Eni

Founded in 1953, ENI is a privatized company in which the Italian government has retained 30 per cent equity. It has operations in oil and gas exploration, production, refining, marketing, engineering and oil field services, electricity generation, and in the petrochemicals industries.

With the agreement, ENI confirms its commitment to respecting and implementing fundamental human and social rights as enshrined in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Core Labour Conventions adopted by the ILO, including the right of workers to organize and bargain, prohibition of forced labour, prohibition of child labour and non-discrimination. In addition, the agreement provides for "continuing efforts to improve" and to "guarantee the highest standards" of health and safety for workers in all of its global operations.

The Agreement commits the parties to "work towards the cultivation of working practices capable of promoting economic and social progress". This includes skills development programmes for workers, diversity management and promoting sustainable development goals. As regards contractors, the company undertakes to "formulate suitable guarantees against violations" within the framework of the agreement. Any violations of the terms of the agreement shall be reported and any remedial action undertaken by management will be communicated to the union. The agreement will be communicated throughout all operations using both company and union networks.

Brexit vote shows another world is needed

The campaign to leave the EU was deplorable in its dishonesty, casual racism and nationalist hubris, reaching its low point when Labour MP Jo Cox, an internationalist and a humanitarian, was murdered.
 
Economic crisis has led to austerity and worsening conditions for working people in Britain, as in many other countries. Immigrants and the EU were an easy scapegoat for the failure of corporate globalization to deliver dignity and security.
 
The same dynamic is at work across the world, with the cheap and dangerous populism distracting people from the real causes of the crisis.
 
This vote is a political earthquake, and a major shattering of the globalization consensus. It is a political consequence of the 2008 financial crisis, and must serve as a wake-up call for world and European political leaders. People feel alienated and disempowered by a system that puts corporate interests first.
 
Obviously leaving the EU would not solve the problems the UK faces, and the far right will make the most of the disruption. Financial speculation has led to the collapse of the pound, and there are threats of damage to the real economy. Furthermore, there has already been a disturbing rise in racist attacks in the UK.
 
The consequences of the vote are far from certain, but a political vacuum has been created that must be occupied by progressive voices. There are opportunities to step into the breach to  demand an alternative.
 
Unions are leading the call for change, to show that another Europe, and another world, is possible. Unions in the UK and across Europe have pledged their commitment to fight for workers’ rights, whatever the outcome.
 
“We will cooperate with our British industrial trade unions to secure the future of British industry and its millions of workers and their families, so that workers will not pay the price of the Brexit”, said Luc Triangle, IndustriAll Europe General Secretary.

The general secretary of the ETUC, Luca Visentini, said:

“The European Union must start to benefit workers again, to create a fairer and more equal society, to invest in quality jobs, good public services and real opportunities for young people.

Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL general secretary said:
 
“People need to have hope for a better life, otherwise we risk exclusion and radicalization as we have seen in the suburbs of Paris, Brussels and elsewhere. People need to feel that society cares for them and is fair. That is why it’s so important to reduce inequality by making sure rich individuals and corporations pay their fair share of taxes, and for everybody to earn a living wage.
 
“A more social and human world and Europe also makes economic sense. Europe has the potential to create good jobs and well-being for its citizens, including immigrants, but it needs to change. Otherwise it will remain a scapegoat for the populists, and little by little fall apart.”

IndustriALL affiliates act in support of Korean union leader

Sang-gyun, who is due to be sentenced on 4 July, is facing an eight-year prison sentence recommended by the state prosecutor. He has been indicted for charges related to his participation in a number of rallies against anti-worker labour law reforms. These include the obstruction of public duty, destruction of public goods, obstruction of traffic and hosting an assembly at a banned location.
 
IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina, said: “We deplore the fact that all the charges against him are related to legitimate and peaceful trade union activities in his capacity as a union leader. Unfortunately, Han is not the only trade unionist facing criminal persecution for his union activities. We know of nearly 600 trade union leaders and members who were arrested for their participation in recent protests with 20 of them held in custody and seven still in jail, while another 13 were convicted and sentenced from eight months to one-and-half years in prison.”
 
In December 2015, IndustriALL's  Executive Committee in Phnom Penh passed a resolution calling to support unions in South Korea fighting back against government crackdown. Some IndustriALL affiliates have also sought meetings with the South Korean embassy in their country, while others have been outreaching to their own country’s embassy in South Korea. IndustriALL and other Global Union Federations are acting together to protest against the sentence for Sang-gyun.
 
In March this year, IndustriALL led an international trade union delegation to South Korea in solidarity with unions in the country whose leaders have been imprisoned, offices invaded and rights to freedom of assembly, association and expression have been under attack.
 
In his letter to President Park of Korea, Raina added: “We urge your government to drop all charges against Han Sang-gyun and other trade unionists for actions undertaken as part of their peaceful and legitimate trade union activities. Moreover, we call on you to review the national legal framework in consultation with trade union and civil society organizations in order to prevent such abuses in the future.”

IndustriALL condemns assassination of union leader in Guatemala

Estrada was not the first victim of the persecution of the trade union movement in 2016: three other trade union leaders have been killed this year for the same reason. The ITUC lists Guatemala as one of the ten worst countries in the world for workers.

On 19 June, Estrada Tambiento was killed as she was returning from taking her father, the trade union leader Jorge Estrada, to a bus station in Guatemala City.

Brenda Marleni Estrada Tambiento was the deputy coordinator of the legal advice commission of the Unión Sindical de Trabajadores de Guatemala (UNSITRAGUA/HISTORICA). She was also a member of the Guatemala organizers’ group and the Trade Union Confederation of America’s continental legal team.

The 2016 edition of the ITUC’s Global Rights Index puts Guatemala among the ten worst countries in the world for workers, because of the weakening of workers’ rights and the continuous repression of the freedoms of speech and assembly.

The ILO has released details of extremely serious and systematic violations of the freedom of association in the country. Although the Guatemalan government has promised to protect workers’ rights, workers continue to be subjected to physical violence, intimidation, killings, kidnappings and death threats.

Jorge Almeida, IndustriALL regional secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, has written to the Guatemalan president, Jimmy Morales Cabrera, calling on the government to intervene and stop the persecution of the trade union and social movement in the country.

IndustriALL calls on the authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the attack, make the results public and bring those responsible to justice. We ask you to take action to prevent this happening again,”

said Jorge Almeida.

Nissan workers in Paris stage protest against anti-union policies

On 28 June about 40 unionists gathered to protest the anti-union policies of the Nissan management at its biggest US factory in Canton, Mississippi. IndustriALL affiliate the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) organized an action for Canton labour and community activists seeking solidarity support in their organizing drive at Nissan.

Both car makers, part of the Alliance Renault-Nissan, are managed by the same CEO, Carlos Ghosn. Although not on the agenda, the union activists hoped to see the CEO walking in to the WWC meeting and were prepared to explain workers’ concerns.

One day before the union action in Paris, Mr Ghosn attended the meeting planned for 28 June with Renault WWC in the evening on 27 June. At the WWC meeting Renault workers’ representatives announced their solidarity by raising the issue of mistreatment of Nissan workers at the Canton plant, and expressed their support for the UAW demand for a meeting with HR management. However, the CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance refused to discuss the issue, briefly claiming the meeting did not regard Nissan and adding that the Japanese company always acts in strict conformity with national legislation.

At the picket in Paris, UAW members cited a number of examples of moral pressure on workers through videos broadcast inside the factory threatening to close it, if workers decide to vote for a union. On another instance when workers came in pro-union t-shirts the management prohibited this, although later claiming that uniform is not obligatory at their factory.

Among others, workers are concerned about long working hours, poor health and safety and unfair employment practices. Currently, the Nissan Mississippi factory employs only half of its 5,000 staff directly. The second half of workers is supplied by third party agencies. The third party workers are employed on worse conditions and are extremely vulnerable to manipulation by management.

UAW is running an organizing campaign at the plant and is seeking the company’s neutrality in the process. Unfortunately, the company management in violation of freedom of association uses extremely aggressive union-busting tactics and blocks all union organizing attempts.

Earlier company violations were registered by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) as coercive actions and statements and resulted in charges filed by NLRB against the Japanese automaker.

The UAW campaign for organizing Canton Mississippi autoworkers found large solidarity support with the international labour movement, including in Latin America and Europe.

The action in Paris was largely covered by the national mass media including radio and video news channels.

In solidarity with Nissan workers Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL general secretary said, “We will continue to support our affiliates’ legitimate rights to organize, whether it’s in the US or anywhere in the world. An injury to one is an injury to all, that’s our mission of global solidarity. And we will continue it as long as it takes, we will not go away, and finally we will win”.

IndustriALL Global Union Sectoral Sustainability Report

IndustriALL’s secretariat made a detailed analysis for each sector it represents. The “IndustriALL Global Union Sectoral Sustainability Report” has been circulated to all Executive Committee members as a policy paper and accepted as such at IndustriALL’s last Executive Committee meeting.

“2015 gave us the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With these two great initiatives, and countless smaller ones, the world signalled the intention to change – to transition to a sustainable way of doing things. If a transition is certain, it is up to the labour movement to ensure that it is a Just Transition.” said Brian Kohler, IndustriALL health, safety and sustainability director.

The concept of a Just Transition is that workers, their families, their communities and their unions should be kept whole, if employment is affected as a result of actions taken to protect the environmental commons. The question is fundamentally who pays for, and who benefits from, a transition to sustainability. IndustriALL wants an optimistic future; a future that is attractive to today’s workers as well as future workers. A pessimistic future by definition is not “Just”.

A Just Transition relies on three fundamentals: sustainable industrial policies, strong social protections, and creative labour adjustment policies. The most Just Transition possible will always be to defend today's workers in existing jobs, by demanding an industrial transformation that creates, evolves, or maintains sustainable jobs. However, radical changes are coming to some sectors – and if we are unwilling to fight for a Just Transition for those workers, they will surely face an unjust one.

IndustriALL is not a newcomer to questions of sustainability and climate change. Its predecessors and affiliates have led the way. IndustriALL has a responsibility to carry on this tradition. There are no jobs on a dead planet, and there is no future in trying to be the last defender of the indefensible. Sustainability, in all of its dimensions, is no longer a preference. It is essential.

Read the full report here

Turkey: IndustriALL mourns and condemns slaughter at Istanbul airport

Within a year, 294 people have been killed in 17 bomb attacks in Turkey. It is more than enough!
 
“IndustriALL Global Union condemns this barbarous slaughter in Istanbul”, said Jyrki Raina, general secretary.

“We mourn for all who lost their lives and extend our condolences to our affiliates and the people of Turkey.
 
“This needs to come to an end. The international community must wage a much greater effort for genuine peace in the world, particularly in the Middle East, where millions of people have lost their lives and are still face with such tragedes every day. Terrorism is now a global phenomenon, and needs to be defeated.
 
"IndustriALL Global Union reiterates its fundamental mission to stand for democracy, peace, equality, human rights, unity and solidarity. We join the Turkish unions when they say:

“'We are sad, indignant, mourning, insurgent, but we will not fear, we will not give up, we will not forget'."
 

Rio de Janeiro calling – A luta continua!

Preparations for IndustriALL Global Union’s second congress are in full swing. Our 600 affiliated unions have just received a number of documents to prepare themselves for this major event.

Congress is the highest decision-making body of IndustriALL. It approves an action plan, resolutions and statutory changes, and elects a new leadership and executive committee for the organization.

We chose to hold the second IndustriALL congress in Brazil, which has one of the strongest trade union movements in Latin America. This strength has been built through struggle, after years of military dictatorship.

During the past decade, Brazilian unions have managed to win considerable wage increases through united action by different trade union centers. The socially progressive policies of presidents Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff helped lift 40 million people out of poverty.

Now the country finds itself in political and economic turmoil. In May, IndustriALL’s executive committee passed a resolution expressing its solidarity with the Brazilian people by strongly rejecting the ongoing coup in the country. The new government has already begun to dismantle the social policy achievements of the past years. 

Therefore, we will also be present in Brazil to show our support for democracy and for the Brazilian workers and their unions. 

When the IndustriALL family gathers in Rio de Janeiro to celebrate its first four years of action and victories, it will also debate our future strategies and continued global struggle for better lives for workers and their families.

With our unification, we wanted to launch a new era of global solidarity to ensure that every worker has the right to join a union freely and get the protection of a collective agreement with living wages, reasonable working hours, and a safe and healthy workplace. 

In a globalized world plagued by increasing inequality, greed, poverty, unemployment and social injustice, we knew that we needed to grow our force and work together across national borders more than ever.

As only 7 per cent of the world’s workforce is organized in free and independent unions, our absolute priority has been organizing and union growth to strengthen our legitimacy as the voice of the working people. IndustriALL’s union building projects have helped our affiliates organize hundreds of thousands of workers into unions, and create an organizing culture.

We wanted IndustriALL to be an organizing and campaigning union. Every week we have taken action against companies and governments that want to deny workers their fundamental rights. We have built union networks, fought to stop precarious work, and launched work on just transition after the Paris climate agreement.

In Rio de Janeiro, the IndustriALL Global Union family will vow to continue to push for societies based on democracy and economic and social justice in the spirit of our Congress slogan Fighting Forward – A Luta Continua!

Jyrki Raina

General Secretary

Asia-Pacific women renew demand for 40% representation

Any changes to the Statutes will need to be approved with a two-thirds majority at IndustriALL’s Congress in Rio de Janeiro in October.

The Bangkok meeting, chaired by Akiko Gono (Japan) and co-chaired by Wati Anwar (Indonesia), discussed different options for changes to the Statutes, such as a binding quota or a target of 40 per cent representation instead.

IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary and director for women, Monika Kemperle, told the meeting that concrete and realistic strategies should be undertaken to achieve 40 per cent representation. She also recommended that Asia-Pacific women consider fairness and the visibility of women in IndustriALL’s political structures as well as in the Statutes.

Kemperle informed the committee that there are regions ready to adopt the binding quota, while others prefer a 40 per cent target.

Akiko Gono reiterated that Asia-Pacific was the first region to adopt the resolution of 40 per cent women representation at its Conference in 2014.

The meeting also included reports of activities and on-going campaigns in South East Asia and South Asia as well as country reports from Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines. The reports showed that women need to be better informed about gender equality, social benefits and protection of women’s rights such as improved maternity protection, eliminating work-based violence and occupational safety and health. More women need to be represented not only in the committee but also in decision-making structures of the unions. 

Stressing the need for more women’s participation in the upcoming Congress in Brazil in October, Kemperle and Gono called on the members of the Asia-Pacific women’s committee that participation should not only mean presence at the Congress, but also promoting women’s issues and a way of increasing women leaders across industries. This can only be achieved if capacity and confidence building continues at the grassroots.

Finally, Kemperle called on the Asia-Pacific women’s committee to stand firm in demanding 40 per cent women’s representation in IndustriALL’s Statutes.

Flogged and jailed: workers in Iran face repression

Workers at the gold mine in the northwestern city of Tikaab were flogged after protesting against the firing of 350 of their colleagues. They each received between 30 and 99 lashes. Their employer filed a complaint against them for the protest action, and the sentence was carried out by the security services.

A further nine workers at the Bafgh iron ore mine were sentenced to be flogged for taking part in protest action in 2014.

The flogging comes as part of an increased crackdown on union activists. Due to the repression of independent trade unions, IndustriALL has no affiliates in the country, but is supporting the emergence of free trade unions.

In November last year, Jafar Azimzadeh, a welder and leader of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, was jailed for six years for his union activities after organizing a petition signed by 40,000 workers. He was found guilt of “endangering national security”.

Mr Azimzadeh was elected as a workers’ representative to the 105th International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva in June 2016, but was unable to attend due to his imprisonment, although representatives from state-controlled unions were able to attend.

He embarked on a hunger strike on 29 April 2016 in protest at the repression of Iranian workers. There are serious concerns about his health.

A number of other labour activists, including Reza Shahab, the leader of Tehran bus drivers’ union VAHED, are in prison, and others have been summoned to the Revolutionary Court, used to try cases of sedition.

After negotiations about its nuclear programme, Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also know as the nuclear deal. The result is the lifting of sanctions and the influx of foreign capital into Iran. The process has been destabilizing, and recently the historic home appliance manufacturing company Arj went bankrupt, with the loss of many jobs.

After a recent visit to the country by representatives of the International Monetary Fund, Iranian unions believe that the heightened repression is intended to create a more compliant workforce for foreign investors.

In a statement released by the Union of the Metalworkers and Mechanics of Iran during the ILC, the union said:

“The lashes of the International Monetary Fund are hitting the backs of the workers and our manufacturing industry.”

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina said:

"IndustriALL Global Union condemns in the strongest terms the brutal flogging of 17 Agh Dareh Gold Mine workers in May 2016. The mineworkers were exercising their legitimate right to protest against layoffs and were demanding job security.

"A further nine Bafgh Mining Company workers in Yazd Province have also been sentenced to imprisonment and tens of lashes in recent days. Such inhuman sentences against protesting workers are a gross violation of internationally recognized human rights and labour rights conventions .

"Therefore, it is imperative that the Government of Iran intervene immediately to end gross violations of human rights and trade unions rights, including flogging of mineworkers, at the Agh Dareh Gold Mine, and the Bafgh Mining Company. 

"We take this opportunity to urge again 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."