Swaziland: Union welcomes return to US-Africa trade agreement

Swaziland was removed from the list of beneficiaries three years ago for not respecting workers’ rights including freedoms of assembly, association and expression. To reverse this, the government worked closely with the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland, to which ATUSWA is affiliated, to improve on the rights. The US subsequently restored trade benefits to Swaziland on 23 December 2017.

AGOA is a trade agreement that allows duty free market access to the US for products from Sub Saharan African countries. The product range includes textile and apparel. According to the US International Trade Administration 33 countries qualify for AGOA benefits.

Wander Mkhonza, secretary general of ATUSWA, says:

“We are encouraged that our beautiful country is back within the AGOA fold. Our readmission is a testimony that great achievements can only be realized when government, labour and employers work together for common good."

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

“Linking trade agreements to workers’ rights is important, and this makes the return of AGOA a welcome development. Workers’ power comes from increases in membership, and membership cannot grow if trade unions rights are not respected."

ATUSWA is also hoping that court cases challenging its existence as a union will be concluded soon. The union says the cases are dividing workers and holding it back. For instance, the union is unable to receive subscriptions from workers whose membership is in dispute.

On collective bargaining, ATUSWA is campaigning for a joint negotiating council in the textile and apparel sector. The union disagrees with suggestions that Swaziland is not ready for collective bargaining because the Industrial Relations Act supports it. According to the union, the current set up in which wage councils are responsible for bargaining is leading to low wages thus threatening workers’ livelihoods. The wage councils, made up of people handpicked by the government, are not representing workers.

ATUSWA says it will continue to fight companies that are anti-union and campaign for minimum wages. Further, it will recruit young workers, ensure safe and secure jobs, transparent workplaces, and better industrial relations.

IndustriALL, UNI and BWI sign global framework agreement with Stora Enso

In the GFA, Stora Enso commits to working with the three global unions in order to uphold fundamental labour rights throughout its global operation and subsidiaries. The company will strive to implement the principles of the GFA throughout its supply chain.

The GFA specifically focuses on:

IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary, Valter Sanches, stated at the signing:

“I congratulate Stora Enso and welcome our new formal relationship that gives us the means to uphold workers’ rights throughout the company’s global operation. I call upon other pulp and paper manufacturers to follow this example.”

Stora Enso’s CEO, Karl-Henrik Sundström, said: 

“We strive for a working environment where all our employees are treated with respect and in a fair manner. We are continuously working to make sure that all our units comply with the requirements. By signing the Global Framework agreement, we show our commitment and take the next step in this important area."

There is a dispute resolution mechanism established by the GFA. Under the mechanism, issues will be addressed at the local level, but where necessary will be brought to national and global level and ultimately to mediation.

The GFA formalizes an on-going dialogue between the partners and all signatories will meet every two years to assess the implementation of the GFA.

However, the spirit of the global agreement establishes open dialogue through which the partners will work jointly to pre-emptively solve problems as early as possible.

UNI Global Union General Secretary, Philip Jennings said:

“The agreement is an excellent way to begin the year in which we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Stora Enso is taking a significant step in the right direction for workers' right along their supply chain by signing up to this agreement.

“This agreement is further recognition that workers' rights are human rights. The importance of global framework agreements has not only been acknowledged by companies like Stora Enso, but also by the G20 and international organisations around the world." 

BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson, stated:

“In signing this agreement, Stora Enso commits to ensure fundamental labour rights for workers in their global operations and subsidiaries.  We, now look forward to actively working with Stora Enso to effectively implement this agreement on the ground to improve the lives of workers.”

Turkey: 130,000 metalworkers determined to strike

The metal industry in Turkey is characterized by low wages, long working hours, high job accident rates, excessive profits and very high productivity rates. And according to the research conducted by Birlesik Metal-Is, because of the industry’s low wages, 85 per cent of the metalworkers are in debt.

Following widespread protests in May and June 2015, sector-wide collective bargaining in the Turkish metal industry started at the beginning of October 2017, between the three trade unions Birlesik Metal-Is, Celik-Is and Türk Metal and MESS, Metal Industry Employers’ Association.

Unions demanded substantial increases in wages, social benefits, notice and severance payments, overtime and night works, paid holidays, improved health and safety measures, supplementary health coverage through a two-year collective agreement. In return, MESS offered low increases, even below the realized inflation rate with a three-year contract.

As negotiations failed at the beginning of December 2017, the three unions notified a dispute and engaged in warning actions, including not doing overtime. In line with Turkish legislation, an official mediator was appointed, but the dispute could not be resolved. The report from the mediators is to be published soon.

A final offer from MESS was rejected by the three unions on 11 January. Birleşik Metal-İş called the employers’ offer “frivolous” and “unacceptable”, saying that the employer had clearly not got the message. Celik-Is announced that “With this offer, MESS insisted on its mistake and sent an invitation to a crisis and chaos”.

According to Turkish law, after the mediator report is received by the unions, “a decision to call a strike may be taken in sixty days following notification date of the report on the dispute and the date of the strike shall be communicated to the opposite party six working days before”. The three unions have publicly declared that they will go on strike.

With Turkey’s track record in banning strikes, there are serious concerns that this strike will follow suit.

Turkish trade union legislation allows for “postponement of strikes”, meaning that a lawful strike may be suspended by the Council of Ministers for 60 days with a decree if it is prejudicial to public health or national security. And “if an agreement is not reached before the expiry date of the suspension period, the High Board of Arbitration settles the dispute upon the application of the either parties within six working days”. This means that unions cannot continue to strike after a “postponement”, which refers to a complete strike ban.

Birlesik Metal-Is organized a conference on the right to strike on 13 January in Istanbul, and the union’s executive committee decided to call on all other metal sector unions in Turkey to go on the strike together, and to resist if the government issues a strike ban. The union also decided to make a call to all other metal sector unions to go on the strike together and resist if the Government bans the strike.

Speaking at the conference Valter Sanches, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union said:

Our global union family will continue to give its utmost support to Turkish metalworkers in their struggle. The right to strike is a fundamental labour right and every worker should be able to use it.

The Turkish government must recognize this right and not obstruct it in any way.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan says:

Metalworkers in Turkey break production records in a very profitable industry, yet employers do not want to share even a small portion of this wealth with the workers.

The offer from MESS makes a mockery of metalworkers, and IndustriALL will stand by them until they win a better deal.

Trinidad and Tobago: OWTU protest at possible job cuts at Petrotrin

The union’s action plan includes monthly marches against possible job cuts and privatization of the company.

OWTU leader Ancel Roget, announced he will call on workers from all over the country for solidarity and support in the struggle against the current government’s promotion of injustice, inequality and incompetence.

Any one of us, including temporary workers and those who have worked for the company for years, could end up as victims and lose their jobs

said Roget at a press conference.

The OWTU emphasizes that it does not reject the idea of restructuring, but believes that reducing the workforce will not solve Petrotrin’s financial problems.

The union submitted recommendations for a fair restructuring in 2017 and offered support if workers were involved in the process, but the company did not reply.

IndustriALL’s Regional Officer for Latin América and the Caribbean, Marino Vani, offered support for the workers’ struggle:

We offer our solidarity to Petrotrin’s workers and our affiliate, the OWTU. We oppose governments that hand over our wealth to big transnational companies, dressing it up as modernization.

Privatizing energy companies is the same as relinquishing our sovereignty and increasing inequality, unemployment and social injustice in our countries. All our support to the struggle of OWTU workers!

Petrotrin reports directly to the finance ministry and its operations include exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons and the manufacture and marketing of oil products. Petrotrin operates the country’s only oil refinery and sells its products on the local market, in the Caribbean, Latin America and the Unites States.

370 Kyrgyz miners reinstated after mass layoffs

On 8 January, representatives of the trade union, management of Full Gold Mining and Kyrgyz state committee for industry, energy and subsoil use, overseeing the sector, met at a round table to resolve the labour dispute. At the end of last year, on 31 December 2017, the previous labour contracts at Full Gold Mining expired.

Referring to the financial difficulties, management unilaterally decided to change working conditions. In violation of the national legislation, the amendments included 30 per cent reduction of wages and cancellation of bonuses, such as food allowance, financial support for professional development, as well as tenure and shift work allowances. Miners refused to accept worsened working conditions and got fired.

The company employs about 600 people, due to the technological features 200 people of them are occupied on a seasonal basis from April to November. About 30 people are management and security staff. Thus, the decision of the company affected almost all the workers of Full Gold Mining.

The workers appealed to the MMTUK asking to protect their rights and avoid layoffs. The union conducted an informational campaign and received support from the authorities, public and mass media. In result, the company looked awkward in the eyes of national authorities and company leadership in China. Finally, MMTUK asked the national government to intervene in the conflict.

Following difficult negotiations, management has been obliged to extend labour contracts from 1 January 2018 without any cuts and conclude a new collective agreement for 2018-2020 with the trade union committee. 

Workers resumed operation on 15 January. They won’t be paid for those two weeks of downtime; however, their tenure will not be interrupted either.

Full Gold Mining got the license for the development of Ishtamberdy field in southern Kyrgyzstan for 20 years since 2011. Currently, the union is seeking conclusion of open-ended labour contracts for the company employees.

Eldar Tadjibayev, MMTUK President, states,

“In my opinion, the negotiations have been extremely successful. All employees are reinstated. The salary level is saved, some of the employees got even a little increase. At the same time, we agreed to consider a salary increase once the enterprise starts receiving profits”.

Vadim Borisov, regional secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, said,

“We congratulate our affiliate, MMTUK, with this victory, thanks to their negotiating experience workers enjoy a successful resolution of this dispute.”

Taiwan: Trade unions condemn ‘worst ever’ labour law

On Wednesday 10 January, the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan approved changes to the Labour Standards Act that will give employers the power to force workers to work 12 days in a row, with a break of only 8 hours between shifts. Currently workers can be made to work 7 days in a row with a mandatory break of 11 hours. The amendment is set to take effect on 1 March.

Mr Chueh An Chuang, who is President of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Taiwan Petroleum Workers Union (TPWU), as well as President of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU), said:

“We trade unions must step forward to tackle the problems and impacts of adoption the new regulations. Moreover, we need to have more negotiations with the government about future amendments to our Labour Standards Act.” 

Members of Taiwan’s Human Rights Committee are now calling for an investigation into the amendment, which they believe may have violated the International Bill of Human Rights enacted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1976.

President Chuang added:

“The draft amendment is strongly in favour of employers but not workers. I’m very worried about the problem of overworking in Taiwan, which will only get worse when this new Act is implemented.” 

IndustriALL’s General Secretary, Valter Sanches, said:

“The new amendment to the Labour Standards Act is an insult to workers in Taiwan. Driving workers into the ground will not lead to greater prosperity but to a sick workforce operating under conditions that are entirely unsustainable. We support our affiliate in its efforts to fight this law.” 

Since the Taiwan government proposed the controversial amendments in October last year, the TCTU has joined other trade unions, social activists, student groups and academics to form the May Day Action Alliance in protest against the changes.

As lawmakers started the second and third deliberation meetings regarding the amendments on 8 January, nearly 300 members of the May Day Action Alliance camped overnight outside the Legislative Yuan.

A march on 23 December 2017, attracted near 10,000 people and led to the arrest of 10 union leaders and students after protesters blocked the key intersection near Taipei main railway station. 

Russia: Court rules to dissolve ITUWA

On 10 January, the local court of Saint Petersburg, Russia, ruled that ITUWA should be liquidated claiming the union conducted political activities and received foreign funds.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the union demanded changes in the national labour legislation, referring to ITUWA’s online collection of signatures in support of the modifications on the Labour Code. In fact, ITUWA had promoted a public petition on the indexation of salaries of employees in private companies in accordance with inflation. IndustriALL believes this is clearly one of the ways to protect its members’ interests and therefore dismisses the accusation of the prosecutor.

In addition, the court considered that ITUWA was getting involved in politics, after the union criticized the socioeconomic policy of the state authorities on its website. The judge also considered ITUWA’s solidarity with Russian truck drivers protesting against tax increases as an example of ITUWA activities not complying with its trade union status. IndustriALL believes this decision of the court sets a very dangerous precedent preventing ITUWA and other union members to openly express their internal and inter-union solidarity and therefore is in violation of internationally recognized freedom of association principles.

The court also questioned ITUWA’s multi-sectorial presence across Russia, saying the union was failing to clearly define the scope of its sectors and geographical membership. According to the ILO Convention 87 every union has the right to decide itself of its organizing structure and therefore once again the decision of the court is blocking the implementation of the ILO Convention on the territory of Russian Federation.

In 2015 and 2016 the union carried out a number of training workshops with assistance of IndustriALL Global Union. The judge believes that this behavior of the union is in discrepancy with their statutory activities and therefore the organization must be treated not as a trade union according to the national law on trade unions, but as a non-governmental organization exercising political work in Russia with assistance from abroad. Such an organization is considered as a “foreign agent” and must undergo a special registration. This was shown to be one the arguments of the judge on dissolution of ITUWA.

IndustriALL shares ITUWA and its national center KTR, a member of ITUC, concerns that the decision of the court is unprecedented. For the first time the trade union came under the law on foreign agents because of funding from abroad, which applies in Russia to not-for-profit organizations, but so far has never applied to trade unions.

IndustriALL believes the verdict heralds the review of all trade union work and threatens their very existence in the country.

The conflict arose in the summer of 2017 when in violation of the national legislation the Saint-Petersburg Prosecutor's office demanded the list of union members, but failed and conducted several inspections that eventually led to the court proceeding.

Now the union has one month to appeal the decision. ITUWA’s activists will seek justice and are ready to reach the Supreme Court.

Alexey Etmanov, president of ITUWA, said,

“ITUWA’s dissolution will not affect trade union work as the primary organizations are separate legal entities that can create a new organization. We count on support from the affiliates of the global unions, particularly in Russia and the CIS region, Russian trade union centres and the international community.”

Valter Sanches, IndustriALL Global Union general secretary, commented,

“We are shocked to learn about this unprecedented decision of the Russian authorities. This court decision is in clear violation of the ILO Convention № 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize ratified by the Russian Federation.”

“We stand in solidarity with ITUWA and ask all of our affiliates in the region, especially in Russia, to join us.”

“We expect the Supreme Court to review and reverse the local court decision to dissolve ITUWA. In the same time, we will support all ITUWA legitimate actions aimed to normalize the situation and ensure continuation of their union work.”

Namibia: Union protest sloppy safety standards at Skorpion Zinc mine

The workers are demanding improved communication on safety issues at the mine, which is owned by Vedanta Zinc International. They want the mine to improve safety by reporting to workers conditions at the open cast mine including slope failures and pit wall structures, train workers on emergency evacuation procedures, and discipline managers who report for work drunk.

The MUN says the continued neglect of safety precautions is putting workers lives at risk. For instance, when there was a slope failure on 18 December 2017, the management seemed confused. This happened despite getting advice from experts on how to deal with slope failures and stabilizing the walls of the mining pit.

Further, workers were not being trained on necessary evacuation procedures in cases of emergency. According to the MUN, safety standards are falling as “it has become a norm that procedures and policies are ignored to increase production, and safety standards dropped leading to unsafe working conditions”.

Another threat to safety at the mine is drunkenness. The MUN suspects that managers refusing breathalyzer tests often came to work drunk contrary to the mine’s alcohol and drug abuse policy. One of the managers has since been suspended after workers cornered him to take an alcohol test which proved that he indeed came to work drunk.

Further, the union wants Skorpion to improve workers skills through training and for subcontractors, Basil Read, to employ more local staff at management level as well as provide personal protective equipment. Skilled workers should also be recognised through certification especially after attending courses on how to operate machines.

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

“Safety at mines is non-negotiable, and mining companies must always ensure that standards are adhered to. Therefore, it is not acceptable for mining companies to sacrifice workers safety to increase production targets and profits.”

Workers win recognition at Furukawa company in the Philippines

Close to 1,500 workers voted in favour of union representation at the auto parts manufacturer. The company has a workforce of 5,000, of whom more than fifty per cent are agency-hired and non-regular.

The fight for union recognition at Furukawa was attained after a long struggle, with collective support of trade unions led by Philippine Metalworkers Alliance (PMA), the Japan Council of Metalworkers’ union, global union federations and other organizations.

A certification election is a process in the industrial relations in the Philippines that determines through secret ballot the sole and exclusive bargaining agent in an appropriate bargaining unit for purposes of collective bargaining.

Despite local management trying to thwart the formation of a union at the company, Furukawa workers remained steadfast and vigilant until they won. With the solidarity support of different union organizations and the dedicated organizers of PMA, they kept up the pressure.

Valter Sanches, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, called on Furukawa Automotive Systems to respect fundamental workers’ rights, particularly the right to organize and to bargain collectively.

In a message of support to the leadership of PMA, he said:

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with the brothers and sisters of the Furukawa Employees Welfare Union at Furukawa Automotive Systems Lima Philippines in their struggle to achieve trade union recognition and collective bargaining recognition.”

Furukawa Automotive Systems is a Japanese company located in one of the special economic zone in Lipa City, south of metro Manila. The company manufactures wire harnesses, connectors and functional components for cars for major automobile brands.

3,000 white-collar paper workers in Finland to strike

IndustriALL Global Union is supporting its Finnish affiliate Pro as it fights aggressive attempts by employers to make cuts to employment conditions across the industry.

Pro refuses to agree to the cuts and 3,000 members across the industry have been on an indefinite overtime ban since Tuesday 9 January. The white-collar workers will conduct a full one-week strike starting at 6am on 17 January. The strike will seriously disrupt production.

Despite healthy profits and productivity in the paper sector in Finland, the sector’s employer association, Finnish Forest Industries, is proposing to take away a raft of benefits that workers have gained over decades of constructive industrial relations.

The other area that the employers are attempting to change is by taking away the decision-making power of local level bargaining partners, and instead give management the power to make unilateral decisions on how to allocate salary increases.

The union proposal on wages is a mix of two components, one general increase for all workers in the sector, and a separate salary increase to be negotiated locally. This would allow a fair distribution to those employees whose salary has lagged behind in recent years.

The Finnish Government will arbitrate the next round of bargaining on Sunday, 14 January, where the employers’ association has the opportunity to retract its unreasonable proposals. Jari Uschanov, Pro National Officer, leads the union bargaining committee.

IndustriALL Global Union Research and Industry Officer Tom Grinter said:

“How dare these companies break the spirit of collegiality and trust that has been built over so many years. The proposed cuts will directly punish the workers’ pocket at a time when those workers are increasing the profits made. Unbelievable and unacceptable. IndustriALL Global Union stands firmly in support of the sector-wide strike that starts next Wednesday morning.”