IndustriALL affiliates demand respect for workers’ rights in the materials industries

The industries in the sector change rapidly, the whole industry is in constant consolidation and change. Mergers, acquisitions and consolidations in the industries have changed the profile, industrial footprint and strategies of the major multinationals. As in many other manufacturing industries the problem of massive overcapacity due to China maintaining the highest level of production remains a sword of Damocles over  jobs in all continents.  Industry 4.0 is also about to increasingly affect workers’ jobs and lives in a very serious manner.

Opening the conference, Newton B. Jones, USA, International President of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers), co-chair of the materials’ sector said,

“We see the hand of global capital at work around the world – across economies at all stages of development. And yet, the threats are the same: precarious work, a race to the bottom in worker wages and benefits, unsustainable business models, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, and automation with little regard to its impact on workers’ lives.”

Valter Sanches, IndustriALL Global Union general secretary also addressed the delegates,

“Materials industry became a sector with a huge concentration, due to the acquisitions and mergers over the last years. Through these tactics multinational companies became extremely powerful, and we as the unions are the only ones who can challenge their power.”

Since the last conference in 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand, the unions of the materials sector have led a number of fights and struggles that resulted in victories for workers. Whether in India, Indonesia or Canada, materials industries workers and their unions were standing firm for their rights and have always expressed and received exemplary solidarity.

Another strong achievement over the four years is the Memorandum of Understanding signed between LafargeHolcim, IndustriALL and  sister organization the Building and Wood Workers’ International which foresees further negotiation and the conclusion of a Global Framework Agreement better protecting company’s direct and indirect employees’ rights.

The senator of Labour, Work, Economy and Harbours of Bremen Government Mr. Günthner addressed the conference delegates and reiterated the importance of strong national and international trade unions.

The participants adopted an ambitious Action plan focused on all five main goals of IndustriALL.

Closing the conference, Lena Yuliana, Federation of Indonesian Cement Workers’ Union FSP ISI, who was elected as co-chair (together with Newton B. Jones) of the sector stated,

“We need to build union power and strengthen solidarity, exchange and share information with our members. Only through this work we will be able to achieve tangible results for our members.”

The conference was preceded by the first union meeting where unions representing workers of HeidelbergCement set up their new union network. The network already started its work and adopted a special declaration defining its activities for the nearest future.

Commenting on the outcomes of the conference Matthias Hartwich, materials’ industries director at IndustriALL said,

“Workers in this vast sector face numerous challenges, including bad health and safety, precarious work. We jointly decided what our priorities are and where we want to take action during the next four years. This is a very ambitious plan and we will have to mobilize all our strength in order to implement it. But we want our unions to be strong and ready to challenge the power of multinational corporations, we stand strong and demand, Respect workers’ rights!”

Photos from the conference are available on IndustriALL Flickr channel.

Defend Georgian trade unions

On 2 November, IndustriALL in partnership with the TUMMCIWG started an online-campaign at LabourStart. Please sign the petition to express your opposition to the blatant attempts at union busting at the company:

IndustriALL affiliates from Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Russia have sent a letter of protest to the management of Rustavi Azot. They noted that previously the company was one of the best examples of social partnership in Georgia, and that a collective agreement concluded with a previous owner complied with international standards as well as with norms reflected in the European Social Charter. The situation changed dramatically in 2017.

The TUMMCIWG was also encouraged to receive photos of trade union activists from the CIS region holding a solidarity sign pledging to #DefendGeorgianUnions. You can join the campaign now and send a photo holding the attached sign by e-mail to [email protected].

TUMMCIWG chair, Tamaz Dolaberidze, stated:

“Dear brothers and sisters! Thank you very much for every photo, for every letter and for every minute you have spent on us. Your support inspires us to keep fighting. If we lose this particular battle, we are sure that we have created the basis for victory in future. We appreciate the activities of IndustriALL that perfectly manages to coordinate all of us to carry out a global battle”.

Guinea: Mineworkers give notice to strike

The strike at the Siguiri gold mine in the Kankan region and in Conakry, will continue until the workers’ demands are met.

The SAG workers, who belong to the Confédération Nationale Travailleurs de Guinée (CNTG), an affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union, are demanding to be paid at the same levels for work of equal value, including a 13th cheque, as other AngloGold Ashanti mineworkers globally. Further, the Guinean workers are concerned that there has been no progress on the annual wage negotiations since August, and that this was the first time that the company seemed not in hurry to reach an agreement.

The workers also denounced the false wage figures given by AngloGold Ashanti to the union which were inflated by over 30 per cent. Instead, the company should publish accurate figures, and dismiss those who were providing this false information.

The workers are also demanding that their per diems for health evacuation be reinstated as per the previous agreement with the management. They were also questioning the choice of the clinic made by the management where the workers should be transferred to in the event of a medical evacuation.

Workers suspect a possible conflict of interest in the choice of PIIMEL clinic, which was not the union’s preference. The workers were surprised by the company’s about turn, and failure to respect the workers' choice of  clinic. In previous meetings AngloGold Ashanti had agreed with workers on the clinic in Conakry where they will be transferred to from Siguiri, which is about 850 km away.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining, said:

“We are calling for a renewal of the Global Framework Agreement which will enable the Guinea mineworkers to be paid at comparative levels with their colleagues in other countries. AngloGold Ashanti should respect the existing agreements that is has with workers, and must stop the backtracking.”

SACTWU protests in defense of local manufacturing

South Africa’s garment industry has experienced a wave of job losses and factory closures over the last two years. According to SACTWU, a key reason for this is the entry and growth of large international retailers like Zara and H&M, selling no products made in South Africa.

On 4 November, SACTWU organized protests at H&M and Zara stores around the country, to highlight “the damage that is being caused to our domestic clothing industry”, the union said in a statement.

“These foreign retailers cause fewer orders in South African factories, which contribute to local retrenchments and factory closures.”

With the protests, SACTWU is calling on the Swedish and Spanish retailers to procure locally manufactured products and have offered them assistance in sourcing quality local suppliers.

IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Jenny Holdcroft says:

“Multinational companies have a responsibility to make sure that their global commerce does not negatively impact on workers. Supporting local manufacturing is part of that responsibility and we urge H&M and Inditex to enter into discussions with SACTWU on how they can source local products for their stores.”

Cleaners in Mauritius gain hard-earned victory

Fighting precarious work is a priority for Mauritian union confederation Confédération des Travailleurs du Secteur Publique et Privé (CTSP), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union.

Among the country’s poorest workers are cleaners working in public schools. The government began outsourcing these jobs in 2006 to contractors paying the mostly women workers less than US$1.50 a day, imprisoning them in extreme poverty on earnings of just US$42 a month.

The CTSP reached an agreement with the government in August this year, making everyone working for contractors in public schools permanent employees.

However, on 13 October the government backed out of the agreement, resulting in disappointment and frustration among the 333 women workers that would have benefited from the agreement. This prompted CTSP’s President, Reeaz Chutto, and General Secretary, Jane Ragoo, as well as six women cleaners to start a hunger strike on 16 October to raise awareness and gain public support.

Lasting ten grueling days, the hunger strike was called to an end when the government conceded, and an agreement was reached where women cleaners will be paid a full month package and get permanent contracts with no breaks in their employment.

The strike has been massively supported in Mauritius by citizens, churches and even other employers. CTSP says that the victory was made possible through local as well as international support:

“Thank you to every single person who suffered with us during those ten long days of struggle. We have brought the issue of government contractors making huge profits by exploiting vulnerable workers into the national spotlight. We are committed to achieving the amendments to the labour legislation from the momentum that has been created.”

Thousands protest to demand better wages in Bulgaria

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates from around the world expressed their support for workers in Bulgaria at the organization’s Industry 4.0 World Conference held in Geneva on 26-27 October. The conference included representatives from Bulgarian affiliates, the Light Industry Federation (FOSIL-CITUB) and Metalicy.

Backed by workers from all sectors, CITUB president, Plamen Dimitrov, handed a declaration to the government and employers at the demonstration.

“Everyone must have a monthly salary increase of at least 100 BGN (US$59) for the current year, irrespective of the sphere they work in: a school, a hospital, in administration, in the mines, in a shop. This is what people want to say today,” said Dimitrov. The protest also focused on defending social benefits.

Additional payments for experience and length of service (seniority bonuses) have failed to compensate for the fall in the value of wages in Bulgaria.

“Our country is already lacking people, because they are fleeing from misery,” said a representative of the textile and clothing industry at the CITUB protest. “We work for pennies. Small towns are already depopulated and people are fleeing abroad.”

The CITUB protest declaration was read at the rally before being handed to Social Affairs Minister Biser Petkov and business representatives taking part in a meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation at the Council of Ministers.

“We want the Prime Minister’s personal commitment to include our country in the upcoming EU Alliance for upward wage convergence,” announced Plamen Dimitrov.

Unions in Bulgaria say they want wages to match those in other countries in Europe, such as France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, and not remain the backyard of Europe.

“We want a solution from Prime Minister Borisov now. Our struggle continues on the road to higher wages,” explained Dimitrov.

Pulp and paper sector makes plans to strengthen unions in Latin America

Over two days, trade union leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay shared information and experiences about the economic situation and its effects on workers at the global, regional and national levels, to help them understand the various needs and organize support for the struggles that are taking place in the region.

"Our work in IndustriALL’s Latin America pulp and paper trade union network consists of building unity and, in particular, supporting our smaller affiliates in Peru and Colombia. With the help of our Belgian paper sector affiliate, we are also going to connect the network with other regional structures in South East Asia. IndustriALL’s tens of thousands of paper sector workers in Brazil will play an increasingly important role in sector activities in the future," explained Tom Grinter, IndustriALL’s research and industry officer.

The meeting discussed the behaviour of multinational companies, such as CMPC and Arauco, which are key companies in Latin America’s pulp and paper sector. IndustriALL wants to build trade union power and wants the companies to recognize the union networks.

The meeting coincided with the IndustriALL World Conference on Industry 4.0 on 26-27 October in Geneva, Switzerland and focused its discussion on how to deal with the challenges arising from technological change in the sector.

The meeting also highlighted the importance of protecting precarious workers in supply chains and participants agreed to work together to combat the attacks on workers’ rights contained in Brazil’s labour reform. 

Lucineide Varjão, president of the National Confederation of Chemical Sector Unions (CNQ/CUT, affiliated to IndustriALL) and co-president of IndustriALL’s Executive Committee and other women participants raised the issue of gender in the workplace and in the sector’s leadership. They concluded the discussion with guidelines on how to increase women’s participation in the sector’s unions.

Finally, the trade union leaders drafted a regional action plan. They agreed to implement the plan in their country but recognized that they face a lot of challenges in the fight to improve workers’ organization in the sector in the region. In the year ahead, they will try to increase union membership and the level of union organization in the sector in national unions affiliated to IndustriALL.

Marino Vani, IndustriALL’s Regional Officer, attended the meeting and said:

“It was an excellent meeting. We would like to thank our affiliates in Brazil, FEQUIMFAR/FS and CNQ/CUT, for all their support and their efforts to organize the activity. We achieved the seminar’s objectives, namely to take on commitments and draft an action plan to strengthen and empower the sector’s workers and their unions in the region”

IndustriALL Global Union highlights struggles in materials industries

The report covers three industrial sectors: cement, glass and ceramics. This edition has been dedicated to the quadrennial conference on materials’ industries taking place on 2 and 3 November 2017 in Bremen, Germany.

The report gives an overview of the economic environment, and developments in the cement, glass and ceramics industries over the recent years since the last world materials industries conference in 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The publication focuses on the activities that have taken place in accordance with the Action Plan adopted in Bangkok, where the materials industries unions agreed to the following:

However, the changes in the industries, including mega-mergers and divestments, also changed IndustriALL‘s approach since the global union has to be where the workers are.

Four years of struggle by unions for workers’ rights took place against the background of a fast changing landscape in the materials industry. During these years many MNCs have changed their profile; major players have changed their industrial footprint; and mergers and acquisitions have created new groups and challenges for trade unions, reads the report.

The report gives a comprehensive analysis of all three sectors underlining the communalities in all of them. The report gives special attention to the spread of precarious work in the materials industries where outsourcing is widely used and indications of the use of child labour in excavating are present.

Tough working conditions, insufficient accident prevention, environments that cause illness and the atrocious number of fatalities are all addressed in the special chapter on occupational health and safety in the materials industries.

A big part of the report is dedicated to the trade union networks and global framework agreements.

Finally, the report narrates the story of the campaigns and activities in the sector, paying special attention to the LafargeHolcim campaign, full of the struggle and dedication of union activists and workers all over the world.

The report concludes with the words:

“Wherever the multinationals go, whatever they do – we will be there. There will always be trade unionists ready to challenge them and struggle for the rights of our co-workers.”

The report is downloadable in PDF format here.

Aussie unions fight contractor's cuts at gas plant

Members of IndustriALL Australian affiliates AMWU, AWU and ETU have been campaigning to save their jobs and their community since June.

The contractor UGL is using underhand tactics and loopholes in Australian law, trying to force the 200 workers into an agreement approved by just a handful of unrelated workers in Western Australia, miles away from their workplace.

If accepted, this would result in a 30 per cent pay cut to the workers on site at Longford, as well as reduced allowances and annual leave. A harsh anti-family shift roster could see workers move from one week on and one week off, to five weeks on and one week off.

The Australian unions fighting for their workers say in a statement:

Once again, multinational corporations are coming to Australia, exploiting our resources, not paying tax and slashing our wages. Regional Victoria is already reeling from huge job losses, and cutting these workers’ wages will be devastating for the local economy.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary, says:

The scourge of precarious work is trying to extend its grip on workers, but the unions are fighting back. IndustriALL supports the campaign and calls on Esso to take responsibility for its supply chain and urgently engage in a constructive dialogue.

The workers in Victoria maintain and operate Esso’s onshore and offshore rigs. Despite huge wealth and soaring profits, Esso paid zero tax on the AUS$8.5 billion it made in Australia last year.

Here is how you can support the protesting workers:

Indonesian Human Rights Commission calls for reinstatement of Grasberg workers

More than 4,200 workers have been fired for going on strike when PT Freeport refused to negotiate over a furlough at the world’s biggest gold mine and second biggest copper mine, owned by USA-based Freeport-McMoRan.

The Commission’s recommendation to the President of Indonesia, to which IndustriALL Global Union was copied, said:

The Commission “recommends PT Freeport Indonesia to reinstate all workers (both PT Freeport Indonesia employees, privatized and contractors/subcontractors) affected by furlough and pay all losses incurred by the policy.”

The Commission concluded that in the case of the dismissals there is a human rights violation, particularly with the right to gain prosperity.  

The Commission also conveyed “the importance of a follow-up response on the recommendation for the fulfillment of the right to welfare related to the right to life as well as the right to survive for the citizens guaranteed in Article 36 paragraph (1) and Article 9 paragraph (1) Act No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights.”

An IndustriALL mission to Indonesia in August found that many of the sacked workers have no income and have been denied access to credit, accommodation, education and medical care. Several people are believed to have died as a result.

PT Freeport Indonesia, which employs tens of thousands of permanent and contract workers, is in protracted negotiations with the government of Indonesia over control of the Grasberg mine. The government wants a 51 per cent stake in the mine and suspended Freeport’s export licence to force the company to divest shares. The union believes the terminations are part of the company's negotiating strategy with the government, and a strategy to reduce direct employment and increase the use of precarious work.

IndustriALL affiliate, the Chemical, Energy and Mines Workers Union (CEMWU SPSI PTFI), represents workers at Grasberg. Last month it issued a notice extending the strike, which began on 1 May, until 30 November.

IndustriALL continues its programme of outreach to Freeport-McMoRan investors about the company’s rights violations and will update them about the recommendation from the National Commission of Human Rights.

Safety at the mine is also a concern; on 17 October, there was a fatal incident, with one contract worker killed and two of his colleagues injured.  

The area surrounding the mine is volatile. On 21, 22 and 23 October there were sniper shootings near the mine, wounding six police and killing one. Police allege the shootings were linked to separatist groups who believe exploitation of the mine is not benefitting local people.

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said:

“The Commission has made it clear PT Freeport Indonesia has violated human rights at the Grasberg mine. We urge the company to comply with the recommendations of the Commission and immediately reinstate the sacked workers. We also call on the President of Indonesia to ensure that PT Freeport Indonesia does so.”