African Mining Indaba: decent and sustainable work must be the future of mining in 2050

These are some of the questions that framed debate at the African Mining Indaba and Alternative African Mining Indaba, held in Cape Town 4-7 February.

The theme for the Mining Indaba, a forum bringing together thousands of representatives from governments, mining companies and investors, was “Championing Africa’s sustainable economic growth”.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary, spoke on a Mining Indaba panel called Transforming the future of the workforce and communities: What is the role of technologies and local content policies:

“The technological transformation taking place in mining should protect the rights and interests of workers as well as those of mine-affected communities. New jobs must be created and there must be a fair and Just Transition, lifelong learning through reskilling and upskilling of mineworkers, and improved health and safety. The recommendations of the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work report should be adopted.”

On the panel were representatives from the ILO, African Rainbow Minerals, and the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association.

The theme of the Alternative Indaba, composed of civil society actors and communities, was “going stronger, forging forward” as part of celebrating its ten years of activity. The second day of the Alternative Indaba focused on sustainable development with participants from the two indabas engaging in discussions. Alternative Indaba participants marched to the venue of the Mining Indaba to present their list of demands to mining companies for communities to benefit equally from mining and for sustainable mining that respects communities.

The Alternative Indaba, which this year had 500 delegates from 26 countries, is a movement for mine-affected communities to raise voices, reflect, learn and share, and mobilize on the rights of communities.

Some of its successes include improved policy engagement with governments, forcing mining companies to have dialogue with communities, including women and, in some instances, forcing the companies through community mobilization to comply with environmental laws. The Alternative Indaba, which received support from IndustriALL and other organizations, is also campaigning for the implementation of the African Mining Vision and engaging the African Union and governments, and represents artisanal and small-scale miners.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining, emphasized on another panel that “the social and environmental costs of mining are not reflected on companies’ balance sheets but externalised and passed on to workers, their families, poor communities and the state. Occupational injuries and ill-health have huge social and economic implications for society. Indirect costs include the costs of livelihoods lost, lost income to dependents, and the cost associated with caregiving by families and the community.”

Presidents Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, and Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, said at the Mining Indaba that mining had potential to lead on sustainable economic development in Africa through infrastructure development and job creation.

Young Cambodian workers move a step closer to leadership

The young trade unionists from ten national affiliates held the training as a follow-up to the action plan adopted at the regional youth exchange in Malaysia in October 2018. The participants learned more about building youth committees, new organizing approaches, international labour standards related to young workers and sustainable youth structures at their workplaces. Fifty per cent of the participants were young women.

The participants discussed the situation of youth in Cambodia, in society and at the workplace. They identified fears which young workers have over failure to implement labour laws, fixed-term contracts, piece-work, forced overtime, discrimination against young workers and the lack of protection for pregnant workers.

The young unionists looked at the employment situation in Cambodia, learned about global youth participation in trade unions and international labour standards which protect young workers. They discussed using new organizing approaches effectively.

IndustriALL Southeast Asia office has a strategic plan to promote youth exchange in the region, with youth leaders sharing their experiences in other countries. SPN Indonesia member Novi Utami Adiningsih gave a presentation on youth organizing, and participants exchanged their understanding of organizing practices and fundamental rights like working hours, minimum wages and social rights.

The young trade unionists committed to building youth committees and identified action points promoting gender equality, keeping workplaces free from discrimination, mapping union structures, and building capacity for the youth in their unions. They also designed posters for their youth committees.

Jenny Holdcroft, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, said:

“Trade unions need to represent different kinds of people: young workers, women, people who are often not heard. Trade unions are the only organizations fighting for workers’ rights in their workplaces, but sometimes they do not represent everybody. We need to change and be representative. Do not give up. Future trade unions will listen to what the new generation says and will be built by young workers.
“Leadership is not complicated. You need confidence as a leader to say ‘yes, I can’. When you say this, people will respect you. You need to be supported by people who trust you. We want to make connections between youth in IndustriALL. Sharing information and experiences will build the power of IndustriALL youth.”

Annie Adviento, IndustriALL Southeast Asia regional secretary gave a presentation on IndustriALL’s action plan for the youth and the region, emphasising the key strategic goals for youth and the upcoming Congress in 2020.

Eliminating sexual harassment at the workplace is a key goal, and participants were given a presentation about IndustriALL’s policies and asked anonymously if they had experienced sexual harassment. The participants discussed the country action plan, approved during the regional youth exchange in Malaysia, identified their trade union confederations’ youth committee activities for the new year and set a framework of priorities for the 2020 Congress.

Timberland workers in the Philippines strike over union busting

Pulido Apparel closed its San Luis facility in Batangas in December blaming financial difficulties. However, less than a month later, Pulido started rehiring workers at the same factory on two-month contracts, while blacklisting union officers and members.

The strikers are demanding the re-instatement of all workers, including activists who have participated in the strike and picket, and for collective bargaining negotiations to take place as soon as possible.

Pulido Apparel, a Philippines subsidiary of the U.S. based leather gloves and fashion accessories manufacturer, Fownes Bros & Co, has around 450 employees at three facilities in San Luis, Bauan and Lipa City.

Workers at Pulido Apparel created their Rank & File Local Union TF-2 in June 2018, which is affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union through the textile and garment federation, TF2/FFW Kilos Damit. The Pulido Apparel workers’ union was subsequently certified by the Ministry of labour as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent with all the rights and privileges as legitimate labour organization.

On 8 November, a week before collective bargaining was about to begin, the company informed the union that the San Luis factory would be closing. It also dismissed union leaders and union members.

Pulido then ordered the San Luis workers to claim their redundancy pay and sign a document saying they had quit the company, according to the union.

In early December, Pulido began hiring selected San Luis machinists on a three-month contract at the new factory site in Lipa City. However, all union leaders and active supporters of the union were banned in rehiring.

On 3 January, the San Luis factory resumed operations, and by the end of January at least 61 workers were employed on two-month contracts. All union leaders and supporters remain banned and blacklisted at the company.

In an effort to resolve the dispute, the union has filed for a preventive mediation to the labour court. However, company management failed to attend the latest hearing of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board, where notice of strike was filed by the union.

Valter Sanches, General Secretary of IndustriALL, stated in his letter to Pulido:

“These actions constitute a blatant violation of workers’ rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Philippines, as well as international core labour standards such as Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize and Convention 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which the Philippines has ratified.”

Aileen Panuelos, local union president of Pulido Apparel, said:

“We are determined to pursue this struggle inflicted to us by Pulido management and their cohorts. We exist because we want to exercise and protect our legitimate rights as workers and human beings. We will bring this fight whenever and wherever it takes together with our allies here in the Philippines and abroad.”

Turkey ratifies Hong Kong Convention for safe recycling of ships

Turkey is one of the five major ship recycling countries in the world, including Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan, that account for more than 90 per cent of all ship recycling by tonnage.

The International Maritime Organization’s Convention enters into force 24 months after ratification by 15 states, representing 40 per cent of the world merchant shipping by gross tonnage, and a combined maximum annual ship recycling volume not less than 3 per cent of their combined tonnage.

IndustriALL represents trade unions in the shipbreaking sector around the world and has strongly lobbied countries to ratify the treaty:

“It is a significant step forward that Turkey, as a major ship recycling country, has ratified the Hong Kong Convention. However, ten years after it was established, not enough states have signed the treaty for it to go into force. We can’t wait any longer. There are too many deaths and too many workers exposed to hazardous conditions in the shipbreaking industry,” says Kan Matsuzaki, IndustriALL’s director for shipbuilding and shipbreaking.

“The Convention is a minimum and a first step for all stakeholders to take responsibility to provide – and workers have a right to expect – safe, healthy, clean and sustainable jobs. We urge all the remaining big shipping and shipbreaking states to ratify as soon as possible.”

Turkey is the seventh state to ratify the Hong Kong Convention after Belgium, Congo, Denmark, France, Norway and Panama. Together, they represent more than 20 percent of world merchant shipping tonnage. Major shipping and/or shipbreaking states such as Bangladesh, China, Cyprus, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore and the UK must ratify to fulfill the rest of the HKC requirement.

The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, covers the design, construction, operation and maintenance of ships, and preparation for ship recycling in order to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of ships.

Under the Convention, ships to be sent for recycling are required to carry an inventory of hazardous materials, specific to each ship. Ship recycling yards are required to provide a "Ship Recycling Plan", specifying the manner in which each ship will be recycled, depending on its particulars and its inventory, including proper safety training.

Nigerian unions welcome minimum wage progress

Nigerian unions, including seven IndustriALL Global Union affiliates, will now lobby the Senate to pass the legislation when it resumes sitting.

If that is successful, all that will be left is for President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the minimum wage proposal into law. The new minimum wage is meant to cushion lowly paid workers in both the public and private sectors.

Attempts to have a two-tier minimum wage structure in which state and private sector workers would be paid N27,000 (US$74), sponsored by the National Council of States, were rejected by the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the United Labour Congress.

Further, the federations demanded that there be no retrenchments because of the minimum wage. They rejected N27,000 because it is not the one recommended by the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage in which the labour federations were represented. The committee held public hearings across the country and consulted widely before presenting their recommendations to the federal government.

The unions say the depreciation of the Naira has reduced the value of the minimum wage. For instance, in 2011 the N18,000 minimum wage was equal to US$150 but the approved minimum wage is less than US$100. This means going below N30,000 (US$83) is further pushing workers into poverty.

Afolabi Olawale Olufemi, acting general secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, said:

“We welcome the approval of the national minimum wage by the National Assembly and commend them for adopting the recommendations of the minimum wage committee which came out of a protracted consultative process.”

IndustriALL’s seven affiliates in Nigeria organize in sectors including chemical, energy, oil and gas, steel and engineering, and textile, garment, leather and footwear.

5 reasons to join a union

1. Better wages and benefits

It’s proven that workers who are trade union members earn more than non-unionized workers. Trade unions use their collective muscle to bargain for better salaries, pensions, holidays, health insurance, sick pay, overtime and more. Trade unions hammer out negotiations with management to get the best possible deal for employees, so you don’t have to.

2. Personal protection

Unions have got your back. Not only can they tell you your rights, they will defend your rights. If your employer treats you unfairly, you can rely on support and expert representation from your union. A trade union rep is a trusted person to turn to when you’re unhappy at work or management is behaving badly. And, as the workplace is transformed by automation and robotics, trade unions are demanding training, lifelong learning and social protection for workers to transition to the new world of work.

3. Equality

Trade unions champion equal rights and equal pay. They fight discrimination against race, gender, sexual orientation and disability. They foster respect and dignity in the workplace. Trade unions promote maternity rights, flexible working and paternity pay, so that caring responsibilities are shared. Today, some of the world’s biggest trade unions are led by women and unions are actively encouraging women and young people to take on leadership roles in union structures. As a trade union rep, you can make your workplace better.

4. Health and safety

Unionized workplaces are safer – fact. That’s because trade unions won’t let workers put their lives at risk to meet production targets or save the company money. The only people with the moral authority to assess the risk, are those who face the risk. And the only way to have a voice is to have a union. With the backing of a union, you can feel confident in saying no to dangerous work without losing your job. Trade unions campaign tirelessly for safer working conditions, and can be thanked for most of the gains in workplace health and safety.

5. Solidarity

Trade unions have an incredible network that spans the world. Global trade unions, like IndustriALL, which counts over 600 trade union affiliates in 140 countries, can use their membership of millions to command the attention of the very biggest corporations. Global unions can raise a serious issue that is getting ignored at the plant or office level, with the top management of a multinational company. Often, senior management is unaware of a problem that’s going on locally, and global unions can help resolve an issue on the ground. When you join a union, you join a global family.

Unions fight for a Just Transition to a cleaner, sustainable future which is economically and socially just and fair for workers and their communities.

ACT labelled "important global initiative" by UK Parliamentary report

Governments around the world are increasingly recognising that ACT is the initiative most likely to deliver living wages to garment workers. The interim report of the UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee on the sustainability of UK’s fashion industry is the result of written submissions and a series of public hearings in November last year.

In giving evidence to the committee, IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary Jenny Holdcroft underlined the importance of freedom of association and the need for industry-wide change and reform of brands’ purchasing practices.

“You cannot deliver change factory by factory because the supply chains are too complex and labour rights violations are systemic,” Jenny Holdcroft said, addressing the Committee. “We need to work together to transform the conditions in the production countries where all of the companies are buying.”

IndustriALL’s ACT initiative with global brands aims to deliver sustainable change in the garment and textile industry by linking the conditions under which brands buy their products to wages negotiated through industry-wide collective agreements.

UK Member of Parliament and Environmental Audit Committee Chair, Mary Creagh, said in the report that it was shocking to see that a group of major retailers fail to protect their workers:

“It’s disappointing that only a third of the retailers we wrote to are signed up to ACT, an important global initiative working towards getting a living wage for all garment workers.”

She also recognised the importance of Global Framework Agreements, noting that the Committee welcomes ASOS becoming the first online retailer to sign a Global Framework Agreement with IndustriALL, committing to the highest possible standards on trade union rights, health and safety, and labour relations.

Following recognition of ACT in the final declaration of the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers in 2017, support for ACT continues to grow. Jenny Holdcroft welcomed the support of the UK Committee, adding to that of the German government, which is cooperating with ACT through its Partnership for Sustainable Textiles.

Jenny Holdcroft said:

“More governments should be following the example of the UK and Germany and calling on brands to sign up to the ACT Commitments in order to transform wages and working conditions in the garment industry.”

At the OECD Forum on Due Diligence Guidance in the Garment and Footwear Sector later this month, a presentation by IndustriALL, ACT and trade unions and employers from Cambodia will encourage governments to call on brands to join ACT and make the same commitments to reform their purchasing practices as has been made by ACT brands.

IndustriALL urges respect for the self-determination and sovereignty of the Venezuelan people

IndustriALL also rejects the external boycott, which has clear political and economic motives that violate Venezuela's sovereignty.

IndustriALL has called on both the government of Venezuela and the opposition to end the confrontation, and has urged both sides to comply with the rule of law and international standards and to engage in dialogue to find a peaceful solution, with support from international organizations.

IndustriALL supports the United Nations’ call for all those involved to commit to inclusive and credible political dialogue to address the challenges of a very complex situation.

IndustriALL stands ready to join these efforts and is encouraging the entire international union movement to support a non-violent solution in order to protect peace and democracy and ensure national and international respect for the sovereignty, development and self-determination of the Venezuelan people.

IndustriALL is also calling on governments and other regional and international democratic institutions to condemn all acts of violence, military and economic intervention and outside interference. Such steps will prevent the political, economic and social tensions in Venezuela from escalating and spreading to other parts of the region.

"We need to work towards a dialogue that is backed by the international community and respects the right to self-determination of the Venezuelan people, without any outside interference. This is the only way to ease the tensions and prevent any escalation in the violence and militarization, which would only aggravate the situation in Venezuela, the wider region and the entire world," said IndustriALL's general secretary Valter Sanches.

Finally, IndustriALL condemns the decision of the Lima Group (endorsed by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Peru) to recognize the president of the National Assembly and leader of the opposition, Juan Guaidó, after he declared himself president of Venezuela.

ATG Ceylon workers protest repeated rights violations

It follows numerous worker demonstrations in recent days after ATG Ceylon unjustly terminated five employees including union office bearers on 11 January, prompting workers to launch immediate strike action on the same day at the company’s plant in the Katunayake Export Processing Zone.

Since then ATG Ceylon management continues to ignore advice that has come from conciliatory talks, first by the Assistant Labour Commissioner of Negambo division on 16 January and then by the Commissioner General of Labour during mediation proceedings from 21-24 January.

Meanwhile, the management has used a court order to stop the union officers and leaders of IndustriALL affiliate, FTZ&GSEU, from meeting and addressing the protesting workers, thereby restricting union leaders of the fundamental right of interacting with their members.

In a letter to the President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, expressed disappointment over ATG Ceylon’s lack of effort to end the dispute in line with national and international labour standards.

Valter Sanches urged the President of Sri Lanka “to act promptly to put an end to the unlawful dismissals, harassment” and expressed hope, “that it will not be necessary for IndustriALL Global Union to call upon all our affiliates worldwide, and in particular our European affiliates, to urge the European Union to reconsider the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) with your country, on account of the egregious violations of trade union rights.”

Anton Marcus of FTZ&GSEU said:

“The termination of five employees is a gross violation of workers' fundamental rights and goes against the Sri Lankan constitution. ATG Ceylon should respect the proposals given by the labour commissioner and take corrective action to resolve the dispute immediately.

“The company’s aggressive effort to stop union leaders from interacting with striking workers is against the principle of justice. We will continue to challenge discrimination at the workplace, unjust terminations of union leaders and demand dignity and equal treatment of union members.”

“We want living wages and collective agreements”

Romania is the biggest textile, garment, leather and footwear producing country in South-East Europe with 250,000 workers in almost 10,000 factories. Salaries are close to the national minimum wage of 2,080 leis (euro440) per month.

The government has raised the minimum wage in the past years, but moving the payment of social security contributions from companies to workers in 2017 has had a negative impact on workers. With a deduction of over 40 per cent, workers are left with a monthly net pay of around 250-300 euros.

The Social Dialogue Law reform in 2011 destroyed collective bargaining in the country; with a high threshold to conclude agreements, there are practically no sectoral collective agreements left. At the company level, 90 per cent of the “agreements” are signed by “worker representatives”, mostly appointed by the employers.

The law requires 15 workers to form a union. As over 90 per cent of companies have less than 15 employees, in practice a quarter of the workforce is deprived of the fundamental right of freedom of association, guaranteed in the Romanian Constitution and ILO Convention 87.

But after an increase of inequality and in-work poverty, the Romanian government and European institutions seem to be changing their views on collective bargaining. A difficult process in underway in the Romanian parliament, with a strong business lobby against any changes.

However, some textile employers see it differently:

“We want to promote a sectoral collective agreement, linked with increased productivity. Young people do not want to work in our industry, unless the wages go up, but that requires a focus on high quality production”, said Irina Mihai from the FEPAIUS textile employers’ federation.

Doru Lascu, president of the union Confpeltex, agreed:

“Raising the minimum wage is useful, but a sectoral collective agreement is a better tool for addressing salaries and a lot of other issues. For achieving that, we need stronger unions and more representative employer associations.”

Dan Nastase, president of Uniconf union, said that global framework agreements (GFA) guarantee the right for workers to join a union:

“Union density is very low, and we will work on an organizing plan together with other unions. However, we need protection. Too often workers are fired when they try to organize,” said Nastase.

Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL textile director, showcased how unions work with global brands; the Bangladesh Accord, how GFAs can be used in organizing, and the Action – Collaboration – Transformation (ACT) initiative to achieve living wages.

Representatives from GFA partners H&M and Inditex, also members of ACT, explained how they in cooperation with unions solve problems when they occur and promote functioning labour-management relations and collective bargaining.

IndustriAll Europe´s general secretary, Luc Triangle, said:

“We ask the Romanian government to reinstall the sector collective bargaining structures destroyed in 2011. It is only through good sector collective bargaining wages and working conditions can be improved and create a future for this important sector in Romania. We also ask that global brands and local allow union access. Stronger unions are key to higher wages.”

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“Together with our affiliates we will continue to put pressure on the government to restore union bargaining rights. Global framework agreements are important tools for promoting social dialogue and organizing, and we will use that leverage to support our Romanian affiliates in their efforts to build strong unions and achieve better conditions.”

The seminar in Bucharest on 22-23 January 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, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.