Worker safety prioritized by IndustriALL Bridgestone union network

In line with IndustriALL policy, the home country trade union takes the lead in organizing and driving the work of this network. The Japanese Bridgestone Union is the largest company-level union in the national Japanese Rubber Workers Union, Gomu-Rengo. And in turn, Gomu-Rengo is an important sector-level union in IndustriALL JAF. All three structures are active in the work of the Bridgestone trade union network.

The Bridgestone trade union network steering committee focuses its work around the issue of occupational health and safety. The unions from Europe, South Africa, Brazil and Japan exchange reports, challenges and strategies on health and safety.

Jesus Delgado, from the host union FICA-UGT, is Secretary of the Bridgestone European Works Council. Delgado reported a positive trend in safety and health in European manufacturing at Bridgestone. However the trend is negative in Bridgestone’s European retail operations. There is a high level of training on health and safety in Europe.

In Europe the highest levels of Bridgestone’s employment by country are, in order, Spain, Poland, France, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Belgium, UK, and Ireland. The average age of employees in Europe is 40 years old, with 10 years the average experience working at the company.

While Bridgestone Europe traditionally uses a low level of contract labour, the company is starting to increase it, especially in Poland and France.

In Brazil there are around 30,000 workers in the rubber sector. Bridgestone has two plants, both organized to a high level by IndustriALL affiliates in the Forza Sindical and CNQ-CUT national structures. The São Paulo plant has 3,500 workers, 90 per cent organized. The Bahia plant has 900 workers, 70 per cent organized.

The meeting addressed the industrial conflict at Bridgestone in Indonesia. Bridgestone in Palembang has dismissed six union delegates from the IndustriALL affiliate CEMWU and IndustriALL is seeking their reinstatement.

It was recognized that there exists significant gender imbalance throughout the company. Considerably low levels of female workers are present in the manufacturing section. In Brazil for example, women have many protections under the law, so Bridgestone is not alone in choosing to hire men in production jobs.

In South Africa each of the following tire companies employ around 1,100 workers, Bridgestone, Continental, Sumitomo and Goodyear. Bridgestone is increasing production currently after securing an agreement to supply the tires for new Volkswagen cars. All these companies participate in the national industry bargaining council with Numsa.

Dirane Selala, Numsa shop steward from Bridgestone Brits plant in South Africa said,

“We can say that this is an important network that brings workers together, to discuss issues of health and safety, at all rubber and tire plants, not only at Bridgestone.”

The Japanese union officials reported an improvement over the last four years industry-wide, in terms of frequency and gravity of accidents.

Common understanding and commitment was made to reach a situation of zero accidents at all plants, and the importance of training to achieve this.

Marcio Ferreira, São Paulo Rubber Workers’ Trade Union President,

“We know that little accidents can lead to big accidents. I’ve seen many colleagues die in this industry in Brazil. There is no worse feeling than losing a friend in a work accident.”

Gomu-Rengo President Kasukabe-san, Chair of the Bridgestone network said,

“The workers have the right to work in a safe environment. It is very important to set a high standard at Bridgestone that the other companies in the rubber sector must follow. We work in a spirit of respect, and of information sharing. Through our network we learn from each other.”

IndustriALL Director for the auto and rubber sectors Helmut Lense said,

“This very stable network builds trust and improves the health and safety situation worldwide. All the colleagues will continue to help each other. We need to extend the network in Asia. Thank you for the fruitful collaboration over the years.”

IndustriALL research and industry officer, Tom Grinter stated,

“The upcoming IndustriALL World conference for the rubber sector will seek to develop our trade union networks across the sector. Through our common commitment to the Bridgestone network we can continue to jointly further workers’ interests throughout the company.”

The network agreed to hold its next annual meeting in Japan.

Union communicators meet in Budapest

The meeting, held on 19 and 20 June, was attended by 54 people from right across Europe, including Kosovo, Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Belgium and Germany. In an innovative attempt to reach beyond the room and communicate with as many people as possible, the event was streamed live on Facebook, reaching many thousands of people.

The meeting was opened by Valter Sanches, Luc Triangle and Tamás Székely, general secretaries of the host organizations.  Sanches spoke of the constant refrain of anti-union messages in mainstream media across the continent, and of the urgent need for unions to use innovation to get their message across to a wide audience.

“We live in complicated times, and we can see the rise of populist nationalism. Eight white men have the same wealth as half the world. The owner of Inditex, a company we negotiate with, is among this eight.

“This is something very wrong.

“We can count on one hand the countries where unions are welcome. The media is controlled by corporations, and we hear many myths about how unions are bad. This is why we need our own media.”

Opening session

After participants introduced themselves and their expectations for the day, Irish campaigner Eugene Flynn introduced a session called “Telling the union story – how do we hack mainstream media?” He spoke about understanding the way narrative works so that we can insert our talking points into the media.

He said:

“People are convinced by emotion. They then look for facts to support their conviction. If we are communicating to win people to our point of view, we need to remember this, and appeal to the universal and human aspects of the story."

Participant introduction

Eugene Flynn

Media consultant and former National Union of Journalists president Scarlett MccGwire spoke about the recent UK general election, and the success of the Corbyn campaign in capturing the public mood, and articulating a new, progressive politics.

Scarlett MccGwire

Closing remarks

On the second day, European Trade Union Confederation communications officer Daniele Melli spoke about the campaign for a pay rise for workers in Europe.

Participants expressed their support for the campaign.

“Trickle down doesn't work,” he said.

“But with a pay rise, wealth will perculate up. Decent wages and working conditions are a great way to stop the growth of reactionary, nationalist populism.”

Daniele Melli

MccGwire then spoke about adapting to a digital future, and participants discussed what works best in their unions.

What works for your union?

This was followed by a presentation on the work of IndustriALL Global and industriAll European unions, and how joint campaigning achieves results.

IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll Europe: who are we, and how do we work together?

The day was summed up with a presentation on the power of a network, and a practical exercise in which affiliates discussed the most effective ways to share information and build a structure that would allow them to respond rapidly to solidarity calls, while also collaborating on campaigns.

The power of a network

Grasberg: 4,220 workers fired as strike extended for third month

The ongoing dispute with PT Freeport Indonesia has now resulted in the sacking of 4,220 workers for taking strike action. They were dismissed when the company deemed they had “voluntarily resigned” by participating in the strike.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate at the mine, the Chemical, Energy and Mines Workers Union (CEMWU SPSI PTFI), announced a second extension of the strike, to 30 July. Workers have remained out on strike, despite attempts by the company to divide the workforce.

The union has worked hard to build support for the strike, and on 10 July will convene a press conference with all the Indonesian trade union confederations, confirming the support of the country’s labour movement for the strikers.

The union has obtained the support of the regional government in the Papua House of Representatives. The Governor of Papua has publicly called on Freeport to reinstate the strikers. The local government have tried to resolve the situation by calling conciliation meetings. Freeport has failed to respond to two meeting requests, and did not attend a meeting held on Tuesday 20 June. A third invitation will be sent.

IndustriALL is planning a high level mission to Indonesia in early August, accompanied by a solidarity delegation of affiliates from the mining and base metal sectors. The delegation will seek to meet with Indonesian government representatives, regional government, the company, unions and community groups, to find a resolution to the destructive conflict.

The mission will also focus on the related dispute at PT Smelting, a downstream operation partly owned by Freeport, where more than 300 workers have been sacked.

IndustriALL is running an ongoing campaign with LabourStart, calling on the Indonesian government to take a firm stance against Freeport’s sacking of workers for taking legitimate strike action. Indonesia has ratified core ILO conventions, and Freeport’s actions contravene Indonesian labour standards.

IndustriALL met with representatives of the Indonesian government during the International Labour Conference in Geneva in June. Speaking at the ILC, assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“We appeal to the government of Indonesia to intervene at Grasberg mine to prevent a social disaster in the community, resulting from the unlawful dismissal of more than four thousand workers.

“The government of Indonesia must intervene to defend fundamental workers’ rights and prevent any violence that might erupt as a result of the inhuman and intransigent stance of PT Freeport Indonesia.”

IndustriALL believes that the company is using the dispute as a negotiating tactic with the government, which has demanded a 51 per cent stake in the operation. The company is also trying to break the union and casualize the workforce. It is expected that when production increases, Freeport intends to replace its sacked workforce with contractors.

Aerospace unions to confront anti-union campaigns

Aerospace unions from North America, Europe, South America, Africa and Asia discussed the new and innovative strategies for organizing the unorganized throughout the world, from South Carolina to Shanghai and Morocco to Mobile, Alabama.

Some 75 participants discussed negotiating collective bargaining agreements that will improve wages, benefits and provide job security and retirement security to the millions of aerospace workers throughout the world.

Sector co-chair and IAM International President, Bob Martinez, said:

“We have the opportunity to continue building on efforts to bring justice and dignity to all of the world’s aerospace workers through union strength. This is opportunity to build a global aerospace workers movement that will rival the global aerospace companies.”

During the conference, participants discussed increasing anti-union and anti-worker extremism that seeks to crush the fundamental human right to join a real union that is free from government or company control. Participants also discussed continued outsourcing of unionized work within or outside production countries, often to nonunionized workforces in countries like China, where fundamental human rights like the right to form a union and engage in collective bargaining are either not recognized or not enforced. Discussion also included unfair competition from countries like China that do not abide by international trade rules and demand the transfer of technology and production in return for aircraft sales, rather than fair trade and a level playing field.

Participants focused on anti-union campaigns being waged by the managements of the world’s two largest commercial aerospace companies: Boeing and Airbus. Taking a page from the most notorious union busting companies in the world, Boeing management spent millions of dollars to keep its workers in South Carolina from joining the IAM. Not to be outdone, Airbus management is putting on an anti-union campaign in Alabama, in direct violation of IndustriALL’s Global Framework Agreement with the company.

In view of the current situation in Alabama, participants called on IndustriALL to review its agreement with Airbus. Participants also asked IndustriALL to coordinate organizing campaigns at Airbus and Boeing.

Participants called on all affiliates to recommit their efforts to:

Delegates thanked outgoing Aerospace Director Brian Kohler for his work with the sector and pledged to work closely with his successor.

IndustriALL celebrates 5 years

On 20 June 2012, three federations merged to form IndustriALL Global Union uniting 50 million workers in 140 countries. IndustriALL has over 600 affiliates in sectors including mining, metals, energy, chemical, textile, and manufacturing.

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said:

“Over the past five years, IndustriALL has shown time and again that we are stronger together. We have made multinational companies accountable, we have made governments listen, we have fought for worker rights and won. IndustriALL is proof that international solidarity works!”

Following the disastrous collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in Bangladesh that killed over a thousand garment workers in 2013, IndustriALL lead the drive in pushing more than 200 global fashion brands to sign the legally-binding Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety. The Accord has since inspected more than 1,600 factories improving safety for two million workers. IndustriALL together with its partners and Uni Global Union, also succeeded in securing US$30 million dollars in compensation for victims.

IndustriALL’s work over the past five years has been and continues to be guided by its five strategic goals: building strong unions, confronting global capital, ending precarious work, sustainable industrial policy and defending workers’ rights. 

Defending workers’ rights

There is a war of attrition on workers’ rights around the world. IndustriALL affiliates’ support for their fellow unionists under duress has shown that international solidarity works. IndustriALL campaigns have helped to release jailed unionists in Cambodia and Bangladesh, stood up for worker rights in Yemen and Spain, and contributed to the downfall of an authoritarian president in Korea. IndustriALL's campaign against protection contracts in Mexico have gained recognition of the problem, leading the ILO to make recommendations to the government of Mexico to comply with ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association. This pressure resulted in reforms to the 2016 labour laws, which would allow the abolition of protection contracts which deprive so many Mexican workers of the right to organize and bargain collectively. 

Building strong unions

Increasing union membership is at the core of IndustriALL’s mission. IndustriALL’s union building projects have seen results thousands of new members in countries including India, Indonesia and Zambia, among others. Increasing membership of women and young people is vital to build union strength.  Since the second IndustriALL Congress in Rio de Janeiro in October 2016, IndustriALL has set a target for women’s representation in leadership positions and activities at 40 per cent. The drive for increased participation for women at IndustriALL has in turn influenced national union structures, for example, IndustriALL metalworkers’ affiliate in Indonesia, FSPMI, set a 40 per cent quota for women’s representation in its own structures. 

Confronting global capital

IndustriALL’s corporate campaigns, such as those targeting Rio Tinto and LafargeHolcim, have been made significant gains for workers. IndustriALL works against global capital when necessary but also realizes the importance of social dialogue to achieve its aims. Global framework agreements (GFAs) with almost 50 multinational companies help to make sure that fundamental worker and trade union rights are promoted and protected. The GFAs with French car giant, PSA, and clothing brand H&M, ensure worker rights throughout their global supply chains covering direct and indirect workers at suppliers. Similarly, IndustriALL’s trade union networks in multinational companies help to empower unions and workers by sharing information and acting together.

Stop Precarious Work

IndustriALL has campaigned continuously against precarious work through targeted projects and helped unions organize tens of thousands of precarious workers. Participation by IndustriALL affiliates to protest against the precarious work on 7 October, the world day for decent work, grows year on year.

Sustainable industrial policy

As we experience the digital transformation of industry, sometimes referred to as the fourth industrial revolution, IndustriALL has stepped up its campaign for secure and sustainable jobs open to all those affected by automation and digitalization. With the challenge to tackle climate change and meet global emissions targets, IndustriALL is demanding a Just Transition so that no worker gets left behind as we shift to cleaner energy.

IndustriALL is a campaigning organization and the campaign for a living wage includes the groundbreaking ACT agreement with major apparel brands to improve wages through industry-wide collective bargaining.

“IndustriALL has built solid foundations from which to go forward. The challenges we face are great but we are prepared to meet them. We thank our affiliates for their immense support over the past five years, and we count on them in the future,” said Sanches.

AKG Thermotechnik fires union leaders in Turkey

Workers responded to the dismissal of union leaders by staying in the factory. Management called the police, who evicted the workers. A total of 25 workers have now been dismissed. The workers are maintaining a picket outside the plant.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Birleşik Metal-İş organized the Izmir plant in February 2017. The union was formed to contest difficult working conditions and low wages.

As required by Turkish labour law, the union received a majority certificate from the Ministry of Labour. This certifies that the union represents the majority of the 120 workers at the factory, and that the company should begin negotiations.

However, the company challenged the certificate in a court case, which is ongoing. Instead of negotiating with the union, on 25 May, the company began dismissing union leaders.

Initially, six workers were dismissed, followed by another two. The company put pressure on the workers to resign from the union, threatening their jobs if they did not comply.

The dismissed union leaders began a picket outside their factory. The picket grew, with workers calling for the reinstatement of their colleagues, and holding union meetings in lunch and tea breaks. A group of 17 workers stayed in the factory, and halted production.

Management called riot police, who forcibly evicted the workers from the factory. They were subsequently dismissed. On 15 and 16 June, the anniversary of a major uprising by workers in 1970, Birleşik Metal-İş will hold demonstrations and rallies outside the factory, calling for the workers to be reinstated, and for the company to recognize and negotiate with the union.

IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll Europe have written to AKG to demand that the company negotiate with the union, and reinstate the workers who were sacked. AKG are very dependent on two major customers, Claas Group and Liebherr International. IndustriALL has also written to both these companies, calling on them to put pressure on AKG.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“It has become common in Turkey for employers to use the state to crack down on unions. AKG is a German company, and used to operating in an environment where workers’ rights are respected.

“It is therefore reprehensible that they fire union leaders, and call the police on their own workforce, instead of negotiating. We call on the company to change its behaviour. IndustriALL will stand with Birleşik Metal-İş until we win justice.”

Garment employer files charges against workers

Following on events at the end of May, when workers were threatened and physically attacked for wanting to form a union at Azim’s Orchid factory, company management has filed criminal charges against the 61 workers and union leaders involved. 38 of the workers have been released on bail, but 22 people are in jail.

According to reports, around 200 workers are under constant threat from local thugs and cannot go home or to work, for safety fears.

Workers have been forced by management to sign a document stating they do not want a union in the workplace, as a condition to return to work.

The Bangladesh government, as well as all responsible employers need to understand the impact that the actions of rogue employers like the Azim Group have on the reputation of the industry internationally,

says IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Jenny Holdcroft.

They must step in to stop the violence and imprisonment of workers and bring an end to the political culture of trade union repression.

The Azim Group has a history of denying workers freedom of association, similar events took place in 2014 at the Global Garment/Trousers factory.

IndustriALL calls on Ukrainian government to enforce health and safety in mines

On 12 June, there was the methane explosion in the mine Novodonetskaya in the Donetsk region. 122 miners were in the mine at the time of accident, 29 of them in the affected section.
 
The president of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine Mychailo Volynets stated:

"Sad morning for our miners' family. Four miners were burned and seriously injured. Three of them had 50-60 per cent of their body burned; one had 15 per cent of his body burned. Now they are in Kramatorsk in the Burn centre. Doctors gave optimistic predictions about miners' health".

A special commission was formed to investigate the accident in the mine. This commission includes representatives of the trade unions, the administration of mine, the State Labour Inspectorate, and the Social Insurance Fund.
 
Previously, on 9 June, a miner died from electric shock at the mine Velikomostovskaya in Lviv region. On 6 June, there was a collapse of rocks at a mine Oktyabrskaya in Kryvyi Rih that caused the death of one more miner.
 
All these accidents once again confirm that the health and safety situation in the majority of enterprises is close to emergency. They have particular importance because they happened while the ILO Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS) was considering compliance by Ukraine with ILO conventions No. 81 On Labour Inspection and No. 129 On Labour Inspection in Agriculture.

Speaking at the CAS hearing, Suzanna Miller of IndustriALL said:

"In the majority of enterprises the miners work on obsolete equipment without the necessary Personal Protection Devices, which leads to explosions in the mines, death and severe injuries  to the workers. How much longer will workers bear this?"

On 12 June, the CAS urged the government of Ukraine not to impose any restrictions on the labour inspection and to train and to improve the skills of labour inspectors.
 
Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary said:

“Such accidents at mines are essentially crimes against the miners. IndustriALL Global Union supports the demands of our Ukrainian affiliates on the basis of the report submitted to the CAS at the ILO. It is vital to assure that a proper state programme on developing measures of health and safety, including setting up solid bodies with highly skilled staff, should be approved and financed by Ukrainian government in 2017 and in the following years.”

Algeria: Crackdown on free unions taken to the ILO

As the economic situation in Algeria worsens due to the drop in global oil prices, the government is using increasingly aggressive tactics to hold onto power, according to Rachid Malaoui, President of CGATA (Confédération générale autonome des travailleurs en Algérie). “We are in a crisis situation which could erupt at any moment,” said Malaoui at a press conference in Geneva on Tuesday 13 June.

During this year’s ILC, Algeria has been under examination by the Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS) for breaching ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association.

In what has been described as a ‘dark year’ for unions, the Algerian authorities are declaring strikes illegal, preventing union branches from meeting, firing union leaders, and physically harassing union members.  

IndustriALL affiliate, SNATEGS, represents 35,000 workers at Sonelgaz, Algeria’s state-owned gas and electricity company. Sonelgaz employs 86,000 people and is the country’s second largest enterprise. SNATEGS president, Raouf Mellal, is contesting a six month prison sentence for blowing the whistle on corruption at Sonelgaz that illicitly inflated the electricity bills of more than eight million homeowners in Algeria for over ten years. 

Mellal has just one more chance to appeal his prison sentence and is facing a further 26 charges in the courts. He has been forced to change his address due to harassment from authorities, and so have his parents.

“As president of our union I am suffering. I am totally repressed. My career is destroyed. I lost my job three years ago,” said Mellal at the Geneva press conference.  “Now the government has even taken away my right to work as a lawyer. Why? Because I am president of an independent union.”

Since March 2017, SNATEGS has staged a series of well-supported strikes demanding better wages and improvements in health and safety, as fatalities at the company are frequent. As a consequence, 92 SNATEGS members have been fired, 12 are facing criminal charges, and more than 800 workers are facing civil charges for going on strike. Furthermore, the government deregistered SNATEGS on 16 May, breaking not only Algerian law but also ILO Conventions.

“Now it is a question of dignity. We don’t feel human anymore. We aren’t workers anymore. If you want to keep your dignity, you have to be prepared to pay the price. We are determined to do whatever it takes to get our dignity back,” said Mellal, who at 37 years-old is one of the youngest union leaders in the Arab world.

“Sonelgaz is the only provider of gas and electricity in Algeria. It is a vital sector. The workers at Sonelgaz have a lot of power if they want to. Despite this, workers’ basic salary is 200 euros a month. In contrast, the basic salary in Morocco is 600 euros, even though Algeria exports electricity to Morocco and is the main provider of energy in North Africa.

“In addition, there are not even minimum levels of safety at the workplace. We work without safety protection; we risk death. Just the day before yesterday, a worker died on electricity lines. Sonelgaz said it was the worker’s fault but that’s not true. Sonelgaz does not provide adequate safety measures. They are responsible for the deaths of their workers. That’s why the workers are determined, despite the repression, despite the legal cases, despite the dismissals, to have a big rally in July that we are calling the march of shame.”

IndustriALL spoke up against the maltreatment of SNATEGS and its members when Algeria was discussed at the ILC on 12 June. Speaking afterwards, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary, Kemal Özkan, said:

“IndustriALL Global Union will stand by our brothers and sisters at SNATEGS until there is justice. Their fight is our fight. We urge the authorities in Algeria to immediately drop the charges against Raouf Mellal, as well as hundreds of union members whose only crime was to exercise their legitimate right to strike. We also demand that the government immediately re-registers SNATEGS and ensures that sacked workers are reinstated.”

In draft conclusions published on 15 June, the Committee on the Application of Standards called upon the Government of Algeria, without delay, to:  

The CAS also said the Government should accept an ILO direct contacts mission before the next International Labour Conference and report progress to the Committee of Experts before its November 2017 session. 

Philippine pharmaceutical unions to increase cooperation

During the meeting, IndustriALL affiliates at pharmaceutical companies like Boie Takeda, Astra Zeneca, Interphil and Johnson & Johnson, discussed and agreed to build cooperation and establish communication to share common concerns and experiences.

Carlos Urquiola, President of TF-3, stressed that with the ongoing mergers and consolidations in the industry it is necessary for unions to consolidate their power through more collaborations and strengthened solidarity.

“In these challenging times where multinational companies in the pharmaceutical industry are rationalizing operations by workforce reductions, cost-cutting measures and increasing pressure on workers, unions need to fight back and confront the situation head on and united.”

Participating unions decided to schedule regular meetings, inviting all other pharmaceutical unions, build a communication platform using social media to exchange information, workplace and collective bargaining practices.