Cambodian unions say minimum wage increase is not enough

Cambodia’s National Minimum Wage Council (NMWC) have been negotiating over the last two weeks to determine the new minimum wage rate for 2022. Negotiations were intense as employers demanded to reduce the minimum wage from US$192 to US$188 owing to the economic downturn.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates and their confederation leaders argued for an increase to US$204, based on a study on the seven criteria of determining minimum wage with the support of IndustriALL. Many workers are struggling to cope with higher food prices and housing loans in industrial zones.

When most of the NMWC members voted for US$192, Prime Minister Hun Sen intervened and adjusted the minimum wage to US$194.

Athit Kong, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU) says:

"The majority of Cambodian garment workers are not happy with the US$2 increase to the minimum wage in 2022. In order to strengthen our negotiation power, all garment workers must take ownership of this struggle with international solidarity."

Despite dissatisfaction, trade unions have to accept the decision as Covid-19 has severely impacted the labour market and foreign investment in Cambodia. A World Bank survey shows that the Cambodian employment rate has declined and 45 percent of households suffered income losses.

Kim Chan Samnang, president of Trade Union Workers' Federation of Progress Democracy (TUWFPD), and vice-president of the National Minimum Wage Council, says:

“We fought for US$204, but taking the impact of Covid-19 into consideration, we are pleased to follow the majority decision. We hope the minimum wage can be increased next year, when the pandemic is over.”

Seven years ago, global unions staged an international day of action to call on the Cambodian government to significantly increase the poverty wage of US$100 to US$177. Since then, the Cambodian government has steadily increased the minimum wage.

Photos from the campaign in 2014

Annie Adviento, IndustriALL South East Asia regional secretary, says:

“We will continue to support our affiliates in their fight for a living wage. International solidarity has worked in the past, it will also work in the future.”

Cover photo: Garment factory in Cambodia, Decent Work Country Programme, ILO

Workers create union network in Latin America’s glass sector

According to the International Labour Organization, the pandemic has led to the loss of 255 million jobs, as well as a significant deterioration of workers’ rights. The International Trade Union Confederation points out that many countries violated the right to strike and excluded workers from the right to crate and join trade unions.

Covid has also brought increased digitalisation and automation in the glass industry, and even though the process directly affects workers, their opinion is often ignored.

Alexander Ivanou, IndustriALL materials industries officer, said:

"In the light of the current transformation processes in the glass industry and the need to reduce carbon emissions, there is a risk, as Covid has demonstrated, that workers' rights will be side-lined. This is unacceptable; workers' rights and interests cannot be put aside."

Participants exchanged experiences from their respective countries. Just as on the global level, South American countries have witnessed a favourable growth in the glass sector, especially in the glass packaging industry. Yet at the same time many report problems with health and safety, like exposure to heat and glass dust, but also denial of the recognition of occupational diseases due to loopholes in the legislation in Brazil and Colombia.

The delegates from Peru reported the problem of precarious employment at O-I Peru, where after five years temporary workers can become permanent, but the company dismisses and reemploys them after a break not to fulfil their obligation.

Delegates from Brazil, Peru and Colombia reported of constant anti-union attitudes, hindrances to collective bargaining and unfair practices from multinationals that operate in the region.

Even though the sector has been hit by the pandemic, in Argentina workers reported about their efforts to maintain jobs and safety conditions through the joint work in tripartite committees of employers, workers and the government.

Alejandro Valerio, deputy regional secretary, said:

"This was a good meeting. With important changes are coming in the industry at a global level and incessant attacks on labour rights, it is important to strengthen ties, exchange information and form networks between unions in the region representing glass workers."

Farmindustria-Abbott workers in Peru continue their fight

The union called the strike to get the company to meet its collective bargaining demands for the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 periods.

However, Farmindustria, a subsidiary of US pharmaceutical company Abbott, kept to its global policy of not engaging with unions on wage increases. And while it did raise some wages during the 2020–2021 period, it marginalized and discriminated against unionized workers, who did not receive any pay rises.

Even though Abbott, which has an international monopoly on the production of some of the medicines used to treat Covid-19, has benefited financially from the pandemic, it has no intention of coming to any kind of agreement with its workers and has adopted an anti-union policy.

Gilmer Ibañez Meléndrez, FETRIMAP-CGT secretary general, says:

"Abbott is a market leader in Peru but is still lags way behind when it comes to pay. Most workers are on the government's minimum wage. After the union was formed in early 2020, the company immediately brought in a new wage policy that included some minimum pay increases so that they could keep pay rises out of the collective bargaining process."

Peru's general confederation of workers (CGTP) stands in solidarity with the union members and is supporting their struggle. It has called on workers across Peru to join forces to protect employment rights. It has also demanded that Farmindustria-Abbott come up with solutions to the union's list of demands and called on the Employment Authority to ensure compliance with the law, which safeguards the right to collective bargaining.

As the company refuses to cooperate, the workers will continue their fight, backed by CGTP and FETRIMAP affiliates. They remain committed to obtaining pay rises and better working conditions and will keep campaigning until their demands are met.

Cristian Alejandro Valerio, IndustriALL deputy regional secretary, says:

"We call on Farmindustria to stop its anti-union behaviour and respect the workers' right to strike. We urge the company to forge a dialogue with workers to assess and resolve their list of demands. We congratulate the union and FETRIMAP for continuing to fight for workers' rights and for standing firm despite the company's attempt to undermine them.”

In a letter to the company, IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie urges Abbott Laboratories to reach a settlement with the union and end the ongoing strike.

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Indian unions unite against government's anti-labour policies

In August, the government of India announced a policy called National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), listing many important government's infrastructure assets and sectors, including mining, aviation, ports, natural gas and petroleum product pipelines, railways and power sector, to be sold over the next four years. This is not merely a funding mechanism for the government, but marks an overall shift to privatization of core sectors.

In an additional move, which will lead to precarious employment and unsafe working conditions, the Indian government is pushing for labour law amendments, which would exclude and deprive workers from legal protection and lead to violations of human rights and the elimination of core labour rights.

Dr. G. Sanjeeva Reddy, president of Indian National Metalworkers' Federation and IndustriALL executive committee member, says:

"India is facing a social and economic policy paralysis as the government is moving to lease or sell all infrastructure services and core industries to private companies. We, the trade unions in India, will together organize, campaign and hold a country-wide protest on 7 October under the name of Mission India.
“We call all working people to come forward and participate in this joint demonstration and struggle so that our legitimate rights and jobs will be protected."

Despite many difficulties and restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian unions and sectoral federations have a tradition of joint protests and opposition. However, the government a has not heeded the workers' voice and is continuing to push for changes the economic and social system of the country.

India’s government is promoting the privatization of profit-making companies, including Vishakhapatnam Steel Plant, while undermining the democratic rights of working people without consulting stake-holders, like workers and trade unions.

Sanjay Vadhavkar, general secretary of Steel, Metal & Engineering Workers’ Federation of India and IndustriALL executive committee member, says:

“The government shows its complete disconnect with the vital demands of the working people and how they are deliberately using the pandemic to hand over the people’s wealth to its corporate cronies.
The united struggle will continue until the four labour codes are scrapped and the government’s attempts to privatize core businesses are stopped.”

Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary, supports the joint protest of the Indian unions and says:

"We are in solidarity with the workers and people of India and urge the government to recognise the genuine concerns of working people. The government should immediately withdraw its policy proposals and establish an inclusive social and political consultation with all stakeholders, including workers and trade unions."

Save workers’ lives and make occupational health and safety fundamental right

Since the adoption of the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work in 2019 with a clear statement on safe and healthy working conditions are fundamental to decent work, IndustriALL Global Union, together with ITUC and other global unions has been campaigning to get occupational health and safety recognised by the ILO as a fundamental principle and right at work. The current Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the necessity of urgent and long overdue steps by the ILO.

In November this year, the ILO Governing Body will decide on whether to include the matter in the agenda of the 2022 International Labour Conference. IndustriALL and other global unions are insisting that this needs to be done by amending the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, as this would be the easiest and fastest way to include occupational health and safety in the ILO’s framework of fundamental principles and rights at work.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary, says:

"The joint global WHO/ILO report discloses a reality we already know too well. All the killings of workers are preventable – enough is enough. This carnage must come to an end. We reiterate our strong demand to the ILO to make occupational health and safety a fundamental right, along with freedom of association, collective bargaining and others.”

According to the WHO/ILO monitoring report, diseases account for more than 80 per cent of the deaths, while 19.3 per cent are attributable to injuries. A disproportionately large work-related burden of disease is observed in Africa, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific, among males and older age groups.

The occupational risk factor with the largest number of attributable deaths was the exposure to long working hours (≥ 55 hours per week), followed by occupational exposure to particulate matter, gases and fumes and occupational injuries. The health outcome with the largest work-related burden of deaths was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, followed by stroke and ischemic heart disease.

Unions in Asia Pacific call for Just Transition

Approximately 40 trade unionists from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam attended the Asia Pacific regional base metals and mechanical engineering meetings respectively.

According to the World Economic Forum, the Covid-19 pandemic will accelerate remote work and digitalization, the rate of automation will also increase rapidly in the next five years.

In response to the threat to workers’ job security, Matthew Murphy, national industrial coordinator of Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing & Allied Services Union of Australia (CEPU/ETU), says:

“We need a skill management system to upskill existing workers and advocate for entry level industrial training aligning with vocational schools. Employers are not committed to upskilling; unions must engage in skill training to secure employment and ensure a Just Transition.”

Equally concerned with the trend of digitalization, the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) inked an industrial transformation agreement with the Korean Metal Industry Employers’ Association in August, covering training for new technology, climate change and employment security.

Many affiliates share the issue of precarious work. Korean workers at Hyundai Steel were on strike for one month after being coerced into a subcontractor company.

Members of the Confederation of Thai Electrical Appliances, Electronic, Automobile and Metal Workers (TEAM-CILT) have been laid off and replaced by contract workers.

In Indonesia, after the implementation of the Omnibus Law, the duration of fixed term contracts has been extended from three to five years.

Japan, the third largest steel producing country, is gearing up to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Japanese unions are committed to produce cleaner and greener steel in the years to come.
Shinobu Satou, executive committee member of Japan Federation of Basic Industry Workers' Union (JBU), says:

“Japanese steel companies are investing in research and development in new technology in order to produce greener steel. The Japanese government has promised to provide a subsidy for the research. However, the issue of oversupply has cut companies’ profit and affected its ability to conduct research.”

Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL director for mechanical engineering and base metals, says:

“According to the latest research, many are convinced that the climate crisis is as severe as the Covid-19 pandemic. We have to use this momentum to take steps in the right direction and unions must pave the way.
"A shift towards renewable energy means great opportunities for mechanical engineering towards producing machineries for wind generators, water turbines, recycling equipment and others. Another positive aspect of digitalization is that the reduction of physical strain can mean new job opportunities for women workers in mechanical engineering.”

Bangladesh’s dangerous shipbreaking yards claim two more lives

The safety crisis at Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards continue. The fatal accidents that have taken place during a week in September shows the terrifying results of not addressing dangerous working conditions.

35-year old Md. Ali Najim was killed on 14 September when oxygen cylinders fell off a badly loaded truck at a shipbreaking yard in Kumira.

On 18 September, Liton Paul, 30, was cutting the upper portion of a ship at J L Shipbreaking in the Tentultal area, when he slipped. Without a safety belt he fell from a great height and was seriously injured. Liton Paul was taken to hospital, but declared dead on arrival.

And on 20 September, Babul, 22, Pias, 26 and Russel, 25, received severe burns when cutting a fuel tank at Marine/Mars Shipbreaking Yard in the Joramtal area. The tank had not been inspected by the relevant safety authorities to ensure that there were no chemical substances left and caught fire, injuring the three workers.

According to IndustriALL’s accident survey, at least ten shipbreaking workers have been killed and 23 have been injured in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards since January 2021. Most of the victims have been young, precarious workers without proper safety equipment.

Kan Matsuzaki, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, says:

“That many accidents in merely a week is shocking. The employers’ negligence continues. This is completely unacceptable and makes it all the more urgent that the government of Bangladesh take immediate steps to address the issue, including ratification of the Hong Kong Convention.”

Zimbabwean union confronts Afrochine Smelting over workers’ rights violations

According to a shop steward who works at Afrochine, over 1,500 workers are employed at the ferro chrome plant which is about 75 km from Harare.

“We are working in fear with no job security and being humiliated every day. You are beaten up by supervisors who are Chinese nationals, and if you report to the police, you will be unfairly dismissed before the conclusion of the case. With fewer jobs available in Zimbabwe, workers are suffering in silence. We are supporting the call for strike action against Afrochine to stop the workers’ rights violations,”

says the shop steward who witnessed some of the beatings.

Conciliation efforts at the National Employment Council of the ferro alloy industry – a social dialogue platform – failed as the ferro chrome smelting company did not show up at a meeting on 22 September. In the absence of dialogue, the union says it will take the grievances to the courts.

Henry Tarumbira general secretary of NUMAIZ says:

“The union will not stand by and watch while its members are abused. We are fighting to stop the unfair retrenchments and harassment and will take necessary action as provided by the labour laws to demonstrate against the violations as well as go to the courts to stop the abuses. Workers are continuously exposed to poor working conditions while health and safety standards are ignored. There is also wage theft and under payment of wages. IndustriALL affiliates in the country will be mobilized and are expected to join the strike and other actions in solidarity with the workers at Afrochine.”

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

“The management at Afrochine must respect workers dignity, national labour laws and international labour standards. We commend NUMAIZ for standing up for workers’ rights and decent working conditions.”

Afrochine is a subsidiary of the world’s biggest stainless steel product manufacturers Tsingshan Holding Group which trades on the London Metals Exchange. China is the largest importer of chromium and other metals which are key raw materials for its steel industries, and some of the chrome is mined in Zimbabwe which produced over 300,000 tonnes in the first quarter of this year.

OECD Steel Committee should ensure global minimum standards for steelworkers

Trade unions reminded the Committee that the Covid-19 pandemic is ongoing and that all workers, including in the global South, must have access to Covid-19 vaccines and that workers and their union representatives must play a key role in shaping the steel sector after the pandemic.

Although many sectors using steel have recovered faster than initially expected as global demand has increased, the global tendency to increase steelmaking capacity above actual steel demand puts the global recovery for the entire steel industry at risk.

Increasing global overcapacity could exasperate pre-existing pressures on the steel market: price-dumping leading to lower ecological standards and to decreased wages and social conditions.

Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL Global Union director for mechanical engineering and base metals, declared:

“It is imperative that steelworkers can go to work knowing they will return home at the end of their shift. The recent increase in fatal accidents is wholly unacceptable and we call for urgent action. Quality steel making depends on high social, labour, environmental and decarbonisation standards and we call on OECD member countries to ensure adequate global minimum standards for steelworkers.
"Every government, every steel producer and every organisation who is willing to work in this direction, can count on the support of the unionized workforce.”

Trade unions called on OECD member countries to embrace a strategy that will ensure the enforcement of global minimum standards for steelworkers, including ILO core conventions and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. This includes freedom of association and health and safety for all workers amid a steady increase of fatal accidents at steel sites over the past year, which is completely unacceptable.

Judith Kirton‒Darling, deputy general secretary of industriAll European Trade Union, said:

‘’Trade unions stand united in calling for an end to global overcapacity and for a global level playing field which is fair for all workers. We must stop this aggressive race to the bottom for the lowest cost that negatively impacts workers and slows down the much needed work towards the decarbonisation of the sector.’’

TUAC, IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union recognised the vital role that the steel industry plays in limiting global warming and insisted that investments in clean technology must be accompanied by upskilling plans and Just Transition schemes for steelworkers.

They noted that this can only be achieved via fair and open negotiations between governments, steel companies, the workforce, and their unions.

Given the complexity and broadness of the challenges the steel sector is facing, TUAC encourages the Steel Committee to work closely with other OECD bodies (including the Economic Committee, the Environment Policy Committee, the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee, the Investment Committee and its Working Group on Responsible Business Conduct) to advance dialogue and offer viable solutions.