Lesotho union observes AIDS Day

The HIV and AIDS prevalence rate for Lesotho is one of the highest globally and most workers don’t even know their HIV status. This explains why this year’s message of "know your status" for World AIDS Day on 1 December is important. Research shows that once someone knows their status, they will access antiretroviral treatment early and change their lifestyles to avoid further infections or affecting others. This is unlike a situation when someone doesn’t know their status or know it late.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Independent Democratic Union of Lesotho (IDUL) organized two events in Maseru to mark World AIDS Day with support from the Sub Saharan Africa Region’s union building project and Union to Union. The first was a roadshow at Precious Garments on 29 November during the lunch break where the union distributed sanitary pads and diapers to young working mothers living with HIV and AIDS. The timing meant reaching more than 4,000 workers during lunch time. Precious Garments, like most textile and garment factories in the country, employ over 90 per cent women.

The second event was a mass meeting on 1 December, at which the Minister of Health, Nkaku Kabi, said the government is willing to work with unions and non-governmental organizations because HIV and AIDS is a social issue which requires collaborative efforts. Over 1,000 workers turned up from the regions of Maputsoe, Maseru, Nyenye and Tikwe.

At both events there were speakers from Lesotho Network for People Living with HIV and AIDS (LENEPHWA) that IDUL is in a strategic partnership with on HIV and AIDS. While the union fights on workers’ rights to health, the network provides treatment and care for people living with HIV and AIDS, fights stigma and discrimination, and promotes awareness on prevention and treatment.

Says Daniel Teko, the general secretary of IDUL:

“HIV and AIDS affects union members. We have lost brothers and sisters and some children are orphans. It is a social issue that cannot be ignored, and we must work together to deal with the pandemic. IDUL is working with the ministry of health and LENEPHWA to educate its members on prevention, treatment, care, support and related issues.” 

Shell’s hidden shame – Contract workers on the poverty line in Nigeria

Country: Nigeria

Text: Léonie Guguen

Poverty wages are typical for thousands of contract workers in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. In September 2018, IndustriALL Global Union carried out a mission to Port Harcourt to meet contract workers as part of its global campaign to stop precarious work at Shell. 

Despite 28 years of service as a contract worker at Shell, Oscar Tamuno, has little to show for it. He, his wife and four children live in a tiny two-room, one-storey dwelling in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt. Out the back is a small courtyard where he and four other families share basic toilet and washing facilities. Cooking is done outside on an open stove. 

Precarious work has become the focus of IndustriALL’s campaign, which also urges Shell to engage in global dialogue with IndustriALL and its affiliates. Contract workers outnumber permanent workers two to one at Shell and do the most dangerous jobs. 

In May 2018, IndustriALL’s affiliates from five countries, including Nigeria, raised their grievances to the Shell at the company’s annual general meeting in the Hague. Further, IndustriALL highlighted issues of union busting and violations of freedom of association of contract workers at Shell in Nigeria at the International Labour Conference of the ILO in Geneva in June. Shell has however repeatedly refused to enter into meaningful dialogue with IndustriALL to address these concerns.

IndustriALL affiliates in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria: 

The National Union of Petroleum & Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), which represents blue collar workers, and the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) representing white collar workers.

Shell in Nigeria 

Shell’s history in Nigeria is blighted by corruption, environmental destruction and human rights atrocities. It is the biggest multinational oil company in the country and pioneered oil exploration in Nigeria in 1936, producing its first shipment of oil in 1958. Nigeria has since become Africa’s largest producer of crude oil with the world’s biggest oil companies including Total, Eni and Chevron operating there. 

Thirteen years after Nigerian independence from British colonial rule in 1960, the Nigerian government took a stake in Shell’s operations in the country. In 1979, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) was established, which is now owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which has a 55 per cent stake; Shell with 30 per cent; Total with 10 per cent, and Eni with 5 per cent. Shell, however, remains the operator. 

In 1990, frustrated by oil companies’ exploitation of natural resources and environmental damage, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) led by activist and playwright, Ken Saro-Wiwa, demanded an end to oil pollution and a fairer share of profits. 

Shell businesses in Nigeria 

Despite oil being extracted from their lands in the Niger Delta since 1958, they had seen nothing in return.

In January 1993, MOSOP mobilized around 300,000 people to protest against pollution and Shell, which was the largest operator in Ogoniland. It prompted the Nigerian military to move in. Saro-Wiwa and eight other MOSOP activists were hanged in 1995 by Sani-Abacha’s military government causing international outrage. Shell Royal Dutch Petroleum was sued by the US Center for Constitutional Rights for complicity in the repression of the Ogoni people and the executions of the Ogoni Nine. In 2006, on the eve of the trial, Shell settled out of court, resulting in payouts of US$15.5 million to the Ogoni people.

Although Shell moved out of Ogoniland in 1993, its myriad network of pipelines in the Niger Delta remained. In 2008 and 2009 two massive oil spills from its pipelines struck the Bodo community in Ogoniland. They caused catastrophic damage to the environment and devastated the community’s livelihood, which had been heavily dependent on fishing and agriculture. 

In 2015, Shell admitted liability for the Bodo spills, which the UN described as an ‘ecological disaster’, and agreed to pay US$83 million for the clean-up that is expected to take decades to fix.

Today, high levels of poverty, unemployment and the abject failure of oil revenues to benefit local people, has led to increased insurgency and Shell is plagued by militant attacks, oil spills and sabotage. In 2017, SPDC reported oil losses of 9,000 barrels per day (bpd) through theft, costing around US$180 million a year. This was up from 6,000 bpd in 2016. 

US$4 billion – amount earned by Shell from oil and gas production in Nigeria in 2017. Source: Reuters

As the company seeks to move away from dependence on crude oil, it is focusing on Nigeria’s vast untapped reserves of gas, which is regarded by Shell as a cleaner alternative to oil as it seeks to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets. 

Precarious work

NUPENG president, Williams Akporeha, calls Nigeria the “headquarters of precarious work”. Shell has, over time, contracted out almost its entire production workforce, who have low pay, minimal benefits and no job security. The predominance of contract workers is not unique to Shell, but indicative of the situation at most, if not all, of the international oil companies in Nigeria. 

Meeting contract workers at Shell

NUPENG guided the IndustriALL mission on a visit to Shell’s Umuebulu Flow Station at Etche in the outskirts of Port Harcourt. Contract workers in Shell uniforms were eager to tell their stories. Many said they worked under a community contract, which is a contract organized between an oil company and the local community leader, in this case, the local king or chief. Workers under this contract seemed to have the worse deal. Following the death of the king, and then of his son, workers said they weren’t paid for several months. While Shell did intervene to cover some of the wage losses, many workers said they were still owed salaries. 

A community contract worker at the plant told the mission:

“My contractor doesn’t pay when due. I haven’t been paid for six months. My salary is just 50,000 naira (US$137) a month. I will go home and beg my neighbour for food. For six months my children can’t go to school. I’ve been working for eleven years at Shell but I don’t have carpet in my house. I don’t have a radio in my house. 

“If you open your mouth and you want to say something, they will sack you. The next day they (Shell) will call that contractor and they will sack you and they will bring in another person. That’s what we’re facing at this particular Shell (operation).”

“Our salary at Plantgeria is about 95,000 naira (US$260),” said another worker contracted to Shell. “In Nigeria today you can’t do anything on that. You can’t pay your children’s school fees. You can’t eat well. You can’t do anything better for yourself. We do the dirty jobs. We work like an elephant and eat like an ant.” 

All the workers referred to the contractors as their ‘paymasters’ and considered they worked at Shell, as they report directly to Shell management. They said Shell determines what they get paid by contractors. However, their appeals to Shell for better wages are ignored:

“If you ask for a pay rise, you will be escorted out by police. And then your job is finished. No more access to the yard until you sign something saying you will not join a union and you will not ask for a pay rise,” said one worker. 

Shell maintains it is not financially viable to give contract workers permanent jobs, as they are not needed all the time. But this belies what workers told IndustriALL:

“They keep on classing us as ad-hoc workers but we have been working continuously for as long as 20 years, while being paid less than US$150 a month,” a worker lamented. “I have a letter that says I am not entitled to any benefits at all. In the last two months, we gathered ourselves to join NUPENG. Now, if they threaten us, we will just say ‘sack us’.” 

Workers said they are initially given a contract for two years, but after that the contractor will keep adding an extension for three or six months, for years at a time. “That’s why we have stagnant wages. There is no variation in the extension of the contract. Sometimes they even reduce the salary,” said one worker.

Prospects for contract workers at Shell are zero: “We have no promotion. We have been on the same salary scale for the past ten years. We have agitated for a pay increment but it has not been forthcoming.”

Vassey Lartson who works as a lab technician for Shell in Houston, USA, joined the mission to Nigeria as a member of IndustriALL’s affiliate the United Steelworkers. He was shocked by the workers’ living conditions. 

“I am ashamed that we work with the same Shell sign on our back. No way should there be that level of disparity between me and those workers. I take it personally that my brothers and sisters are being exploited in the way that they are. If a company is global, then why can’t behave global and pay global?”

There is a stark contrast to expatriate workers at Shell, who can earn up to US$20,000 a month. Nigerian white-collar workers at Shell are paid around US$2,000 a month. Shell has a 224 hectare high-security compound in Port Harcourt where Shell’s local and expatriate staff dependents live and socialize. 

Inadequate healthcare

Many contract workers complained that their healthcare insurance provider (HMO) was inadequate:

“We are exposed to all the hazards. We work in the field. Even with our HMO we are not doing well. We are just working to die. When we are sick and go to the clinic, they don’t treat you well because the money they (the contractor) give to the HMOs is too meagre, so we don’t get the right treatment. They just give you some tablets. Then the doctor will say we can’t go further than that with the level you’re on. So, you use your meagre money to pay again.” 

One worker, who has four children, said he could only claim up to 40,000 naira (US$100) a year for his family. Some workers said they didn’t have any health insurance at all, depending on the contract they had.

The mission visited the bereaved children of Mr Kalu Ngozi, a contract electrician who had worked at Shell for over 20 years. Mr Ngozi had died three days previously leaving his four sons as orphans. Their mother died two years ago, and another brother passed away two months before. His children, aged between 12 and 22, are now alone living in a one room place in a Port Harcourt slum. Mr Ngozi who suffered from a stomach ulcer could not afford the medical attention he needed, and the hospital said that typhoid was a contributor to his death. 

Dangers

Port Harcourt and the Niger Delta have seen increasing levels of violence over the years with kidnapping and armed robbery not unusual. “One of our colleagues, a driver, was recently shot dead in the field. In the end Shell didn’t do anything. The most they will do is one minute’s silence. No one cares about you and your family. If anything was to happen to you today, (Shell) don’t know you, it’s up to the contractor.”

Workers also revealed they faced hazards such as chemicals, carbon pollution, militancy and snakes in the field.

The workers also said they felt ill equipped to handle dangerous situations: “Shell is good at the health and safety paperwork but it’s different when it comes to implementation. They will send you to training, saying ‘this is what you need to do’, but sometimes when you get to the field (the equipment) is not there.” 

A Shell contract driver was recently shot dead during an attempted kidnapping of an expatriate in the Umuebulu area, resulting in immense suffering for his family.

IndustriALL’s director for energy, Diana Junquera Curiel, said:

“Our mission to Nigeria has allowed us to see and hear first-hand how contract workers are suffering at Shell. We will confront Shell with our findings. We will hold them to account. Shell says it wants to take responsibility for workers in its supply chain. It can start right here, in Nigeria.”

Using global framework agreements to raise standards 

While Shell refuses to engage in global dialogue with unions, French energy giant Total has signed a global framework agreement with IndustriALL since 2015. The agreement has helped to resolve health and safety issues in Nigeria by connecting workers on the ground to global management in Paris. As a result of the agreement, Total is also demanding that all its contractors meet international standards on labour rights. In addition, IndustriALL also has a global framework agreement with Italian company Eni, which also operates in Nigeria.

Gas flaring and effects on workers

Gas flaring is caused by burning of natural gas that comes to the surface during the extraction of crude oil. According to the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership, not enough is being done by oil companies in Nigeria, particularly the Niger Delta, to capture the leaking gas, which is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the world. It is cheaper to burn the gas off rather than find expensive ways of capturing it. 

Most recent figures from the government show that while gas flaring has dropped from two billion cubic feet per day ten years ago, it still stands at 700 million cubic feet per day – enough to generate 3,000 megawatts of power. But this reduction does not help workers and communities who remain badly affected by the flaring. 

Reports in Nigerian media say villagers at a Polaku community in Bayelsa State, who are living near the SPDC’s Gbaran Ubie Integrated Oil and Gas plant, say they can’t sleep at night and their homes are coming apart due to the vibrations caused by gas flaring. The flaring causes acid rain which contaminates crops and water, and villagers say their children are getting ill. They say the flaring takes place at night to avoid public outcry. 

Workers IndustriALL spoke to at Etche had similar experiences: 

“There is a lot of gas flaring. If you park a white vehicle overnight the yellow crude oil and soot will cover it by morning. You wake up and your nose is blocked with soot. It affects your eyes too.” 

The Etche facility IndustriALL visited is just a stone’s throw away from many schools in the area. “What is happening here affects the world. Shell asks us to not steam our motors for so long, but they are polluting the whole planet!” says one worker.

Welcome to global worker

This issue of Global Worker brings a diverse collection of stories that show how our movement is doing just that. While we have terrible news from Brazil, with the election of the fascist Jair Bolsonaro as President after the coup and the jailing of Lula, we have much better news from Mexico: a new left wing political movement, the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) won the election this year.

After 12 years in exile for denouncing the killings in the Pasta de Conchos coal mine, IndustriALL executive committee member Napoleón Gómez Urrutia returned to Mexico and was sworn in as senator. The country ratified ILO Convention 98 on the right to organize, creating space to get rid of harmful protection contracts and establish a genuine independent trade union movement, such as the new federation created in the auto sector. Mexico now has a gender balanced cabinet. Read our interview with new labour minister Luisa María Alcalde on pages 10-11, as she explains her vision for a new social contract for Mexico’s workers.

Corporate power is growing, and can no longer be constrained by national governments, even where the will exists. So how do we achieve justice for workers across increasingly complex supply chains? On pages 12-15, assistant general secretary Jenny Holdcroft argues that IndustriALL leads the way in establishing global industrial relations that hold corporations accountable – but we need global mechanisms to resolve disputes, such as a binding UN treaty and an ILO Convention on supply chains.

Blockchain technology has been promoted as a possible solution to opaque and complex supply chains. Our exploration on pages 5-8 shows that there is no technological quick fix for a social and economic problem. While blockchain has interesting potential, it is only as reliable as the data entered into it.

Continuing our theme of confronting the power of multinational corporations is our exposé of the exploitation of contract workers in Nigeria by Shell, on pages 18-21. Shell is responsible for decades of environmental degradation and complicity in political repression in Nigeria, and has paid out tens of millions in compensation. But Shell’s exploitative business model extends to its workers, most of whom are contractors on low wages. Long term Shell employees barely subsist on the poverty line, and face being fired if they speak up. Now their unions are fighting back.

On page 4, read about the women leaders smashing myths and stereotypes in male dominated sectors.

Finally, meet some of the affiliates at the coal face of defending workers’ rights: on pages 22-23, Belarusian union REP has just endured a punitive politically-motivated court case designed to crush it. On page 9, read about the tremendous progress being made by NUTEAIW in Malaysia as IndustriALL moves its office to that country. And on pages 16-17, read how our affiliates in Peru have formed a national council to fight back together.

The crisis is only half the story: the other half is the workers confronting it, and learning that together, we are stronger. We need each other, now more than ever.

Valter Sanches

General Secretary

Trade unions across the globe show support for Bangladesh Accord

The Executive Committee passed a resolution calling on the Government of Bangladesh to “to guarantee that the Accord is able to continue its work in Bangladesh until such time as there is a competent national regulatory body with the capacity to take-over its functions.”

The High Court of Bangladesh has ordered that the Accord cease operating in Bangladesh as of November 30. The decision has been stayed pending a hearing on December 6 of the Accord’s appeal against the order. 

The Accord on fire and building safety has been instrumental in improving the safety of garment factories in Bangladesh, after it was established in the wake of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013 that claimed over a thousand lives. 

The Accord has identified more than 100,000 fire, building and electrical hazards of which 89 per cent have been rectified. Over two million workers have participated in safety training in over 1,000 factories.

The resolution goes on to state: 

“The Government of Bangladesh has set up a Remediation Coordination Cell to regulate garment factory safety, however this body still lacks the capacity to take over the role of the Accord, despite claims to the contrary by the Government of Bangladesh.” 

In a letter to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said that the work of the Accord must continue unconditionally. He added: 

“We hope that the Government of Bangladesh can soon develop a robust national public health and safety inspection system.  Nevertheless, until such time arrives, the Accord must continue to play a fundamental role in protecting the lives of millions of workers.”

IndustriALL has 20 affiliated trade union affiliates in the country, many of which are garment unions. 

PROFILE: The Malaysian manufacturing union fighting to change labour law to make organizing more effective

Union: National Union of Transport Equipment and Allied workers in Malaysia (NUTEAIW)

Country: Malaysia

Text: Petra Brännmark

Membership is growing and NUTEAIW, which organizes workers in the automotive sectors, is present in more than 40 workplaces.

“Workers want a union and it is our obligation to be there,” says Gopal. “Where we can organize, more than 95 per cent of the eligible workers are members.”

Gopal says that organizing workers is not difficult from an ideological standpoint, but that the recognition process is complicated. First, the union needs to certify that the workplace falls under their scope. Then, there is a lengthy legal process, which includes a secret ballot.

Under current provisions, the Industrial Relations Act, a union must obtain a simple majority in a secret ballot process conducted by the Human Resource Ministry to represent workers at any workplace.

However, the real challenge in obtaining majority is the formula used by the ministry to ascertain majority. If a worker is not present in the workplace to cast his or her vote at the time of the secret ballot, it is counted as a vote against the union.

“A simple majority should suffice,” says Gopal.

In May this year, Malaysia saw a change to a more union-friendly government. The human resource minister, M Kulasegaran, has announced his intention to review all labour related laws, including the recognition process.

“Where there is a union, there is a CBA”

The NUTEAIW have collective agreements in all their workplaces, normally negotiated for a period of not less than three years.

“In the last two years we have managed to extend the CBA at some companies to include the employee’s family as well.

“We have managed to include family medical assistance to immediate family members like spouses and children. Around 80 per cent of the CBAs gave this provision.

“The Employment Act provides sixty days maternity leave. At car manufacturer Volvo we managed to secure ninety days and are now using this breakthrough to push others to extend the same benefit,” says Gopal.

Aiming for 40 per cent women

NUTEAIW currently has less than 20 per cent women in their leadership structures but are working to achieve IndustriALL’s quota of 40 per cent women representation.

Currently, only three of the 17 members of NUTEAIW’s executive council are women, but 40 per cent of the shop stewards are women.

Gopal says that the union is pushing for a change – in a factory where women are in majority among the workers, the union leaders should be women.

IndustriALL Global Union is in the process of moving its regional office from Singapore to Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur, something Gopal says will have an impact on trade union’s status in the country.

“We are in the process of registering the IndustriALL Malaysian Council as an official body, which will give recognition to the council,” says Kishnam. “We are expecting more unions to affiliate after this, increasing the current number of seven.”

Being part of a global union is important for the NUTEAIW, who have been able to call for solidarity support from unions in other parts of the world on issues at multinational companies.

“We had difficulties at Robot Bosch, but after the works council from Germany intervened and contacted management we were able to get the union recognition we were seeking.

“I strongly believe that a close link with international unions is important to learn from each other, and for assistance and solidarity. We know how to fight, and harnessing the collective power of workers in solidarity really shows how strong we are when we stand up together.”

Unions protest plan by Novartis to shed 2,550 jobs

Novartis plans to cut 2,150 out of a total Swiss workforce of 13,000 at production facilities in Basel, Stein, Locarno and Schweizerhalle, and 400 in Grimsby in England. An estimated Swiss 1,500 jobs will be cut, with a further 700 moved to Ireland, India, Malaysia, Mexico, and Czech Republic.

Marching in Basel on 24 November under the slogan of Mensch vor Marge – People before Profit – IndustriALL Global Union affiliates Unia and Syna expressed outrage that the highly profitable company would treat its loyal workforce with such lack of respect.

“It is ridiculous and absurd that over 2,000 employees should be thrown onto the street in such a financial situation,” said Unia in a statement.

Unia was not informed in advance of the job cuts, which is a violation of the the collective bargaining agreement.

The company’s income rose 15 per cent to US $7.7 billion last year. The highly profitable company aims to raise its profit margin to 35 per cent. Novartis claims that it is shifting from high volume to more specialized production, and that its factories are not running at capacity. The share price rose after the announcement.

About 800 people joined the rally. IndustriALL sent a solidarity message.

IndustriALL director for the pharmaceutical sector, Tom Grinter, said:

“Novartis was built up into the profitable and successful company it is today through the hard work and commitment of its workforce. To abandon that workforce now, just to improve profit margins, is wrong. We will stand firm in our support for Novartis workers.”

Novartis employs 124,000 workers globally, but this number is expected to decrease significantly with the latest round of job cuts and the proposed spin-off of the company’s eye care unit Alcon.

Unia met with a delegation of Greek MPs investigating bribery and corruption by Novartis. Overcharging by Novartis is estimated to have cost the Greek health service about €3 billion, at a time when the country was experiencing a severe financial and health crisis, leaving many Greeks without access to affordable medicine. During a parliamentary investigation last year, Greek justice minister Stavros Kontonis said that Novartis had likely bribed thousands of doctors.

Since the year 2000, Novartis has paid more than a billion dollars in fines in the United States, China and South Korea to settle corruption cases.

IndustriALL's Executive Committee calls for an end to protection contracts and stands up for union democracy

It was no coincidence that the Executive Committee held its meeting in Mexico City just 48 hours before president-elect, Andrés Manuel Lopes Obrador, was sworn into office.

"This new government will bring a breath of fresh air, given the growing number of oppressive neoliberal governments that violate the rights of workers around the world," said IndustriALL's general secretary, Valter Sanches, in his opening remarks to the 200 union leaders from all corners of the globe.

Both Sanches and IndustriALL's president, Jörg Hofmann, welcomed Mexico's new government and the progress made in advancing union democracy. They also congratulated the president of Los Mineros and Executive Committee member, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, on his return to Mexico after 12 years in exile.

The delegates set up a campaign calling on Mexico’s new progressive government to work towards bringing an end to protection contracts, which stifle freedom of association in the country.

Committee members expressed their support for the workers at the Goodyear plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, who were dismissed for creating a free and independent union. They also agreed to run a worldwide campaign in support of Goodyear workers.

Those present also adopted a number of recommendations on women’s inclusion, calling on sectors and networks to come up with strategies to analyse the issues facing women in the workplace and in unions and to develop campaigns to address these issues.

In addition, Committee members endorsed IndustriALL's campaigns against Shell and Glencore, demanding that both multinationals respect the rights of all their workers around the world.

Information was also provided on the violations of workers' rights by other multinationals, such as Gold Fields and Stillwater in South Africa and Volkswagen (VW) in the United States.

The Global Framework Agreements were recognized as an important tool for protecting the rights and interests of workers at all stages of the manufacturing process within signatory companies. However, it was agreed that steps would be taken to monitor how the agreements are implemented within companies, given the diverse experiences reported by affiliates in different countries.

The Executive Committee also adopted an Action Plan on fair international trade and manufacturing policies to help affiliates to become more involved in talks concerning multilateral trade agreements and treaties. It also endorsed the statements made by IndustriALL Global Union and IndustriALL Europe on the need for a Just Transition in the face of climate change in order to ensure the creation of sustainable jobs.

Finally, the Executive Committee adopted a series of resolutions:

The full text of the resolutions is available in the right-hand column.

 

IndustriALL makes joint declaration demanding Just Transition at COP24

The unions want governments to commit to a Just Transition that makes industrial workers part of the solution to meet climate change emission targets through sustainable industrial policies containing creative labour force adjustment programs, founded on strong social protections.

The declaration states: 

“The industrial sectors that employ our members are facing enormous challenges linked to the goal of deep decarbonisation, yet it is those very sectors that are essential to deliver the technologies and solutions that will mitigate the impact of climate change while providing the essentials of development, sustainable jobs, and technological progress.”

The 24thmeeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is taking place in the heart of Poland’s coal country, has been dubbed the ‘Just Transition COP’. 

Just Transition is incorporated in clear language in the preamble to the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change signed at COP21 in 2015: “Taking into account the imperatives of a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities”. 

This language appears in the Paris Agreement only as the result of strong trade union pressure in Paris and at previous COPs. Signatory nations must now accept that they have made a political commitment to Just Transition, demand the unions. 

“There cannot be an unjust transition to environmental protection, casting untold millions of workers aside. Neither can we ignore the urgent need to deal with climate change – there are no jobs on a dead planet,” says the declaration.

“It is our hope that COP24 will finally outline a Just Transition to an optimistic future – a future of full employment and decent work for workers, their families, and the communities that depend upon them. All stakeholders must be a part of this discussion – a Just Transition can only be done with us.”

IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union, along with the International Trade Union Confederation and the European Trade Union Confederation, also urgently insist that Parties endorse the Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration, submitted by Poland. 

Union signs recognition agreement with Walker Industries in Kenya

Following a recruitment and organizing drive that saw union membership increasing by 387 male and 338 female workers, IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Kenya Shoe and Leather Workers’ Union (KSLWU) signed a recognition agreement with Walker Industries on 13 November in Nairobi. The company manufactures EVA slippers, PVC sandals and gumboots. The slippers and sandals are popular because they can easily be molded into different shapes unlike those made from leather.

The recognition agreement establishes labour relations harmony at the company and commits to cooperation between the employer and the union. It also aims to create relationships that will promote better working conditions and living wages. Workers’ right to strike and collective bargaining will be respected and labour disputes will be dealt with according to the Labour Relations Act. Provisions of the ILO Convention 135 on the protection of workers’ representatives against dismissals and other forms of victimization that arise from their being representatives of a union will be respected.

The recruitment and organizing drive is part of the IndustriALL East African union building project, supported by the Danish trade union federations’ LO/FTF Council, which promotes social dialogue and labour rights in developing countries. The project aims to build strong unions in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. 

Says Catherine Aneno, IndustriALL coordinator for the project:

“We welcome the signing of the agreement with Walker Industries. Recognition agreements are one of the crucial instruments that are used to promote better working conditions and social dialogue in the factories. Further, it is important to commend the vigour that is being put by the KSLWU into gaining more members. It is this energy that will make unions grow in Kenya.”

The government’s policies including the Kenya Vision 2030 identifies manufacturing, including in the textile and garment sector, as a key driver for the country’s industrialization. The country also exports to the USA under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act whilst international garment brands source from the country.

IndustriALL COP24 Blog – Katowice, Poland

15 December 2018

The 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, generally referred to as COP24, has concluded: with organizers declaring a success and critics branding the results as a failure.

What really happened?

This COP was supposed to create a clear rulebook for the implementation of the Paris Agreement of 2015; which up until now has been largely political and aspirational. For it to come into effect in reality, a number of rules had to be agreed on. The rules needed to cover a range of issues from accounting and verification of national contributions to the reduction of greenhouse gases, to finance, to technology transfer, to adaptation measures and disaster responses, and a host of other issues.

What’s good about the Katowice Rulebook?

The best part is, that it exists. There was a real possibility that it would not. There has been a decline in the global willingness to address climate change, since the 2015 Paris Agreement was reached.

The issue of providing a Just Transition for affected workers, their families, and the communities that depend on them has also been mainstreamed at last. Many nations have signed up to the “Silesia Declaration on Solidarity and Just Transition”, crafted by the trade union movement and pushed forward by the Polish COP Presidency. The concept is now firmly a part of the common vocabulary of climate talks. That is a huge step forward.

What’s not so good about the Katowice Rulebook?

The worst part is, it simply is not ambitious enough. With the world’s leading climate scientists warning that we must take drastic measures within a window of about 12 years, the best that COP24 was able to muster was that it welcomed the publication of the latest scientific report. Note the wording: the conference did not welcome the contents of the report or its conclusions. Such differences in wording may seem trivial but have real political consequences.

Unresolved problems also remain in terms of accounting for emissions reduction, and other areas.

However, it can be hoped that with an agreed upon rulebook, there is at least a basis for action that can be strengthened later.

What is our task?

We must network with each other and with decision-makers at the local, regional, national, and global levels. We must stand in solidarity with like-minded groups – particularly those focused on human rights for marginalized peoples.

We must understand that the reluctance of many people to accept the urgency of climate change results from fear, not ignorance. The global economic order has not only jeopardized the planet environmentally, it has jeopardized it socially while delivering wealth to an ever-narrower slice of humanity. The so-called free market cannot deliver a sustainable future. Only public policies in the public interest can do that. Climate change will not be solved without addressing inequality, and will not be solved without sustainable industrial policies and Just Transition programmes.

Technologies will play a part in controlling and adapting to climate change, but we must be sceptical of technologies that promise a cheap quick “fix” while seeming to violate known rules of physics and chemistry. The technologies that will save us are those that exist, now. Even if a new technology with near-magical power was invented today, the window of time to implement it is almost certainly too narrow.

In short, our task going forward is simple: we must behave like trade unionists. Even with the Silesia Declaration, no government will grant us a Just Transition unless we demand it. The social dimension of sustainability is ours to defend. We must organize ourselves, and others, and fight for a future that we can believe in.

8 December 2018

Today I attended the Trade Union Strategy Day, which met off-site. It should be no surprise that the discussion focused on Just Transition: what it means to trade unions, and how to achieve it in practice. Trade unionists in attendance had a very good and very realistic understanding of Just Transition. This was not always the case in past years when I was still trying to get the idea mainstreamed within the labour movement.

Nevertheless, there are problems with the way Just Transition is framed. Too often, trade unionists only say the words Just Transition apologetically, or defensively. We need to talk about Just Transition positively. A transition to a sustainable future is a positive message, that encompasses everything we believe in as trade unionists and challenges the usual narrative of the global casino-capitalist economy.

We must define a positive future for today’s and tomorrow’s workers. No-one is going to fight for a bleak, or dismal future! A Just Transition has to sound good to our members; and if it does not sound good, then it isn’t truly Just.

There is even a more existential reason to fight for a Just Transition.

Right now, we are facing the world-wide growth of a neo-fascist political ideology, powered by a loud right-wing narrative that gets repeated over and over in the compliant media. This is being driven by a rarefied billionaire class that have figured out new tools to manipulate people. But I think part of the problem is that we have lacked a compelling narrative of our own, to counter theirs.

What if a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable future is that narrative? What if a Just Transition is the bridge that can get us there? Why should the benefits of new technologies go to a handful of billionaires and not to us? Why should the costs of these transformations go only to us?

Sisters, brothers, comrades, and colleagues: On this day I would like to take the opportunity to ask you; do we still believe in bringing about a better world? Is a sustainable future, in which we all share the benefits, what the labour movement believes in? 

What if we still believed we could change the world?

N.B. This is the last blog post until the conference closes on 14 December, when a summary will be made.

7 December 2018

There continues to be some resistance, or reluctance at least, on the part of some countries to accept the message of climate science and to understand how urgent the situation has become. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment is clear. Key points were reviewed again, today, that limiting global average warming to no more than 1.5 Celsius degrees above pre-industrial levels has clear benefits, is technically and economically achievable – but will require a massive effort both physically and technically, and above all, politically.

Many parallel discussions took place in meeting rooms and in the corridors. To give a sampling of some of them, they included: the claims of advocates for biomass, or nuclear power, as a solution; finance; technology transfer; and the rules for accounting for emissions including time-frames and transparency.

Not yet seeming to be taken fully seriously in the opinions of many are the issues of human rights: women, indigenous peoples, and the potential for increasing numbers of climate refugees.

Talks continue: resolution of many of the outstanding issues still lies ahead. It is not unusual for the end of the first week of a COP to be filled with contradictory messages.

6 December 2018

This morning, I chaired the daily trade union caucus. Particular discussion was around the need to make clear that equity issues are a necessary component of a successful Just Transition programme; as are strong social protection programmes. There will be different challenges in building a Just Transition in different countries, depending on their national circumstances.

In the afternoon I spoke at a side event on carbon capture. These are the technologies that would allow carbon dioxide to be captured at the point of emission and stored, sequestered, or used for other purposes. The usual acronym is CCS for Carbon Capture and Storage although sequestration or re-use are understood to be part of the picture, not only storage.

CCS is a group of technologies that IndustriALL and its predecessors have placed considerable hope in, and lobbied for – as it would provide the smoothest possible transition for coal miners and energy workers by “greening” their existing work. Therefore, questions of skills gaps and regional displacement would be very minor and easy to deal with. Unfortunately, despite our pleas, insufficient investment has been made in actualizing these technologies. It is true that some pilot plants now operate, but to make a difference there would need to be an enormous global effort to build CCS-enabled power plants and industries – and we have only something like twelve years to do so.

Nevertheless, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world’s climate scientists – include CCS in their scenarios for controlling global warming to safe levels. Their models rely on the successful implementation of CCS. We all need these technologies to work – and quickly, and that was the message I delivered on behalf of workers.

As for the progress of the COP in general, negotiations continued without significant new breakthroughs to report.

5 December 2018

More science was presented at the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA). The evidence is both compelling, and terrifying. Allowing global average temperatures to rise more than 1.5 Celsius degrees above pre-industrial levels will have truly catastrophic effects.

The most credible scientific models now estimate that the world has approximately 12 years left to make the necessary changes to prevent this.

However, the Stocktaking on pre-2020 Implementation and Ambition showed that present commitments by governments are inadequate to maintain global warming at less that 2 Celsius degrees, never mind 1.5.

The good news is that science tells us that the 1.5 degree target is both technically and economically possible. The question is whether it is politically possible, given the descent of several national governments into inward-looking nationalism and denial.

COP24 has resumed some of the debates that are typical of all COPs. For example: discussions on the rules for accounting and reporting of national emissions; finance; and technology transfer. For a Katowice Rule Book to emerge, there must be agreements on all of these. A general mood of cautious optimism seems to persist, so far.

The emerging open commitment to Just Transition is the big news, however. While most trade unionists have welcomed and celebrated this, there remains justifiable scepticism among a few, born of broken promises historically made by some governments to their national unions as economic changes ravaged particular sectors or regions. The failure to win a Just Transition in some regions in the past is not, however, an argument to give up. The demand for a Just Transition must instead become a cause to believe in, and fight for – an absolute prerequisite for change that we will not surrender. A transition is coming. Will it be just, or unjust? If a sufficient number of governments sign up to the Silesia Declaration, a commitment to Just Transition emerging from the Katowice COP will be an historic step forward, but even then, only the determination of trade unions and their allies will deliver and enforce it.

4 December 2018

Silesia Declaration Edition

At the very opening of COP24, the COP President introduced the “Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration”. This was indeed an historic moment – the culmination of many years of effort to get the international community to recognize that the transformation to a climate-safe future must not be done on the backs of workers, their families, and the communities that depend upon them.

As of late today, the list of Parties endorsing the Declaration included: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Eswatini, European Commission, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Montenegro, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Palestine, Peru, Poland, San Marino. Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Togo, United Kingdom, and Uruguay.

Our task for the next few days is clear: to get as many nations that have not already endorsed the Declaration, to do so.

The Just Transition COP, indeed!

3 December 2018

COP24 has already become the “Just Transition COP”

At the formal opening of the COP today the outgoing COP President, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama of Fiji told the assembly that the choice before us is stark: act, or become the generation that betrayed humanity – and called for the Conference to support the Polish theme of a Just Transition for all.

Andrzej Duda, President of Poland, called for the creation of a Katowice Rule Book for the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement. To that end, Poland would present the “Silesia Declaration” on Solidarity and Just Transition.

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said, “We are in big trouble, climate change is outrunning us and we must catch up.” He then called for a fair transition for workers and communities, through a transformation that will have opportunities and not just costs. To underline his points, he promised to convene a Climate Summit in September of 2019 in New York (outside of the UNFCCC process).

Kristalina Georgieva, CEO of the World Bank, signaled that under her leadership, she would ensure that funding for climate change mitigation, resilience, and adaptation would be doubled and that she would help mobilize additional funding from the private sector. Every World Bank decision would be examined using a “climate lens”, and a “shadow carbon price” would be used in its calculations.

Finally, the President of the Conference of the Parties, Michał Kurtyka, called repeatedly for “a deep and Just Transition”. He asked that the Conference show the world vision, and hope. He presented the “Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration” and called on all governments to adopt the declaration. 

By adopting the Silesia declaration, countries are committing to take seriously the impact of climate change and climate policies on workers, their families and the communities that depend on them when they prepare and implement their climate commitments, adaptation plans, and industrial strategies. It also places workers and their unions at the decision-making table when these plans are made. Already, a number of governments have pledged their support.

This is nothing short of historic. In 2015, unions successfully had Just Transition recognized in the Paris Agreement – but the Silesia Declaration makes Just Transition the centrepiece of its implementation rulebook.

The objective of the Declaration is not just to have a Declaration, but to inspire action at the international, national, regional and local levels. This translates into demanding public policy in the public interest via sustainable industrial policies and strong social protections. 

Just Transition funds and programmes exist or are being created in countries from Spain to South Africa, from Canada to Australia. And the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) will now be known as the "Just Transition COP".

It is extremely gratifying to see it become mainstream global policy. Let us hope that it was not too late in coming.

2 December 2018

The first plenary meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change took place on 2 December, 2018, in Katowice, Poland.

With the election of Mr. Michał Kurtyka, the Polish State Secretary, Ministry of Energy, as President COP 24, the annual discussions of how the world responds to the global climate change challenge, commenced. The choice of Katowice – a steel, coal, and industrial centre – as venue is a welcome signal by the Polish Presidency that the impacts of climate change measures on workers and communities must not be forgotten.

The opening plenary was business-like and covered the necessary administrative decisions for the COP and its subsidiary bodies to commence their work. Missing from the opening plenary were any visionary statements of ambition or intent. Perhaps we will hear more of these in the formal opening ceremonies, on Monday.

COP24 is tasked with mapping out the implementation of the Paris Agreement; and the matter of Just Transition is expected to play an important part in the COP24 discussions.

This conference opens under the urgent warnings of recent scientific revelations that the trajectory of climate change is worse than previously estimated. The best science we have now estimates that we have only about 12 years left if the world intends to limit global average warming to less than 1.5 celsius degrees above pre-industrial levels. This, it should be noted, is a level of global warming that will still have many serious consequences, but it is a level that is considered to be manageable.

The need to act is clear, and urgent. The good news is that making the necessary changes is both technologically and economically possible, if the nations of the world make it a priority. It is also socially possible: if and only if workers affected by these transformations are fully protected. IndustriALL and other global labour organizations cannot allow the social dimension of these changes to be ignored. With such an urgent timeline, the world needs all of its citizens to be on-board – and that can only happen if affected workers, their families, and the communities that depend on them are kept whole. That is the meaning of a Just Transition. We will be making that point strongly, and repeatedly, throughout this COP.