Bangladesh' shipbreaking yards continue to claim lives

On 4 February, a worker at Fultola, Barawlia, died as the huge iron curtain he was cutting fell onto him. In August last year, two workers were killed and 13 injured at the same shipbreaking yard, which led to the government temporarily closing the yard.

Unfortunately, as the latest death shows, the previous accidents have done nothing to improve the safety situation in the yard.    

On 9 February, a worker at the Khwaza Kabir Steel shipbreaking yard was seriously injured as he was hit by an iron plate.

The following day a worker at the S N Corporation died as he was hit by an iron rope. Another worker was injured in the same accident, which occurred as the workers were pulling a huge iron plate off a ship.

Employers continue to undermine workers’ safety and neglect safe methods of recycling. According to a survey of known shipbreaking accidents in 2019, at least 24 workers were killed and around 79 workers were injured. In 2020 so far, at least four workers have died and eight have been injured.Kan Matsuzaki, IndustriALL shipbreaking director says:

“Accidents continue to happen, highlighting the fact that large number of workers still don’t have access to safety training. Due to the high level of precarious work, workers continue to pay the price for the deadly working conditions in Bangladesh’ shipbreaking yards.

The government of Bangladesh should follow its neighbour, India, and immediately ratify the Hong Kong convention for the safe and environmentally sound ship recycling. The government and employers need to work together with unions to improve the safety situation.”

Unions can play an important role in intra-African trade

At a meeting on 5 February at the Mining Indaba, Cape Town, with the President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, the Government of South Africa, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), the NUM as labour representatives, the South African Mining Development Association and other stakeholders, it was discussed that opportunities existed for expanding trade in minerals and other manufactured products between the countries.

Currently the countries trade in machinery, iron and steel products, electrical equipment, rubber, plastic, railway equipment, mineral fuels and other products. Sierra Leone’s mineral resources include diamonds, bauxite, gold and iron.

According to the Trade Law Centre, in 2018 37 per cent of Sierra Leone’s intra-Africa imports were from South Africa. The countries have also signed the African Continental Free Trade Area which seeks to integrate regional economic communities that includes the Economic Community of West African States and the Southern Africa Development Community to which the countries belong.

President Maada Bio said:

“Sierra Leone is coming from a situation of war and corruption. I inherited a government on the brink of collapse from Ebola and war. We need to promote trade amongst African countries, and have done a survey, collected data, developed a strategic plan, and identified strategic mineral resources. We are also establishing a sovereign wealth fund for human capital development. Foreign direct investment must not be the only source of funds for African countries.”

Sierra Leone President, Julius Maada Bio, speaks to NUM President Joseph Montisetse

Joseph Montisetse president of the NUM said:

“Trade agreements between African countries should include workers’ interests. Workers create wealth through their labour in the mines, and governments should work with trade unions. Further, laws should promote social dialogue and education should align to Industry 4.0 and cater for social needs.”

He added that the NUM is prepared to work in solidarity with unions in Sierra Leone and gave the union’s Mineworkers Investment Trust’s bursary scheme as a useful example of what unions can do to improve workers welfare.

Bridgette Motsepe Radebe, ambassador of the Pan African Parliament, facilitated the meeting and stressed that trade agreements can benefit from the inclusion of policies like South Africa’s Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act’s requirements on social labour plans that benefited mining communities.

The PIC, whose funds are mainly from pensions, is interested in investing in Sierra Leone, has assets valued at ZAR 2.3 trillion (US $1.6 billion).

Global unions call for urgent ILO intervention in Algeria

Together with the ITUC and global unions IUF and PSI, IndustriALL has written to the ILO expressing great concern over increasing violations of fundamental labour rights.

Despite the recommendations of the Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS) following the ILO’s High Level Mission to Algeria last year, trade union activity is now effectively criminalized. Independent trade unions cannot carry out their functions without victimization and harsh reprisals.

Trade unionists face a two-pronged attack: they are repressed for exercising the right to freedom of association set out in ILO Conventions, and persecuted for their participation in the mass democracy movement – the Hirak – which has continued since February last year.

The ILO has been urging the government of Algeria to register the independent trade union confederation CGATA. On December 4, 2019, police sealed the Algiers offices of CGATA, ostensibly for carrying out ‘unauthorized activities’. The CGATA headquarters is also the office of public sector union SNAPAP.

Raouf Mellal, president of IndustriALL affiliate SNATEG, the independent union of workers in the public gas and electricity company SONELGAZ, as well as the national confederation COSYFOP, continues to face new punitive charges, most recently a defamation lawsuit filed against him by the Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security in retaliation for having filed complaints against the government at the ILO on behalf of SNATEG.

In November Raouf Mellal was condemned to six month’s imprisonment and financial penalties. The government has not rescinded the farcical ‘self-dissolution’ of SNATEG as recommended by the ILO. On February 5, police closed the COSYFOP/SNATEG headquarters in Algeria, forbidding all entry.

Kaddour Chouicha, president of the independent union of higher education workers SESS, and member of the executive committee of CGATA, was arrested and sentenced to one year's imprisonment on 10 December for criticizing the military and civil authorities. Provisionally released after one month, he was rearrested on January 14, released the following day, and faces a review of his sentence later in February.

Union activist Ibrahim Daouadji was arrested on 12 October on similar charges and remains in prison. He was arrested together with his three-year-old son, who was only released after lawyers intervened.

Rym Kadri of the COSYFOP-affiliated education workers’ union was arrested on 24 November for participating in a sit-in demanding the release of political prisoners. Released after four days, she remains subject to strict legal and police controls.

Hamza Kherroubi, president of the COSYFOP-affiliated union of nurses' assistants, was arrested in December for his civic engagement and support for the democracy movement, charged with ‘incitement’ and sentenced to a year in prison. Provisionally released due to his medical condition, he was again placed in police detention on 21 January.

Trade union activists not yet behind bars or subject to strict police supervision are at imminent risk of being arrested as the authorities seek to destroy the democracy movement. Union offices and activists are under continuous police surveillance.

Algerian rights defenders have documented the cases of hundreds of civic and political activists known to be in detention for having joined peaceful demonstrations or for criticizing the government on social media. Freedom of movement has been eliminated.

At the same time, media close to the government continually attack independent trade unionists active in the democracy movement as foreign agents, preparing the ground for even harsher repression. The ILO has repeatedly affirmed the central importance of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly to the exercise of trade union rights.

Urgent intervention by the ILO is needed to ensure the physical safety and well-being of independent trade unionists in Algeria as well their continued activity in conformity with the repeated recommendations of the ILO.

IndustriALL, IUF, PSI and ITUC are calling on the Director General to insist that the Algerian authorities:

Gender violence study in Brazilian garment factories provides a ‘wake-up call to action’

The vast majority of Brazilian textile and shoe factory workers who took part in a recent study say they have experienced some form of violence at work, often gender-based violence and harassment—to the extent that “for many women, work is synonymous with suffering”.

According to the National Confederation of Apparel Workers (CNTRV) president Francisca Trajano,

“the most revealing thing this study uncovered is the extent of violence in the workplace. I am especially surprised by the extent of sexual harassment by supervisors.”

Some 246 women workers took part in either regional workshops or guided discussions between March and June as part of an Instituto Observatorio Social study of textile and shoe workers in six cities: Colatina, Fortaleza, Ipirá, Pouso Alegre, Sapiranga, Sorocaba, and São Paulo.

The study, funded by the Brazilian branch of the C&A Foundation and undertaken with support from the US labour rights oragnisation the Solidarity Center, found the most frequent form of violence is bullying, with supervisors screaming and cursing at workers, threatening them if they do not produce at the required pace and harassing them for using the bathroom.

Bullying often is directed toward union leaders, the report finds, with female union leaders closely watched by supervisors, who also harass and even fire workers who talk with them. The survey shows that gender violence often is mixed with other types of violence and discrimination, making Afro-Brazilian women, LGBTQI+ workers and others especially vulnerable.

The women workers who took part in the study stressed the importance of collective agreements to improve working conditions, and the report recommends unions negotiate clauses to combat bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace. The study also recommends unions hold workshops and discussion sessions to make workers aware of their right to a violence-free workplace. Many women interviewed were unaware of the laws and other options to combat violence at work.

Further, union leaders at the local and national levels who were not directly involved in the project have shown keen interest in its findings, says Trajano.

“They are reflecting on how to think through how unions can be a place where women who are victims of the violence can turn to get help.”

Afro-Brazilians and LGBTQI+ workers especially vulnerable

Sexual harassment, which is a form of gender-based violence, is widespread and sometimes subtle, according to the report. “But regardless of the form, sexual harassment is a constant situation,” say the report’s authors. Women often fear reporting sexual harassment or assault, and with good reason: “In some cases when they bring the complaint to superiors, women are ridiculed. In other cases, they have no one to whom to bring the complaint because the supervisor is also a perpetrator,” the report states.

As in Brazil textile factories, gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) at work is pervasive—and until this year, little was being done to rectify it. In June, the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted the world’s first global standard on violence and harassment at work, including GBVH. Convention 190 will become effective 12 months after it is ratified by two national governments. In December, Uruguay became the first country to ratify C190.

For Afro-Brazilians, discrimination can begin even before they are hired, with employers often openly refusing to interview black workers.

“I once went to a job interview and [the employer] said he couldn’t hire me because I didn’t have straight hair,”

said one garment worker (the report does not identify worker’s names).

If hired, often Afro-Brazilians are given the most difficult and unpleasant jobs.

“When admitted, black women are usually assigned to the worst services, such as working with shoe glue or working in noisy and uncomfortable machines,”

according to the report.

Black women report that they are also sexually harassed more often and are blamed for sloppy work, while work done well is referred to as ‘white service’, the report says.

LGBTQI+ workers are frequent targets of verbal harassment and bullying, often by co-workers, and especially around the use of bathrooms, according to the report. Supervisors also sometimes refuse to work with an LGBTQI+ employee. If the workers are perceived as more ‘feminine’, they are more likely to be targets of violence similar to that experienced by cisgender/heterosexual women, the report states. Trans workers are especially abused, the report finds.

“In the company I work for, there was a person who got a job and dressed as a man,” says one garment worker. “After about three months she started dressing as a woman,” and soon after the company fired the worker.

Women who are mothers of small children also face discrimination: some employers refuse to hire them, and in “one company, the owner even said that would only hire women who had already had a tubal ligation” so as to ensure they would not have more children, according to the report.

In general, the report finds that clothing companies are organised from a rigid social and sexual division of labour, in which women generally occupy the least qualified and worst paid positions.

Raising awareness of GBVH at work

One key goal of the report is to start a dialogue with employers to seek remedies for gender-based violence at work, says Jana Silverman, Solidarity Center Brazil country director. Further, the study, which solely examines unionised workplaces, should “raise awareness about the prevalence of gender-based violence in the workplace, raise awareness amongst union leadership, especially male leadership, about how prevalent this is in their rank-and-file membership,” she says.

The report already has created concrete change. Union members at garment factories in Pouso Alegre in the southern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais negotiated a contract clause in which employers committed to hold biannual trainings for managers to combat GBVH in the workplace.

Unions evaluated the study’s findings in December and plan to take the report to their executive committees and create the conditions to prevent and end GBVH through collective bargaining or social dialogue with employers.

Trajano says CNTRV, which represents 69 unions and three state regional federations, is pressing unions to negotiate contract language protecting against gender-based violence and harassment.

CNTRV is well-placed to lead the campaign addressing gender-based violence at work. In April, delegates to CNTRV’s 11th Congress voted for gender parity in leadership and adopted a pro-women’s rights agenda. In partnership with the Solidarity Center, CNTRV in recent years ran a nationwide women’s leadership project, preparing women workers to assume leadership positions.

“Obviously it was very shocking to us when we received the results of the report to understand the extent of violence at the workplace,”

says Trajano, who also is an executive committee member of the Central Union of Workers in Brazil (CUT).

“At the same time, it’s a wake-up call to do something about it.”

This article was originally published on Equal Times

Brazilian oil workers on strike against layoffs at Petrobas

The FUP, part of CNQ/CUT, which is affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, launched the strike on 1 February, campaigning for the 396 direct employees and 600 subcontracted workers who will be affected by the plant closure. Layoffs are expected to start on 14 February.

According to the union, the mass layoffs violate the collective agreement signed in November 2019. In the agreement, Petrobras agreed to no mass layoffs for five years without prior consultation with the unions. The announced dismissals at the fertilizer plant came without first discussing alternatives with the union.

FUP says that the fertilizer plant is not the only Petrobras unit experiencing difficulties, and there has been layoffs and mass transfers of employees across the Petrobras system, which includes subsidiaries and privately owned companies connected to Petrobas.

President Jair Bolsonaro's government supports the privatization of Petrobras. Over five years, the oil company has cut its investments in Brazil by 50 per cent, resulting in the loss of 270,000 direct and subcontracted jobs.

Workers from more than 30 Petrobas units have come together for the strike. Various campaigns are run across the twelve Brazilian states in which the oil company operates.

On 4 February, Brazil's employment court ruled that if the workers continue to strike, large unions with more than 2,000 members, like FUP, would be fined 500,000 reales (US$116,000), while smaller unions would be fined 250,000 (US$58,000) reales.

The ruling also required 90 per cent of the Petrobas workforce to return to work. The FUP announced that it would continue the indefinite strike, and that support from the national federation of oil workers (FNP) helped to increase the scope of the action.

Lucineide Varjão, IndustriALL regional co-chair, mining sector co-chair, as well as CNQ/CUT president, says:

"The strike is a real challenge for the workers. Brazi's government, its judiciary and its main media outlets will try and stop the campaign and turn public opinion against the unions. But we are convinced that the union movement will do what is needed to support the workers.”

Sustainability and Just Transition key to the future of mining in Africa

These were the themes at both the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba and the Alternative Mining Indaba, which took place from 3-6 February in Cape Town, South Africa. The business-organized Mining Indaba’s theme was “Optimizing growth and investment in the digitized mining economy” while the civil society Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI) focused on “Environmentally and economically sustainable mineral economies in an era of climate change catastrophe”. IndustriALL Global Union participated in both events.

The Mining Indaba and AMI are separate events held concurrently. On the “sustainability day” at the Mining Indaba, the two events converge to discuss common issues. There are efforts to find common ground on sustainable mining and Just Transition.

 

IndustriALL mining affiliates from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Madagascar, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia participated in the Mining Indaba, with support from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

AMI aims to provide mining affected communities in African with a space to dialogue and seek solutions to their concerns with the mining sector. IndustriALL and its affiliates were active in sessions on climate change, Just Transition, and the social license to operate. Over 50 participants debated cooperation between trade unions and civil society in determining industry’s social license, emphasizing that the rights of mineworkers and interests of mine-affected communities should be central to mining operations. The session discussed organizing artisanal and small-scale miners into unions.

The AMI recommended in a petition to the Mining Indaba that the legacy of past liabilities cannot be forgotten, with the tuberculosis/silicosis class action in South Africa given as an example. Industry must provide fair compensation to ex-mine workers and communities whose health was damaged by mining, and include them in discussions on how this is to be done.

Governments must ratify and implement ILO Convention 176 on safety and health in mines, as well as Convention 190 on violence and harassment at the workplace, particularly to protect women mine workers who are vulnerable to violence at work.

IndustriALL was present in a series of discussions at the Mining Indaba. A panel chaired by mining director Glen Mpufane addressed safety with the theme of “Achieving a ‘Zero Harm’ Approach”. Attended by Joseph Montisetse, the president of South African affiliate the National Union of Mineworkers, the session discussed Convention 176. Montisetse addressed the alarming rate of incidents globally and the need to fundamentally change the approach to mine leadership by putting people first.

Joseph Montisetse

A session on “Mining 4.0” focused on how technology and innovation are transforming mining. Addressed by IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan, the session asked what new mining technologies will mean for the future of work: what skills will be needed, and how can mining companies, governments and others ensure that locals have the right skills to allow mining to make its full contribution to sustainable development?

A digital mining economy can only come through a shift from old mining technologies to high-tech mining of automation, data and artificial intelligence. Unions want a Just Transition plan that includes replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, retraining and reskilling workers, fair compensation when retrenchments take place, and social dialogue. Dialogue between communities and trade unions should lead to joint work, and Governments and civil society organizations should be involved.

Kemal Özkan

In his intervention, Kemal Özkan said:

“The millions of mining jobs are our jobs. No one can or should decide about the future of our jobs without workers and unions. Employment is the only tool that connects us to society and the economy.

“We need genuine global, national and local dialogue to discuss and project our future. Information, consultation, training, retraining, reskilling, and requalification are the main rights we demand. Dialogue on sustainable mining is essential to create decent jobs and to reduce poverty, as explained in the African Mining Vision.”

Responsible mining protects workers’ and communities’ rights

The standard for responsible mining is a tool that unions and communities can use to protect workers and human rights, environmental sustainability and the social performance of mining companies at mines and along the supply chain.

The IRMA tool consists of a set of metrics for environmental and social responsibility that can be used at industrial scale mines to increase transparency and provide a credible way to measure a mine’s performance.

On workers’ rights, the standard supports rights to collective bargaining and freedom of association, living wages, maternity leave, health and safety, consultation before retrenchments, grievance handling mechanisms and is against harassment, intimidation and child labour.

Kemal Ozkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, says:

"Trade unions should use the standard for responsible mining to address mine level issues. It’s important for unions to participate in the audit processes and to use the complaint mechanisms provided. This is an important leverage for our mining affiliates in protecting and advancing rights of their members."

Speaking at the Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI), Mark Curtifani, the chief executive officer of Anglo American said the mining company is using the standard for responsible mining as one of their strategies to engage and respect the human rights of communities as well as to “understand people better.” For example, Anglo American’s Unki Mine in Zimbabwe has been audited using the standard.
 
The AMI also acknowledged the IRMA standard as an objective tool for promoting responsible mining and unions hope the standard recommendations on artisanal and small-scale mining can be used to formalize the miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and other countries.
 
Aimee Boulanger, IRMA executive director says:

The standard for responsible mining has been developed over time, making it a robust tool that provides a resource for unions and communities to engage with mining companies.

The standard has 26 chapters on social issues like community health and safety, human rights, anti-corruption, and free prior and informed consent. On environmental issues, it protects water sources, aims to reduce air pollution, protects biodiversity and promote safe waste management.

IRMA is a multi-stakeholder initiative,

offering independent third-party verification and certification against a comprehensive standard for all mined materials. The governance of IRMA is shared by civil society, communities, unions and the private sector. IndustriALL and its North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) became involved at an early stage with demands for more socially and environmentally responsible mining. IndustriALL’s mining director Glen Mpufane is a board-member.

Myanmar unions protest against Arbitration Council decision

In the early morning, the IndustriALL Global Union affiliate mobilized 15,000 union members from 80 workplace unions to march from Thong Thai Textile Factory to Aung Myay Tharyar football ground.

15,000 union members march in solidarity with 260 workers fired from Thong Thai

IWFM president Daw Khaing Zar Aung led the crowd in chanting slogans:

“The Arbitration Council should respect human rights and workers’ rights! Stop making unfair decisions that violate workers’ rights!”

260 workers of Thong Thai Textile Factory were dismissed en masse after they went on strike on 25 October 2019. The strike aimed to put pressure on the employer to accept 23 demands from workers, including a wage increase, confirmation of temporary workers who completed three months' probationary period, social security cards, skill bonus, shuttle transport and an end to excessive overtime.

 

Since then, five negotiation meetings between IWFM leaders and the company have been held. The company accepted 15 out of 23 demands but insisted that the remaining eight demands be referred to the Arbitration Council, the government body that resolves labour disputes.

Khaing Zar said:

“Although the company agreed to 15 of the 23 demands, it refused to sign an agreement and dismissed the workers for involvement in the illegal strike. The arbitration body ruled that all 260 workers should be reinstated with compensation, but the company’s appeal to the Arbitration Council led to unsatisfactory result.

“The Arbitration Council then ruled that 100 workers be reinstated without any compensation, 99 workers who are being sued in court shall not be reinstated, and the reinstatement of the remaining 61 workers is subject to the employer's discretion after the workers answer the company’s show cause letter.”

Khaing Zar explained that under Myanmar labour law, an employment contract is ended temporarily during strike action, therefore an employer cannot dismiss workers because of the strike. Workers can be sued for strike action and can only be dismissed after being convicted.

“This is the principle of innocence until proven guilty, so the decision of the Arbitration Council violated the labour law."

Currently, Myanmar workers cannot exercise freedom of association and the right to strike if there is no union at workplace. The Thong Thai incident shows workers taking collective action before the formation of a union and facing retaliation by the employer.

IndustriALL regional secretary Annie Adviento urged the company to respect workers’ fundamental rights and reinstate all 260 workers.

“A workplace union should be set up immediately and be recognized by the employer to handle industrial disputes”.

Justice for 56 illegally dismissed chemical workers in Georgia

The trial lasted three years and went through three court instances, as the company appealed the decisions in favour of dismissed workers by two lower courts. Workers were represented by the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCIWG), an affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union, through the entire process.

Tamaz Dolaberidze, TUMMCIWG president, said:

“It was a war of nerves, as it took the Supreme Court 1.5 year to consider whether to take or not the case appealed by the company for the second time, and finally decide that the decision of the second court instance shall remain in force. Looking back, we see that the labour disputes resolution should be done by a special labour arbitration so that workers do not wait for years until their cases are resolved. Trade unions have been calling for the creation of such labour arbitrations for many years, but the problem is still there”.

The union leader expressed his gratitude to IndustriALL and its affiliates for the massive international support, including solidarity letters and participation of union leaders in protests, that made TUMMCIWG stronger in its actions against Rustavi Azot illegal behaviour and helped to archive justice for 56 illegally dismissed workers.

Now Rustavi Azot has to reinstate all 56 workers and pay off their lost wages for the past three years for the total amount of GEL 2.000.000 (US$ 700.000).

The workers were dismissed on January 2017 when, during a change of company ownership, 350 out of 2,300 workforce did not have their contracts renewed. While the majority of them then agreed to receive a compensation from the company in the amount of GEL 1,200 (US$ 415), 56 workers decided to seek justice through the judiciary process.

Mass dismissals at the beginning of 2017 were followed by the union busting as a reaction to the protests against the illegal dismissals. The new contracts concluded with the remaining workers seriously undermined their working conditions. In February 2017, TUMMCIWG denounced oppression faced by union members at the plant and IndustriALL conducted an international solidarity action in support of Rustavi Azot workers.

United Turkish metalworkers achieve wage increase

Following the failure of the Turkish Employers Association of Metal Industries (MESS) to enter into meaningful dialogue in January, Türk Metal, Birleşik Metal-İş and Özçelik-İş decided to take strike action.

However, in the early morning of 29 January, following intense negotiations, an agreement was reached on a substantial wage increase. Turk Metal and Özçelik-İş unions signed the agreement after the bargaining rally while Birleşik Metal-İş union signed it on 2 February.

The agreement is valid for two years, as of 1 September 2019. According to the agreement, hourly wages of those earning under Turkish Liras (TL) 12 will be increased. All wages will increase by 17 per cent during the first six-month period, versus 6.05 per cent inflation of the same period.

For the second six-month period, an increase of six per cent for hourly wages even if the inflation rate is under that figure. If inflation is above 6 per cent, it will be added. For the third and fourth six-month periods, hourly wages will be raised at a level equal to inflation.

As for benefits, for the first year, a 20 per cent rise will be provided.

The average increase with all gains is 18.49 per cent for the first six months, totalling 25.50 per cent for the first year. In addition, health insurance provided by the employers has been maintained.

IndustriALL Global Union and IndustriALL European Trade Union congratulate their affiliates Türk Metal, Özçelik-İş and Birleşik Metal-İş on the success of the agreement and the cooperation and unity shown in the negotiation process.

IndustriAll Europe’s general secretary Luc Triangle says: 

“We congratulate our three Turkish metal affiliates with the excellent result they have reached in this collective bargaining round. Europe is currently discussing ways how to strengthen collective bargaining as a tool to tackle growing inequality. The result of this agreement is in line with this objective. Our trade unions campaigned for a fair agreement, and that’s what they achieved”

IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches says: 

“Our three Turkish metal affiliates have shown a great example of mobilization at plant level and through mass demonstrations. They have also shown how trade unions can and should be in unity around the issues surrounding all workers. Unity is crucial in such sector-wide collective agreement processes. We congratulate the Unions for this major achievement.”