North America cement unions continue to build power

According to participants no massive layoffs took place in the cement industry in North America.  According to reports, shutdowns of some kilns at cement plants resulted in up to 60 per cent reduction of workforce in Quebec, Canada. Representatives from the United States reported some layoffs and stoppages in the beginning of the pandemic, but most workers have  already returned to work.

Participants noted that most cement companies put in place Covid-19 safety protocols and there have been no problems accessing personal protection equipment. Extra time for lunch breaks, allowing workers to respect social distancing has been added through collective bargaining.

International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Canada raised serious health and safety concerns at LafargeHolcim operations in Canada, in particular two fatalities at Lafarge Exshaw in Alberta in October 2020 and Lafarge Richmond in November 2020. Boilermakers' union brought concerns over the incidents to the company. IndustriALL also joined the union and demanded the company to engage in a social dialogue with the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and work together to ensure the health and safety of workers.

Prior to the meeting, US President Biden announced an infrastructure bill which will attract substantial investments in bridges, roads and airports, requiring a lot of cement. It is not yet clear how much of it will be produced locally and how much will be imported. Unions are expecting fair work contracts for their members involved in these projects.

Participants debated on the future of the industry in light of the increasing pressure to reduce CO2 emissions. The cement industry is currently responsible for about 7 to 8 per cent CO2 emissions. Participants received an update on current CCS projects at big cement multinationals including LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement and Cemex and other. Participants also spoke about other options of emission reduction in the industry. Delegates agreed to closer study the status of carbon capture projects in China, the biggest cement producer in the world, and therefore the biggest emitter of CO2.

It was agreed that Industry 4.0, another sphere of innovation with a big impact on jobs and conditions will be part of the discussion at further meetings.

“Our North America cement union network is increasing its power  through  cooperation, communication and exchange. This  boosts  solidarity among our affiliates and allows us to face challenges and fight for decent working conditions,”

says Alexander Ivanou, industrial materials officer.

North American cement union network is composed of International Brotherhood of Teamsters from the USA and Canada, the United Steelworkers from Canada and the USA, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and the Fédération de l’Industrie Manufacturière from francophone Canada representing cement workers in both countries. The last meeting was held on 1 April 2021.

Workers fear returning to work in Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region

The park was closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, before war broke out.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the IndustriALL Federation of Textile, Leather and Garment Workers Trade Union (IFTLGTWU), which organizes the textile, garment, shoe, and leather workers in Mekelle, says it has been difficult to reach its members and their families.

Phone lines, the internet and other means of telecommunications were unavailable for many days when the civil war between the federal army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) began.

 

Garment and textile factories were looted and destroyed. These include Almeda, Sheba Leather, and DBL garments. The Almeda factory, which employed over five thousand workers, was looted, and destroyed. The other two factories were ransacked. Thousands of jobs will be lost if the factories do not reopen.

Media reports have pointed to killings, rape and looting which is being attributed to different armed groups involved in the conflict including militias and the army from neighbouring Eritrea. According to the reports, homes, clinics, hospitals, health centres, schools, and grain stores were destroyed or looted, and fields burnt.

This has created a humanitarian crisis in which people are starving and in need of food, water, and shelter. Thousands have fled their homes and the government of Ethiopia and UN agencies have appealed for emergency support.

The Ethiopian prime minister said in parliament that gross human rights violations and abuses will be investigated by the Ethiopian Human Right Commission and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Council.

“We call upon the government of Ethiopia to provide peace and security to the people and the workers of Tigray. It is important that the armed conflict is ended so that workers can go back to work without fear and that communities can go back to living in peace,”

says Valter Sanches, IndustriALL general secretary.

Tunisian government and UGTT union sign agreement on public sector reform

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and UGTT general secretary Noureddine Taboubi hold copies of the signed agreement.

(Tunisian prime minister’s office)

The agreement establishes five joint committees to formulate a practical framework for the reforms. These committees are: the Committee for Reform of the Tax System and Establishing Tax Justice as an entrance to Social Justice; The Committee for Necessary Reforms in Public Companies, which will start its work with seven major institutions: 

The Subsidy System Reform Committee, which will deal with subsidizing basic materials and fuel; the Committee for Direct and Indirect Subsidies System; and the Price Control Committee and the Restructuring of Distribution. These represent the most prominent areas of reform, due to their economic importance and the extent to which they are contested.

In a joint press conference announcing the agreement, Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi called agreement “historic and a real start in waging the battle of economic and social reform”, which he considers the most important struggle in Tunisia. The Prime Minister referred to the importance of the participatory and consensual path that led to the agreement.

UGTT secretary general Noureddine Taboubi praised the spirit of responsibility shown by all parties in reaching the historic agreement, saying that it “represents the real start of economic reform, confirming a deep awareness of the need for change”. Taboubi stressed the country's need for urgent and immediate reforms in the fields covered by the committees, especially tax justice, and public companies as a national asset that must be reformed to drive development.

The government also signed an agreement with the employer's organization, Union Tunisienne de l'industrie, du commerce et de l'artisanat (UTICA), on 7 April. Under the agreement, eight joint committees were created to develop a practical framework for the reforms.

These agreements come just before the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, during the second week of April. The Tunisian government is counting on this meeting to obtain a new loan agreement that will enable it to fill the budget deficit and finance the economy.

Habib Hazami, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union textile and garment affiliate FGTHCC-UGTT said,

“Given the economic and social difficulties that the country is experiencing in the shadow of Covid-19 and in the face of the economic downturn and deteriorating conditions, we are counting on this agreement in the private sector as well. We hope that the work of these committees will lead to a clear vision and practical conclusions, especially with regard to the tax system and achieving social justice. The textile sector is one of the most prominent sectors that suffer shortcomings in this regard and it need consistent measures to achieve economic and social recovery.”

Tahar Berberi, general secretary of metalworkers’ affiliate FGME-UGTT said:

"The Tunisian steel company is one of the important pillars of the national metal sector, and it employs 1,200 workers. We have always called for restructuring the company in order to raise its efficiency, maintain jobs and secure the workers’ future. This agreement is an important step in the right direction and we hope that the government will fulfill its obligations and implement it."

Picture: Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and UGTT general secretary Noureddine Taboubi hold copies of the signed agreement. (Tunisian prime minister’s office)

Union fights over unpaid wages and workers’ rights violations at Galba Nigeria

The workers are owed wage arrears of 350 million Naira (US$920, 000) for four years whilst some have retired without even receiving their benefits.

According to AUTOBATE, some workers have since died before being paid their wages whilst those who remain at work are suffering and failing to pay for their living expenses. Some workers with more than 25 years of experience retired without any pension benefits or gratuities when management at Galba Nigeria told them to “go and rest”.

AUTOBATE says the company has not been remitting dues already deducted from the workers to the union since 2013, in violation of trade union rights that are protected by national labour laws and international labour standards.

“The situation is pathetic because to date we have recorded over 14 deaths of staff from complications of blood pressure, hypertension, and stroke because they could not pay their bills including rents, school fees, medical fee and household expenditure for their families,”

says Olusola Joel Olorunfemi, AUTOBATE general secretary.

In its fightback against the violations, AUTOBATE has organized pickets and demonstrations outside the company premises in Port Harcourt. The union has also taken Galba Nigeria to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria over the non-payment of wages and the workers’ rights violations. The court action came after efforts by the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria to mediate in the dispute failed. The union also sought intervention from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to no avail.

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

“The level of wage theft and workers’ rights violations at Galba Nigeria is shocking and unacceptable. We support AUTOBATE in its demand for the payment of wage arrears at Galba Nigeria and for defending workers’ rights and standing firm on the adherence to fair labour standards and decent working conditions.”

Galba Nigeria is an engineering company that provides services to oil companies in Port Harcourt and Rivers State.

Photo credit: stock imge, Port Harcourt, Nigera

Garment workers need safe factories

24 April marks eight years since the industrial homicide that Rana Plaza represents, killing more than 1,000 garment workers and injuring many more.

And yet garment workers still need to raise their voices to demand safe factories; in the month of March alone, over 40 garment workers lost their lives in Morocco and Egypt due to unsafe factories.

IndustriALL continues to campaign to defend workers’ rights and build union power in the textile and garment sector, and we are asking you to join us in taking action next week.

Here is what you can do:

The week of action coincides with Fashion Revolution week, so please support their message of #IMadeYourClothes. You can download material from Fashion Revolution to participate.
 
Let us know what you are doing by sending the pictures of your actions to [email protected] . Share your comments, tag us and use the hashtags!

Magna Seating Serbia returns to bargaining table

The dispute started a year ago at the Magna Seating plant in Odžaci, Serbia, when the company fired local union president Dalibor Antanasijević. Antanasijević had been instrumental in organizing the factory and establishing the local union.

Magna is a Canada-headquartered multinational, that among many other products supplies seats to the auto industry. In an attempt to resolve the dispute in Serbia, Austrian affiliate PRO-GE and the Magna European Works Council intervened with the management of Magna Seating Europe.

When the company refused to reinstate Antanasijević, a team made up of the European Works Council, PRO-GE, and IndustriALL Global and Europe joined ISS to drive the negotiations forward. The company felt that the relationship of trust between employer and employee had irrevocably broken down, and refused to reinstate Antanasijević. In a compromise, the ISS agreed to employ him as a union organizer, and shifted the campaign to a decent severance package for him, an end to union busting, the reestablishment of bargaining with the company and the signing of a fair collective agreement.

An agreement was reached and signed on 18 March 2021. The agreement includes a severance package for Antanasijević, a cooperation agreement between Magna Seating Odžaci and the ISS, and a commitment to return to collective bargaining with the union. The union will get its infrastructure back, including office space, equipment, admin support and check off for union dues. Collective bargaining, which was interrupted in December 2019, will resume. 

Both parties agreed to end all legal procedures against each other and Magna reaffirmed its commitment to respecting Serbian labour law and the fundamental workers’ rights spelled out in the ILO core conventions. The agreement was co-signed by IndustriALL Global and Europe, PRO-GE and the Works Council.

Antanasijević thanked the international labour movement for its support, saying “unions are the only ones sincerely fighting for workers' rights”.

IndustriALL sector director Georg Leutert said:

“This was a complicated negotiation with a difficult starting position. We achieved a result through consistent team work over a year. Magna is not known for agreements like this, and so we see this as a breakthrough. It is unfortunate that we weren’t able to get brother Dalibor’s job back, but we are sitting around the table with the company, and this gives us hope for the future.

“We trust that local management honours the agreement, and we will be watching the situation closely.”

Luc Triangle, industriAll Europe general secretary warmly welcomed the compromise.

“It was only possible to reach this agreement because of the strong union at plant level, which is well embedded in the European and global labour movement. It demonstrates that strong unions are capable of regaining and retaining bargaining power. We are satisfied that Magna Seating Europe has returned to the path of social dialogue.”

Thomas Stoimaier, vice chair of the Magna European Works Council, said:

“Respect for the rights of the workforce and trade unions is particularly important to us, the European Works Council, and must apply to the whole of Magna. For this reason, the focus has always been on the creation of an agreement governing cooperation between trade unions, employees and management at the Serbian plant. In the end, this has been achieved. Now it is time to implement what has been written.”

Malaysian government urged to end emergency rule and reform labour law

Since a change of federal government in 2018, the Pakatan Harapan government have begun reforming labour law. After the Industrial Relations Act was passed in the parliament, the government collapsed in February 2020.

The new Perikatan Nasional government, which rules by a razor thin majority, has used Covid-19 to introduce a variety of movement control orders and limited parliament seating. In January 2021, the government proclaimed a state of emergency and suspended the parliament.

94 per cent of Malaysian workers are denied the right to organize and collective bargaining due to restrictive labour laws.

The Labour Law Reform Coalition (LLRC) chairperson and IndustriALL Malaysia secretary N. Gopal Kishnam, says:

“We are demanding that anti-worker provisions severely restricting workers’ freedom to establish or join unions of their choice, right to collective bargaining and right to strike, are removed from the labour laws.

“Suspension of parliament has delayed the amendments of the trade union act and the implementation of the new industrial relations act. We are urging the government to reconvene parliament and pass all ministry proposals made public in 2019.”

 

LLRC has been engaging with the new government to continue labour law reforms to ensure that workers have a bargaining platform with employers during the pandemic. With no positive response from the ministry of human resources, the coalition decided to campaign in public.

Since 7 April, leaders of IndustriALL affiliates National Union of Transport Equipment and Allied Industries Workers (NUTEAIW), Electrical Industry Workers' Union (EIWU), Electronics Industry Employees’ Union Coalition (EIEU Coalition) and Paper and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees Union (PPPMEU) have participated in a week of action on labour law reform organized by LLRC.

IndustriALL South East Asia regional secretary Annie Adviento says:

“We fully support the campaign for Malaysian labour law reform in conformity with ILO standards. Freedom of association is the baseline principle of any national labour law.”

Recognize occupational health and safety as a fundamental right at work

The ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work (2019) declared that:

“Safe and healthy working conditions are fundamental to decent work.”

The conference resolution subsequently adopted requested the Governing Body “to consider, as soon as possible, proposals for including safe and healthy working conditions in the ILO’s framework of fundamental principles and rights at work”, in the same way as the eight fundamental ILO Conventions do.
 
This year on 28 April, as we observe International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD), an opportunity to remember all workers who have lost their lives at work due to occupational ill- health and safety failures, the global trade union movement is making the case for occupational health and safety to be recognized by the ILO as a fundamental right at work. 

IndustriALL Global Union is calling on affiliates to join the global campaign to demand the recognition of health and safety as a fundamental right at work by sharing local actions and activities, which can include:

Let us know what actions you are taking and contributions will be collected and posted in IndustriALL's channels.

In solidarity,
Valter Sanches, IndustriALL general secretary

 

Worker perspectives from Cerrejón coal mine

Two leaders from IndustriALL affiliate Sintracarbon discussed Cerrejón’s recent dismissals of some 90 workers without just cause or consultation; its failure to engage meaningfully with local communities and workers about an eventual Just Transition at the mine; and gender discrimination.

In 2020, Cerrejón and Sintracarbon concluded a collective agreement following an unprecedented 90-day strike. Shortly afterwards, Cerrejón imposed a punishing shift change, called the Death Shift, reneging on its commitment to discuss it with workers. The shift is particularly dangerous in terms of Covid-19 as it requires workers to keep working even if they fall ill.

“Cerrejón and its joint venture partners need to take worker rights seriously. Labour conflicts are harmful to workers, and they are also damaging to companies and investors. Last year’s strike paralyzed production and prevented five million tons of coal from reaching international markets. In addition, we’re worried that worker fatigue will lead to an increase in accidents, and that low morale will affect productivity,”

said Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL’s mining director.

Sintracarbon president Igor Kareld Díaz said that for two years, the company had claimed it was going through difficult times and was not sustainable due to falling coal prices. The workers and the union want to work with Cerrejón to make it sustainable in the long term, and benefit workers and local communities alike. But the company refuses to engage with the union or even provide information about the mine’s financial situation.

Kareld Díaz also noted that workers who were community leaders were specifically targeted by Cerrejón for dismissal in the mass layoffs following the strike of 2020. Although the union has since managed to get four workers reinstated by going through the courts, this is not an efficient way to address the problem of unfair dismissals.

“As difficult it is for the union to enter into dialogue with Cerrejón, it is even harder for communities to discuss their concerns about the mine’s negative impacts. If the company has sustainability problems, we the workers want to be part of the solution,”

said Igor Diaz.

Cerrejón’s lease ends in 2033, and in order to represent the concerns of both workers and the community, Sintracarbon has proposed a public forum to discuss a Just Transition, with both social and environmental justice in the remaining twelve years of the mine’s life, as well preventing that the site becomes a poison chalice for the community after its closure.

These requests have led to threats to both labour and community activists, and the Colombian justice system does not provide adequate protection.

Cerrejón’s policy on gender equality at the mine by 2025 is not realistic, as women make up less than 10 per cent of the workforce, according to union leader and branch health secretary Hidanora Pérez.

Women are overrepresented among the dismissed workers. Those fired include women with permanent contracts, women who are pregnant or have small children, and some women explicitly recognized for their productivity, all of which reduces the incentive for women to train to work at the mine. In addition, female workers who complain about problems have been punished by being moved to other areas. In effect, women’s voices are being silenced, and those willing to speak up are being weeded out. And the new shift system makes it much harder for women to maintain employment.

“We’ve already had our land taken over by the mine, we work for them, we produce profits for them, why are our labor rights not taken into account? How can it be that the company has closed down discussion with the communities?”

asked Hidanora Pérez.

The workers’ message to investors was clear:


LAPFF protects the pension funds of local government employees across the UK by promoting high standards of corporate responsibility. Its members are shareholders in Anglo American, BHP and Glencore.

Young unionists in MENA discuss impacts of Covid-19

Participants reported about economic and psychological effects on workers and acknowledged that they have been under a lot of pressure and stress. The unions have played a crucial role in coordinating and implementing sanitary measure at their workplaces, coordinating testing, the return of workers who had been infected, and pushing for payment of wages during quarantine, illness and lockdown.

There were reports of layoffs and company closures. In some cases, workers will be re-employed when work is resumed. One union leader stressed that massive layoffs also lead to an uncertain future for the unions.

In Morocco, the government continues attempts to privatize the electricity sector. The union is using online platforms to organize and coordinate their response.

A Palestinian participant reported that young people, many informal workers, working in Israel were laid off as they are not vaccinated. Young workers cannot get their jobs back since they are not vaccinated and they lack access to vaccines.

Domestic violence increased in all countries during the lockdown, and many women leaders stressed the danger it has put women in.

Almost all of the participants reported having used digital platform to communicate and maintain contact with the workers. Many of the young leaders at the meeting have gone through the Empowering young MENA trade union leaders programme.

The focus of the 2021 MENA youth network action plan was discussed, including improving knowledge on digital communication and technology, capacity building in new forms of work and occupational health and safety.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, young workers were disproportionately affected by precarious forms of work. Coupling awareness raising strategies with a more practical and active angle, participants agreed to hold a campaign to stop precarious work this year, with a day of action on 7 October.