Mauritian employers use Covid-19 to push back against labour laws

Mauritian unions, including IndustriALL affiliate the Confederation of Workers in the Public and Private Sectors (CTSP), celebrated new labour law amendments as an important win after 16 years of sustained pressure on government. The new laws were a big step forwards in protecting workers in all industries, including migrant and precarious workers.

But shortly after the new laws were passed, the Covid-19 global pandemic forced the country into confinement. The labour law amendments would have been a tremendous benefit to workers during the pandemic – but employers were quick to lobby government into going backwards.

“The CTSP sincerely believed that with Covid-19 we could never go back to business as usual and everybody without exception will have a change of heart and truly understand that we have to put our heads together and push for a new normal.

“Employers from the biggest companies in Mauritius used this time to lobby Government so that the law gained with so much effort be changed to their own advantage,”

said Reeaz Chutto, CTSP president.

In May 2020, the government amended clauses of the new Workers’ Rights Act to benefit employers. Trade unions fought hard to keep as much of the original law as possible, but only managed to block one of the amendments.

The provision that the unions managed to keep is the Portable Severance Fund, which protects workers who are laid off, including precarious workers. All employers have to contribute to the fund for each worker, regardless of contract type. Workers who lose their jobs are able to draw from the fund.

The Prime Minister, Pravin Jugnauth, told the unions that the amendments would be returned to workers by 2024. Trade unions made it clear that they would not sit idly and wait: they will continue their fight to have all of the amendments restored to benefit workers.

The CTSP has seen union membership increase since the pandemic. Employers are on the offensive, using tactics to intimidate and threaten workers, and undermine their conditions. Workers are seeking union support to keep their previous working conditions.

CTSP has recruited more than 250 migrant workers from the textile and garment, seafood, and construction sectors. These migrant workers are mostly from Madgascar, India and Bangladesh.

“Many migrant workers have not received their salaries for over three months and the CTSP is currently in negotiation with the Minister of Labour to have a special redeployment desk for them.  We are also advocating for a One Stop Shop office for their voices to be heard so that they do not have to run to many ministries and departmenst to raise their issues,”

said Jane Ragoo, CTSP general secretary.

“IndustriALL congratulates the CTSP for their resilience in these difficult times. The union fought hard to achieve this legislation. However, the government has now, under pressure from employers, taken unfortunate steps backwards. Unions are seeing increased membership because they defend workers. This is the time where workers see the value of being part of a fighting union”

said IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches.

Paper sector campaigning and reinventing to face Covid-19

Opening the meeting, sector co-chairs Leeann Foster, international vice-president of North American union USW and Pontus Georgsson, president of Swedish union Pappers, stressed that through determination to tackle challenges together, IndustriALL’s pulp and paper sector is able to share ideas, solidarity and contacts, at a time when joining forces is more important than ever.

The pandemic has underlined the importance of health and safety at work. IndustriALL is campaigning for all occupational health and safety conventions to be recognized as fundamental and that Covid-19 should be recognized as an occupational disease.

Even before the Covid-19 outbreak, safety in the sector was made a priority. The pulp and paper sector has committed to a campaign on the three fundamental worker rights needed to make work safe:

Outlining the next coordinated action highlighting the right to participate, IndustriALL sector director Tom Grinter said:

"Safety management work must be done for us and not without us; unions must have a seat at the table at every level. The first two core rights have been highlighted with action by workers, and now we will focus on the third one. The right to participate is fundamental, especially in the time of a pandemic.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought a downturn in the production of coated and uncoated paper for journals, schools and offices. However, many products produced in the pulp and paper sector were recognized as essential in several countries, like tissue production for example. 

The meeting provided an opportunity for unionists from around the globe to come together to stand in solidarity with fellow workers. 

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan talked of how Covid-19 impacts not only supply chains, jobs and the economy, but is also in some countries contributing to a shrinking democratic space.

“We see increasing attacks on workers’ and human rights and we have to push back. International solidarity is crucial and together we are strong enough to defend those in need.”

In many countries, like Poland, trade union work is difficult as employers use the pandemic as an excuse for union busting.

In Colombia, the trade unions are not only fighting the pandemic, but also violence and harassment on a daily basis.

Didi Pahlevi from FSP2KI, Indonesia, asked for solidarity for the 38 union members that have been laid off by large pulp and paper company PT Tanjungenim Lestari. The workers have been picketing outside the plant for 50 days with no communication from the employer.

Union representatives from around the world reported on how the pulp and paper industry in their countries are responding to the impacts of Covid-19.

After Sommai Saranjit from Thailand spoke of the challenge to organize new, young workers in the plants, speakers from other countries reiterated the problem of increasing union density in the workplace.

Pontus Georgsson reported a slight increase in union membership in the pulp and paper industry in Sweden; a few percentages up from the usual 94 per cent:

“Contamination in our worksites has been incredibly low, helped with a stable employment and shift system. Our bargaining demand of 4 per cent wage increase has been postponed by seven months, but not dropped.”

Union reports from the different countries talked about guidelines for the workplace as more return to work, including ensuring distancing, obligatory temperature checks and facemasks, as well as ensuring continued wage payments for furloughed workers.

Closing the meeting, Leeanne Foster said:

“There is so much strength and expertise in this group. We have risen to the challenge of Covid and gone beyond. We must reinvent ourselves in the crisis. We continue to carry out the plan we made in Budapest nearly three years ago.”

Covid-19 union solidarity from Canada to Madagascar

With Covid-19 affecting livelihoods of farming and fishing communities in Madagascar, IndustriALL Global Union affiliated unions are working together to respond. The SHF was created by IndustriALL affiliate, the United Steelworkers (USW), and is funded in Canada by individual union member contributions.

The objective of the project is to reach 600 households and benefit over 2,100 people from the farming and fishing communities as well as the informal sector around QMM operations in Fort Dauphin.

The SHF is funding the project with CAN$18,800, and SVS and SEKRIMA will conduct activities in the communities of Andrakaraka and Amposinahampoina. Activities will include Covid-19 awareness campaigns, distribution of masks, soap, and setting up of water points in every home, and providing food baskets for the most vulnerable.

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

“Covid-19 is a global pandemic and this requires us to be responsive to local contexts. It is commendable that the SHF, SVS and SEKRIMA are joining forces for Covid-19 prevention in communities. This is a reminder that trade unions represent workers who live in communities, and that it is in their interests to ensure that the spread of the coronavirus is stopped.”

Ken Neumann, SHF president and Canadian National Director for the USW, says:

“Solidarity means that we, as trade unionists, have to be concerned with the needs of the vulnerable in the community, and to respond when we can. The pandemic threatens to further impoverish already poor communities in Fort Dauphin near Rio Tinto’s QMM mine.

"Our union members are employed by the same global mining company in Canada, and we are pleased to be able to support the community outreach of our partner unions.”

The World Bank estimates that poverty will increase by 23 per cent in Sub Saharan Africa because of Covid-19. Regulations to control the disease introduced by most countries including Madagascar have led to the contractions of economies by 30 per cent and increased the number of those living in poverty.

With Covid-19 cases picking up, it is feared that the region will be the worst affected because of inadequate and poorly equipped health care facilities that are operate with limited resources.

Unique-Yanbal Peru dismisses 600 workers during the pandemic

According to the Unique Workers Union, affiliated to IndustriALL affiliate FETRIMAP, Unique-Yanbal is carrying out mass layoffs and has announced that the jewelry production will be moved to Colombia, due to a decreasing demand in the wake of the coronavirus.

FETRIMAP general secretary Gilmer Ibañez, says:

“Closing the jewelry plant in Lima will leave more than 600 workers unemployed, 90 per cent of which are women.”

The Unique union is seeking dialogue with Unique-Yanbal, to among other things propose relocation of their members to another production plant in Lima, but the employer is not responding.

María Barbuena, Unique union organizing secretary, says:

“This is a regrettable move as most of the women are the main providers of their families. In addition, five of the women are pregnant and others have work-related injuries due to the manual work. However, the company completely disregards this.”

Although Unique-Yanbal claims to want to “change people's lives” with its beauty products, more than 2,000 of its workers are only paid close to the minimum wage. The company has consistently refused to negotiate wages or working conditions with the union, which was formed in 2019.

In fact, in stark contrast to its own statement on ethics and transparency, Unique-Yanbal has tried to impede union registrations, and encourages union disaffiliation, using reprimands and suspensions.

In a letter to Unique-Yanbal, IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches, calls on the company to safeguard the jobs:

"IndustriALL is urging Unique-Yanbal to immediately suspend the mass layoffs during the pandemic, to respect the workers’ fundamental rights and to engage in a dialogue with the union."

Unique-Yanbal, present in ten countries in the Americas and Europe, manufactures cosmetics and jewelry. Its founder, Fernando Belmont Anderson, was on Forbes list of billionaires in 2013 and 2014.

34 Bangladeshi shipbreaking workers reinstated

On 6 July, 17 cutter workers, together with 17 cutter helpers, were told without prior warning by the employer to not come back to the M/S Motalab Steel shipbreaking yard, due to a lack of work.

However, there was a ship in the yard but it would take at least six days before cutting could start, and management tried to avoid paying the daily attendance allowance mandated by law for those six days.

Workers opposed the decision and sought the intervention of Bangladesh Metal, Chemical, Garments, & Tailors Workers Federation (BMCGTWF).

The BMCGTWF announced it would initiate a protest, legal procedures and seek help from the government to resolve the issue.

 

All affected workers gathered in front of the yard gate, and faced with the collective action, management agreed to pay the 34 workers' daily attendance allowance, as well as allowing back in the yard.

As of 8 July, all sacked 34 shipbreaking workers had gone back to work.

Mojibur Rahman Bhuiyan, BMCGTWF general secretary, says:

“Collective action and union solidarity is needed to defend workers’ rights. They have now returned to work with dignity due to our united action. We will continue to protect workers’ rights.”

Kan Matsuzaki, IndustriALL shipbreaking director, says:

“This is a big victory for shipbreaking workers in Chittagong, and it is a big victory for the union in an industry which is characterized by low union membership.”

Industrial tribunal deals blow to BHP

The legal battle began two years ago when BHP set up its own labour hire companies and got just a handful of employees in Western Australia to vote for two proposed agreements that contained vastly inferior terms to those already enjoyed by BHP employees.

IndustriALL affiliate the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and CFMEU Mining and Energy appealed with Australia’s industrial relations tribunal Fair Work Commission against the approval of two enterprise agreements, as mining giant BHP tried to avoid negotiating with its large Operations Services in-house labour hire workforce.

The attempt has now come unstuck with the Fair Work Commission reaffirming that the two agreements cannot be approved.

CFMEU Mining and Energy national president Tony Maher says that BHP’s strategy with Operations Services is to drive down wages and conditions by outsourcing a large portion of its coal workforce to its wholly-owned subsidiaries on the two substandard agreements.

“We are pleased to see these agreements in the bin where they belong. We are calling on BHP to start treating its Operations Services workforce with respect by employing them directly on coal industry pay and conditions.

“Operations Services employees don’t deserve to be treated as second class citizens on the worksite and the union will be supporting them every step of the way."

Daniel Walton, AWU national secretary, says there is no doubt that BHP would have used the agreements to undercut the pay and conditions of its entire mining industry workforce, affecting thousands of workers.

In comparison to a global industry average of 30 – 40 per cent, at BHP managed sites 60 per cent of the workforce on average are contractors. Operations Services is BHP’s in-house labour hire company, providing them with BHP shirts but leaving the workers without a say.  

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director says:

“This is an important victory not only for CFMEU and AWU but for BHP workers globally against an insidious practice by BHP in its cynical attempt to legitimize a wholly abhorrent practice that undermine and violate workers’ rights.”

Workers protest unpaid wages and retrenchments at South African gold mines

The workers, who include members of IndustriALL Global Union affiliates the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, have been picketing since April for the payment of wages and for the retrenchments to be stopped.

Picketing worker, Junior Kgoedi, from Kopanang mine says:

“If the retrenchments were made during the lockdown; why can’t we protest during the lockdown? Why did they decide to retrench during our absence? They took advantage because most workers had gone home to other provinces.”

1,500 migrant workers from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Mozambique working at the operations, have not been paid since South Africa went into lockdown in March. The workers are unable to travel to their home countries because of closed borders. A further 146 local workers are also unpaid.

 

Realeboha Majara, from Lesotho, has worked at Kopanang mine for 30 years, from his first job of maintaining pipes. His past positions are locomotive operator, driller, supervisor, team leader, and miner before becoming a shift boss. He is the NUM branch chairperson at the mine and says the situation is dire for the migrant workers.

“We are demanding the immediate payment of the wages. Without income workers are struggling and surviving on handouts from friends. Although workers qualify for Unemployment Insurance Benefits under the Covid-19 Temporary Employee Relief Scheme, they are yet to be paid.”

NUM is challenging the retrenchments in court and demanding VMR to respect existing collective bargaining agreements that have been signed with unions. The issues are also before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.

Joseph Montisetse, NUM president says:

“We are appealing to the department of mineral resources to reject the irregular retrenchment notices that were issued without due process as per labour laws.”

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining says:

“Mining companies must consult unions on retrenchments and mine closures. Covid-19 is not an excuse to trample on workers’ rights and VMR must adhere to fair labour practices.”

Village Main Reef (VMR), owner of the mines and plant, is part of the Hong Kong-based Heaven-Sent Gold Group. VMR bought the operations as going concerns from AngloGold Ashanti in 2017.

Global unions condemn Philippines Anti-Terrorism Act

In a joint press release dated 9 July 2020, global union leaders expressed grave concerns over shrinking democratic space and the increasingly authoritarian measures of the Duterte administration.

The decision has drawn international criticism from the trade union community and human rights organizations as ambiguous provisions of the Act could be abused to arrest and detain unionists and activists for 14 days without the right to judicial review.

According to the law, the police have been given huge power to place anyone under surveillance for 60 days, subject to extension of 30 days. The enormous power vested in the hand of the Duterte administration curtails Filipino’s civil rights and violates the constitution of the Philippines.

IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches said:

"IndustriALL strongly opposes the Anti-Terrorism Act. Combating terrorism and drug abuse have been used as pretext by the Duterte government to suppress the trade union movement.

“Last December, we campaigned for putting an end to violence and the red-tagging of trade unionists in Philippines. 43 trade unionists had been abducted and killed, till today no one has been brought to justice nor convicted, the accountability of the elected government is at stake.”

A few days before the adoption of the controversial Act, the UN Human Rights Council heard the report that at least 8,663 people were killed and at least 248 human rights defenders, trade unionists, journalists and lawyers were murdered because of their works.

“We pledge to continually support our affiliates to resist undemocratic laws that restrict the human and labour rights of trade unionists. We extend our solidarity to our Filipino sisters and brothers who never fail to give workers a voice despite the severe political situation,”

Sanches added.

“Red-tagging” is a Filipino political tactic that refers to the smearing and harassment of individuals for alleged left wing sympathies.

Aerospace companies must assume responsibility in Morocco and Tunisia

As redundancy plans are presented in the MENA region, companies fail to assume responsibility. After benefiting considerably from the workers in Morocco and Tunisia, companies now dismiss staff without respecting the law.

The IndustriALL MENA aerospace union network discussed the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis and union responses together with the aerospace sector co-chairs from the US and France.

Participants denounced multinational companies who lay-off employees without fully respecting national laws, collective agreements and the rules of proper social dialogue.
The MENA region, and apart from the Gulf States particularly in Morocco and Tunisia, has become an important hub for the aerospace industry, as well as for maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircrafts and engines. More than 35,000 employees work in more than 250 companies in Morocco and Tunisia, with wiring harnesses being a major product.

Big global aerospace companies like Stelia (Airbus), Boeing and Safran have invested in the region over the past two decades because of low labour costs, a qualified work force, state incentives (e.g. special economic zones) and a proximity to Europe.

However, labour conditions are often poor with long shifts and hourly wages of less than US$2. Many companies also fight workers’ right to form a union, and fire trade unionists when they become aware of an organizing campaign.

Tahar Berberi, general secretary of Fédération Générale de la Métallurgie et de l'Electronique (FGME-UGTT), Tunisia, underlines that there is no social protection for workers and losing a job means immediate poverty.

“The companies ignore this and walk away from their responsibility. Right now, we want to negotiate solutions to avoid redundancies, like short-time work, reduction of working time for all etc. Further on, we want to add elements of social security into the bargaining agreements.”

Boutayeb Bouchkhachakh, vice general secretary of Syndicat National des Industries Métallurgiques et Électromécanique (SNIME- CDT), Morocco, says:

“According to Moroccan labour law, employers are obliged to pay employees a compensation of 1.5 months per year in case of a redundancies on economic grounds. In reality, they often try to get away with less than that.”

In the companies where workers are organized, unions fight back and have successfully negotiated alternative solutions to significantly reduce the number of dismissals. SNIME-CDT and UMT representatives report that through industrial action and negotiations, planned redundancies have been reduced and socially responsible solutions had been found, including temporary layoffs with a right to return to work after one year.

Atle Høie, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, says:

”We are working closely with our MENA affiliates to intensify union work in the sector. With the current crisis, employers need to understand that dialogue with unions is how we reach long-term, sustainable solutions.”

Garment manufacturer in Myanmar uses Covid-19 to bust union

On 12 March, Kamcaine dismissed 57 members of Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), blaiming reduced orders due to Covid-19. The 57 include all seven union executive members of the union.

IWFM leaders have been in discussions with the management for a solution, but the company refuses to pay any compensation to the dismissed workers and will only rehire them as new workers. 

The company denies unionbusting and claim that the layoffs have been implemented indiscriminately and randomly.

IWFM president Khaing Zar disagrees:

“It is complete nonsense. Kamcaine has made several attempts to destroy the union since February. Local union leaders were dismissed without solid reason, bribery has been used to divide the union, and workers staying in the company hostel were forced to leave the union if they wanted to remain in the hostel.

“The strongest evidence of unionbusting is that, soon after the dismissal of our active members, the company recruited new workers to fill the vacancies. No redundancy plan should be carried out without proper consultation with the union.”

IndustriALL director of textile and garment industry Christina Hajagos-Clausen says:

“Kamcaine is clearly violating garment workers’ rights. It refuses to engage with the trade union and find a remedy, violating the ‘zero tolerance’ provision in the FOA guideline.

We are contacting brands producing at the factory to find a resolution to the dispute.”

IndustriALL Global Union has written to Kamcaine to call for the immediately reinstatement of the 57 workers with full wages and benefits, and that the company complies with the Freedom of Association Guidelines signed by Kamcaine's clients.