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):

opposes the gross disparity between developing and developed countries in terms of equitable access and distribution of Covid-19 health products and technologies, including vaccines, diagnostics, devices, personal protective equipment, and drugs;
backs trade union and civil society campaigns around the world for a
temporary waiver of WTO intellectual property rules during the Covid-19 pandemic, as proposed by India and South Africa and the co-sponsors, and to the extent necessary to address the needs of the pandemic globally;
welcomes the support given by over 100 governments for the waiver and calls on these countries, including the United States, China and Australia, to exert further pressure on those blocking the waiver as a matter of urgency;
joins and supports the calls to use all possible ways, including temporary removal of barriers, towards development, production and approval of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics, and other health technologies;
endorses the World Health Organisation (WHO) campaign for
#VaccinEquity which aims to overcome the pandemic inequalities;
however, notes that existing initiatives such as the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool, COVAX and the ACT Accelerator have so far failed to meet their own targets and provide the rapid and equitable distribution of Covid- 19 vaccines that we need;
calls on governments and vaccine manufacturers to expedite and urgently expand the availability of Covid-19 health products and technologies to lower income countries and to pursue initiatives, including the sharing of technology – particularly mRNA vaccine technology – to develop manufacturing capacity in many countries;
underlines the importance of protecting integrity and quality of vaccines once restrictions are relaxed; and
demands a common commitment by countries not to hoard or stockpile large number of vaccine doses including by limiting exports and calls upon all countries producing vaccines and their inputs to avoid measures that disrupt supply chains.

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.”

16 days of action

Union leaders must commit themselves to the implementation of ILO Convention 190 (C 190) and Recommendation 206 (R 206) on elimination of violence and harassment, including gender-based violence, in the world of work.

Eliminating gender-based violence requires education and awareness-raising. Despite increased efforts by our unions to raise awareness and educate workers and their members, many in our industries and structures are still unaware of what gender-based violence really is, what women's rights are and how to deal with the issue. Trade union and workers’ representatives are at the frontline of the fight against gender-based violence in the world of work. It is crucial to continue to educate on ILO C190 and provide the necessary tools to better understand, prevent and respond to violence against women.

IndustriALL has developed a series of tools to better equip our affiliates to address gender-based violence and to implement the ILO C 190 and R 206.

Joint toolkit, launched in June 2021
Domestic violence is a workplace issue – FAQs on how to mitigate the impact of domestic violence in the workplace

Let's use this material!

To date, nine countries have ratified ILO C190 – let’s continue to campaign for its ratification!

Join us on social networks and share testimonies, good practices and all kinds of information and materials to raise awareness about what gender-based violence, including sexism and sexual harassment is, to deconstruct myths and gender stereotypes contributing to gender-based violence and let us know what actions our unions can take.

Please use and share IndustriALL’s campaign material.

Let’s continue to mobilize during the 16 days of activism, and make our campaign 365 days to end gender-based violence and harassment.

#ItCanChangeLives

WEBINAR: building union power in renewables

According to a recent report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), accelerating energy transition towards preserving the climate could double energy jobs; up to 122 million by 2050, potentially boosting the economy in the process.

While this projection looks promising, the involvement of workers transitioning from environmentally unsustainable jobs to jobs in the renewables supply chain requires the will and active involvement of trade unions.

The webinar Building union power in renewables will look specifically at the industrial sectors in the renewables supply chain that are most affected: energy, mechanical engineering, and ICT electrical and electronics.

IndustriALL’s sector experts will look at global trends and future perspectives, and discuss the challenges of climate change and energy transition, as well as strategies to increase union power in the renewables supply chain.

Two experts from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) will speak on renewable energy and jobs in the energy transition. They will focus on where the sector is growing, the jobs expected to be created, and the skills required for these new jobs.

Ulrike Lehr

Head of policy and socioeconomics unit, IRENA

Dr. Lehr analyzed the economic effects of the transition to the green economy for Germany, Russia and the Middle East, as well as climate change adaptation policies for the EU member states and particular EU regions. She applied economic simulation models developed by the Institute of Economic Structures Research (GWS) and analyzed economic effects detailed by economic sector. She focuses on developing methods to identify impacts of cross-cutting sectors and technologies, such as renewable energy, e-mobility, tourism, or green production. As head of the policy (socioeconomics) division in IRENA, she oversees IRENA’s socioeconomic modeling work for the World Renewable Energy Transitions Outlook (WETO 2021), as well as the socioeconomic footprint analyses, the socioeconomic analyses in IRENA’s Regional Market series and IRENA’s work on gender, and on jobs.

Michael Renner

Programme officer, IRENA

Michael Renner is a programme officer, Policy Advice in the Knowledge Policy and Finance Centre (KPFC) of the International Renewable Energy Agency, based in Abu Dhabi. His area of work at IRENA is focused on the socio-economic impacts of renewable energy, including employment and just transition issues. He is a co-author of the report series Renewable energy and jobs, Annual Review, of reports on gender equity in the renewable energy sector, and contributor to the agency’s Global Renewables Outlook 2020 and its Post-COVID Recovery report.

Webinar Programme ENGLISH

INFO:

The webinar will be availavle in the following langauges: Enslish, French, Spanish, Japanese, Russian

For more information on this event please contact Janire Escubi: [email protected]

Unifor fights against lockout at Ash Grove, Canada

Towards the end of 2020, 154 members of Unifor Local 177 learnt of the closure of two of the four kilns at the Joliette plant, putting at least half of their jobs at risk.

"It's obviously a shock-wave for workers. It's uncertainty on top of what everyone is already experiencing with the pandemic,"

Renaud Gagné, Unifor Quebec director, said at the time.

Even though the collective bargaining was still ongoing, Unifor members were illegally locked out on 22 May. The legal lockout started on 3 June.

Despite a severe lack of cement with rising market prices and a shortage of labour, Ash Grove refuses to use a recall list of current employees, which would allow workers to access other jobs in the company. Instead, the employer is using labour agencies and subcontractors.

Renaud Gagné says:

“This dispute is a direct attack on the very existence of a union in the company by local management. All we want is an opportunity to have seniority recognized and a right to training for positions that employees have never held.”

Since the start of the lockout, the union has organized a series of actions. On 22 October, Unifor together with Quebec Federation of Labor, held a mobilization in solidarity with the locked-out workers. On 8 October, Unifor members demonstrated at the Port of Trois-Rivières and in July, more than a hundred Unifor members and allies responded to the union's call for solidarity action in front of the Ash Grove cement plant in Joliette.

In response to the union mobilisation, Ash Grove management obtained a new injunction limiting union actions. The employer also filed a 2.6 CAD million (about 2.1 USD million) management grievance for lost production and equipment breakdown and dismissed two members of Local 177, including a member of the bargaining committee.

In a letter to CRH CEO Albert Manifold, IndustriALL Global Union is demanding an end to the union busting at the Joliette site in Quebec, Canada.

Alexander Ivanou, materials industries officer at IndustriALL, says:

“We are shocked at the employer’s behaviour. We express our strong solidarity with Unifor members and will seek solidarity from the CRH global union network and EWC. The union busting must stop immediately.”

CRH Canada employs 4,000 people in 100 production facilities. Worldwide, the global giant employs more than 76,000 people in over 3,000 locations in 29 countries on four continents.

Workers at ArcelorMittal plant in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina stand united

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, SMFBIH, and its Metalworkers’ Union in the ArcelorMittal plant in Zenica, have signed a new collective bargaining agreement after seven months of tough negotiations.

IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union had pledged their solidarity with the workers, sending a joint letter to the company’s management in Zenica, in which they called for sincere negotiations and supported the unions’ demands and right to strike.

With this collective agreement, valid until May 2023, workers will now earn an average 17 per cent more, with increases in night shift pay, holiday bonus, paid transport for those living 3km from the plant, and a paid 13th month salary.

Zuhdija Kapetanovic, president of the Metalworkers’ Union at the ArcelorMittal plant in Zenica, says:

“Behind us now is what has been a very difficult period of negotiation and organising of the strike. We have a law which makes it very difficult for trade unions to strike. The slightest procedural error may lead to an injunction, dismissals of workers, and also an employer's claim for compensation of millions of dollars in damages. The employer knows this very well, and he tried to make it difficult for us in every way. But he failed. At the same time, we have actively worked to preserve workers' unity. Together we have conquered fear and all the pressures on us. We have succeeded in our demands and the new collective agreement guarantees social peace at ArcelorMittal in Zenica until May 2023. The workers are just glad to be able to continue working!”

Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary, says:

“These workers never stopped working, not even during the lockdown. They risked their lives to fulfil their work obligations – even when eight workers who had contracted the Coronavirus tragically died. Despite the “crisis”, 2020 was better than 2019 for ArcelorMittal in Zenica and the workers deserve to receive a fair share of the profits that they have produced.”

Luc Triangle, general secretary of industriAll Europe, says:

“The workers at ArcelorMittal in Zenica carry out their jobs in the most dangerous working conditions and are responsible for production that is worth several hundred million BAM. Many have to do one or even two additional jobs in their spare time, just to be able to secure a livelihood for their families.”

The workers in the union were determined to stand firm in their demand for a decent wage and did not give up in the face of threats. IndustriAll Global Union and industriAll Europe congratulate their affiliate, SMFBIH, on their successful collective negotiations, which once again show that united and organised workers can achieve much more.