Middle East and North Africa electricity unions develop action strategy

Despite severe repression, electricity unions in the MENA region are growing in strength and influence, and building solidarity networks. This was the message of Ali Al Hadid, president of host union the General Trade Union for Workers in Electricity in Jordan, who opened the first meeting since the creation of the network in Ankara, Turkey in 2017.

The network brings unions together to share knowledge and experience, provide solidarity, and improve communications. Over the past year, it has provided support against government repression in Algeria, and to unions in Iraq in their struggle against corruption and a lack of public services. Iraq is a great success story, because the electricity union won inclusion for 150,000 precarious workers.

The participants reported on the situation in their countries. In Yemen, the electricity infrastructure has been destroyed due to the war and vandalism, 90 per cent of the country is in darkness, and 12,000 electricity workers have not been paid in more than two years.

In Algeria, repression of the SNATEGS union by the government continues. Union leaders are threatened with jaiI, and have had false charges laid against them.

The Jordanian electricity union made progress towards a collective agreement after government attacks on health insurance. Electricity workers did not have the right to strike, but this was successfully challenged in parliament. An electricity union was established in Palestine. There is almost no electricity generation, as most power is bought from Israel, and workers work in distribution for the municipalities.

IndustriALL executive committee member Hashmeya Alsaadawe announced the creation of the union national electricity network to coordinate demands and to protect the basic rights of workers in Iraq's electricity sector.

Executive committee member Abdelmajid Matoual said that since 2014 in Morocco, the Fédération nationale des travailleurs de l'énergie has protested the agreement between the government and mayor of Casablanca to hand over electricity distribution to Engie subsidiary Lydec Suez.

The meeting adopted a short term action plan until the next meeting, and a longer term plan until 2023. The short term plan will focus on creating a structured network, and providing occupational health and safety training. A communications network will be created, and unions will coordinate their work on global framework agreements.

The long term plan is to elevate social dialogue in the sector, and conduct a detailed mapping of the national electricity companies and multinationals in the sector to make it easier to coordinate work.

Sector director Diana Junquera Curiel said:

“This network has achieved remarkable things in a very short space of time. If we continue in this way, we will be able to dramatically improve conditions for electricity workers in the region, while also improving the quality of our engagement with employers.”

IndustriALL regional manager Ahmed Kamel said:

“The quality debates indicate that privatization and the expansion of multinationals into the electricity sector pose common challenges to workers in the region. Union networking is key to addressing this and raising workers’ voices.”

FEATURE: Supply chain justice through binding global agreements

Text: Jenny Holdcroft

Even the notion of who their workers are has broken down, lost in the maze of multiple layers of global supply chain subcontracting, outsourcing and agencies, and all designed to allow corporations to evade responsibility for the workers who contribute to their profits.

It is no wonder that calls for more control and regulation of multinational corporations (MNCs) are growing stronger. Self-regulation, supported by company auditing on human rights performance, has lost all credibility, while the plethora of voluntary reporting mechanisms that support it are unable to convince that worker rights are respected.

The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, provide the first UN backed framework for the responsibilities of MNCs. There is wide support for the UNGPs since they synthesize society’s expectations of MNCs, however they fall short of imposing any actual obligations on companies, regardless of whether they adopt or reject the UNGPs.

In response, 84 governments, supported by many civil society organisations, are proposing a binding legal instrument to protect people from human rights abuses by MNCs. In June 2014, the UN Human Rights Council agreed to set up an Intergovernmental Working Group to produce a draft treaty. The first draft of a ‘Legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises’ was released in July 2018. It focuses less on the obligations of MNCs and more on access to remedy and justice by victims of corporate abuse. It does not aim to create or recognize any direct human rights obligations for MNCs under international law, but it would create obligations for states to legislate or otherwise hold businesses legally accountable for abuses committed in their operations1. It contains some mandatory due diligence measures that would entail governments requiring MNCs to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their human rights impacts, but it is not clear how these obligations would be monitored and enforced by governments, particularly given the current weak enforcement of labour rights in many countries. Another potential pitfall is how companies will be held accountable for abuses in their supply chains. The language in the draft uses a broad definition of liability, including where a company ‘controls’ operations or has a ‘close relation’ with the entity in its supply chain, giving a strong incentive for MNCs to deny or avoid such connections2. We can expect strong opposition from MNCs to such a binding treaty, and the process has a long way yet to go.

In 2016, the International Labour Conference held a tripartite discussion on decent work in global supply chains. The resolution that emerged called on the ILO Governing Body to convene a tripartite or experts meeting to assess the failures that lead to decent work deficits in global supply chains, and to consider what guidance, programmes, measures, initiatives or standards are needed to address this. This meeting will take place in February 2019. Unions will continue to use this process to push for an ILO Convention on global supply chains, though support from employers and governments for a standard that requires binding regulation on MNCs will be difficult to achieve.

In the continuing absence of binding regulation, MNCs are nonetheless sensitive to issues that impact on their reputation. The outpouring of global outrage at the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh, which took the lives of more than 1,100 workers and injured many more, was felt throughout the textile and garment industry, and most acutely by those brands that were found to have been buying clothing made in the building. In the direct aftermath, sensitivity to having their brand associated with death and maiming drove more than 200 MNCs to sign a legally-binding agreement with IndustriALL and UNI Global Unions – the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

Association with major human rights violations can have a real impact on company sales and share value. Pressure is strongest on those companies that directly face consumers, but this is by no means a guarantee that they will respond to calls for change. In 2010, Apple was confronted with multiple suicides of workers making its iPhone at Foxconn in China, but despite the negative media and campaigning, its reputation among its consumers did not suffer (nor its sales) and it succeeded in riding out the storm of criticism. For the many MNCs in IndustriALL’s sectors that have lower brand recognition, there are fewer opportunities for public pressure to drive behavioural change. The demands of the market, investors and shareholders for increased profits will always win out if there is no countervailing pressure.

Confronting global capital

Collective bargaining has long been recognized as an essential tool for workers to use their collective strength to negotiate agreements with employers on their wages and working conditions, to regulate the employment relationship at national, sectoral or company level. These agreements work because they are enforceable.

ILO Convention 98 makes access to collective bargaining a right for all workers and protection of this right is a major priority of the global union movement. But this right does not extend to the global level. Despite clear evidence of centralized control over MNC employment policies in many countries, the primary tool used by unions to temper corporate power, through demands for a fair share for workers, cannot be used to deal with MNC global operations.

For many years now, global unions have been establishing relationships with MNCs at a global level, most effectively through the signing of Global Framework Agreements (GFAs). While the companies that IndustriALL works with are perfectly able to deal with enforceable collective agreements at national level in the countries where they operate, they are much more reluctant to enter into such agreements for their global operations. One notable exception is the Bangladesh Accord.

In the direct aftermath of the Rana Plaza collapse, companies were prepared to sign a legally-binding agreement. Once a number of companies had done so, this made it easier for more companies to accept the same terms. Eventually more than 220 MNCs signed up to being legally bound to their commitments. Clearly, resistance to legally binding global agreements can be overcome once they become more widespread and familiar to companies, in the same way that national agreements already are. As one company representative said during the negotiations for the 2018 Bangladesh Accord, ‘If we make an agreement, we intend to stick to it, so why would we worry about it being legally binding?’

The original 2013 Accord contained a dispute settling process with various stages for resolving issues between the global unions and the corporate signatories. It provided that if a resolution could not be reached, the parties may appeal to a final and binding arbitration process, under a process governed by the UNICTRAL Rules on International Commercial Arbitration. This was the first time that this system had been used to govern labour disputes, and the experience of taking cases under it has provided IndustriALL and UNI with some valuable lessons on its more general suitability as a mechanism for arbitrating global labour agreements.

Lessons learned

In July and October 2016, the two global unions filed arbitration cases against two Accord brand signatory companies with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague. The cases were subsequently joined and heard together. Both hinged on whether the global brands involved met the Accord requirements to require their suppliers to remediate facilities within the mandatory deadlines imposed by the Accord, and to negotiate commercial terms to make it financially feasible for their suppliers to cover the costs of remediation.

Since this was the first such arbitration, initial arguments centred on admissibility (whether the cases could be heard), choice of law (which country’s law should govern the dispute) and procedural matters such as document production. This turned out to be a very heavy and costly process. As no agreement could be reached on a single arbitrator to hear the cases, under the UNCITRAL Rules they went before a panel of three arbitrators, one chosen by the plaintiffs (the global unions), one chosen by the brands and a chair appointed by the PCA. The global unions were required to deposit €150,000 with the PCA to cover the fees and travel of the three arbitrators and the administrative costs of the PCA. For an enforcement mechanism for global agreements to be accessible to trade unions, a better system will need to be found for keeping the costs down.

In order to take these cases forward to arbitration, IndustriALL and UNI needed to find legal representation. This would have been prohibitively expensive and the cases could not have gone ahead without the pro bono representation provided by Covington & Burling. A huge amount of work went into preparing the cases and gathering witness and expert testimonies.

A first procedural hearing took place in March 2017 and established a timetable for the cases to be considered. It envisaged document exchange in October and November 2017, submissions in December 2017 and February 2018 and an oral hearing in March 2018, nearly two years after the original filing.

In September 2017 the Tribunal issued its order that the cases were admissible and could proceed.

In the end, both cases were settled before the oral hearing, which would no doubt have entailed significant additional costs for both the global unions and the companies.

Each of the two brands agreed to pay significant amounts towards the renovation of the garment factories for which they were responsible under the Accord. Confidentiality provisions prevent the brands being identified and the terms of one of the settlements being made public. In the other settlement, the company agreed to pay $2 million towards remediation of more than 150 factories and to contribute a further US$300,000 into IndustriALL and UNI’s joint Supply Chain Worker Support Fund, established to support the work of the global unions to improve pay and conditions for workers in global supply chains. Speaking after the settlements, IndustriALL General Secretary, Valter Sanches, said ‘This settlement shows that the Bangladesh Accord works. It is proof that legally-binding mechanisms can hold multinational companies to account.’

These outcomes show how important it is for global unions to be able to make binding agreements with MNCs that they can subsequently enforce. But the experience also demonstrated the limitations of using existing mechanisms of international arbitration which are neither designed nor suitable for the settlement of industrial disputes.

Where to from here?

IndustriALL, together with UNI, is committed to pursuing genuine global industrial relations through binding agreements with multinational corporations with effective enforcement mechanisms.

While a growing number of agreements are being signed between MNCs and global unions, no mechanism yet exists through which disputes under the agreements can be resolved through conciliation and binding arbitration at global level. Some of these agreements refer to the ILO as a potential arbitrator in disputes, but the ILO has made clear that it is not able to take on this role. If the trade union movement is to achieve its ambition of signing binding global agreements, we must have access to a mechanism for enforcement that avoids the drawbacks of the UNCITRAL Rules process.

This mechanism needs to move much faster: workers cannot wait nearly two years for their case to be heard. It needs to be cheaper: paying for three arbitrators to hear the case is unnecessary. It should not require excessive amounts of documents to be produced: in the Accord cases, huge numbers of documents were exchanged which then needed to be read and analysed. Confidentiality provisions should not prevent global unions from being able to report to their executive bodies and the affected workers on the case. Finally, the mechanism must be directly accessible to trade unions. Global unions must be able to enforce their own agreements without having to depend on their ability to secure pro bono legal representation.

In other words, an enforcement mechanism for global labour agreements needs to be accessible, efficient and effective. For example, there could be one arbitrator chosen from a pre-selected panel; timely conciliation could be encouraged and facilitated to avoid arbitration; document submissions prior to hearing need not be required; timelines could be set that expedite finalisation of the case.

IndustriALL and UNI’s experience with enforcing the binding Bangladesh Accord has underlined the urgent need for the development of a mechanism that is specifically designed for the speedy and affordable resolution of labour disputes at global level, and that can be used to enforce not only the Accord, but any other binding agreements between global unions and MNCs.

The two global unions are using their joint Supply Chain Worker Support Fund to support the development of an international labour conciliation and arbitration mechanism for settling disputes between global unions and MNCs. This will involve analysing existing models of conciliation and arbitration currently used by unions, as well as other models of international arbitration, and extensive consultation with expert persons and organizations in the field.

The new 2018 Accord demonstrates that it is possible to sign binding global agreements with MNCs. The 192 companies which have so far signed the new Accord were not motivated into signing by a recent headline-grabbing disaster as they were after Rana Plaza. They also had five years of experience of a binding agreement. Beyond the two cases that ended up in arbitration, UNI and IndustriALL had taken action to enforce the Accord towards many more brands. Most tellingly, the two companies that found themselves in the arbitration process both signed the new Accord, complete with its legally binding provisions. Work is underway to streamline the Accord dispute settlement and arbitration mechanism to make it cheaper, quicker and more accessible. These changes could point the way towards a potential process that could be used in other agreements.

IndustriALL will continue to push for a binding UN treaty and an ILO Convention on supply chains, while at the same time working towards the development of a specific mechanism to enforce global labour agreements, designed to meet the needs of the global union movement in the pursuit of justice for supply chain workers.

IndustriALL Asia-Pacific Trade Union Network for Takeda meets

Takeda union representatives from Europe also joined the meeting as observers.

The Japanese Takeda Pharmaceutical Workers Union (TWU) takes a leading role in coordinating the network, alongside IndustriALL JAF, an affiliate that brings together Japanese unions in the chemical, energy, paper and other sectors. This physical meeting was held at the company’s global headquarters.

As Takeda continues to globalize its business operations, unions are developing an international network structure in order to facilitate information exchange between workers from the different countries.

The meeting assessed other IndustriALL company networks, and the Takeda labour-management relations in each country, under the different national contexts and labour legislation. The meeting’s consensus position was clear that labor-management dialogues must be supported in each country in order to protect every union member’s right, and to maintain and improve working conditions.

TWU President Masato Shinohara, chairing the meeting, stated:
“We will continue to exchange our opinions at the global level through this network system and also work toward a further reinforcement of our global network.”

IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary, Kemal Özkan, stated:
“Unity is our strength. Through building company trade union networks at market-leading multinationals, we combine our efforts to ensure rights and working conditions are improved everywhere. We commend the TWU for its great work to bring us together at Takeda. Our commitment to this work is clear.”

Strike action reinstates union leaders in Myanmar

Around 350 workers from 15 other factories joined the strike in solidarity earlier this week after the company reneged on an agreement to rehire the seven union officials.  

Around 100 members of IndustriALL Global Union’s affiliate in Myanmar, the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), walked out on 24 December 2018 in protest at the dismissals. 

The factory, which employs around 300 workers and opened in 2017, is located in the Hlaing Tharyar Township on the outskirts of Yangon. 

At a meeting mediated by the township’s labour arbitration committee on 2 January, the factory management agreed to the union’s 17 demands, including the reinstatement of the union officials. 

However, the factory dismissed the seven union leaders again on Monday 7 January, leading to solidarity action by other factories in the area, led by the Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM). 

At second meeting the labour arbitration committee on 8 January, factory officials promised to rehire the seven workers. 

“There are many factories in Myanmar violating laws and signed agreements. But unfair dismissal cases targeting union leaders and workers demanding better rights and working conditions, are increasing day by day,” said Khaing Zar, IWFM president.

“Laws in Myanmar are weak in protecting workers and union leaders. That's why, we, IWFM decided to take collective action at the Cixing Knitting factory. IWFM calls on investors and employers to respect the country’s laws, as well as workers' rights and trade union rights. IWFM will take immediate action whenever we see unfair dismissal cases targeted at union leaders in the future.”

Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL’s director for textile and garment, said: 

“We congratulate our affiliate the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar on standing strong and holding out for union rights at Cixing Knitting Factory. The solidarity support from hundreds of other factory workers in the area shows the power in collective action. Trade unions are making a real difference to workers’ lives in Myanmar.”

Indian workers hold biggest strike in history

Ten trade union centres and several independent federations joined together for an historic general strike on 8 and 9 January 2019. Workers in manufacturing, mining, energy, transportation, banking, public services, construction  and many other sectors took part, including many IndustriALL Global Union affiliates. For the first time, agricultural workers and farmers also called for a solidarity shutdown of rural India.

The unions sent a strong message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s National Democratic Alliance ahead of the May 2019 general elections.

The key union demand is to engage in genuine consultation with unions over reform of labour laws, including the Trade Union Act 1926. Unions demand that the government ratify ILO Conventions 87 and 98 and stop pro-employer labour law amendments.

IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches sent a letter of support, saying:

“Millions of workers took to the streets of India to call attention to the serious deterioration of their working conditions, and to call for the implementation of urgent measures to contain price rise through universalization of public distribution systems and banning of speculative trade in the commodity market; reduce unemployment through concrete measures for employment generation; and achieve the strict enforcement of fundamental labour laws.

“We reiterate our solidarity and support of your demands.”

Unions also demand:

Desperate mine workers resort to hunger strike in Ukraine

The workers, Iryna Strykalova, Natalia Mednikova and Maya Lewandowska, were joined a few days later by another employee, Larisa Malik.

According to the deputy chairperson of the local organization of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine in Selydovo and Novogrodivka, Sergii Pavlov, all white collar employees at Selydivvugillya are protesting against the non-payment of wages. They come to the office, but do not perform their jobs.

Workers are desperate as they did not receive wages for September, October, November and December, and were only partly paid for June.

According to chairperson of the Confederation of Free trade Unions of Ukraine and the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine, an IndustriALL affiliate, Mykhailo Volynets, white collar workers at Selydivvugillya started their protest on 17 December. In the absence of any response to the protest, four female employees decided to start a hunger strike.

“The administration of the company, along with the heads of the Ministry of energy and the coal industry, managed to pay some part of wages to the employees. For example, one of the protestors, Natalia Mednikova was paid 2400 UAH (US$87), while a monthly salary for female protesters amounts to 3000-3200 UAH (US$109-116).”

Some workers are single mothers, and in some cases, all adult family members work at the enterprise. Therefore, in some cases entire working families remain without any income for months.

The four women protesters continued their protest even on Christmas Eve (in Ukraine most Christians celebrate Christmas on 7 January), and spent the night on mattresses in a cold room.

In the Donetsk region the weather is cold, with outside temperatures as low as -6° C. According to the union, the room where protesters are holding their protest is cold. One of the protesters, Iryna Strykalova, felt ill. The doctors said that she might have flu, and insisted she end her hunger strike. Other participants also have health problems. Maya Lewandowska has high blood pressure and cardiac angina. She received medical assistance.

“There are some 1,600 workers affected by wage arrears”, explains Vladimir Babich, chair of the local Selidov organization of the Coal Mining Workers’ Union of Ukraine, also an affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union. “Mostly these are people not working in mines, i.e. non-manual workers, clerks and service workers. The Ministry decided that their salaries are to be paid only from the profits earned by the company, however in absence of the proper investment, the cost of the coal produced by the mine remains high and profitability low. We tried to address the situation many times. One could pave the road from Selidov to Kiev with the letters we already sent to the Ministry of Energy."

According to the Ukrainian information agency UNN, wage arrears for state-employed coal mining workers reached over UAH 196 million (US$ 6.93 million) by the beginning of December 2018.

Earlier protests over unpaid wages took place at the G Kapustin mine, as well as state-owned Myrnohradvugillia.

Alarmed with this worrying situation, IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Valter Sanches addressed a letter to President of the country Petro Poroshenko. In his letter Sanches demanded that “the Government of Ukraine addresses urgently the legitimate demands raised by coal mineworkers in state-owned mines over their unpaid wages and health and safety concerns.”

Moroccan unions launch “Month of Anger”

The Moroccan union federations Confédération Démocratique du Travail (CDT) and the Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT) have suspended all social dialogue and launched campaigns to force the government to respect trade union rights. Both federations have a number of unions which are affiliated to IndustriALL.

The UMT will hold a series of protests, including marches, strikes and demonstrations, from 10-20 January, while the CDT plans a protest and motor vehicle convoy to the city of Tangier on 11 January.

The key demand is for the government to institutionalize tripartite social dialogue, respect trade union rights and comply with ILO Conventions, as agreed with the unions on 26 April 2011. Despite the agreement, trade union rights are frequently violated in Morocco.

Unions are also angered by numerous social problems that the government has failed to address, including high living costs, the deterioration of the social services, the lack of opportunities for young people, the violation of the pensioners’ rights, and a huge increase in the unemployment rate.

Unions are restricted in their attempts to defend workers by widespread violations of workers’ and union rights by employers, which are disregarded by the authorities. In a number of cases, leaders of unions affiliated to IndustriALL have been dismissed for union activity. For instance, multinational auto components companies APTIV (formerly Delphi), YAZAKI and SEBN-MA dismissed dozens of members and leaders of a CDT and UMT-affiliated unions in recent months.

CDT vice general secretary Khaled Alami Haouair said:

“We face a social crisis characterized by the deterioration of purchasing power, the violation of trade union freedoms and social gains. The CDT will continue its struggle until the government agrees to tripartite social dialogue that meets ILO standards.”

Speaking for the UMT, Abdelmajid Matoual said:

“The secretary general of our federation has commented on the economic and social situation marked by the rise in the cost of living, the degradation of socio-economic services and the government's offer which is below the expectations of the working class.

“On December 27 the UMT national council supported the secretary general's decision to postpone negotiations until the government makes proposals that meet workers' expectations, and declares 10-20 January as days of protests and militancy in all forms, including strikes and demonstrations, against violations of trade union freedoms.”

IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches sent letters of solidarity to both federations.

The key union demands are:

  1. Respect for freedom of association
  2. Application of the agreement of 26 April 2011
  3. A 600 Dirham (US$63) increase in civil servant salaries
  4. A 10 per cent increase in the minimum wage
  5. Increased family allowances
  6. Lower taxation, and no tax on pensions
  7. Institutionalized tripartite social dialogue
  8. The cancellation of dismissals of union members, and legal cases against union officials

Garment worker killed and 50 injured in Bangladesh clashes

The following day, police used water cannon to break up a crowd of some 10,000 striking garment workers blocking a major road in Savar, outside Dhaka. 

A reported 50,000 garment workers, many making clothes for international retailers such as Zara, H&M, Tesco and Walmart, have walked out of their factories demanding higher wages.

Garment workers are angry that not everyone is benefiting from a recent 51 per cent government increase of the monthly minimum wage to 8,000 Taka (US$94), particularly senior workers. Furthermore, the protestors say the pay increase is too low, not even meeting the costs of rising prices in recent years. 

The unrest originated in Naraynaganj on 9 December soon after the new minimum wage took effect, and sporadic clashes between garment workers and police have taken place ever since across the Dhaka District.

“We strongly condemn the use of deadly force against striking garment workers in Bangladesh,” said IndustriALL Global Union’s assistant general secretary, Jenny Holdcroft. “Garment workers’ anger over wage disparities highlights the urgent need for industry bargaining to enable unions to negotiate fair wage outcomes for all workers.”

Bangladesh is the biggest producer of garments in the world after China, with apparel exports totalling more than US$30 billion last financial year. 

IndustriALL has 16 textile and garment union affiliates in the country.  

National Grid lockout ends with new 6-year contract

Members of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the United Steelworkers (USW), voted to accept a fresh deal with the British-based utility company in a vote on 7 January. 

A joint statement from John Buonopane, president of USW Local 12012, and Joe Kirylo, president of USW Local 12003 said: 

"Today our members voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new, six-year agreement with National Grid. This contract provides a significant wage increase and a number of other crucial protections for workers. Just as important, the agreement safeguards the future workforce and includes a number of provisions that will enhance the safety of our communities – including the creation of dozens of public-safety related jobs. 

“More specifically, the agreement features new mark out, inspector positions and instrumentation and regulation jobs – all of which are vital to public safety. The agreement also includes significant sick time, compensation, and retiree health and life insurance protections for newly hired employees.”

The gas workers had their salaries stopped and their healthcare cut after they were locked out on 25 June 2018 when their existing contract expired. 

The experienced workers, who are responsible for protecting and maintaining essential infrastructure in the state of Massachusetts, refused to accept an agreement with inferior terms from the company. 

Their steadfastness garnered considerable support during the long lockout from other unions and state politicians, as well as international solidarity from many unions including Unite in the UK and Ireland, and IndustriALL Global Union. Around 70 affiliated national unions from 50 countries expressed solidarity for USW Locals 12003 and 12012 at IndustriALL’s energy conference in St Petersburg in July 2018. 

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said: 

“The 1,250 members who were locked out showed remarkable resilience and their determination to fight for better working conditions has paid off. We send our congratulations to USW in securing this significant victory, which is a true demonstration of the power of a union.”  

Peru: Manufacturing unions facing up to the challenge

FETRIMAP – a young and rapidly growing organization

IndustriALL’s newest affiliate in Peru is the federation of industrial manufacturing unions FETRIMAP. FETRIMAP has grown rapidly from two workplace unions in 2015 to 22 today. The federation brings together unions in various manufacturing and related sectors, including glass, paper, writing instruments, food and monitoring and inspection services. 

“We have focused on providing our members with support in collective bargaining and in legal defence,” says general secretary Gilmer Ibañez Melendrez. 

In addition, many member unions are increasingly mobilizing in defence of their right to organize and bargain collectively, which is helping to strengthen FETRIMAP’s presence. 

“Our vision is to promote social dialogue through strong unions and solid industrial relations. One of our major problems is the widespread use of short-term contracts, which denies employment stability and undermines all other rights, including the right to form a union. We focus on legal recourse for workers who have been unfairly dismissed as well as switching workers from temporary contracts to permanent ones. We’ve achieved this for hundreds of workers, and this success is helping drive our growth.” 

“With the support of global union networks organized by IndustriALL and Building Workers International, FETRIMAP is making some progress in dealing with multinationals,” says organizing secretary Daniel Alburquerque. “National employers, however, are more recalcitrant.” 

FNTTP – developing new strategies and forging alliances with civil society

A union that knows all about the retrograde attitude of Peruvian employers is the textile workers federation of Peru, FNTTP. 

A 1978 law governing non-traditional exports, permits the unlimited use of short-term contracts in the garment export industry. Contracts can be anywhere from two weeks to six months, which means that a worker can work for the same company for thirty years and sign hundreds of employment contracts during that time. 

Given this situation, it is not surprising that IndustriALL’s textile affiliate, the FNTTP, remains a relatively small organization of 2,500 members. Yet in many ways the organization punches above its weight. 

“We’ve developed a plan to grow our membership base, but we’ve also developed other strategies to support organizing,” says Amed Albujar, FNTTP general secretary.

“We are using trade mechanisms to try to force change.” 

The FNTTP was a signatory to the complaint filed with the US Department of Labor against the government of Peru for violating the labour rights provisions of the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, which has led to several improvements in the implementation of labour rights. It is also a signatory to the complaint against the government for failing to fulfil its labour and environmental commitments under the trade agreement between Peru and the European Union.

Like FETRIMAP, FNTTP has become adept at using the courts and pushing the boundaries of jurisprudence in order to defend the rights of textile workers

“Courts are of course an uneven playing field, but we still have a success rate of about 90 per cent. We combine legal action with worker protest, often mobilizing our members to picket in front of the law courts or labour ministry,” Amed says. 

The FNTTP is also demanding a return to sectoral collective bargaining. A first step is asserting itself as bargaining partner on behalf of members who have joined the federation through direct affiliation, a strategy which is minimizing the impact of anti-union measures at the workplace. It is also taking legal action to prevent employers from unilaterally extending the benefits of collective bargaining to non-unionized workers as a means of undermining the role of unions. 

Several years ago, the FNTTP joined together with other youth organizations and helped spark a massive wave of protests, which in less than six weeks succeeded in overturning the ‘Pulpín Law’ aimed at slashing the labour rights of young workers. That experience helped build lasting relationships with youth and women’s groups who today continue to support the FNTTP in its struggles.

The federation has also been actively involved in popular movements such as Keiko No Va (in protest at Keiko Fujimori’s run for president), Ni Una Menos (in protest at violence against women), and most recently a coalition to tackle state corruption. 

The federation has become a well-known meeting point and is referred to as ‘The Bunker’, a reference to Batman’s centre of operations. The first meeting of the Ni Una Menos movement at the federation headquarters was so packed they had to move to a nearby public square.

The Pulpín Law

The FNTTP were part of a series of youth mobilizations that profoundly influenced the country in 2015. In the space of five weeks, tens of thousands of young people participated in five massive protests to force the government to revoke a youth employment law, popularly known as the ‘Pulpín Law’ (named after a kid-sized juice box), which would have slashed the rights and benefits of young workers between 18 and 24.

What is less well known is the role played by the textile federation. Lorena Chavera Caceres, FNTTP youth secretary, explains:

“When the bill was first proposed in November 2014, the textile federation was among the first to react. This new law would have made our situation much worse so we started to organize. Our members would come straight from the night shift, and together with our national centre the CGTP we would stage pickets outside the Congress, with 20 or 30 people at a time. On 9 December, somewhere between the first and the second vote, we organized a demonstration together with other unions and with several youth collectives. About 500 people turned up. Although this first demonstration was overlooked by the media, it was the start of something much bigger. 

“When the bill was adopted, our group had a lively confrontation with one of the key members of Congress, and the exchange was picked up by the media and got a lot of coverage. We started organizing another demonstration, and the meetings just kept growing. Still, nothing prepared me for the size of the turnout: over 20,000 people in the Plaza San Martin on 18 December! There was a police crackdown and the demonstration turned a bit chaotic, after which we started to organize ourselves better. 

“After 18 December came 22 December, 29 December 29, and 15 January, each time with 10,000 to 25,000 protesters on the streets in Lima alone. There was so much energy, and we were determined to make ourselves heard. When the police prevented us from marching to the nearby parliament building, we instead undertook a series of marches, walking nearly ten kilometres to the business district – and back again – sitting down at major crossroads as we went. 

“On 26 January, Congress reconvened and overturned the law. Imagine! A bill pushed through with the support of big business and the collusion of the mainstream media was overturned in less than six weeks thanks to the power of youth mobilization.”

FNTTP: www.facebook.com/FederacionTextil/

FETRIMAP: www.facebook.com/Federacion.Industria.Manufacturera.del.Peru/

Union to Union – a Swedish donor organization: www.uniontounion.org