South Africa: CEPPWAWU congress agrees on roadmap for union revival

The congress, attended by 224 delegates, took place in East London, 27-31 August, and focused on reviving the union through participatory democracy. The congress emphasized the importance of a leadership collective that is accountable, and which respected democratic traditions of the labour movement including “workers control.” Trust building will be prioritized through bottom-up programmes that include union members.

Since the last congress in 2011, CEPPWAWU, which has 55 000 members, went through a dark period of internal fights for the control of the union and its investment company. Courts described the disputes as “internecine squabbling” between rival factions. During this period, national executive committee meetings did not take place and two congresses were skipped. Dismissals and expulsions of members were common as well as allegations of fraud. This badly affected the membership of the union which declined.

The union also failed to produce audited financial statements as required by the law and faced deregistration from the Department of Labour. However, the union brought the situation under control when Simon Mofokeng, then general secretary was dismissed by the union in 2017 after failing to appear for disciplinary hearings.

Since then the union has adopted a “roadmap” to bring its affairs to order including urgently complying with the law. However, there is still a lot of work to be done by the union’s leadership. In the next few months, the national executive committee will finalize outstanding matters including the secretariat report, constitutional amendments, and an organizational review.

However, no woman was elected despite calls for gender equality. “We need a gender balance in the union leadership. Unions must not only preach about gender equality but should practice it through including women in the leadership,” said Miriam Marishane, who with other women demonstrated against the unfair treatment of aspiring women leaders in the union.

The congress elected the following leaders: Thamsanqa Mhlongo (President), Lucas Mashego (1^st Vice President), Johannes Dube (2^nd Vice President), Lemmy Mokoena (Treasurer), Welile Nolingo (General Secretary), and Musa Bhengu (Deputy General Secretary).

“We congratulate CEPPWAWU for being able to convene this long overdue congress and agree with the views of the workers who want a strong and democratic union. Uniting on common programmes that benefit all workers is key to building union power,” said Kenny Mogane, IndustriALL regional officer for Sub Saharan Africa.

Asia Pacific: BASF Regional Trade Union Network continues to grow

The meeting was conducted with financial and political support from IndustriALL’s long-standing strategic partner, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES). The meeting focused on strengthening the network and building the appropriate structure for establishing social dialogue with the company at all levels.

The participants stressed that the unions should come up with a strategic reply to the challenges faced by workers; continuing digitalization of production and work, growing use of precarious work, and an overall growth of the company. The meeting also highlighted the promotion of gender equality and integration of young workers in building union density at BASF in Asia Pacific Region.

The meeting extensively analysed current trends in the global chemical industries at a period of major restructuring, including mega mergers. Other priority issues addressed were ways to protect worker rights and organizing around occupational health and safety at BASF sites.

The union representatives assessed progress on national action plans, and continued to map working conditions, wages, safety and health, as well as trade union organizing. Despite increasing profits and sales, BASF workers face serious challenges in the region, and there is still inequality of employment conditions between the countries.

The meeting welcomed an input from IndustriALL’s powerful German affiliate IG BCE, representing workers in BASF’s home country Germany. The union’s director of European and international affairs, Michael Mersmann, explained the german social dialogue and co-determination model, particularly in the context of BASF. Mersmann stressed the importance of coordinating collective bargaining, particularly at national level. He also explained how IG BCE can help unions in the region with a clear protocol on raising issues from the region to BASF corporate management in Germany.

The Asian network members paid great attention to a report from BASF Latin America regional network coordinator Airton Cano, who shared their 20-year experience and successes of social dialogue between their regional network structure and the company, with a particular reference to the collaboration with the Works Council in Germany. The network coordinated by Cano has established trust and respect from the company and regularly raises issues with management. Information shared by the company in social dialogue supports union work throughout the region. The support of IndustriALL and the BASF union leaders in Germany is equally important, and communication with them is vital, Cano added.

The meeting concluded with a new action plan for each country and the region as a whole. A new coordination committee was elected, under new regional coordinator, Raghuram Theramkudalu from BASF India. The committee will further develop regular communication and seek to include workers from other countries in the network. It was also agreed to deepen understanding of the impact of Industry 4.0 on BASF operations, and request disclosure of company information.

IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“This Singapore meeting clearly showed energy, appetite and willingness in keeping union networking in BASF Asia Pacific operations. We are certain that this will bring proper dialogue with company management in the future.”

Copper workers face threats in Chile

Miguel Veliz, leader of union No. 3 of Codelco’s Chuquicamata mine, had a stone thrown at his car on 22 August. The perpetrators left a note in which they threatened the leader.

The stone had a message attached to it containing anti-union slogans. They are trying to scare us away from our union work – but they won't succeed. The incident is reported to the district attorney, together with the names of all those who have threatened me in the last month. I call on the government to take steps to prevent this from happening again,

said Veliz.

Union No. 3 is part of the Copper Workers’ Federation (FTC), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union. The FTC National Governing Board has condemned the threats and other attacks against union leaders:

We condemn and are outraged by these anonymous acts to intimidate Codelco workers. Such violence generates fear and endangers people's safety,

the board said in a statement.

The board also insisted that it would do everything it could to ensure that the investigation conducted by the relevant authorities resulted in the perpetrators of these attacks being identified and the full severity of the law applied.

The governing body of Union No. 3 issued a statement condemning the attack on its leader. In the same statement, it said that Ana Catalán, President of the Gabriela Mistral Union of Professional Workers and Analysts, had also been threatened.

Catalán received death threats in a phone call on 21 August, and was told not to attend negotiations organized by Codelco's management.

It's terrible that people try and prevent us from doing our job and protecting the rights of our workers. Our conviction has not changed – we will continue to work to further the negotiations and achieve the best possible outcome,

said Catalán.

Union No. 3 stated that it had already taken steps with authorities, and called on Chile’s government to intervene in order to ensure that those threatening freedom of association are held accountable.

IndustriALL regional secretary Marino Vani says:

We condemn these cowardly acts and hope this will be resolved as quickly as possible. Workers must be able to exercise union rights without fear of reprisals. We call on Codelco to continue dialogue with the unions in good faith and to reach an agreement in the collective negotiations

Mexican union leader, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, sworn in as senator

Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, president and general secretary of the Mexican Union of Miners and Metalworkers’ Union, known as Los Mineros, was included on the winning ticket of the Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party in the general elections on 1 July.

Gómez has been a titular member of IndustriALL’s Executive Committee since it was founded in 2012 and IndustriALL affiliates around the world have united behind him and the campaign for democratic unions in Mexico.

IndustriALL general secretary, Valter Sanches, as well as IndustriALL affiliates, the United Steelworkers (USW) International President, Leo W. Gerard from the USA and Canada, and Len McCluskey from UK and Ireland trade union, Unite, were among those present at the ceremony on 29 August. The unions have been unwavering in their support of Napoleón Gómez and Los Mineros, even before he was compelled to leave Mexico.

Valter Sanches said it was a source of great pride to have an elected compañero as part of the new government, which promises to take up the cause of workers. Speaking before the ceremony, he said:

“To all of our brothers and sisters who have fought throughout the years, and for those who have shown international solidarity around the world, today is a day to celebrate because solidarity has triumphed again.”

The story of Napoleon’s exile begins with terrible tragedy on 19 February 2006, after an explosion ripped through Grupo México’s Pasta de Conchos coal mine in the northern state of Coahuila, trapping 65 miners hundreds of metres beneath the surface.

Unlike the San José mine collapse four years later in Chile, when 33 miners were miraculously found alive after 17 days trapped underground, rescue efforts at Pasta de Conchos were stopped after only five days. Grupo México and the Mexican government even disconnected the electricity to the mine to stop the search and hide the safety violations that could incriminate the company. This was before they knew the miners were dead.

Before the disaster, Napoleon Gomez, whose union represented miners at Pasta de Conchos, had already warned of the dangerous conditions in the mines, and asked that production be stopped until conditions improved. Now it was too late.

Almost twelve years later, the bodies of 63 of the 65 miners remain in the mine and the Mexican government has failed to investigate or prosecute those responsible.

Following the tragedy, Gómez strongly condemned Grupo México and the Mexican government, accusing them of industrial homicide for neglecting to correct more than 40 health and safety violations in the mine.

In retaliation for his outspoken comments, the Mexican government removed Gómez as union leader and imposed Elías Morales as acting general secretary of Los Mineros. The move sparked international outcry and a global campaign was launched by IndustriALL’s predecessor organizations, in support of Gómez and union autonomy in Mexico.

After receiving death threats for criticizing Grupo México, and under increasing oppression from the authorities, Gómez and his family fled Mexico in early March 2006 with the aid of the United Steelworkers. On 18 and 19 March 2006, Los Mineros rank and file membership voted overwhelmingly in favour of Gómez as their general secretary, renouncing Morales.

Gómez was then persecuted through the courts on sham charges of corruption of Los Mineros funds. Gómez successfully contested the accusations eleven times until a federal court finally put an end to the case, denouncing the charges as baseless and unconstitutional.

Los Mineros leaders were targeted and imprisoned by authorities, including Juan Linares, who was illegally incarcerated for more than two years. A week of action by global unions and their affiliates was a determining factor in securing his release from prison in 2011.

In 2013, Gómez was finally taken off Interpol’s red alert list of wanted suspects and the Mexican government was heavily criticized for using Interpol for its own political purposes. It meant Gómez was able to leave Canada, where he had taken refuge with his family under protection of the USW, for the first time since 2006 and attend a meeting of IndustriALL’s Executive Committee in Geneva, Switzerland.

In May 2014, Napoleón Gómez was awarded the prestigious Arthur Svensson International Prize for trade union rights for his leading role in the struggle for democratic unions in Mexico.

In the years that followed the Pasta de Conchos tragedy, the government continued its attacks on Los Mineros by freezing the union’s financial accounts, imprisoning the union’s leaders on false charges, attempting to eliminate the union’s legal right to strike, and using police and military force in violent attacks on workers, resulting in the deaths of at least four union activists and injuring many more.

Yet despite this, Los Mineros has continued to be the most successful trade union in Mexico. Gómez successfully concluded collective bargaining agreements from abroad negotiating the highest wage increases of any union in the country.

Gómez, who has been unanimously reelected as leader of Los Mineros multiple times, says that one of his first tasks when he returns to Mexico is to reopen the investigation into the Pasta de Conchos tragedy. He will also lead the fight against protection contracts in Mexico, (negotiated between corrupt unions and employers behind workers’ backs), as well as other violations of trade union rights that form the basis of IndustriALL’s complaint to the International Labour Organization.

Speaking on the occasion of Gómez’s inauguration, Leo W. Gerard, from United Steelworkers, said:

“The fight of Napoleón Gómez and Los Mineros is a critical struggle for workers in North America and around the world. With Napoleón in the Senate, Mexico’s new government is poised to overcome decades of corruption and corporate domination and make real improvements to the rights and living standards of Mexican workers. The global labour movement must support these efforts and demand accountability for the victims of decades of repression, including the families of the Pasta de Conchos miners.”

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “For 12 years Napoleon Gomez resisted the efforts of the Mexican government and Mexico’s largest corporations to destroy him and his union. Napoleon’s return to Mexico to be sworn in as a senator for the Mexican republic is not only a victory for his and Los Mineros’ courageous and dignified campaign, but for global solidarity in the face of injustice. Unite is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Napoleon and his union. His fight is our fight and we wish him every success in transforming Mexico in the fight for a better world.”

Stop union busting at world’s biggest hanger company

Management at Mainetti’s subsidiary, Mainettech Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, is refusing to recognize IndustriALL’s affiliate, the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union (FTZ & GSEU), as a collective bargaining party and has sacked the branch union organizer.

The union also reports that some members were pressured into renouncing their membership and workers were in such fear of losing their jobs that they disbanded the union at the factory.

The dispute, which has dragged on for several months, began after FTZ & GSEU succeeded in organizing 88 workers at Mainetti’s Sri Lankan subsidiary Mainettech Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, exceeding the mandatory 40 per cent of workers necessary to be recognized as a collective bargaining agent.

The company argued the union did not have enough members to exceed 40 per cent representation. However, FTZ & GSEU upholds that its members account for 60 per cent of manual workers on permanent contracts at Mainettech Lanka, which excludes workers employed through agencies or those working less than 90 days.

In February 2018, Mainettech suspended the union’s branch organizer, vice-president and branch secretary, alleging they had organized union meetings during working hours and disrupted production. However, the union says no such meetings took place. After an internal inquiry the branch organizer, Mr G.G. Mahinda, was sacked in May 2018.

Parent company, Mainetti, employs over 5,000 people in 49 countries supplying some of the world’s biggest brands including Abercrombie and Fitch, Nike, Hugo Boss, Walmart and so on.

After IndustriALL reached out to customers in April 2018 to inform them of the dispute in their supply chain, management at the Sri Lankan subsidiary said it was no longer able to discuss the union’s demands.

According to FTZ & GSEU, management continued its intimidation of workers, threatening to close down the factory if the union continued. Consequently, some union members signed letters to renounce their union membership.

In June 2018, Mainettech threatened the union president with disciplinary action on spurious charges that he strongly contested. Under mounting pressure, he disbanded the union, and the charges were dropped.

Mainettech has also set up an employees’ council without allowing workers to vote or following prescribed protocol.

“Mainettech management should stop union busting, reinstate the branch union organizer and stop using the employees’ council to undermine the union. Workers should be free to exercise their right to join a union as enshrined in our country constitution,” said Anton Marcus, Joint Secretary of FTZ & GSEU.

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said:

“Workers at Mainetti’s subsidiary in Sri Lanka have truly been hung out to dry and left without a union despite their legitimate desire for representation by our affiliate. We urge Mainetti to step in to resolve the dispute at Mainettech Lanka so that FTZ & GSEU is rightly recognized as the lawful collective bargaining agent. We also want the former branch organizer is reinstated with immediate effect. We’ll continue to engage with brands that source from Mainettech so they fulfill their global agreements on respecting workers’ rights along their supply chain.”

Brands that have not signed the 2018 Accord

Australia

Noni B

Pacific Brands

Austria

Fashion Team Handels

Belgium

Malu N.V.

France

CMT Windfield

EMC Distribution

Germany

Colombus Textilvertrieb GmbH

Comazo GmbH & Co Kg

Crown Textil GmbH

Full Service Handels GmbH

Hess Natur-Textilien GmbH

Horst Krüger GmbH

Jolo Fashion

Face to Face GmbH & Co.KG

Multiline Group *

OSPIG Textil Logistik GmbH

Rheinwalt Trade & more GmbH i.Gr.

United Labels AG

Viania

Worldtex GmbH

Yanis Textil Trade GmbH

Hong Kong

Entrade Manufacturing Co. Limited *

Heli Far East Ltd *

Mosgen Limited *

Techno Design GmbH

Italy

Teddy S.p.A.

Netherlands

De Bijenkorf

Bovi Verdi BV

Veldhoven Group

Vingino

Sweden

Ted Bernhardtz at Work

Unibrands AB

Switzerland

Charles Vogele

Vistaprint

United Kingdom

Aristocrate Distributor Ltd

Bebe Clothing (UK) LTD

Character World

Danielle Group plc

Hawkesbay Sportswear Limited UK

Milords

Nu Sourcing Ltd

Wilson Design Source Supply

USA

Abercrombie & Fitch

Accolade Group (Accolade USA Inc, Levelwear)

Antigua Group Inc

E5 USA, Inc.

J2 Licensing, Inc

L.A. T Sportswear, Inc

Lakeshirts, Inc.

MV Sport, Inc.

Sean John Apparel

T Shirt International, Inc.

Topline, Inc.

“Back to the plantation!” Union fights refinery closure in Trinidad and Tobago

On the eve of the 56th anniversary of independence from Britain, the government of Trinidad and Tobago yesterday announced the closure of the country’s only refinery, with the loss of 2,500 permanent jobs at state-owned oil company Petrotrin. The announcement is part of a restructuring plan for the debt-burdened company. All 3,500 workers will be sent home, but approximately 1,000 will be able to reapply for their jobs.

The board of the company met with IndustriALL Global Union affiliate OWTU yesterday. Although the government and company deny privatization plans, union president general Ancel Roget said:

“So you are going to close down the refinery. What do you do with the refinery after? Our suspicion is that after you send the workers home, make a terminalling operation, import fuel at high cost, use foreign exchange to import that fuel, you will then sell in a fire sale. The real owners will emerge….
“This means back to the plantation! Back to being producers of raw materials. We will produce crude, but instead of refining it ourselves, we will sell it. Others will add the value and sell it back to us.”

OWTU has expressed longstanding concerns about the management of the troubled company, and since 2008 has called for the company to be restructured so that the people of the country benefit. Petrotrin is the largest state-owned company in Trinidad and Tobago, and is a mainstay of the economy. However, years of mismanagement has led to a dramatic fall in production and the loss of billions of dollars in value.

Concerns raised by the union include a disturbing number of fatalities and other safety issues, which were not resolved, a lack of investment in aging infrastructure, the corrupt awarding of contracts and political patronage. Megaprojects have run into significant cost overruns, have not been completed in time, and resulted in no perceived benefit.

The union was angered by a statement made by the energy minister, who claimed that the wage bill accounts for 50 per cent of the cost of the highly indebted company. The union has shown that wages cost just 11 per cent, and that the reason for the indebtedness is a legacy of gross mismanagement.

“Trinidad and Tobago with celebrate 56 years of independence from Britain on 31 August”, said union spokesperson Ozzie Warwick.

“But how do you have economic independence if we, the people, do not own the commanding heights of the economy?”

Industrial general secretary Valter Sanches called on the government of Trinidad and Tobago to include OWTU in negotiations about restructuring the company, saying:

This decision would not only destroy the livelihood and welfare of the workers and their communities, but would also take the country back to colonial times.
Ceding of sovereignty—over the exploitation of key natural resources, and the generation of added-value products—to private interest, would run counter to the aspirations of the people and workers of Trinidad and Tobago to consolidate its democracy and achieve sustainable development on its own terms.

IndustriALL calls on its affiliates to show solidarity with OWTU as it struggles the save the jobs of its members, and the assets of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

Union leaders in Colombia face threats and violence

19 trade union members have been murdered in Colombia so far in 2018, according to the ITUC Global Rights Index, which ranks Colombia among the ten worst countries for workers.

Another report, "Anti-union violence, impunity and protection of trade unionists in Colombia", published by NGO Escuela Nacional Sindical, states that there were 2,220 violations against the life, freedom and integrity of Colombian trade unionists, including 143 murders, between 2012 and 2017.

Social leaders are also targets of violence. The Ombudsman's Office of Colombia has reported that 343 social leaders and human rights activists were murdered across the country between 1 January 2016 and 22 August 2018.

The increase in threats and violence against both social and trade union leaders has prompted representatives of the international trade union federations in Latin America to write to President Duque to express their concern.

They denounce the fact that, although the peace process began two years ago, it has not led to greater stability at a national level, in economic terms or with regard to human rights and social justice.

The letter says:

It goes without saying that a country that cannot safeguard the lives of its citizens when they themselves are fighting for their human rights cannot possibly achieve social justice.

Calling for measures to improve security and thus better protection of Colombia's citizens, they also said that judicial procedures need to be reviewed in order to end impunity for these crimes.

The federations joined the recent statement made by the United Nations Organization in Colombia condemning the killings of human rights activists and social leaders, and urging the Colombian government to strengthen prevention, protection and investigation measures to guarantee the right to life and integrity of all Colombians.

The unions reaffirmed their commitment to fostering an honest, ongoing and constructive dialogue with the government. Their aim is to create a programme that will promote decent working conditions, establish inspection mechanisms to bring an end to informal working arrangements and lay the groundwork for collective bargaining by sector.

Garment unions in Cambodia and Myanmar step closer to a living wage

Garment unions also discussed and debated brand purchasing practices and their impact on wages and working conditions. The workshops are part of a global programme between IndustriALL Global Union and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), which focuses on technical assistance for IndustriALL’s garment affiliates in strengthening their living wage campaigns.

Cambodian textile and garment unions agreed on strategies for both the minimum wage and industry bargaining processes. Wage discussions in Cambodia are at a critical stage. The annual minimum wage adjustment process is about to start while negotiations between unions and employers for an industry agreement linked to the ACT process on living wages are well underway.

ACT process is based on a unique agreement between global brands and retailers and trade unions aimed at transforming garment and textile industry and achieve living wages for workers through industry-wide collective bargaining linked to purchasing practices.

In Cambodia, one of the key issues will be how the industry-wide collective agreement deals with wages, building on the minimum wage. Unions discussed how to ensure that the eventual agreement raises wages to a level that will trigger the commitments made by brands under the ACT process.

As part of the annual minimum wage bargaining, Cambodian unions agreed to meet again to agree a common figure for their wage demand. This will be based on an update to the several criteria established by the unions to assess the amounts workers need to pay for housing, food, health etc.

As consultations with the government and employers continues under the ACT process, IndustriALL Myanmar affiliate, the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar and its members from different regions of the country also held a living wage workshop with the focus to better understand sectoral bargaining. Trade unions became legal in Myanmar in 2012. Myanmar’s first minimum wage came into force in 2015 and the minimum wage has reached 4,800 kyats per day (3,25 USD) after a minimum wage campaign was launched. Like in Cambodia, the minimum wage is insufficient to meet workers’ basic needs.

The unions also discussed advantages of a sectoral bargaining versus enterprise bargaining and concluded that increase in productivity should result in better wages and working conditions and better industrial relations in the entire industry through more motivation, more work-life balance, skill training, less turnover, and stronger social peace.

Jenny Holdcroft, IndustriALL assistant general secretary,

“Understanding how brand purchasing practices impact on wages and working conditions in factories is crucial. Through the ACT process, brands have committed to changing how they do business with their suppliers so that wages and conditions are not undermined.”

During the workshops the unions identified brand practices that have the greatest negative impact and must be reformed. Apart from pricing, which must be enough to cover all the costs of employing workers, unions agreed that late orders cause major problems in factories. These include increasing working hours, undermining wages and working conditions and causing high levels of job insecurity through temporary contracts, job losses and even factory closures. The participants called on brands to address these negative impacts through sustainable orders, better planning, setting appropriate prices and working in closer cooperation with factories to ensure that worker rights are respected.

Beyond Bangladesh, OECD countries must act to save lives in the garment industry

A bloody line had been crossed. People in countries around the world began caring who made their clothes, and how. Having dismissed warning after warning, global apparel brands could no longer ignore the dangerous working conditions at their supplier factories. Self-regulated safety audits were exposed as shams.

Global unions, IndustriALL and UNI, seized the moment and produced the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building, an unprecedented, independent, legally binding agreement between trade unions and brands. The goal: that no worker need fear fires, building collapses, or other accidents that could be prevented with reasonable health and safety measures. It meant that brands had to take responsibility for making their supplier factories safe, and pay towards it too.

Expert fire and building safety engineers working for the Bangladesh Accord have since inspected more than 1,600 factories making garments for over 200 brands and retailers. Initial inspections identified 118,500 fire, electrical and structural hazards of which 84% have been corrected. The Accord training team has conducted 2,838 safety committee training sessions with workers at over 1,000 factories.

The Bangladesh Accord works because it has teeth. Two international brands that failed to meet their legal commitments have been successfully taken to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. This has led to millions of dollars in reparations being used to remedy life-threatening hazards at the brands’ supplier factories. A further US$300,000 has been paid into a fund to support IndustriALL and UNI’s work to improve pay and conditions for workers in global supply chains.

Five years on, the Bangladesh Accord stands as a model for industrial relations, and shows that brands and unions can work together to solve systemic problems. The Bangladeshi ready-made garment industry is undoubtedly safer, and lives have been saved.

However, the work of the accord, which expired at the end of May 2018, is not complete. Too many life-threatening hazards at supplier factories remain, which is why more than 180 brands (and counting) have signed the new 2018 Transition Accord, which already covers approximately 2 million garment workers in Bangladesh, most of whom are women.

The 2018 accord has greater scope to cover home textiles and footwear and, crucially, gives more power to workers. The new agreement meets OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector, recognising that workers are not peripheral to the due diligence process, but core to it. It upholds the importance of freedom of association in ensuring workers have a genuine say in protecting their own safety. It will also establish a training and complaints protocol to ensure that this right is respected.

Without labour rights, the gains made in health and safety will not be maintained. Severe anti-union violence and discrimination continues in Bangladesh making it very often impossible for workers to organise and bargain collectively.

OECD countries must use their voice to condemn the attacks on workers and trade unions in Bangladesh. OECD member countries promise to uphold fundamental labour rights and sign up to guidelines to commit multinational enterprises to take responsibility for workers in their global supply chains. This must also include working with trade unions on a national or sector-wide level to achieve wages that, at the very least, meet the basic needs of workers and their families.

The EU, as Bangladesh’s biggest trading partner, also has a major role to play. Bangladesh benefits from preferential trade tariffs under the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences. In turn, Bangladesh is expected to put into practice key UN human rights and International Labour Organization conventions. This is clearly not happening and yet Bangladesh is given chance after chance to put matters right. OECD countries, many of which are also members of the EU, cannot turn a blind eye to these violations. They must speak up.

The Bangladesh Accord will continue its work until 2021, or until the Bangladesh government is ready to take over its functions.

We have the tools to make a better garment industry. We must use them. Public pressure to improve the working conditions of garment workers has never been greater, and now is the time to push for change. The lives of garment workers in Bangladesh and in many places beyond depend on it.

This article was written by IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union and was originally published in the OECD Observer