Hunger strike at Volkswagen plant in India  

The current bargaining round started at the end of 2016, and after 14 months there has been no solution to the main point of contention; how to introduce a performance-based part of the salary. Although not common in the Indian automotive industry, this system is already in place in most VW plants around the world.

Volkswagen (VW) wants salaries to be 80 per cent fixed and 20 per cent based on performance, and during the period of implementation many workers will be confronted with a significant wage decrease.

Today is the fifth day of the hunger strike and the protest is rapidly taking its toll with two people already in hospital. There is still no response from management.

The Volkswagen Employees union, representing the protesting workers, says that as negotiations have led nowhere, they have resorted to “fast until death”.

"We have resorted to hunger strike, but we don't intend to stop production and so our members have not stopped working”, says Mashe Tushar, General Secretary of the VW Employees’ Union.



IndustriALL automotive director Georg Leutert says:

“We urge Volkswagen to engage in dialogue and to quickly find a fair solution before the situation deteriorates.”

German metalworkers’ union launches mass strikes for wage rise and reduced hours

The industrial action started on Monday 8 January with a round of warning strikes – short actions where workers down tools for a number of hours, and take to the streets to demonstrate. About 160,000 workers took action at more than 80 companies, including Volkswagen, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, Daimler, Siemens, thyssenkrupp, Thales, Airbus, Honeywell, Bombardier and Atos.

If no progress is made in negotiations, the union intends to extend the action to full day strikes targeting key companies. The first round of bargaining for a collective agreement for the 3.9 million workers in the metal and electronics sector begins today, when the union meets the regional employers’ association in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, where a number of auto manufacturers are based.

The union is seeking a fundamentally new settlement for Germany’s industrial workforce, that will allow workers to benefit from rising productivity and achieve a better work-life balance. At a time of a booming economy and record low unemployment, the union is calling for a 6 per cent wage increase.

Another key demand is the right to reduce working hours to 28 per week to care for children or ageing parents, with the right to return to full time employment after two years. The union is also campaigning for an additional €200 carers allowance. The union believes that gender roles are changing, and that the reduced hours would allow more women to enter the workforce, and more men to take on caring responsibilities.

In the past, it has been companies that have demanded flexibility from their employees. The union wants to turn this around so that flexible work benefits workers and allows them to choose a work pattern that fits their family life.

Speaking to 2,000 workers at a rally in Homburg in Saarland in the south west, IG Metall president Jörg Hoffman – who is also IndustriALL Global Union president – said:

“With IG Metall, there will only be a collective bargaining agreement with all three components: a decent increase in pay, a choice to reduce working hours for a limited period of time, and grants that make working time reduction for parenting, nursing and health possible for everyone.”

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“The German economy is doing well, and it is fair that workers should also benefit from productivity gains and have the right to flexibility.

“What is really historic is the demand to reduce working hours to 28 per week. It is important that workers benefit from the changes that Industry 4.0 brings to the world of work. This demand by IG Metall shows unions leading the way in building an economy that works for everyone.”

With 2.3 million members, IG Metall is one of the largest and most powerful unions in the world. The collective agreement that the union is negotiating would cover 3.9 million workers.

Drawn-out dispute at Australian mine

The Collie Mine is in financial crisis and lenders to the company have started the process of recovering their loans. During this process, the company is refusing to agree to the proposal made by Australia’s industrial tribunal, the Fair Work Commission (FWC), towards protecting workers’ interests.

Instead, Griffin Coal is using every anti-worker provision available to reduce the terms and conditions for these workers. Wage rates have been dropped by more than 43 per cent; the value of accrued legal entitlements like annual leave and long service leave have been slashed in half; and workers are forced onto anti-family shifts, working more hours for less pay.

The conflict is also having an impact on the local economy, where businesses have been affected by the drop in take-home income.

The AMWU says:

We have tried to assist with Griffin Coal’s focus on flexibility. At every turn, Griffin Coal has told us that this offer is not good enough – that they want us to cut wages even lower, and take on more hours. At the heart of the issue is the fact that the production employees will receive around AUS$6,000 more per year than maintenance employees who work the same shift.

We are seeking at a minimum parity between the production and maintenance workers. However, Griffin Coal do not agree to the issue of parity between the workforce and continue to pit worker against worker.

The Fair Work Commission is recommending that the negotiations for a new agreement be resolved on the basis of a package agreed to in principle in November 2017, underlining that maintenance workers should have the same conditions as the production workers.

IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches is concerned over Griffin Coal’s continued disregard for the exploitation of its workforce:

Griffin Coal must accept the recommendation of the Fair Work Commission, and immediately return to the negotiation table.

Griffin Coal currently employs approximately 270 blue-collar workers at its Collie operations: production workers and maintenance workers. The production workers are represented by the CFMEU, and the AMWU represents the maintenance workers. The two groups of employees are covered by separate enterprise agreements.

Unions outraged over LafargeHolcim’s sudden u-turn on global commitments

The company gave no reason for its radical reversal from the commitment to sign a global framework agreement, which was announced and approved by the Annual shareholders meeting in 2017. LafargeHolcim simply cites the change of its business strategy with the arrival of a new CEO, who claims its current internal arrangements meet the requirements of the company without any need to make further additions.

The Global Framework Agreement was due to be signed at the International Labour Organization’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 10 January 2018, presided over by the ILO Director General. In July 2017 LafargeHolcim top-management signed, together with IndustriALL Global Union and Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), a Memorandum of Understanding committing to sign the Agreement.

The company has now decided, on 22 December, not to sign the global agreement, even though it continues to be plagued by the worst health and safety performance in the industry.

IndustriALL Global Union and BWI, together with The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW), European Works Council (EWC) and national unions, through an emergency meeting in Geneva on 9 January, made a strong statement expressing outrage and anger against LafargeHolcim’s unilateral stepping back from the joint decision to establish a global social dialogue structure in the group.

National, European and Global Unions believe that LafargeHolcim should reconsider their position and:

Valter Sanches, IndustriALL General Secretary, comments on LafargeHolcim latest broken promise:

“This recent decision to break the agreement on building a social dialogue further damages the credibility of the company. We strongly believe that the shareholders, board of directors and all decision makers in LafargeHolcim must think carefully what the future will hold for LafargeHolcim if this destructive approach prevails. This would be a huge obstacle in getting the company back on a good track.”

“LafargeHolcim needs to clean up their act,

says Ambet Yuson, BWI General Secretary.

Cement is a hazardous industry, but prevention of accidents and ill health is seriously undermined by the abuse of outsourcing in the company and its refusal to take responsibility for bad working conditions. Trade unions have the capacity to help the company but it should be ready to change its exploitative employment policies and labour practices.”

Sam Hägglund, EFBWW General Secretary says,

“European trade unions are outraged about LafargeHolcim management’s decision to withdraw from their word. After we signed a strong European Works Council Agreement in spring 2017, we expected that LafargeHolcim would become the benchmark in social dialogue. Now we witness that this approach is under threat. This is a bad sign for the future of all workers and other stakeholders of this group.”

South Korea: Prominent union leader Lee Young-joo detained after protest

Sister Lee had been staying at the KCTU office for two years since an arrest warrant was issued for her activities as general secretary of the organization, and particularly her role in organizing the People’s Mass Mobilization on 14 November 2015 against the repressive labour reform of the former government.

At the end of her three-year term as general secretary, she left the KCTU office to embark on a sit-in hunger strike at the office of the ruling Democratic Party to protest working time regulations.

Her health conditions worsened and the party refused all meeting requests. The union executive recommended that she end the hunger strike. She was arrested on 27 December and taken to hospital, where she was questioned by police. On 30 December, at the request of the prosecutor, a detention order was issued, and she was moved to the Seoul detention centre.

Han Sang-gyun, the president of the KCTU, has been held at the same detention centre since December 2015, on virtually identical charges related to the organization of the demonstration. When former Korean President Park was ousted in 2017 after mass protests, 6,444 people were pardoned. However, the charges against Han and Lee were not dropped.

IndustriALL visited and met Han and Lee several times since 2015 as part of its global solidarity with South Korean union movement.

In April 2017, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary detention considered the case of Han and Lee and reminded the Korean government that it has “the responsibility, including in the context of peaceful protests, to prevent arbitrary arrest and detention, and called upon States to avoid the abuse of criminal proceedings at all times.”

In a letter to Korean President Moon Jae-in, IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches wrote:

“We trust that you will fulfil your commitment to abide by national and international labour standards, and that, in this sense, you will put an end to the persecution of union leaders, release all imprisoned trade unionists, and guarantee the respect of fundamental workers’ rights.”

Korean unions are fighting the government’s interpretation of working time regulations. According to the current Labour Standard Act, the working day is eight hours and the week 40 hours. Workers may work an additional 12 hours, and are paid an overtime premium. Yet the government has interpreted this law to define the working week as Monday to Friday. This means that workers can be required by their employers to work 40 hours from Monday to Friday, plus 12 hours overtime, and also eight hours per day on Saturday and Sunday, for a premium.

This interpretation makes the working week 68 hours long, the longest in the world. Under section 59, some categories of work are exempted from working time regulations. The current government wants to remove the premium for weekend work. The main fight by the unions is to end this interpretation of the law and the section 59 exemptions, which cause injury and death.

The main goals of the union campaign are to:

  1. Achieve fundamental labour rights for all by ratifying ILO core conventions, bringing domestic labour law in line with international standards,
  2. Reduce inequality by strengthening social solidarity, increasing the minimum wage and abolishing precarious work
  3. Reform the Chaebol-centred economic system by holding conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai responsible for labour relations, health and safety and so on.

Iran: Workers demand democracy and freedom against poverty, corruption and repression

A total of 22 people have been killed, and up to a thousand have been detained, accused of terrorism, espionage and “enmity against God”, a crime that carries the death penalty. The regime has claimed that the protests are led by foreign enemies, and has organized counter-demonstrations.

The so-called Green Revolution, which was suppressed by the Iranian regime in 2009, was largely lead by middle class, educated Iranians. In contrast, the mass protests which are now taking place in over 50 cities are a spontaneous uprising by poor and working class people, who have traditionally been the regime’s base.

Iran’s economy has grown since signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – the “nuclear deal”.  Most of the economic growth is due to the resumption of oil and gas exports, but workers in this sector – represented by IndustriALL affiliate the Union of Metalworkers and Mechanics of Iran (UMMI) – have not benefited, and often go for months without getting paid.

Independent trade unions are not able to operate openly, as workers suspected of being union members are dismissed and arrested. Trade union activists are frequently detained and tortured, and strikes are suppressed. Independent trade union leaders face imprisonment on false charges, such as in the cases of Reza Shahabi, Esmail Abdi, Ebrahim Madadi and many others.

Since the signing of the nuclear deal, the economy has liberalized and foreign investment has begun to enter the country. This has benefited the elite, but not working people. The unemployment rate rose by 1.4 per cent last year to 12.4 per cent, and the cost of living has risen. Youth unemployment, in a country where half the population is younger than 30, is at 40 per cent.

As Maziyar Gilaninejhad of UMMI said,

“Our country’s officials promised that the economy would be reenergised with the lifting of sanctions and the return of billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue. These promises have not been kept. To attract foreign investment, the government has intensified its programme of privatization and lowering labour costs. Everywhere in the sector you meet workers who have not received wages for months.”

At the same time, Iran is expanding its influence as it seeks to compete with Saudi Arabia for dominance in the region. Iran has invested heavily in supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon, Assad in Syria and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Ordinary people are protesting because taxes are using to fund regional conflict rather than develop infrastructure in Iran.

In a statement, the ITUC said that only fundamental reform will end the crisis.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“Working class people in Iran have risen up because their conditions have become intolerable. They have not benefited from the nuclear deal, and the regime squanders money on corruption and regional conflict.

“Iran needs a strong, independent trade union movement to represent the interests of working people. The Government of Iran has seen the scale of the discontent. The solution is to stop its repression of trade union activists, to ratify core ILO conventions, and allow workers to organize and negotiate better conditions.”

Albanian oil workers win unpaid wages after strike action

The refinery employs 1,000 of the 7,600 inhabitants of Ballsh, and failure to pay Novembers’ wages caused serious economic hardship in the town in the run up to Christmas. Members of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Trade Union Federation of Industrial Workers of Albania (TUFIWA) began a demonstration outside the refinery on 21 December to demand the unpaid wages.

The refinery in Ballsh was part-privatized in 2008, and is currently run for the Albanian national oil company ARMO by the Ionian Refinery & Trading Company (IRTC), an Albanian-US join venture. The refinery has stopped production on a number of occasions due to a lack of crude oil supplies, and workers have not been paid. Oil suppliers say they have withheld delivery because of lack of payment by the company.

IRTC also operates a refinery in the city of Fier, 25 kilometres away. On 27 December, 1,200 workers demonstrated outside local government offices in Fier. Two hundred TUFIWA members then marched for 100 kilometres all day and overnight from Fier to the capital, Tirana. After arriving on the morning of 28 December, they demonstrated outside the energy ministry, finance ministry and office of the Prime Minister.

The energy minister Damian Gjiknur agreed to meet representatives of the workers, and convened a meeting of government officials, including the finance minister, the employer and the unions.

After the meeting, the 200 union members who took action received their unpaid wages. A court case is still ongoing to settle the wage demands of the other 1,000 workers.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“This impressive display of unity in action has won a quick victory for workers at the Ballsh refinery. But this situation cannot be allowed to continue: the refinery is part owned by the government of Albania, who need to ensure that it operates smoothly and pays its workers on time.”

Despite being unable to pay its workers, IRTC recently found €1.3 million to invest in an oil prospecting company.

Determined Posco Assan workers stand up for their rights

As a joint venture of Turkish Holding Kibar and Korean-based Posco, the local management follows the “no union policy” of Posco and has over the last months fired 80 union members.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Birlesik Metal has applied to the Minstry of Labour for a majority certificate that would give them the legal right to represent the 420 workers.

Gathering to march on 26 December from Izmit to Ankara and the Ministry of Labour to demand the certificate, around 40 people, including Birlesik Metal General President Adnan Serdaroglu, General Secretary Ozkan Atar, as well as other leaders, were detained.

After being beaten by security forces, the marchers were taken to hospital, and eventually to the Security Department at the Kocaeli Governship. They were all released later the same evening.

Showing their determination to stand up for their rights, the workers started to march the following morning. As the Ministry of Labour and Social security then promised to issue the certificate by 29 December, the union has temporarily halted the march, but will continue the march and the demand for the certificate.

IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Kemal Özkan strongly condemns the treatment of the workers and unionists:

This shameful behaviour shows that peaceful demonstrations are no longer possible in Turkey. But the union and the workers are showing their strength and their determination to fight for their rights.

IndustriALL will continue to support the struggle until the workers' rights are upheld. This is an important step and not the end; we will keep the fight alive and continue until victory.

Kemal Özkan visited the dismissed workers earlier in December and participated in a press conference in front of the plant in Izmit, conveying the message of international solidarity.
 
The fighting Posco Assan workers are receiving a lot of support from society, civic organizations and political parties. The leader of Turkey's main opposition party CHP, Kemal Kilicadroglu, visited the workers and pledged full solidarity, in addition to  support from the members of parliament from the Kocaeli province.

Posco is the world’s fifth-largest steel producer.

General strike paralyses Greece

Ferries and flights were suspended, public transport was limited and hospitals treated emergency cases only as doctors joined workers across the country in the strike. Around 50 anti-austerity demonstrations took place across Greece.

Unions are calling on the government to stop making cuts that have led to poverty, high unemployment and restrictions on labour rights. The third international bailout programme is due to end in August 2018, and the country has agreed to continue slashing wages and pensions when external funding comes to an end.

“The 24-hour general strike on 14 December 2017, and all the strikes carried out in protest at the bailout agreement over the past few years in Greece, are also against the attack on labour rights. The bailout programme has left workers, pensioners and socially vulnerable people in a dire situation,” said IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Panhellenic Energy Federation (PEF), following the strike.

The union is fighting government measures to abolish collective agreements, sell off energy companies, and change legislation that would limit the right to strike in favour of employers.

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

“Austerity measures must not be used as an excuse to undermine labour rights in Greece. Workers have already suffered too long and ordinary people must not be made to bear the brunt of Greece’s debt. We stand in solidarity with our Greek affiliates and call on the government to protect their citizens from further poverty.”

Textile workers remain with no jobs, no pay in Madagascar

Just 15 days before the beginning of the Christmas and New Year break workers of the Malagasy company CLASSIC KNITWEAR represented by the IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Syndicalisme et Vie des Sociétés (SVS), received notice of technical unemployment. The company refers to the reduced number of orders as the reason for their decision.

On 11 December 2017, workers were announced they are on a leave for 30 days followed by technical unemployment from 8 January to 5 March 2018.

According to the union the national labour inspectorate approved the company’s decision without a proper investigation of the causes of the situation. Thus, workers who have no longer left a day of holiday will remain in an unconfirmed status for at least 30 days and later will face a sort of “zero contract” situation for another two months at least, deprived of gain sources and not even able to search for a new job.

As per the situation on 09 December 2017 the employer still refuses to pay neither for the time of leave or unemployment whatsoever. The workers tried in vain to solve the issue through the labour reconciliation two times including the most recent session on 21 December.

The same day workers went on indefinite strike. The SVS union demands that the government representatives, namely labour inspectorate and minister of labour, interfere and settle the problem.

Workers’ demands are as follows:

  • to remain on a technical leave with payment of the remained part of their salary, including leave allocation and a non-refundable safety monthly payment equal to MGA200.000 (US$62) and the guarantee to return to work on 5 March 2018; or
  • to end the contract with all due payments including payment of the due salary, compensation for not taken leave, a notice as well as an indemnity of dismissal of 10 days per year of seniority.