Blast in Pakistan shipbreaking yard kills 16

According to initial information received from IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF), the blast in shipyard no. 56 killed 16 workers and injured at least 47. It is feared that the death toll may increase as many workers are grievously injured and around 170 workers are still stranded in the ship.

Reports suggest that the explosion occurred while workers were cutting the oil tanker. No fire brigade was present to control the fire at the shipyard, nor was there any fire fighting equipment. Shipbreaking workers’ worst nightmare came true with this deadly accident. The NTUF has announced three days mourning and a strike at all yards from today after an emergency meeting at Gadani yard.

Just this Sunday, 30 October 2016, Gadani shipbreaking workers held a demonstration in front of the Karachi Press Club, demanding the government of Pakistan enact a new law in line with the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. The NTUF organized the protest demonstration to highlight poor working conditions, particularly the lack of health and safety measures at Gadani shipbreaking yards.

More than 20,000 workers who are directly or indirectly employed in the ship breaking industry in the Gadani region are deprived of their basic rights and continue to work in precarious and hazardous working conditions. The majority of workers at Gadani yards have no social security cover, and are not registered with the relevant government authorities. Despite working for long periods of time, Gadani shipbreaking workers are deprived of their right to form unions and to act as collective bargaining agents.

In the absence of the implementation of labour laws and poor health and safety measures, as today’s blast demonstrates, accidents at the workplace have become routine, leading to death and causing grievous injuries to workers. Even though accidents are frequent, there is no hospital at the Gadani shipbreaking yard to provide emergency medical treatment. Workers have raised the issue of lack of ambulance facilities on numerous occasions.

Kan Matsuzaki, IndustriALL director for shipbuilding and shipbreaking states,

“We deplore this terrible industrial homicide, and mourn the victims together with their families and friends.
“We will strengthen our campaign and action to combat the unacceptable health and safety conditions in Gadani. The government must immediately take practical measures to protect human lives at the yards, as well as fundamental workers’ rights.”

The deadly blast in Gadani further reveals how shipbreaking workers’ lives are at risk every day. IndustriALL supports the workers’ demand that the Pakistani government must immediately ratify the Hong Kong Convention and take steps to enact legislation in line with the Convention.

Another mining accident in Chile shows need to ratify ILO C176

A 22-year old man died on 21 October while carrying out maintenance work at La Escondida mine. The worker was employed by a subcontractor at the mine owned by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

Rudy Henry Ortiz Martínez was not the first miner to die this year. Figures published by the Ministry of Mining and Chile’s National Geology and Mining Service (SERNAGEOMIN) show that six mining accidents resulted in fatalities in the country in the first six months of 2016. A miner in the El Abra mine in the Antofagasta region was killed in August.

According to SERNAGEOMIN, there is an annual average of 29 accidents involving fatalities in Chile’s mining industry, which is the country’s main industry. 2012 saw the lowest number, 22, while a staggering 41 were killed in 2010.

The ILO Convention 176 on Health and Safety in Mines has been in existence for more than 20 years. Adopted in 1995, C176 provides a framework for countries to create a safe working environment, placing obligations on companies and gives rights to workers.

However, so far only 31 countries have ratified C176. Some of the countries with the worst safety records, including Pakistan, China and Chile, have yet to ratify the convention.

IndustriALL Global Union is conducting a campaign to encourage countries to ratify C176. The Convention establishes a legal and inspection framework to promote safety in mines and a dignified working environment. It also gives workers the right to elect independent safety representatives and the right to refuse dangerous work.

Unions affiliated to IndustriALL in Chile have joined the campaign. On 7 October, IndustriALL Chile, CONSTRAMET, wrote to the Minister of Labour, Ximena Rincón, to ask her to ratify C176, in order to put an end to the series of accidents that have occurred at the Abra mine, the Transnational Freeport-MCMoran, CODELCO Chile’s Chuquicamata mine, ORICA Explosives and others.

The union and the Federation of CODELCO Supervisors met the Under-Secretary of Mining and agreed to hold a further meeting on Thursday 27 October between mining unions and the social welfare department (responsible for implementing health and safety law). They will discuss how the government might resume attempts to seek parliamentary approval for ratification of C176.

Jorge Almeida, IndustriALL regional secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean said:

IndustriALL Global Union believes that this new case of industrial homicide makes it impossible to understand the government’s failure to adopt ILO C176. Workers have a duty and a right to participate in ensuring safe working conditions and workplaces because, for them, it is a question of life or death.
Employers are responsible for providing safe working conditions and workplaces so that workers do not lose their lives in the very place where they come to earn a living.

Concern grows at destruction of democracy in Turkey

After the attempted coup on 15 July 2016, Turkey is increasingly run through government decrees, without the control of the elected parliament. IndustriALL condemned the coup in July, but also challenges the reaction of the Turkish government, which is using the failed coup to destroy all democratic opposition and consolidate the absolute power of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

A state of emergency was declared on 20 July that allows the president and the ruling AKP party cabinet to bypass parliament and rule by decree. Two new decrees were issued at midnight on 29 October, resulting in the dismissal of some 10,000 civil servants and university professors, and the closing of 15 media outlets, with the arrest of journalists.

The editor and other staff of Cumhuriyet, a left wing opposition newspaper, were arrested in a dawn raid this morning. A total of 160 media outlets, including TV and radio stations, newspapers and agencies, have closed since July, and Turkey is now the world’s biggest jailer of journalists.

The civil servants and media outlets are accused of supporting “terrorism”, and have been linked by the government to followers of the cleric Fethullah Gülen, who the government blames for the coup. However clear evidence of these links have not yet been presented by public prosecutors, and the crackdown happened without court orders or due process.

These actions by the Turkish government are not aimed at identifying and subjecting to judicial process the people responsible for the failed coup, but instead and overwhelmingly, demolishing democratic opposition and civil society. A previous decree saw university rectors no longer democratically elected, but appointed by the president. This is an attack on intellectual freedom, freedom of thought, expression, opinion, association and assembly.

The attacks on democracy are part an attempt by the president and his party to introduce a presidential system to replace parliamentary democracy, under the shadow of presidential decrees which create an undemocratic environment for open, transparent and free political activity. Much of Turkey’s democratic infrastructure has already been broken down, and, as a very prominent result, the independent judiciary is almost about the disappear. The legal system is now used against civil society for shutting down their voices and democratic reflexes. There are attempts to control trade unions by not allowing them to voice workers’ legitimate demands, with legal processes launched to limit freedom of association.

This is part of a broader attempt to silence and intimidate any democratic opposition. There have been attacks – blamed by state media on “terrorists” – on opposition politicians, including the attempted assassination of the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The CHP is a centre left party, supported by unions in Turkey, and is the main opposition. There have been other attacks on CHP politicians, including an assassination attempt on the deputy mayor of an Istanbul district that left him in critical condition, and an attack on the deputy chair of the party last week, which left him with a gunshot wound.

In addition, the co-mayors of the city of Diyarbakir, Gultan Kisanak and Firat Anli, elected by an overwhelming majority of people, were arrested yesterday, along with other senior officials from the pro-Kurdish leftist People's Democratic Party (HDP). The offices of HDP have been raided many times by security forces and elected officials were arrested with the claim that they have connections to terror. The Turkish government appoints trustees to replace democratically elected mayors in the cities where opposition parties, overwhelmingly the HDP, win elections.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“What is happening in Turkey nowadays is a truly frightening development. IndustriALL Global Union condemns any act that weakens democratic institutions, and expresses solidarity with the Turkish people, with unions in Turkey, and with progressive forces fighting to keep democracy alive.”

“The route of Turkey must be to establish a fully democratic system and society with all the internationally-accepted rules and standards. We will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all the progressive institutions in the country who fight and resist for a democratic, contemporary and secular Turkey”.

Bangladesh garment unions resolve to intensify organizing together

On 23 – 24 October, Bangladeshi garment unions participated in a workshop in Dhaka, supported by the Fredrick Ebert Stiftung to discuss organizing strategies in their sector’s supply chain.

Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL textile and garment director said that:

Strategic organizing, including identifying winnable targets, is crucial, given the power of multinational corporations and the nature of employment in the sector.

The workshop witnessed frank deliberations on how multinational corporations (MNCs) and major garment brands in supply chains effect organizing workers in the sector.

Union organizers discussed that brands need to be held accountable for workers’ welfare. Their presence in the supply chains can be traced by using IndustriALL’s Global Framework Agreements (GFAs) and information publicly disclosed by the brands.

Affiliates decided to make use of international instruments like the ILO conventions, OECD guidelines, IndustriALL’s GFAs and the Bangladesh Accord for organizing workers and to protect workers’ rights in the RMG sector.

Apoorva Kaiwar, IndustriALL South Asia regional secretary stressed the importance of affiliates working together in a cooperative, non-competitive manner to improve unionization among Bangladesh’s four million workers.

A discussion was held on organizing strategies and affiliates debated and analyzed strengths, weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. Unions prepared action plans and resolved to organize more workers.

The chairperson and general secretary of IndustriALL Bangladesh Council stressed that

IndustriALL’s effort to support Bangladesh affiliates’ organizing initiatives will go long way in improving workers’ lives.

Georgia: union takes BP to court over alleged discrimination

The civil court of Georgia is for the first time considering a claim of discrimination on the grounds of trade union activity. The case has been brought by the Pipeline Union deputy chair against BP Georgia and its Human Resources Recruitment Agency (HRRA) after mediation by the labour ministry failed.

The Pipeline Union is affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union through the Georgian Gas and Oil Industry Workers Trade Union. The union was formed last year to defend workers’ rights, after the company failed to offer Georgian workers the same terms and conditions as other BP workers in the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey region.

BP and HRRA top management have resisted unionization, with country head Chris Schlueter sending an email to staff discouraging membership. Managers warned employees not to join the union with e-mails and “friendly talks” which succeeded in making the majority of the members leave the union. Presently only 10 from 30 members are left in the union.

Disciplinary action was attempted against the deputy chair of the Pipeline Union Vakhtang Pirmisashvili over several months, resulting in a so-called “reorganization” and dismissal. The legality of the dismissal is currently under civil court review.

“Pipeline Union members tried to use all legal means to protect their rights, without any success, leading to Pirmisashvili suing BP and HHRA in the civil court for violation of freedom of expression and discrimination in the workplace,”

said Gocha Kvitatiani, chair of Georgia’s Gas and Oil Industry Workers Trade Union.

Georgian labour law mandates collective bargaining if requested by a union, and in autumn 2015 the committee of the Pipeline Union prepared a draft agreement and sent it to their employers for review and approval. BP and HRRA lawyers have dragged out the process, including conditions that made it impossible for union members to arrange meetings. After 11 months the agreement has still not been signed.

The Pipeline Union used its legal right and referred to the labour ministry for mediation. BP refused to participate in the mediation.

During the mediation process HRRA representatives used technical grounds to undermine the process, complaining that the mediator was not registered in the mediators’ roster and was unlawfully appointed by the minister. The mediation process was suspended, and the employer has intensified persecution of the union.

IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches has written to the CEO of BP, calling on the company to respect the right to organize. The letter points out that BP is in breach of national and international labour law, violating both the Georgian labour code and ILO Conventions 87 and 98.

Valter Sanches said:

“We call on BP to stop harassing union members, enter into collective bargaining negotiations with the Pipeline Union, and immediately reinstate Vakhtang Pirmisashvili. We also urge BP Georgia to participate in the government-sponsored labour mediation process”.

Nissan Switzerland to relocate 92 jobs

Nissan International will relocate 92 jobs out of the 228 at the Rolle site in Switzerland. According to IndustriALL affiliate UNIA, the company announced the news to the authorities and thus opened a consultation period that would go until 29 September 2016.

UNIA says that, even if a consultation period has been opened in respect of Swiss law, the rights of employees affected have still been violated.

The consultation period was clearly flawed, since crucial documents were only produced nine days before the end of the consultation period.

“UNIA still lacks sufficient information to know, for example, among the 92 employees, how many are under a contract governed by Swiss law,"said Komla Kpogli, union secretary at UNIA.

“Nissan does not recognize the collective mandate of the union. Even though the company prolonged the consultation period on numerous occasions this was just a strategy which aimed to buy time in order to weaken staff who would struggle to find time to work and seek union consultation,” said Helmut Lense, IndustriALL automotive director.

Nissan was urged to recognize UNIA as duly mandated by the workers. The company refused and UNIA therefore decided take collective action with staff on 18 October at Nissan International headquarters in Rolle.

“The recent events involving Nissan casts doubt on the company’s willingness to cooperate in good faith with unions. In Canton Mississippi Nissan management continues to pressure employees and discourage them to organize”, said Helmut Lense.

Just days ago French and US trade unions joined forces with IndustriALL and French parliamentarians on 12 October in Paris, to call on Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn to stop the anti-union practices at the Nissan plant, Canton, Mississippi.

Brazil's trade union centres take action against Temer reforms

The country's largest trade union centres, including the CUT and Força Sindical, have again joined forces to fight proposals put forward by Michel Temer's government. They held demonstrations on 24 October (6pm, São Paulo time) against a proposed constitutional amendment (PEC 241) that will freeze public spending on health, education, housing and social welfare for 20 years.

The protests aimed to put pressure on Congress, which is meeting in the Chamber of Deputies for the second round of voting on the amendment. Workers believe that the proposal is a direct attack on their rights.

According to a recent poll conducted by the respected agency Vox Populi/CUT, 74% of the population are against PEC 241 and proposed pension reforms. The poll showed that 80% of urban and rural workers are against the Temer government proposal to increase the minimum retirement age to 65 and 70% of respondents were against PEC 241.

Sergio Luiz Leite, president of FEQUIMFAR/Força Sindical, said that the PEC threatened workers in various ways. For example, if the amendment is passed, it will be impossible to increase the minimum wage above the rate of inflation if public expenditure limits established by the government are exceeded. The amendment also threatens unemployment insurance.

“Building on the action taken by workers and others affected by the new law, the trade union movement must increase the pressure on members of congress in order to avoid the damage that PEC 214 will cause. There is still time to fight against it,” he said.

The trade union movement will continue the campaign and leaders of the trade union centres have agreed an action plan that includes further demonstrations on 11 and 25 November. They hope that the demonstrations will alert the public about the threats to workers posed by proposed labour and social security reforms.

Jorge Almeida, IndustriALL Global Union Regional Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, said:

“We support and applaud this struggle by the Brazilian trade union movement to protect and maintain workers’ social security and employment rights. The Temer government is again showing its anti-worker character by making work more precarious and cutting welfare provision".

Iran continues to imprison trade unionists

The Union of Metalworkers and Mechanics of Iran (UMMI) was affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union at the Executive Committee in October 2016.

Notwithstanding, October was a dark month for trade unions in Iran.

On 7 October, Esmail Abdi, general secretary of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association, received a confirmation of a six-year prison sentence for “assembling and colluding against national security".

15 October, two labour activists, Jafar Azimzadeh, chairman of the free union of the Iranian workers, and Shapour Ehsanirad, were sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment each for “establishing unions and propaganda against the regime”.

Azimzadeh had already received a six-year prison sentence in 2014, together with a two-year ban on any media and cyberspace activities.

UMMI are campaigning for the release of all three union leaders and for their sentences to be quashed.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, says that the persecution of trade unions must end immediately:

IndustriALL strongly condemns the continuous imprisonment of trade union leaders and support free and democratic trade unions in Iran.
While economic sanctions are lifted and there is a flow of international investment in the country, the Iranian government must respect fundamental human and trade union rights without any delay. In this context, we urge the government of Iran to ratify ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, and ILO Convention 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining.

Factory fire in Pakistan

Of the total 500 workers employed, 5 were on the night shift at the Esa Textile factory in Karachi when the fire broke out. According to eyewitnesses, firefighters had difficulty accessing the fire and were forced to break down walls and smash windows to extinguish the fire. Factory windows had been illegally covered with cement blocks and iron bars, much like at Ali Enterprises where a fire killed 260 workers in 2012.

IndustriALL Global Union regional secretary Apoorva Kaiwar says that the fire highlights the poor level of workplace safety in Pakistan’s garment and textile factories.

The government must immediately take preventive measures to improve safe working conditions in factories across the country. Workers must be able to go to work and earn a living without risking their lives.

Mexican Senate approves labour law reforms

The proposed reforms would eliminate the so-called tripartite conciliation and arbitration boards (Juntas de Conciliación y Arbitraje) and transfer their legal functions to the judicial branch. It means that labour justice is no longer directly in the hands of the President of the Republic, complicit Governors and employer-dominated unions (charro unions).

The call to dissolve the conciliation and arbitration boards and establish independent labour tribunals has been a core demand of Mexican democratic unions and the international trade union movement for decades and is contained in IndustriALL and ITUC’s complaint no. 2694 before the Freedom of Association Committee of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

In addition, the reform’s requirements for secret, personal and free ballot votes on collective bargaining agreements and majority representation, address the pervasive problem of employer-dominated protection contracts, which are negotiated without the participation or even the knowledge of workers.

The Senate reform also modifies language regarding the strike authorizations in Art.123.A.XVIII. which after heated debate now reads “when a collective bargaining agreement is sought, the representation of the workers must be demonstrated”. In Mexican law the strike demand is the legal prerequisite for any collective bargaining to take place. The new language was disputed strongly by the right wing parties and the chamber of employers. The proposed reforms may still face opposition from both business interests and some employer-dominated unions. The next steps foreseen are:

The Constitutional reforms must still be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Chamber of Deputies and ratified by a majority of the states, which should happen between December 2016 and February 2017.
Changes to the Federal Labour Law to implement the Constitutional reforms and further address the problem of protection contracts and procedures for union representation elections were submitted by the President in April and must be enacted separately.
The Senate has not yet voted on ILO Convention 98 on collective bargaining, which was forwarded by the President last year with a request for ratification.

Effective and timely implementation of the reforms is still a big concern. As Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, the leader of IndustriALL affiliate Los Mineros, stated clearly at the ILO Conference in June 2016, the positive amendments of this latest reform, should not keep the Mexican Government from immediately resolving all the pending cases related to the right of Mexican workers to choose their unions and leadership at their workplaces. IndustriALL submitted an updated list of these cases to the ILO Committee of Experts last month.

“This approved labour reform could be historic, because it essentially responds to the demands of democratic unions in Mexico, such as los Mineros, and the international labour movement. The bottom line is to test it and apply transparency in daily practice of working life in the country,” said Napoleon Gomez Urrutia recently in La Jornada.

IndustriALL Global Union’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said: “IndustriALL and its Mexican affiliated unions welcomes this important first step taken by the Mexican Senate, which could lead to the eradication of protection contracts in the country. IndustriALL, the international trade union movement and democratic unions in Mexico will continue to closely follow the debates and developments and to pressure the ILO to provide technical assistance to the Government of Mexico to ensure these reforms truly provide access to freedom of association and collective bargaining for all Mexican workers.”