Union persecution continues at Tenaris Colombia

In the complaint, filed with the International Labor Organization (ILO) in early June, and in the protests, Colombian workers have denounced Tenaris’s repeated attacks on the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining that have been taking place since October 2017.

Persecution of the union began when the company sanctioned the president of Sintratucar, Walberto Marrugo, for having created a WhatsApp group for young workers with part-time contracts to report on their working conditions.

The young workers revealed that they were not trained in safety issues and carried out tasks that exposed them to potential accidents at work. The company retaliated by forcing them to leave the union under threat of dismissal.

Tenaris refused to engage in collective bargaining until it was compelled to following an intervention from the ministry of labour at Sintratucar’s request.

However, the outcomes were not good – the company made an unacceptable proposal that included a clause stating there would be no wage increases, and job stability would be eliminated.

Futhermore, the company suspended seven union leaders for seven days without pay after they distributed a pamphlet on collective bargaining.

In addition, another 31 leaders and affiliates were sanctioned with 210 days of salary loss.

The firm also sanctions unionized workers who refuse to work overtime on their days off with up to three days of lost wages.

In September 2017, IndustriALL Global Union filed a complaint with the National Contact Point of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Luxembourg against Ternium (which, like Tenaris is part of the Techint group), for violations of union rights in Guatemala.

Writing in a letter to Paolo Rocca, CEO of Techint Group on 20 June, IndustriALL General Secretary, Valter Sanches, said:

"We urge you to intervene immediately and provide a just solution to the conflicts at steel plants of Tenaris TuboCaribe in Colombia and Ternium in Guatemala. IndustriALL is fully committed to supporting the workers, together with the Tenaris Ternium World Workers Council. IndustriALL reiterates its commitment to establish a solid and mature social dialogue with Tenaris and Ternium, that can both prevent and resolve conflicts, in addition to creating dignified work conditions globally."

Inditex suppliers from India meet to pledge social dialogue

Representatives Inditex, which is the world's biggest fashion retailer, joined the meetings for the sessions on improving social dialogue, industrial relations and sustainability along the the supply chains. The first meeting took place in Bangalore on 11 June and the second meeting was held on 13 June, in Delhi.

Javier Díaz Pena, Inditex Social Sustainability Manager, gave a presentation on the commitment of the global brand by signing the GFA with IndustriALL Global Union and the implementation of the GFA among the suppliers by stating the importance of Freedom of Association, Children Rights, Children Rights, Women Empowerment, Health&Safety Porjects.

Apoorva Kaiwar, IndustriALL South Asia Regional Secretary, addressed the meeting to talk about textile and garment workers’ conditions and rights in India, the importance of being a union member and being paid living wages; and the benefits of GFAs. The meeting of the suppliers is intended help to protect and promote workers’ conditions throughout the Inditex’s supply chain.

Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL director for the textile and garment industry, said:

“We are strengthening industrial relations and social dialogue in the textile and garment industries. Industry-wide GFAs have the capacity to ensure living wages and decent conditions for workers in the industry. The active involvement of suppliers in the process would help us to build stronger social dialogue and powerful industrial relations.”

Algeria: Threats soar against democratic unions after ILC

Zemali’s warning to leave the ILO comes after Algeria came under scrutiny for violations of freedom of association at the ILO’s International Labour Conference (ILC), from 28 May to 8 June 2018.

Zemali said that “Algeria is ready to leave the International Labour Organization to preserve its national sovereignty.”

It is the fourth time in five years that Algeria has been examined by the ILO’s Committee of Applications of Standards (CAS) at the ILC. The conclusions of the Committee recommended a high-level mission to Algeria without restriction and without delay, after a direct contact mission in February was cancelled when no guarantee could be given to the ILO to meet independent trade unions.

Speaking at a press conference on 12 June, Zemali also singled out independent union leaders Raouf Mellal, President of IndustriALL Global Union energy affiliate, SNATEG, and Rachid Maalaoui of public sector union, SNAPAP, for attack saying they were behind the ‘hounding’ of Algeria by the ILO. Both men had spoken out against trade union repression at the CAS in June.

SNATEG has strongly condemned the minister’s outburst, and denounced his claims that the democratic union leaders only represented themselves and were trying to destabilize the country.

“The Algerian people have the right to know that, unlike the labour minister who was not elected by the people, the president of the national union of electricity and gas workers, Mr Mellal Raouf, was elected by a majority of participants in accordance with applicable laws.”

According to SNATEG, the Ministry has ordered state-run electricity company, Sonelgaz, not to adhere to a judgment to reinstate Mellal as shop steward, nor to recognize him as president of SNATEG. Furthermore, the Ministry of Labour has twice attempted to illegally dissolve the union.

“The Minister of Labour, in his declarations, considers that the freedom to exercise the rights of trade unionists is a blow to the stability of the country,” said SNATEG in a statement on 14 June, adding that trade union freedoms have become nothing more than an ‘illusion’ in Algeria.

Since the conclusions of the Committee of the Application of Standards were made, Algeria has turned up the pressure on independent unions. As well, as attacking democratic union leaders in the press, Raouf Mellal, who has already been sentenced to 18 months in prison for whistleblowing and trade union activities, has been give three summons to appear before the courts before the end of July 2018 on yet more spurious charges.

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

“Algeria is showing its contempt for the ILO and international labour standards. It is not a question of impinging national sovereignty but of upholding basic trade union freedoms, enshrined in international labour conventions that have been ratified by Algeria itself. We urge the Algerian government to stop the repression of independent trade unions, accept an ILO high-level mission, and open the doors to dialogue with its labour partners.”

Victory for Indonesian pulp and paper workers

It is the first time that workers at five different outsourcing companies have gone on strike in two locations at the same time in Indonesia, according to FSP2KI. All the companies, which are based in South Sumatra and Lampung, serve operations at the Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper company.

About five hours after the strike, Kaliguma Transindo, which operates Tanjungenim Lestari’s port in Lampung Province, adhered to workers’ demands to have wage increases taken into effect from 1 January 2018. However, Ahmad Hafids, the local port trade union leader in Lampung, said it would not stop the strike until workers' demands in South Sumatra were also met. The port workers’ strike was particularly damaging to Tanjungenim Lestari because it meant that pulp could not be exported, which has a knock-on effect of filling the warehouse and slowing down production in South Sumatra.

On 14 June, following ten hours of negotiations attended by unions, outsourcing companies and Tanjungenim Lestari management, the parties reached a milestone agreement that guarantees continuity of permanent work if there is a change in a contractor company.

Furthermore, temporary workers who have been employed for more than a year at Wira Putra Perkasa, a service company loading and unloading raw materials at the mill, and the Mayapada Clinic Pratama, a healthcare provider for mill workers and their families, will now get permanent jobs as required under Indonesian law.

FSP2KI has also managed to secure guarantees on working hours, work safety, social security and freedom of association.

Significantly, under the agreement, Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper, as a principal company is responsible for the implementation of the results of the negotiation.

The strikers were boosted by solidarity support from IndustriALL, Australian union CFMEU, IndustriALL Indonesia Council, IndustriALL affiliates in the pulp and paper sector, as well as other unions at the companies.

Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper employs around 2,500 workers of which more than 1,700 are employed at outsourcing firms.

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

“We congratulate FSP2KI on their significant victory which will improve the lives and job security for hundreds of outsourced workers providing essential services to Tanjungenim Lestari Pulp and Paper. By coming together from five different companies, these workers have shown the power in a union.”

Brother Irman, a local FSP2KI union leader in South Sumatra, says: “This is just the beginning of the fight because there are still many outsourced workers who are enslaved and have not joined the union. But we have shown that we are strong and that we are not alone.”

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:

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.