Pakistan: Shipbreaking workers win union rights

The re-rolling mills downstream from Gadani shipbreaking yard use the steel recovered from dismantled ships. Around 15,000 workers in 20 different mills will benefit from the registration of Rerolling Mills General Workers Union Hub.

The directorate of labour welfare in the Balochistan province has also officially recognized the union as collective bargaining agent for all workers of re-rolling mills in the area, and the union has opened an office to assist workers on day-to-day issues.

All re-rolling mill workers are precarious workers with no written contracts, and they are not covered under the social security system. Most of them are paid less than the statutory minimum wages and they are forced to work long  hours. With no protective equipment, the precarious workers face serious health and safety issues. In addition, they constantly face the risk of being fired without due process.

Nasir Mansoor from IndustriALL affiliate National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) says:

Official recognition of the re-rolling mill workers' union is an important achievement and will pave the way for the union being able to improve working conditions, health and safety, social security and wages. We will intensify our  efforts to organize more re-rolling mills workers in other cities.

Kan Matsuzaki, IndustriALL shipbreaking director says:

We congratulate the NTUF on this significant step forward in organizing precarious workers in the re-rolling mills. We hope that forming a union will enable workers to effectively defend their rights and demand their right to a safe working environment.

Foundation laid for WestRock world trade union alliance

A larger trade union conference will be held on 22-25 August in the USA. At that August meeting it is expected that all WestRock unions from around the world will participate in order to formally launch the global trade union alliance.

The key objective of the new alliance will be to jointly commit to a series of actions to build international solidarity, and to establish a formal, recognised mechanism for industrial relations at the global level with WestRock management.

After a series of major acquisitions, WestRock is now the second largest company in the industry. WestRock has recently purchased Multi-Packaging Solutions and KapStone. These two multinationals were present in several countries and are highly unionised. The new alliance will bring all of those workers together.

The unions recognise the on-going efforts by the company to implement high-quality social conduct policies whilst promoting employee engagement throughout its operations. The unions believe that the new global alliance can support this company direction and be the key partner in its implementation.

The two global unions, UNI and IndustriALL will jointly coordinate the preparations for the large August meeting and all on-going alliance activities.

Between the physical meetings, the alliance will continue to communicate and support each other’s efforts in bargaining and organising, as well as monitor the company’s industrial relations behaviour at all sites.

Glencore, below the surface

IndustriALL Global Union has released a pre-AGM investor briefing to warn investors of sustainaility risks at Glencore.

South Africa: Zara accused of design theft

Zara conceded to its guilt by withdrawing some of the merchandise. It had appeared in stores in South Africa, the US and UK Instead of playing copycat, SACTWU is urging Zara to work with local designers and clothing factories to create more jobs in the garment sector.

According to SACTWU the “cut-and-paste” of designs by big multinational companies ignores the “little folk” whose businesses are vulnerable to such practices and can collapse as a result. The union argues that the niche market is the lifeblood of small boutique brands and can be easily killed off by mass production by big retailers like Zara. This will wipe out the local and global market for local designers.

Says Andre Kriel, general secretary of SACTWU:

“It seems they are comfortable acting like colonialists – simply exporting the money they make in South Africa to Spain and causing damage to local factories and workers. Now they are stealing some of our cultural artefacts and damaging a niche designer along the way”.

Kriel explains further:

“International brand Zara appears to have appropriated the designs of South African homegrown talent, the inspiring local designer Laduma Ngxokolo and his brand maXhosa. If this is true – and it is certainly suggested by the ‘coincidental’ stylistic overlaps between some Zara products and maXhosa’s iconic designs – it would represent the worst form of fashion colonialism: the extraction by global retail powerhouses, based in the developed world, of intellectual and cultural heritage from far less powerful designers based in the developing world”.

SACTWU says Zara is more interested in commercial value than design rights.

“Culture, designs and styles are reduced to fair game that can be poached or cut-and-pasted – the more so if these designs are considered exotic, other and traditional. There is no sensitivity to the origins of the designs, their context, history, and meaning”.

Says Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa.

“Local designs and factories should be promoted instead of being destroyed by big brands. For this reason, we support SACTWU in its campaign for an agreement with Zara.” 

SACTWU has been trying since last year to get Zara’s parent company, Inditex, to procure goods from South Africa to save local factories from closing but the company is refusing to commit to an agreement.

eSwatini: Union celebrates court victory

Therefore, the two unions no longer exist but are now part of ATUSWA which is a registered union under the Commissioner of Labour.

Reads the court ruling: “In the light of the evidence before the Court, the proper application of the law is that all trade unions that amalgamated ceased to exist and are defunct. Their membership, rights and duties were assumed by the newly formed trade union, ATUSWA”. This puts to rest attempts by the merged unions to revert to their old names and former autonomy. The old unions with support from employers and some in government were bent on dividing and weakening ATUSWA.

However, the court challenge took its toll on ATUSWA finances because the union was unable to receive subscriptions from members who were being claimed by the former unions. This explains the relief to the union brought by this court victory. The Court ordered that the challenging unions to pay the legal costs.

ATUSWA thanked the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland for its support during the court challenge. It also recognized IndustriALL for “standing by our organization when it was not fashionable to do so. We were able to keep the fires burning because of the support we received from IndustriALL”.

Wander Mkhonza, secretary general of ATUSWA says:

“To the employers who took advantage of the situation to frustrate the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining we say shame on you. Workers, who made an informed decision to form this giant union and to stand behind its leadership, will go down in history for standing for their rights when odds were stacked against them”.

Says Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa:

“Court battles often waste union time to the extent that its core activities suffer because of the uncertainty created by legal challenges. Therefore, we join ATUSWA in celebrating the court victory, and to use this moment to focus on the important work ahead of recruiting and organizing more workers.”

28 April – we mourn for the dead, we fight for the living

28 April is a day of sadness and anger, of public mourning to commemorate all workers who have died as the result of work: whether as the result of a sudden violent accident, a slow wasting disease, or an act of suicide brought on by workplace stress.

Workplace conditions cause deaths, not workers. IndustriALL campaigns for health and safety in mining, in the textile industries, for an end to sandblasting and a ban on asbestos – but more generally for health and safety within all industries and companies treating workers as disposable commodities.

The myth that careless workers cause most accidents is used to blame victims and justify behaviour-based safety programmes. Yet, consider the relentless drumbeat of deadly mining disasters, or the nearly two million workers who die of occupational diseases each year. None of these were caused by worker carelessness.

Demanding perfect, non-stop vigilance is not a safety system. Instead, it is a blackmail tool to create fear of reporting accidents; a propaganda tool for avoiding responsibility and liability.

Safety and health at work is a union issue. Let us take it back from the hacks, consultants, apologists, psychologists, underwriters and lawyers who have taken it from us.

Workplace health and safety is fundamentally a question of workers' rights to:

• Know about workplace hazards

• Refuse or shut down unsafe work

• Participate fully in health and safety decision-making

As workers, we have the moral right to know, fully, about the hazards of the materials, tools and equipment we work with; particularly chemicals. Gaps in toxicological knowledge must be filled by independent research. Industrial secrecy, the frequent excuse for concealment, only keeps knowledge out of the hands of workers and consumers – competitors already know what is in their competitor's products.

We demand the absolute right to refuse to perform, or to shut down, any work we perceive to be unsafe or unhealthy without fear of retaliation or discipline and with joint investigation of the reasons for the refusal, and joint agreement on resolution of the concerns.

We demand full participation in the development and implementation of health and safety policies, programmes, procedures, risk assessments, inspections, audits and investigations. Health and safety must be done with us, not to us – our lives and health are in play, and the moral authority to assess a risk belongs to those who face it.

Globally, many workers have no health and safety rights at all. Even in the best of regions we accept compromised versions of these three principal rights. We must insist to have them in full.

In the end, it's very simple. Workers have rights; employers have responsibilities – and unions make work safer.

Free Lula!

Addressing around 150 trade unionists from IndustriALL’s Executive Committee and participants from global unions, IndustriALL president Jörg Hofmann stressed the importance of showing solidarity and standing with Lula.

Lula has the right to an impartial review of his case. We call on the government of Brazil to immediately comply with international law and to protect the fundamental rights,

Hofmann said.

And very importantly, Lula must be allowed to run in the next presidential election.

Attacks on democracy are escalating in Brazil: these range from the systematic sabotage of the presidential election in 2014 to the parliamentary coup d’état against President Dilma Rousseff in 2016. There have been attacks on social programmes and the fundamental rights of workers.

Lula’s politics has helped millions of Brazilians to a better life and is the most popular politician in the country by a huge margin. The arbitrary arrest undermines democracy by denying the people of Brazil the right to choose who they want as President.

Lula is a champion of labour rights and an inspiration to other countries,

said IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches.

This attack on Lula is an attack on all workers who fight for their rights, it’s an attack on democracy and it is an attack on the Brazilian constitution.

After the demonstration, IndustriALL, together with global unions ITUC, Uni Global Union, PSI and IUF, handed over a letter to the Brazilian mission to the UN, demanding that the government of Brazil:

IndustriALL Women’s Committee continue campaign to end violence

With a 40 per cent target for women’s participation, most of IndustriALL’s sector meetings are lagging behind. Since the last Women’s Committee in November 2017, actions have been taken to improve women’s representation.

With consensus on that women’s issues are union issues, regional reports showed concrete steps.

Hashmeya Alsaadawe, president of the Iraqi union Basra Trade Union Federation, reported on a 30 per cent women representation in Iraq, which is an achievement as they started from zero.

We need greater commitment from our brothers in the unions to empower women,

said Lucineide Varjão from Brazilian affiliate CNQUT.

Combatting violence against women in the workplace

Violence against women at the workplace is present in all IndustriALL sectors. It concerns all unions and all union members, men and women.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is campaigning for a binding ILO convention on gender based violence at work.

In June, the International Labour Conference (ILC) is launching a two-year long discussion on a possible adoption of a convention and recommendation on gender-based violence in the world of work.

Speaking to the Women’s Committee, Raquel González from the ITUC, stressed the need for unions to lobby governments and employers for a binding convention.

IndustriALL’s campaign to combat violence against women in the workplace has been gaining momentum since adopted in November 2017, with more than 50 affiliated unions taking the pledge.

Referring to the campaign to stop violence against women, Hashemya underlined its importance as aggression against women exists nearly everywhere in the Middle East, in all structures, in the workplace as in the home:

We are working on combatting the violence, and are making progress in the region.

Marie Nilsson, president of Swedish union IF Metall, told the Women’s Committee about what impact the #MeToo movement has in Sweden:

We have discussed sexual harassment with the employers and have set up a joint working group in order to tackle it in the workplace together.

As participants told of taking and implementing the pledge into the union structures, the Women’s Committee renewed its commitment to eradicating violence and harassment against women at the workplace.

International labour rights prize awarded to independent unions in Kazakhstan

The prize was established by IndustriALL affiliate Industri Energi, and includes both a cash award and support for union projects.

IndustriALL Global Union supported the nomination and celebrates the decision of the prize committee, made up of prominent members of the Norwegian trade union movement. Unfortunately, none of the three union leaders will be able to travel to Norway for the award ceremony.

The prize committee stated, “The three union leaders have shown great courage in continuing their involvement. The precarious situation of the laureates is only an example of the fierce reality faced, by not only workers in Kazakhstan, but also many the working people all over the world.”

Trade union rights are rapidly declining in Kazakhstan. In 2017 IndustriALL and the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ITUC) brought the case of workers’ rights violations in Kazakhstan to the ILO’s International Labour Conference in Switzerland.

On 25 July 2017, Kharkova, former chairperson of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (KNPRK) was sentenced, on false charges, to four years of restriction of her freedom of movement, 100 hours of forced labour, and a five-year ban on holding any position in a public or non-governmental organization.

Chairman of the oil service company OCC workers trade union, Amin Yeleusinov, and labour inspector Nurbek Kushakbayev were arrested and tried earlier the same year following a peaceful mass protest of workers in the Mangystau region, demanding the restoration of their federation KNPRK.

In an attempt to control independent trade unions after the 2011 massacre in Zhanaozen, the authorities adopted a repressive law limiting union freedom. The criminal prosecution of the three leaders is based on this legislation.

Valter Sanches, IndustriALL general secretary, said:

“We welcome the award this year of the International Prize for Trade Union Rights to independent unions in Kazakhstan. We supported their rightful cause in the past and will continue doing so in the future, until all workers of this country enjoy their human and trade union rights in full.”

Previous winners include the South African Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union (2017), LabourStart (2016), Bahrain Teachers Association (2015), Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, General Secretary of Los Mineros, the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (2014).

For further information visit www.svenssonprize.com

South Africa: Union protests Glencore malpractices

The march was part of a nation-wide strike called by the Federation of South African Trade Unions, which saw tens of thousands of workers taking to the streets in South Africa’s main cities to stop amendments to labour laws compromising the right to strike, and the introduction of a minimum wage, too low to meet workers’ needs.

Demonstrators called on Glencore to stop undermining wages and conditions of employment, end union bashing and denying workers freedom of association, and stop polluting the environment through reckless acid waste disposal at its operations.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining says:

Multinational companies like Glencore should lead in responsible mining by respecting workers and human rights, collective bargaining and protecting the interests and rights of mine-affected communities. To this end, we will continue our campaign to force Glencore to comply.

NUMSA is demanding the re-registration of smelters with South Africa's Department of Minerals and Resources, and the disciplining of managers involved in collective bargaining that violated ILO conventions. Additionally, Glencore should engage NUMSA as the majority union in the company’s coal division. Contract workers and those employed by labour brokers should get better deals instead of unequal wages, bad working conditions and deplorable health and safety standards.

Thabo Mogoroe, NUMSA, said, when handing the petition to Glencore staff who received the document from behind a steel gate:

We want to inform Glencore that this is the beginning of a series of actions that we will take to fight back its attack on workers, the poor and their families. We are gathered to protest the abuse of workers, communities and the environment by Glencore, not only in South Africa but internationally.

NUMSA was part of the IndustriALL mission to DRC in February, and condemns the human and workers’ rights abuses at Glencore operations at Mutanda Mine and Kamoto Copper Mine. These include constant threats of dismissals, poor health and safety practices, occupation diseases, racism and discrimination, unfair and unjust job classifications, low pay and inferior salaries for Congolese workers compared to foreign ones.

The union also condemned the discharge of acid waste into local rivers at Luilu copper refinery also in Kolwezi. There are also acid waste drainage problems in Mpumalanga, South Africa, where communities will be left with polluted water long after mining has stopped.

*This article was amended on 30 April to reflect that NUMSA wants smelters to be registered under the Department of Minerals and Resources, and not the Department of Labour