O-I Glass worker dies after furnace leaks in Brazil

The tragedy happened on 10 November when a glass furnace leaked at an O-I Glass factory in São Paulo, Brazil, resulting in injuries to four workers. One of the workers, Antônio Carlos Tola Júnior, 43, a batch and furnace coordinator, was admitted to hospital with burns to 75 per cent of his body. He died on 26 November leaving behind a wife and daughter. Immediately after the incident, the union organized a protest rally on 12 November. Another protest was staged on 1 December to commemorate the deceased worker. The lives of the three injured workers are no longer at risk.

Sindicato dos Vidreiros, a member of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate CNQ-CUT, is continuing its investigation into the incident, including negligence over the furnace handling. The union had previously received complaints from workers who operated the furnace that the equipment was old and that the warranty issued by the manufacturer expired three years ago. The furnace was almost 9 years old and had structural problems.

According to the union, the furnace has had a leakage problem since last year, but the company commissioned only minor remedial works without considering the imminent risk. After a decision by the competent body Workers’ Health Reference Centre (Cerest), in collaboration with the union Sindicato dos Vidreiros, further use of the furnace is prohibited.

The union leader of the Sindicato dos Vidreiros de São Paulo, Josemar Souto, said that the incident was imminent, as the furnace in which the leak occurred had been operating at a higher capacity than recommended since 2013. The union will conduct a careful investigation of the facts. The maximum extraction was 280 tonnes per day, but the equipment was used to process around 340 tonnes per day.

"We are not going to recover the life of our comrade, but we cannot tolerate any sign of impunity",

says Josemar Souto. 

IndustriALL materials officer Alexander Ivanou said:

“We express our deep condolences to the family, union and co-workers. We insist on a proper investigation of the incident with union participation. One death is too many, profit should never become before workers’ lives. O-I should provide healthy and safe workplaces in their operations. This is only possible if the company start dialogue with workers and their unions at local national and global level!”

The multinational glass manufacturer Owens-Illinois, which trades as O-I, employs 25,000 people in North and South America, Asia-Pacific and Europe.

South Africa submits documents to ratify ILO Convention 190

Confronted by this horror, trade unions continue to fight against GBVH and the campaign for the ratification of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 190 which seeks to eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work and the adoption of Recommendation 206, are part of sustained actions to stop GBVH and create safer workplaces.

On 29 November, the South African government submitted its documents to the ILO as part of the ratification process. The documents were submitted at a meeting in Johannesburg with the ILO, the department of employment and labour, and trade unions that are part of the National Economic Development and Labour Council – the country’s social dialogue platform. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) represented unions.

When Convention 190 is ratified, it will complement national legislation that includes the Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence Amendment Bills as well as the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Bill) that have been passed by parliament and will become law once signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Further, the country has a national strategic plan aimed at ending GBVH.

Unions are conducting awareness campaigns against GVBH and forming strategic alliances with civil society organizations that are targeting men, who have been identified by research as the main perpetrators of GBVH and domestic violence. Unions say GBVH is worsened by gender stereotypes found in harmful social and cultural practices, poverty, inequality, high unemployment, and weak law enforcement which promotes impunity.

Lydia Nkopane, from the National Union of Mineworkers, who is also the chairperson of the IndustriALL Sub Saharan Africa women’s committee says:

“We are optimistic that the domestication of Convention 190 into South African law will help to stop the scourge of GBVH especially in the mining and other male dominated industrial sectors where the abuses are rampant. Women should enjoy freedoms to go to work, come back to their families and live without fear of sexual harassment, rape, physical beatings, and even death perpetrated by their workmates or partners.”

Christine Olivier, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, says:

“The ratification of C190 provides a valuable tool to address risk factors and prevent GBVH. The development of workplace policies will empower and protect workers by removing barriers to the implementation of existing laws. However, South African unions must remain vigilant to ensure the implementation of C190 and must conduct awareness campaigns for workers to understand the convention.”

According to reports incidences of GBVH and domestic violence increased during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown prompting the government to respond through laws and other policies. The government national command centre on gender-based violence recorded 120,000 cases in the first three weeks of the lockdown in 2020.

Indonesian government told to suspend Omnibus law

In a landmark 5-to-4 ruling on 25 November, Indonesia’s constitutional court revealed that the legal text had been changed after receiving approval of the President and parliament. The court pronounced the law-making process defective as it lacked clear, basic and standard legislative method, violating the Indonesian Constitution.

In addition, the court ordered the government to amend the Job Creation Law within two years. Failing that, the law will be deemed permanently unconstitutional and the original provisions of the Manpower Act 2003 will be restored.

The controversial Job Creation Law has triggered strong waves of union protests since 2019. Millions of workers, including members of IndustriALL’s eleven affiliates in Indonesia, have protested the abolition of sectoral minimum wage, severance pay cut and increased labour flexibility by extending contract periods.

Last year, workers’ protests managed to postpone the parliamentary debate, but in October the same year, parliament fast-tracked the process and approved the bill.

In response, KSPI, Confederation of All Indonesian Workers' Union (KSPSI), All Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSBSI) and Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI) filed a judicial review at the Constitutional court in November 2020, calling the law “modern slavery”.

“We welcome the constitutional court’s ruling. The government must now suspend the Job Creation Law and all existing regulations. The provisions of the revocation of sectoral minimum wage, the perpetuation of outsourced works and the easy layoffs terms must be declared invalid since the regulations deeply impacts workers' wages, collective bargaining agreements and hour of work,”

says Said Iqbal, KSPI president.

“International support has played a large part and we thank IndustriALL and ITUC for their active role.”

IndustriALL’s 3rd Congress in September adopted a solidarity resolution against the Omnibus law, urging President Joko Widodo to cancel the law.

“We congratulate the Constitutional court on its decision and our affiliates for a strong campaign. And we support the unions’ demand on the President to abide by the ruling and to suspend this detrimental law,”

says Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary.

One worker killed and six injured at Holcim in India

On 18 November, Amrit Singh, a contract worker employed as rigger in the construction of a waste heat recovery system was working on a temporary platform and fell from height along with a 150 tonne heavy machine. He was killed instantly and five other workers were injured. All the workers are indirect employees.

According to officials of the IndustriALL affiliate, the Indian National Cement Workers’ Federation (INCWF-INTUC), the Mr Singh leaves four dependent family members. His family will get around 1 million INR (US$13,400) in compensation. An undisclosed amount of statutory compensation will be paid to each injured worker.

The accident happened at the Marwar cement plant in Nagaur district of Rajasthan, a new greenfield clinker and cement facility opened by Ambuja in October 2021.

Just a week previously, on 11 November, a contract worker was seriously injured as a result of an accident at Ambuja Maratha cement works in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. During the maintenance of a conveyor belt in a railway wagon loading site, the workers’ leg got stuck in the conveyor belt because the mechanical department failed to reduce the belt’s tension.

In October two fatalities occurred at two separate ACC cement plants. ACC is another Indian Holcim subsidiary. In all of these cases victims were precarious workers employed either via third parties or sub-contractors.

Deoraj Singh, the general secretary of INCWF-INTUC said,

“Ambuja and ACC must conduct their business in manner that creates safe and healthy working conditions for all the workers. These accidents show that Holcim is engaging a high number of precarious workers in their business in India and not complying with applicable legal and regulatory health and safety requirements. The ACC and Ambuja management should avoid all hazardous manual handling operations and immediately stop all unsafe work.

“We demand that Holcim resume bipartite safety committee meetings at all their operations and engage in constructive dialogue with the trade unions on health and safety issues. The companies, including ACC and Ambuja cement should strengthen the inspectorate and monitoring system and appoint adequate number of maintenance and safety inspectors.”

IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Atle Høie said,

“We express our deep condolences and sympathy with the injured workers and their families. It is an alarming situation for Holcim that signals a safety crisis at their cement operations in India that needs to be addressed urgently. The adequate assessment of risks and search for remedies with the participation of union representatives must start immediately.

“ At the same time, these incidents clearly show how dangerous bad employment conditions can be for workers. Holcim must put in place structures, with the involvement of its workers, that address the serious health and safety deficiencies in its operations worldwide.”

Photo: Marwar plant screenshot from Google Earth

Stop union busting in Belarus

After the contested presidential elections in August 2020, many workers terminated their membership with the pro-government Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus and joined independent trade unions, adhering to democratic values and fighting for fundamental human and workers’ rights.

However, in response to the growing power of independent unions, authorities launched brutal raids on union offices. Union leaders and activists have been arrested, fined, and their homes searched.

At state-owned oil refinery JSC Naftan, the anti-union actions, including intimidation and mass dismissals of union leaders and members of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU), have led to sharp decrease in membership.

BITU chairperson at Naftan, Volha Brytsikava, and several activists, including deputy chairpersons, have been fired. Many BITU members have not had their short-term contracts renewed. In contrast, there are several examples of workers who terminated their BITU membership and immediately received contract extensions.

Naftan workers have been pressured to leave the union, threatened with disciplinary penalties, deprivation of bonuses and incentive payments for professional skills, threats of not passing skills exams, summons to the security service for preventive conversations, and dismissals due to stuff reduction.

Naftan has used the recent amendment to Belarus’ labour code that allows employers to dismiss workers for absenteeism “in connection with serving an administrative penalty in the form of administrative detention” to get rid of unwanted union activists. One of the reasons for administrative detention is distributing media materials considered extremist, materials that had often been reposted by workers on social media long before. 

BITU president Maxim Pazniakou says:

“What is happening in Belarus is terror. The goal of these actions is to inflict fear that workers may lose their jobs, livelihoods and freedom.
“Whether this continues or not depends on the workers. We should remember the simple but effective notion – our strength lies in unity!”

In a letter to Naftan, IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie is urging the company to end the persecution of BITU union leaders and members, to desist from threatening with dismissals those workers who make their free choice to join a union, and to immediately reinstate all unfairly dismissed workers.

Another IndustriALL affiliate in Belarus, the Free Metalworkers' Union, has recently reported on the pressure on union members in the city of Mogilev, where the union has received requests from members to terminate their membership and to provide confirmation of the termination.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan says:

“Any pressure on union members to force them leave the union is illegal and must stop. Workers shall have the right to join and be a member of unions of their own choice, in line with the Constitution of Belarus and ILO Convention 87, ratified by Belarus.”

Global workers call for universal access to Covid-19 vaccines, health products and technologies

Despite the commitment of workers, a handful of governments are
sabotaging global recovery by blocking the sharing of these medical
advances, costing more lives and putting workers and communities at further risk. Immediate collective action is needed to ensure equal and universal access to Covid-19 vaccines and wider health products and technologies.

The international trade union movement calls on all governments, in particular, the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland, along with the European Commission, to take all actions needed to make Covid-19 vaccines available for all, and to support the temporary and targeted "TRIPS waiver" proposed by South Africa and India at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), tackling a key obstacle to protecting workers and communities around the world as the coronavirus continues to impact. The WTO system envisages suspending intellectual property rules in exceptional
circumstances: the pandemic is clearly an exceptional circumstance.

Workers have faced the brunt of the unequal access to vaccines, particularly those in the global south. In countries where supplies are scarce, health and other frontline workers are still waiting for their vaccinations. While they remain committed to keeping their societies safe, and critical supply chains moving and economies functioning, a handful of leaders and pharmaceutical companies are failing them.

The essential right to a safe workplace is only possible with access to
vaccination, regardless of where one lives. Failure to ensure global equity in access to vaccines and treatments is an existential threat to workers' safety, and negatively impacts human rights including the right to life, the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, and the right to development.

It also threatens the recovery of industry. The IMF has warned that failure to step up vaccination efforts could stall recovery and lead to global GDP losses of $5.3 trillion over the next five years. The production, distribution and consumption of goods and services, and associated economic activities, are faced with unprecedented disruption. Delaying effective vaccination globally will only prolong the Covid-19 pandemic and trigger future economic crises.

Workers around the world want urgent action. Unions have already taken action in support of the waiver in 127 countries. Workers lives and liverliehoods, and our communities, depend on it.

Every day of delay means more lives lost and more setbacks to the recovery. Rent-seeking and profiteering in a pandemic are unacceptable. There cannot be any more excuses.

No one is safe until we are all safe.

Therefore, the Council of Global Unions (CGU) – representing more than 200 million workers from across the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Global Union Federations (GUFs), including the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC):

51 killed in coal mine accident in Russia

On the day of the accident, the bodies of eleven miners were retrieved. 35 workers are still missing, presumed dead, as rescue operations have been suspended due to high concentrations of methane and risk of explosion.

At the time of the accident 285 people were inside the mine. 239 managed to get to the surface and 64 of them were taken to hospital.

One rescuer presumed dead was found alive the next morning. He had found a place with less polluted air where he was able to lie down, and then, guided by the stream of fresh air, came out closer to the surface.

The mine director and two other managers have been detained and accused of violating industrial safety rules. The local chief state inspector of the Russian technical supervisory body, Rostekhnadzor, has been also detained and accused of negligence.

In the wake of this tragic accident, authorities have launched inspections to verify compliance with health and safety regulations in the coal sector. According to the prosecutor’s office in the Kemerovo region, 31 mines were inspected on 25 and 26 November.

Violations of fire safety, the lack of equipped escape routes, malfunctioning electrical wiring, failure to conduct safety briefings and assessment of working conditions, failure to provide personal protective equipment and workwear, violations of the work and rest schedule were identified. More inspections will follow.

IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie says:

“We are deeply saddened by this tragic accident, and we mourn our brothers who passed away while working hard to make a living. We wish to extend the collective condolences of our union family to families of the deceased miners and rescuers.

"This tragedy once again reminds us that occupational health and safety shall be a top priority at any operation, especially at highly hazardous mining operations, to prevent further fatal accidents.”

According to the Russian Independent Coal Employees' Union (Rosugleprof), the Listvyazhnaya mine employs more than 1,500 people and, with five million tons of coal production per year, is among the leading mines in Kuzbass, Russia’s main coal region.

Rosugleprof president Ivan Mokhnachuk says:

“203 highly dangerous mines have been closed over the last three decades. At the remaining 53 operating mines, outdated equipment has been replaced with more recent one and modernization has been carried out. However, coal extraction technologies remain old. Mining accidents in Russia have been rare lately and are mainly the result of not following the rules for operating mechanisms and equipment.”

Russia is the third largest global exporter of coal after Indonesia and Australia.

O-I Glass global union network advances workers’ rights

O-I Glass (formerly Owens-Illinois) is a US-origin company with approximately 25,000 employees and 72 plants spread across 20 countries. Currently O-I is experiencing challenging times: the company had outstanding debt of US$5.1 billion in 2020. This is a slight decrease from US$5.6 billion in 2019, but the outstanding debt makes the company vulnerable to adverse economic conditions and forces it to dedicate a substantial portion of cash flow from operations to service the debt. In July 2020, the company completely sold its operations in Australia and New Zealand, representing the majority of its business in the Asia Pacific, to service debt. The company still maintains a presence in Indonesia.

Unions in South America and Indonesia reported great difficulties in terms of working conditions, safety and social dialogue.

Just before the meeting of the network a tragedy happened in Brazil, when on 10 November a glass furnace leaked at an O-I Glass factory in São Paulo, Brazil, resulting in injuries to four workers. One of the workers, Antônio Carlos Tola Júnior, 43, a batch and furnace coordinator, was admitted to hospital with burns to 75 per cent of his body.

O-I imposes maximum flexibility in terms of working conditions on its workers. In France, for instance, there is a 25 per cent increase in outsourcing in 2021 compared to 2020. This choice of precarity inevitably leads to less professionalism, less competence and higher insecurity. A similar trend can be observed in other countries as well.

The company is introducing a new generation of glass furnaces called MAGMA (Modular Advanced Glass Manufacturing Asset) which are low-capacity furnaces of 120 to 150 tonnes. The company portrays them as a technological breakthrough but workers are worried that the new technology will further facilitate flexibility and will enable the company to stop the furnace with greater ease.

Following the global network meeting in the US at the end of 2018, IndustriALL Global Union and the USW (US Steelworkers Union) wanted to establish international dialogue, but so far these attempts have not brought tangible results.

To find solutions to these challenges the delegates of the meeting decided to reinvigorate the work of the network, setting up a steering committee to maintain communication on economic, social, industrial and environmental information, beyond the global annual network meetings.

Alexander Ivanou, IndustriALL materials industries officer, said:

“Despite a short few hours together, this was a very productive network meeting. We discussed existing serious problems regarding health and safety, precarious work and also lack of consultation with workers’ representatives over new technologies. We will continue monitoring the situation in the company. At the same time, we will not stop our attempts to build social dialogue with the company. And the trade unions will use all the existing tools at our disposal to achieve it.”

Kyrgyz unions struggle for compliance with core labour standards

Leaders of IndustriALL affiliates in Kyrgyzstan updated the 40 participants on recent developments in trade union movement and law reform. Other union leaders from the region spoke on fighting similar challenges in their countries.

Kyrgyzstan is a newcomer to the ITUC Global Rights Index 2021, with a rating of 4: Systematic violations of rights both in law and in practice.

Unions in Kyrgyzstan have been under threat since April 2019, when parliament introduced a draft law on trade unions, seriously undermining freedom of association and depriving unions of their independence by establishing a monopoly of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan (FTUK), putting all unions under its control.

After the FTUK dismissed its chair, who pushed the anti-union legislation, and elected a new leadership in February 2020, unions held multiple protests against the draft law. Authorities responded with interreference into the trade union affairs, prosecuting union leaders, constant interrogations, provocations and pressure.

Since then, an ILO project has been supporting the trade union movement by providing legal assistance to defend the interests of union leaders who have been subjected to administrative arrest, interrogation or other harassment by the state, said Gocha Aleksandia from the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV).

However, the FTUK ex-chair refused to resign and held a fake election in December 2020, proclaiming himself the chair. This led to the existence of both the real and the fake FTUK with opposite goals; the real one is struggling for fundamental labour rights, while the fake one is fighting for personal power. 

“This split in the union movement creates a negative image of unions and creates a difficult working environment,”

says Eldar Tadjibayev, chair of the Mining and Metallurgy Trade Union of Kyrgyzstan (MMTUK).

“There is a need to negotiate and agree with other unions in the country, as the split disturbs union activity in all sectors and affects workers’ protection,”

says Almash Zharkynbayeva, chair of the Trade Union of Workers of Textile, Paper and Allied Industries Workers of the Kyrgyz Republic. 

Anton Leppik from the ITUC-PERC argued that there should be a unified trade union approach. Participants agreed on the need of mediator to assist the Kyrgyz unions to find a common way within a sole FTUK. Upon Kyrgyz unions’ joint request, a mission of global unions led by the ITUC could be an option.

Since 2019, numerous objections to the draft law on trade unions have been submitted by international organizations, including IndustriALL, the ITUC, the ILO and the UN, as well as by unions from around the world. This has resulted in a Presidential veto twice, in May and August 2021, and requests to parliament to revise the draft law in line with international labour standards.

However, this was not followed in the third version of law on trade unions adopted by the parliament on 20 October, which does not take into account the repeated comments of the ILO, the position of Kyrgyz unions and the President’s comments, as it still violates the Constitution and international obligations, including ILO Conventions 87 and 98.

IndustriALL Global Union and the ITUC again called on the President of Kyrgyzstan to veto the new law on trade unions – for the third time this year.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan says:

“Every worker should be able to join the union of his choice without interference, have the protection of a collective bargaining agreement, and be able to exercise the right to strike. Independent unions are key and that is non-negotiable. If there is an attack on these fundamental rights and trade union independence in any country of the world, IndustriALL Global Union will support our affiliates.”

Fighting for African industrialization

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) met online on 19 November to grapple with the obstacles during an Africa Industrialization Day webinar under the theme “Trade union approaches and engagement on African industrialization and the promotion of manufacturing for job creation, decent work, and sustainable development”.

The unions have been carrying out this campaign for the last five years. The webinar, hosted jointly with ITUC-Africa, and attended by 70 participants, came after national workshops in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda where there were discussions on national industrial policies between unions and governments. The webinar discussed the role that trade unions can play to influence policymaking, implementation and monitoring of industrialization plans in SSA.

The unions called upon the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to prioritize the decent work agenda after unions pointed out that the agreement is silent on creating decent jobs, workers’ rights, social protection, and social dialogue. According to the unions, this exclusion can lead to the violation of international labour standards and national labour laws.

The AfCFTA agreement which began trading this year has been signed by 54 countries and has an estimated combined GDP of U$3 trillion with potential to increase intra-African trade by 50 per cent.

Peter Serwoono, senior advisor to the AfCFTA said stakeholders including unions will be invited to “participate in discussions at the national and regional levels on the development of AfCFTA implementation strategies.”

ITUC-Africa has already started working with the AfCFTA on the inclusion and is launching a guide titled Trade Unions and trade: A guide to the AfCFTA to help workers to understand the agreement.

Eric Manzi, ITUC-Africa deputy general secretary, said:

“Some of the lessons learn learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic that are useful to African industrialization strategies include adopting a multisectoral approach, effective policies for job creation growth, poverty reduction, strengthening economies and ending corruption. Further, technical training, public investments, education and training and building institutional capacities are key for sustainable industrialization.”

Vishwas Satgar, a climate expert from the University of the Witwatersrand emphasized the repurposing of industries and the creation of green jobs in the renewable energy sector in what he termed “climate emergency manufacturing” and “indigenous industrialization” models that included “socially-owned renewables.”
 
African industrialization is hampered by the economies that are mainly based on exporting raw materials that include minerals, oil and gas, and agricultural products. Manufacturing has remained subdued at less than 10 per cent of GDP. Additionally, industrial policies have been partly implemented while illicit financials flows are common.
 
Kemal Ozkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, said:

“Workers must have a say in industrial policies that will determine the future of their industries. We must challenge the narrative that Africa is poor; the continent is sufficiently rich in minerals and other resources, but the wealth is stolen through corruption. To counter this, we need structural change that enables sustainable industrialization that will address issues of mobility, energy decarbonisation, Just Transition, global supply chains and the future of work.”