Pakistan has failed to learn lessons of Gadani tradegy, say unions

In an industry often called the most dangerous in the world, the Gadani shipbreaking yard in Pakistan is among the worst. The unions say that failure to comply with internationally accepted labour standards and criminal negligence by the Pakistani government, employers exploiting labour rights, risking workers’ lives, is resulting in a decline. The government has given employers and contractors a license to kill the workers, when despite all the casualties in the industry, no one is prosecuted. According to the unions, there is an urgent need to implement labour standards in line with ILO conventions, South Asian and Turkish shipbreaking industries' guidelines and the Hong Kong Convention.

At Gadani, thousands work in inhumane conditions with no safety measures. As a result, every day, workers are injured for life or even die. Instead, the government has turned a deaf ear to workers’ rights, health and safety, leading to scores of accidents being unreported. Workers have been deprived of their constitutional and legal rights to obtain fair wages and medical cover.

Speaking at the seminar, IndustriALL affiliate NTUF deputy general secretary Nasir Mansoor said that the shipbreaking industry earns billions of rupees to the federal and provincial governments, employs thousands of workers directly and indirectly and caters for up to 30 per cent the country's iron needs:

“But because of the governments' negligence, the industry is deteriorating with devastating results. A lot of iron now needs to be imported to the country, and downstream industries with businesses linked to shipbreaking employing more than two million people, face an uncertain future.

“Similar industries across the world have managed to change after implementing labour rights and standards according to international conventions. In Alang, India, they have started to implement a shipbreaking code after a decision from the Supreme Court, and the accidents and casualties have been considerably reduced. In its turn, this has helped Alang become the largest shipbreaking industry in the world with 60,000 directly employed workers.”

Once one of the leading ship breaking industries in the world, employing around 35,000 workers, there are today around 10,000 people working there, a number which may decline even further.

Bashir Mehmoodani, president of Ship Breaking Workers Union, Gadani, said that the government, other authorities and employers should take real measures to save the industry from closure:

“There should be serious consultation with trade unions and workers’ representatives to ensure labour rights.”

NTUF has prepared a draft law on shipbreaking. The draft has been given to the Balochistan government, who has still to move on it. The union is also educating workers on their rights and training them how to work in hazardous conditions.

Participants at the seminar are demanding:

* Legislation for the shipbreaking industry in the light of ILO guidelines

* Ratification of the Hong Kong Convention for safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships

* A tripartite consultative mechanism

* A law on shipbreaking; drafted, passed through the assembly and enacted be done

* Trade unions must be recognized and consulted with

*  Access to ambulance, dispensary and safe drinking water for all workers in all shipbreaking yards, as well as a hospital in Gadani

* A labour colony with all basic necessities, education and health facilities and proper communication network be built in Gadani

Five years after Rana Plaza, the need for the Bangladesh Accord persists

The 2018 Transition Accord takes over the work of the current Accord when it expires in May and will ensure that work continues to improve factory safety – the remediation progress rate across all currently covered Accord factories is 84 per cent. Global labour organizations are demanding that all brands producing in Bangladesh sign the 2018 Transition Accord

IndustriALL Global Union Assistant General Secretary, Jenny Holdcroft, states:

“Brands that don’t sign the 2018 Accord are getting a free ride from the brands that do, benefiting from being able to source from safer factories without contributing to the joint effort. Support for the Accord is critical while there is still no effective national regulatory body in place that can guarantee factory safety.”

The legally-binding Accord, signed between IndustriALL Global Union, UNI Global Union and 222 apparel brands, was set up in response to the Rana Plaza factory collapse in the outskirts of Dhaka on 24 April 2013. The Accord safety programme has saved lives and dramatically improved garment factory safety in Bangladesh.

UNI Global Union Deputy General Secretary, Christy Hoffman, says: “We are concerned to hear signals from Bangladesh that there is opposition to the Accord continuing its important work after May. It is clear that for many major brands, the renewal of the Accord is essential to maintaining their business relationships in Bangladesh, until the Accord work can be taken over by a credible national body."

So far, 144 global brands have signed the new 2018 Accord, covering more than 1,300 factories and approximately two million workers.

IndustriALL, UNI and the witness signatories to the Accord — Clean Clothes Campaign, International Labor Rights Forum, Maquila Solidarity Network and Worker Rights Consortium — are calling on all brands sourcing from Bangladesh to sign the 2018 Accord, including brands such as GAP and Walmart that had joined the now ending Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, as well as other brands that have never joined the Accord, despite continuing to do business in Bangladesh.

“The Rana Plaza collapse has shown that the traditional audits have failed workers, and that in the absence of a credible and accountable alternative, the continuation of the legally-binding Accord is needed to prevent another disaster,” says Judy Gearhart, Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Forum. “This should be acknowledged by brands that have not yet renewed their commitment to the 2018 Transition Accord and those that were part of the Alliance and followed by immediate action to join the Accord.”

Ineke Zeldenrust, International Coordinator at Clean Clothes Campaign, adds: “It is vital that existing plans to create an employment injury insurance system in Bangladesh are sped up, to ensure that if factory incidents do happen workers can count on a reliable system to provide them with compensation.”

The 2018 Transition Accord recognizes the importance of Freedom of Association in ensuring workers have a genuine say in protecting their own safety.

Base metals unions in CIS countries confront challenges

Challenges include global overcapacity, digitalization, and repression of unions by governments and companies. Presently, the share of the CIS region in global steel production is 6,3 per cent.

Participants noted that the U.S. government’s recent decisions on tariffs on steel and aluminium imports was a major challenge, since no CIS countries have been exempted from the tariffs.  

Alexey Bezymyannykh of Miners' & Metallurgical Workers' Union of Russia noted the absence of foreign multinational corporations in Russia. The production volume in the industry has not grown for several years, which affects the terms of new collective agreements.

Asylbek Nuralin of the Trade Union of Workers of Mining and Metallurgical Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Sergey Komyshev of the Metallurgical and Mining Industry Workers’ Union of Ukraine (PMGU), and Natalia Marinyuk of the trade union committee of PMGU at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih emphasized the lack of effective social dialogue with ArcelorMittal. Miners in Kazakhstan only managed to achieve a wage increase of 30 per cent after the underground strike in December 2017.

Workers in Ukraine held a rally and sent an appeal to the ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih CEO signed by 12,000 people, demanding higher wages, safety improvements and improved social dialogue. Receiving no answer, they voted to begin a collective dispute. Workers insist on carrying out a detailed inspection of all company buildings that are in poor condition. Members of the union are under constant pressure from management, which conducts anti-social and anti-union policy.  

Eldar Tadzhibaev of the Mining and Metallurgy Trade Union of Kyrgyzstan spoke about the trade union discount programme, an effective tool for organizing in worsening environment. 150 different companies provide discounts to union members. The programme resulted in the creation of three new unions and about 4,000 new members.

IndustriALL affiliates in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan ensure that the chair of trade union committees is approved by the union central committee. This prevents employer's representatives from being elected as chair, which undermines the union from within.

Tamaz Dolaberidze of the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia noted the problem of declining membership. In 2017, the trade union at Rustavi Azot was destroyed. In 2014, the mining company Rich Minerals Group undermined the union of 1,500 members. The main reason is that the union in Georgia is expected to take militant action, which does not always bring results.

Participants emphasized the importance of Industry 4.0 and suggested its inclusion in the agenda of each trade union event. Authorities and companies must create new vacancies and retrain people, so that they are not left without a job due to robotization. Trade unions should conduct an information campaign to encourage the authorities and the management to take urgent measures and trade union members to get new skills.

Summing up the conference, IndustriALL director for base metals Adam Lee noted,

“Base metals unions in the CIS have a long tradition of collaboration at the regional level. We applaud them for this and will continue to support their efforts to confront the many challenges they face in the sector.”

Global unions demand an end to workers’ rights violations in Belarus

IndustriALL Global Union and the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ITUC) organized a joint mission to Belarus to express solidarity with affiliates and meet with Government representatives. The mission met with representatives of the ministries of Labour and Foreign Affairs on 18 April, and raised concerns about attacks on independent trade unions and pressure on trade union activists in Belarus.

In August 2017, trade union leaders were detained and the offices of the Belarusian Independent trade union of Miners, Chemical workers, Oil-refiners, Energy, Transport, Construction and other workers (BITU) and Belarusian Radio and Electronic Industry Workers' Union (REP) were searched. Both organizations are members of IndustriALL Global Union, the International Trade Union Confederation and its Pan-European Regional Council (PERC) through the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions.

Ihar Komlik, chairman of the REP Minsk City organization and REP’s chief accountant, was released on 1 October after spending two months in prison. Authorities continue a criminal investigation against REP leaders Komlik and Gennady Fedynitch for alleged large-scale tax evasion for donor aid received as part of trade union cooperation. Both leaders risk up to seven-years’ imprisonment with confiscation of their private property.

There are continued threats against REP members. At least 550 members have been summoned for interrogation by the Investigative Committee of Belarus. Notably, they were mostly questioned about their trade union activities rather than about the financial matters of the union. Computers and other equipment and documents confiscated from trade union offices in August have not been returned.

REP union activists returning from abroad are stopped and searched by the Belarusian border officers for supposedly smuggling of illegal goods.

The Belarusian authorities are undermining the work of independent trade unions as a reaction to successful resistance to a new decree punishing unemployed people and forcing them to pay higher rates for state-subsidized services. The first version of this decree was abolished following mass protests, with strong involvement from the independent trade unions.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary comments:

“We expressed our concerns about the current situation with trade union and workers’ rights in Belarus and offered our partnership and assistance in order to correct this situation.

“Will this step really become the beginning of a long journey to improvement, is a question we address to Belarusian Government.

“However, in the absence of a meaningful response, Belarus will not become a decent member of the international community. Time is running out and the next session of the International Labour Conference, where the Belarusian case might be considered, is coming up in June.”

In conjunction with the mission, trade unions in Belgium, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Switzerland protested outside Belarusian embassies. A union delegation met the Ambassador in Geneva, who expressed a desire to move towards a tripartite system with social dialogue.

The union delegation asserted that a precondition for dialogue is that union activists are free from fear of prosecution for union activities. In Brussels, the deputy mission head claimed that Belarus was in the process of improving its industrial relations.

The union protests demanded:

  • End persecution of independent trade unions in Belarus;
  • Fulfil international obligations undertaken by Belarus in particular to respect ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize in line with the Commission of Inquire recommendations;
  • Stop mass interrogations of rank-and-file members of REP and other independent unionists, and discontinue criminal investigation against union leaders Fedynich and Komlik.

Letters with similar demands were also delivered in many other countries.

Global unions target Algerian government as ILO mission is cancelled

The ILO contact mission, which was due to take place at the end of February 2018, was called off after the government failed to confirm that the mission would be able to meet with independent unions in Algeria.

The mission was recommended by the ILO’s Committee on Application of Standards in June 2017, after Algeria came under examination by the committee for breaching ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association.

A change.org petition, started by IndustriALL, Public Services International, the IUF and the International Trade Union Confederation, is calling on the government to stop violating trade union rights in the country.

Democratic unions in Algeria are coming under increasing attack; judicial persecution of trade union leaders, including IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, SNATEGS, is intensifying and workers have been fired or suspended for their trade union activities. Meanwhile the government continues to deny legal status to independent unions.

On 21 February 2018, global unions wrote to the Director General of the ILO, Guy Ryder, urging the participation of independent unions in Algeria in meetings with the direct contact mission. When that couldn’t be guaranteed, the mission was cancelled.

On 16 March, global unions again wrote to Guy Ryder, expressing disappointment and apprehension at the cancellation, adding:

“As a matter of urgency, and taking full account of this regrettable setback, we sincerely hope the International Labour Organization will redouble its efforts to put pressure on the Government of Algeria, thus calling on them to abide strictly by international labour standards, including the right to freedom of association, and, specifically, demanding a time-bound action plan to provide a remedy for the specific violations of labour rights.”

Sign the petition here.

IndustriALL condemns Ghana Gold Fields retrenchments

Ghana Gold Fields is retrenching and rehiring the same workers on contract.

According to IndustriALL affiliate Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) the retrenchments were not done according to the law, prompting the union to go to court. The union organized a general strike last month, during which the military beat up workers at Tarkwa – an action that was strongly condemned by the union.

An agreement to break the deadlock signed on April 4 has the following conditions: GMWU to withdraw the pending court case before the negotiations, and for the company and union to re-engage on the 2018 wage negotiations in good faith and without media publicity. The Damang mine restructuring should be done according to the Labour Act 2003 and the collective bargaining agreement.

Further, Gold Fields wants to select “on a case-by-case basis and recommend those branch union executives with appropriate conduct and without health issues to the contractors executing the contract mining at Tarkwa mine for potential employment.

During a recent mission to Ghana, IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches, together with Paule France Ndessomin, regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa, met with the deputy minister of employment and labour relations, Bright Wireko-Brobbey, who is involved in the dispute as an observer. The minister says a commission will be set up to investigate working conditions under precarious work.

Collective bargaining should be concluded on time. It is unacceptable for the ministry of labour to unnecessarily delay the issuing of bargaining certificates as this infringed on workers’ rights to representation and freedom of association,

says Sanches.

The general secretary of the GMWU, Prince William Ankrah, expressed gratitude to IndustriALL for sending a letter to Gold Fields and for supporting the mineworkers.

At meetings with the chairperson of the Ghana IndustriALL liaison committee, Solomon Kotei, who is also the general secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, the general secretary of General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union, Fuseini Iddrisu, and the GMWU, Sanches emphasized workers’ rights.

Workers are free to join a union of their choice without interference from employers or the government. The abuse of precarious workers by employers in the oil and gas sector must stop, and it is shocking that offshore workers are not unionized.

Nuclear workers protest in Ukraine

The National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission has set the tariff for state-owned enterprises that generate electricity at US$0,02 per kilowatt. The tariff for private thermal power plants is 3,5 times higher at US$0,07 per kilowatt.

The state enterprise Energorynok does not pay for all electricity provided by Energoatom. Payments of US$45,9 million are missing for 2017, and the general arrears for the electricity output is US$482 million. The lack of payment affects wage levels, leading to a loss of qualified staff. 

At a press conference on the critical situation in Ukraine’s nuclear industry, Valery Matov, president of Atomprofspilka, said:

“Ukraine’s nuclear industry is key, not only for energy, but also for the economy. The main cause for concern is the discriminatory tariff policy towards state-owned enterprises, in particular Energoatom”.

According to the chair of the union at Energoatom, Alexey Lich, the required number of licensed personnel for operating nuclear facilities is clearly defined. A lack of personnel will lead to closure of these facilities.

Atomprofspilka is demanding:

If demands are not met within a month, workers will organize a rally in Ukraine’s capital Kiev.

IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches says:

 “We hope that the government will immediately address the workers’ demands. We stand firm in solidarity with Atomprofspilka, and are ready to provide further support at the global level.”

IndustriALL mobilizes against grotesque labour law reform in Mexico

The President of the Senate has until 30 April to put the bill to a vote. If adopted, the reform would make a mockery of the constitutional labour reform introduced last February as a result of years of pressure by Mexican and international trade union organizations and other labour rights advocates.

Last year’s historic changes, aimed at addressing major deficiencies in the administration of labour justice in Mexico, were due to be implemented through secondary legislation which was expected to finally empower workers to exercise their fundamental right to organize and bargain collectively.

At the last minute, however, two grotesque labour reform proposals emerged which completely undermine the spirit and intent of the constitutional reform. The proposals strip workers of their fundamental labour rights and protect the vested interests of employers and “charro” unions, the ‘ghost’ unions which represent workers without their knowledge or consent – a practice that independent Mexican unions and the international labour movement have been trying to eradicate for years.

IndustriALL demands respect for workers’ rights and permanent jobs in the Ivory Coast

IndustriALL met with the Ivory Coast's minister of energy, oil and mines, Thierry Tanoh, and with the minister of employment and social protection, Jean Claude Kouass, together with IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa, Paule France Ndessomin, and IndustriALL affiliate in the country SYNTEPCI general secretary, Jeremy Wondje.

Sanches called for an end to the abuse of contract workers in the oil sector, and said that IndustriALL's global framework agreements with multinational companies including Total, are effective tools to that end. The GFAs contain provisions for decent work, respect for workers’ rights and freedom of association along the supply chain.

SYNTEPCI has been challenging dismissals and poor working conditions at Klenzi and Petroci, and hopefully the matters will be resolved after the promises were made by the ministers.

According to Kouassi, although the Ivory Coast welcome investments this should not be at the expense of workers. Poor wages and working conditions are not acceptable and investors have to abide by decent wages, health and safety standards and social protection. Better working conditions also brought financial benefits to companies that invested in the country. The minister said he would convene a conference to discuss contract work to find “solutions and a common understanding” to address precarious working conditions.

In response Sanches says:

While we welcome the initiative by the minister, IndustriALL understands the use of contract work in specific cases but the replacement of permanent workers with contract workers — who end up doing jobs of a permanent nature — is unacceptable and must be looked into. Hopefully, social dialogue is the way

IndustriALL's Global Framework Agreements

They put in place the very best standards of trade union rights, health, safety and environmental practices, and quality of work principles across a company's global operations, regardless of whether those standards exist in an individual country.

IndustriALL prioritizes establishing, monitoring and improving GFAs with multinational companies.

Here, you will find all information related to GFAs, including a full list of signed agreements, as well as our Charter of solidarity.