Acting to end violence against women

One in three women and girls have experienced physical or sexual violence according to the UN.  In some countries, it is as high as 7 in ten.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary, Monika Kemperle, said:

Violence against women is a trade union issue. Women working in precarious and low-paid jobs are particularly vulnerable to physical abuse and bullying.  Many women fear reporting violence in case they lose their jobs.

At IndustriALL Global Union’s Women World Conference in Austria this September, more than 300 women trade unionists from over 60 countries endorsed a permanent IndustriALL campaign against violence.

This includes measures working to negotiate clauses against violence in collective bargaining agreements; to make violence a topic in union networks; and to commemorate 25 November – International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

This year the United Nations is asking people to ‘orange the world’ inviting organizations to plan orange-coloured events to raise awareness of violence against women and girls.

“Gender-based violence takes many forms and stopping violence against women in the workplace must be at the top of the agenda for trade unions when it comes to negotiating with employers and educating workers,” said Kemperle.

Tell us about your actions to stand up against violence against women by emailing: [email protected] 

Brazil – mining flood destroys everything in its way

On 5 November, the mining company Samarco, owned by the Brazilian company Vale and BHP Billiton, was the scene of one of the worst mining tragedies in Brazil’s history. A dam containing residues collapsed, releasing a toxic wave flooding the valley and killing a dozen people while injuring others. An estimated 500 people have been displaced from their homes.

The sludge and mining residues reached the River Doce, which is a source of drinking water in the south east of Brazil. As a result, Municipal authorities have had to ban use of river water for human consumption. The contaminated water has now reached the Atlantic Ocean.

In this atmosphere of sadness and devastation, trade unions and environmental and human rights movements and organizations have expressed their solidarity with those affected. On 10-12 November, the VI Plenary of the Congress of the National Chemical Workers’ Confederation affiliated to the CUT (CNQ/CUT), and an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, declared its solidarity with the people of Mariana and workers employed at the mining company.

At its congress, the CNQ/CUT said:

“We hope that the authorities, the Ministry of Labour and inspectors treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves and take all the steps necessary to ensure it cannot happen again.”

After detailed negotiations, BHP Billiton issued a communiqué on 17 November, confirming that Samarco has signed a preliminary commitment with Brazilian prosecutors, guaranteeing payment of US$260 million to fund a range of emergency measures, including prevention, remediation and compensation for the environmental and social effects of the incident.

Fernando Lopes, IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary, said:

It is very important that Samarco pays reparations for the damage but there is no way it can bring back the people who have died. Companies must invest in personal and environmental security in order to avoid accidents like this.

Women will not achieve equal pay until 2133?

More and more women are taking up paid work. But on a global scale women are still only earning what men earned ten years ago, whilst men's pay has moved on. In 97 countries more women than men are university students, but women only make up the majority of skilled workers in 68 countries. Even worse, women make up the majority of leaders in only four countries in the world.

The gender gap is closing in the political world, although there is room for improvement. In some cases, voluntary political quotas have made progress possible.

The Global Gender Gap Report ranks 145 countries on their ability to close the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity (salaries, participation and leadership), education (access to basic and higher levels of education), health and survival (life expectancy and the sex ratio), and political empowerment (representation in decision-making structures).

According to the report the ten most gender equal countries are Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Rwanda, Philippines, Switzerland, Slovenia and New Zealand. The lowest ranked country in the index is Yemen.

Apart from any human rights arguments, gender inequality is not conducive to economic growth.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Monika Kemperle, says:

It will take another three generations to reach economic equality with men. We need to mobilize the social partners to speed up this process; even in countries with good laws they are not always implemented. Equal pay for women and men is ultimately a decent work issue."

Find the report at www.weforum.org

Climate change requires Just Transition

On 30 November, the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or the very much shorter COP21 will be opened in Paris, France. IndustriALL will be there.

At the moment it seems likely that in spite of possible complications, a global regime to limit greenhouse gases as well as mechanisms for adaptation and remediation measures, will be agreed on by the almost 200 states present in Paris. The Paris Regime or Accord, whatever it may be called, will have a significant impact on IndustriALL’s industrial sectors.

IndustriALL affiliated unions in 140 countries represent millions of workers in coal and uranium mining, oil and gas production, electricity generation and distribution, and in a number of energy intensive industries such as steel, aluminium, cement, glass, pulp and paper. Our members build wind mills, solar power panels and cars using traditional, hybrid and electric power engines.

Indeed, IndustriALL is the Climate Change Global Union.

We want to ensure a planet for future generations. But we also want to make sure that our workers will be taken care of, and that they are treated fairly.

That is what we call Just Transition.

In September, we participated in the Trade Union Climate Summit in Paris, hosted by the ITUC. The summit endorsed three top demands for the Paris agreement, calling on governments to:                                              

Industrial transformation to us means Just Transition. Earlier in November, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) formally adopted the criteria for realizing the Just Transition principles. The ILO defined essential steps countries should take to transform their economies for a low-carbon future, creating new jobs and supporting workers and communities in high-carbon sectors as industries are transformed.

The ILO document talks about active labour market policies, skills development, health and safety, and social protection.

One of the most worried group of workers have been our coal miners. A recent conference of our coal mining unions from Australia to South Africa and Poland did not miss the irony that industrialization of the global economy has been on the back of coal mining, and now coal miners are threatened by the very consequences of industrial development.

But our coal mining unions adopted a set of demands to support ILO’s Just Transition criteria:

Managing climate change has to be fair. If the transition is handled properly, many existing jobs can be greened while millions of new jobs are created over a period of time.

We want a future that is attractive for today’s workers and optimistic for future workers. After Paris, we will start doing what is necessary to achieve it.

Jyrki Raina
General Secretary

IndustriALL World Mechanical Engineering Conference builds union power

Hosted by Swiss affiliate Unia in Bern, Switzerland on 23-24 November, trade union representatives from 21 countries shared experiences and strategy. The conference looked at changes in the industry since the last world conference, four years ago in Cincinnati, USA.

The world conference adopted an ambitious Action Plan for work in the sector over the next four years. The Action Plan, in line with IndustriALL’s five strategic goals, commits the sector to fight precarious work, create and build company trade union networks including down the supply chain, and foster new industrial policies that react to digitalization of production.

IndustriALL launched a comprehensive industry report at the conference. IndustriALL affiliates interested in receiving a copy can write to the secretariat.

All participating unions highlighted the problem of precarious work, with the sector’s large employers undermining unions by outsourcing their workforce.

Outsourced workers are treated as second-class workers by employers in the sector, receiving lower wages and worse conditions than regular workers. Often exposed to higher safety risks, the contract workers often do not speak up for fear of management retaliating.

Union representatives also stated that the increasing outsourcing trend leads directly to poor quality products.

Conference dealt with Industry 4.0 and IndustriALL Global Union’s industrial policy and its call for a Just Transition to a sustainable industry.

Chairing the conference, Rainer Wimmer, President of Austrian affiliate ProGe, and Sector Chair, opened the conference:

“The real action happens at the grassroots level. Nothing happens without solidarity in the workplaces. We must organize along production chains, set up network structures, and build worker power.”

IndustriALL Global Union Assistant General Secretary, Kemal Özkan, said:

Growing inequality is one of the biggest problems in the world, posing an increasing threat to sustainability. Let us fight this inequality.

We congratulate IG Metall for the Thyssen Krupp Global Framework Agreement. That agreement will now be a benchmark. At the same time we are very concerned about how Caterpillar cutting US$ 10 billion costs will affect workers.

Another world is possible. IndustriALL’s 700 unions around the world work together to build solidarity. Organizing and joint action across borders will make our voice strong.

Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL Director for the Mechanical Engineering Sector reported on active trade union networks in Caterpillar, John Deere and SKF. The SKF network is struggling under massive job cuts by the Swedish company:

We are a wide sector. Many of our sub sectors are going through rapid change. Digitization is affecting us all. Industry 4.0 is coming on top of the traditional problems, such as offshoring and the need for colleagues to constantly improve their skills and knowledge. We also have the problem of precarious work. Fewer and fewer workers in our sector are directly employed, being replaced by outsourced workers through contractors.

Julius Christian of IG Metall called for unity within company networks:

“ThyssenKrupp wants to divide us. We must stick together, negotiate together and organize through our network. That is my key message here.”

Jody Mauller of the North American union IBB reacted to the tough reports of management attacks on union rights in Europe:

“My message to our European brothers and sisters whose employers are starting to latch on to the American model is to fight back.”

Vania Alleva, President of Unia:

“In the present environment – around the world, and also here in Switzerland – active unionists are particularly important. I am continually impressed by the commitment and hard work of our many colleagues. You confirm my conviction that together we can achieve things. Together we can overcome the tremendous challenges facing us.”

The conference unanimously elected two co-chairs for the sector, IG Metall’s Christiane Benner and ProGe’s President Rainer Wimmer.

Shame on Shell! Pakistani workers organize, management deploys troops

IndustriALL Global Union reported in August about the successful struggle of its Pakistani affiliate PCEM, (Pakistan Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers’ Union) at Shell. The union supported 300 Shell workers’ legal claim to pass from precarious to permanent contracts.

The workers from Shell Pakistan’s Lubricant oil blending plant in Keamari, Karachi first attempted to register their Insaf Shell Pakistan Workers Union in 2013. Shell appealed against the registration on grounds that the 300 contract workers were not officially Shell employees.

On 16 July 2015 Pakistan’s trade union registrar dismissed the management's appeal.

However, instead of recognizing the new union and bargaining a new collective agreement, Shell Pakistan's management filed another appeal before the national trade union registrar in Islamabad to stop a workplace union vote proceeding. This second appeal was also dismissed, on 30 October.

PCEM President Imran Ali, who is also chair of the IndustriALL national council in Pakistan, reports:

"Instead of allowing workers to vote on whether they want a union, Shell Pakistan deployed paramilitary rangers at the plant on 17 November. The company then appointed 100 new workers through contractors and will punish its workers by outsourcing the packaging work of lubricant oil.”

IndustriALL Global Union Assistant General Secretary Kemal Özkan states:

How does this massive multinational company dare to treat its workers in Pakistan with such disdain. The Shell employees in Karachi simply want their legal rights to a proper contract and to a voice in their workplace through a union. I don’t think that warrants the management reaction of mobilizing security forces. IndustriALL stands alongside its affiliate the PCEM.

IndustriALL Global Union is looking for a communications officer

This full time position is based in Geneva and involves some travel.

Your main tasks will be:

Requirements

Applications by 3 December 2015

Please send your application including a CV and motivation letter by e-mail to IndustriALL’s communications director Petra Brännmark at [email protected] at the latest by 2 December 2015. We will interview short-listed candidates and complete the application process so that the new communications officer can start work in Geneva as soon as possible in 2016.

IndustriALL Global Union is a global trade union organization, which represents 50 million workers in mining, energy and manufacturing sectors in 140 countries. IndustriALL focuses on building union power all over the world through organizing and campaigns, fighting for an economic and social model that puts people first, based on democracy and social justice.

IndustriALL condemns crackdown on Korean unions

More than 2,000 police were reportedly employed to search eight different union premises including the headquarters and Seoul offices of IndustriALL affiliate the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU).

During the raids on Saturday 21 November, police with warrants seized computers, equipment and internal documents from union offices.  

Police also swooped on the offices of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and several affiliates, and arrested unionists.

The raids come just a week after tens of thousands of Koreans took to the streets to protest against government plans to change labour laws, which would make it easier for the country’s powerful conglomerates to fire workers and reduce wages.  

People also demonstrated against government plans to replace all independent history books in schools with government-issued texts. President Park Geun-hye is the daughter of the military dictator that ruled Korea from 1961 to 1979 and many see the policy as an attempt to rewrite the past under her father’s reign. 

At the same time, trade union suppression in Korea is increasing and several trade unionists have been arrested in recent weeks. Korean authorities routinely ignore serious violations of trade union and human rights, siding with the huge industrial businesses or ‘chaebols’ that dominate the country.

KMWU affiliates representing sub-contractor workers at the world’s biggest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) were in Geneva last week to sound the alarm at the number of deaths at Hyundai’s Korean shipyards.

Even though the courts have ruled that HHI has committed unfair labour practices, the government has been turning a blind eye to the HHI abuses.  

Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL general secretary, said:

The police raids on trade unions are wrong and completely undemocratic. President Park is taking Korea backwards to the dictatorial era of the past. Clamping down on trade unions will only fuel public distrust and worker frustration. We applaud our Korean affiliates for standing up against the planned regressive labour reforms, and we’ll do everything we can to support this important struggle.

Join the protest against the Korean government's crackdown on trade unions and sign the LabourStart campaign. Click here to write to demand intervention from the administration of President Park, Guen-hye.

Nigerian unions mobilize for Africa Industrialization Day

A series of events to celebrate Africa Industrialization Day kicked off with a policy roundtable at which IndustriALL’s Nigerian affiliates presented the difficulties faced by their industries to representatives of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Customs service, the Electricity Commission and the employers federation.

Rapid industrialization is urgently needed in Nigeria. Rather than growing, industries are in decline. The garment sector, which used to employ 300,000 workers, now has jobs for only 30,000. Smuggling is a major problem in Nigeria with illegal imports of textiles and clothing from China and other countries dominating 90 per cent of the domestic market.

The impact on the local industry has been devastating. In common with other African countries, raw materials, which Nigeria has in abundance, are exported while manufactured goods are imported. There is a lack of refining capacity, leaving Nigeria reliant on imported products like petrol. Electricity supply is unreliable and expensive, accounting for 40 per cent of production costs on average.

Several speakers declared that the collapse in the oil price has highlighted the urgent need for Nigeria to diversify its economy and revive its refineries.

For the first time, unions from Ghana and South Africa joined the events to learn from the Nigerian unions how the occasion of Africa Industrialization Day can be used by unions to mobilize and promote their industrial policy agenda.

The policy roundtable was followed by a march by IndustriALL affiliates on the National Assembly, joined by their national centre the NLC and unions from other sectors, to call on lawmakers to support the unions’ industrial policy agenda.

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina who joined the activities, praised the Nigerian unions for their initiative in bringing together unions with representatives of government and business to debate industrial policy in Nigeria.

Our Nigerian affiliates have set the bar high by showing how mass mobilization for industrial policies that benefit workers can influence government to do their job to create a positive environment for industry to thrive and create jobs.

This activism now needs to spread to the rest of the continent and IndustriALL will take the lead in demanding sustainable industrial policies for Africa.

IndustriALL will continue to work with African affiliates to develop their actions to promote sustainable industrial policy, including encouraging mass mobilizations in more African countries on the occasion of Africa Industrialization Day 2016.

Coalminers demand stronger attention to their future

Coal mining sector faces a number of challenges. The plunged commodity market has provoked a downturn in the prices for raw materials including coal. Employers are trying to use this momentum in order to force through conditions that would render more precarious conditions for mining workers while busting their unions. In terms of the climate change the industry is portrayed as one of the biggest contributors of CO2 emissions directly linked to the global warming. Under pressure some countries have already announced policies phasing out their coal mining.

Andrew Vickers, chairperson of the mining sector of IndustriALL Global Union and General Secretary of Australian CFMEU Mining and Energy Union said,

This conference has permitted us not just to identify problems and issues, but also to develop cohesive, workable, sensible and where appropriate, country specific policies, programmes and strategies to confront those that are being developed and implemented by bosses and their lawyers to curtail any effective response from us.”

There are many factors contributing to the climate change and simple closing of mines would not resolve the problem of climate change, but will inevitably create a number of others.

The conference agreed that although coal is by far the biggest contributor to the global CO2 gas emissions, it is not a reason to single out coal. There are other multiple contributors to CO2 gas emissions, which are not targeted in the same way as coal. Closing down coalmines could be a quick fix solution, however more structural approach needs to be secured with the view to jobs and lives of workers at stake.

Addressing the conference, Michael Vassiliadis, IG BCE President said,

For us, as trade unions, the crucial question is, how we link climate protection with good jobs in the industry. Only if we bring together climate policy, economic policy and social policy issues and promote them equally, we can lead this world and its population into a sustainable future.”

In response to the challenges identified at the conference the participants adopted a declaration with a strong set of demands addressing the issues and concerns discussed at the conference.

Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union commented,

We reiterate IndustriALL political position to support the ILO criteria for Just Transition. We will ensure that concrete steps are taken to reduce emissions in line with the below 2C° pathway, including appropriate funding of and investment in technologies to reduce from coal combustion. We also want to secure Just Transition for workers and their communities with all that it implies in the way of industrial transformation and social protection. Health and Safety is another important issue and we want to reaffirm our commitment to ratification and proper implementation of the ILO Convention 176.”