INTERVIEW: IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches

INTERVIEW

Union: IndustriALL Global Union

Country: Brazil

Text: Léonie Guguen

Photos: IndustriALL

Can you tell us a little about your upbringing in Brazil?

I was born in South Brazil in Paraná in the countryside. When I was six years old, my family, like many in Brazil, had to move to Sao Paulo after the terrible freeze in agriculture during the 1960s. Most people lost everything, as we did. Like many Brazilians I started working at 16 years old. A year later, I joined a mechanical engineering plant as a machine worker. In 1985, when I was 21, I moved to Rolls Royce working as a technician, later moving to Mercedes Benz as a production engineer.

When and why did you get involved in union activities?

I became a member of a union as soon as I started at the engineering plant when I was 17 years old. We were living under a dictatorship so I had a strong urge to fight against injustice and the lack of freedom during those times, as well as the economic problems. The end of the dictatorship was followed by a succession of neo-liberal governments, which brought a lot of problems for workers, so getting involved with the union came naturally.

The first elected position I had was for the internal health and safety commission, which is obligatory under Brazilian legislation. I was later elected to the Works Council at Mercedes Benz in 1992 and I got re-elected plenty of times.

You have a degree in geography from the university of Sao Paolo – how did you fit that in?

When I was 20 years old, it was rare for a factory worker to go to university; it was a very narrow oriented society. There was a big bottleneck and few vacancies for the millions of people who wanted to go to university. In Brazil, it’s more common for people like me to do a night course and work in the daytime. So that’s what I did. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to work in a factory for the rest of my life or whether I wanted to do something in research or with geography.

However, militancy was in my blood so I thought that, even if I was putting my career second, I would be more useful if I remained in the plant and got more involved in the union fighting for workers’ rights and social justice. I got a national position at CNM/CUT in 2003 and then had several more positions there, including general secretary and at the end, international secretary.

How would you describe your union career so far?

My whole life I’ve been breaking through barriers. I was the first Brazilian in the World Works Council; I was in the working group that negotiated our global framework agreement at Daimler (Mercedes Benz’s parent company) in 2002; and then I was the first Brazilian and I am still the only non-German on the supervisory board at Daimler. And now I am the first general secretary of a global union from the Global South in the history of IndustriALL and its predecessor organizations.

Why is it relevant for IndustriALL to have a leader from the Global South?

Of course every affiliate wants to have someone who is well qualified, is democratic, and who is in constant consultation with them, so those are the main requirements. But being from the South means that I bring other experiences. In the past, most of those responsible for global unions were either from Europe or North America. It’s not that they don’t have the sensibilities for developing countries but it’s an additional experience when you actually live in those conditions – under a very anti-union environment, under dictatorships or neo-liberal governments, under severe repression, under precarious working conditions driven by multinationals corporations and their supply chains.

What challenges are IndustriALL and its affiliates facing?

I have been a trade unionist for most of my life and I think there are a lot of challenges in the world to be addressed. I was involved in international solidarity work for a long part of my time in my union so I decided to take on the challenge. I think our action plan with our five strategic goals pinpoints our many challenges and the goals are all interrelated. But when we see these terrible accidents in the shipbreaking, mining or garment industry, we see the most cruel face of corporate greed.

Precarious work is a major challenge. Even in Germany, with the best working conditions in the world, capital finds a way to sneak in precarious work in the form of contractors and agency work. We have to build stronger unions to combat precarious work, otherwise there will be many job losses in countries that won’t be generating quality jobs elsewhere. So we must help unions to get stronger, to build membership, to get better training for workers to do their jobs.

We have to act in solidarity every time one of us is under attack. On top of everything, we are in the middle of a technological leap (Industry 4.0) that will affect, and is already affecting, all industry. In the near future, entire sectors will disappear. Some others will arise but they will most probably generate far fewer jobs. That’s why we must strive for sustainable industrial policies in countries and in the regions. We have got to get as strong unions as possible so that we can demand that governments give us a seat at the table to get good industrial policies and resist the power of transnational companies.

How do you think IndustriALL needs to develop over the next four years?

We have to make some improvements in our structures, in our regions and the whole work of IndustriALL so that we can better serve our affiliates. In the last period, IndustriALL delivered lots of good things and had many successful campaigns. The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh has been a great success, setting up a legally binding structure to inspect and remediate more than 1,600 garment factories in the country. The Rio Tinto campaign has brought together affiliates from operations around the world, demanding that the mining giant engage in dialogue with the unions. While we still have more work to do, the Rio Tinto campaign has forced the company to make real changes, replacing some anti-union mine managers and opening the door for our affiliates to organize more of their worksites.

And I would say that our many trade union networks in multinational companies are another achievement. However, we can better communicate and consult with affiliates when it’s an issue that affects them and benefit from their input. Crucially, we need to use the strength that we have in our trade union networks and our global framework agreements to make multinational companies accountable for their supply chains. We also need to help the unions that organize the supply chain workers, that’s really where most of the precarious work lies.

Workers’ rights are never out of fashion!

Negotiations on the renewal of labour contracts for Italy’s garment industry for the period of 2016 – 2019 have been delayed for more than ten months. 

Trade unions are calling on the employers to return to the negotiating table and agree on the renewal of the labor contracts, which should comply with national and international labor standards.

Union representatives say that is imperative that employers refrain from trying to impose conditions, such as a wage model that would only contemplate salary increases after the expiration of the three-year contract period, or contractual flexibility, that would seriously impinge on fundamental workers’ rights.

IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Valter Sanches says that IndustriALL fully supports the legitimate demands of the Italian workers:

We stand firm in solidarity with the 500,000 textile, garment, and footwear workers in Italy on their general strike. We urge the employers to speedily engage in a meaningful dialogue with the unions, ensuring that their rights are met.

Norwegian oil company DNO targeted by unions

IndustriALL Global Union and its Norwegian affiliate, Industri Energi, in partnership with LabourStart have launched a petition in support of 175 DNO workers and their families in Yemen, whom the company has failed to pay for more than 18 months.

In August 2016 the company was ordered to pay wages to the workers it sacked or face having its property and assets seized. Despite an appeal by DNO, the final decision of the court of appeal on 23 November 2016 was made in favour of DNO workers.

Following the ruling, the DNO Yemen Union says the company left the country without an official handover of  its properties and assets. As a result, Yemeni authorities have now seized DNO’s property, bank accounts and vehicles in the country. DNO has so far failed to pay redundancy packages due to their workers and they are afraid that there are not enough resources left to fulfil the company’s obligations.

When war broke out in Yemen in Summer 2015, the company stopped its operations and terminated the contracts of its employees via SMS or email, adding to the hardship already faced by workers and their families.

Even before that, the company paid the lowest wages in Yemen compared to other oil companies operating in the country. Back in 2013 and 2014 workers organized a number of wage related strikes. Management responded with a written threat to dismiss all striking workers in violation of workers' legal rights to strike in Yemen.

Give your support to 175 Yemeni workers and their families by signing and sending the letter to DNO Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, via the following link http://www.labourstart.org/go/dnoyemen

Trinidad oil workers’ union wins pay increase

On Monday 9 January, after marathon talks with the Minister of Labour and the President of Petrotrin, the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) accepted an interim offer of a 5 per cent immediate salary increase for Petrotrin workers.

They will now receive an adjustment on their salary of 5 per cent for 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, and an additional percentage will be negotiated by 28 of February 2017 for the period 2014.

Petrotrin had tried to impose a six-year pay freeze for workers over two collective bargaining periods, 2011-2014 and 2014-2017, which OWTU refused to accept.

The strike action, which was scheduled to commence on 9 January, has been officially called off as a result of the positive resolution.

OWTU President General, Ancel Roget, said:

“We think this is a tremendous achievement for the start of these negotiations. We look forward to ensuring that these negotiations are closed once and for all at the end of February, by which time we should have recovered the balance of the percentages that we set out to.”

IndustriALL wrote to the Prime Minster of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley, and Petrotrin President, Fitzroy Harewood, to make a reasonable proposal in order to avert a strike. It also expressed its solidarity with the OWTU.

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said:

We congratulate the OWTU on standing firm and achieving this significant victory for oil workers at Petrotrin. Oil workers in Trinidad showed strength in unity and their determination has paid off. IndustriALL will continue to stand by the OWTU as it pushes for fair remuneration for Petrotrin workers.

Kazakh authorities dissolve trade union center

On 4 January, as part of continued attacks against trade union rights in Kazakhstan, a court ordered the dissolution of the ITUC affiliated national centre and its two affiliates, namely the National Healthcare Workers' Union and National Domestic Workers' Union.  All the office documents of the Confederation have been seized and its national operations have been paralyzed.
 
Authorities are accusing the KNPRK of violation of the terms for submitting documents for re-registration, a procedure required for all trade unions in Kazakhstan after the adoption of the national Act on trade unions in 2014. Union officials say that the registration procedure is not clearly defined and open to manipulation by the authorities.
 
In a protest against the dissolution of KNPRK, dozens of workers at the Oil Construction Company in Kazakhstan have declared a hunger strike for 15 January. Although authorities have banned the initiative, workers have vowed to protest round the clock in front of the company offices, and refuse to eat until there is a decision to reopen their union.
 
Separately, there is an on-going hunger strike at the Kazakh Oil Company where workers are fighting against the closure of their union. Reportedly the health of workers is getting worse, but so far there has been no meaningful reaction on the side of the authorities.


“The continued and increasing number of serious violations against fundamental workers’ rights in Kazakhstan is very worrying," said  Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. “These unacceptable acts by the authorities must come to an end and the Kazakh Government must fulfil its responsibility to ensure freedom of association under ILO Convention 87."

Five workers burn to death at Gadani shipbreaking yard

An estimated 100 workers were dismantling the ship at plot no. 60 when the blaze started and had to be rescued by lifeboat. A fire erupted on the same ship just two weeks ago, although that time there were no casualties.

The ship’s owner, Dewan Rizwan, a former Chairman of the Gadani Shipbreaking Owners Association, fled from the shipyard when the fire broke out. He was later detained by police in the nearby city of Hub.

The workers who died were Muhammad Saeed, Said Khan, Alif Khan, Naimat Shah and Sabir. They are all from the districts of Swat and Tehsil Qalat. Another worker was injured.

Nasir Mansoor, from IndustriALL affiliate the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF), said:

There has been no respite from accidents, injuries and deaths despite the claims of improvement in occupational health and safety measures at the Gadani ship breaking yards. Safety is one of the most neglected areas in shipbreaking.

Officials from the environment department said a chemical foam inside the ship was responsible for the fire. All combustibles should be removed from a ship before work is started to prevent accidents.

Just one day before of this incident, a young worker called Dilshad lost his life when he slipped from top of a ship at plot no.69 on 8 January. On 1 November, the Gadani yard witnessed one of its worst industrial accidents when at least 26 workers lost their lives and 40 were injured in an oil tanker fire. Four workers are still missing.

Despite government and employer claims of improvements in occupational health and safety, there has been no respite from accidents, injuries and deaths at the Gadani yard.

IndustriALL’s director for shipbreaking, Kan Matsuzaki, said:

Workers cannot wait a moment longer for health and safety reforms. The government and employers must act now. The same deadly mistakes are being repeated time and again while workers are being sent to slaughter at the shipbreaking yards.

IndustriALL wrote to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, in November calling on the government to ensure safe working conditions in shipbreaking yards and ratify the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.

NTUF has been successful in securing compensation for the injured and families of the of the 1 November tragedy. However, promises from government to improve health and safety at the Gadani yard have not come to fruition. 

Ending conflict in a polarized society: Colombia's trade unions mobilize for peace

FEATURE

Country: Colombia

Text: Walton Pantland

Photos: IndustriALL

To end the conflict between the government, right wing paramilitaries, and the major guerilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the government of President Juan Manuel Santos began negotiating a peace deal with the leaders of FARC in 2012. In a ceremony that included UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, US secretary of state John Kerry, and a dozen Latin American leaders, President Santos and FARC leader Timoleón “Timochenko” Jimenez signed a peace agreement in September 2016. Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for achieving what was hoped to be lasting peace.

During the negotiations, ex-president Alvaro Uribe, responsible for years of violence in Colombia, campaigned against the peace agreement. President Santos put the agreement to the electorate in a referendum in October. Polling showed a healthy majority would approve it, but the result was a shocking rejection of the treaty by 50.2 per cent of voters, on a low turnout of just 37.4 per cent.

Despite the peace agreement being defeated by voters, both the Colombian government and FARC have announced that they will not return to war. A revised peace treaty has been negotiated and a new agreement has been published, which will be voted on in Congress.

The roots of the conflict lie in the development of agribusiness in Colombia, when peasant subsistence farmers were forced off their land to make way for private companies. Established in 1964, as a response to the wave of political violence after the assassination of the liberal President Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (El Bogotazo) and following attacks by the Colombian government on villages, FARC’s original aim was to use a short, sharp campaign of guerilla warfare to spark a general insurrection and revolution.

The conflict dragged on into a brutal war of attrition for half a century, escalating under the presidency of César Gaviria Trujillo, 1990-1994, with the creation of paramilitary groups. The Years of Terror under Uribe’s administration in 2002 – 2010, were a violent period for rural communities, trade unionists, social activists and guerillas. Backed by the CIA, Uribe hired death squads, Escuadrones de la Muerte, to train the paramilitary, army and self defense groups, who were responsible for the deaths of thousands.

FARC responded with kidnappings, ransom demands and drug trafficking, putting a toll on the civil and rural communities. Some of the worst violence took place in strategic economic sectors and regions where IndustriALL has affiliates, such as the oil, mining and extractive sectors. Colombian trade unions have much at stake in supporting the peace agreements and rebuilding society.

Unions building peace

Colombia’s trade union movement is fighting hard to build peace, and a historic, restorative justice that transforms society. Fabio Arias Giraldo from the trade union centre, Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), believes the peace agreement was rejected because of the strength of the right and extreme polarization in Colombia:

“Political polarization in Colombia is very strong, and the vote is the result of this polarization. The most reactionary forces of the country maintain a strong presence in different sectors of society, and unfortunately, this is the result.

“We believed that it was impossible that this could happen, but it did. It corresponds to a rightward shift that started with Uribe. 13 years ago he began a polarization in the country that had to do with the problem of political violence, which has marked many people and has left too many victims. There’s a reaction against that.”

Giraldo argues that the low turnout and lack of enthusiasm for the deal was due to neither party being popular with the electorate:

“The two parties that signed the agreement are not very well perceived by the vast majority of the population. And there is much opposition to the political violence that FARC has generated, as well as a lot of dissatisfaction with the government for all the measures they took against civil society.

“So both situations were combined and, unfortunately, Uribe made a deceptive speech. He stressed how harmful the violence was, what it had meant to the victims, and he added a number of religious components. This combination became very destructive to the chances of endorsing the peace agreements in Colombia, and it defeated us.”

Cesar Loza Arenas, president of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate oil and gas union USO, says:

“We cannot give space to the enemies of peace. Peace is a right for all Colombians, as it is for workers. And we support peace. It doesn’t mean that we agree with the politics of the government but when it comes to peace, we are all united.”

Giraldo says:

“The Colombian people and especially the youth have not given up. There is a wide social mobilization in Colombia. We have now realized, even those who voted “no”, that we made a serious mistake, and we have taken to the streets.

“So now, not a day passes without strong mobilizations in the streets, telling the government and the “no” people that we cannot miss this opportunity to achieve peace.

“The national mobilizations, the support from the international community and the support we give internally from the trade union movement will help us to overcome this impasse and achieve peace, which the vast majority of those who live today in Colombia have never known.”

During IndustriALL 2nd Congress in October, 1,500 delegates unanimously passed a solidarity resolution regretting the result of the referendum. Congress called on the Colombian government and FARC leaders to continue their efforts to negotiate peace and to guarantee respect for individual and collective freedoms.

Speaking in support of the resolution, Pablo Santos of IndustriALL affiliate the energy workers’ union SINTRAELECOL said:

“We are calling for a responsible solution to obtain peace. Millions of people have been displaced and thousands of people, including trade unionists, have been killed. Now is the time to extend solidarity.”

“This resolution shows that we have backing from the global union movement, telling us workers in Colombia to keep going. We are not alone in the fight,” said Loza Arenas.

2016 – a year of intensive campaigning for IndustriALL

The Congress slogan, Fighting Forward, reflects IndustriALL’s proactive stance – always pushing, progressing and never afraid to take up the fight. Affiliates elected new leadership with Jörg Hoffman becoming President and Valter Sanches taking over as General Secretary after both Berthold Huber and Jyrki Raina stepped down.

IndustriALL delegates in Rio took the opportunity to show support for ‘Lula’ da Silva with a resolution backing the former Brazilian President as he faces political persecution from neo-liberal forces in the country.

Congress delegates also showed solidarity for trade unions in Korea, adopting a resolution that led to huge global support from IndustriALL affiliates for the Korea General Strike on 30 November. Korean unions have come under heavy attack from the government and trade union leaders have been jailed. IndustriALL leadership, together with affiliates, made several trips to South Korea in 2016, addressing tens of thousands of trade union members on the streets of Seoul.

The campaign to Stop Precarious Work continues, and new artwork was unveiled at Congress on 7 October, the World Day for Decent Work. Congress delegates spoke time and again about the need to tackle the ever-growing threat of precarious work.

In 2016, new emphasis was brought to the campaign to ratify ILO C176 on safety and health in mines – with a social media campaign on 28 April, the International Day to Commemorate Dead and Injured Workers, reaching 400,000 people. IndustriALL affiliates around the world continue to push their governments to adopt the Convention and Guinea became the 33rd country to agree to ratify C176 on 26 December 2016.

The campaign to clean up shipbreaking, the world’s most dangerous job, goes on. IndustriALL’s affiliates in India have made great progress in unionizing workers and improving safety in the country’s shipbreaking yards. However, it remains a lethal industry as shown by the tragedy at Gadani, Pakistan, on 1 November when more than 28 workers lost their lives and 50 were injured in an explosion during the unsafe dismantling of an oil tanker. 

IndustriALL worked with global union BWI in a joint campaign to improve safety and workers’ rights at cement giant LafargeHolcim. Some 70 workers die each year toiling for the recently merged multinational, 90 per cent of whom are employed indirectly.

Meanwhile, IndustriALL corporate campaigns against Rio Tinto, Ansell, and Hugo Boss resulted in positive outcomes for workers.

At the end of 2016, IndustriALL affiliates around the world mobilized once more to support twelve garment workers convicted for protesting against the dismissal of their union reps in Nicaragua. Around 4,000 people signed a letter to the government of Nicaragua and to the Korean garment manufacturer SAE A Tecnotex, asking for the workers to be unconditionally released. Many unions sent letters of protest to their local Nicaraguan embassies. The campaign for justice for the #Tipitapa12 continues.

 Everyday IndustriALL receives reports of worker rights violations around the world. This will not change in 2017 and IndustriALL will never stop campaigning. 

Oil workers battle against restructuring of Turkish Petroleum

The protest, organized by IndustriALL Global Union’s Turkish affiliate Petrol-Is (the oil, chemical and rubber workers’ union) with participation from Turkish Petroleum workers, was due to take place in front of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources on 26 December but the government used the country’s current state of emergency to prevent it from going head.

Security forces also stopped workers in Adiyaman, Batman and Lüleburgaz to travel to Ankara to join the demonstration.

Turkish Petroleum is a national oil company involved in upstream sectors, namely exploration, drilling, well completion and production.

According to the plan developed by the Ministry of Energy, the Government wants to transfer some Turkish Petroleum activities to another 100 per cent state-owned company called Turkish Petroleum International Company (TPIC), which is headquartered in an offshore tax haven.

Petrol-Is believes such a transfer of activities would impact negatively on employment by increasing precariousness. The union insists on securing and developing Turkish Petroleum for the benefit of the employees and the public.

“Our 3,200 members at Turkish Petroleum have made an immense contribution to the development of the company,” said General President of Petrol-Is, Ali Ufuk Yaşar. “We will continue to struggle to keep the company as it is, and never allow such a plan to be implemented.”

IndustriALL’s Assistant General Secretary, Kemal Özkan, said:  

“Oil workers have a great tradition of struggle in Turkey. IndustriALL Global Union will give every support its affiliate Petrol-Is in this fight.”

In the meantime, Petrol-Is re-organized several press conferences, which took place at its premises in Ankara, Batman, Adiyaman and Lüleburgaz.

Major strike looms at Trinidad oil company

In negotiations with the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (Petrotrin), has refused to grant any increase for two successive collective bargaining periods.

The union has filed strike notice and is due to strike on Monday unless the company makes a reasonable proposal. 

The OWTU, affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, says it will not sit idly by and watch as the company attempts to erode workers’ wages using low oil prices as an excuse.

OWTU president general Ancel Roget says that workers should not be blamed for Petrotrin’s financial difficulties and that former energy ministers and business chambers in Trinidad did nothing when the union alerted it to corruption and mismanagement at the company. Roget says inefficiencies are costing the company US$522 million annually.

“This is based on Petrotrin’s own information and records. These inefficiencies include equipment reliability, operational inefficiency, overtime, flaring and quality giveaways,” Roget told reporters, “This is more than what workers are demanding for the entire three-year period. Petrotrin, believe it or not, has the ability to pay this wage increase.”

OWTU says Petrotrin has made a number of poor decisions including a failed World Gas To Liquids (WGTL) project, which cost Petrotin over US$1 billion; paying hundreds of millions of dollars to contractors for equipment the company already has; and paying four expatriates $18 million for three-year contracts to replace one refinery manager.

Roget has warned that all operations, including refinery, land and offshore, would come to a complete halt if the strike goes ahead.

IndustriALL has called on Prime Minster Keith Rowley and Petrotrin President Fitzroy Harewood to make a reasonable proposal in order to avert a strike. It has also expressed its full solidarity with the OWTU.

Valter Sanches, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union said:

Petrotrin’s unreasonable and unyielding position disregards the vital contribution of workers to the company and the economy of the country. It also ignores the reality that it is workers who have held the company together despite its many inefficiencies.