Kyrgyzstan: victory for striking gold miners

Around 200 gold miners went on strike on 21 January after their letter with demands to the management at the mine’s operating company, Vertex Gold, remained without response for five days.

The miners demands included review of unreasonable production plans, increase of their salary by 20 percent, and extra pay for overtime work, night shifts and work during holidays, as these extra payments had never been paid to miners in violation of Kyrgyzstan law.

The average miners' salary at the Zhamgyr gold mine, situated at an altitude of 3,300 meters, is approximately 19,000 Kyrgyzstan Som (US$250), and there has been no salary increase or indexation since 2013.

On 23 January, the miners and IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Mining and Metallurgy Trade Union of Kyrgyzstan (MMTUK) succeeded in negotiating a 15 per cent salary increase with the management. Another 5 per cent increase will be considered after consultations with the investor. The gold mine operation resumed the same day.

The management also agreed to make an extra pay in case of miners’ over-performance and promised to solve all pending issues, including providing proper personal protective equipment, as well as better working conditions, within one month. 

The other trade union at the mine is under management control and has failed to protect workers’ rights, which led 85 miners from one mining shift to apply to join the MMTUK on 19 January. Miners from another shift are expected to do the same.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said: 

“IndustriALL congratulates Zhamgyr miners on their victory. We also welcome the free decision of miners to join IndustriALL affiliate the Mining and Metallurgy Trade Union of Kyrgyzstan. This decision is good both for the workers and the company, since an active and good trade union promotes workers’ welfare, a solid industrial relationship and company success.”  

Avon, ‘the company for women’ hurts women in the Philippines

In the Philippines, Avon’s production plant is located in Calamba industrial zone outside Manila. The plant employs mainly women and only about 120 of them are directly employed, while other 350 are working through labour agencies. Those working through the agencies are employed on minimum monthly wage of PhP 7000 (US$ 146). Many of these contract workers have been performing jobs that are part of the core business of the company for years. They work on production lines together with their regularly employed colleagues.

This practice is illegal since according to national legislation a worker performing the same job for company for more than one year should be granted regular employment. Avon engages labour agencies to act as their bogus employers and deprives these workers of job security and social benefits, which are essential for their families.

Mostly aged between 20 and 25, the female workers were attracted to work for Avon by the idea that ‘the company for women’ would give them a better future. But after years of working without security and the benefits they deserve, they realize that they are getting only empty promises.

A few days before Christmas when the whole country was preparing to celebrate the biggest festival and holiday, Avon management ordered the termination of 16 worker representatives who had questioned their employment practices and alleged that Avon had breached rules and regulations regarding the use of precarious employment and short term contract for works done in the company’s production lines.

Avon local management accused the workers’ reps for conducting an ‘illegal strike’ in September 2015 when they were in collective bargaining for an agreement on working conditions that would be effective from February 2014 until January 2017. The final round of negotiations took place in September and the collective agreement was signed by the union and management on 16 September 2015. 

Following the signing of the new collective agreement, the workers were surprised to learn that Collin Whittington, Avon’s General Manager for the Philippines, had accused them of conducting an illegal strike and filed a case in order to discharge them from work.

The dismissed representatives have an average of 20 years in service each. Apart from many family members whose lives depend on them, the 32 children currently in school will soon be forced to drop out unless their mothers and fathers are reinstated in the jobs.

Avon is a US multinational company with headquarters in New York and production facilities in 39 countries across five continents.

IndustriALL Global Union’s Asia Pacific Executive Committee met in Tokyo last week and passed a resolution supporting the workers and dismissed unionists of Avon Philippines Employees Union in their fight for reinstatement and against precarious work at Avon Products Manufacturing plant in the Philippines.

“Unlike the company’s slogan that says ‘Beauty is the journey, empowerment is the destination’, the women who make Avon products in the Philippines are far from being empowered with the precarious employment Avon has offered them,”

says Chit Dodd, President of Confederation of Labour & Allied Social Services (CLASS) and member of IndustriALL Global Union’s Executive Committee.

"While Avon Corporate Governance states that the company is committed to ‘compliance with both the letter and spirit of all applicable laws and regulations’, Avon’s practice in the Philippines is contradictory to the country’s labour law which prohibits Labour Only Subcontracting,”

said Sannie Santos, Avon union president.

In Septebmer 2015 in his letter to the company Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union strongly urges Avon Products Manufacturing "to stop attacking union officials, drop any frivolous lawsuits against workers, and take immediate remedial actions to restore decent working conditions at the manufacturing plant in the Calamba Premiere Industrial Park, Barangay Batino, Calamba City, Laguna, Philippines." The company failed to respond so far.

Joint commitment to prevent workplace sexual harassment by IndustriALL, IUF and Unilever

Defined as a form of sexual discrimination by the International Labour Organisation and illegal in many countries, it still remains difficult to tackle effectively. Unilever, IndustriALL and IUF, the international trade unions representing the company’s union workforce, have signed a joint commitment to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

The agreement

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL, says:

“Sexual harassment is a serious problem that affects working women at all workplaces all over the world. IndustriALL welcomes the opportunity to work together with Unilever, a major multinational corporation, and we hope to use this agreement to successfully stop these abuses against women in Unilever’s plants worldwide.”

IUF general secretary Ron Oswald calls the commitment

“A concrete, practical joint effort to ensure that sexual harassment is effectively combated and the rights of all who work for Unilever are adequately protected in this vital area”, adding that “We look forward to working together with Unilever and our members at the company to ensure that it is implemented, monitored and followed up.”

Paul Polman CEO of Unilever affirms:

“Sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination have no place within Unilever or anywhere else for that matter. Only through their eradication can we create truly diverse and inclusive workplaces. We know that progress is best made through genuine dialogue and trusted and effective ways for workers to raise concerns or complaints. I warmly welcome the support from the IUF, IndustiALL and their members to help us build on our existing work. These issues are not unique to Unilever and therefore to create lasting positive change, we are also engaging with our suppliers, business partners and others in our industry and beyond. We are committed to put all our efforts behind this agreement as we continue to work to respect, uphold and advance human rights”,

Unions – voice of social justice in Davos

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos is a crazy, special event. Each January, almost 3000 political leaders, business executives, civil society representatives arrive by train, bus or helicopter in the snowy alpine town in eastern Switzerland to debate all and everything during three days. They are surrounded by hundreds of consultants who are trying to sell their expensive services.

It is definitely a meeting of the elite, but the atmosphere is peculiar.  In the corridors of the huge congress centre, you bump into queens, crown princes, ministers, CEOs, actors and whatever, all with their entourage. You can talk to anyone if you dare. While I am sitting at a café with a high UN official, at the next table the Greek prime minister and Ukrainian president are starting their session. Power and money is all present and very near.

The global union leaders have attended the annual WEF sessions for more than 20 years now. I think it has been the right decision. If we are not there, no one will tell the politicians and executives that they cannot continue business as usual, as unemployment runs high and inequality is deeper than ever.

Labour is the voice of social justice in Davos. We speak about workers’ concerns. This is why Klaus Schwab, founder of the WEF, wanted us there twenty years ago.

Davos is a place to organize your thinking and sharpen your arguments. This time I spoke in debates about the future of manufacturing, global supply chains, and trade and investment.

Industry 4.0 is advancing, and it is both a social and technological revolution. Changes in manufacturing will require a major retraining effort and active labour market policies to create new jobs.

We have to strengthen the responsibility of multinational corporations throughout their global supply chains. ITUC’s fresh Scandal report revealed that 50 top MNCs employ directly only 6 per cent of their workforce. 94 per cent or 116 million workers are toiling for their suppliers and subcontractors, often in poor working conditions.

Trade debate continues, since after the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) between 12 Pacific Rim countries was concluded in October 2015, the European Union is negotiating with the US on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

One of the biggest problems of TPP is the investment protection mechanism ISDS, which gives multinational corporations the right to sue sovereign states and take them to murky arbitration. Thanks to public pressure, the EU in November presented an investment court system, which it says is more transparent and democratic.

ITUC’s Sharan Burrow was one of the WEF co-chairs and summarized our thoughts on climate change and sustainable development: we need a profound change in energy production, but industrial transformation has to include a just transition for workers.

Despite all the discussions and debates, our future is not determined in Davos. It is decided on the ground, through our everyday struggle of organizing workers and building union power all over the world, through our capacity to mobilize for a sustainable change, good quality jobs with living wages and the right to join a trade union.

Jyrki Raina

General Secretary

Global unions criticize Bangladesh Government over EU compact

More than 1,110 workers were killed when a garment factory complex collapsed in April 2013.  The Bangladesh Sustainability Compact was established between the European Union and the Government of Bangladesh with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to improve labour rights and health and safety in the ready-made garment sector in the country.

The evaluation by the International Trade Union Confederation, IndustriALL Global Union and Uni Global Union, comes ahead of a closed Sustainability Compact review meeting hosted by the Government of Bangladesh on 27 January. It says: 

“Far too much remains to be done by the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) and the garment industry, not only to ensure fire and building safety but to simply guarantee basic respect for the law – including both national and international labour standards.”

The report says it is aware of more than 100 cases of anti-union discrimination in factories where new trade unions have been registered and criticizes the Government for failing to guarantee freedom of association:

The inability of many workers to organize and form unions without retaliation and to bargain collectively over the terms and conditions of work means that any gains in building and fire safety and other conditions of work will not be sustainable, leading to certain future tragedies.

The report questions the rigor of factory inspections made by the Bangladesh national tripartite committee which immediately declared 80 per cent of the factories within its remit to be safe, whereas inspections by the Bangladesh Accord and the Alliance found critical issues in every single factory.

The evaluation also condemns a severe climate of anti-union violence in Bangladesh, frequently directed by company management, with the perpetrators of the crimes having near total impunity.

The global unions are calling on the European Union to use its preferential trade scheme (GSP) with Bangladesh to secure meaningful and immediate improvements. Bangladesh benefits from the EU's "Everything but Arms" arrangement, which grants duty and quota free access for all exports, except arms and ammunition.

“There is no question that the GOB is directly or indirectly responsible for very serious violations which are in clear breach of the ILO standards incorporated into the EU GSP scheme,” says the evaluation.

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina, said:  

The action by Bangladesh Government to meet the terms of the Sustainability Compact has been inadequate. Anti-union discrimination continues, violence against union leaders goes unpunished and workers who have reported safety problems have been sacked. The Government must do more to protect its workers in the garment industry or risk another tragedy.”

Brazilian metalworkers’ prepare for industry challenges

The activities are part of a thematic event  being organized in the run up to the World Social Forum 2016, which will take place in Montreal, Canada in August.

Metalworkers’ union, CNM/CUT, has issued an open invitation to the workshop on “Industrialization and the challenges faced by the working class in Brazil and Latin America”. Marino Vani, IndustriALL Assistant Regional Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean will represent IndustriALL at the event.

"The aim of the workshop is to show that industrial workers are fighting for economic and social progress, mainly to promote decent working conditions”, explained CNM General Secretary, Loricardo de Oliveira.

The event will also launch the book Las caras de la industria metalúrgica en Brasil: una contribución a la lucha sindical (Aspects of the metalworking industry in Brazil: a contribution to the trade union struggle). It provides a comprehensive assessment of the six sectors of the metalworking industry in the country and is published by CNM/CUT in conjunction with the trade union research organisation, DIESSE.   

More than 200 hundred organizations are expected to take part in this year’s World Social Forum, which is a large annual meeting for members of civil society to discuss solutions to the problems facing the world.

“At the end of each forum, a document is published worldwide with proposals for sustainability. We want to take responsibility for putting forward suggestions capable of bringing change to industry,” said Loricardo de Oliveira.

Fernando Lopes, IndustriALL Global Union Assistant General Secretary, said:

The World Social Forum is an important initiative at which social movements discuss and organise joint action to create a more just society that allows the interests of people and the sustainability of the planet to take precedence over the desire of the big companies to increase profits.

Asia Pacific executive committee and women’s committee meet in Tokyo

The executive committee passed resolutions supporting the workers and dismissed unionists of Avon Philippines Employees Union, as well as the workers and AWU affiliated union of Alcoa in Australia.

Yasunobu Aihara, chair of the Aisa Pacific executive committee said on the executive committee:

This has been a very useful meeting with many important discussions, including issues affecting the trade union movement in our region. Many constructive ideas have been exchanged regarding IndustriALL’s future work in the region.

The Asia Pacific Women’s committee met on 19 January and endorsed the decision of the World Women’s Conference in Vienna in September 2015 of a 40 per cent representation of women at all levels of IndustriALL.

Monika Kemperle, InudstriALL assistant general secretary, said:

Asia Pacific has shown the way by having 40 per cent women representation at the executive committee. This inspire other regions to achieve this important milestone.

British government supports shipbreaking convention

In a letter to IndustriALL Global Union’s UK affiliate Unite, the British Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, said:

“Once the provisions of the EU Regulation have been fully implemented, our focus will shift to ratification of the Hong Kong International Convention as we will then have all the necessary domestic legislation in place.”

The response comes after Unite’s national officer for shipbuilding, Ian Waddell, wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron requesting that the UK Government urgently ratifies the Convention.

Kan Matsuzaki, director of shipbuilding and shipbreaking at IndustriALL, said:

“We welcome the British Government’s willingness to support the Hong Kong Convention and we expect the Government to accelerate its ratification process. The Convention cannot come into force until it has been ratified by at least 15 countries representing 40 per cent of gross tonnage of the world’s merchant shipping. The UK could play important role in the process as one of the major ship-owner states in the world.”

IndustriALL is leading a campaign to clean up shipbreaking, regarded as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Read the British Government’s response here.  

Why Industry 4.0 is both a social and technological revolution

Industry 4.0 is both a social and a technological revolution. Technological changes in the workplace have deep social implications, as temporary and casual work risks to spread further, unemployment runs high, wages are low and workers’ rights attacked. These pressures can lead to social unrest and even to radicalization, if those left without work feel abandoned by political decision-makers. Also the refugee crisis can deteriorate as people without hope hit the road in search of a better life.

“Industrial change must not come at the cost of social justice. Although wealth is being created and concentrated at a record pace, the number of jobs created per unit of wealth accumulated has dropped catastrophically,” says IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina.

This week Oxfam released a new report revealing that just 62 people own as much wealth as the poorest half of the entire world population, while the richest 1 per cent own more than the other 99 per cent combined.

“Corporations and their increasing capital have a responsibility to the communities they serve, not least to avoid a breakdown in society and poverty, but because they’ll be left with no markets and no customers,” adds Raina who is taking part in WEF debates at Davos.

Further research released by the ITUC on Monday reveals a hidden workforce of 116 million people toiling in the supply chains of 50 of the world’s top companies.

Only 6 per cent of people making products for these companies, which have a combined revenue of US$3.4 trillion, are employed directly.  Millions of workers in their global supply chains are suffering low wages, precarious work, unsafe working conditions and poor labour rights.

A Just Transition

IndustriALL, together with other global unions, will be at Davos arguing for a Just Transition for workers affected by both the technological transformation of industry and global efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

“We need a fair transition to a low-carbon economy that respects and protects present-day workers and their communities, while creating new decent work in sustainable industries,” says Raina.

Workers in emerging and developing economies will face the greatest challenge as the number of jobless is expected to rise by 4.8 million over the next two years according to a report from the International Labour Organization – The World Employment Social Outlook 2016.

The new workplace

Industry 4.0 creates new meanings for the concepts of work, workplace, health and safety, availability and flexibility.  While many traditional workplaces will disappear, new ones will be created but the overall affect on jobs is not clear.

What is clear is that workers must be given new skills to master technological developments, or risk being left behind. 

“As the transformation happens, IndustriALL’s goal remains the same – to build strong, sustainable industrial bases with good quality jobs, living wages, safe workplaces, and the right to join a trade union,” concludes Raina.

Online course on Workers´ Rights in a Global Economy

The Global Labour University offers a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) called Workers' Rights in a Global Economy. The course aims to connect union members and labour activists from around the world on an interactive platform. Students will be able to exchange challenges and strategies for implementing workers' rights globally.
 
The course starts on 3 March and runs over eight weeks. It is taught by academics, ILO and trade union experts, and is based on video lectures, readings and interactive quizzes and discussions.
 
You can find all the information needed here.