Sherritt rejects government talks over Madagascar mine job losses

Following a letter to the Prime Minister of Madagascar from IndustriALL and local trade unions, the government requested Sherritt Ambatovy management to attend a meeting with trade unions and community leaders on 26 November. However, the company refused and insisted that the matter be referred to a tribunal instead.

Sherritt violated legal procedures and Malagasy labour law in June this year when it laid off hundreds of workers at its Ambatovy nickel operation for six months without consulting the Ambatovy work council.

In a meeting on 17 November, Sherritt said only 10 per cent of the retrenched employees would be reinstated. They said the remaining 443 direct employees at Ambatovy would lose their jobs, including shop stewards who are normally protected by law in these situations.

According to Malagasy labour law, mass dismissals should be done in consultation with the work council, which should have the necessary time and information to assess the need for significant job losses. This information has never been provided.

Furthermore, Sherritt unilaterally suspended the Ambatovy work council when the employees on the council refused to sign the minutes of the 17 November meeting. The employees did not sign the minutes because members of the work council were included in the job losses, and the remaining members were not representative of workers.

IndustriALL and its affiliate at the mine, FESATI, as well as other trade unions SVS and SEKRIMA, are demanding the reinstatement of all the workers.

In total around 900 workers are losing their jobs. Despite the drop in the price of nickel on world markets, trade union leaders believe that Sherritt is taking the opportunity to bust trade unions following a number of strikes.

Meanwhile, Sherritt is hiring expatriate employees and migrant and local contract workers.

Unifor, IndustriALL’s Canadian affiliate which represents workers at Sherritt Canada, also wrote to the company’s headquarters over concerns of union busting.

IndustriALL’s director of mining, Glen Mpufane, said:

Sherritt has shown complete arrogance in refusing to mediate with trade union leaders at the invitation of the regional government. We urge Sherritt to open negotiations and comply with Malagasy law.

Romanian unions demand restoration of labour rights

The Law 62 on Social Dialogue adopted by the government in 2011 under pressure from the International Monetary Fund and the business community, and without being debated in Parliament, has radically altered the system of industrial relations in Romania. Labour law changes have affected some important parts of the employment relationship, such as work contracts, collective bargaining and working time, as well as representativeness and the right to strike. In particular, the law abolished collective bargaining at national level and made sector level bargaining virtually impossible.

The situation has got much worse for workers since the introduction of these changes. Many local unions have lost representative status. “There has been a massive decline in the number of collective agreements signed by trade unions” says Alexandru Rus, President of IndustriALL’s affiliate Metarom and member of the Tenaris global union network.

In many enterprises, he adds, “collective agreements are signed by so-called employees’ representatives who have no collective bargaining experience and lack appropriate skills and knowledge. Under such conditions workers’ interests are poorly served. Moreover, the restriction on the right to strike has impacted union capacity to mobilise significantly.”

In a joint letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Romania, IndustriALL Global

Union and IndustriAll European Trade Union condemned the repeated attacks against workers’ rights and their representatives, and expressed their complete support to their Romanian affiliates in their demand to reverse the legal changes made in 2011.

The legislation has also made it easier for employers to use non-standard employment contracts by extending the period for which fixed-term employment contracts may be concluded from 24 to 36 months. As reported by affiliates, the vast majority of the new jobs created are temporary. In addition, employers take advantage of lax legislation to reduce the number of workers on open-ended contracts and replace them with the more flexible fixed-term contracts.

Together with other unions, IndustriALL’s Romanian affiliates have picketed recently in front of the Ministry of Labour in Bucharest to denounce the erosion of collective bargaining rights and demand a reform of the Labour Code. Complaints have also been filed with the ILO about violation of core international conventions that Romania has ratified. Unions are determined to pursue their action and keep up pressure on the newly formed Government to bring the Law in line with ILO Conventions and restore the practice of social dialogue and collective bargaining.

“IndustriALL Global Union, together with our European sister organization, stands shoulder to shoulder with its Romanian affiliates,” said Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. “We will continue to support the struggle of our Romanian sisters and brothers for decent working conditions and respect for fundamental workers’ rights.”

Women union leaders in South East Asia push for rights

The two-day conference, “Achieving Gender Equality and Improving Maternity Protection at Work” on 24 – 25 November, marked the start of a maternity protection campaign in the region. A study on maternity protection in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar was presented, showing the differences and weaknesses in the systems.

The study, involving some 1,600 women, revealed that in Cambodia, women’s representation on a policy and decision-making level is at least 40 per cent and in some places at least as high as 90 per cent. However, working conditions for female workers are far from decent and the level of maternity protection is well below international standards.

In Indonesia, many women work nine hours or more in one day, six days a week. 26 per cent always do night shifts. Seven percent of the women experienced unwanted transfer to another position because of pregnancy. Sixteen per cent were not allowed to take time off from work during pregnancy, and 23 per cent reported that their workplaces did not allow for breastfeeding when the women returned to work.

In Myanmar, the study established major limitations and challenges among workplaces specifically in terms of women and gender policy. Nearly all the workplaces covered by the study (97 per cent) did not provide opportunities for training and promotion, for example. 94 per cent of the women interviewed were not aware of any policies to combat sexual harassment and violence against women.

In the Philippines, 85 per cent of women had no difficulties accessing maternity benefits and experienced no difficulty when returning to work after maternity leave. However, for women who are contractual/agency-hired, the situation is worse – their contracts are automatically terminated when pregnant. And women in the informal sector or under non-regular forms of employment do not have any maternity benefits at all.

The current maternity benefits in the Philippines date from 1997 and lag behind other South East Asian countries in terms of number of days for maternity leave.

Participants at the workshop devised a concrete plan of action with strategies and activities for the women to implement in their own countries. They also affirmed their commitment to push for ratification of ILO Convention on Maternity Protection, as well as gender quotas in their at federations and at local union levels.

International Paper trade union network meets in Brazil

To answer this and other questions, IndustriALL Global Union trade union representatives from Brazil, France, USA, Russia and Poland met for the IP Global trade union network meeting in Sao Paulo (Brazil) from 10 to 12 November 2015. These are the countries where IP produces the most.

The meeting revealed that many of the workers across IP’s operations are experiencing similar problems, particularly regarding health and safety. Almost all countries have had workplace incidents that have resulted in people dying. Only recently, two workers died at IP factories in the USA.

Intense debates at the meeting raised questions of wages, health and safety of workers, collective bargaining, organizing among other issues.

Salaries vary significantly from one country to another: from US$500 in Brazil up to US$2100 in France. Russian delegates told participants about their very strong social package, which they were able to achieve in the negotiations on collective bargaining. One of the IP plants, belonging to the Ilim group, is located in the far north of Russia where people live and work in very difficult conditions at low temperatures.

Representatives from the United States revealed that a major problem for IP employees in the US outdated equipment. The US delegates took the initiative (which was supported by all participants), to ask company management to hold a conference in 2016 on health and safety. The conference, would be paid for by IP and include one representative from each of the unions of the countries concerned.

Many participants of the meeting also offered to initiate a dialogue with the company on a global framework agreement.

On the last day of the meeting, all participants had the opportunity to visit one of the Brazilian IP mills – Mogi Guaçu, located 200 kilometers from Sao Paulo. Delegates were shown the mill, but, unfortunately, they did not have the opportunity to talk to workers.

"Today, the main issue is the protection of employees at International Paper,” said Jon Geenen, United Steelworkers vice-president and chairman of the IP trade union network. “We must contribute to the solution of this problem for the benefit of all workers employed in the company's production operations."

Landslide kills jade workers in their tents

The landslide happened at night, in a small-scale jade mining area in Myanmar’s Kachin state. The mine is run by a Chinese sub-contractor, Kan Oo Pone, and IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Mine Workers Federation of Myanmar (MWFM), attributes the deaths to the company’s unsafe piling procedures.

Jade mining in Myanmar is often perilous due to unsafe working conditions, and landslides are common. The pile believed to have caused the accident is thought to have been around 1,000 feet high. The moving rubble landed on the tents where workers and their families live, making a living out of searching for left-over stones among the rubble.

As Myanmar is opening up, both politically and financially, capital is flowing into the country. Trade unions were illegal in Myanmar until 2012, meaning that both workers’ and employers' knowledge of rights and obligations is at best low, and in many instances non-existent.

Corruption is also widespread in the country, and the MWFM claims that labour inspections in the area have not been carried out the way they should.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director, says:

This is a tragic accident where workers have paid a high price for mine owners and authorities failing to ensure safety. Unions have an important role to play in Myanmar in order to prevent this from happening in the future,

As of January 2015, IndustriALL counts two affiliates in the country, working hard to organize members and build functioning industrial relations with employers and government authorities. MWFM organizes mine workers, and are in the process of registering three new trade unions with the authorities.

Coordinating the fight against precarious work in Morocco

There are no official figures on the number of fixed term contracts and temporary agency work in Morocco. However, trade unions in the country report an increase of these forms of employment. This is also confirmed by the Moroccan social security system, which indicates that the number of temporary workers benefiting from its coverage doubled between 2008 and 2013.

On 17 November, IndustriALL’s Moroccan affiliates met in Casablanca to discuss ways to coordinate the fight against precarious work. According to the existing labour code, temporary work should be an exception. But the abusive use of precarious work in the country is in clear violation of this, and the unions agreed on the need to collect data to be able to denounce the violations.

This meeting was also an opportunity for affiliates to exchange experiences with unions from Egypt and Tunisia who were present at the meeting, and who are also working to to stop precarious work.

IndustriALL Global Union’s affiliates in Morocco have taken action at company level to limit the use of precarious work and to convert temporary contracts into permanent ones.

Since 2010, in response of production’s increase in automotive sector in Morocco, auto companies and their suppliers based in Morocco, have employed hundreds of fixed-term contracts workers and resorted to temporary agency work.

The confederation UMT (Union Marocaine du Travail) reported that local staff representatives in an auto supplier managed through intensive collective bargaining, to progressively convert more than 500 fixed-term contract workers and agency workers into permanent workers. This has given the workers access to health insurance and bonuses, which they did not have before. As temporary workers, most of them was earning only minimum wage. The bargaining process is continuing, and the union is planning to convert an additional 220 temporary workers into permanent ones.

Between 2008 and 2014, the SNTP (Syndicat National des Travailleurs de Phosphate) affiliated to the CDT (Confédération Démocratique du Travail) reported that through successful collective bargaining, 2,400 outsourced workers were converted into permanent workers.

In a mine in Samine, belonging to the Managem group, the mining and energy union SNEM/CDT (Syndicat National d’Energie et des Mines) negotiated the conversion of 120 fixed-term contract workers who had had temporary workers status for years.

In the silver mine of Tinghir, also belonging to the Managem group, the same union succeeded through collective bargaining in 2001 to forbid outsourcing of any activities linked to production.

IndustriALL affiliates in Morocco have been able to develop alternative strategies to better protect precarious workers. The FNTE/UMT (Fédération Nationale de l’Energie) as well as the SNEM and the SNTP have ensured the inclusion, in the commercial contracts between the main employer and their subcontractors, provisions protecting the rights of subcontractors employees like the respect for freedom of association, respect for the labour code and health and safety standards, compulsory registration of workers in the social security system, as well as salaries at least at the level of the national minimum wage.

Unions at the meeting agreed that the fight against precarious work is continuing, and the issue will be discussed at the next meeting of the IndustriALL Moroccan council.

Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary IndustriALL, says:

Despite the tireless efforts of employers to weaken the direct and permanent employment in Morocco, IndustriALL’s affiliates have been able to limit the expansion of precarious work in many companies through collective bargaining. This is a remarkable achievement.
However, this fight against precarious work is an uphill battle. We strongly support our affiliates' call for a better implementation of the existing legislation, restriciting the use of fixed-term contracts and agency work. We also welcome their willingness to further coordinate their future fight against precarious work.

IndustriALL in solidarity with CNM/CUT after attack

"I hope that this attack is not inspired by intolerance and hate of democratic and representative institutions that fight to ensure equality of rights and social justice”, said CNM/CUT president Paulo Cayres.

The glass front of the union office, located in São Bernardo do Campo, was smashed on Wednesday night.

We want to see a serious investigation to identify and punish whoever is responsible for this cowardly act”, said Cayres. "The union is waiting for the police to provide images from the security cameras to be able to know who was responsible for the attack."

Fernando Lopes, IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary said:

This criminal and cowardly attack was intended to intimidate metalworkers affiliated to the CUT, but nothing will intimidate these combative workers. I am certain that the CNM will stand firm in the fight for a better Brazil.

Gerdau workers in Brazil face anti-trade union practices

Gerdau is attacking workers’ rights at six of its factories in Brazil. The company wants to issue vouchers to workers instead of giving them a pay rise as required by law. The union has already signed collective agreements covering some of these plants, but workers have yet to receive the agreed pay rise.

Union members have denounced the company for installing security cameras to monitor employees in some parts of the factories without advising workers, which is illegal. The company is using various tactics to put pressure on employees to accept its proposal, which does not comply with the collective agreements it has signed. However, the unions are standing firm and are receiving regular messages of solidarity.

IndustriALL affiliate the National Confederation of Metalworkers affiliated to the CUT (CNM/CUT, represents 5,230 workers at Gerdau. It has rejected these anti-trade union practices and expressed its support for the workers.

“In response to these actions, the six CUT-affiliated unions will take all reasonable measures to defend the interests of metalworkers and ensure respect for trade union organisation and collective agreements”, said the CNM/CUT in an official communique.

Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL general secretary, has written to Miguel Rossetto, minister of labour and social security and Armando de Queiroz Monteiro Neto, minister of development, industry and international trade, to ask them to intervene. He has also written to Gerdau’s CEO André Johannpeterm, saying:

IndustriALL calls on Gerdau to comply with Brazilian and international labour legislation that provides unrestricted protection for workers’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

El Corte Ingles and BRAC pay into Tazreen fund

Spanish department store, El Corte Ingles, will give US$100,000 to the fund, while the NGO, BRAC USA, has donated US$250,000.

IndustriALL Global Union and the Clean Clothes Campaign have been fighting hard to get compensation for victims.

Around 120 people were killed in the fire on 24 November 2012, while a further 300 workers were injured, many of them permanently.

One year ago, IndustriALL Global Union together with the Clean Clothes Campaign, C&A and the C&A Foundation signed an agreement, brokered by the International Labour Organization, to set up the Tazreen Claims Administration Trust to make payments to victims for medical treatment, loss of income and loss of life from a dedicated fund.

In total there are now five donors to the fund. C&A Foundation and the Fung Foundation have both paid US$1,000,000. German discount retailer, KiK, has paid US$150,000.

Remembering the victims of the tragic fire three years ago, the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council organized a human chain in Dhaka, calling for an end to unacceptable working conditions in the country's garment industry.

Longstanding conflict in Burkina Faso far from over

Contract workers at Nord Gold Bissa mine in Burkina Faso are in conflict with Exterhum Africa, who has consistently refused to listen to the workers’ demands.

Nord Gold has two operations in Burkina Faso, at Sabcé (Bissa Gold SA) and at Taparco (SOMITA SA). A staggering 80 per cent of the workforce is on a contract basis, with fixed term contracts renewable without limitation.

In April, workers presented the management of Bissa Gold SA with a number of demands, including increasing the number of hours related to the role of union representatives from two to 15 hours per month, the right to use cell phones on site during break time and lunch hour, shortening shifts from 12 to eight hours according to the labour law, paid overtime as well as when working on holidays.

With the demands unheard, workers handed management a letter in October, informing of a planned strike if their demands were not met. When there was still no response, around 700 workers coming off their shift organized a sit-in.

Management responded by denying almost 400 workers who had just begun their shift access to food, water and the toilets. Interventions from the union, the National Union of Mine and Quarry Workers (SNTMCB), the central union organization, the National Confederation of Workers of Burkina Faso (CNTB) and local community leaders, were to no avail.

When the sit-in ended four days later, management continued to intimidate workers by firing 110 of them by letter. Another group of workers was denied access to the site, and all workers involved in the strike saw their bank accounts frozen by the employer.

IndustriALL Global Union and CNTB has called for government intervention to avoid further deterioration of the situation.

“The actions of both Exterhum and Nord Gold Bissa are in direct violation of the ILO conventions on freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively.

“Rumours are rife and people are scared of being the next ones on the list. This conflict must end now and our workers must get their jobs back without any retaliation from the employer,” says Augustin Blaise Hien, general secretary of CNTB.

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL, says:

Precarious work is a threat to all workers. Both the real employer, Nord Gold, and the agency, Exterhum Africa, must take responsibility and immediately enter into dialogue with the union to solve this conflict.