Indonesian pulp and paper union FSP2KI protests against unlawful dismissals

Herli Sanopa, secretary of the Contracting Workers' Union (SPK), organizing outsourced workers at PT. Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper, and affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union through the Indonesia Federation of Pulp and Paper Workers Union (FSP2KI), said,

“Unions tried to engage in dialogue with the outsourcing companies and PT. Tanjungenim Lestari, but we faced a deadlock. Therefore, demonstrations will continue to take place until all workers are reinstated.”

The union leader also added that actions already took place on 8 and 16 October and are planned for 25 and 29 October. The 16 October demonstration and picket was suspended by workers when the company accepted to negotiate with the union, however no agreement was reached during four hours of talks. Therefore the rallies will continue as scheduled.

All the workers were dismissed by two companies, PT. Mayapada Clinic Pratama and Fajar Muara Indah PT., both service providers to PT. Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper. The sackings are punishment for their participation in a successful strike in June which was strongly supported by IndustriALL. These 12 reprisal dismissals are a direct violation of strike settlement agreement that included the clause on no reprisals against workers who participated in the strike on 13-14 June earlier this year.

The strike at one of Indonesia’s largest pulp and paper mills saw five hundred outsourced workers go on a two-day strike in two locations in South Sumatera Province and Lampung Province. All the workers were employed by five different outsourcing firms supplying labour to PT. Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper operations. Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper employs around 2,500 workers of which more than 1,700 are employed at outsourcing firms. 

Following two days of strike, on 14 June unions on one side and outsourcing companies and Tanjungenim Lestari management on the other, reached an agreement guaranteeing improved working conditions and continuity of permanent work among others. The clause of non-retaliation was also part of it.

Valter Sanches, in his 16 October letter to the President-Director of PT. Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper said,

“IndustriALL Global Union urges PT.Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper, as the principal company, to guarantee the full implementation of the agreement from 14 June, and, in consequence, ensure the reinstatement of the 12 workers at PT. Mayapada Clinic Pratama and Fajar Muara Indah.”

Sanches also called on the company “to act promptly to redress these serious violations of fundamental workers’ rights.”

Smurfit Kappa workers protest against union-bashing in Colombia

Sintracarcol set up camp outside the company's facilities in Medellin, Colombia, until 13 October. The union was protesting against the firm's violations of international employment standards at its plants across Colombia, particularly those in Medellin, Barranquilla, Bogotá and Cali.

The union took action after union leader Yair Giraldo and a number of other workers were unfairly dismissed.

“I'm a victim of union-bashing,” said Giraldo. “Smurfit Kappa is playing a brutal game. I was cornered by the head of Human Resources and his supervisors, wanting to discuss union matters.

“I told them that such discussions have to be held according to the collective agreement. After that, they started proceedings to have my union protections rescinded, the court ruled in their favour, and I was fired.”

The company does not comply with or properly implement the provisions of the collective bargaining agreements. Company management has put huge amounts of pressure on workers in an attempt to stop them from joining the union of their choice.

Union members are systematically denied union leave to attend meetings and other union business. And union leaders have been offered money and other benefits to get them to leave the union or in return for information or legal action.

In a letter to Mr Anthony P. J. Smurfit, CEO of Smurfit Kappa Group, Valter Sanches, IndustriALL's general secretary, condemns the company’s violations of fundamental union rights:

“I call on your office to urgently address the misconduct of Smurfit Kappa’s management team in Colombia. Your company’s actions constitute systematic union-bashing against our members. 

“I urge you to work with Sintracarcol to find a fair solution and to build stronger industrial relations with Cartón de Colombia.“

Pakistan: Seven workers injured in a fire at shipbreaking yard

The fire brigade had difficulty in reaching the site and putting off the fire. Edhi Foundation volunteers along with some union workers helped to rescue the victims, who were later shifted to a civil hospital in Karachi.

All the fire victims, including Abdul Qayoom, Khaliq, Muhammad Din, Muhammad Azam, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Jabbar and Ehsan Ullah, were precariously employed workers.

Ironically, the tragedy happened just one day after Balochistan labour minister visited the yard and surveyed working and living conditions of Gadani shipbreaking workers. Fires at shipbreaking yards are not exceptional, last week there were fire accidents in the shipbreaking yards 6 and 7 , but fortunately no worker was injured. Following the accident Government of Baluchistan banned any kind of shipbreaking activity and assembly of workers in the area.

Atle Høie, Assistant general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union said,

“It is unacceptable that negligence towards safety and subsequent fire disasters continue in Gadani shipbreaking yards. Even after the massive tragedy in November 2016, which killed 26 workers and injured many more, the government and employers seem to have not learnt their lessons. Along with IndustriALL affiliates in Pakistan, we reiterate our demand to the government of Baluchistan to implement the shipbreaking code and to the government of Pakistan to immediately ratify and implement the Hong Kong International Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships.”

Kan Matsuzaki, director, ICT, electrical and electronics, shipbuilding and shipbreaking, said,

“Appropriate medical support and compensation should be provided to all victims of the disaster. We stand in solidarity with the victims and hope for their speedy recovery. In order to improve the safety standards at the yard government and employers must stop precarious work, recognize workers’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and implement labour laws and shipbreaking code in line with the Hong Kong Convention.”

Rebuilding union strength in Caspian region

The meeting which gathered union delegates from Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, is an attempt to revitalize the activities and mutual exchange of information between the unions in the network, which last met in Kazakhstan in 2014.

Oil and gas workers in the region are facing numerous challenges in their working and living conditions such as spoiled water, contamination and the fluctuating level of the Caspian Sea. In Azerbaijan alone, some 11 million people live around the sea and directly or indirectly depend on it in their daily life and work.

At the same time, the influence of the companies working in the region stretches far. In Turkey, IndustriALL affiliate Petrol-Is has strong presence in oil companies, including the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR that invests a lot in the country.

One of the issues of union concern is the agreement signed in August between the countries on the Caspian coast, based on proposals for a potential separation of the sea territory. Currently, there are offshore oilfields in the Caspian Sea exploited by the multinational corporations from different countries, both from and outside the region. If they are pushed away, many jobs could disappear.

 During the meeting the network discussed and set the following main objectives to:

The participants shared the main problems their unions are facing, including problems related to privatization, outsourcing in the sector, as well as difficulty in organizing workers at both contractors and multinational companies.

Azerbaijan oilfield operations have been active for more than 70 years and the challenge now is to modernize them. Lack of modernization makes safety at work a key issue. However, heavy investment is needed, as some 95 per cent of the exploration is offshore.

Russian Oil, Gas and Construction Workers Union reported of existing agreements concluded with the main operating in the field companies, Rosneft, Tatneft, Lukoil and Gazprom. The union participates in health and safety commissions; however, the safety situation needs to be improved as so far annually 30 to 50 workers die at work.

Turkish delegates referred to the problem of increasingly precarious working conditions even at the state-run enterprises.

Diana Junquera Curiel, IndustriALL Energy Industry director said,

“This was a fruitful meeting, the participants agreed that unions operating in the region have to come together and share their experiences in order to improve their knowledge and strategies. Almost all the big oil and gas multinational companies are operating in the region so it’s important to involve them in the process to establish a genuine social dialogue.”

Strengthening young workers in Myanmar

The training with youth members of the Mining Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (MWFM) and the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) was conducted through IndustriALL’s union-building project in Myanmar, in cooperation with FNV Mondiall and SASK-Finland. The project is aimed enhancing the skills of young leaders and organizers in unions.

Twenty-nine participants (25 men and 4 women) from MWFM participated in the training in Sagaing, including six young union leaders from IWFM. 

Mine workers braved flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains in upper Myanmar to attend the meeting. However, many women members of MWFM were not able to attend due to difficulties and possible dangers in traveling.

Lorna Ferrer, South East Asia regional project coordinator facilitated the training and presented the IndustriALL strategic goals and action plan for youth in the region.  

The workshop helped participants sharpen their organizing skills and deepen their knowledge on leadership techniques and styles. Young workers also participated in group structured learning exercises and team building activities. Profiling of young workers through situational analysis of young workers at respective workplaces, trade unions and in society were also undertaken.  The participants drew up an action plan and organizing targets to increase and involve young workers in union organizing and leadership in trade unions.

IWFM conducted a similar training-workshop in Yangon on 12-13 October 2018. Twenty-seven (13 men and 14 women) young leaders and youth committee members from different member-unions participated.  Together with IWFM president Sister Khaing Zar Aung, young workers who participated in the previous training in Sagaing shared the acquired knowledge and explained what they had learnt.

Training sessions include profiling of young workers in mine and industrial sectors, and awareness on employment condition of young workers both at the national and global levels.

The training is expected to boost youth participation in trade unions in Myanmar through organizing, policy development, capacity building and gender equality among young workers.

Celebrating 14 weeks maternity leave

As a result of a campaign run by the IndustriALL Women’s Committee in Indonesia, around 18 companies have signed collective agreements increasing maternity leave to 14 weeks and more.

An award was given to unions and employers who had improved maternity protection, especially prolonging maternity leave from 12 weeks to 14 weeks more.

Together with the employer, unions at Glaxo Wellcome Indonesia, Takeda, Honda Parts Precision Manufacturing, Omron Indonesia, Ciba Vision, Asahimas, Reckitt Benckiser, Johnson&Johnsons, Absolute Services & Target Sekurindo, and Unilever all received the award.

When receiving the 14 weeks award for having introduced 3,5 months maternity leave, the employer representative from Takeda Indonesia said that employers and unions share the concerns for improving maternity protection in collective agreements.

We will continue our campaign for better maternity protection and hope that the award will encourage more unions to follow,

said Iwan Kusmawan, IndustriALL Indonesia council chair.

Through a project funded by Mondiaal FNV, the Indonesian women’s committee has campaigned for increased maternity leave on a national level, working with the government and parliament on the ratification of ILO Convention 183 on Maternity Protection, as well as on a federal level through collective bargaining agreements.

The women’s committee has set up a model CBA on better maternity protection, containing provisions like 14 weeks leave, menstruation leave, breastfeeding time, protection for pregnant workers, and a lactation room.

Unions from Glaxo Wellcome Indonesia said that they will continue to fight for maternity leave to be increased from four to six months as “better maternity protection means a better future for our children”. 

Coal mining unions demand Just Transition

IndustriALL coal mining affiliates from Australia, Botswana, Bulgaria, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Spain, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam took part in the meeting held on 11 and 12 October 2018. 

Unions held frank discussions over the implications of an alarming IPCC Special Report that calls for limiting global warming to 1.5ºC, as well as union strategies towards 24th Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 24) to be held at Katowice, Poland. 

Participants expressed frustration over governments’ and employers’ failure to develop social plans to protect coal workers’ interests in climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.

However, Michael Vassiliadis, president, German Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Union (IG BCE) said:

“In Germany, even though we have plenty of coal reserves, a political decision has been taken to end industrial coal mining by this year. The IG BCE always considered this decision to be wrong, nevertheless we supported it and we guaranteed that not a single mine worker is left at the bottom of the pit without employment. IG BCE and the entire German public are interested in implementing Paris Climate decisions and outcomes of forthcoming COP 24. This debate is directly about jobs and the livelihood of our members and their families. And it is also about affordable supply of electricity to the population and for the industry.” 

Unions emphasized that a Just Transition, which ensures strong social protection programmes and sustainable industrial policies, is the answer to ensure coal workers’ jobs as part of measures to meet carbon emissions targets. Participants said governments and employers must invest and deploy adequate resources in research and development of clean coal technologies. 

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL’s director for mining, said: “Climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts should be fair and take into account the capabilities and vulnerabilities of countries with different levels of economic development.”  

Unions underlined the need to assess the technological transformation that is already underway in the coal industry to better guard workers’ interests.

Union leaders reported deplorable health and safety conditions and fatalities in the industry. Many employers and governments remain indifferent and negligent towards health and safety, and workers continue to face treacherous working conditions in coalmines around the world. 

Underlining IndustriALL’s global campaign for safe mining in Pakistan, the meeting issued a statement in solidarity with unions in Pakistan in their struggle. The meeting also called for intensifying the campaign to ratify ILO C 176 in more countries. 

Addressing the participants, IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said: “The coal mining industry is facing massive transformation with major social, economic and political challenges. A strong global coal mining unions network is needed to influence policy decisions, strengthen international solidarity to defend coal mining workers’ rights and to ensure Just Transition.”

Unions also expressed discontent over privatization of public sector coal mines in India and elsewhere. Almost every case of privatization around the world has resulted in the exponential increase of precarious work and criminal disregard to occupational health and safety in coalmines leading to accidents and loss of workers' lives. 

IndustriALL renews global agreement with German multinational, Rheinmetall

The new agreement was signed between Rheinmetall and IndustriALL at the company’s headquarters in Dusseldorf on 12 October 2018. The agreement builds on worker and trade union protections across the company’s global supply chain.  

IndustriALL is now an equal partner to the agreement and it includes improvements such as: 

The Rheinmetall European Works Council and IndustriALL’s German affiliate, IG Metall, initiated re-negotiation of the GFA more than two years ago, and over the past year there have also been intensive negotiations with IndustriALL. 

In the new agreement, IndustriALL and Rheinmetall commit to increase cooperation in the years to come. 

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said: 

“The renewal of the global framework agreement with Rheinmetall underlines the willingness of both parties to deepen their relationship and intensify efforts to ensure Rheinmetall’s high social standards are adhered to at all their plants worldwide, and across the supply chain.”

Rheinmetall has more than a 125 history and employs 24,000 people. In 2017, it generated sales of nearly Euros 6 billion and is represented in 39 locations in Germany, a further 39 in Europe (excluding Germany), 13 on the American continent, 17 in Asia, six in Africa and three in Australia.

The original global framework agreement with Rheinmetall was signed in 2003. 

Trade union leaders beaten and arrested during Zimbabwe austerity protests

In an attempt to stop a march from taking off in Harare, the police surrounded the offices of the ZCTU, beating up and arresting the federation’s president Peter Mutasa and secretary general, Japhet Moyo, according to unions. About 20 protesting workers were arrested in Mutare and 13 in Masvingo.

Five IndustriALL Global Union affiliates took part in the marches in solidarity with other unions.

Recently, the Zimbabwean government announced monetary and fiscal policies to remedy the economy arguing that the reforms were “painful and necessary”. But the opposite happened as the economy nose-dived. The austerity policies are wiping out the value of wages and workers can no longer afford basic necessities

Following announcements to increase taxes on mobile money transactions to two per cent per dollar, and that bank deposits made in US dollars would now be converted to local currency, people went into panic mode buying basic goods out of fear of the return of hyper-inflation. Food prices skyrocketed as goods disappeared from the shelves. Businesses closed for “stock taking” and “renovations” or simply increased prices for their goods and services. 

While the government maintains that the exchange rate for the local currency to the US dollar is 1:1, the reality is that on the parallel market one US dollar is 4.85 Zimbabwe dollars, called bond notes. This makes the panic understandable. In 2008 workers lost wages including pensions when their retirement benefits and savings could not even buy a loaf of bread due to hyperinflation.

Says Christian Ranji, secretary for the IndustriALL Zimbabwe Youth Committee: “Workers have no option but to fight austerity. We can’t be taxed to fund wasteful government spending. Companies are closing, and workers losing jobs. The announcement caused instability as grocery shops increased prices and citizens started buying in bulk to get value for their money.”

Valter Sanches, IndustriALL General Secretary, says:

“We call upon the government of Zimbabwe to respect the rights of workers to protest against the austerity measures and condemn the acts of violence and intimidation. The arrest of the ZCTU leadership, comrades Peter Mutasa and Japhet Moyo, and the protesting workers is unacceptable. We call for their immediate release, and for the government to seek social dialogue with the unions.”

Death toll rises to 12 in Indian steel plant blast

It is yet another fatal accident in the Bhilai steel plant, exposing the safety crisis at Indian public sector steel plants. According to official reports, the blast occurred at around 10.30am on 9 October, as maintenance work was underway in the gas pipe line of Coke Oven Battery Complex No 11.

About 23 employees were working in the area at the time of the blast. The bodies of nine employees who died on the spot were burnt beyond recognition. Employees’ families are demanding that DNA testing should be done to identify the bodies. Three employees died at hospital. 

It is feared that fatalities may increase as many workers are still battling for life; one worker is on a ventilator with 100 per cent burns, while others are receiving treatment with 70, 50, and 40 per cent burns.  Even though firemen were present at the spot, they did not get a chance to react. Victims of the accident include managerial staff, technicians and fire fighters. 

The Bhilai steel plant has a deplorable safety record – one worker died on each day in consecutive accidents on the 8, 9and 10May 2018. The management till this day has not implemented the safety committee’s recommendation, which was submitted after another major accident in 2014. 

In Bhilai steel plant alone between 2014 to till today about 31 workers were killed in fatal accidents. According to information provided in the parliament by the minister of steel, 74 workers were killed between 2014 -2017 in the fatal accidents in various SAIL plants across the country. During the same period the company suffered 205 reportable accidents. 

Sanjay Singh, Chhattisgarh state president of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) said:

“Lack of safety measures, failure to learn from past fatal accidents, and increasing number of precarious workers, are the primary reasons for the safety crisis. We condemn the accident in the strongest terms and it must be probed, while the people responsible should be punished. We stand in solidarity with victims’ families in these difficult times.” 

Apoorva Kaiwar, IndustriALL South Asia Regional Secretary said:

“It is appalling that management’s negligence continues to claim workers’ lives in one of the premier steel manufacturing plants in India. This is a public sector undertaking and the government should take strong measures to ensure safety for workers.”

The government authorities have announced formation of an internal committee to investigate the accident. The latest tragedy comes after the Bhilai steel plant completed its modernization and expansion programme in June, which was dedicated to the nation by the Indian Prime Minister.