Nigerian government abandons petrol price hike as unions mobilize

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in Nigeria are vowing to fight petrol price increases which they say will erode the incomes of their members and worsen poverty.

National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) are calling on the government to industrialize the economy by resuscitating local refineries. The unions say local refineries will assist in mitigating the effects of fluctuating oil prices, create decent jobs, and increase the country’s revenue.

The government had earlier announced the petrol price increase from 320-340 Naira per litre (5 cents in US dollars). However, it made another announcement on 24 January that it was reversing the decision on the back of planned national protests organized by unions and civil society organizations.

“The suspension of the petrol price increase is not a total victory because it does not change the social and economic conditions of the Nigerian workers. There is high unemployment and inflation is increasing. Workers need a social cushion that includes affordable public transport and infrastructural development,”

says Olawale Afolabi, NUPENG general secretary.

“Going forward, we will continue to engage with the government on the very critical issues of ensuring local refining of petroleum, creation of sustainable jobs and provision of petrol at an affordable price,”

says Ayuba Wabba, general secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress.

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) concurs on the “revitalization of existing refineries, establishment of new ones including modular refineries, and effective policing of the borders to stem the rate of petroleum products smuggling.”

For several years unions have campaigned against the “resources curse” in Nigeria, where oil and gas reserves have not assisted the economy and ended poverty.

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

“Workers and communities in Nigeria expect the government to provide affordable petrol and not to be burdened with increases that often are a result of corruption. Nigerian workers should enjoy the benefits that come from the country’s vast quantities of oil and gas reserves, and this includes being able to buy affordable petrol that is refined locally.”

Photo: Floating petrol and diesel filling station in the Niger Delta, Stakeholder Democracy

Union protest results in criminal charges

The chairperson of the Triumph International Thailand Labour Union, Chitnawatcharee Panad, the president of the Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation of Thailand (TWFT), Sia Jampathong, and four other labour activists have been charged by Thai police for violating the Emergency Decree and the Disease Control Act.

“It is wrong for the government to use Covid-19 as an excuse to suppress workers’ legitimate concerns. The 1,388 workers now face severe economic difficulties. The government must drop all charges and investigations,”

says Prasit Prasopsuk, president of the Confederation of Industrial Labour of Thailand (CILT).

The charges came after speaking at a protest in front of the government building in Bangkok in October last year. The workers demand that the government assume responsibility for the money owed to 1,388 workers, previously employed by Brilliant Alliance Thai Global (BAT).

The company, which supplied lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret, has yet to provide severance pay, wages owed, overtime and holiday pay, totalling THB 242,689,862.71 (US$7.4 million), after closing the factory in March 2021.

“IndustriALL Global Union calls on the Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayuth Chan-o-cha, to drop the charges and respect the workers’ rights to raise their concerns.
"We also call on Victoria's Secret, Torrid and Lane Bryant, who sourced from BAT, to take responsibility for the workers in their global supply chain, to urgently intervene and secure compensation payment to the dismissed workers by putting pressure on the Thai government and the factory, or, if needed, by footing the bill themselves.*

says IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie.

Combatting violence and harassment at ENI

The agreement stipulates that ENI must provide a world of work free from violence and harassment.

Key aspects include:

ENI forbids any forms of violence and harassment at work, underlining a zero tolerance policy

A specific focus on gender-based violence and harassment, offering extensive protection to the most vulnerable

The agreement is applicable to all ENI workers, regardless of employment status

The agreement covers not only the workplace, but as provided for in ILO C190, the world of work, meaning violence and harassment occurring beyond the physical workplace, including using digital tools

Promoting a culture of tackling violence and harassment, providing information and training, implementing preventive measures

A reporting system confirming all cases will be duly investigated, guaranteeing confidentiality and protection against victimisation and retaliation

“A world of work free from violence and harassment is a fundamental right for all workers, especially women who are disproportionally affected by violence. C190 provides an opportunity to add important clauses to GFAs, in particular on GBVH, and this is a priority for IndustriALL in all new GFAs. IndustriALL affiliates report that GFAs have been an important lever for workplace policies and GBVH awareness,”

says Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary.

IndustriALL also aims to include language in GFAs on the impact of domestic violence in the world of work, as well as on measures employers should take to mitigate these impacts.

Union calls for ratification of ILO Convention 176 after explosion kills 13 and destroys Ghana village

Some houses were flattened whilst others were severely damaged by the blast. The Minerals Commission of Ghana is carrying out an investigation into the explosion and the mining licence of explosives manufacturer, Maxim Ghana, has been suspended together with its sub-contractor who was transporting the explosives.

Chirano Gold Mines is run by Canadian-based Kinross Gold Corporation.

According to reports, the explosives should have been transported with police escort, which was not the case. The government of Ghana and other organizations have since launched relief efforts to support the community.

The Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, says this explosives’ disaster could have been averted if health and safety protocols were followed.

The union further emphasizes that this is an opportune time for the government of Ghana to ratify the International Labour Organization Convention 176 on safety and health in the mines, and to domesticate it into national laws as one of the strategies to stop similar accidents from happening in the future.

Abdul-Moomin Gbana, GMWU general secretary, says:

“The union commiserates with the entire Appiatse community some of whom are our members and their families for the loss and wish to assure them of our fullest support in these very troubling times.
“Mining communities need to be assured that mining and related activities will not endanger lives and livelihoods. The surest way to do that is to focus more on the preventive side by educating the citizenry, ensuring strict enforcement and compliance with safety standards, and punishing transgressors frontally.”

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

“It is horrific that so many lives were lost due to negligence and failure to adhere to health and safety measures. We will support the GMWU in their campaign for the ratification of C176, and in carrying out health and safety awareness among workers and communities.”

Serious concerns remain about health and safety in India

On 1 January 2022, four workers were killed in an explosion at a fireworks factory in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu. The explosion led to the collapse of the building and left several workers critically injured. In a similar incident on 5 January, a blast at another firecracker manufacturing unit in Virudhanagar killed three workers.

On 6 January, six workers were killed and 29 other employees of Vishwaprem Mill – a textile dyeing and printing factory – had to be hospitalised after inhaling toxic gas from the Sachin creek in Surat district. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board confirmed that sodium hydrosulphide and sodium thiosulphate were illegally discharged into the natural creek. While the National Green Tribunal has taken up the matter, action from local authorities remains lax.

There was another a chemical leak in Mangalore on 11 January. Twenty employees of a fish processing unit were admitted to a private hospital in Mukka, following a leakage of ammonia. Indian affiliates of IndustriALL Global Union also report accidents in the Northern Coalfield Limited (NCL) mining area: on 10 January a diesel tanker caught fire in Amlorhi Project area in NCL, and on 12 January, a contract worker was killed while cleaning a bunker.

Accidents are a constant feature of working life. On 23 January, one worker was killed and four others were severely injured in Megafine Pharma Company site in Lakhmapur-Nashik due to a reactor fire.

In the last five years, the government has relaxed inspections and licensing to allow self-certification and has exempted some companies from reporting on health and safety to ease business and support small enterprise. Low investment in health and safety, old and decrepit machinery and a lack of training for operating machinery adds to the danger to workers. Industrial accidents sky rocketed once factories resumed work after the three-month long COVID-19 lockdown.

In India, the availability of health and safety inspectors is low in comparison to the density of factories. The effective implementation of health and safety standards has long been a demand of unions and workers.

Sanjay Vadhavkar, executive committee member of IndustriALL said,

“In April, 2021, the Ministry of Labour and Employment set up three expert panels to investigate the causes of the rising accidents and review the existing policies and practices on safety, health and working conditions. However, the concerns and recommendations of trade unions and workers were not addressed. We demand that the central and the state governments disclose all the relevant information on accidents, make the investigation reports public, and fix responsibility on either employers or concerned government authorities.”

G. Sanjeeva Reddy, president of the Indian National Metal Workers’ Federation
(INMF-INTUC) and executive committee member of IndustriALL said,

“We are saddened and outraged by these accidents and this clearly shows serious lapses in the safety measures. We demand a high-level judiciary inquiry looking into these frequent accidents, a strict inspection of factories and mines in coordination with workers' representatives, health and safety laws must be strengthened and implemented in true spirit and a complete abolition of contract system.”

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, said,

“Such frequent industrial accidents in India is a matter of serious concern and clearly shows the dilution of safety regulations and non-compliance with safety rules. IndustriALL calls on the Indian governement to urgently review the existing safety laws and rules in the country and develop an integrated action plan with the help of the trade unions, to ensure that workplaces are safe and fire-proof, and not a death trap.”

Three Holcim workers killed and 8 injured in fire in Uganda

According to Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), the Hima plant has long been known for its hostile attitude towards workers. A BWI report on the January incident says that five years ago, more than 300 workers organized a trade union at the plant. In November 2020, Hima Cement retrenched 28 workers and half of them were union members. A year ago, half of the remaining members of the local trade union in the plant were dismissed.

Today, the plant operates with only 135 directly employed workers, the rest are subcontracted or third-party workers.

“IndustriALL expresses condolences to the families of the perished workers and joins BWI in calling on Hima Cement to engage in constructive dialogue with unions, stop union-busting and end the abuse of subcontracted and third-party workers,”

says IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie.

The tragedy in Uganda is yet another one at Holcim operations. IndustriALL is working closely with BWI in the cement industry, and combined reports on accidents in Holcim over the last years paint a very disturbing picture. All efforts to engage in a meaningful social dialogue with Holcim, which would contribute to safer operations, have so far been in vain.

In India in November 2021, one worker was killed and five other injured at the Marwar cement plant and another worker was seriously injured at the Maratha Cement Works. Both plants are owned by a Holcim subsidiary, Ambuja cement.

And in the month before, two fatalities occurred in the space of one week at two separate ACC cement plants in India. ACC is owned by Holcim.

Atle Høie concludes:

“Holcim’s abusive subcontracting policies depriving workers of their right to regular and secure jobs must stop. The company must resume bipartite safety committee meetings in all operations and strengthen the inspection and monitoring system.”

Finnish paper strike solid as UPM refuses to negotiate

Three IndustriALL Global Union affiliates, Paperiliitto (Paper Union), Teollisuusliitto (Industrial Union) and Proliitto (Pro Union) are affected. Work has stopped at all UPM sites in Finland, at a tremendous cost to the company at a time when demand for its products is high.

The dispute arose after UPM left the industry-wide bargaining that had been in place for decades and refused to sign a single collective agreement with Paperliitto, which represents the majority of its workforce. The company wants separate agreements for each of its five business units.

The company wants to recategorize the 500 white-collar workers represented by Proliitto as managerial staff to exclude them from collective bargaining, and Proliitto shop stewards will no longer be recognized. The company has also stopped the check off system for collecting union dues, which had been in place since the 1970s. The collective agreement the company has with Teollisuusliitto is still valid, but Teollisuusliitto supports the demand for a uniform agreement on working conditions.

In addition to undermining collective bargaining, the company wants to dramatically increase working hours without an increase in pay, resulting in an effective pay cut of 20 to 30 per cent for many workers. Unions believe that the company deliberately provoked the strike that it hopes to use to break union power.

Since Monday 24 January, dockers and railway workers have joined striking workers in solidarity by refusing to handle UPM goods.

Petri Vanhala, the Paperiliitto president said:

“We have proposed meetings to UPM but they have refused. Our only demand is to not break the collective bargaining system, and to stay at the industry standard that has been agreed with the other companies in the sector.”

This level of industrial action is unusual for Finland, which generally enjoys relative industrial harmony with industry-wide collective agreements. Unions believe that the attack on collective bargaining is ideologically driven and that the company is determined to undermine the unions even at the cost of economic harm to itself, setting a dangerous new precedent for industrial relations in the Nordic country.

Mediation has failed because the company refuses to meet with the unions. UPM has offered scabs a bonus payment 30 euros per day, and unions anticipate that the strike may drag on for some time. Key worker representatives in the European Works Council are refusing to cooperate with management, in solidarity with the Finns, and unions representing UPM workers in other countries are watching developments closely, with many sending messages of support and solidarity. World paper unions will meet shortly and further solidarity action will follow.

IndustriALL industry director Tom Grinter said:

“The stubborn intransigence of UPM, and its insistence on breaking collective agreements, undermines the company’s reputation everywhere. Shareholders should be concerned about long term reputational damage.”

UPM has always been an outlier in Finnish industry, taking a comparatively hardline anti-union stance. Although other pulp and paper companies in Finland have signed collective agreements with unions, UPM withdrew from the employers’ association in 2020.

Photo: Strikers at UPM Kymi Mill gate in Kouvola on 1 January. By Henri Koskela, one of the strikers and union members.

Morocco: workers take action for oil refinery

The march was called by the Trade Union Council of Conféderation Démocratique du Travail (CDT). They also joined a one-day hunger strike.

The refinery used to provide 1,000 direct jobs and 5,000 indirect ones. Currently, only maintenance work is carried out at the plant. Workers are holding the government responsible after the privatization of the oil refinery in 1997 and its subsequent mismanagement by Saudi investor Alamoudi.

On 20 January, the Casablanca Commercial Court renewed the permission for Samir to resume activities for three months. The decision is an opportunity to continue to push for the company to resume activities.

The government is the largest creditor of the refinery. Workers and trade unionists are campaigning for the government to intervene themselves or to encourage private investors to buy and run the refinery.

Al-Hussein Al-Yamani, general secretary of Syndicat National des Industries du Pétrole & Gaz Naturel (SNIPGN-CDT), says:

"The court's efforts will be in vain if the government continues its negative attitude towards the issue and evades responsibility in assisting a solution. We call on the government to save what can be saved. The continued disruption of the company’s activity has had repercussions on fuel prices, which have risen dramatically, in addition to social and material losses."

Union win: minimum wage hike in Jakarta

In December, the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI), organized a nation-wide demonstration to reject the proposed increase of provincial minimum wages by 0.8 per cent by Indonesian Employers Association (APINDO) and 1.09 per cent by the Indonesian central government.

After continuous union protests, the Jakarta governor, Anies Baswedan, announced a 5.1 per cent minimum wage increase for Jakarta for 2022, equivalent to IDR 4.64 million (US$323).

Anies argued that the new rate is reasonable; as the average minimum wage increase for Jakarta before the pandemic was eight per cent, employers can afford it. He said that the Jakarta government must ensure justice for workers and boost their purchasing power.

“We commend the decision of the governor and urge employers’ associations to accept the hike with an open heart. The 5.1 percent increase will benefit both workers and entrepreneurs, because it will increase people’s purchasing power,”

says KPSI president and national assembly president of Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers' Union (FSPMI), Said Iqbal.

KSPI says that the central government’s power to set the provincial minimum wage has been limited, a consequence of the Constitutional Court’s ruling that the Job Creation Law is unconstitutional.

APINDO has filed a lawsuit against the decision of Jakarta’s governor. However, under the decentralized wage setting system in Indonesia, employers are legally bounded to accept the new minimum wage determined by mayors.

“We congratulate the great achievement of KSPI, including our affiliate FSPMI. The Indonesian government and employers should stop using Covid-19 as an excuse to suppress the minimum wage in the midst of economic recovery. The World Bank has forecast a 5.2 per cent GDP growth for Indonesia in 2022,”

says Shinya Iwai, IndustriALL regional secretary for South East Asia.

Currently, KSPI and FSPMI affiliates in other provinces are submitting proposals of a 5.1 per cent increase of minimum wage to respective governors.

Teamsters in the US strike over contract

The striking workers are employed at six different companies in the Seattle area of the United States. Two of the six companies are subsidiaries of Heidelberg Cement, namely Cadman and Lehigh Cement. Local 174’s members work under seven contracts bargained simultaneously, with the most recent one expired in July last year.

The members of Teamsters Local 174 are asking for a deal that has already been agreed to by all other construction-related companies in the area.

Expected negotiations started six months, but soon fell apart as the employer stalled and failed to negotiate in good faith.

The employers’ offer not only underperformed the wage increases in other recent construction industry union contracts, but even more insultingly, fell short of full medical coverage for the group of 300 workers who have been working nonstop throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the union, their proposal would save retired members nearly US$6,000 per year in premiums, and wouldn’t cost the companies a thing, since Local 174’s membership has pledged to cover any cost increases the company may incur.

“Livelihoods are on the line for thousands of workers. This strike has so far cost two of our members their lives. Health insurance for hundreds of our members and their families will run out at the end of the month. How high does the cost of this strike need to go before these companies start taking this seriously?” says Teamsters Local 174 secretary-treasurer Rick Hicks.

After the last mediation session failed, the workers have no choice but to continue the strike, which has so far lasted for over two months.

Founded in 1909, Teamsters Local 174 represents 8,600 working men and women in Seattle and the surrounding areas.

Alexander Ivanou, IndustriALL materials Industries officer says:

“We are shocked at the employers' arrogance avoiding negotiations in good faith with the union, forcing them to take industrial action to make their voices heard. We express our strong solidarity with all members of Teamsters Local 174. The truth is on the workers’ side, and we will continue to support them in their fight for justice.”