IndustriALL Bridgestone trade union network builds on long tradition

Bridgestone is the world’s leading tyre company and is organized by IndustriALL affiliates in all continents. The ground rules of the network steering committee were established in 2005 through a protocol agreed by leading Bridgestone unions.

The protocol establishes the steering committee constituting representatives from key unions in each continent. The Japanese Rubber Workers’ Union Gomu Rengo is the administrator of the network and meetings are chaired by the Gomu Rengo president, who for the last two years has been brother Kasukabe-san.

The network’s secretary comes from the Japanese Bridgestone Workers’ Union (JBU), which is the largest union inside Gomu Rengo, representing around half of all Gomu Rengo members. The current secretary is sister Sakagami-san, executive board member of JBU.

JBU president Watanabe-san facilitated that this year’s network meeting be held at the first ever Bridgestone plant, established in 1931 in the western Japanese city of Kurume.

Also represented were Numsa of South Africa, the Bridgestone European Works Council Secretary, and the IndustriAll Europe Coordinator for Bridgestone Europe, as well as IndustriALL-JAF. Accident levels and long term industrial diseases were studied for each region.

Kurume is heavily influenced by the industrial heritage of Bridgestone. The network participants, in conjunction to the meeting toured the factory and facilities related to Bridgestone’s founder, Shojiro Ishibashi. Bridgestone was named after its founder – Ishibashi means “Stone Bridge” in Japanese. The Kurume plant is still Bridgestone’s key production facility, manufacturing a wide variety of tires for different vehicles and aircraft. The plant also produces the nylon and polyester tyre cord which forms the support structure of its tyres.

Bridgestone’s tyre production process begins at its two rubber plantations, in Liberia and Indonesia. The 48,000-hectare plantation in Liberia is twice as large as the Indonesia plantation, and workers there are organized in the IndustriALL trade union affiliate AAIWUL. AAIWUL is preparing to begin collective bargaining with management at the plantation in Liberia and the network sent AAIWUL a message of support for those negotiations.

Gomu Rengo president KASUKABE Yoshinori, chair of the Bridgestone network steering committee said:

“This very stable network prioritizes not only worker safety but trust worldwide. Even though we are facing hard times in our industry, it is very important that all the colleagues help each other and we need to set a high standard at Bridgestone to be followed at other companies in the rubber sector. Let’s work together to build the strong connection among Bridgestone workers.”

Tom Grinter, responsible for the rubber sector at IndustriALL Global Union said:

“Building on the long history of this network, our 2018 meeting analyzed the current business and employment conditions at Bridgestone in the different regions. We also studied the history of the network itself as the respective organizations are now represented by new people. We learnt more about the history of the company in its home city. Bridgestone’s founding commitments and principles to worker safety and trade union rights are strong in Japan. It is the task of this network to put those principles to the test throughout the company’s global operations.”

Mexican Government denounced again in ILO for violating freedom of association

The Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS) has examined violations of ILO Convention No. 87 by the Mexican government. During the plenary session earlier in June, workers' representatives reported serious and repeated acts of violence against trade unionists, and blamed the government for the death of four members of IndustriALL affiliate Los Mineros during a conflict in 2017 and 2018 at the Media Luna mine, owned by Torex Gold.

Unions said that protection contracts (illegitimate collective bargaining agreements between an employer and an employer-dominated union), favoured by the current government, constitute an infringement of freedom of association and the right to genuine collective bargaining.

"Protection contract guarantees the lowest labour costs, and more importantly there is no need to negotiate with workers. In Mexico, protection contracts has been a vital part of state policy and economy since the 1960’s. The model has prospered and spread to cover all industrial sectors”, says to Suzanna Miller, IndustriALL’s project and rights officer.

However, the Mexican government and their accomplices in various business sectors denied the facts and argued that there was no objective basis to the claim that this practice was designed to undermine freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Similarly, a Mexican employers' representative said that in Mexico "there is neither harassment nor dismissals, there is collective bargaining, as well as social and labour peace". Laughter broke at the statement, which the plenary saw as insulting to Mexican workers.

The Committee pointed out that it has asked the government to work with the social partners on introducing laws and practices to address problems related to protection contracts since 2015. But still today, every new investment in any industrial sector automatically includes a protection contract signed in advance.    

The workers' group demanded that a special paragraph be included for Mexico calling for the ILO to appoint a direct contacts mission. However, this was not included in the Committee's final recommendations. 

The Commission called on the government to provide detailed information on measures taken in application of the final recommendations before the next meeting of the Committee of Experts in November this year. Even with a change of government, Mexico will remain on the CAS’s supervision list until 2019.

Mining unions in the Philippines unite to build workers’ power

The workshop was organized and supported by the International Labour Organization under the framework of Just Transition for sustainable economies. It included participants from mining unions affiliated to IndustriALL through ALU, PTGWO and TF2. 

The workshop also brought together unions from KMU, SENTRO, FFW and TUCP, as well as representatives from the informal sector and communities, especially from the Caraga region, which is considered the mining capital of the Philippines. 

The meeting of mining unions provides an opportunity to share experiences and issues encountered at mining sites, particularly in the area of occupational safety and health and other labour and environmental challenges in the mining sector.

The unions discussed how to address those challenges and came up with a charter of demands that includes strengthening coordination with different government agencies, transparent reporting of mining firms, upgrade wage scale in the mining industry, unemployment insurance for mineworkers and mine closure plan.

In order to realize these demands the unions and workers’ representative agreed to consolidate its forces and form a network of mining unions and workers’ representatives to build power. At the conclusion, all participants agreed on the stated declaration of principles, that:

  1. All mine workers have the right to self-organization, voice, representation and to bargain collectively with individual mining firms and/or with mining sector employers’ association/s as guaranteed by national laws and in conformity with the principles of ILO Conventions 87 and 98.
  2. All mine workers have the right to a safe and healthy working environment based on set domestic OSH standards and global best practices, and consistent with ILO Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines.
  3. All mine workers have the right to security of tenure, to a workweek in accordance with the existing standards and regulations and to work schedules that permit work-life balance.
  4. All mine workers have the right to adequate training for their positions and to further training enabling them to advance within the company and/or for redeployment.
  5. All mine workers have the right to Just Transition to be decided in consultations with their organizations and in line with the ILO Guidelines for Just Transition for workers and their communities.  

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL’s director for mining, said:

“Just Transition is a policy proposal concept developed by global unions. It is essentially a safeguard and adaptive measures to mitigate the harsh consequences of any transition as a result of climate change and other production or operational redesign or re-engineering.”

Iranian authorities beat and detain protesting steel workers

The police and security forces attacked the workers from the National Iranian Steel Industrial Company in Ahvaz city after they began a protest rally in the city’s Kian Pars square, beating and detaining around 60 of them.

Workers have been on a strike for 17 days over the failure by management to pay their salaries for  several months and the non-payment of social security contributions, which means workers can’t receive healthcare for themselves or their families.

According to IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Union of Metalworkers and Mechanics of Iran (UMMI), 46 workers were released on bail on the evening of 13 June following widespread protests against the arrests and the continued detention of workers.

However, the Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz has refused to accept bail for a number of workers including Karim Siyahi, Mohammad Ali Jamaati, Mohammad Falahi and Javad Eskandari, on the pretext of prosecutions being sought by private plaintiffs in relation to the breaking of windows at the offices of MPs during the original protests in the city.

Protests against continually delayed payment of wages – and the severe financial stress this has placing upon workers and their families – began in December 2017, and since then negotiations have been ongoing for the payment of wage arrears, as well as ensuring that the employers would pay an end of year bonus (due on 21 March to coincide with the Iranian New Year) and meet their contribution towards national insurance. 

In early March, some of the workers were paid either in full or part of the wages owed to them – though this did not cover all of the workers.  And, the pattern of postponed or at most partial payment of wages, as well as the situation regarding the outstanding social security payment on the part of the employer, has continued.  

In October 2017, the Iranian National Bank sold the steel complex to Iranian tycoon, Abdolreza Mousavi, in a bid to recover its debts. The company, which employs 4,000 workers, has been badly mismanaged and is operating at a fraction of its capacity. Workers report that equipment and machinery has been sold off. Last month, ownership was reportedly transferred back to the National Bank but workers say Mousavi is still turning up at the plant, and ownership isn’t clear. 

A spokesperson for UMMI says:

“The UMMI calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all the protesting steel workers that remain in detention. They are innocent of any crime and have done nothing to deserve the depriving of their liberty.  Furthermore, we call on the officials and management at the company to engage with the independent trade unions representing the demands of the workers, so that the dispute can be properly and swiftly resolved.  The UMMI also condemns the arrest, imprisonment, maltreatment and torture of workers pursuing their just demands for the payment of their wages.”

IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary, Kemal Özkan, says:

“We call on the Iranian government to urgently intervene and resolve the dire situation at the National Iranian Steel Company. Workers are desperate and their families are starving. We demand the release of all imprisoned workers and that Iran respects ILO conventions 87 and 98 guaranteeing the rights of workers to exercise their rights to engage in legitimate trade union activities and collective bargaining.”

***UPDATE*** On 21 June 2018, UMMI reported that six prominent activists are still being detained, while the remaining protestors have been released. 

South African unions reject Eskom’s zero-increase in wages

With the cost of living going up because of tax increases and fuel price hikes, unions in South Africa argue that Eskom shows little concern for the welfare of workers and their families.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates, the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, are collaborating to force Eskom to dump the zero-increase and vowed to continue picketing nationally.

After negotiations with Eskom reached a deadlock and the issue is heading for arbitration at the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration, unions resorted to picketing. Tthe minister of public enterprises, Pravin Gordan, said in a meeting with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and other stakeholders that wage negotiations will be reopened.

The unions, who are against the privatization of the state entity which produces 95 per cent of South Africa’s electricity, say most of Eskom’s woes can be traced back to the IMF and World Bank loans, poor management and corruption, and the decision to put Independent Power Producers (IPPs) onto the national grid. Eskom is implicated in corruption in the State of Capture report by then public protector Thuli Madonsela.

In April the ministry of energy signed an agreement with 27 IPPs to produce electricity through renewable energy sources mainly solar and wind. While the unions agree on the use of renewable energy they say that there is no Just Transition plan in place to protect 92,000 jobs that will be lost if five coal-fired power stations in Mpumalanga are closed. Such a plan will also involve training and absorption of workers into the renewable energy sector.

Says the unions in a joint press statement: “It’s a fact that Eskom has a high wage bill but that can’t be blamed or attributed to poor workers who are the lowest earners”, as workers and communities were not amongst those who got renewable energy contracts.

Diana Junquera Curiel, IndustriALL energy director says:

“It’s ridiculous for Eskom to announce that workers will not get an increase when inflation is going up. Instead, the company must negotiate with unions on wage increases. There must also be dialogue with unions on the Just Transition plan and on Independent Power Producers contracts."

Standing up for workers’ rights at ILC 2018

The ILC conducted a general discussion on “Effective ILO development cooperation in support of the Sustainable Development Goals”, providing guidance on the ILO development cooperation strategy beyond 2018, with a view to shaping the ILO’s future vision for development cooperation.

Supporting the seventeen goals, ranging from poverty and hunger, to equality, clean energy, climate action, decent work and economic growth, and peace and justice, IndustriALL Global Union announced:

What is needed, is a plan. The only morally defensible answer is to guarantee a Just Transition to workers. If we want them to support this urgently needed transformation, there must be something in it for them.

A World of Work Summit was held with the participation of governments, social partners and eminent experts to examine issues of paramount importance and address decent work for peace and resilience.

IndustriALL Global Union said:

As manufacturing, energy and mine workers, we already strongly feel the impacts of Digitalization and so-called Industry 4.0, the label for a variety of advanced and disruptive production technologies, in our industries and our employment. As the digitalization of the workplace progresses, several points must be won:

• the right to information and consultation rights by workers’ representatives, at the local, regional, national and international levels;

• the right to education and training;

• the right to defined levels of privacy, at work and at home.

There was an important debate on social dialogue and tripartism, following up the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization.

IndustriALL stated that:

social dialogue requires full respect and implementation of fundamental rights at work, however with a great regret and outrage we observe an increasing trend of violation of workers’ rights in every corner of the world.

Delegates from governments, workers and employers came together to negotiate the nature and the scope of a future instrument on violence and harassment in the world of work; the committee supports a convention supplemented by recommendation.

Committee on Application of Standards

The Committee heard about excessively high targets and working hours, underpayment of overtime which is nothing short of wage theft in Haiti; workers killed, threatened, sacked in Mexico for demanding fair union elections; precarious workers employed by Shell in Nigeria forced to sign letters committing to not form unions; criminalization of unions in Belarus when exercising their union rights; massive layoffs in the mining sector in Botswana without negotiations or compensation.

Brazil was brought before CAS on violations of C98, the Right to Bargain Collectively. In a joint voice, all six Brazilian national trade union centres denounced the regressive labour law reform passed by the illegitimate government. IndustriALL, together with global unions PSI, ITF and EI, condemned the impact of the labour reform on 100 million workers. Responding, the Brazilian labour minister managed to unite the plenary against him when discrediting the ILO Committee of Experts, accusing them of putting Brazil “on the dirty short list for political motives”.

In both the cases of Brazil and Mexico, the Workers’ spokesperson demanded a special paragraph and an ILO direct contact mission. The report concluded that both governments will have to report back to the ILO for the Experts meeting in November, which means they will remain on the CAS list for examination in 2019.

Supporting its affiliates, IndustriALL denounced the dismantling of labour inspections in the Ukraine, the restrictions to form functional unions in Myanmar, and the brutal crackdown on the freedom of association and freedom of speech in Algeria, leading to the persecution of IndustriALL affiliate Snategs.

IndustriALL contributed comments to the General Survey on working time in the CAS.

IndustriALL concludes:

Violation of workers’ rights must come to an end; the world cannot continue like this. This is where joint commitments are made to achieve progress and social justice, and these violations of labour and human rights must end immediately.

We need to promote decent work through a coordinated approach, respecting the fundamental principles and rights at work. As the manufacturing, energy and mine workers of the world, we reaffirm our commitment, and expect and demand the same from governments and employers.

The Committee on Application of Standards (CAS) report can be consulted here.

Korean union leader Lee Young-joo released!

Although Lee has been set free, at her trial on 12 June, Lee was found guilty on all charges. Judges convicted her to three years in prison, with four years of suspended sentence, and a fine of 500,000 KRW (US460$) for organizing the People’s Mass Mobilization rally on 14 November 2015. The prosecutor claimed the demonstration blocked traffic and 100,000 demonstrators didn't disperse and obstructed execution of official duties, with some demonstrators resisting riot police water cannons and crackdown on public demonstration.

The mobilization was against repressive labour reform and became the catalyst of the mass movement in Korea resulting in impeachment of the former Korean President Park Geun-hye, who is now serving 24 years sentence by irony in the same detention centre, where trade union leaders were detained.

Although the new government of President Moon calls itself a “government of candlelight” and has promised to respect the labour movement, so far incarceration of the former Korean President did not automatically change Korean authorities’ attitude towards trade union rights and freedoms.

Lee’s colleague, Han Sang-gyun, KCTU president, was released in May this year having been imprisoned in December 2015.

The international trade union movement has continuously paid special attention to the situation of trade union rights in Korea. IndustriALL made a number of solidarity visits to the trade union leaders during their imprisonment. At the same time, IndustriALL jointly with ITUC and other global unions organized protests in solidarity with Korean trade unions.

Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary comments:

"We celebrate the liberation of our Sister Lee Young-joo from prison. We are however saddened by the fact that the court did not drop all the charges against her. President Moon should pay special attention to this case and do everything in his power to put workers’ interests high on the agenda in Korea.”

Peru: Workers protest against abuses at Protisa

Sutraprotisa, affiliated to the Peruvian Manufacturing Workers Federation (FETRMAP), in its turn affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, organized a demonstration to protest against anti-union persecution, and to demand the on-time payment workers' wages and a change in the management of human resources.

Workers gathered outside the main gates of the Compañía de Productos Tissue Perú SA (Protisa) factory in the province of Lima. Demonstrators claim that the human resources department has committed repeated abuses against unionised workers.

According to union members, the company makes a clear distinction between unionised and non-unionised workers. For example, the former are required to carry loads of between 80 to 90 kg, which is a health risk and causes back problems, osteoarthritis in the knees and cardiovascular problems.

Furthermore, this requirement violates ILO Recommendation 128 with regard to the maximum weight a worker can be expected to carry which should not exceed 55 kg.

The union also says that work-related accidents, ranging from electric shocks to loss of limbs, occur every month due to poor occupational safety practices. In addition, the HR department puts pressure on them to work very long hours.

In addition to its protest action, the trade union has announced that the general secretary of CGTP (the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers), Gerónimo López, will present a dossier to the Labour Commission of Congress to draw attention to the company's bad practices.

Protisa is a Chilean company which has been operating in Peru since 1995 and manufactures tissue products. It is in turn part of Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones (CMPC), the world's largest pulp manufacturers and one of the largest companies in Latin America.

Unions affiliated to IndustriALL in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay are all part of the CMPC trade union network.

Tom Grinter, responsible for pulp and paper at IndustriALL, says:

Unions in the pulp and pape sector in the region, as well as IndustriALL, support Sutraprotisa's actions. 

IndustriALL's CMPC trade union network has asked the Chilean multinational to establish official labour relations. However, if the company continues to show a lack of respect to our members, the network is prepared to adopt a more conflictive approach. We express our solidarity with our sisters and brothers of Sutraprotisa.

South Africa: Union calls for improved health and safety after four mineworkers are killed at Sibanye Stillwater gold mine

Four mineworkers were killed, and one is still missing in yet another mine accident at Sibanye Stillwater’s Kloof Ikamva gold mine, about 60km from Johannesburg. The four are said to have died from heat exhaustion.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director of mining says:

The dangerous conditions which Sibanye Stillwater continue to subject workers to are not acceptable and now bordering on negligence. The company must make efforts to always ensure the health and safety of the mine workers before profits.

In a petition to the Chamber of Mines last month, after the death of seven workers at Masakhane mine, a Sibanye Stillwater operation, the NUM urged the company to come up with a plan to implement the Mines Health and Safety Council requirements.

By so doing, the company would make progress towards achieving “zero harm”. Further, the mining company must also allow workers to exercise their rights to information, education and training, representation and to refuse to do dangerous work or enter unsafe workplaces. The union also demanded that the South African mining industry must stop recalling full-time health and safety representatives as they are necessary in building worker-control on health and safety issues, as well as reducing the number of accidents and deaths in the mines.

Peter Bailey, NUM health and safety chairperson, calls on the department of mineral resources to take action against the mining company and for inspectors to make compliance visits to the mining company’s operations:

NUM is highly disturbed and angered by the deaths.  It is unacceptable as we don't sell our lives, limbs or lungs to the industry but our labour to provide for our families.

Indonesian pulp and paper union calls 3-day strike

The workers are employed by five different outsourcing firms that supply labour to PT. Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper operations. Workers will take industrial action from 13 to 15 June 2018 at two locations in South Sumatera Province and Lampung Province. 

Outsourcing Workers at Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper, which is a subsidiary of the Japanese general trading company, Marubeni, are members of the Federation of Indonesian Pulp & Paper Union (FSP2KI), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union. The company employs around 2,500 workers of which more than 1,700 are employed at outsourcing firms.  

The workers will strike at five outsourcing companies namely PT. Inti Bumi Mas, PT. Wira Putra Perkasa, PT. Mayapada Clinic Pratama, PT. Fajar Muara Indah, and PT. Kaliguma Transindo.

IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary, Kemal Özkan, said: 

“We support our affiliate FSP2KI in taking a stand against the bad and illegal practices carried out by PT Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper suppliers. We call on the company to take responsibility for the workers providing crucial support to its operations.”