Expanded training centre opens for shipbreaking workers in India

One of its kind in the South Asia region, the training centre, which educates and train shipbreaking workers on safe and sustainable recycling of ships, has been expanded with added facilities and was inaugurated on 13 March 2019.

Speaking at the launch, Harbhajan Singh Sidhu, general secretary of trade union centre, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, said:

“ASSRGWA made a significant contribution and worked to improve the lives of shipbreaking workers, who are almost exclusively migrant and precarious workers and some of the most vulnerable workers in the world.”

Kan Matsuzaki, IndustriALL director for the shipbuilding and shipbreaking sector, commented:

“The training centre is a significant achievement of union solidarity in the shipbuilding, seafaring and shipbreaking sectors, to support a better environment for shipbreaking workers in the South Asia region. ASSRGWA’s efforts will inspire unions across the region to emulate establishing similar infrastructure and promote workers’ rights in their own countries.”

V. V. Rane, ASSRGWA’s general secretary, said,

“We thank all the stakeholders, including ship recycling employers, government representatives and the Gujarat Maritime Board for extending much needed cooperation. More importantly, consistent solidarity support from IndustriALL and FNV played a crucial role in strengthening ASSRGWA’s initiatives.”

Over 350 shipbreaking workers participated and the launch event, which was presided over by S. K. Shetye, president of ASSRGWA and witnessed participation from Apoorva Kaiwar IndustriALL South Asia regional secretary and representatives from employers and government officials.

Subsequently, Joop van Oord and Martjin van de Beurcht of FNV led the training of trainers programme in which 24 participants nominated by various ship recycling companies took part. The programme for safe and sustainable recycling of ships covered various aspects including communication, observation, colour code, safe handling of asbestos, appropriate use of personal protective equipment, safety from noise pollution, understanding and preventing causes and consequences of accidents, and safe use of wire rope, tools and shackles.

VDSz historic Hungarian Hankook strike settled with major gains

During the first week of the strike at the Dunaújváros plant, local management refused to talk with the union, strongly harassed and intimidated strikers, and offered 50 per cent wage increases to work during the strike.

Leading up to the full strike, VDSz first presented wage demands in mid-February, a lack of any good faith bargaining led to a 6 March two-hour warning strike that caused the company to increase pay by 13.6 per cent, however that increase was made without direct discussion with the union. The full strike began on 12 March demanding further and more evenly-distributed increases to pay and benefits.

With the strike still going strong after a week, and receiving wide solidarity support from unions in Hungary and abroad, corporate management from Hankook’s home country, South Korea, sat down with VDSz President Tamás and his team, and reached a settlement within 24 hours.

IndustriALL Global Union Assistant General Secretary Kemal Özkan stated:
“We are so proud of our sisters and brothers at VDSz. We salute the strikers’ commitment and bravery, as well as the skilled organizing and negotiating of President Székely’s team. Under the current anti-union environment in Hungary, VDSz is leading the struggle for workers’ rights. We now expect Hankook to fully recognize VDSz as its bargaining partner at Dunaújváros, and to ensure healthy industrial relations going forward.”

VDSz thanked IndustriALL Global Union and IndustriAll Europe, as well as affiliates from several countries for strong international support sent to the strikers.

The overall gains negotiated for workers combine different improvements that add up to an average of 18.5% increase. The settlement includes a 6% increase in shift allowance for all, improvement to the annual personal bonus, improvement of the seniority loyalty bonus, and fair distribution of wage increases.

As per the settlement, VDSz has agreed to drop its pending legal action against Hankook.

Production at the plant returned to normal on 22 March.

Africa energy network demands Just Transition

The network, which is supported by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Trade Union Competence Centre for Sub Saharan South Africa (FES-TUCC), met 12-13 March, Johannesburg, and rejected the unbundling of state-owned enterprises as a disguise for privatization. It supported the positions taken by South African affiliates, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) which strongly oppose the recent announcement by the government that the country’s power utility, Eskom, will be broken into three parts – generation, transmission and distribution.

In Zimbabwe, the network is supporting the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority’s bring together of its companies into one but with no job losses or removing of workers’ benefits. This move is reversing an earlier decision to unbundle.

In Eswatini the network condemned unfair dismissals and suspensions. It called for the reinstatement of 11 workers. Four were dismissed and 17 suspended by the eSwatini Electricity Company after a strike in January.

Participants at the meeting were drawn from 13 Sub-Saharan African countries that organize in the energy sector including in oil and gas. Formed a few years ago, the network initially catered for Southern Africa but has since been expanded to Sub Saharan Africa.

Bastian Schulz, director, FES-TUCC says:

“A sustainable energy transition in Sub-Saharan Africa and the final energy mix is of great interest to the FES because of the impact on jobs, communities, and sustainable development policies. It must be central to the labour movement in Africa, and unions must be included in the policy making.”

Diana Junquera Curiel, IndustriALL energy industry director stressed the importance of networks:

“As part of IndustriALL’s energy networks, SSAEN will align with other networks from Asia, MENA Region and Latin America. This is important in building the strength of the network. Importantly, the ability to create a rich pool of solidarity and learning among the affiliates is useful. Experiences that resonate with national issues can be adapted. This also builds the network’s knowledge and informs its response to the current issues.”

Diana Junquera Curiel presented the Shell Campaign as an example of the work of IndustriALL Global Union to confront global capital and that existing global framework agreements in multinational companies, Total and Eni, were useful examples of global social dialogue.

Brian Kohler, IndustriALL director of health, safety and sustainability says:

“A Just Transition is a pathway towards a sustainable future and reduces fear amongst workers by promoting fairness. It rests on sustainable industrial policy, robust social protection, and creative labour adjustment programmes.”

Brian Kohler further explained the energy options that exist for Sub Saharan Africa which include biofuel, biomass, co-generation, fossil fuel (coal, oil and gas), geothermal, landfill gas, nuclear, solar (photovoltaic and thermal), tidal, wave and wind.

United call for sustainable shipbreaking in Bangladesh

The tripartite meeting, held with the support of FNV and the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), reviewed the current issues facing shipbreaking workers, including implementation of labour legislation and occupational health and safety.

Participants underlined the importance and urgency of ratifying the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships adopted in 2009.

Shipbreaking sector unions reported that despite progress in forming unions, workers continue to face dangerous working conditions, low wages, precarious work and an unfavorable environment to exercise workers’ rights. They urged government of Bangladesh to expedite the process to ratify the Hong Kong Convention.

Representatives of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association emphasized that gradual improvements are being made towards sustainable recycling of ships and improvements in working conditions.

Kan Matsuzaki, IndustriALL Director for Shipbuilding and Shipbreaking sector said:

“It is important build effective social dialogue and intensify efforts to ratify and implement the Hong Kong Convention. It is encouraging to see that employers and the government are open to working together with unions to move towards a sustainable ship recycling industry.”

Apoorva Kaiwar, IndustriALL South Asia Regional Secretary, said:

“Vulnerable working conditions in the shipbreaking sector can be effectively changed with tripartite initiatives. It is important to raise awareness of occupational health and safety issues and strengthen the political will towards the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships.”

The tripartite meeting committed to the campaign for the ratification of the Hong Kong Convention, as well as effective social dialogue for the betterment of workers and industry.

Participants agreed on the importance of improving government vigilance of yards to prevent workplace injury and death. Appropriate safety training should also be given to workers, as well as personal protective equipment, which they should be encouraged to use. All parties, which included the government, employers, and IndustriALL affiliated unions, committed to intensifying efforts towards a sustainable shipbreaking sector in Bangladesh.

Unpaid garment workers in Indonesia target South Korea

PT Selaras Kausa Busana (SKB) garment factory, located in Bekasi, West Java Province employed 4,000 workers, who are nearly all women, before it was abruptly abandoned by its South Korean owner in October last year.

The protesting workers, who are members of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Industrial Workers Union Federation (SPN), demanded unpaid wages, social security premiums and severance pay on behalf of 2,000 workers who lost their jobs without any explanation in August and September last year.

Factory owner Kim Jae-Chul fled to Korea with 97 billion IDR (US$6.8 million) and shut down the factory in October 2018 leaving the workers and their families on uncertain conditions.

President of the factory union at SKB, President Miss Verawati, said:

“It is an obligation of the Indonesian government to protect their citizens’ rights and the Korean government bears responsibility due to the Korean owner’s illegal gain from the factory. We want the owner, Kim Jae-chul, to be brought back to Indonesia and pay back the workers’ salaries and other benefits. We also call on brands that sourced from SKB to take responsibility for workers in their supply chain. We want our rights.”

Workers at SKB have been earning lower than the Bekasi minimum wage since 2013, after SKB requested a wage-postponement to the Indonesian government. The factory, which began operating in 1990, has very poor working conditions, with bad ventilation, poor and dirty toilets, and no meals or canteens at the workplace. Workers also had to work long hours to meet company targets.

The workers formed a picket line outside the factory and applied to the Bekasi Labour Office to ask for mediation. However, the company management failed to make an agreement at the mediation meeting in November 2018. The union, SPN, has since filed a case at the Industrial Relations Court in Bandung and is preparing a new lawsuit with the Ministry of Manpower against the factory owner on the grounds of corruption.  

News that the company had failed to pay wages to more than 3,000 employees gained widespread media attention in South Korea, and on 7 March the country’s president, Moon Jae-in, ordered a probe into SKB. The government is also due to carry out a fact-finding mission to Indonesia.

The situation at SKB is not an isolated case, according to SPN President, Djoko Heriyono, who says there are dozens more South Korean garment investors who have run away and fled to their home country.

SPN and the LIPS (Sedane Labour Resource Centre) have begun working together to expose South Korean direct investments in Indonesia that are violating Indonesian labour laws by paying under the national minimum wage, forcing workers to work long hours in precarious conditions or engaging in verbal or non-verbal violence. This cooperation already identified 22 such Korean garment investors in the country.

Unions prepare campaign to keep Ford factories in Russia

The 15 and 16 March meeting in St. Petersburg was initiated by IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Interregional Trade Union Workers Association (ITUWA) and the Ford Workers' Primary Trade Union Organization, who jointly represent workers’ interests at Ford Sollers plant in Vsevolozhsk, Russia.

IndustriALL automotive director Georg Leutert, Ford European Works Council secretary Hans Lawitzke and chairperson of the Confederation of Labour of Russia (KTR) Boris Kravchenko also attended the meeting.  

The results of the review started by Ford at the beginning of 2019 are to be revealed in the second quarter of the year, but workers are already concerned about their future at the firm. Ford has announced it will shed at least 5,000 jobs in Germany, while it plans to close plants in France and a number of other European countries, with a further plant closure announced in Brazil.

Ford Sollers lost RUR 23.8 billion (US$ 369.5 million) in 2016 and although in 2017 the situation improved, the company still finished the year losing other RUR 13.6 billion (US$ 211 million). The results for 2018 are not yet available.

After a comprehensive analysis of Ford’s strategy, global trends and the Russian automotive industry, the unions decided that safeguarding the plant in Vsevolozhsk is their biggest target. The unions will try to stay informed and involved in the decision-making process on Ford’s future restructuring in Russia, and also seek support from local and global allies including the federal government. The unions plan to accompany their actions with a strong media campaign.

IndustriALL’s automotive director, Georg Leutert, said, “It was a productive meeting, and now we have clear directions for the work ahead. For us, the cornerstone is that the unions should be involved at all levels of discussion on the future of Ford workers in Russia. And we will extend our full solidarity support to them in this process.”

IndustriALL National Women’s Council of South Africa is founded

The Council, made up of NUM, NUMSA, SACTWU, CEPPAWU and UASA, is meant to initiate and facilitate collective action to:

In the meeting, the INWC-SA agreed on a statement on the case of Gugu Ncube, a young woman who put forward allegations of sexual harassment by her manager, while employed by a service contractor of UNISA Early Childhood Centre.

While the allegations are yet to be determined, how the police has handled the case, the public shaming of Gugu, and UNISA’s refusal to take responsibility, arguing that she was hired through a subcontractor, has led to an outcry in South Africa.

The INWC-SA is calling for a picketing action to be held on the 29 March at UNISA in Pretoria.

Towards living wages in North Macedonia

There are about 40,000 workers in the textile, clothing, leather and shoe industries in North Macedonia. IndustriAll-affiliated STKC has organized 4,000 of them, and there is considerable potential for union growth.

Therefore, the national seminar focused on training on organising and putting together an organising plan, based on a detailed mapping of the factories and brands present in North Macedonia. They include GFA brands Inditex, Esprit and ASOS as well as ACT members C&A, Next, Primark and PVH.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary said:

“About half of the ACT member brands, including three that have signed a global framework agreement with us, are sourcing from North Macedonia. All these brands have committed to help transform the way wages and working conditions are set in the textile, garment and footwear sector. We will use that brand leverage to help our affiliate strengthen union structures and bargaining power. There is a good base for achieving progress towards living wages and a sustainable textile industry in that country.”

Increasing labour costs in Asia have improved the competitiveness of South-East European countries, located close to European markets. But as Eva Ellereit, country director of German Friedrich Ebert Foundation put it, there is a lack of workforce as tens of thousands of young people have left the country in recent years due to low wages and poor working conditions.

Goran Reshevski from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy explained that the government had tried to address the problem by raising the gross minimum wage considerably to 280 euros per month. Hundreds of companies received state subsidies to partially cover increased costs over a transitional period.

Angel Dimitrov, president of the Organisation of Employers of Macedonia (ORM) said that brands need to increase prices to suppliers to enable payment of higher wages.

ORM has signed a general collective agreement with the SSM confederation, which covers all the private sector workers in the economy. But North Macedonia is the only country in the region, which also has branch collective agreements (CBA) in the textile and footwear industries. Their coverage is however limited to workers and companies that are members of their organisations.

Ljubco Radovski, president of the STKC union, recognises the need to increase CBA coverage both by organising more workers and encouraging companies to join the employer association. Radovski was positive about the ongoing revision of the Labour Code and the central collective agreement, in which unions are negotiating as full partners.

STKC has agreed to cooperate with two NGOs active in the textile industry, Open Gate/La Strada and Glasen Tekstilec, which have given publicity to problem cases and the goal of living wages. 

The Dutch Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) has worked on freedom of association and raising wages with its 18 member brands which have 54 factories in North Macedonia. Biljana Solakovska explained that FWF’s labour costing tool helped clarify the shared responsibility between a buyer and a supplier.

Luc Triangle, industriAll Europe’s general secretary said:

“The future of North Macedonia is in Europe, and in the European Union. But that requires a good labour law offering workers security and protection. It also includes quality jobs with living wages. We are not there yet. Government has its tasks, and companies have to act in accordance with principles of good governance and social responsibility. Our affiliates must be able to do their work and organise workers not only in garment and textile industry, but in all industries”.

The seminar in Skopje on 12-13 March was 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 Europe and IndustriALL Global Union. The project targets seven countries; Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.

Ukrainian unions demand strong industry development strategy

“We need a clear industrial policy” was the main message of IndustriALL’s national affiliates’ meeting on 18 March in Kiev on the eve of the presidential elections in Ukraine. The adopted Joint Declaration entitled “Resolution on the development of national industry and solidarity actions of all-Ukrainian trade unions” will be communicated to the presidential candidates. 

The manufacturing industries in Ukraine continue to decline. Sergey Komyshev, IndustriALL’s coordinator in the country, reported that over the past few years, 2.5 million jobs were lost in the country, 80 per cent of which were in industrial sectors. In addition, the quality of the remaining jobs is deteriorating and health and safety regulations have been dismantled.

IndustriALL Executive Committee member, Valery Matov, said industry in the country is an important contributor to GDP, but the government of Ukraine is lacking a state industrial policy.

Despite the annual increase in the legal minimum wage, Ukraine has the lowest wages in Europe and millions of Ukrainians of working age leave the country seeking job opportunities abroad.

Furthermore, the country’s track record in trade union rights is getting worse. In 2018, Ukraine was one of the 25 short-listed countries at the International Labour Conference in connection with violations of ILO Convention No. 81 on Labour Inspection. In 2019, Ukraine is likely to be shortlisted again for discussion at the Conference in connection with violations of several conventions, such C95 on Payments of Wages.

Viktor Turmanov, president of the Trade Union of Coal Industry Workers of Ukraine, and Natalia Levitskaya, vice-president of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine, highlighted the heroic struggle of workers in state-owned coal mines against massive wage arrears. While coal miners engage in actions to seek payment of their wages, the meeting expressed full support and solidarity in their ongoing struggles.

The Ukrainian affiliates had an extensive discussion about the social dimension of progressing relations between the EU and Ukraine around the Association Agreement. The participants agreed that the relationship with the EU must have a strong labour dimension in advancing workers’ rights and constructive social dialogue.

The meeting welcomed the General Secretary of industriAll European Trade Union Luc Triangle who transmitted a solidarity message from unions belonging to the European federation and emphasized the importance of close relations and cooperation between the unions in Ukraine and Europe. He also said that if Ukraine wants to be part of the European Union, it should put in place higher social standards, modernize the economy, and fulfill the political and social norms of the European Union. 

The trade unions agreed to put on a series of activities towards joining the European Union.

The meeting also received solidarity messages from Western European trade unions. Speaking at the meeting, Reijo Paananen, General Secretary of Nordic-In, expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian unions in their struggles and noted that respect for democratic principles and the rule of law as well as the real fight against corruption were essential. Solidarity messages included IG BCE and IG Metall from Germany as well as OS KOVO of Czechia.

IndustriALL and its Ukrainian affiliates organized a press conference on 19 March to communicate the demands outlined in the Joint Declaration.

“As we approach the presidential elections, we want to make it clear that Ukrainian workers and trade unions are not alone. The global and European trade union movement has always given support and solidarity and we will continue do so in the future,”

said Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary.

“While our Ukrainian affiliates campaign for better rights and working conditions for workers, IndustriALL Global Union, together with our European sister organization, will continue to give our support, particularly in liaising with the European Union and intergovernmental institutions, among other actions.”

South Africa: Workers striking against precarious work at Arcelor Mittal

IndustriALL affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), has 3,000 members at ArcelorMittal’s six South African operations and is calling on all workers to join the strike.

Most of the workers are employed through labour broking firms, Real Tree Trading, Monyetla and others. Real Tree Trading tried to stop the strike through a court interdict, but the request was thrown out. NUMSA is questioning why Real Tree Trading considers itself a ‘service provider’ and not a labour broker when it is one of the subcontractors to ArcelorMittal.

Workers say ArcelorMittal is paying contracted artisans with the same qualifications and experience about 50 per cent of what permanent workers earn. Further, newly qualified artisans are underpaid, with entry level pay pegged at the minimum wage of R3500 (US$244).

NUMSA won a landmark Constitutional Court case in 2018, which ruled that labour brokers cannot employ a worker beyond three months. When that happens, the contract becomes permanent according to the law.

 

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“We must shutdown the operations of the company in order to defend the rights of all workers. It is immoral for workers who do the same work, to earn less, just because they were brought in by a contractor,“ says Mokete Makoko, NUMSA regional secretary for Sedibeng.

"They do the same work as other workers directly employed by ArcelorMittal, yet they earn lower salaries and do not receive the same benefits. NUMSA’s ultimate demand has always been to ban labour brokers.”

ArcelorMittal’s offer of permanent jobs for contractors after three years was rejected by NUMSA.

The striking workers also want health and safety standards at the company to be improved after recent accidents.

Says Adam Lee, IndustriALL director of organizing, campaigns and base metals:

“IndustriALL supports NUMSA’s struggle for permanent jobs. We urge ArcelorMittal to act as a responsible employer and provide all of its workers with stable, decent work.”

Ten striking workers were arrested by the police, but have since been released.

IndustriALL Global Union organizes a global network of unions at ArcelorMittal, which will meet in Brazil in April and discuss the strike.