Jenny Holdcroft

Jenny Holdcroft
Assistant General Secretary

Jenny Holdcroft was elected Assistant General Secretary at IndustriALL's 2nd Congress on 5 October 2016. She was previously Policy Director at IndustriALL, leading IndustriALL’s global campaigns on precarious work, living wages and sustainable industrial policy. She is a member of the steering committee of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and negotiated the Memorandum of Understanding between IndustriALL and global garment brands to create the ACT process to deliver living wages through industry collective agreements linked to brand purchasing practices.

Holdcroft joined the International Metalworkers Federation in 2001 as the Equal Rights Director where she worked with women leaders to change the statutes to ensure women’s representation on the Executive Committee, rules which were subsequently adopted by IndustriALL. She was then given responsibility for the electronics and aerospace industries and held this post until IndustriALL was founded in 2012.

Holdcroft’s background is with the Australian trade union movement where she started as a shop steward and official before working as an organiser and industrial officer. She has extensive experience in organising and representing members, negotiating collective agreements, training and advocacy. She has also worked as a policy officer for a government agency responsible for affirmative action for women.

Valter Sanches

Valter Sanches
General Secretary

Valter Sanches was elected General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union at IndustriALL’s 2nd Congress on 5 October 2016. He was previously Secretary of International Relations at Brazilian metalworkers’ national confederation, CNM/CUT.

Sanches, who holds a degree in geography, began as a metalworker in 1981 working as a mechanic at a machine-building firm in São Paulo, Brazil. In 1985, he joined Rolls-Royce Brazil in São Bernardo do Campo, later moving to Mercedes-Benz in 1988, where he was elected to the health and safety committee for the 1989-90 term. He was also elected to the Mercedes’ Works Council in 1992 and acted as a member of the Council’s coordination committee from 1997 to 2007, while also being elected for the union’s shop committee.

Sanches was the Brazilian representative at the (then) DaimlerChrysler World Works Council between 2000 and 2007, representing workers from the plants of Sao Bernardo, Campinas and Juiz de Fora. He was also a member of the executive council of the ABC Metalworkers’ Union (affiliated to CNM/CUT) between 2002 and 2005.

In 2004, Sanches was elected Organizing Secretary of CNM/CUT and later elected General Secretary of CNM/CUT. In December 2009, he was elected CNM/CUT’s International Relations Secretary.

From 2010, Sanches was Communications Director for ABC Metalworkers’ Union and President of the Labour, Culture and Communication Foundation that operates two broadcast televisions (Rede, TVT) and two radio stations (Radio Brasil, Atual) in the metropolitan region of São Paulo.

Sanches is the father of two sons and speaks Portuguese, Spanish, English and German fluently. 

Atle Høie

Atle Høie
General Secretary

Atle Høie was elected General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union at IndustriALL's 3rd Congress in Geneva on 14 September 2021. Previously he was elected Assistant General Secretary at IndustriALL's 2nd Congress on 5 October 2016 where he served for 5 years. He was previously International Secretary of Fellesforbundet, the Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions. 

Høie, who was born in Norway in 1966, has degrees in both engineering and economics and business administration. In 1992 he worked as a logistics consultant for agricultural cooperative Felleskjøpet. He then joined the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, LO, where he he had responsibility of environmental affairs and coordinated trade union action in the run up to the Norwegian EU-referendum in 1994.

In 1995 Høie joined Fellesforbundet, where he coordinated all the union's international activity and maintained contacts with 15 Nordic, European and international trade secretariats as well as individual links with trade unions worldwide. Atle speaks Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, English and German. 

Jörg Hofmann

Jörg Hofmann
President

Jörg Hofmann was elected President of IndustriALL Global Union on 5 October 2016 at IndustriALL's 2nd Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hofmann is President of Germany's biggest national union, IG Metall.

Born in 1955 in Oppelsbohm, Germany, Hofmann initially trained in agriculture after leaving school before studying at the universities of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Paris and Bremen and earning a degree in economics. Following a period as a research associate at the Institute for Industurial Management at the university of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, he worked for IG Metall as an expert in new technologies from 1982 to 1987.

From 1987 to 1999, Hofmann became trade union secretary for IG Metall's local office in Stuttgart. During this time he was also responsible for establishing the IG Metall local office in Dresden in former East Germany from 1990-1991, following the reunification of the country. After becoming the Regional Director for IG Metall in Baden-Würtemberg, he became Vice-President of IG Metall in 2013, before being elected President of IG Metall in 2015.

Hofmann is a member of the supervisory boards of both Volkswagen AG and Robert Bosch GmbH. He is also co-chairman of the Work 4.0 dialogue platform at the Federal Ministry of Labour in Germany and a member of the Steering Committee of the Industry 4.0 platform of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy and Federal Ministry of Education and Research. 

As well as his native German, Hofmann speaks fluent French and Portuguese, as well as English. 

Executive Committee united ahead of Congress

In a unanimous decision, Executive Committee members voted to recommend that Congress elects Jörg Hoffman as President of IndustriALL, Valter Sanches as General Secretary and Atle Høie, Jenny Holdcroft and Kemal Özkan as Assistant General Secretaries. President Berthold Huber and General Secretary, Jyrki Raina, will step down after leading IndustriALL since it was founded in June 2012.

The Executive Committee also came to a consensus on proposals to change IndustriALL’s Statutes at Congress to increase women’s participation in IndustriALL Global Union. They include:

Among the new affiliations to IndustriALL, the Executive Committee also voted to accept the affiliation of the Union of the Metalworkers and Mechanics of Iran – UMMI. The Iranian free and independent union movement keeps on fighting for the respect of fundamental labour rights, despite repression, imprisonment, and executions during the past dark years. International affiliation will help to strengthen UMMI’s position in Iran, and offer protection to its members.

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IndustriALL calls on Israel Natural Gas Lines to resolve dispute

INGL, which is one of Israel’s most profitable government-owned companies, has unilaterally suspended all wage negotiations, imposed a pay freeze on workers, and introduced a number of draconian measures that include banning workers from driving on toll roads and cancelling workers’ travel time.

Over the past four months the labour dispute at INGL has escalated as management has deliberately procrastinated in negotiations with Histadrut, which have been taking place without results for more than two years.

In the meantime, INGL is expanding outsourcing at the company and contracting out core positions, such as gas technicians and electricians. INGL refuses demands from employees' representatives to absorb contract workers into direct employment, many of whom are employed continuously for many years, in breach of Israeli employment law.

INGL supplies gas to all private power stations in Israel and most of those owned by the Israel Electric Corporation. Seventy per cent of all electricity produced in Israel is generated using natural gas.

Histadrut members have fought back by suspending the connection of the company’s Sodom 2 station to the national gas network since 14 September. They also prevented the connection of Kiryat Gat to the distribution network and stopped work at the Hagit station in Eliakim for one week.

On 22 September workers used their vehicles to block the entrance to the Sodom station after they found that management had changed the locks on the site’s gates to prevent them from entering. The Sodom station is currently under construction and set to stream natural gas to Jordan in a billion dollar deal signed earlier this year.

In retaliation to the stoppage at Hagit, INGL brought in contract workers in serious violation of gas safety procedures.

David Galanos, Chairman of the Energy Workers’ Union of Histadrut, said: "The Histadrut gives full support to INGL employees, and together with them we will continue to act to regulate their rights in a collective agreement. It is not possible that a management, let alone of a government company, will treat its employees in this way. I call on the company's management headed by Samuel Tordjman to stop its actions and to quickly resolve through dialogue the issues that are in dispute, for the benefit of all the parties."

Read the letter to INGL CEO Samuel Tordjman here.

IndustriALL Women Philippines push for 120 days maternity leave

The hearing was called by the senate of the Philippines committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality. Women from IndustriALL Global Union were invited to participate as representatives of a recognized advocacy organization.

Fourteen people from government agencies, labour, employers, civil society and other stakeholders shared their positions during the hearing. Most speakers expressed their support for longer maternity leave, although the employers confederation said it would have a negative impact on productivity, output and the employability of women.

This argument was countered by government agencies, the civil service commission and the department of trade and industry. However, the social security system cautioned on the effect of the proposal on the Fund’s actuarial life.

IndustriALL Women Philippines emphasized that while the Philippines has always struggled for world class efficiency and global competitiveness, it has the opposite record in matters relating to maternity protection. The Philippines’ maternity benefits law is 24 years old, is not compliant with international standards, particularly ILO Convention 183, and lags behind other countries, including other neighbouring Asian countries.

Government statistics on maternal deaths show a failure to meet the Philippines’ commitment under the millennium development goals. Results from an IndustriALL South East Asia study showing a very minimal impact of increased maternity leave on companies were presented.

IndustriALL Women challenged employers to show their commitment to corporate social responsibility by protecting women before, during and after pregnancy, acknowledging their exclusive role in bearing and breastfeeding the future labour force, future citizens, taxpayers, and legislators.

They stressed that maternity protection should be seen as an investment rather than an expense, since longer maternity leave enables women to fully recover from delivery, and is better for the health of the child. Healthy mothers with healthy babies need not be absent from work. Having a child inspires women to perform better, thus becoming more productive. Happy women will be committed to companies that take care of them and their families.

The proposed 120 days paid maternity leave is due for further debate, with IndustriALL Women one of the participating advocacy organizations. IndustriALL Women is also one of the members of the technical working group that will consolidate the proposals into one bill to be presented for further deliberation.

The IndustriALL Women Philippines proposal includes:

SKF World Union Committee: in times of trouble solidarity is needed

On 20 September, group CEO Alrik Danielson and other senior management members, introduced their views on the latest development and future shape of the group. They also briefly discussed the perspectives for the group with the employees’ representatives. Management spoke quite openly about opportunities and challenges that the group faces, but unfortunately, there was not enough time to discuss in-depth the employees’ views on these matters.

One of the major drivers in SKF’s development will be the so-called ‘fourth industrial revolution’, also known as Industry 4.0. This also became clear from the comments and requests made by the workers’ representatives.

During the second day the participants focused expressly on employees matters, including presentations of the health and safety projects as well as new management and flexibility efforts at SKF plant in Poznan, Poland.

IndustriALL representative, Matthias Hartwich, director for materials industries and mechanical engineering, addressed the delegates and observers of the SKF World Union Committee saying,

"Company management that has a long-lasting history of local, regional and global social dialogue, such as SKF, should have nothing to hide in the discussions with its World Union Committee. Especially in times of trouble, management will need support and understanding on the employees’ side. A true openness and social dialogue, including information and consultation, is not only of added value for the workers and their trade unions, but also for the company.“

The delegates held active discussions during the entire conference. They also jointly indicated their clear willingness to support the process of strengthening genuine social dialogue both on local and global levels. On 21 September they positioned themselves in favour of such a form of improved social dialogue.

On 22 September the group visited the SKF Poznan plant, where delegates could see the projects presented earlier in action and discuss the situation in the plant with plant management. Next year the meeting will most likely take place in Gothenburg, Sweden.

IndustriALL calls on Shell to recognize and engage in dialogue with global union network

The second Shell global union network meeting took place in The Hague, Netherlands, on 19 and 20 September. 50 union officials from IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in 18 different countries met to discuss the situation of workers in the countries where Shell operates.

The results of a survey conducted by IndustriALL were revealed at the meeting, showing the widespread abuse of precarious work at Shell. A full report can be read here.

Over the past ten years, Shell workers have suffered a continuous reorganization of the business, with relocation to low wage countries and outsourcing processes. After the acquisition of British Gas earlier this year, 10,000 workers were dismissed.

Another issue faced by many workers is that Shell licenses its brand to companies such as VIVO Energy, which operates in 19 African countries. This arrangement obscures the employment relationship. When workers attempt to contact or negotiate with Shell, they are told that they are in fact employed by another company. This allows Shell to project its brand to clients without taking responsibility for the workers.

The main aim of the Shell global union network, which is composed of all IndustriALL affiliates with members at Shell worldwide, is to organize workers to defend and promote their fundamental rights. Shell workers face serious obstacles to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and several cases of union busting from Shell and the contractors have been reported, with contract workers prevented from joining unions.

IndustriALL energy director Diana Junquera Curiel said:

“It is imperative that Shell abide by its code of conduct, as well as national and fundamental international labour standards, including ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, ILO Convention 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining, and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

“IndustriALL fully supports the Shell global union network’s call for Shell to allow all its employees, and those employed by subcontractors and other Shell licensees, such as VIVO Energy in Africa and Raízen in Brazil, to freely join or establish trade unions, to recognize the trade unions’ right to negotiate collective bargaining agreements, to address the unacceptable use of precarious work, and to ensure safe and healthy workplaces.”

Honda workers’ hunger strike enters second week

On 26 September, the eighth day of the protest, Vipin Kumar was hospitalized but refused to break his fast. It is a matter of grave concern that workers’ health is deteriorating day by day. However, the five terminated employees including Kumar Naresh Mehta, President of Honda Motorcycle and Scooter 2F Kamgar Union Tapukara, and workers Sunil, Ravi, Avinash and Vipin Kumar are determined to continue the hunger strike until their demands are met.

HMSI is a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Company Ltd., Japan. The hunger strike, a Gandhian method of non-violent political protest in which participants do not take solid food, was launched to force the Honda management to come to the negotiating table.

The current industrial dispute at the HMSI 2f Tapukara plant, which employed 466 permanent workers and about 3000 contract workers, began in February this year following a clash between a contract worker and a supervisor against a backdrop of denial of union rights and simmering discontent.

The clash sparked protests from workers demanding the right to form a union, regularization of contract workers, and punishment to the supervisor who manhandled the contract worker. The protest resulted in workers’ arrests and a series of disciplinary actions including suspension and termination of workers. In addition, the 3,000 contract workers were also dismissed.

Prior to the dispute, workers had formed the Honda Motorcycle and Scooter 2f Kamgar Union Tapukara with the help of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) to address workers’ concerns. Despite applying for registration with the labour department in 2015, the union has still not been registered and the issue is pending in court.

Soon after the clash on 16 February, the management supported the swift formation the HMSI 2F Karamchari Union in the factory backed by the right wing national trade union centre, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS). Now the management say they will only negotiate with BMS.

Subsequently negotiations in the presence of the labour officials have resulted in the reinstatement of 281 workers. Despite management assuring that all workers would be reinstated, it has terminated 102 workers and 39 trainees have been let go. There has also been no progress on the status of 22 suspended workers. Instead of reinstating the 3,000 contract workers who were fired, the management has recruited about 2,800 fresh contract workers.

Since February workers have held a series protests across Rajasthan and appealed to Honda management and the government to resolve their issues. So far numerous conciliation meetings have taken place at the labour commissioner’s offices in Alwar and Jaipur. Company management has not participated in many of these meetings.

In September 2016, the management signed a collective bargaining agreement with the BMS supported union. However, none of the demands of the workers, including reinstatement of contract workers and withdrawal of police charges, are part of the settlement.

Honda workers protests received widespread support from automobile unions in the Delhi NCR region and representatives from central trade unions.  Workers from the Honda Gurgaon plant have also extended solidarity to the workers on hunger strike.