Turkey: Renault dismisses workers using police violence instead of upholding commitments

Following an agreement made between IndustriALL Global Union, its Turkish affiliate Birlesik Metal-Is, representing the overwhelming majority of workers at the Oyak plant, and Renault management on 4 February, workers at the plant were to hold elections on worker representation on 29 February.

The agreement, which also includes the composition and duties of a Social Dialogue Committee (SDC), was the result of discussions on employee representation and the right to hold elections.

In a provocative move, Renault management cancelled the elections just days before they were scheduled to take place, hiding behind the argument of having pressure from Turkey’s Ministry of Labour and Social Security who had labeled the elections illegal. In addition, the car giant immediately dismissed ten workers, including two spokespersons.

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina says that this is a direct show of disrespect for the workers and their representative union:

“It is a very provocative move as there are no provisions in the Turkish legislation preventing elections at workplace.”

Escalating the conflict, Oyak plant management has continued to fire workers; more than 60 people have lost their jobs and an additional 100 have been asked to leave with severance packages. 

Local factory management has engaged police to intervene against the peaceful protestors, intimidating workers at their homes and as they are coming on and off their shifts. According to reports, on 2 March, police arrested 21 workers as the night shift ended

Raina continues:

“Violence against workers can never be accepted and must stop immediately. The Turkish government fails again when it comes to exercising fundamental rights.”

“We urgently call on Renault to implement the agreements we jointly made in the last months, to reinstate the dismissed workers and to organize free elections at the Oyak plant in with their commitments.”

IndustriALL has a global framework agreement (GFA) with Renault Group, consolidating the company’s commitments to ILO’s labour standards, including freedom of association and neutrality, and contains a number of major improvements in particular concerning skills, training, health and safety, and diversity.

Raina concludes:

“The recent events and Renault’s lack of action are in direct contradiction to the GFA and we call on them to honour the agreement. If the situation continues as today, there will be wider effects for Renault,  dismantling a 20-year constructive social dialogue at an international level.”

Russia: 36 workers killed in mine tragedy

On 25 February, two explosions rocked the Severnaya mine at a depth of around 748 meters, where 110 miners were working at the time. Leaking methane gas is thought to have caused the explosions.
 
Following the accident 80 miners were safely brought up to the surface. The same day, two workers were found dead and two more bodies were discovered the following morning.
 
With 26 miners remaining trapped underground, a massive rescue operation involving more than 500 rescue workers, searched for the missing workers until 28 February when there was a third explosion. Six people were killed during the rescue operation, which has now been halted as there is still a fire and a risk of new explosions.
 
According to a statement from the company management and Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry the missing 26 miners are presumed dead, bringing the total death toll of the tragedy to 36 people. A three-day mourning period has been declared in the region.
 
IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Jyrki Raina said:
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by the news of the 36 miners killed in this tragic accident. The mining industry is claiming yet more victims and we express our condolences to the families of the miners.”
 
IndustriALL affiliate Rosugleprof expressed its condolences to the families, and president Ivan Mochnachuk said:
“We are providing support and help to the victims’ families. We will take the necessary steps to find out the reasons of this tragedy, to prevent such tragedies in the future and to minimize the consequences of accident on Severnaya mine.”
 
A special governmental investigation commission led by Arkadii Dvorkovich, Vice Prime Minister of Russia has been established.
 
Payments of around 1 million rubles (aroubd US$13,000) to the victims’ families are being  one from the regional budget. Additional insurance payments also will be made according to a Federal Industry Agreement between Rosugleprof and the Association of Employers of Coal Mining Industry.
The Severnaya mine is part of Vorkutaugol, a coal mining company owned by Russia’s steel and mining giant Severstal.

Albanian union saves 300 mining jobs

On 8 February 2016, after five months of difficult negotiations, IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Albania (SPMSH), signed an agreement with the BERALB company covering 300 miners in the Puka region (Fushë-Arrëz), at the headquarters of the Ministry of Energy and Industry of Albania.

The company, which has had a concessionary contract with the Albanian state for 30 years for the mines, wanted to close all the mines due to the low price of copper on the market. This decision would have severely threatened the livelihood of the miners and their families in what is one of the poorest regions in Albania, with a very high unemployment rate.

The agreement stipulates that no worker will be fired and that all workers will receive a basic salary, including payments for health insurance and the retirement fund, from 1 February 2016 to 22 June 2017, which is the period when the work of the mine will be suspended.

When needed, the miners will take care of the basic functioning of the mine to keep it ready for the safe continuation of the work, and after this period of suspension, or before, if the price of the copper increases, the 300 miners will return to their full time jobs.

It is a great victory for the SPMSH and unionists in Albania, as the president of the SPMSH and the union confederation BSPSH, Gezim Kalaja, stressed: “This agreement empowers the values of trade unionism in Albania”.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union’s assistant general secretary, said: “We congratulate our Albanian affiliate with this struggle and success story. They have shown the miners’ tradition and spirit in this union campaign”.

This agreement was reached after five months of negotiation, and after the protest held on 7 October 2015 in solidarity with the World Day for Decent Work which was supported by the ITUC and IndustriAll Global Union and its affiliates.

Aerospace – a booming sector in the MENA region

Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, says:

“It is clear that the economic aspect is prevalent in a new and expanding sector. So it is imperative that the workers’ voices are strengthened and heard at the industry level in both Tunisia and Morocco. IndustriALL will continue to work with its affiliates in both countries to enhance their positions in industry level bargaining. “

Aerospace – a strategic industry in Morocco

On 18 November 2015, around 20 union leaders from different companies representing aerospace workers from both Moroccan trade union national centres UMT and CDT met in Casablanca for an IndustriALL workshop.

Meeting for the first time, union leaders shared their main challenges and perspectives on the need to strengthen union power in the fast growing sector, given the lack of industry level bargaining.

While employers are organized into the Moroccan Aerospace Industries Association(GIMAS), workers experience little union sectorial work and training. 

According to the participants and GIMAS, the aerospace sector took off in 2000 when it was considered one of Morocco’s new strategic industries. Today, there are more than 100 aerospace companies in Morocco, including EADS, Safran, Boeing, Labinal, SNECMA, Arcolle Maroc, Stelia Maroc, Bombardier, Intertronic, Zodiac, with many of them located in Casablanca. According to GIMAS, there are 8,000 qualified workers in the industry, but union leaders say the real figure is much higher.

Participants identified the following as key challenges:

Strengthening workers’ voices in Tunisia

The aerospace industry in Tunisia is booming, with about 65 companies operating in Tunisia, including Mecany, Stelia, Sabena, Technics, Zodiac aerospace and Aerolia. Together they employ around 7,500, but according to union leaders, there are more workers in the sector.

On 30 November 2015, around 22 participants from the aerospace companies and the leadership of IndustriALL affiliate Fédération Générale de la Métallurgie et de l'Electronique – FGME-UGTT participated in a workshop on building union power in the aerospace sector in Tunisia.

Focusing on the challenges for the workers in the industry, participants mapped the key companies and drew up guidelines for their joint work. As in the case of Morocco, unionists from different aerospace companies met each other for the first time in their first joint activity. For many participants, this was a new experience of union work.

Many of the challenges faced by workers are similar to the ones in Morocco. But in Tunisia’s metal sector, unions have either sectorial or framework agreements at an industry level, while unions in the aerospace sector have so far no direct bargaining with the employers’ organization, the Tunisian Aerospace Industries Association, GITAS.

Participants at both workshops in Tunisia and Morocco concluded by laying down the key priorities for creating a strong negotiating partner for workers that can discuss workers’ demands at industry level, and negotiate with the governments and employers’ organizations. This included joint work with IndustriALL on strengthening aerospace unions’ capacities on organizing, education and sectorial union work.

Following the action plan, on 10 and 11 February 2016, IndustriALL and FGME-UGTT conducted a workshop on raising the organizing skills of aerospace workers.

Tahar Berberi, member of IndustriALL’s executive committee and general secretary of FGME-UGTT says: “We are insistent on implementing the action plan aimed at improving the working conditions in the sector. Capacity building and organizing have a genuine effect on developing the union work in the aerospace sector in Tunisia.”

Houcine Abassi, general secretary of UGTT opened the workshop and said, “It is now important to build union capacities in the aerospace sector in Tunisia. This sector employs large numbers of youth and women and developing their union skills is necessary”.

Sri Lankan unions win concession from government

In a major development, the Sri Lankan government has assured trade union members of the tripartite National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) that no changes will be made to labour law without consultation. The minister of labour and trade union relations, WDJ Seneviratne, responded to union opposition to anti-labour proposals made by the government during its Budget 2016 presentation in the parliament.

Trade union members of NLAC raised strong objection to proposals such as:

  1. Merging the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and Employee Trust Fund (ETF) and transferring management from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to a new board of a different character
  2. A five day week for the private sector with extended working hours.
  3. Extending the six month qualifying period for permanent employment status to one year
  4. Handing over Export Processing Zones (EPZ) to private sector managers
  5. A further delay in the Rs 2500 wage increase from May 2015 for private sector employees.

Trade unions demanded that in line with long standing practice, all proposals impacting workers should be presented to the NLAC before the government takes decisions on them. This demand is in line with Sri Lanka’s commitment to ILO convention No 144 on tripartite consultation, which is ratified by the government.   

Responding to the unions, Mr Seneviratne stated that no decision has been taken on the EPF and ETF. On the issue of the five day week for the private sector with extended working hours, the minister stated that currently the commissioner general of labour grants permission to manufacturing companies on specific requests made by them with the consent of employees. The consent of NLAC in this regard is obtained time to time.

On extending the qualifiying period for peranent employment to one year, the minister stated that ‘the matter is not relevant for private sector workers’. On handing over the management of EPZs to private companies, no decision has been taken by the government yet.

Earlier, the letter to the Prime Minister was signed by IndustriALL affiliates and trade union members of NLAC including Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union, Sri Lanka Nidahas Sewaka Sangamaya (SLNSS), United Federation of Labour (CIWU of UFL affiliated to IndustriALL) and other NLAC members Inter Company Employees Union, Ceylon Workers Congress, Ceylon Federation of Trade Unions, Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya, Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union, Ceylon Estate Staff Union.

Indonesian union adopts 40 per cent women quota

The groundbreaking decision by the metalworkers’ union comes after a resolution made at the IndustriALL World Women Conference in Vienna in September 2015 to advocate 40 per cent representation of women in IndustriALL’s own structures.

FSPMI’s women’s committee has been campaigning hard to achieve the 40 per cent quota meeting regularly and lobbying the national body of FSPMI and its chairperson. In November 2015, more than 200 women met to strengthen demands for 40 per cent representation and to end tax discrimination against women workers.

In May 2014, women from Indonesian trade unions also voted for the 40 per cent quota in IndustriALL structures at the IndustriALL Asia-Pacific Women’s Conference.

IndustriALL’s director for women and assistant general secretary, Monika Kemperle, said:

We congratulate the FSPMI for taking this pioneering step, and the women who made it possible. Increased women’s representation will attract more women to join FSPMI and take part in union activities as well as harness the undoubtable power of women to organize and lead.

The FSPMI stated that:

Increasing the number of women in our union structure will strengthen us and our campaign to protect workers' rights.

Unsafe working conditions continue to kill miners in Pakistan

The coal mines in Duki have become killing fields, with workers’ lives often put in danger. According to reports from IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF), in January 2016 accidents claimed the lives of three workers in the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation-owned Sor-range mine in Quetta, and two workers in the Chamalang coal mines at Loralai. In February 2015, eight workers were killed and a further 14 were injured when a mine collapsed in Duki.

Despite a heavy loss of lives in recent years, the government of Pakistan has not taken adequate steps to ensure safe working conditions in the mines.

Most of the workers in Pakistan’s mining industry are precarious workers recruited through a complicated system of subcontracting. Hazardous, unsafe working conditions, low wages and lack of social security benefits are some of the major issues faced by workers. All three victims of the most recent accident were natives of Afghanistan.

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL, says:

It is unacceptable that the death of mineworkers has become part and parcel of coal mining in Pakistan. IndustriALL send our condolences and solidarity to the families of the three mineworkers who died in this accident.

We call on the government of Pakistan to urgently ratify ILO Convention 176 on Health and Safety in Mines and, as matter of extreme urgency, 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.

The president of IndustriALL Pakistan Council (IPC) and General Secretary of PCMLF, Sultan Muhammad Khan said that around 120 coal mines in different part of Balochistan have poor safety measures.

The government must take immediate steps to ensure safe working conditions to avoid fatal accidents in coalfields such as Sorrange, Marwar, Duki, Mach, Chamalang, Sharigh, which continue to be dangerous places for work.

Iranian workers struggle for justice

Q: The economic situation in Iran is dire: the rate of unemployment and inflation is high, and the high price of basic food and rent is breaking people’s backs. From the point of view of the union, what is the cause of this situation?

MG: Since Iran’s economic approach turned to unrestrained financial capitalism, prices and unemployment have increased rapidly. Under President Rafsanjani, executing the directives of the World Bank and the IMF became a major factor in government policy. Recently, the economy has opened even further to finance capital.

Twenty-five years after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, our largest key industries, like steel mills, power generation, water, petrochemicals and so on are in crisis, and the uncontrolled imports have plunged domestic industries into stagnation. We now import products that we once exported.

Today more than 40 per cent of the labour force is either unemployed or works in precarious pseudo-jobs. At least three million people are living on unemployment insurance. While we previously had plants that were unparalleled in the Middle East, these industries are in crisis today.

Steel making plants like Zagros and Saaveh have closed down. More than five tyre manufacturing plants have shut. The production from smelting and casting foundries has plummeted to less than 40 per cent. Our car manufacturing companies are known for their poor-quality products.

Finance capital has infiltrated government, promoting large scale asset stripping. Manufacturing plants are driven to bankruptcy and privatized at below market value. Undoubtedly, these are IMF prescriptions that have been implemented in our country at the behest of global capital. The policy prescribed by IMF for countries like ours is to produce oil and nothing else. We have to import everything else.

Our proposal is to reopen, refurbish and modernize the manufacturing industries; to systematically increase the taxes on the rich and their income; and to close the doors to the import of goods that are or could be produced in Iran.

Q: How do workers deal with these issues?

MG: When working people see that the industries they work in cannot sell their products and cannot pay their wages – and see that their purchasing power decrease daily – they raise their voice and protest. They write letters to the authorities, stage protests and eventually, to have their voices heard, have no choice but to walk out and stop production. Finance capital cannot stand protest action. Article 27 of the Constitution allows workers to protest, but the police and security forces obstruct any protest action.

Over the past years, ILO Conventions 98 and 87 have been completely ignored and trade unions are under severe restrictions. For four months now, the office of the Justice Department in the province of Khuzestan has threatened any labour protest with judicial action.

Currently, several labour activists and teachers are in prison. Davoud Razavi, a member, and Ebrahim Madadi, president of the executive committee of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company Trade Union (Sherkat-e Vahed) have been summoned to the Revolutionary Court instead of the civil court. This is used to try cases of sedition.

Workers’ representatives from the Chadormaloo Iron Ore mines have also been taken to the Revolutionary Court. Several workers of Polyacryl in Isfahan have been sentenced. Twenty-eight worker representatives from the Khatoon-Abad copper mines were arrested. They have all subsequently been released on bail, amidst an outcry from unions and IndustriALL Global Union.

Q: After negotiations about Iran’s nuclear programme, the country signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Many hope that the lifting of sanctions will improve the economic situation. What is your opinion?

MG: There is no doubt that the lifting of sanctions is a positive accomplishment. However, what are we going to do with it? Keep importing and shutting down industries?  No worker in the world beats the drums of war, ever. There is no doubt that working people are happy with the lifting of the sanctions. But as long as the economic policy of the government stays the same, nothing will change.

The JCPOA will result in foreign investment. No one opposes the import of useful technology. Bringing in suitable industries, with proper planning, will lead to development and progress and improve the technical knowledge of workers; it will also increase the number of jobs, which is good for the unions, and our membership and our bargaining power will increase. Industrial development will help with economic growth and in creating good jobs and higher wages.

However there are those in powerful circles who see no benefit for themselves in developing the nation.

Q: Can we expect that the relations between Iran and the West, and the US and EU in particular, will enter a phase of friendly relations after the JCPOA? Would this be a long-term situation?

MG: Currently the neighbouring countries of Iran on three sides are engaged in wars: Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Turkey, which has got involved in the war in Syria. There have been attempts for a long time to pull Iran into another war. Extremists in Iran wouldn’t mind a clash with the US, and elements of global capital are trying to pull Iran into a war in order to change the geopolitical map of the region and do the same thing to Iran as they did to Libya and Iraq.

We need to counteract this ploy rationally. The working people of Iran oppose and object to the increase of tensions in foreign policy. This is one side of the matter.

However, the other is that we should be able not only to maintain our nation in peace, but also to keep other parties away from war. We should not have let our relations with Saudi Arabia sour. If we are allies of China and Russia in the region, we should learn self-restraint from Russia’s dealing with Turkey.

Signing an agreement is one thing, and carrying out that agreement is another. We have to elegantly force the other party of the agreement to fulfill its obligations, whatever they are. Contracts with the oil companies must be transparent. When Peugeot became the first Western country to sign a contract with Iran after the lifting of sanctions, there were rumours that the contract was humiliating and against the national interest. Rather than blaming France or the US, this has to do with our own negotiating strategy. We should not find ourselves forced into colonial deals, like the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay, which saw Iran cede much control to Russia.

Finance capital supports war and chaos and strives towards it, because it can use chaos to seize national assets. In my opinion, our mafia-like capitalism cooperates and collaborates with foreign capital, which does not care for our sovereignty and prosperity.

Q: There are rumors that after the JCPOA agreement, Iran’s government will get back tens of billions of dollars of its seized assets and this money will save the economy. Is it UMMI’s expectation that production plants that have been in trouble in the recent years will begin production and therefore the situation of workers will improve?

MG: Mr Rouhani, the President, has stated that addressing the situation of key industries is a priority. We hope that the government will invest this money in manufacturing and production plants in order to boost the economy, and to improve the livelihood of the workers.

We outlined our plan for exiting the current crisis in a statement that we issued a few months ago. We have to utilize our full power to restore and re-launch our industries and employ up-to-date technologies in them.

Petro-dollars should be used to import technology. We have to prevent the import of goods and products that are produced in Iran. We have to revitalize industries, like the Haft-Tappeh sugar cane plant, that can supply the needs of the entire region and the Middle East. Today, Russia badly needs the products of this plant. More than fifty thousand people can be hired directly, and more than a hundred thousand people would be employed indirectly as a result.

In steel, we can reach self-sufficiency and take over markets like Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, and the Arab countries. Iran is located in a strategic region at the crossroad between Asia and Europe, and with investments in rail and road transit, we can provide an excellent transit line for international transportation. We can expand petrochemical industries and make the world depend on our petrochemical derivatives and products. The same goes without saying for oil and gas.

Q: What do the trade unions, and particularly the UMMI, think about the influx of foreign investors in Iran?

MG: If the government keeps conceding to finance capital, we will not benefit from foreign investment. The IMF wants Iran to provide cheap and deregulated labour for foreign investors. Since the presidency of Mr. Khatami in 1997, Iran’s government has done this, and created special trade and commerce zones that are excluded them from coverage by the Labour Law.

The government aims to remove any legal restrictions for wages, retirement, health and unemployment benefits in its sixth development plan. This is akin to saying to Mr Foreign Investor, “come in and do whatever you like with our workers”.

Will the influx of foreign investment lead to the import of modern technology into the country, or we would continue fastening nuts and bolts only? We see Brazil and China as examples. Utilizing foreign investments in their countries, they were able to create jobs and reduce unemployment, and achieve the development and growth that they planned for. Will this happen here? We have to wait and see.

Q: Next year’s minimum wage is the most important issue for workers. What do you think about the increase, and how the employers and the authorities are dealing with it?

MG: My friend! According to the Constitution and Labour Law, the minimum wage is the amount which a working family in Iran needs to live comfortably. Article 43 of the Constitution and Article 41 of the Labour Law are clear on this. Currently, the wages of workers are a quarter of the poverty level. Is this what is in the Constitution? Furthermore, sly employers base the wages for the next year on this year’s inflation rate only, which is a clear robbery.

According to economists such as Professor Raghfar, the poverty level is at three million tomans [about US$1,000] per month. If we want to follow the Constitution, the criteria for the minimum wage must be above this amount. Can the small shops afford to pay this much to their workers? In bargaining, you normally take into account what the other party can afford to pay, and also its capability, before you present your proposal.

Since Mr Rouhani took office and promised to follow the law and rules in dealing with workers, particularly on the matter of wages, nothing has been done. You mentioned the released dollars. Shouldn’t some of these dollars be spent on the wages of the workers?

The minimum wage was miscalculated by 12 per cent in the first year of his Presidency, and last year the increase in minimum wage was 17% less than expected and workers were also threatened. The 40,000 tomans [about US$13/mo] housing support that was approved last year was ignored and not ratified for pay.

This year they said that the inflation rate is 12 per cent and next year it will be 10 or 9 per cent. They better calculate this amount and pay the workers accordingly so that they are not labeled liars. They should increase the minimum wage by 60 per cent.

If workers’ representative go to the negotiating table and communicate the process of the negotiations to the workers, you can be sure that the government will agree – more or less – to this increase out of fear of the workers’ and public opinion.

If they remove restrictions on trade unions and act according to the letter of the Constitution and Article 26, as well as the ILO Conventions about the freedom of unions, the bargaining power of workers will undoubtedly increase and the wage issue will be resolved.

With union involvement, wages will be set at real values, the issue of child labour will be resolved, and by providing a safe working environment, the death of workers at workplaces could be stopped. Trade unions do not think only about their own interests, but they consider the interests of all the people and the national interests.

The government must admit that if it wants to exit the current crisis, it has no other way but to get help from civil society. Through a change from a capitalist approach to a popular approach, and with a national effort, the problems can be overcome. To reach political and economic security, the help of the people and particularly the independent labour unions is needed.

Q: What do you want to say about the solidarity which IndustriALL Global Union provides to you so far? Please tell us your expectations and wishes for the future.

MG: First I have to thank IndustriALL and the global trade union movement for their solidarity with Iranian workers and working people in the current difficult years. We believe that an active, prompt, and effective show of solidarity based on the demands of the struggling workers is one of the most important shows of international solidarity of workers.

Sending letters and messages from IndustriALL and other union organizations to the Iranian President and his ministers about the pressures on the trade union activists, or about the violation of the ILO Conventions and the charter of the human rights by the official state bodies, are practical and effective ways to seek justice on behalf of the Iranian workers. Indeed support from IndustriALL was instrumental in the release of the Khatoon-Abad copper miners.

Our union brothers and sisters can send letters to Iran’s President about the specific cases of arrests, mistreatments, human rights abuses, and the detention of trade union activists, and ask him as the head of the executive branch to intervene in these cases. National and international union organizations can arrange meetings with the President and his ministers during their foreign visits and on behalf of the Iranian workers demand justice and rights for the workers.

They can mobilize public opinion in support of our struggle by publishing our news and views about the labour developments in our country. International union organizations can directly ask the Iranian Minister of Labour to treat us, Iranian workers, according to the ILO Conventions, and protest the detention and illegal firing of trade union activists. They can defend us either by direct support or by filing our complaints with ILO.

 I would like to ask the trade unions that they don’t think of us only in times of trouble, but keep in touch regularly and exchange experiences and learn from each other and be aware of each other’s problems. We would like to hear about them and know about their challenges.

Finally, on behalf of the Union of the Metalworkers and Mechanics of Iran, I greet all labour activists around the world and along with them I say: May the solidarity of workers around the world be broader!

Women unionists in South East Asia mobilize for year ahead

In a meeting in Manila from 15 to 16 February, the IndustriALL Philippines Women Committee, with its new set of officers, vowed to strengthen women workers through the formation of women committees. They highlighted the International Labour Organization’s Maternity Protection Convention (183) as their main advocacy issue.  A resolution was also made allocating 5 per cent of their budget to women and women-related programs, and to support the 40 per cent gender quota resolution of the world women’s committee for IndustriALL’s upcoming world congress in October.  The resolution will be presented to the affiliates’ leaders for adoption. 

Fifteen women leaders from the textile, garments, clothing and mining (IWFM and MWFM) industries in Myanmar participated in the annual planning and evaluation meeting in Yangon from 18 to 19 February. Participants said that awareness-raising on the concept of gender equality and responding to issues and concerns of women workers would be the focus for their preliminary activities. They also plan to form women committees in both IWFM and MWFM as part of their action plan. The unions intend to produce accessible information materials on maternity protection law and gender-equality for distribution to members to commemorate International Women’s Day on 8 March.

The thirty women trade union leaders and members who participated in the Cambodia planning and evaluation meeting devised a concrete plan of action identifying organizing, capacity-building, campaign and policy recommendations as the major priorities for the year. Organizing includes formation of women committees at the workplace through regular meetings with women and conducting study sessions through study circles. Capacity-building includes confidence-building among women workers through leadership and communications skills training. Campaigns to advocate ratification of ILO Maternity Protection Convention and for the regularization of short-term contract workers will be a priority and be pushed to be integrated in collective bargaining agreements. 

The ten IndustriALL affiliates in Cambodia also planned to hold simultaneous mobilizations outside workplaces to kick-off activity for International Women’s Day.

Elsewhere in South East Asia, women leaders from IndustriALL affiliates in Indonesia will meet on 7 March 2016.

Great victory for Donglian Fashion workers in Bangladesh

In a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached between Donglian Fashion (BD) Ltd and SGSF on 10 February 2016, the company agreed to reinstate the workers with all back wages and benefits. The 12 workers, which included the union president and general secretary, were forced to resign from the factory because of their involvement in union activities.

After workers formed the Donglian Fashion (BD) Ltd. Sommilito Workers Union in November 2014, union members and office bearers were in some cases subjected to forced resignations, physical attacks and even death threats. The management also obtained a high court order to restrain union activities on the premises of the company.

However, steadfast mobilization to defend workers’ rights by SGSF and the intervention of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate UA Zensen resulted in bringing the company to the negotiation table and sign an MoU with the union. UA Zensen, supporting SGSF, requested that the Japanese parent company intervene and urge Donglian Fashion in Bangladesh to respect ILO conventions and core labour standards on Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining (Convention No. 87 & No. 98). 

In the MoU signed between Ren Weidong, Chairman of Donglian Fashion (BD) Ltd and Nazma Akhter, President of SGSF, the management also agreed to take immediate steps to withdraw the High Court writ petition No 12244 of 2015 restraining trade union activities at the factory. In line with the agreement, the union office bearers returned to work on February 19.

UA ZENSEN said “We feel happy that this case has been resolved with almost all the demands accepted by the company and wish that the Donglian Fashion trade union will be able to establish good industrial relations for the workers concerned. UA ZENSEN will continue to assist trade union to establish unions and industrial relations in Bangladesh.”