third party. Although the workers at the plant work for Dangote, their legal direct employer is the subcontractor, Silondwa Engineering, which has a contract to “supply labour services.” The contract is limited to three years, meaning that workers contracts are short-term and provide no job security.

One of the earlier contracts between Dangote and Silondwa Engineering contained blatantly anti-union clauses stating that “the contractor shall ensure that its employees are not involved in union activities and strikes that leads to stopping of work.” MUZ says that Silondwa Engineering’s tried to entice workers to join a sweetheart union liked by management, but workers responded with stiff resistance.

Additionally, during a site visit by the union and the ministry of labour to resolve the strike, the ablution facilities at the cement plant were found to be filthy with the plumbing in a state of disrepair while the toilets were not flushing. This serious health hazard faced by the workers prompted the ministry to order that the facilities be closed immediately and for the management to fix the facilities to conform with the national occupational health and safety standards.

Joseph Chewe, MUZ president says the union is fighting against the outsourcing of labour:

"There is need for the government to quickly address the issue of outsourcing especially in the cement producing companies and to ensure that workers are employed directly by the principal companies.”

MUZ says outsourcing is detrimental to workers welfare as it creates precarious working conditions such as temporary contracts and low wages.

“We congratulate MUZ on their victory. We expect pan African companies like Dangote to provide living wages and decent working conditions. However, we are appalled, and our expectations are dampened, by the precarious working conditions and poor working conditions at the Masaiti cement plant.

"We call upon Dangote to provide decent working conditions by creating permanent jobs in Zambia,”

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

PROFILE: Moroccan unions create solid base to protect members

UNION PROFILE

From Global Worker No. 2 November 2021

Unions: 

Fédération Nationale des Travailleurs, Pétrole, Gaz et Produits Assimilés –  FNTPGPA – UMT

Fédération Nationale des Travailleurs de l'énergie – FNTE-UMT

Syndicat National de Textile Habillements et Cuirs – SNTHC-CDT

Syndicat National d'Energie et des Mines – SNEM– CDT

Syndicat National des Industries du Pétrole & Gaz Naturel – SNIPGN-CDT

Syndicat National des Industries Métallurgiques et Electromécaniques- SNIME – CDT

Syndicat National des Travailleurs de Phosphates – SNTP-CDT

Syndicat National des Travailleurs du Textile et du Cuir – SNTTC-UMT

Country: Morocco

The National Rally of Independents (RNI) coalition government that emerges will have to act based on the country's new development model, announced in May 2021. The New Development Model (NMD) “is designed by Moroccans, with Moroccans and for Moroccans”, and aims to curb the massive inequalities in the country. 

This NMD vision for Morocco's future, was assigned by King Mohammed VI. It outlines goals, such as raising incomes, increasing private investment, taking better care of the country's natural resources, and increasing the number of women in the workforce, as well as societal objectives such as reducing underage marriage and increasing social inclusion. 

The question now, is to what extent these recommendations can be implemented and, the political will of the government and all other institutions, like trade unions and civil society, to work together to successfully achieve the goals.  

“We call on the new government to reverse the unpopular decisions and policies of the previous government, which harmed the purchasing power of citizens. We also demand that social dialogue is institutionalized, that the bills on strike and trade unions are reconsidered, that wages are improved, and that there is a discussion on the pension scheme,” 

says Abdelmajid Matoual of FNTE – UMT and IndustriALL vice-president for the MENA region.

The Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT) and Confédération Démocratique du Travail (CDT), the national centres to which all of IndustriALL’s affiliates belong, gained a considerable number of seats in both the seats of Workers representatives*, as well as the second chamber of parliament this year. These developments are not significant changes from previous elections but consolidates workers’ influence in parliament.

The Moroccan trade union movement has for a long time worked on cementing a strong unified base which should be well-equipped to challenge the new government to build a free and socially just society.

The trade union movement is a central social force in Morocco. IndustriALL has affiliated unions in most manufacturing sectors, playing key roles in improving working conditions for the Moroccan working class. 

Building union power in challenging circumstances

During the Arab Spring in 2010, most labour confederations in Morocco supported a new constitution. Although constitutional change was not achieved per se, unions successfully secured some benefits that they had been demanding for many years. At the time, union mobilization provided a unique opportunity for the Islamists and leftists to ally to pursue similar goals.

In April 2011, unions reached an agreement with the government that they would comply with ILO Conventions on respect of trade union rights and social dialogue. But despite the agreement, trade union rights are still frequently violated in Morocco.

The move towards unifying the Moroccan trade union movement started in 2000, fighting against challenging government policies aimed at severely weakening workers. In 2014 again, the union movement recognized that unity was the best way forward when it came to influencing public opinion and putting pressure on the government.

The three national centres, UMT, CDT and FDT, signed a joint statement in January 2014 condemning the abuse of union freedoms, factory closures, layoffs, and the arrest and prosecution of officials and trade union activists. The statement also addressed the government measures passing unfair financial laws against the interest of the working class, absence of social dialogue and collective bargaining, and ignoring unions as they passed a draft strike law. 

In 2014, the government’s refusal to engage in social dialogue on fundamental issues facing workers pushed trade unions to their limits. Not being part of discussions on key issues like wages, working conditions, pensions and social compensation made it clear that more had to be done, given a decreasing purchasing power as utility and transport costs were increasing.

The government’s refusal to enter into dialogue, as had been agreed in 2011, with the unions on these core issues violated national labour legislation, as well as ILO standards. As a result, in October that year, Moroccan workers across the public and private sectors held a general strike organized by the three national centres UMT, CDT and FDT, protesting the government decision to exclude unions. 

The Moroccan government were under pressure from international lenders to cut public spending and implement the anti-worker reforms to pensions and social provisions. But they received a strong, united message from the general strike organized by workers. 

In 2019, CDT and UMT again called on the government to meet its social dialogue commitments, to institutionalize tripartite social dialogue, respect trade union rights and comply with ILO Conventions. The unions organized a series of protests and strike actions across the country, including marches, strikes and demonstrations.

When we fight, we win

The auto industry in Morocco has grown fast with the arrival of new players from across the world. With a workforce of over 135,000, the industry has recently become a primary export sector and plays a crucial role in the country’s development.

Unions struggle to organize in the special economic zones as employers try to keep them out and the government offers the unions no support. It was only after years of groundwork that UMT Kenitra leaders succeeded in organizing workers at Stellantis, a former Peugeot Citroën (PSA) factory in Kenitra.

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the aerospace industry hard, and the crisis is expected to last. Companies are announcing extensive restructuring, including laying off thousands of workers worldwide. According to Moroccan labour law, employers must pay employees a compensation in case of redundancies on economic grounds. Yet in most cases the companies get away with paying nothing. In companies where workers are organized, unions are fighting back and have successfully negotiated alternative solutions to significantly reduce the number of dismissals. SNIME-CDT and UMT have reported that planned redundancies have been reduced and socially responsible solutions were found.

To consolidate power in the metal sectors, SNIME-CDT has gone through a restructuring process and elected a new leadership in 2018. UMT is progressing the work towards establishing a national metal union.  

Moroccan mining unions have prioritized combating precarious work and improving health and safety in the industry. Phosphate, also known as white gold, is key to Morocco’s economy as the country has more than 70 per cent of the world’s estimated reserves. SNTP- CDT reports that through successful collective bargaining, 2,400 outsourced workers have been made permanent in recent years. 

In December 2020, 100 mine workers affiliated UMT held a strike 700 metres underground in the Jebel Aouam mine. Another 200 workers protested above ground, condemning the company’s violation of their health and safety.

“We have suffered a lack of social dialogue at the national level for many years. The CDT recently sent a letter to the government requesting dialogue on urgent issues in the energy sector and asking the government to reconsider the finance law prepared by the previous government. We are still waiting for a response,”

says Salah Kandil, general secertary  of  Syndicat National d'Energie et des Mines – SNEM– CDT.

In 2016, a Moroccan court ordered the SAMIR oil refinery to be liquidated. The decision affected 1,000 workers, as well as the livelihoods of around 5,000 people dependent on the country’s only refinery. IndustriALL affiliate, SNIPGN-CDT called on the government to act immediately to end the impasse surrounding the SAMIR oil refinery, which had stopped production in August 2015 after being unable to pay a US$1.3 billion debt to the Moroccan tax authorities.  

The government was urged to protect workers’ jobs and do everything in its power to get the refinery up and running again. To date, all attempts to sell the refinery have failed.

FNTPGPA – UMT is engaged with several multinational companies in the oil and gas sector to discuss the challenges and impact of the energy transition and guarantee a Just Transition where workers’ benefits and rights are respected.

In the chemical sector, 500 employees from Veolia’s Moroccan subsidiary Amanor were stopped from receiving state aid during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The company refused to register the workers with the national social security office. The workers were unionized through Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT) and covered by a collective bargaining agreement that the company had already violated by failing to pay benefits and firing workers asking for their unpaid benefits. 

A landmark victory was achieved in February 2021, as the year-long strike ended and a roadmap for a new relationship between workers and management at Amanor was defined.

Eleven workers dismissed during the conflict were reinstated and operations were to restart free from discrimination. According to the roadmap agreement, the process will be monitored by Veolia and IndustriALL. And in July a new CBA was signed.

FNTE-UMT represents workers in the production, distribution and transmission of electricity. In 2014, authorities issued a decision to privatize electricity distribution in the Casablanca region and ignored consultations with FNTE-UMT about the impact on workers.The union responded by launching a number of strikes and protests actions in defense of workers' interests. 

According to the FNTE-UMT, the government's project to restructure the sector and give autonomy to the regions will dismantle the sector and open the door to privatization. The union insists on a genuine dialogue with authorities on the professional and social impact on workers.

The textile and garment industry has been expanding as global brands are coming into the country. The sector is the second largest export sector and employs hundreds of thousands of workers. 

In 2021, 28 workers were killed when a clandestine garment factory in Tangiers was flooded by rainwater. UMT and CDT held authorities and employers responsible for this avoidable tragedy, saying that there is a general acceptance of the exploitation of workers and violations of working conditions in order to accumulate wealth in Morocco.

IndustriALL affiliates from UMT and CDT are organizing, building and consolidating sectorial unions and improving health and safety and monitoring implementation of global framework agreements. Over the past few years both UMT and CDT textile unions have organized new members, improved social dialogue and achieved significant structural improvements within the union.

Sustained campaign by carpet workers in Pakistan yields wage rise

Employers in the carpet industry failed to comply with the ruling and continued paying the old wages till workers resorted to warning strikes in September 2021. The unions gave final notice to factory owners on 19 August that the union members would stop work from 6 September.

More than 2,000 workers participated in the strike.

IndustriALL Global Affiliate ILUCIP led negotiations with the employers with a charter of demands that included:

  1. Workers who are engaged in cutting, washing, preparing, chattan, kinara, phatta, dyeing, and raffugar (all processes in carpet making) must be provided a raise of 4,000 PKR (US $22.71).
  2. Carpet workers must be provided with social security and old age benefit cards.
  3. Masters in washing must be given a raise of 6,000 PKR (US $34.07) per month.
  4. Workers whose wages are calculated on the basis of the carpet area worked on must be given a raise of 2 PKR (US $0.01) per square foot.

As protests across the factories intensified, factory owners gradually agreed to the workers’ demands to implement the wage raise set by the government. There was a complete strike from 6 to 9 September, and by December, most employers had implemented the government wage rate. The union’s fight yielded an increment of 16 per cent for piece rate and per square foot wage workers, and 14 per cent for fixed salary workers.

Niaz Khan, general secretary of ILUCIP, said,

“The union put up a strong fight this time but we have a long way to go. We must ensure that all our demands are met and that no worker is exploited.”

Apoorva Kaiwar, regional secretary of IndustriALL, said,

“We congratulate our affiliate for standing strong and winning this important victory. It’s a shame that even after the government order, factory owners refused to increase the wage, and the union had to resort to direct action. The wage increases show us the importance of unified action.”

"We will not rest until power is returned to the people of Myanmar"

The struggle to bring democracy back to Myanmar – one year after the coup

Speakers at the webinar were :

In his opening address, IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie said:

"One year ago, just before the swearing-in ceremony of the new parliament and the formation of a new government, following a landslide election victory by the NDL, the military in Myanmar staged a coup d’état.

The year that has passed since the coup has been a year of horror as we have witnessed the atrocities of the military junta, while the international community has been unable or unwilling to contribute to the restoration of democracy. In one year 1,500 people have been killed, more than 11,500 have been arrested, more than 1.6 million have been internally displaced and there are 241,000 refugees in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand.

The military junta is not only hunting down and shelling its citizens in Myanmar, but they are also attacking them in refugee camps in Thailand. What we are witnessing is nothing less than crimes against humanity.

Still the European Union cannot get itself to withdraw the Everything but Arms preferential trading privileges. The EBA is a system that grants trading privileges to developing and least developed countries to alleviate poverty and create jobs, based on international values and principles, including labour and human rights.

On what planet can anybody say that what is happening in Myanmar is based on international values and principles?

Together with Industriall Europe, we are asking all our affiliates in the European Union to put pressure on their governments to withdraw the granted EBA preferences. This cannot continue.

At our congress in September IndustriALL adopted a very strong resolution calling for comprehensive economic sanctions against Myanmar. We demanded that all multinational companies and global brands cease their operations, divest and stop placing orders and halt their business relations in Myanmar.

Millions of workers have already lost their jobs because of the breakdown of society, but comprehensive sanctions are necessary to strangle the money flow to the military junta.

Our demand has been followed by some, is still debated by some and ignored by others. Those who still debate or ignore either think they are helping the people of Myanmar by maintaining jobs or they are cynically exploiting them to make the extra profit.

Let us be clear about this. It is not possible to do business in Myanmar maintaining the standards that are required by the international community. There can be no real due diligence at any operation in the country and as such no company can say that their business is not harming people or that they are guaranteeing basic trade union and human rights.

We will not rest until power is returned to the people of Myanmar, and we must use this anniversary to renew our demand for justice."

Ground-breaking victory for independent union at GM plant in Mexico

In August last year, workers rejected the collective agreement signed by the old Miguel Trujillo López union, affiliated to the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), accusing that union of siding with GM and putting the company's interests before those of its workers. The rejection of the agreement meant holding elections to choose a new union.

After the votes were counted on 3 February, it was clear that Sindicato  Independente Nacional de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras de la Industria Automotriz (SINTTIA) had won a crushing majority, with 76 per cent of the workers voting to be represented by the independent union.

IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie says that this is an incredibly important victory and proof that the labour reform implemented by the Mexican government in 2019 can indeed have a positive effect for workers as it provides them with a real chance to cast their vote in free and fair elections.

“We congratulate SINTTIA whose massive win shows that Mexican auto workers want to be represented by an authentic, uncompromised, independent and transparent trade union. There are more elections to come and this win will strengthen the democratic structures.

“We now call on General Motors to enter into a fair and transparent process of collective bargaining with SINTTIA.”

IndustriALL and ITUC call for urgent inclusive dialogue on democratic reforms in Eswatini

 
With trade unions and civil society organizations worried over the absence of political will and the slow pace towards dialogue by the government of Eswatini, IndustriALL and ITUC have written to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the South African government to urge King Mswati III’s government to act towards respect and protection of workers and human rights.
 
According to the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) and the Swaziland Electricity Supply, Maintenance, and the Allied Workers Union (SESMAWU) and the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), affiliated to IndustriALL and ITUC respectively, security forces are continuously violating human and workers’ rights to freedoms of expression, assembly, association, and the right to life.

 

 
This is making life unbearable to the workers who live in harsh conditions characterised by poor wages, increasing poverty, elevated levels of unemployment and the pandemics of Covid-19, and HIV and AIDS.
 
Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary, Sharon Burrow, ITUC general secretary, and Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, ITUC Africa general secretary, write in the letters:

“We recall that the African Charter of Human Rights and the African Charter on Democracy, Election and Governance all protect the right to freedom of association, assembly and the strengthening of political pluralism including ensuring that opposition political parties are given a legal status under national law. Therefore, human rights defenders, including trade unions and other citizens, who exercise their human rights in pursuit of democracy in Eswatini must be protected from attacks, reprisals and retaliation from the government and security forces.”

In an online meeting hosted by the IndustriALL regional office for Sub Saharan Africa and ITUC-Africa in December 2021, attended by organizations including the Southern African Trade Union Coordinating Council (SATUCC) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), it was agreed that unions would launch a coordinated pan African and global campaign for the democratization of Eswatini.

A 2021 survey by Afrobarometer, a pan-African research network, concluded that most people in Eswatini favoured a multiparty democracy instead of the rule by the current absolute monarchy under Mswati III. Under the current regime people are afraid of speaking out as freedom of speech and association are limited through arbitrary arrests and detentions.

A year of terror in Myanmar: unions call for immediate withdrawal of EU trade preferences

“We stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and will continue the fight for the return of democracy in the country,”

says IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan.

“Severing economic ties that the military junta gain from is crucial and the EBA must be lifted."

Since the coup d’état, the military junta has arrested over 11,500 civilians, trade unionists, journalists and cultural workers, carried out 64 death penalties and killed more than 1,500 civilians, including at least 100 children, aged between 14 months and 17 years.

Furthermore, the United Nations estimates that there are more than 1.6 million internally displaced persons and refugees due to the conflict in Chin, Kachin, Rakhine and Shan States in Myanmar. In addition, there are 241,000 Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand.

Under these circumstances, the European Union and the international community, must take a stronger political stance and implement economic actions to stop this carnage. IndustriALL Global Union and its sister organisation IndustriAll Europe, at the request of the democratic trade unions in Myanmar, call on the EU to immediately withdraw Myanmar’s trade preferences under the EU’s EBA scheme.

The EU’s General Scheme of Preferences (GSP), of which EBAs are part of, aims to use EU trade to create jobs in developing countries with respect for labour and human rights. Sanctions and the withdrawal of trade preferences can be implemented when there is evidence of labour and human rights abuses.

‘’The people of Myanmar have been living under a military dictatorship for a year now and the situation simply cannot be allowed to continue. All political leaders must take action to end the atrocities taking place in Myanmar, and we call on EU leaders to use their collective powers, including EU trade measures, to weaken the military junta and end their terrible rule,”

says Judith Kirton‐Darling, industriAll Europe deputy general secretary.
 

Unions and civil society organizations reject Togo’s repressive draft constitutional law

The Fédération des Industries du Togo (FIT), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, two other unions that organize in the mines and hospitals, and civil society organisations (CSOs) who make up a group of eight organizations that identify as G8, say the process to amend Togo’s 1901 constitution is flawed. It is neither transparent nor inclusive. The G8, a coalition of organizations promoting workers’ rights, human rights, the rule of law and inclusive social dialogue, says they were never consulted on the draft law, and only learnt about the bill through official announcements.

Further, the G8 says the draft law violates international human rights and labour standards to which the country has signed up. The group calls upon the government to consider international labour standards and human rights instruments when drafting laws. These rights are protected in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, and International Labour Organization standards that include Convention 87 on freedom of association and protection of the right to organize, and Convention 98 on the right to organize and collective bargaining.

The G8 fears that the main aim is to “silence their voices” and is shocked that the amendments did not go through parliament under the pretext of the Covid-19 pandemic regulations. In a statement, the group views this as union busting and interference with CSOs and says the cumbersome registration and reporting requirements proposed in the future law will make it impossible for the organizations to operate.

“To show how bad this draft law is, we have deleted 44 offensive articles in the bill. We will present our objections to the government and are raising awareness among workers through information and education campaigns on why the unions are rejecting the draft law. We are also asking workers to comment on the draft,”

says Mensah Tchegnon, FIT general secretary.

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

“We call upon the government of Togo to respect workers and human rights as protected in the national laws and international labour standards. The government should build a non-adversarial relationship with trade unions through social dialogue instead of drafting obnoxious laws.”

Photo: File image of the Fédération des Industries du Togo

Myanmar one year after the coup

One year ago today, the Myanmar military staged a coup after the military-led party was defeated in a democratic election. IndustriALL Global Union condemned the coup the same day, and immediately began working with affiliated unions in Myanmar to protect workers’ rights until democracy could be restored.

Resistance to the coup was strong: hundreds of thousands of civil servants refused to work under the junta, workers went on strike, a Civil Disobedience Movement was launched, ethnic minorities came together, and a government in exile was formed.

Unions in Myanmar and IndustriALL called on business to ensure that workers’ rights were protected during the coup. However, it quickly became clear that this was impossible: local factory owners used the coup as an opportunity to fire the unionized workforce, giving the details of union members to the police.

Union leader Khaing Zar Aung says:

“No democratic trade union can operate now at factory level.”

She calls the situation “modern slavery”, explaining that the president of her union was recently threatened with assassination. Workers do forced overtime as day labourers and are often not paid. She believes that effective due diligence is not possible in these conditions.

The situation led the labour movement of Myanmar, backed by IndustriALL, to call for comprehensive economic sanctions against Myanmar, and for global companies to cease to do business in the country. IndustriALL has written to these companies expressing this demand. As a consequence, many companies have scaled down their operations, while some, including Total, Chevron, Bridgestone and C&A have pulled out of the country altogether.

The democratically elected government formed a government in exile, mostly based in Thailand. The National Unity Government (NUG) is made up of members of the National League for Democracy, the party that won the election, as well other parties that respect the democratic outcome, and groups representing ethnic minorities.

The NUG formed an armed force which is fighting a guerilla war against the military junta, resulting in retaliation from the military against civilians, with cities being shelled by artillery. About 1,500 people have been killed, while 20 air strikes against rebel villages have led to an estimated 32,000 refugees, with 776,000 internally displaced people.

Image: ITUC

Most trade unions in Myanmar recognize the NUG as the legitimate interim government of Myanmar. The international labour movement – including the ITUC and IndustriALL – have called for the NUG to be globally recognized since April 2021. The labour movement has also led diplomatic efforts to isolate the junta and recognize the NUG at UN events, including the International Labour Conference in June 2021. The diplomatic efforts are bearing fruit, and the French Senate and European Parliament recognized the NUG in October 2021.

Although the labour movement recognizes the NUG, its tactics, strategy and priorities are different. While the People’s Defence Force of the NUG is fighting an armed struggle, the labour movement focuses on peaceful civil disobedience, prioritizing strikes and an international campaign for comprehensive economic sanctions against Myanmar.

While the NUG does not officially support the call for sanctions, it does call on global business to refuse to cooperate with the military regime, or to pay any taxes or fees. The labour movement meets with the NUG labour ministry on a weekly basis to coordinate efforts to protect workers’ rights.

IndustriALL believes that the strategy to isolate the military junta diplomatically and economically is the most effective way to bring peaceful change to Myanmar. The campaign for sanctions will intensify, and increasing pressure will come on companies that continue to operate in Myanmar.

IndustriALL and our sister organization industriAll European Trade Union today wrote to the European Commission demanding an end to the EU’s preferential Everything But Arms trade agreement.

IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie says:

“The global labour movement, and supporters of democracy everywhere, will never accept the normalization of the military dictatorship in Myanmar.

“In the days immediately following the coup, many companies may have sincerely believed that the most responsible thing to do was to continue to provide sustainable employment to people in Myanmar.

“However, it is becoming increasingly clear that due diligence is not possible in a dictatorship. These companies must cease operations in Myanmar immediately.”

Workers at General Motors, Mexico, elect new union representatives

In August 2021, in a vote required as part of Mexico's labour reform process, workers rejected the collective agreement signed by the old Miguel Trujillo López union, affiliated to the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), accusing that union of siding with GM and putting the company's interests before those of its workers. 

After workers voted against the old agreement, elections will now be held to choose a new union.

US union federation AFL-CIO, has urged GM and Mexico's labour authority to ensure a fair and free election process, during and after the ballot itself, as required under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) and Mexico's labour reform.

The regional network of GM workers, made up of members of IndustriALL Global Union affiliates across the Americas, says that all workers are entitled to be represented by a democratically elected union and to a free and fair collective bargaining process.

To ensure that the voting process is transparent, the Mexican and US governments have agreed that observers from the International Labour Organization (ILO), Mexico's National Electoral Institute (INE) and National Human Rights Committee will be present.

As agreed with the Federal Centre for Conciliation and Labour Registration, four unions will stand for election.

One of these is the national union of automotive workers (SINTTIA), supported by the regional network of GM workers and created by active, independent GM employees who voted against the previous agreement.  

The three other unions are linked to the CTM. They are the national union of workers and employees of the auto transport, construction, automotive, auto parts and similar industries; the national union of workers of the automotive and metal industries; and the "Carrillo Puerto" national union of industry, trade and services.

IndustriALL welcomes the labour reform process that has paved the way for workers to elect their leaders and weigh in on their employment agreements. We are following the process closely and, together with other GM affiliates and workers, we wish to call for a transparent ballot and to express our support for the Silao plant workers in their fight for freedom of association.