Strengthening health and safety in Myanmar’s mines
Speaking at the planning and evaluation meeting of the Myanmar union building project earlier this month, MWFM president Thaung Nyunt said that there can be no compromise when it comes to health and safety; authorities and employers must put human lives before profit.
“Through IndustriALL's project activities we have been able to successfully lobby employers to implement safety guidelines and appoint safety supervisors. Joint investigation committees with workers and employers were also set up in accordance to the law.
“Mining companies should welcome our organizing drive, as union representatives will oversee implementation of safety and health measures in mines. Good practice will be realized through continuous social dialogue.”
“I look forward MWFM’s position paper on Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines; it’s crucial to have a gap analysis on the international labour standards and the occupational safety and health laws in your country to guide our actions,”
said Annie Adviento, regional secretary of IndustriALL South East Asia office.
20 union representatives from MWFM and Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) participated in the planning, supported by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. The two-day project planning meeting aimed to identify the challenges of organizing workers in Myanmar and to formulate a strategic plan to increase union density.
Opening the meeting, the president of Confederation of Trade Union of Myanmar, Maung Maung stressed the importance of reaching out to the unorganized workers and recruit them.
Membership of IWFM has increased from 20,449 in 2018 to 24,980 in Feb 2020. MWFM membership increased to 7,495 in 2020, a 57 per cent hike since 2018.
Lula calls for global coalition against inequality
He was received with enthusiasm and joy by an audience of almost 200 people, supporters who had campaigned against his imprisonment and the coup in Brazil. A large contingent from the Geneva-based press attended, and the event was watched by others via live stream.
The press and audience react to Lula
Lula is travelling through Europe, meeting world leaders to urge them to build a global coalition against inequality, which he calls “the great struggle of our age.”
He spoke about the struggles of the 20th century, which humanity successfully confronted through multilateral action, and said that the great challenge of the 21st century would be to ensure a decent life for all amidst growing inequality and an erosion of workers’ rights.
He reiterated this message in meetings with the Pope, the mayor of Paris, French economist Thomas Piketty, the director general of the International Labour Organization, Guy Rider, UNCTAD director Robert Kozul-Wright, and the World Council of Churches.
Lula with ILO director general Guy Ryder
He met with Julian Assange’s father in Geneva, and called for action to defend press freedom. He also visited Berlin where he met with German unions and progressive organizations.
Before the public meeting on Friday, Lula met with the leaders of the Geneva-based global unions, IndustriALL, BWI, IUF, UNI Global Union, PSI and the ITUC to develop a coordinated campaign and policy response to push for action on inequality.
He stressed the importance of a strong and united trade union movement to defend democracy and fight for the working class against the tide of hatred and bigotry represented by Trump, Bolsonaro and other populist leaders.
At the public meeting, Lula was introduced by his personal friend, IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches, who reminded the audience of Lula’s journey from shopfloor to union leader and on to the presidency, and the achievements of his time in office.
“In his eight years in power, Lula lifted 50 million Brazilians out of poverty,” he said.
IndustriALL executive committee members demonstrate for Lula in Geneva
IndustriALL played a key role in condemning the anti-democratic coup, and campaigning for Lula’s release. Lula acknowledged the importance of the global campaign, saying:
“For 580 days in prison, I heard your words from my cell, and they were a daily injection of energy which allowed me to come out stronger, determined to prove my innocence and resume the fight.”
He continued:
“They put me in prison because they knew I would win the election, and they didn’t want that.”
Lula made an enthusiastic and impassioned defence of democratic collective action, saying:
“I am not a revolutionary, I am a democrat. I believe in using democratic means to peacefully bring about change.
“We need to lead the fight against inequality to give people hope for a better future and provide an alternative to the hate promoted by the right-wing nationalists.”
Lula at a public meeting in Berlin
After visiting Geneva, Lula travelled to Berlin, where he held a series of public meetings, including a meeting at the IG Metall education centre, where he was welcomed by IndustriALL president Jörg Hofmann. He also met politicians from the social democratic party, the SPD, and Die Linke, as well as the German trade union federation, DGB, and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
Lula with Jörg Hofmann
On International Women's Day, Lula paid his respects at the Rosa Luxemburg memorial at the Landwehr canal where she was murdered by fascists. He recorded a message.
Photo: Ricardo Stuckert
COVID-19: Urgent Economic Stimulus and Workplace Measures Required
The rapid and wide spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 disease that it causes require an urgent global response to protect health and stimulate the economy. Governments and employers must act to protect workers and tackle transmission in workplaces.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that COVID-19 could cause an economic crash similar to the 2008 recession. The need for governments to act together and through multilateral institutions to shore up the economy and keep people in work is clear. The global economy needs economic stimulus that reaches the real economy, workers and small businesses, and prioritizes employment, livelihoods and communities. Income support for all workers, including for part-time, migrant, non-resident, precarious, ‘gig’ and informal workers, is essential.
Workers are on the frontline of the economic, social and health impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Failure to protect them will increase the spread of the disease. Special provision must be made to immediately extend paid sick-leave entitlements to workers who lack them, and to improve sick leave provisions where they exist as well as to ensure working conditions and arrangements that provide protection.
Workers who rely on platform businesses for their employment should have access to social protection and to compensation from funds which are paid for by the platform businesses themselves.
The world is facing an immediate and potentially huge crisis. The spread of the virus into the poorest countries, where infrastructure and sanitation are inadequate, risks catastrophic impacts on hundreds of millions of people. In addition, the huge strains on health systems caused by COVID-19 are likely to provoke new public health challenges.
While workers in every sector are exposed to risk, it is health and care workers who will bear the immediate brunt of the mitigation and treatment needs. In many countries healthcare funding is insufficient or people have no healthcare, and even where health systems are amongst the best, the impacts of COVID-19 could be overwhelming. The global response must put this at the forefront.
As the impact of the virus spreads further, dialogue between unions, employers and government and collective bargaining are vitally important in protecting workers’ health and their rights at work.
Governments must rise to the challenge to tackle the crisis today and to prepare and prevent future disease crises. Workers and their workplaces are central to this.
The Council of the Global Unions (CGU), representing 200 million workers around the world, calls upon governments to:
Immediately extend paid sick leave entitlements, maintain incomes and extend social protections to all workers, including formal, ‘gig’, precarious and informal workers, regardless of their employment status;
Enact stimulus packages with state spending that aims to sustain jobs and the economy, protecting wages, the welfare of workers, and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs); and,
Cooperate and engage with multilateral institutions and increase aid to countries less able to respond to the threats posed by COVID-19 and ensure that the multilateral financial institutions assess national needs and respond appropriately.
The CGU calls upon employers to:
Recognize and bargain with trade unions to identify threats to workers health, rights and welfare, and to develop and implement workplace responses;
Recognize and exercise their duty of care for all workers in their business and supply chains and maintain contracts with suppliers, prioritizing the rights and welfare of these workers in their response to the threats posed by COVID-19;
Involve workers’ representatives in processes to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for COVID-19 threats and the evaluation of employer and government responses;
Ensure health protections and plans are in place and are followed without exception;
Protect wages and full pay for all workers through a variety of means, mutually agreed through collective bargaining;
Guarantee paid leave, in the form of sick pay or holiday pay, from the first day of leave, for any workers threatened or infected by COVID-19;
Establish compensation funds for all workers, including non-standard forms of employment and work-related contracts, that are adversely impacted by COVID-19 and the responses to it; and,
Offer customized and responsible workplace and working arrangements for all workers.
All workers, where necessary, should be provided free medical testing, treatment, training, equipment and facilities for training, especially if they are performing medical services. Special attention must be given to the situation of migrant workers, many of whom are particularly vulnerable. The privacy and personal information of workers must be protected as they undergo medical and other examinations and checks as part of responses to the threat posed by COVID-19. Workers must be able to return to their habitual place of work as soon as is practicably possible should local and/or national containment measures financially or logistically inhibit them from doing so.
“Nearly 2 million people, mostly women, gathered for the demonstration. Protestors demanded that those responsible for violating protestors’ human rights be punished, and that a police force to serve the people be created. It was a successful demonstration, with a show of strength by the feminist movement.”
During the demonstrations, there were artistic displays and chants condemning the patriarchy and the violations of women’s rights in Chile. Protestors sang the iconic feminist anthem "Un violador en tu camino" (A Rapist in your Path), which was created by the Chilean feminist collective Las Tesis. The song and the choreography have become popular in other countries, and versions now exist in a number of other languages as well.
In addition to the mass demonstration, unions and civil society organizations held a general strike on 9 march. Unions affiliated to the central organization CUT have committed to fight for greater recognition of women's roles and the value of both paid and unpaid work.
As part of their commitment, CUT unions also called on the Government of Chile to ratify International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work.
On 2 March, more than a dozen union leaders delivered a letter to the Minister of Women and Gender Equality, Isabel Plá. The letter condemns the government’s silence and inaction over the hundreds of reports of human rights violations since social unrest began in October last year. The unions urge the government to respond and ensure justice for the women and girls who have suffered abuse at the hands of public agents during the protests.
They also demand that the minister take steps to speed up ratification of ILO Convention 190. Once ratified, the Convention can be incorporated into Chilean legislation, making violence and harassment in the workplace punishable by law.
Workers in Cambodia and Myanmar hit hard by Coronavirus fall-out
Garment factories rely on raw materials from China, and as manufacturing plunged in China, factory owners in Cambodia and Myanmar have begun suspending operations and retrench workers.
Ten factories in Cambodia informed the government that production would be suspended. It is estimated that 200 factories in the sector will either suspend operations or decrease productivity. One source reported that 5,000 Cambodian workers have already lost their jobs.
Factories who have suspended operations are obliged to pay workers 60 per cent of the minimum wage, and the Cambodian government has offered affected employers to pay 20 per cent of that.
During the suspension, workers are to receive training conducted by Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training at the workplace.
The economic situation in Myanmar is also acute. The Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar has sounded the alarm bell over the lack of raw materials from China that has caused closure of 16 factories and layoffs of 7,000 workers.
Union representatives are meeting with employers and the government tomorrow to discuss the issue. IndustriALL affiliate Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) will also approach brands sourcing from Myanmar to discuss the impact on workers.
“There are policy measures that can be taken,”
says IWFM president Khaing Zar.
“The government can create a special fund to support affected workers, consider tax reductions on electricity and provide soft loans to employers.”
Annie Adviento, IndustriALL South East Asia regional secretary, welcomes the Cambodian government’s announcement, but urges the government to be prudent in approving the application of lowering the minimum wage.
“It’s an emergency measure that could easily be exploited by employers by not paying minimum wage to workers. There must be a due diligence process to prevent frauds.
“As many jobs as possible must be saved and the government should intervene when workers lose salaries. Both Cambodia and Myanmar have participated in ILO’s decent work country programme, which focuses on employment creation and social protection for workers.”
South Africa: 378 trapped mineworkers safely rescued
According to IndustriALL affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the mineworkers were taken to three different refugee bays for safety. The bays can hold 40-50 workers at a time, but at the time of the incident, there were over 125 workers in each bay.
The single escape route in use delayed the workers' rescue as workers were only brought safely to the surface after nine hours. A woman worker who fainted was taken to hospital where she recovered. No worker was injured.
Justice Mabaso, NUM Rustenburg health and safety secretary, says:
“We are worried that there was no plan B for the escape route. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy must address this, and we are also concerned that the fire extinguishers are manually operated and not automatic.”
When the fire started underground, the driver of the vehicle scurried for cover. The NUM is questioning why the driver is supposed to use a manual fire extinguisher to put out the fire, putting his own safety is at risk.
Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining, says:
“We are shocked by the number of deaths and mining incidents that are threatening mineworkers' lives in South Africa. While we are satisfied that everyone was safely brought to the surface, we want to know why the UV 72 caught fire in the first place, and why the rescue took so long.”
In another accident that show how dangerous South African deep mines are, three workers were killed, while four were rescued with broken limbs at AngloGold’s Mponeng mine last week. The rockfall happened at 3.5 km underground at the world’s deepest mine.
Raising young workers’ voice on the streets
What happened after the youth exchange?
Today, I am warehouse officer at the PT Taisho Pharmaceutical Indonesia branch of the Federation of Pharmaceutical and Health Workers Union (FARKES).
FARKES established a youth committee in 2018, through which we continue to organize and educate young workers.
What is your role as young union leader?
The past two years have been turbulent in Indonesia; unions have been fighting against attempts by the government to weaken workers’ benefits through labour law amendments. I have been involved in several campaigns, and have also participated in collective bargaining processes.
For the campaign against labour law amendments, I led a team of young workers from my region to attend rallies. I briefed them on the route of the march, flags and slogans, safety measures and emergency contacts.
Solidarity is our greatest strength, and that is why workers often take to the streets. In Indonesia too, take to the streets together and raise our voices so that the public and the government can hear us. That’s why it’s very important to take action, action and action!
What are the main issues in collective bargaining?
It’s difficult to bargain for the same benefits for FARKES members working in different companies, as every company has its own policy, management, investment plan etc. But we are trying to find the best solution.
Most companies in Indonesia’s pharmaceutical industry are multinational and minimum wages are not a problem for them. Wages in the company's country of origin tend to be higher than in Indonesia.
How much does younger generation know about workers’ rights and unions? It’s our role to organize young workers; there are still many who don’t know about unions. We explain what a young trade union is, and provide education on the importance of unions. Many are very open and enthusiastic about joining a union.
Youth is the future of the union movement. This is the first part of a series of articles on Building Youth Power, following up the regional youth exchange programme.
Union challenges unfair retrenchments at Scaw metals in South Africa
NUMSA wants the retrenchments to be reversed and for the workers' benefits to be restored.
Further, the union is advising the company to approach the government’s Department of Trade and Industry for business rescue – a process that is meant to save a company from liquidation which includes debt and operational restructuring. Instead of the retrenchments, NUMSA wants a training lay-off scheme, cross transfers, upskilling, reskilling, and multiskilling as some of the ways to avoid the job losses. However, according to the union, Scaw went ahead because the company wants to introduce new technologies, outsource and subcontract some of its operations without engaging the union on the issues.
To push for their demands, the workers picketed at the company premises on 27 February and presented a petition with a list of their demands to the management.
Kabelo Ramokhathali, the NUMSA regional secretary for Sedibeng, where the company is located said:
“Scaw management is interested only in maximising, profit and minimizing costs. In order to achieve this, workers are sacrificed. We oppose the retrenchment of the workers because they are not in line with the operational requirements as defined in the Labour Relations Act and are an attempt to vary downwards the terms and conditions of employment of the workers.”
NUMSA demands to be consulted especially when the company makes decisions that affect workers by removing benefits that were gained through collective bargaining agreements over the years in terms of the law.
Paule France Ndessomin, regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa said:
“We call upon Scaw McKinnon to avoid short-cuts and unfair dismissals. The company must protect the interests of workers and consult with NUMSA before dismissing workers. Scaw Mckinnon Chain must maintain wages and conditions of employment as agreed in the collective bargaining agreements.”
Scaw McKinnon Chain is part of the Scaw Metals Group with interests in power generation, mining, engineering and other sectors in South Africa and globally.
The South African economy is in recession having contracted 1.4 per cent in the last quarter in 2019 and unions are concerned about the continued job losses.
Photo: A file photo of NUMSA members in Johannesburg in 2018
Fighting gender inequality and violence in Madagascar
The activities brought together female and male leaders, staff and union representatives from all of IndustriALL’s Malagasy affiliates; SEKRIMA, FISEMA, USAM, and SVS.
The objective was to engage trade unions in combating gender discrimination in the world of work and within their organisations. Concrete steps were defined to increase women leadership and membership. Women’s structures will be re-activated and better connected to decision making bodies.
A recent study conducted at global level by the UNDP shows that 90 per cent of people are biased against women. Madagascar is not an exception. Century-old cultural and social norms have given a secondary role for Malagasy women, in particular in the public sphere. The belief that men should be the ones leading and talking in public is widely spread.
Discriminatory stereotypes are still prevalent in the union movement in Madagascar. Thus mentoring as well as trainings, are fundamental to build confidence in women and support their participation and representation in unions.
“Mentalities must change in our unions. Men should be ready to leave their seats to women and should accept that they can be represented by women,”
said Armelle Seby IndustriALL gender officer.
Unions in Madagascar are developing efforts to increase women’s participation and representation. USAM set up a national quota of 40 per cent for women’s representation. In 2018, at the Sheritt mine site in Moramanga , Sekrima , SVS and USAM established a mixed gender equality committee which launched an organizing campaign for women and organized training for women on leadership and women's rights. As a result, for the first time two women were elected to the SVS regional executive team. A new local union was established in one of Sheritt sub-contractors with 90 per cent of women members.
“The commitment of trade union leaders, more particularly of male leaders is fundamental if trade unions want to become more inclusive for women in Madagascar. Trade unions should adapt to a changing world of work. They should be able to respond to the needs of women workers who are often more affected by precarious work.”
Paule Ndessomin, IndustriALL Regional Secretary
Malagasy women face discrimination in hiring, glass ceiling and gender pay gap. The lack of wage transparency in many companies favours these inequalities. Unions also reported some cases of violation of maternity leave.
The unions are actively fighting gender based violence. Unions in the mining and garment industries have had to bring several cases of sexual harassment to court. Women in the textile and garment sector in export processing zones are particularly vulnerable. Malagasy unions launched a campaign for the ratification by the government of ILO convention 190. This year on IWD, they demonstrated with a few hundred members in the streets of Antananarivo for the promotion of this new convention.
Building trade union power in South-East Europe
Of the 600,000 registered textile, garment and footwear workers in South-East Europe, few are unionized and working conditions are poor. Building trade union power to secure a living wage and safer and healthier workplaces for these workers is therefore urgent.
This means empowering unions in planning, designing and implementing an organizing campaign. In spite of the many challenges, there are opportunities for unions to grow.
The guide is a result of several organizing projects carried out in South-East Europe. It provides an overview of the textile sector worldwide and in South-East Europe, with special emphasis on global framework agreements (GFA) and the ACT initiative to address the issue of living wages in the sector. Several major brands with a GFA operate in the region through their supply chains.
The guide also sets out various steps for preparing, carrying out and winning an organizing drive. The steps are accompanied by extra resources, such as how to research a company, a checklist for identifying the right issues.
Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union’s assistant general secretary says:
“Organizing is not easy, but as the examples featured in this guide show, building union power in textile, garment and shoe factories is possible. It requires determination, inventiveness and strategic planning.”
The guide is primarily directed to textile unions in South-East Europe, but can be used for other sectors and regions as well.
Luc Triangle, industriAll Europe’s general secretary says:
“We are very encouraged by the success of our project. Some 6,500 new members were organised in the textile sector in South-East Europe as a result of the project. 36 company level collective bargaining agreements and 1 sectoral collective agreement were signed in Bulgaria and talks were launched on sectoral agreements in Albania and Croatia. We hope that the new practical guide will help many more affiliates to run successful organising campaigns.”
The guide is produced as part of an EU-funded project, “Strengthening the capacity of trade unions in South-East Europe to improve wages and working conditions in the garment and footwear sectors”, carried out in cooperation between IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union. Unions from seven countries participated in the project; Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.
