OECD launches guidelines for garment and footwear sector

The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector were formulated in response to international pressure, following the Rana Plaza factory building collapse in Bangladesh that killed over a thousand garment workers in 2013.

IndustriALL Global Union, which represents garment workers around the world, was a member of the OECD advisory board and consulted in the drafting of the guidelines.

“The guidelines represent a move beyond voluntary, non-binding auditing and corporate social responsibility initiatives, which have done little or nothing to protect and improve the rights of workers,” said IndustriALL’s textile and garment industry director, Christina Hajagos-Clausen.  

The new OECD international standards are endorsed by brands, labour and industry, and involve real worker participation in identifying risk and violations of human rights, while encouraging direct negotiations with labour.

“It is important there is a common understanding that workers are not peripheral to the due diligence process, but core to it.  The Guidance articulates when and how workers should be involved and labour views this as a welcome shift,” said Hajagos-Clausen at the Paris launch.

The guidelines allow for workers and trade unions to actively participate in designing and implementing on-site supplier assessments; developing corrective action plans; monitoring impacts; and formulating operational-level grievance mechanisms.

Significantly, the guidelines promote responsible purchasing practices, lack of which can lead to excessive and forced overtime as well as low wages for workers. IndustriALL’s ACT initiative is a memorandum of understanding signed by global apparel brands that identifies industry-wide collective bargaining and responsible purchasing practices as essential to achieving living wages.  

“By creating mechanisms that link unions, buyers and suppliers, ACT aims to create a framework for genuine supply chain industrial relations for a fair and stable global garment industry,” Hajagos-Clausen told launch attendees.   

The guidelines also endorse direct agreements between enterprises and trade unions, such as global framework agreements (GFAs).  IndustriALL has four global framework agreements with apparel brands Inditex, H&M, Tchibo and Mizuno.

The guidelines include various modules on sector risks, including child labour; sexual harassment and gender-based violence; forced labour; working time; occupational health and safety; trade unions and collective bargaining; and wages, as well as environmental hazards.

“I am hopeful that this new guidance can help mitigate and remedy worker rights’ violations. We have a long way to go, as globally the supply chain is full of risks.  As we sit here, 25 workers and labour leaders are in jail for participating in mobilizations to demand a living wage,” concluded Hajagos-Clausen as she referred to IndustriALL’s campaign to release jailed union leaders and garment workers in Bangladesh.   

Major strike at Escondida mine, Chile

We are starting what is perhaps the most important trade union struggle that our country has seen in recent times. (…) We must carry on this legal strike until we get the recognition we deserve and stop this company offensive

the union told its members.

The miners want a 7 per cent pay rise, an “end of negotiations” bonus of 25 million Chilean pesos (about US$38,400) and equal benefits for existing and new employees.

However, the company’s offer did not include a pay rise, cut some benefits, proposed clauses that discriminate against new employees and offered a bonus of eight million pesos (US$12,300). The company claims that in order to remain sustainable, it cannot agree to a pay rise, given the fall in the international price of copper.

The company said it would suspend production for the first 15 days of the strike because it could not guarantee the safety of the rest of the workforce, which depends on work carried out by operational and maintenance staff.

IndustriALL Chile – CONSTRAMET – affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, said it shares and supports the union’s just aspirations for the collective agreement and rejects the intransigence shown by the company, which is using the “crisis in the price of copper” as an excuse:

We wish you success in this tough battle, we extend our support and solidarity and understand that both success and failure will have an impact on the entire working class.

Escondida is the biggest privately-owned copper mine in the world, with annual production of about one million tonnes.

Solidarity works! Sri Lankan workers vote for union

IndustriALL Global Union has been celebrating a good win for workers this week after the multinational gloves company failed in its attempt to kick out the union from its two factories in Sri Lanka.

IndustriALL Executive Committee member Anton Marcus who heads the FTZ&GSEU union was able to shake hands with the ATG management for the first time on 7 February when the election result became clear. The union was forced by the company to struggle for over two years simply to win the right to bargain on behalf of the workers.

Abuses included intimidation, suspensions, threats, attempts to rig the list of voting workers, and promoting a worker in exchange for her lodging a police complaint against the union leader.

Now that the FTZ&GSEU is affirmed as the lawful bargaining agent at both ATG factories it can start to address the problems of health and safety, sexual harassment and employment conditions. The union is confident that these changes will improve the business performance of ATG. The vote had a 95 per cent turnout and comfortably achieved the required 40 per cent in favour.

International support and solidarity included calling on ATG corporate customers, regional partners, and Sri Lankan politicians. IndustriALL also requested the intervention of the G20 countries’ ambassadors to Sri Lanka. The German and the European Union Ambassadors to Sri Lanka played a vital role in demanding a free workplace ballot.

Workers in the other factories of the Katunayake Free Trade Zone do not have the luxury of exercising their right to freely decide on union representation. This ballot was conducted under the spotlight of international and domestic pressure.

IndustriALL General Secretary, Valter Sanches, congratulated the FTZ&GSEU:

We won’t forget the excellent help from Ambassadors Rohde and Margue, but this win was achieved by the ATG workers standing together in the face of threats and intimidation from their bosses.  Let’s now look to replicate this victory and change the working conditions in ATG’s neighbouring factories.

FTZ&GSEU leader Anton Marcus said:

This is also a lesson for the employer to learn, that in the global economy it is not only profit and investments that travel across geographical boundaries, but also worker solidarity and organisational unity.

Machinists Union faces crucial vote at Boeing in the US South

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is heading for a crucial vote in Charleston, South Carolina. On 15 February, almost 3,000 Boeing workers are due to vote on union recognition.
 
The election is seen as a crucial test case for the union movement’s ability to organize in the Trump era. A successful vote would be a rebuke for Trump’s anti-union policies, and a victory against his divisive racism. About one third of the workers at the plant are African American.
 
The US South is notoriously hard to organize. Wages and union density are low, collective bargaining cover is sparse, and politicians are often partisan opponents of unions.
 
South Carolina is a “Right to Work” state, meaning it has adopted law allowing non-union members to benefit from union contracts without contributing to them. The state has the lowest level of unionization in the US.
 
The IAM, and other US unions, argue that the motive behind Right to Work is to destroy unions and “transfer even more money and power to corporate elites”. US President Donald Trump has signaled that he intends to extend Right to Work to federal level, seen by many as a fundamental assault on unions.
 
Many companies have shifted production to the South in recent years, to take advantage of low wages and weak unions. After closing a plant in Washington state, Boeing opened the South Carolina plant in 2011. Since then it has produced more than 100 787 Dreamliner planes.
 
The IAM represents about 35,000 Boeing workers, mostly in Washington state. In 2015, the union withdrew from a recognition election at the Charleston plant after political interference and a massive campaign of disinformation from the company.
 
IndustriALL aerospace director Brian Kohler said:


 “The election of Donald Trump is a challenge and a threat to working people everywhere. A union victory in South Carolina would be a powerful sign that we can fight back.
 
“IndustriALL sends international solidarity, and urges Boeing workers to vote Yes for a union.”

Police evict striking Gerdau workers in Colombia

Workers at the Gerdau Diaco plant in Yumbo, Colombia, decided to occupy the metalworking company on 8 November 2016, after being informed that the company had been sold.

Told by company management to choose between dismissal or voluntary retirement with small compensation, union members from IndustriALL Global Union affiliates Sintradiaco and Sintrametal occupied the plant to protect their jobs.

On 1 February, the new owner, Maurice Armitagela, mayor of Cali, ordered police to evict the workers from the plant using the new police code supposed to promote peace and respect among Colombians.

In addition to the evictions, police detained three Sintradiaco leaders and tried to prosecute the union’s vice-president, Carlos Carvajal. The three were later released without charge on 2 February.

IndustriALL Global Union is calling for solidarity with the workers to help them get their jobs back,

says IndustriALL’s project coordinator in Colombia, Carlos Bustos.

The coordinator of the Gerdau World Workers’ Council, Jorge Garcia-Orgales, says:

We support peace with social justice in Colombia but it takes more than the demobilisation of insurgent forces to achieve peace. It requires guarantees for the rights of workers and all Colombian citizens.

A letter from the Council and IndustriALL to Gerdau’s CEO André Bier Gerdau Johannpeter is calling on the company to

guarantee the physical security of the workers who refused to accept the compensation and respect for national and international law on the resolution of labour disputes.

IndustriALL launches MENA youth network

In a key outcome, participants from IndustriALL affiliates in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Turkey set up the IndustriALL MENA Youth Network and resolved to campaign at national levels to organize more young people into unions.  

Many of the participants work in multinational companies and brands' supply chains. The conference saw active and fruitful discussions, which highlighted the challenges for unions to organize young people in the region. The lack of job opportunities in the region, particularly for young people, is a considerable obstacle.

Participants said that one of the most important challenges for unions is attracting young workers to join the union movement. Unions should explore ways to increase young people's confidence and integration within trade union structures.

Furthermore, because of the lack of jobs and the volatility of the labour market, young people are very afraid of losing their job. Their main priority is to find work and not join a union, causing difficulties when it comes to recruitment.
 
Participants also said that young people lack knowledge about their rights. All the participants agreed that it is vital to raise awareness among youth about basic trade union rights. This could be one of the solutions to end the fear linked to joining a union.

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


"The in-depth discussions showed the sizeable challenges of union youth work in a vibrant and dynamic region. But they also showed the great potential of future union leaders and touched upon strategies that IndustriALL and MENA affiliates can apply to organize the young workforce. 
 

Bangladesh: Free jailed unionists and workers

Most of the workers and trade unionists have been jailed for participating in a strike in late 2016. The government of Bangladesh is using the strike as an opportunity for a broad crackdown on labour, arresting other unionists not involved in the strike. Many union leaders have gone into hiding for fear of being arrested and union offices have been closed down.

“The events in December and the current climate of union oppression are an alarming step backwards for Bangladesh. We must fight back to defend the jailed workers and basic trade union rights in Bangladesh,” says IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches. “I am urging you to stand with the jailed Bangladeshi unionists. Every day counts so take action now.”

IndustriALL is coordinating with UNI and ITUC a campaign to demand their immediate release and an end to the repression of trade unions.

There are multiple ways you can participate:

Background

The Bangladeshi government and garment factory owners are using the wage strike as a pretext to crack down on the labour movement.

Wages in Bangladesh’s garment industry are among the lowest in the world. It is unacceptable that the demand to increase the minimum wage is met with arbitrary detentions, suspended production at 59 factories, the firing of well over 1,600 workers and police cases against 600 workers and trade union leaders.

Garment workers in Bangladesh have the unequivocal right to organize and must be paid a living wage on which they can survive.

Nearly four years have passed since the collapse of the Rana Plaza building. Considerable progress has been made in the area of fire and building safety, primarily through the Accord, the Government of Bangladesh has done tragically little to guarantee the respect for the rule of law, including labour law and international labour standards.

Authorities violently disperse chemical workers in Georgia

The protest on 2 February, by the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCIWG), an affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union, took place outside the management’s office, in support of 350 workers who have been fired illegally. In solidarity with workers’ demands for reinstatement, leaders of almost all branch trade unions, members of other unions, students and NGOs joined the protest action.

Frustrated at having no reaction from Rustavi Azot to their protests at the unfair dismissals for almost a week, workers decided to enter the management office to get clarifications from the director about the solution to the conflict. Guards used force and tried to prevent protestors from entering the building. Soon after that a big number of police surrounded the building and violence broke out. Eyewitnesses say the police beat participants disregarding their age or gender.

Some protesters got their ribs broken, and other face and body injuries. The police also beat up journalists who were reporting live from the protest. This is despite the fact that workers and their supporters had started to leave the building.

Later on the same day, a four-hour meeting took place initiated by the Ministry of Labour, with participation of the representatives of dismissed workers, including Irakli Petriashvili, president of Georgian trade union confederation. Commenting on the results of the meeting, Petriashvili said that management refused to fulfil workers’ demands and therefore protests would continue.

In January 2017, new management at the Georgian chemical plant, which is the largest fertilizer producer in the Caucasus, began a process of mass dismissals.

On 30 January, production at the plant stopped due to the high price of natural gas.. According to information provided by the TUMMCIWG, the dismissals were carried out in violation of the law. According to the trade union the number laid-off could be twice as big if the protests had not taken place. Following the demonstrations, the company stopped further dismissals and announced severance pay of three monthly payments of 500GEL (US$185) to all the dismissed. The offer only came after TUMMCIWG’s meeting with the representatives of municipal authorities, Ministry of Labour and chairman of the parliamentary Committee on human rights.

In parallel with the dismissals, Rustavi Azot is breaking the law by forcing remaining workers to sign new contracts seriously undermining their working conditions. Management is threatening to make workers redundant if they do not sign the contract.

TUMMCIWG’s chairman, Tamaz Dolaberidze, states:

“The management summons the workers and insists they immediately sign a new labour contract, which is a document of five pages in small print. Even its plain reading would take several hours. Proper understanding and consultation with lawyers would probably take a few days. The company doesn’t provide workers with this opportunity.”

According to Dolaberidze, the new labour contract radically deteriorates the employment status of workers compared to the previous one. For instance, the new contract is valid for only one year, while earlier contracts were open-ended. Workers are also being imposed to carry out new duties not related to their work, and could be fined if they fail to fulfil these new duties.

IndustriALL General Secretary Valter Sanches deplored the violence towards workers, in a letter sent to president of Georgia before the protest on 2 February he stated:

“It is imperative that the government of Georgia intervene immediately to guarantee the immediate reinstatement of the 350 workers, who were unlawfully dismissed; demand the cancellation of all the contracts that were signed under duress, and ensure that the new contracts be signed in the presence of a union representative; demand that Rustavi Azot abide by the earlier concluded collective agreement; as well as guarantee the effectiveness and fairness of the mediation process, under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour, which has unfortunately stalled.”

Amateur video of violence against protesters.

North African aerospace unions come together to build power

The meeting was the first to bring together aerospace sector trade union representatives from the region, and follows a number of national meetings held in Tunisia and Morocco in late 2015 and 2016.
 
The meeting was attended by 35 delegates from the Moroccan trade union centre Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT), Confédération Démocratique du Travail (CDT), the IndustriALL Global Union affiliate from Morocco Syndicat National des Travailleurs des Industries Métallurgiques, Mécaniques, Electriques et Electroniques (SNTIMMEE-CDT), and Tunisian affiliate Fédération Générale de la Métallurgie et de l'Electronique (FGME-UGTT).

The aerospace sector in the Maghreb is booming. Foreign companies, many of them French-owned, have opened new production facilities in Morocco and Tunisia, taking advantage of the region’s proximity to global supply chains.
 
The delegates at the meeting represent workers at 14 aerospace companies, including Bombardier, Stelia, Ratier-Figeac, ASM Aero, Mecaprotec Aéro, Eurocast, Daher, UTC Aerospace and Zodiac.
 
The growth of the sector means there are potentially thousands of new members who can be drawn into the trade union movement. Following the expansion of the sector, and working with IndustriALL, unions have taken action to build power.  In Morocco, the UMT is currently working on creating a metal union to include aerospace workers, and the CDT established a unified union office for aerospace workers. Similarly, Tunisian metal union FGME-UGTT has created a section for the sector.
 
The meeting adopted an action plan based on the five strategic objectives endorsed by the IndustriALL Congress in Rio de Janeiro in October 2016.
 
The action plan includes commitments to

A major priority will be working together across the sector at national level, and creating company networks at regional level.
 
IndustriALL aerospace director Brian Kohler said:
 
“The discussions at this meeting were very intense, and of a high quality. We have achieved better dialogue and communications between unions in the region.
 
The action plan will help us to build a strong union presence in this growing sector, and potentially recruit thousands of new members.”

IndustriALL and Solvay renew their global framework agreement for five years

The signatories will continue their two joint missions per year to assess Solvay’s safety policies and the agreement’s implementation in a country and a site chosen with IndustriALL. Solvay Global Forum of eight Solvay union representatives from major countries, will from now on be in charge of monitoring the fulfillment of the agreement.

Valter Sanches, IndustriALL General Secretary said:

This agreement is a benchmark in terms of social dialogue in the chemical industry. We have established a strong culture and constructive labour relations worldwide over the last 12 years. The renewal brings a Global Forum, which will be an important platform for dialogue between union/employee representatives and management.

With the agreement, Solvay reaffirms its respect for the International Labor Organization’s social standards and the principles of the United Nations Global Compact. It now also includes its commitment to the OECD’s guidelines for multinational enterprises. Solvay expects its suppliers and subcontractors to apply these same principles.

The GFA has been updated to add new social projects, such as the protection of mental safety at work and societal actions and reinforces Solvay’s commitments to health & safety at work, anti-discrimination, diversity as well as environmental protection.

For Solvay, the five year renewal is testimony of the relationship of trust we’ve successfully developed with IndustriALL for more than a decade now. We advocate an open, challenging and constructive dialogue with our employees and their representatives. This dialogue is part of our sustainability commitments and a contributor to our overall performance

said Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, CEO of Solvay.

Valter Sanches and Jean-Pierre Clamadieu signed the renewal of their five-year accord at Solvay’s headquarters. Also present were Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary, Albert Kruft, coordinator of Solvay Global Forum, and Carol Landry, International VP of United Steelworkers.