EU must hold Bangladesh to account over labour violations

The Compact was founded between the European Union (EU), the Government of Bangladesh, the United States, Canada and the ILO to improve labour rights and factory safety in the garment industry, after more than 1,100 workers were killed in the the Rana Plaza factory collapse on 24 April 2013.

However, in a scathing assessment four years on, global trade unions, including IndustriALL, the ITUC, and UNI, have slammed the compact’s performance as labour rights in Bangladesh continue to deteriorate.

In the document, released this month, the unions say:

“In sum, despite the Sustainability Compact, despite millions donated in international assistance towards improving industrial relations and even the efforts of some brands, the government has demonstrated beyond any doubt that continued dialogue mechanisms have failed and will do little if anything to improve conditions of the more than four million garment workers and the many millions more in other sectors.”

Furthermore, global unions are demanding the EU launch an investigation into the GSP status of Bangladesh, which allows trade preferences with Europe on condition the country meets certain labour standards.

Year on year, the Bangladesh government has failed to meet its commitments to the compact. This situation worsened further with the arbitrary arrest and detention of at least 35 trade union activists and workers in December last year. More than 1,600 garment workers were dismissed and union leaders threatened and intimidated by police. An IndustriALL campaign helped to secure the release of the detainees, but the charges still remain.

The assessment also found that compact commitments on freedom of association and collective bargaining have not been met, with half of all union registrations denied. In addition, the government has still failed to hire the necessary number of factory inspectors cited in the compact. Meanwhile, the government has continuously ignored unions’ complaints over hazardous working conditions in shipbreaking and leather tanneries.

IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary, Jenny Holdcroft, said:

“The European Union is Bangladesh’s most important trading partner. It must not and cannot turn a blind eye to the deteriorating conditions for workers and trade unions in the country. An investigation into Bangladesh’s preferential trading status with the EU would send a powerful message to the government of Bangladesh to clean up its act.”

Read the assessment here. 

Meeting calls for an end to violence against women mineworkers

The meeting saw the violence and gender discrimination at gold mines as health and safety issues. It called upon the DRC and Ghana to ratify ILO Convention 176 on Safety and Health in mines.

Violence against women mineworkers took different forms in the AngloGold Ashanti global network countries, and affected women in physical, emotional and financial ways.

In South Africa, this violence is caused by a “masculinity culture” which sees mines as workplaces for men alone said Asanda Benya from the University of Cape Town.
 
Basing her views on a study in which she worked as a winch operator at a platinum mine in Rustenburg, she said “deep patriarchy” defined how women were treated.

For instance, when the mines hired women “heat tolerance screening” was a requirement. Sometimes women failed the screening because of pregnancy or menstruation.

When going underground women were groped daily. Their complaints to management or their unions about this abuse were dismissed as “nagging” or simply ignored.

Women were also excluded from learning the more important mining skills and reduced to domestic roles like getting water for team members. It was also common for male team members to say: “You are a woman; you can’t operate a drilling machine”.

As a result, women mineworkers lost on production bonuses because of these tactics.

Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL Regional Secretary for Sub Saharan Africa said organizing more women in the mines is one of the strategies that can be used to fight gender stereotyping.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director said: “It is important to develop policies against sexual harassment from the perspectives of women mine workers. We are fighting for these policies because the neo-liberal capitalist system sustains itself through gender stereotyping”.

Indian unions call to strengthen international solidarity

Participating in the India council meeting in Delhi on 5 May 2017, Valter Sanches said:

“The rise of conservative political leadership around the world, including the election of Donald Trump as US president, poses a critical challenge to the international trade union movement.

“We are also facing troubles in the form trade agreements such as TPP and TTIP. These agreements include investor state dispute settlement provisions that would allow multinational companies to sue governments, seriously undermining the sovereignty of many countries, including India. IndustriALL will continue to intervene in trade policy issues with a view to defend workers’ rights.”

Talking about his recent visit to Bangladesh, Valter Sanches said, “Bangladeshi workers faced severe repression and incarceration when demanding an increase in the minimum wage. IndustriALL’s global campaign led to the release of all the jailed trade unionists, and we will continue to focus on the supply chain and work strategically to build union power to safeguard workers’ interests.”

Welcoming Valter Sanches, Dr. G Sanjeeva Reddy, IndustriALL Executive Committee member and the President of Indian National Metal Workers Federation (INMF), said:

“The Indian trade union movement needs increased involvement of IndustriALL to protect workers’ rights, which are under incessant attack from the rightwing government. The international trade union movement should extend solidarity to the struggles launched by joint trade union committee, in which central trade unions are working together.”

IndustriALL affiliates raised key issues such as social security for home-based workers, ratification of the ILO Home Work Convention 177, the problem of increasing precarious work in the mining industry and the ratification of ILO Convention 176 on health and safety in mines.

Further affiliates from the cement sector welcomed IndustriALL’s efforts towards signing a global framework agreement LafargeHolcim and called for increased attention to protect the interest of precarious workers in the cement sector in India.

IndustriALL India women’s committee called for intensive engagement to address women workers’ issues in the manufacturing sector and particularly in the readymade garment sector. They highlighted the need for bringing more women workers into unions and build capacity to deal with sexual harassment and violence against women.

IndustriALL affiliates also underlined the need to end the exploitative nature of the recruitment of young workers with poor wages in factories across the country under the scheme of National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM). Under this scheme, workers are not covered by labour laws and the employer has no obligation to provide employment after the training period.

The Indian National Metal Workers Federation (INMF) representative from Hindustan Zinc Ltd shared successful experiences of organizing precarious workers and winning equal wages for equal work and urged all permanent workers unions to actively bring precarious workers into their union in their respective companies. 

IndustriALL urges Iran to improve safety as 35 miners die

The deadly blast took place as workers were changing shifts at the Zemestanyurt mine in Golestan, a province in northeastern Iran. Rescue operations to save more miners trapped in the mine’s 1,000 metre deep shaft have reportedly been hampered by tunnels filled with poisonous gasses. 

In a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, called on the Government of Iran to urgently ratify ILO Convention 176 on Health and Safety in Mines, as well as implement the ILO Code of Practice on Safety and Health in Underground Coal Mines.

Sanches also offered IndustriALL’s help to improve safety in Iranian mines: 

“IndustriALL Global Union is prepared to offer technical assistance, through the solid expertise of its coal mining trade unions worldwide – in addition to any technical assistance your Government may wish to request  from the International Labour Organization (ILO) – to put in place stringent health and safety standards at all mining operations in Iran.”

Lack of adequate health and safety standards in Iran have led to previous mining disasters. In 2013, 11 miners lost their lives in two separate mining accidents, and in 2009, 20 workers were killed in various incidents.   

The Zemestanyurt coal mine employs around 500 workers. In 2016, Iran extracted 1.68 million tons of coal, and output is mostly used in domestic steel production.

Ukrainian miners launch underground protest

On 4 May, workers on the night shift in the Rodina, Guardiiska, Ternovskaya and ten miners from the Oktyabrskaya mines did not rise to the surface as their shift ended. Workers on the following shift have joined them, and operations have been stopped.

In a joint statement to the shareholders of KZRK, the miners said that salaries need to increase from the current 10,000 UAH (US$ 380) to up to US$ 1,000, because of the increased cost of living.

Company management calls the protests unfounded and has threatened the workers with a variety of sanctions, including closing one of the mines, using the redundancies to increase wages for workers in the other mines.

The KZRK president Fedor Karamanits has been tasked with negotiating at the Rodina mine. He has gone down into the pit at a depth of 1,315 metres and remains there, discussing the offer of a 20 per cent increase, which the miners have refused.

IndustriALL affiliate Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine (NPGU) supports the strike, and encourages its members to help the protestors to protect them from pressure from authorities, police and criminal gangs.

Chair of the NPGU Mychailo Volynets says:

"Miners understand that the funds for the development of mines weren't allocated recently. There was only pumping out the resources of enterprise. So they decided to seek justice through the protest. Miners are holding meetings underground now. NPGU is doing everything to help them to fight for their rights".

The Kryvyi Rih Iron-Ore Combine is 99 per cent owned by the company Starmill Limited (Cyprus). Despite big profits, last year KZRK was one of the top-100 largest taxpayers in the country, miners’ wages were last increased in 2014, following a round of protests, which brought to 15 per cent increase.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary comments,

“It is a shame that the owners and shareholders so far fail to address KZRK miners demands adequately. We strongly condemn the acts of blackmailing of miners who are threatened with closure of one of the KZRK mines. We express our solidarity with the protesting miners and demand the authorities, owners and shareholders to deal immediately with the situation at Kryvyi Rih Iron-Ore Combine and find a fair solution of the conflict”.

Global unions advocate a strong dialogue with LafargeHolcim

Some 40 activists from Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France, as well as IndustriALL and BWI officials gathered in front of the entrance to the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland to meet LafargeHolcim shareholders and make them aware of the on-going negotiations of the GFA, pledging their support. While distributing flyers to the attendees of the meeting, union representatives also explained why they were there.

2016 was a dark year with respect of health and safety for the world leading cement manufacturer: 86 workers lost their lives while at job for the company, as direct employees, subcontractors or contractors.  These appalling figures require a better cooperation between the company and the unions, not only in health and safety, but also in order to improve the overall situation for the employees.

Global unions insist that the situation can and must be improved through creation of a special platform of interaction between workers, their representatives and the company management. Global Framework Agreements (GFA) and a Global Dialogue Forum often prove perfectly fit for this.

Currently, LafargeHolcim corporate management is in the process of negotiations of a GFA with IndustriALL and BWI, however the progress is not fast enough. The trade unions were particularly happy to hear that at the annual shareholders meeting the company CEO pledged to finalize and sign the GFA before his departure in July 2017.

Besides the health and safety issues the cornerstone of the on-going negotiations for both IndustriALL and BWI remains the issue of the Global Dialogue Forum or World Works’ Council in analogy of the recently signed agreement on European Works Council. Some other issues also remain pending.

Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL director for materials Industries comments,

We are glad that LafargeHolcim is taking our demands seriously and is prepared to negotiate. We rely on the company CEO's promise.  We expect the process will be successfully finalized pretty soon and we will have a concrete platform for daily dialogue between workers and company management at all levels.”

IndustriALL Executive Committee – stronger together!

Work is becoming cheaper and we will fight against global capital with global answers,

IndustriALL President Jörg Hofmann said in his opening speech.

We will defend basic trade union rights and our success depends on our strength. We need to make sure affiliates can recruit new and retain current members, as members make us strong.

Project activity is an important part of IndustriALL’s work, allowing for interaction with affiliates and achieving the strategic goals. In 2017, IndustriALL is running 45 projects together with donors and national unions in the donor countries. A majority of the projects take place in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, focusing on union building and organizing.

In many countries the projects have contributed to stronger unions, as well as stronger unity among the unions:

Successful campaigning

Delegates at the Executive Committee spoke of difficult times for trade unions in, among other countries, Iraq, where the all union comments and proposals on the new trade union law have been ignored; Macedonia, where the national federation is cracking down on the union; Bosnia–Herzegovina, where social dialogue is under attack; and Indonesia, where unions are excluded from talks on the new minimum wage, which increase equals only one kebab in purchasing power.

But the past year has also seen significant union wins. After trade unionists and garment workers were detained in Bangladesh at the end of 2016/early 2017, an IndustriALL campaign gathered global support, which led to their release in February.

An international solidarity campaign for trade unions in Korea contributed to significant political change in the country. After President Park was ousted from office in March, snap elections are expected to take place on 9 May.

You are all part of the victory,

Korean unions told Executive Committee delegates.

But there is a lot of work ahead. Until we win fundamental trade union rights and have reduced inequalities in society, we will not rest.

Increasing unionization at mining giant Rio Tinto has been one of IndustriALL’s major campaigns over the last years. The Executive Committee was told that significant progress has been made, as the company is engaging in genuine dialogue with the unions and IndustriALL.

Tools for safeguarding workers’ rights

Global Framework Agreements (GFA) are important tools for promoting workers’ rights on a global level. Delegates discussed the need for binding mechanisms in the agreements and the need for local unions to be involved.

Implementing the GFA along the supply chains is crucial, as Executive Committee delegates called on Volkswagen to stop union busting at its plant in Chattanooga, USA.

The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a historic agreement signed after the Rana Plaza collapse in April 2013 runs out in 2018. A discussion was held on the importance of a new Accord next year, where the right to Freedom of Association should be a fundamental commitment.

The Executive Committee adopted a number of solidarity resolutions:

The Executive Committee was preceeded by regional meetings.

IndustriALL and London Mining Network demonstrate at Anglo American AGM

IndustriALL Global Union and the London Mining Network joined forces to protest against the mining giant’s violation of workers’ rights and communities around the world. 

During the AGM, IndustriALL’s South African affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), London’s former anti-apartheid movement, challenged Anglo American over the recent litigation settlement concluded with the claimants over mine workers’ silicosis and tuberculosis disease contracted by mine workers in Southern Africa while employed by Anglo American. The settlement, concluded in 2016, is the result of a class action suit filed in the High Court of South Africa in December 2012.

The NUM and ACTSA argue that the settlement is inadequate as it is limited to 4,365 claimants. The demand is for Anglo American and the mining companies that profited from South Africa’s gold to urgently provide proper medical screening, decent financial compensation and healthcare, and adequate support for all ex- and current mineworkers suffering from silicosis and TB.

The legacy of mining industries’ knowing neglect of the occupational health of its mineworkers is not just a South African problem, but a global one. In the USA, former mine workers face a health care crisis as they succumb to occupational health diseases with the prospect of the denial of a health care pension. In Australia, mine workers are being betrayed by the mining industry with the re-emergence of black-lung disease (pneumoconiosis), which was thought to be history in the country’s mining industry. The disease is running rampant in Australia’s coal mining sector. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) similarly confronted Anglo American over its responsibilities to mine workers at its Australian operations over the diseases and raising legacy occupational health issues as it off-loads and sells some of its coal assets in Australia.     

During the meeting, IndustriALL challenged Anglo American on a number of labour-related issues, including contracting and subcontracting of core production functions; occupational safety issues after 11 workers lost their lives in the past financial year at Anglo American operations; the slow pace of transformation and women’s integration; and whether the Initiative for Responsible Mining and Assurance will be considered for future inclusion in Anglo American’s reporting guidance protocol.

The CFMEU raised the issue of the three-year Capcoal German Creek strike that has no resolution in sight. The Anglo American chairman tried to dodge the issue by saying the AGM was not a negotiating forum, even though the CFMEU has a right to raise concerns with the shareholders and demand answers, not excuses. The CFMEU issued a challenge to the CEO, Mark Cutifani, to come to Australia to resolve the impasse.

The Church and Mining Network of Brazil demanded answers relating to Anglo American’s Minas-Gerais iron ore tailings dam expansion plans, with the memory of the BHP Billiton-Vale’s Samarco mine dam disaster still fresh in the mind of the community of Minas Gerais. Anglo American has been accused by a Brazilian court for failing to provide the community with mandatory information about the proposed expansion, sparking concern about critical drinking water shortages and another dam disaster.

IndustriALL’s Anglo American Global Network was held in London to coincide with Anglo American’s AGM. 

Ongoing strike at Fletcher Insulation, Australia

On 17 February, 90 workers and members of IndustriALL affiliate Australian Worker’s Union (AWU) began an indefinite stoppage after negotiations with management failed.

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.

IndustriALL urges Fletcher Building to intervene at its subsidiary Fletcher Insulation Australia’s Dandenong site in Victoria to guarantee the company’s return to the negotiating table with AWU to achieve a fair outcome.

IndustriALL Global Union is appalled by the uncompromising stance of Fletcher Insulation Australia, failing to engage in fair negotiations with the union,

says IndustriALL General Secretary Valter Sanches.

Instead, they are pursuing an aggressive policy that will seriously undermine the workers’ fundamental rights and benefits.

The Executive Committee of IndustriALL Global Union, which brings together industrial unions from all over the world, adopted last week a resolution condemning the aggressive anti-workers behavior of Fletcher Insulation, and pledging to launch a global solidarity campaign.

IndustriALL Global Union continues to fully support the strike. We expect Fletcher Building to act immediately to redress the serious violations of workers’ rights,

Sanches says.
 

Rotterdam Convention discredited as chrysotile asbestos fails to be listed

The eighth Conference of Parties to the Rotterdam Convention, a United Nations treaty that requires dangerous substances listed by the Convention to be traded only with prior informed consent, is currently taking place in Geneva, Switzerland.

Today, 3 May, a small minority of countries with commercial interests in continued asbestos use, including India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Syria and Zimbabwe, blocked chrysotile from being listed on Annex III of the Convention. For a substance to be listed, parties must reach unanimity.

Chrysotile asbestos will not be considered for listing until the next COP in two years’ time. Russia even advocated taking chrysotile off the list of proposed chemicals for listing, a move not permitted under the Convention.

“Failure to list chrysotile asbestos on Annex III once again is an absolute disgrace. While they dither, hundreds of thousands of people will die from asbestos-related diseases,” said Andrew Dettmer, National President of IndustriALL affiliate, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU).

Chrysotile asbestos meets all the scientific criteria required for listing on Annex III and the majority of parties to the Convention support listing. Carolyn Vickers from the World Health Organization told the plenary:

“All forms of asbestos, including chrysotile, are carcinogenic to humans, and cause mesothelioma and cancer of the lung, larynx and ovary.  The evidence that chrysotile is carcinogenic is conclusive and overwhelming, and it has continued to strengthen over time.” She added that it caused a serious threat to public health.

The representative from Uruguay said: “This issue is about human rights. Listing still allows you the right to produce a chemical and sell a chemical but we have a right to be informed, as an equal right. We need prior informed consent.”

In the meantime, the Parties are considering a proposal from a group of 12 African nations to amend Article 22 of the Convention, so that a substance can be listed with a 75 per cent majority of voting parties. A contact group during CoP8 has been formed to consider the proposal but workers’ groups have been excluded.

“People are more concerned about preserving a broken process than preventing more deaths. Failure to involve the voice of workers goes against any notion of transparency,” said Dettmer.

Asbestosis sufferer, Siti Kristina, worked in an asbestos textile factory in Indonesia. She told the meeting:

“I was exposed to asbestos in the factory for 23 years. If asbestos got under our clothes it was difficult to remove it. After ten years I started coughing. In 2010, I was diagnosed with asbestosis. I am just one and many of friends have been suffering.”

Speaking on behalf of IndustriALL, Frank O’Grady, from Australian union the CFMEU said: “Like most other workers in the construction industry, we were never informed of the dangers of asbestos. For those countries that oppose the listing of chrysotile, the signs, the practice and the reality show otherwise. At the very least, 130,000 workers dying annually from asbestos-related diseases says otherwise.”

A representative from the Pacific Islands said: “We have new chrysotile building materials on sale in the shops now. There is very low awareness of the dangers of asbestos. The threat of natural disasters, which are growing in terms of frequency and intensity, means our citizens are at risk. We need to know when chrysotile materials are being imported.”

Australia has some of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world. A country representative told the plenary. “We have and continue to pay a high-price for using chrysotile asbestos.” An estimated 25,000 Australians are expected to die from asbestos-related diseases over next 40 years.

Andrew Dettmer, said: “The asbestos awareness campaign we have supported in South East Asia has helped bring countries like Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia into the support listing chrysotile camp. Reform of the Rotterdam Convention is now a live, international issue.”

IndustriALL’s director for health, safety and sustainability, Brian Kohler, said:

“The Rotterdam Convention is broken. Enough is enough. For the Convention to be effective, it must stop allowing the financial interests of a few powerful oligarchs to threaten the lives of millions. It’s a shameful example of a dysfunctional system and a discredit to the entire United Nations system. How many hundreds of thousands of people must die from asbestos-related diseases before the parties to the Rotterdam Convention change this?”