Another coal mine explosion in Pakistan: five killed and eight injured

Five miners were killed and eight were injured in an explosion at a coal mine owned by Sheraz Coal Company, in the Doli area of Orakzai Agency, in the north western province of Khyber Paktunkhwa.

IndustriALL reported on a similar accident in the same region on 12 March 2016, when 10 workers were killed. Subsequently, another accident on 20 March 2016 in the Doli area killed seven miners, and many were injured. Following this accident, mines in the Doli region were closed. However, the owner of the mine restarted the operation illegally, without obtaining official permission.

Thirteen workers were inside the coalmine when a methane gas explosion occurred, trapping them all. A rescue operation carried out by the political administration and Frontier Corps personnel rescued eight injured miners, who were rushed to a nearby hospital, and retrieved the bodies of five who had been killed.  

The dead were identified as Ihsanul Haq, Hussain Ahmad, Syed Alam, Arshad and Amanullah. The names of the injured are Saqi Rehman, Ameer Rehman, Nasir Ahmad, Mohammad Ayaz, Mohammad Afzal, Bakht Zameen, Noor Ahmed and Sohail. Four of the five who were killed are from Zara Dherai village of Shangla district, while another worker is from Dir.

According to reports, the owner, contractor and mine manager have been arrested, and the company’s mining license will be annulled. Another six mine owners who were operating mines without permission were also arrested.

A survey of reported accidents since 2010 shows that at least 240 workers have died in 40 accidents. In less than four months of 2016, Pakistani mines claimed the lives of 30 mine workers.

IndustriALL mining director Glen Mpufane said:

“Yet another accident within this short period highlights the callous attitude of both the government and employers to safety in Pakistani mines.

“We condemn this indifference to the avoidable loss of life, and demand again that the government of Pakistan immediately ratify ILO Convention 176 on Health and Safety in Mines.

“The government must also ensure that victims receive appropriate compensation, that medical facilities are provided to the injured, and harsh sanctions applied to negligent employers.”

IndustriALL believes that ratification of ILO Convention 176 is key to changing the safety culture in mining. The government must also urgently implement the ILO Code of Practice on Safety and Health in Underground Coal Mines, as recommended by the Meeting of Experts on Safety and Health in Coal Mines.

Ratification of Convention 176 would create a safety culture where workers receive information, training and genuine consultation and participation in safety and health measures to deal with mining hazards.

The convention also impresses upon employers the need ensure preventive and protective measures at the mine and take all necessary measures to eliminate or minimize the risks to safety and health in mines under their control.                                                                              

Victory in Trinidad & Tobago: reinstatement of 68 workers dismissed in 2013

“Justice and victory for National Petroleum workers!” chanted the workers on hearing the news that the Trinidad High Court in Port of Spain had ruled in their favour.

In October 2013, NP dismissed 68 employees for joining a strike. In 2014, the High Court ordered the company to reinstate the workers, pay them the wages that were due to them, and $40,000 in compensation. However, the company refused to comply with ruling.

Finally, on 24 March, the Labour Court ruled that the dismissals were “harsh, oppressive and inconsistent with good labour relations practice”. On 29 March, the workers returned to their posts, accompanied by the OWTU president, Ancel Roget, and other trade union leaders.

"When you go back to work, the company may try to provoke you and set traps for you…So you must be very careful and very aware that the price of freedom is constant vigilance," said Roget to the workers on the day they returned to their workplace, according to reports by Newsday.

The company says it is ready to reinstate the workers and that it will take responsibility for their “reconciliation and reintegration”, by implementing a program to ensure they make a successful return to the company.

Commenting on this victory IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary, Fernando Lopes, said:

Workers throughout the world need unions like the OWTU to counter the arbitrary behaviour of companies.

Guards open fire on shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh

Mohammad Sumon, was killed instantly when a truck transporting scrap steel from the Kabir Steel yard in Chittagong, ran him over on the morning on 28 March 2016.

On hearing about the accident, locals, co-workers and Sumon’s family members gathered at the scene. According to reports, factory authorities at Kabir Steel took the body inside and refused to hand it over to his relatives. With grief and anger they started to protest, blocking the Dhaka Chittagong highway in front of the factory for about two hours demanding punishment to the guilty. 

Factory guards, reportedly acting under orders from Kabir Steel, then opened fire on the demonstrators, injuring seven people identified as: Nurun Nabi (20), Delwar (24), Usman (25), Munna (20), Musammat Shahnaz (25), Shabuddin (18) and Samir Ahad (16).

IndustriALL Global Union has written to Prime Minister of Bangladesh to “condemn in the strongest terms” the shootings.

“We demand an investigation into why such brutal force was used against the protestors and the guilty must be punished,” said IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina. “We can no longer afford to continue the business as usual attitude as workers risk their lives every day at Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards.

“IndustriALL calls upon the government of Bangladesh to ensure that accident victims are provided appropriate compensation and to punish employers who operate shipbreaking yards with gross negligence.”

The letter also urged the government to immediately implement the newly revised Bangladesh Ship Recycling Act 2015, and to accelerate steps to ratify the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.

The first three months of 2016 have witnessed the deaths of four workers at shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh:

On 12 March 2016, Mohammad Morselin, a 20-year-old shipbreaking worker fell from a ship while working at the SL Ship Breaking Yard in Kumira of Sitakunda Upazila. He died in hospital on 15 March 2016. Another worker, Minhaj (43), from the same yard also died on the same day. While it has been claimed that heatstroke caused his death, workers suspect that he may have died in an accident.

On 3 March 2016, Mohammad Shafiqul Islam Shikder (34) succumbed to injuries incurred while removing an air conditioning unit from aship, which fell on his thigh. He was working in the OWW ship yard owned by Mahsin Badsha.

On 20 January 2016 shipbreaking worker Akkas Mian (42) died as an iron plate fell on him during the dismantling of a ship at Asad Ship-breaking Yard at Madam Bibir Hat of Sitakunda Upazila. 

South Korea: IndustriALL builds solidarity in fight back against government crackdown

The mission, composed of trade union leaders from IndustriALL headquarters, IG Metall of Germany, USW of North America and IF Metall of Sweden, took place as the South Korean government intensifies its attacks on fundamental human rights, which include freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association.

The IndustriALL delegation visited Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) president Han Sang-Gyun at the Seoul Detention Center and delivered a solidarity message from the global union movement.

In line with the latest executive committee resolution, IndustriALL reiterated its firm demand for the release of president Han and other detained union officials, including two GM local union leaders, and the dropping of all the charges against them.

The union leaders were detained immediately after a police raid at the offices of the KCTU and its affiliates on 21 November, following the unions' participation in a rally on 14 November to protest so-called labour law reforms.

The global union movement remains concerned about the state of South Korea’s overall democracy, democratic institutions and basic human rights.

In addition, Park Geun-hye’s government recently issued new administrative guidelines, under which companies can dismiss “underperforming” workers and arbitrarily change the rules of employment without the consent of employees.

The Korean union movement is united in its fight against this recent attack, and two national centres, the KCTU and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), joined forces together with their affiliated organizations.

The KCTU considers that “It is a criminal act to apply the administrative guidelines", while the FKTU declared the guidelines "null and void". Both organizations are taking legal action and organizing rallies against the government. In a joint statement, the two groups said, "We declare that the guidelines are against the Constitution and illegal, thus are invalid."

It is also a joint demand of the unions that “Korean conglomerates (“chaebols”) must fulfill their social responsibilities for just growth and fair distribution for workers in the supply chains of principal companies and suppliers, for the regularization of precarious workers, for job creation for the young generation, and for securing a living wage for vulnerable working people.”

IndustriALL’s four South Korean affiliates from both national centres, KCTU and FKTU, formed a manufacturing alliance. This includes the Korean Metal Workers' Union, the Federation of Korean Metalworkers' Trade Unions, the Federation of Korean Chemical Workers Union and the Korea Chemical and Textile Workers’ Federation.

The manufacturing alliance, together with the IndustriALL mission, has issued a Joint Declaration for Fundamental Labor Rights, Chaebol Reform and Sustainable Industrial Policy, and organized a demonstration in front of the government building.

“The government must withdraw the regressive labour reforms and instead commit to consultations in good faith with trade unions over reforms to the labour laws,”

said Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union in his address to the crowd.

“IndustriALL continues to support your great struggle. You are not alone here. Our whole global union family is and will be with you.”

As part of series of activities, IndustriALL’s mission visited the KCTU and FKTU national centres, as well as all South Korean affiliates.

British steel industry on a knife-edge

The UK’s biggest trade union, Unite, is calling on the government to intervene and renationalize the plants at stake, while another IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, Community union, has called on Tata to keep its promise of being a responsible seller.

Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey, said:

“This is the time for the government to say categorically, without hesitation, that these assets will be taken into safe-keeping by the nation because without them our economy will not flourish.  We are already seeing jobs going in the supply chain because of the uncertainty over Tata’s future – our fear is this will snowball if insecurity is allowed to swirl around our steel sector.

“The unity of voices – from business to government – to say that temporary nationalization is the way forward must not be ignored.  This helped save the Scottish plants.  It has ensured that the Ilva plant in Italy survived – it must be deployed for the rest of the Tata operation.

Roy Rickhuss, General Secretary of the steelworkers’ union Community, is returning to the UK after holding talks with Tata Steel at their headquarters in Mumbai, India. He said:

“The UK is now on the verge of a national crisis. Tata Steel withdrawing completely from the UK risks destroying our entire steel industry. That would be a disaster both for those communities reliant on steel jobs and our entire industrial base.”

In a letter to Tata Steel, Richkhuss added:

“It is vital that adequate time is given for a new investor to be found. Tata has a moral and social responsibility to steel communities and families across the UK and must cooperate with the unions and the UK government.”

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL, said:

"We urge the British government to do everything in its power to support the British steel industry before it’s too late. There will be no going back. This is the time to support steel workers and their families in their hour of need. The course of action the government takes now will determine the fate of steel communities and the British economy for evermore."

Raina added:

"Tata Steel has, in the past, promised to be responsible seller in divesting its assets. Thousands of workers and their families are depending on you to keep to your word."

Mining community activist murdered on South Africa’s Wild Coast

Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe, chairperson of the Amadiba Crisis Committee, was murdered outside his home on 22 March 2016, by men claiming to be police officers.
 
Rhadebe, nicknamed “Bazooka”, was a prominent opponent of the proposed Xolobeni mine, in the pristine Wild Coast region of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
 
Two men claiming to be police officers arrived at Rhadebe’s house in a car with a blue flashing light. They claimed he was under arrest, but when he went outside to their car, he was shot eight times in front of his family.
 
Earlier the same evening, Rhadebe phoned other community activists to warn them that they were in danger, as he had seen their names on a list of activists opposing the mine.
 
The proposed titanium mine is a project by Transworld, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian corporation Mineral Commodities. The mine is being developed in partnership with a local company, the Xolobeni Empowerment Company.
 
The development has met fierce resistance from the local community. It is being built on ancestral land which the community uses for subsistence. The community formed the Amadiba Crisis Committee in 2007, and recently filed a legal objection to the mining.
 
The murder follows ten years of smouldering conflict, with community activists refusing the company access to the land, and incidents of violence and intimidation against community members. The Amadiba Crisis Committee accuses Mineral Commodities and its local partners and allies of using violence to intimidate the community into accepting the mine.
 
Mineral Commodities denies involvement and said in a statement that it “condemns violence”. However, executive director Mark Caruso had previously threatened to “rain down vengeance” on opponents of another mine being developed by the company in South Africa.
 
IndustriALL mining director Glen Mpufane said:

“The murder of “Bazooka” Rhadebe at the operations of Mineral Commodities on the Wild Coast comes as no surprise to those who have been following the ongoing conflict in the Xolobeni community.
 
“It fits the pattern of a global mining industry intent on profit and plunder at any cost. Our experience shows that shadowy paramilitary forces often target community and trade union activists, and we are outraged that this has happened at Xolobeni.
 
“IndustriALL believes that sustainable mining requires trade union and community involvement. We condemn Mineral Commodities for failing to respect the Australian code of conduct for multinational companies, and we demand accountability.”
 

Women in the Philippines call for 120 days’ maternity leave

Through the IndustriALL Philippines Women’s Committee, 95 women leaders across industriALL sectors validated the 2016 workplan and vowed to push for the passage of the Maternity Protection Bill and the Ratification of ILO Convention 183.

With 52 days remaining before general elections on 9 May, the group agreed to campaign for the inclusion of maternity protection in labour’s political agenda, and to make support for maternity protection a determinant on which national candidates to support. Representatives from the Philippine Legislative Committee on Population & Development presented the legislative advocacy for the 17th Congress and insights on strategies to influence legislators’ priority agenda.  

Other highlighted priorities were the institutionalization of women representation in trade unions and workplaces both in terms of gender quota and budget allocation as well as support for the IndustriALL 40 per cent gender-quota; mainstreaming and implementation of women-specific and related laws policies and programs via CBAs and the Labour Law Compliance System; and capacity building, including the development of women negotiators.

The International Women’s Day Event, which was held on 18 March, also provided the perfect opportunity for women to get together and have time for themselves. The event also included video presentations on existing women-specific and related laws and policies, free basic health and family planning services, wellness massage, grooming, and physical exercises. A medical team was also mobilized for the event. Social partners like the Department of Health-National Capital Region, Quezon City Health Office and Workers’ Fund provided free medicines, vitamins and family planning commodities for the event.

ArcelorMittal closes plant in Trinidad & Tobago leaving 600 workers unemployed

Recent months have been an emotional rollercoaster ride for ArcelorMittal workers at Point Lisas in Trinidad and Tobago: many rounds of negotiations; lay-offs; a well-attended demonstration; and a Port of Spain labour tribunal ruling in their favour over a pay dispute. Despite their tireless struggle, 644 workers have lost their jobs with the sudden closure of the plant.

"The company has exhibited utter disregard and disrespect for the national interest by not engaging in discussions with the government and other stakeholders prior to the actual insolvency coming into effect," said the IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Steel Workers’ Union of Trinidad & Tobago in a press release.  

The multinational company said that the fall in the world price of steel and the possible increase in the price of gas and electricity in Trinidad and Tobago were among the reasons why it decided it could no longer operate in the country. The closure took place only one day after the labour tribunal ruled against the company and ordered it to pay a large fine.

After an exchange of letters between Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL General Secretary, and the company’s president and CEO, Lakshmi Mittal, the company said it is “open to continue exploring all options while the liquidation is proceeding in order to maximize the results for all stakeholders. ArcelorMittal is therefore ready to help and cooperate with SWUTT”.

For the moment, SWUTT is trying to find an alternative that will allow the workers to keep their jobs. It is seeking investors who are willing to buy the company and take over its debts. It also called on the government of Trinidad and Tobago to intervene as soon as possible to find a solution.

Fernando Lopes, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary said:  

I visited the plant at the end of last year and it was clear that plant managers were behaving irresponsibly by not investing in the modernization of the factory and intended to close it to punish the union. Workers at Point Lisas are very skilled, so ArcelorMittal and the government should work with SWUTT to identify how to preserve a steel industry in Trinidad and Tobago.

ThyssenKrupp launches online violations reporting system

According to the agreement, the company undertook to comply with the principles of the International Labour Organization particularly with conventions nos. 29, 87, 98, 100, 105, 111, 138 and 182.

Through the GFA, ThyssenKrupp also adheres to the principles of:

To implement the agreed provisions and inform workers about the GFA, the company translated it into ten languages. The company is aware of potential violations of the agreement and created a special on-line system facilitating their rapid response.

The violations can be reported either on behalf of a named complainant or anonymously via a secure electronic message system: https://www.bkms-system.net/frameworkagreement.

All employees and their trade unions operating within the company can also report violations of the agreement via email at [email protected].

Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL Global Union director, said:

The agreement signed with ThyssenKrupp provides a strong basis for monitoring the behaviour of the company in the various countries where it operates and effectively deal with violations if and when they occur. We can only welcome the creation of a system that makes it easier to report violations. In addition, any complaint once accepted cannot be proclaimed finalized without approval by the International Committee, where IndustriALL is represented with ThyssenKrupp.

Thyssenkrupp employs around 155,000 employees in nearly 80 countries. 

Winning a Just Transition to a sustainable economy

The particular focus of the meeting was how to achieve a Just Transition for affected workers. Several of IndustriALL’s affiliates from automotive, energy and mining unions joined the meeting and brought valuable sector specific insights to the table.

The US secretary of energy Ernest Moniz also joined the discussion as well as the WWF's Samantha Smith and David Crane, former CEO of NRG.

Workers in the energy sector, particularly in coal, but also in heavily energy-dependent industries, will be strongly affected by efforts to control greenhouse gases and limit climate change in accordance with the Paris Agreement.

Renewable energies will grow rapidly in the future to make up a greater proportion of the overall energy mix, but in the meantime the labour movement needs to make sure that workers do not pay the price for the environmental footprint of their industries.

North American unions stressed the prospects of technologies including advanced carbon capture and storage/sequestration (CCS), but also the need for national Just Transition funds to ease the problems that workers will face.

Brian Kohler, IndustriALL’s director for sustainabity, said:

Our first priority will always be to defend today's workers in existing jobs, by demanding an industrial transformation to make their jobs more sustainable. 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.

Global greenhouse emissions need to peak now – this February was already the warmest ever recorded – otherwise the Paris Agreement to keep global warming below 2C° will not be met and the social, economic and environmental consequences experienced by everyone, globally, will be catastrophic.

In some aspects, the trade union movement has overlapping interests with environmental NGOs; in other aspects we share some concerns with our employers. However, the expertise for industrial transformation and how to make this change socially fair and just, lies within the labour movement. We demand a seat at the table with governments and other stakeholders when the fate of workers, their families and entire communities depending on these industries are decided. As the UWUA's Mike Langford put it, “If we're not at the table, you can bet we'll be on the menu!”

The importance of environmental justice in this context is clear: especially in the developing world, many communities largely depend on single industries such as mining, but these plants are often also the largest environmental delinquents due to weak or lacking national environmental regulations and older technologies.

A Just Transition will not happen by itself and the so-called free market will not deliver it. It requires intense lobbying and discourse with both companies and governments – otherwise workers will fall victim to a last-minute scramble for solutions to meet the Paris Agreement without the necessary socio-economic considerations. IndustriALL, the ITUC and the AFL-CIO agreed that action is required and that it is needed now.

IndustriALL's general secretary, Jyrki Raina, concluded:

It is our responsibility to show leadership at this crucial moment in history. We cannot negotiate with the laws of physics; but we can – and will – advocate sustainable industrial policies and demand justice and decent work for all of today's and tomorrow's workers.