South Africa: Unions prepare for national strike against corruption and retrenchments

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Southern African Clothing Textile and Allied Workers Union (SACTWU), affiliated to COSATU and IndustriALL, will take part in the strike. 

South Africa’s Labour Relations Act allows for strikes on socio-economic and political issues such as corruption and retrenchments.

The “state capture” was based on a 2016 report by former public protector Thuli Madonsela who wrote that the state had been captured by private interests including those of business owners including the Gupta family. In the report, the Guptas were allegedly involved in the appointment of ministers and directors of state companies, and corruptly influenced the awarding of state contracts to favour their interests. Recently, a number of international companies, including Bell Pottinger and KPMG, were implicated in the corruption scandal.

Workers continued to lose jobs in mining especially with the recent announcement by Impala Platinum to retrench over 2 100 workers. According to StatsSA 32 000 mining jobs were lost in the last year. The garment and textile also lost 3000 jobs.

Said the NUM:

“The strike is a platform for workers to voice out their displeasure on how South Africa is run and that the looting of state resources and corrupt activities by a network of a certain predatory elite should be condemned. Workers are being left out in the cold to fend for themselves amidst massive retrenchments taking place in various sectors of the country's economy particularly mining”.

SACTWU’s demands during the strike included an end to outsourcing of work through labour brokers. Instead the union wanted more permanent jobs.

Said Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa:

“We support the strike action by COSATU affiliates because corruption is theft. Money meant to benefit workers and society ends up in the bank accounts of corrupt individuals”.

India: Two workers killed in Ambuja cement plant in Chattisgarh

The accident took place at around 4:30am in the raw mill section, when the trial of the crushing machine was happening. At the time of the accident five workers were inside the crushing mill site making repairs when it suddenly started operating.

Two workers, identified as Dhirendra Verma (38) and Dilip Kumar Verma (27), suffered critical injuries in the accident and subsequently succumbed to injuries in the hospital. According to reports from workers present in the factory important company officials including the operations and maintenance departments and section in-charge were present when the accident occurred.

Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL director of mechanical engineering and materials industries said,

“This kind of accident should not happen at all. We are deeply concerned over safety in the Lafarge Holcim group plants as this accident happens again in the same plant where already five workers had been killed only a few years ago. Management needs to act fast on strengthening health and safety at work, and should involve workers including the contract workers to improve the situation.”

Apoorva Kaiwar, IndustriALL South Asia regional secretary, said,

“It is unacceptable that such avoidable accidents are recurring in the Ambuja Cement plants. We call upon the company to ensure that victims’ families receive appropriate compensation at the earliest. The company should immediately take concrete steps to improve safety and involve all sections of workers to stop repetition of such accidents.”

IndustriALL has contacted LafargeHolcim, and their health and safety teams are currently investigating the circumstances of the deadly accident.

Earlier in 2013 in the same Ambuja plant five workers were killed in an accident when the fly ash hopper situated on the 5th floor collapsed, crashing through 4 floors.

Rubber workers celebrate global unity

The IndustriALL Global Union World Conference for Rubber Industries took place at the impressive United Steelworkers’ headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA (USA) on 18-19 September with more than 80 participants from 18 countries.

“We are facing hard times in our industry. We will stand with you, we will fight with you, despite the challenges facing workers. USW is always committed to global solidarity, in that spirit we warmly welcome all of you here today,” said Stan Johnson, USW International Secretary-Treasurer and Co-chair of the Rubber Industries section of IndustriALL.

“Since the last world rubber conference in Hungary four years ago, changes have continued across our sector. Global inequality is growing; workers are losing their jobs, their rights, and social protections. We need to be able to fight for an economic and social model based on rights, fairness and dignity,” said Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL  Assistant General Secretary.

Panelists from the USA, UK, Japan, Brazil and South Africa spoke on industry developments and their impacts on trade unions in the rubber sector.

It was clear after the presentations that there was a lot of commonality of concern in this sector, unions globally are all facing the same challenges which means unions must come together to find common solutions.

The issues that came up in almost all reports were: Chinese dumping; the import of cheap and dangerous tyres online; and economic and political crises.

Some positive developments also emerged from the reports, Dawid Baardman from IndustriALL affiliate NUMSA reported that there were no precarious workers in the rubber industry in South Africa, as they have managed to negotiate an industry agreement that ensures no precarious workers in the sector.

Marcio Ferreira from Caucho-FS in Brazil reported on how they have benefitted from rubber unions coming together for industry-level bargaining in the sector. Marcio explained that they are trying to create one unified rubber union in the federation: “We have a unique opportunity if we come together into one organization to overcome conflicts,” he said.

Multinationals in the rubber industry employ members of IndustriALL affiliates all around the world. In depth panel discussions looked at the trends, challenges and labour relations at each multinational and discussed strategies for future joint union work. Along with organizing across the supply chain, trade union networks are an important part of the strategy in the sector.

“Let’s continue to build power through networks, connect with auto industry unions, and work together to build the strong global voice of rubber workers,” said Tom Grinter, IndustriALL industry and research officer, who now takes over responsibility for the rubber sector.

“In our networks we have action plans to ensure that we stabilize and extend our networks and organize in non-organized plants,” said Helmut Lense, IndustriALL Automotive and Rubber Director, who the conference honoured as he now retires.

Concluding the two-day conference, participants re-elected Stan Johnson as co-chair, set up a new Work Group of leading affiliates to steer the work, and adopted a full Action Plan that you can download here.

Kemal Özkan looked forward to an active four years:

“We will make further development and progress in our trade union networks in the rubber industry. This will be our core strategy in multinational enterprises and newly-emerging rubber-producing countries. Our special projects in Thailand and India will continue, and we will focus on organizing, fighting precarious work and focus on women and youth representation. The energy and appetite of the Conference participants clearly demonstrated that the next four years will be vibrant in the rubber sector for IndustriALL and its affiliates. The struggle continues!”     

Kazakh trade unions sue ArcelorMittal for not respecting collective agreement

On 1 September, the previous collective agreement expired. The draft of the new agreement was not completed despite long negotiations between union representatives and company management since February. According to the union Zhaktau, management deliberately delayed the negotiation process to undermine the union. The company is putting pressure on activists, forcing them to withdraw from the union.

The unions took the case to the Karaganda regional court, demanding that workers’ rights be protected and the company be obliged to respect the collective agreement. On 31 August, the court found in favour of both trade unions, which are affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union through the Trade Union of Workers of Mining and Metallurgical Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Management of ArcelorMittal Temirtau is prohibited from cancelling and suspending social payments before trial. The court has also obliged the company to fulfil their obligations under the collective agreement concluded in 2014. The collective agreement affects more than 27,000 employees.

70 per cent of the new collective agreement was approved during negotiations, with the exception of the main sections devoted to benefits and bonuses. Compensation to the families in case of workers' death appeared to be the first stumbling block. However, management finally announced compensation for relatives of the victims of the coalmine explosion at ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s Kazakhstanskaya mine.

Company management claims it intends to determine all the guarantees and payments in a separate company policy in the future.

The Chair of Metallurgical Workers' Union Zhaktau, Viktor Shchetinin, said:

“This is not acceptable for us. Today there is a policy, and tomorrow it might be cancelled by a new director. Therefore, we stated that all guarantees and payments that were in the previous collective agreement should be saved and included in the new agreement”.

Conflict escalated once again after the conference of the labour collective in the beginning of August, which made and sent to the administration the decision on monthly wage rise of employees of steel and coal departments by 30 per cent from US$500-600 to US$650-780. Almost 400 conference participants have noted the decrease in the purchasing power of workers and rising prices for food, goods and services caused by high inflation (13.6 per cent in 2015 and 8.5 per cent in 2016). Besides, the local currency KZT lost more than half of its value over the past two years, after Kazakhstan switched to a floating exchange rate for its currency. Excellent results for the last two years allow the company to fulfil the workers’ demands.

Currently, the trade unions are preparing for a court hearing at the end of September. The President of the Trade Union of Workers of Mining and Metallurgical Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Asylbek Nuralin, sent a letter to the Kazakh authorities, asking them to resolve the labour dispute and ensure workers’ rights.
 
The chair of the Mineworkers’ Union Korgau, Marat Mirgayazov, stated,

“The employer intends to save money, while the situation at the company is improving. We want our miners to work and live in better conditions than in the past. We are confident ofthe justice of our cause and we will go on, if necessary, up to the Supreme Court”.
 

Unions around the world launch campaign against Glencore for violations of workers’ rights

Swiss mining giant Glencore is systematically violating human rights and health and safety laws, denying its workers their right to freedom of association at locations around the world.

Recently, three workers were dismissed by Glencore in Colombia while on disability leave after contracting illnesses at the workplace.

In addition, the Sintracarbón union, affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union Colombia, reported that in less than one month there had been 13 work accidents at Glencore’s open-cast coal mine, Cerrejón.

The evidence shows that the responsible mining loudly proclaimed by the company is not being put into practice, and that safety standards are not being met,

says Igor Díaz López, Coordinator of the Sintracarbón Safety Committee.

In May 2017, The mining and energy division of the CFMEU, an IndustriALL affiliate in Australia, went on strike protesting against Glencore’s attempts to reduce workers’ pay and worsen other working conditions.

According to Chris Brodsky, District Vice-President of the CFMEU, workers are being punished and intimidated in their community for opposing the company’s plans:

We see that workers and their families are being followed around by security guards in their home town of Tieri, as well as other forms of intimidation.  Our boys are not easily scared, but they are concerned for their families.

Meanwhile, in Canada workers are starting a strike after the company threatened to cut workers’ pensions. Glencore illegally hired strike-breakers and refused to provide the union with information crucial to collective bargaining.

Glen Mpufane, Mining Director of IndustriALL, says:

There are international standards to ensure that multinationals cooperate with unions in times of crisis to minimize the impact on workers.  Unfortunately, Glencore is not following those standards.

IndustriALL Global Union and its affiliates around the world are launching a campaign to defend Glencore workers, demanding that Glencore:

South Africa: Striking against precarious work in the plastics sector

At Mpact, 140 contract workers were demanding equal pay as they were paid less than permanent workers. In solidarity, the permanent workers joined them on their demands for US$3 per hour, from the current US$1.50. They also wanted their jobs to become permanent, and not to work as employees of labour brokers. After a recent court victory by NUMSA, labour brokers cannot employ workers for more than three months. Should they do this, the workers will become permanent at current workplaces.

Said NUMSA: “We commend the permanent employees at Mpact for expressing solidarity with their comrades at the workplace by embarking on a sympathy strike”.

At Flexible Plastics workers were paid US$0.69 per hour adding up to US$122 per month. This is below the proposed national minimum wage of US$270, which will take effect from May 2018.

According to the National Minimum Wage Research Initiative (NMWRI) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, a wage of US$318 is required to bring workers and their dependents out of poverty. Studies by NMWRI concluded that about five and a half million workers in South Africa, who supported up to 10 family members, were “the working poor” because of low wages.

IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa, Fabian Nkomo, said: “We support NUMSA’s calls for permanent jobs and improved wages and working conditions in the plastics sector”.

IndustriALL files OECD complaint against steel producer Ternium

Sitraternium, which is affiliated to IndustriALL through the FESTRAS trade union in Guatemala, has been struggling for recognition at Ternium since it was officially registered in March 2012. Workers came together to unionize after they were threatened with dismissal for raising concerns about long working hours, low salaries, lack of proper vacation and insufficient health coverage.

Initially the company sacked all Sitraternium’s 27 founding members but was eventually forced by the courts to reinstate them. The company made repeated attempts to block recognition of the union until finally the Guatemalan Supreme Court confirmed the legitimacy of Sitraternium in February 2015.

Despite the ruling and numerous appeals for dialogue from the Ministry of Labour, Ternium is breaking the law by refusing to negotiate with the union. While the Ministry says it is sympathetic to the union, it has failed to penalize Ternium for its illegal behaviour. Guatemala is listed as one of top ten worst places for workers’ in the International Trade Union Confederation’s Global Rights Index 2017.

In February this year, an inspector from the Ministry of Labour found that Ternium had wrongfully implemented a compulsory alcohol and drug testing policy after workers were informed that they would be suspended if they didn’t take the test or sacked if they failed it. A day after the Ministry wrote to the company commanding it cease the policy, Ternium fired three workers who refused to be tested.

Unions belonging to the Tenaris Ternium Workers’ World Council are shocked by the treatment of Sitraternium as Ternium and Tenaris generally have normal relations with unions at their plants in other countries. Both Ternium and Tenaris are owned by the Techint conglomerate.

Ternium, which is headquartered in OECD member-country Luxembourg, is one of the biggest steel companies in Latin America with more than 19,000 workers at production facilities in Guatemala, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, as well as the United States.   

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said:

Ternium says it wants to be the leading steel company in the Americas. Clearly, they are not showing leadership in the way they’re treating their workers in Guatemala. Ternium has tried every measure under the sun to avoid bargaining with Sitraternium. By filing an OECD complaint, we mean to show that workers at Ternium in Guatemala cannot have their rights violated any longer.

The complaint is being filed at the OECD National Contact Point in Luxembourg by IndustriALL, Sitraternium and the Canadian branch of IndustriALL’s North American affiliate, United Steelworkers (USW). 

Four coal miners die in Pakistan

Pakistan's coalmines are some of the most dangerous workplaces in the world.

In the absence of safe working conditions, there is a frequent loss of lives. On 8 September, poisonous gas suddenly filled the space deep inside the mine, killing four workers and critically injuring two more.

In the recent past IndustriALL affiliates reported many mine accidents and called on the government of Pakistan to improve mine safety.

Sultan Muhammad Khan,secretary general of Pakistan Central Mines Labour Fe deration (PCMLF) said:

“We strongly condemn these avoidable deaths. The government must place the lives of mine workers above profit. We call upon the government to take immediate steps to improve safety in Pakistan’s mines.”

Glenn Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director said:

“The Pakistani government’s continuing negligence is leading to frequent deaths of mine workers. Pakistani mines are turning into graves. IndustriALL reiterates our demand that Pakistan should immediately ratify and implement ILO Convention 176 on Health and Safety in Mines.”

Workers in the Dominican Republic Free Trade Zones achieve historic increase in minimum wage

The agreement is the result of months of negotiations between the FEDOTRAZONAS, FENATRAZONAS, FUTRAZONA and UNATRAZONAS unions and employers, and is an important victory for the more than 100,000 workers employed in free trade zone enterprises.

The agreement was adopted as a decision at a special meeting of the National Wage Committee on 6 September. It will enter into force on 1 October with an increase of 15 per cent, and a further increase of 5.33 per cent as of 1 January 2018, thereby reaching the level of 10,000 Dominican pesos per month (US$210).

The agreement also includes provisions to reactivate the Tripartite Commission created by the Decree of the Executive Authority to develop initiatives to improve the workers’ quality of life.

“This is the first time in recent decades that we have achieved an increase of this magnitude," says Mayra Jiménez, coordinator of the IndustriALL National Council the Dominican Republic.

“Despite achieving an increase well above the inflation of 5.4 per cent, the minimum wage in the free trade zone is still very fragile. So we hope we can continue to rely on the support, solidarity, assistance and commitment of our great global family of IndustriALL in our fight for a decent wage.”

IndustriALL supports the fight for a decent wage for workers of the sector in free zones in the Dominican Republic, and has been providing training and assistance to design strategies to strengthen their struggle and their negotiating capacities with a view to improving their quality of life through better wages.

Pakistan – little change five years after deadly fire

The Ali Enterprises Factory Fire Affectees Association (AEFFAA) and National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) held a gathering on 11 September outside the factory where the fire took place.

Speakers at the event said that justice has not been delivered to the victims, as the factory owners have been relieved of all charges. At the time of the accident there was no emergency exit at the factory and the only gate used was locked after the fire started. The absence of fire alarms contributed to large number of deaths.

While international and local brands and the employer are directly responsible for the accidents in factories, negligence of the government authorities helped them to get away.

AEFFAA representatives said that although German company KiK, who sourced most of the products made at Ali Enterprises, paid US$5.15 million to the International Labor Organization after reaching an agreement with IndustriALL Global Union and Clean Clothes Campaign in 2016, there are issues concerning the compensation payments.

Nasir Mansoor, president of IndustriALL affiliate NTUF said:

“The government has not learnt its lesson from the fire. Precarious work and dangerous working conditions are still the norms. A majority of the factories do not allow workers to form unions, who can contribute to improve workplace safety. Employers force workers to work beyond eight hours shift, do not provide written contracts, nor register them with the social security and pension institutions. This has to change.”

Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL textile and garment director said: “Pakistan’s government should take immediate steps to improve safety in garment factories. Workers’ right to form unions must be respected and will help to resolve number of issues faced by workers.”