Spanish coal unions win landmark Just Transition deal

The €250 million Plan del Carbón deal will see the closure of all Spanish coal mines which are no longer economically viable. The agreement was reached between the new Socialist government and the unions Federación de Industria de Comisiones Obreras (FI-CCOO), Federacíon de Industria, Construcción y Agro de la Unión General de Trabajadores (FICA-UGT) and Federación de Industria de la Unión Sindical Obrera (FI-USO), all IndustriALL Global Union affiliates. The government will fund a transition that is expected to take place between 2019 and 2023.

This follows years of union struggle as successive Spanish governments have tried to end subsidies to the mining industry and close mines, without reaching an agreement that met workers’ needs. In 2012, miners embarked on a 457 kilometre Marcha Negra – Black March – to Madrid to protest the loss of jobs that would result from the end of subsidies.

The Just Transition deal replaces subsidies to the coal industry with a sustainable development plan. Financially viable mines can remain open, but ten pits and open cast mines are expected to close by the end of the year, with the loss of 1,677 jobs. The deal covers eight companies with 12 production units in four regions of Spain. The biggest employer is state owned mining company HUNOSA, with 1,056 employees.

The highly detailed agreement has been praised by unions as a model, and provides a package of benefits to miners and their communities.

About 60 per cent of miners – those age 48 and older, or with 25 years’ service – will be able to take early retirement. Younger miners will receive a redundancy payment of €10,000, as well as 35 days’ pay for every year of service. Miners with asbestosis will receive an additional payment of €26,000.

In addition, money has been set aside to restore and environmentally regenerate former mining sites. Priority for employment in these jobs will go to former miners.

Money will be set upside to upgrade facilities in the mining communities, including waste management, recycling facilities and water treatment plants, utilities infrastructure and distribution for gas and lighting, forest recovery, atmospheric cleansing and reducing noise pollution.

An action plan will be created for each mining community, including plans for developing renewable energy and improving energy efficiency, and investing in and developing new industries.

IndustriALL sustainability director Brian Kohler said:

“This landmark Just Transition deal was won through years of hard struggle. It acknowledges the need to move from fossil fuels while protecting workers and their communities. The deal sets a precedent for responsible transition through social dialogue.”

Just Transition is a core union demand. Strong social protection programmes and sustainable industrial policies are needed to protect jobs while meeting carbon emissions targets. In Australia, IndustriALL mining affiliate the CFMEU Mining and Energy Division has released a report that forecasts a bleak future for the country’s coal miners unless an independent authority is established to manage transition.

Unilever signs Memorandum of Understanding with IndustriALL and IUF

The Memorandum was signed by Unilever’s chief executive officer Paul Polman, IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Valter Sanches and IUF general secretary Sue Longley in London on 31 October 2018.

IndustriALL and  IUF, together with their affiliates, have held bi-annual meetings with Unilever management since 2010 as part of their dialogue with the company. During this process, two working groups were created on Sustainable Employment and Gender Equality. The signing of the Memorandum highlights the importance of the ongoing work achieved through these work groups.

The Memorandum formalizes the engagement process and establishes a permanent platform for “ensuring that throughout Unilever’s worldwide operations workers can freely exercise their internationally recognized rights and in particular their rights to union membership and collective bargaining without fear of retaliation, repression or any other form of discrimination.” In the Memorandum, “Unilever recognizes its obligation to act to ensure that these rights are similarly respected by enterprises and their subcontractors providing products, operations and/or services to Unilever.”

“After years of trust building and constructive engagement, institutionalizing this global dialogue is an important achievement”, said Valter Sanches.

“Together with our sister organization IUF and our affiliates with membership at Unilever’s chemical operations, we will continue with our best effort to ensure that fundamental rights are respected and working conditions improve.”

“We have been working successfully on these issues with Unilever for a number of years”, said Sue Longley,

“and we look forward to deepening our engagement. Now that the process has been formalized we need to continue working together to ensure that the principles set out in the Memorandum are firmly anchored regionally, nationally and locally throughout Unilever’s global operations.”

IndustriALL and IUF signed a joint commitment with Unilever in 2016 to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace after it was identified a universal problem, both at the workplace and in wider society.

Generating €53.7 billion in turnovers in 2017, Unilever directly employs 161,000 people. The company owns around 400 brands, 12 of which have sales of more than €1 billion a year.

Four workers killed at Neharia underground mine in India

A day before the accident a Load, Haul, Dump (LHD) machine got stuck in the underground mine due to blasts carried out without following safety regulations. The next day, on 25 October at around 10.15 am, an advance preparatory team entered the underground premises to recover the LHD machine. While recovering the machine, the mine roof collapsed. Four workers were killed in the accident while one LHD operator was seriously injured.

The deceased have been identified as Ravi Shankar (excavator carrier operator), Ramprakash (LHD operator), Rajesh (maintenance worker) and Rafique (side discharge loader operator).

S Q Zama, secretary general of IndustriALL affiliate the Indian National Mine Workers Federation (INMF) said:

The method of mining was not in conformity with the statutory safety regulations. Deployment of personnel for supervision was also inadequate. Violations of various safety regulations are severe in this accident. We demand immediate enquiry of WCL’s internal safety organization and investigation by the Directorate General of Mine Safety. Authorities must ensure that such accident should not happen in future.”

The union has also asked for the report of the magisterial enquiry ordered by the Chhindwara district collector. Statutory compensation has been provided to the victims’ family.

Ukraine: angry unpaid miners take action underground

On 19 October, 33 miners of the mine started their protest over unpaid wages underground at the depth of 600 meters. Leaders and activists of the NPGU locals gave their support to the protesters and supplied water, food, and medicines. Due to unhealthy and dangerous conditions, miners’ health deteriorated.

In particular, 31-year-old miner Oleksandr Cherkasov fainted several times and another miner had a nervous breakdown. They were transported to the hospital. Some other miners had to stop their protest for family reasons.

On 27 October, a rockslide happened near the area where miners of the mine named after G. Kapustin and a sympathizing member of parliament of Ukraine were holding their protest. Despite this incident and health problems 15 miners continued their protest and refused to go up to the surface until all the wages are paid out.

The coal miners are concerned with the approach of the country’s authorities. For instance, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine in the middle of the protest approved a two-week leave of director general of the PJSC "Lysychanskvugillia". In reply miners demanded resignation of the director for failing to take any constructive steps and solve the problems with wage arrears.

Chairman of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU) and the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine (NPGU), an affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union, Mykhailo Volynets went down into the mine G. Kapustin PJSC "Lysychanskvugillia" and met protesters. Representative of the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine and company management also visited the miners.

Volynets said, “These miners show genuine courage and integrity during their struggle for justice and fair payment. But I am deeply concerned about their health and lives. During my stay underground in the mine, I talked to them and I couldn't help noticing how exhausted and tired they were. Some miners seemed to have health problems. The air and humidity in the mine are also a point of concern.”

The problem of wage arrears at the state-owned coal mines still remains and causes social tensions. In Ukraine, miners work in extremely difficult and dangerous conditions. However, their wages are not high. A skilled miner receives 8,000-9,000 UAH (US$280-320), but even these meagre wages are not paid in time.

Last week protest actions over unpaid wages took place at the mines of the SOE “Selydivvugillia” and SOE “Myrnohradvugillia”.

According to the received information, as of 29 October, wage arrears at state coal-mining enterprises amounted up to 685 million UAH (US$21.5 million). By 1 November the arrears can reach up to 1,2 billion UAH (US$42.6 million) as this is the time for payment of October wages.

The NPGU has reported the problem with wage arrears to some members of the Ukrainian Parliament and launched solidarity actions.

In his message of solidarity to NPGU, Valter Sanches, general secretary of IndustriALL said,

“We reiterate our full support and solidarity with the miners at the state-owned coal mining enterprises, and we join you in calling on the Government of Ukraine to pay in full wages in arrears without further delay.”

IndustriALL Global Union has also urged its Coal mining unions’ network to stand in solidarity with the resisting Ukrainian miners.

Strengthening youth participation in South East Asia

Participants from Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia learned about IndustriALL’s youth empowerment action plan, its commitment and strategic goals, campaigns and young workers’ participation in unions, on a regional as well as on a global scale.

Discussions during the two days included women and youth structures in their unions, working conditions, health and safety, maternity leave in the region, all relevant for building youth action plans.

Annie Adviento, IndustriALL South East Asia regional secretary, said:

Increasing youth participation, ensuring their concerns, issues and working conditions are addressed by the unions, is one of IndustriALL’s priorities. We want to make sure that our young unionists have a voice at Congress in 2020.

Together, participants identified responses against challenges like threats by employers, lack of knowledge unions’ roles, precarious work and gender imbalance.

Organizing in the era of digitalization provides challenges, but also opportunities. Examples were shared on internet-based trainings, creating education modules and making them more useful for youth, and using social media to stay in touch. A Facebook page was created, to be used as a platform for awareness raising, information sharing on youth policies and activities, and to connect with other youth in IndustriALL.

Sarah Flores, IndustriALL project and youth officer said:

Young workers face huge challenges with the increase of non-standard forms of employment and transformation of jobs. Unions and young workers are under attack, but we can fight this if we organize together.

Youth is the actor of change. It is time they are given the space, and also occupy the space. We have a strong mandate to support, promote and empower young workers.

In their action plan towards Congress in 2020, youth in South East Asia committed to:

International solidarity with Turkish unions during economic crisis

One of the world's fastest growing economies over the last decade, Turkey has fallen into the trap of foreign debt fueled growth, bringing the country into deep economic turmoil as deficits in both fiscal and current accounts reach alarming levels. The Turkish government used foreign credit to drive growth through infrastructure and construction investments, the return on which is insufficient to service the debt.

Since Turkey has inadequate hard currency reserves to rescue the economy, the Turkish lira has fallen sharply against major currencies and lost 4 per cent in value since August, and 50 per cent from the beginning of the year. Coupled with a series of political crises, this has resulted in economic fallout that could trigger a harsh crisis in the banking system in the country and other emerging economies, and even in Europe, considering the close economic ties.

In the meantime, the Turkish Statistical Institute announced that yearly retail inflation reached 24,52 per cent, with 6,3 per cent recorded for the month of September alone. The Institute reported that wholesale price inflation reached 46,15 per cent, showing a huge gap with retail prices. There is an expectation that yearly inflation will surpass 30 per cent.

Turkey’s main export drivers are the automotive and auto supply sectors, textile and garment industries and petrochemicals, which are organized by IndustriALL affiliates.

In addition, Turkey suffers from tariffs imposed by the US in the steel and aluminum sectors, among others, which impact industrial jobs in manufacturing.

The sharp devaluation of the lira has resulted in a drastic decline in purchasing power for workers. At the beginning of the year, the legal minimum wage was increased from 1,404 to 1,603 lira net, at the time more than €350, now worth less than €200. Turkey’s minimum wage has become lower than neighbouring countries.

Turkish unions are united in demanding a quick fix by increasing the legal minimum wage to 2,000 lira, which remains far from being sufficient for survival.

It is reported that a number of companies have already filed for bankruptcy with the authorities, creating massive job losses without protection.

Turkish affiliates must also fight for the fundamental trade union rights and liberties of workers guaranteed by international conventions and the country’s constitution. There is continous pressure and intimidation against workers and trade unions, particularly when they engage in organizing campaigns and collective bargaining negotiations.

The IndustriALL visit coincided with a major labour dispute regarding the construction of the giant third airport in Istanbul, where 32,000 workers are employed. Since the start of the project, at least 37 workers have died, and workers say the number could be much higher. Workers have reported problems with safety, excessive working time, food and accommodation.

To protest the rising number of fatalities and poor working conditions at the airport construction site, workers went on strike, but security forces were brought out to repress the industrial action. Union officials and members have been arrested and are still in prison. IndustriALL Global and European trade unions joined the international union movement in protesting the situation, writing to the country's President and the construction consortium IGA.

Addressing the meeting, Valter Sanches and Luc Triangle, respective general secretaries of IndustriALL Global and Europe made a statement, saying:

“Our sincere hope and expectation is that Turkey resolves its current hard economic problems without having to turn to international financial agencies, particularly the International Monetary Fund, since their anti-labour austerity policies in the past are still fresh in our memories.

“IndustriALL Global and European trade unions are fully committed to continuing to give full support and solidarity to all our Turkish affiliates in your fight for fundamental trade union rights.

“Both organizations are present here to demonstrate our consistent support to our Turkish affiliates in these difficult times for the workers in the country.”

Understanding the challenge of Industry 4.0 from a labour perspective

Opening the meeting, Iwan Kusmawan, chair of IndustriALL Indonesia Council said:

Industry 4.0 was introduced by the government and employers. Unions and workers are pushed to accept the challenge and also to face problems related to job losses.

For the discussion, there was a panel consisting of representatives from the ministry of industry, the Indonesian employers’ association, unions and media.

The representative from the ministry said that the Indonesian government is optimistic that Industry 4.0 will have a positive impact, and in April this year an Industry 4.0 road map covering five sectors was launched.

The five sectors to be developed for the forth industrial revolution are food and beverage, textiles, electronics and chemicals. The Indonesian government believes that Industry 4.0 can improve the competitiveness of Indonesian products in the global market and create 10 million new jobs by the year 2030.

The representative from Indocement-Heidelberg highlighted the importance of social dialogue between employers and trade unions to deal with the issue.

An action plan was agreed upon by the participants where workers and unions should see Industry 4.0 as an opportunity rather than threat, and increase awareness through education and trainings. To overcome the challenges, strategies should be developed, using the tools of international labour standards. Unions need to strengthen their collective bargaining agreements and include covering the impact of Industry 4.0.

IndustriALL files OECD complaint against General Electric

IndustriALL and its Algerian affiliate, the Syndicat National Autonome des Travailleurs de L'électricité et du Gaz (SNATEG), have submitted the complaint after GE failed to address human rights violations linked to its multi billion-dollar partnership with Algeria’s state-owned energy company, Sonelgaz. 

Since 2013, Sonelgaz has harassed, threatened, fired or disciplined over a thousand SNATEG leaders and members on account of their union activity, making it impossible for the union to function effectively. 

Sonelgaz has and continues to oppress SNATEGs members and leaders through the judicial system and summoned 1,114 union members to court for taking strike action in 2017. 

“General Electric is directly linked to serious human rights violations in Algeria and has failed to address them. GE has ignored our warnings about these abuses, so we’ve asked the OECD to intervene,” says IndustriALL general secretary, Valter Sanches. 

IndustriALL and at least four trade union affiliates with members at GE have written to the company on numerous occasions since January 2018, urging GE to carry out due diligence at its operations in Algeria, but GE has given no response.

GE’s partnership with Sonelgaz includes a 20-year services deal valued at more than US$3 billion and a US$2.7 billion deal to supply large gas turbines and related technology to nine power plants in the country. GE has multiple joint ventures with Sonelgaz and delivers management training programs for Sonelgaz executives.  

SNATEG president, Raouf Mellal, who was sacked by Sonelgaz for his union activities, has been sentenced to a total of 18 months in prison with fines of 10,000 euros (US$12,300) on seven spurious charges. It includes a six-month sentence for exposing the decade-long illicit inflation of electricity bills by Sonelgaz, affecting eight million households in Algeria. Mellal has been forced to move to a secret address to avoid harassment and intimidation from authorities.

Abdelkader Kawafi, general secretary of SNATEG, was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison because of press statements in which he spoke about precarious work at Sonelgaz. Similarly, dismissed union leader, Benzine Slimane, president of SNATEG security guards and protection union, was fined and sentenced to prison and is being pursued by Sonelgaz in four arbitrary cases.  According to the union, he is accused by Sonelgaz of defamation for calling for an end to sexual harassment of female workers.         

This persecution has been documented by the International Labour Organization, which has expressed serious concern at trade union repression at Sonelgaz and by the Algerian government. A planned ILO mission to the country in February this year had to be abandoned after the government refused to allow meetings with SNATEG and other independent unions in the country. 

The complaint against GE has been submitted by IndustriALL and SNATEG to the OECD’s National Contact Point in the United States.

Court rules compensation for dismissed autoworkers in Malaysia

Although the judge found the workers guilty of misconduct in his verdict, he considered dismissal was an excessive punishment for 18 former employees of the two auto parts manufacturing companies, Hicom Automotive Manufacturers and Isuzu Hicom. Both companies are subsidiaries of the DRB-Hicom Group, which specializes in assembling cars in Malaysia for Tata-Motors, Honda, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Isuzu.

After their dismissal in 2013, NUTEAIW filed a case in support of their members at the industrial relations department of the ministry of human resources, and hired a lawyer to represent them in court.

Workers were fired after company management discovered a video recording on YouTube dated to May 2013 in which they were handing over a workers’ manifesto to a Malaysian Islamic Party candidate, demanding union rights and benefits. The candidate was running for a seat in the Pahang state parliament in the 2013 general elections.

Management accused workers of using the external source of influence with the aim of improving their wages and working conditions. Because some of the workers were wearing their uniforms with company logos during the hand-over, management claimed the company reputation was damaged and after few months of internal investigation fired 18 workers who participated in the action, including the one who organized it.

The court considered the misconduct was not a criminal offence. The court also noted that the dismissed workers, most of whom stayed with the same employer for 20 years, had never had any serious misconduct in their past record. The court proclaimed the dismissal was “disproportionate to the misconduct” and obliged the companies to pay out all the due wages as well as compensation in lieu of reinstatement since their dismissal. Each worker will get between MYR24,000 (U$5,800 US) and MYR94,000 (U$22,635 US).

End corporate greed and reduce precarious work, unions tell LafargeHolcim

The participants had a detailed exchange over challenges existing at national and international levels at LafargeHolcim, and expressed serious concerns at a lack of genuine social dialogue with the company after the changes in leadership in 2017 and 2018.

Trade union relations with LafargeHolcim went downhill at the end of 2017, when the new CEO reneged on a Memorandum of Understanding to sign a global framework agreement with IndustriALL Global Union and Building and Woodworkers International. 

Meanwhile, rampant use of precarious work, namely outsourcing of up to 80 per cent in some sites, poses an enormous threat to workers’ rights and working conditions. LafargeHolcim proceeds with its policy of a shrinking business for the sake of increasing dividends paid to shareholders at the expense of workers creating all the company‘s wealth. Contract workers at LafargeHolcim are less qualified, have no access to training and promotion, and are not properly trained on health and safety. Consequently, three out of four victims of reported fatal accidents at work are contract workers.

The World Union Council issued a statement demanding that LafargeHolcim ends corporate greed and drastically reduces precarious work. 

While welcoming the creation of a European Works Council inside the group, workers at the European level are worried their concerns are not being heard by top management. Moreover, participants reported cases of increased pressure on trade union activists from local management. Social dialogue and freedom of association are at risk, as several incidents show, such as in El Salvador. 

Participants were able to pose all of these and many other questions to management representative Vincent Giard, head of labour relations and social policies at LafargeHolcim  and Yonca Atac responsible for health and safety in Europe, who attended the second day of the meeting. 

Pierre Cuppens,Vice-President of Building and Woodworkers International, said:

“This was a very useful meeting, especially because it was attended by management representatives. There is no reason for LafargeHolcim to stay away from a global framework agreement. We are on the same line on many issues, and I believe we need to continue our actions aimed at conclusion of such an agreement. We are willing to negotiate, but if the company continues rejecting it, we must be ready to exert our pressure on behalf of global union movement.”

Matthias Hartwich, director for materials industries in IndustriALL Global Union said,

“The group’s economic strategy is strange: more earnings with less assets and promises for increasing dividends for shareholders. The management is undermining LafargeHolcim’s industrial basis. At the same time, they talk of moving social dialogue to the national local level. We fully disagree with this approach as it will undermine good faith and fruitful  dialogue in the future.”

Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, summarised the discussions:

“Through open discussions, fair exchange and concrete action plans, the World Union Committee of LafargeHolcim underlined important challenges in the operations of the company throughout the world, including violations of fundamental rights, lack of genuine social dialogue and excessive use of precarious work. We raised all these issues with representatives of the management. We want to resolve the problems through industrial relations mechanisms. We hope that LafargeHolcim management will reciprocate in a similar way. Otherwise we will continue to conduct our campaign for justice and fairness.”