South Africa: Unions reject plans to close power stations

Eskom wants to close five coal-fuelled power stations in Mpumalanga Province, and replace them with renewable energy from the Independent Power Producers.

The unions are rejecting this. Instead, they support a Just Transition from fossil fuels to a low carbon economy. That way, the burden will not be heavily placed on workers.

During a mass meeting on 16 March at Arnot, Komati and Duvha power stations, the NUM submitted a memorandum of grievances to the management.

As part of protest action against Eskom, seen as a “common enemy”, the unions’ leadership is planning joint actions.

NUM President, Piet Matosa, and Numsa General Secretary, Irvin Jim, confirmed during the Sub Saharan Executive Committee meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 30 March that the two IndustriALL affiliates were consulting on the issue.

The NUM says the decision is “ill-informed, senseless, irrational and malicious” and serves “a narrow neo-liberal agenda and selfish business interests”.

The proposal is against the government’s National Development Plan, which aims to create jobs, end poverty and inequality, argues the NUM. South Africa faces high unemployment of 26.5 per cent according to Statistics South Africa. But the rate is higher at 35.6 per cent if one uses the expanded unemployment rate, which includes those who are so discouraged that they have given up looking for work.

Numsa agrees, calling the plans “reckless” as it will “destroy the livelihoods of thousands of workers and their families”.

The metalworkers add: “The South African government has failed to industrialize the country and create an economy that can shift workers from fossil fuels to a modern economy powered by renewables”.

Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub-Saharan Africa emphasizes:

“To even contemplate losing so many jobs is unthinkable. We support the affiliates in their efforts for a just transition agreement that will protect workers, and promote sustainable industrial policies.”

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director, said:

“We support the need to phase out fossil fuel power generation, but this can only happen in the context of a proper Just Transition deal. Workers must not pay the price, and South Africa cannot afford to toss another 30,000 workers onto the scrapheap of unemployment. We are concerned that Eskom is using sustainability as an excuse to restructure and privatize.

"If they have excess capacity, they should lower energy prices, and begin a managed transition that doesn’t cost jobs."

IndustriALL energy director Diana Junquera Curiel said:

"The closure of coal-fired power stations is affecting unions around the world. Last week, the Hazelwood power station in Australia closed. In that case, the union won a Just Transition deal which means workers won’t pay the price. This is the approach that unions in South Africa and elsewhere should take.”

Union mission to Turkey to support workers

After the failed coup attempt on 15 July 2016, Turkey has been in a continuing state of emergency with limitations and restrictions on fundamental rights. The joint union meeting came just before a constitutional referendum to be held on 16 April, proposing a change from a parliamentarian to a presidential system. Unions and Turkish society in general, have different views on the possible consequences of a change.

Our unions need international solidarity, so this visit is very important,

said Mustafa Şahin, President of Turkish Energy, Gas and Water Workers’ Union and titular member of IndustriALL Global Union’s Executive Committee.

At this point, I believe that the only structure that can repair fragile bridge between Turkey, the European Union and the world, is the international trade union movement and labour solidarity.

Trade union rights in Turkey have come under criticism from the International Labor Organization and the EU. The state of emergency has seen more than 125.000 public servants suspended from their jobs, with some 78.000 already dismissed.

The government continues to postpone strikes in the metal, glass, mining and rubber industries under the pretext of “national security” and “general health” have meant an end to the right to strike.
Through a new decree the government has added, “breaking economic and financial stability” as another argument for banning strikes. A strike at one of the private banks was recently banned for this reason.

Turkey is one of our priority countries,

said Valter Sanches, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union.

With its level of industry and proximity to other regions, developments in democracy and fundamental rights in Turkey are of critical importance for the global union movement. Our solidarity and support for our affiliates will continue.

A recent change in labour legislation, despite firm opposition by the trade unions, gives companies have a legal right to hire temporary workers from private employment agencies, making it more difficult for unions to recruit new members. The meeting identified a compulsory private life insurance system and changes in the labour court systems as new challenges for the union movement in Turkey. The unions also signaled that the government is preparing to attack severance payments.

The massive influx of refugees, particularly from Syria, poses a challenge on the economic, social and labour level. The textile, garment and leather sectors are heavily affected through an increased informal economy in the industries.

The joint meeting in Ankara reiterated that “Europe, Turkey and the international community must increase their efforts to promote the spread of peace, democracy, economic development, equality and decent jobs”.

Turkish affiliates also affirmed that “specific attention must be devoted to respect for and full enforcement of trade union rights in Turkey, including freedom of association, the right to strike and collective bargaining”.

Turkey has historical economic and political ties with Europe,

stated Luc Triangle, General Secretary of industriAll European Trade Union.

Cooperation of the Turkish unions and the European trade unions is very important for the respect of fundamental rights, and especially the freedom of association for the common interests of Turkish workers and European workers.

The meeting welcomed the idea of specific missions in the near future, with the involvement of different unions in Europe as well as from other parts of the world, which will send a clear signal of solidarity with Turkish unions and workers.

The meeting expressed its support and solidarity for the Transport Workers’ Union (TUMTIS), an ITF affiliate, after the Turkish Supreme Court upheld a verdict against members of the Ankara branch of the union, following a complaint by a logistics company where the union held successful organization drive in 2007. activities guaranteed by the Constitution of the country cannot be considered as crime, according to the Turkish unions. The court decision defines union organizing as a terrorist activity and collecting union dues as a means to finance the terror organization.

In addition to meeting the national centers Turk-Is, Hak-Is and DISK, IndustriALL Global Union and industriALL European Trade Union met with the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security to discus the problems raised by the affiliates.

Fletcher Insulation workers vow to continue fight for fair contract

The workers are taking protected industrial action against the glass wool manufacturing company’s demands of no pay rise, increased hours and increased use of casual labour.

The company’s offer includes no pay rise for four years, the extension of the working week by three hours, and the removal of minimum staffing levels, which is a safety concern. The company intends to make unlimited use of casual workers and drastically reduce redundancy provisions.

Fletcher Insulation is profitable, and the workers, many of whom have been at the company for more than 30 years, have set new productivity records. The company has applied to the government employment arbitrator the Fair Work Commission to terminate the current collective agreement. The current agreement has expired, but its terms remain in place until termination is agreed or a new agreement is reached.

The 90 AWU members at the site have rejected the proposed agreement and have held a picket outside the plant in Dandenong, near Melbourne, for the past 42 days.

“Production was up 20% in the last quarter of last year, and yet only weeks later these workers are told they are not worth a pay rise for four years, and the conditions under which they have worked for so long will be done away with,”

said AWU Victoria secretary Ben Davis.

“It is unfair, it is illogical and it is impossible not to arrive at the conclusion this is an ideological battle.”

Daniel Walton, AWU national secretary, said:

"These loyal and skilled workers are asking for nothing more than a fair go from their employer.

It is unacceptable for a company that has grown profitable from a highly productive workforce to turn around and slap that same workforce in the face.”

The workers have not been paid since 17 February, and are crowdfunding a strike fund to help them stand firm on the picket line.

You can donate to the strike fund here.

In a letter of solidarity to the AWU, IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches said:

“IndustriALL Global Union condemns in the strongest terms the intransigent stance of Fletcher Insulation Australia, which has failed to engage in fair negotiations with the union since August 2016, and has instead pursued an aggressive policy that would seriously undermine the workers’ fundamental rights and benefits.”

Fletcher Insulation produces heat, fire and sound insulation for residential and business properties. New Zealand-owned Fletcher took over the Dandenong factory from ACI Glass several years ago.

New European Works Council agreement sends strong signal for a global deal with LafargeHolcim

IndustriALL Global Union believes that by signing the European agreement the group has made the first concrete step in building sound and healthy industrial relations with their workers. This first step, however, needs further impetus and the company needs to do more to prove their good will towards their employees not only in Europe, but also globally and provide for an equally binding social dialogue foundation in other countries as well.
 
IndustriALL and its sister organization Building and Woodworkers’ International (BWI) representing LafargeHolcim workers globally are currently in the process of negotiating a global framework agreement with the company.
 
The global framework agreement would create, similarly to the EWC agreement, a strong framework for a genuine dialogue between management and workers at all facilities and suppliers of the company throughout the world.
 
Invited by the company to attend the ceremony of signing the EWC agreement in Paris, Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL’s Director for Materials and Mechanical Engineering Sections commented: “The conclusion of this ground-breaking EWC agreement at LafargeHolcim means for us an indication that the company is serious about their intention to conclude a Global Framework Agreement with IndustriALL and BWI."

Since Lafarge and Holcim merged in 2015 year, the company has faced a number of challenges including numerous workplace fatalities, growth of precarious work, and also local problems resulting in strikes and lockouts due to insufficient level of fair and open dialogue between management and unions at factory level in the tough period of restructuring.
 
Some of these issues are gradually being resolved through improved dialogue and labour relations. However the experience demonstrates that it is necessary for LafargeHolcim to settle the same framework for its industrial relations all over the world.
 
IndustriALL Global Union, Building and Wood Worker's International (BWI) and LafargeHolcim has already agreed to launch the process for developing a Global Framework Agreement.

42-day strike in Chile ends with extended agreement

The 42-day strike, triggered when management failed to agree to a new collective employment contract, is the longest and most costly strike in the history of Chile’s private mining sector.

Minera Escondida – owned by Australian mining giant BHP Billiton – refused to accept the union’s main demands:

The company insisted on introducing different pay levels and benefits for new workers to lower future labour costs.

As the union and company failed to reach an agreement, the union ended negotiations and exercised its right to extend the current agreement, as set out in Labour Code article 369.

The workers will not receive the end of contract bonus or a pay rise for the next 18 months. However, when both sides return to the negotiating table in June 2018, new labour legislation will be in force. The new law introduces a “minimum wage rule” that will not allow BHP to offer new workers worse terms than those set out in the current collective agreement.

We have safeguarded the future for new generations of workers at this company,

said the union in an official statement.

Morocco – government must consider workers in oil refinery sale

A commercial court of appeal in Casablanca ordered the liquidation of Morocco’s only oil refinery, the Société Anonyme Marocaine de l'Industrie du Raffinage (SAMIR), in March 2016.  The deadline for investors to show interest in the plant was extended to 8 March 2017.

SAMIR, which has capacity of 200,000 barrels a day, stopped production in August 2015 due to its US$1.3 billion debt to the Moroccan tax authorities.  

Since then, IndustriALL affiliate, SNIPGN-CDT, which represents workers at the plant, has held numerous vigils, rallies and strikes demanding the return of production and the protection of workers' jobs. A further 5,000 jobs are indirectly dependent on production at the oil refinery.

In a letter to the Prime Minister of Morocco, IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said:

“IndustriALL Global Union renews its appeal to you to ensure the protection of the fundamental right to work, maintaining the rights and benefits stipulated in the current collective agreement and its annexes, and to facilitate the conditions and requirements for the refinery to resume its activity as soon as possible.”

According to reports, there have been around ten expressions of interest in SAMIR, all from foreign buyers.

The Moroccan government estimates that SAMIR’S total debts amount to around US$4.5 billion.

Until it was put into liquidation, the SAMIR refinery was controlled by Corral Holdings, which had a 62.26 per cent stake in the company. Corral Holdings is owned by Saudi Arabian billionaire Sheikh Mohamed Houssein El Amoudi.

SAMIR failed to raise a cash injection of US$1.4 billion and a court rejected a debt-restructuring proposal from the company last year, which came without guarantees.

IndustriALL demands fair global steel restructuring

Chinese steel production, with state support, has increased five-fold in 15 years. As the Chinese economy slows and domestic demand weakens, excess steel is being illegally dumped on the world market, harming steel workers, their unions and communities.

China has recently claimed it is reducing excess steel capacity. Risks from overcapacity remain as China’s claim has been called into question, and other countries may also adopt similar illegal practices that increase overcapacity.

The primary focus of OECD Steel Committee should be to encourage capacity reductions in countries where market-distorting steel policies have resulted in excess capacity. It should also be to prevent the development of new excess capacity resulting from market-distorting policies,

stated IndustriALL base metals director Adam Lee to the Committee.

IndustriALL spoke to the Committee about the importance of workers and their unions having a voice in the restructuring process.

Social dialogue has helped to lessen impacts of restructuring on workers in Europe. In countries like Brazil, South Korea and the U.S., restructuring is either imposed with little worker input or governments do not provide support that could enable social dialog to minimize impacts on workers.

Global Forum on Excess Steel Capacity

The Global Forum on Excess Steel Capacity met earlier last week. Global Forum was formed by the G20 in 2016 to work with OECD Steel Committee in confronting the excess capacity crisis. IndustriALL reiterated its demand that unions be invited to participate in Global Forum to ensure workers have a voice in global steel restructuring.

Participants in the OECD Steel Committee meeting included government, business and union representatives along with OECD officials. Union participants included IndustriALL, United Steelworkers, IndustriALL Europe and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD. China attended the Global Forum but declined to participate in the OECD Steel Committee meeting.

IndustriALL expressed it solidarity with Chinese steel workers and called on China to permit independent and democratic trade unions and to adopt policies that minimize the impact of restructuring on Chinese steel workers.

IndustriALL is eager to work with OECD Steel Committee and the Global Forum to ensure that workers have a meaningful voice in a fair and sustainable restructuring of the global steel industry,

added Lee.

IndustriALL affiliates discuss challenges in the Russian energy sector

In the framework of bilateral cooperation, the Russian Independent Coal Employees' Union (Rosugleprof) told of its work with Australian unions on issues of safety, for example, in the development of equipment and technologies in the rescue of miners. Rosugleprof then shares this expertise with colleagues in the region. In September 2017 representatives from Rosugleprof will participate in the VII International Rescue Body Conference taking place in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and Novokuznetsk, where a modern training centre for miners’ rescue will be opened this summer.

IndustriALL Executive Committee member and chair of Rosugleprof, Ivan Mochnachuk, outlined the challenges facing the coal sector, revealing that his union was losing around 4,500 members a year. Rosugleprof’s current membership is around 179,000 workers. This decline is due to the use of new technologies, as well as open-pit coal mining, which requires less workers.

The Russian Oil, Gas and Construction Workers Union (ROGWU) has established good contacts with the Norwegian (Industri Energi), Turkish (Petrol-IS) and some Chinese trade unions. The union is interested in IndustriALL’s help to establish closer cooperation with the Caspian project participants, where trade unions are operating in the world's leading mining companies.

The chair of ROGWU Alexander Korchagin reminded participants the importance of IndustriALL head office as an analytical centre. IndustriALL will conduct research of industries on a regular basis and will send the findings to affiliates.

IndustriALL affiliate, the All-Russian Electric Trade Union (ARETU) told about the success in working with multinational companies. For instance, the union managed to change administration of energy company Fortum from its head office in Finland to Fortum in Russia, which better understands the specifics of the country and is ready for dialogue with the union. Now ARETU is fighting for higher bonuses.

The chair of the ARETU, Valery Vakhrushkin, noted that his union would like to be more involved in IndustriALL activities. In turn, Diana Junquera Curiel proposed the ARETU to include them in some activities and GFA’s. This will allow the union to establish new strong relationship with colleagues from other countries.

Junquera Curiel said:

“The meetings with the three unions have been very successful and I'm satisfied with the result of our discussions. Now IndustriALL Global Union will work hardly developing networks between unions in different countries related with MNC's and support them to develop their skills and work.” 

Union busting at chemical plant in Georgia

On 20 March, the new owner of Rustavi Azot, the company EU Investments, one-sidedly cancelled the collective agreement concluded in 2013 without the trade union’s consent. This is contrary to the legislation of Georgia. Management also declared that it would no longer apply a check-off system of union dues collection and will stop transferring the fees to the bank account of the union. All this will negatively affect union activity.

Chair of the TUMMCIWG Tamaz Dolaberidze said:

“The company is trying to get rid of the organization that protects workers’ rights and strongly protested the illegal dismissal of 350 employees announced in January 2017. The owner decided to destroy the union, so that later we could not create additional problems for him”.

The union has informed the Ministry of Labour of Georgia about the situation. If the Ministry does not take any action to restore the rule of law in the near future, the union is prepared to submit a complaint to the International Labour Organization. The information will also be reported to government departments of the USA and the European Council. This could result in the suspension of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP+), a programme of preferential tariffs favouring trade between US as well as European Union states and Georgia.

Repressive measures from management started in response to the lawsuit on behalf of 57 workers illegally dismissed from Rustavi Azot on 25 January, filed by the union a few days ago. TUMMCIWG also made the owner pay compensation of 1,200 GEL (US $ 480) to another 293 workers who agreed to accept their dismissals.

The TUMMCIWG continues to fight for justice for the workers and is preparing new protests.

More on the topic:

IndustriALL affiliates rally in support of Georgian workers

Authorities violently disperse chemical workers in Georgia

IndustriALL condemns arrests of trade unionists in Algeria

Mellal Raouf, President of IndustriALL affiliate the electricity and gas workers’ union, SNATEGS, and eight members of the union’s executive office, were seized at their hotel as they were about to attend a major rally in the northern city of Tizi Ouzou.

Security forces blocked all routes leading to Tizi Ouzou, preventing vehicles from entering the city, and confiscated union banners that were to be used at the march.  

Despite this many workers participated in the protest and strike action, demanding better wages and an end to harassment of SNATEGS' members.

However, there have been unconfirmed reports that authorities also arrested many more union leaders and workers. 

Raouf has been under oppression by authorities since he revealed extensive corruption at state-owned energy company Sonelgaz. In December 2016, Raouf was sentenced, in absentia, to six months in jail after he exposed the illegal inflation of electricity bills by Sonelgaz over a ten-year period.  

IndustriALL has written to the Prime Minister of Algeria demanding the release of the trade unionists and respect for Algerian and international laws.

In a letter to Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, IndustriALL General Secretary, Valter Sanches, said:

“It is evident that this judicial persecution and now his arrest, along with eight other union representatives of SNATEGS, are in direct contradiction to national legislation, and in particular with the fundamental rights of the International Labour Organization.”

Sanches also demanded the immediate release of all the unionists arrested on 21 March in Tizi Ouzou and urged the Prime Minister to ensure that the rights of all SNATEGS union members are protected.