Workers at LafargeHolcim demand good, safe jobs

Workers and their trade unions from Europe, Asia, Africa, South and North America organized rallies, conferences and meetings giving a strong and unified signal that LafargeHolcim must address the wide use of precarious work at the company.

Poor and precarious employment conditions are the most common reason for injuries and fatalities at work. They also do little to inspire loyalty thus making it extremely difficult to build harmonized labour relations in the company.

More than 300 people have died during last four years while on job for Lafarge and Holcim. Almost 90 per cent of the dead were employed by subcontractors or third parties.

After the merger in July 2015, LafargeHolcim, committed to provide “safe, healthy and inclusive workplaces”. The company also set the goal of “zero harm” to their workers. This is certainly a good declaration. Now the promises must be followed with deeds.

Unions also used 7 October to highlight workers’ insecurity and uncertainty about their future as a result of the merger of Lafarge and Holcim.

At rallies and actions, LafargeHolcim workers from all over the world demanded that the company:

LAFARGEHOLCIM, RESPECT WORKERS’ RIGHTS!

Indian shipbreaking union calls on government to ratify Hong Kong Convention

The Alang Sosiya Ship Recycling & General Workers Association, ASSRGWA, is the shipbreaking workers’ union at the biggest shipbreaking yard in the world, Alang, West India.

The letter states:

“It is only a dream for most workers (in the industry) to live to the age of 60… therefore the ASSRGWA demands the Indian Government to be part of an effective solution to the problem of unsafe and unsustainable shipbreaking, and urgently ratify the Hong Kong Convention.”

Kan Matsuzaki, IndustriALL Director for the Shipbuilding and Shipbreaking industries says:

“The network of shipbuilding and shipbreaking trade unions is taking action to make the Hong Kong Convention a reality. To come into force we need 12 more government ratifications from countries with a major shipping industry. Momentum is growing in this campaign and we will keep pushing until the industry is safe.”

Union Secretary V. V. Rane stated:

“We will be taking up this issue very strongly during the campaign of precarious work on 7 October 2015 in Mumbai and Alang.”

See the actions of the campaign here.

Belarusian unions use rare chance to rally on 7 October

Despite being denied every year since 2011, unions at last received permission to hold a rally on 7 October in Minsk for one hour. Authorization was granted just days before the presidential elections held on 11 October.

Precarious work predominates in Belarus. In 1999, President Lukashenko adopted Decree No. 29, and since then majority of workers in Belarus have been forced to conclude fixed-term contracts with a duration of one to three years or less. This system shifted almost the entire working population of Belarus to short-term contracts, abolishing permanent employment in the country and adding insecurity and uncertainty to the workers' future.

Three out of four IndustriALL affiliates in Belarus participated in the Minsk rally on 7 October: Belarusian Radio and Electronic Industry Workers' Union (REP), Free Metalworkers' Union (SPM) and Belarusian Independent Trade Union of Miners, Chemical workers, Oil-refiners, Energy, Transport, Construction and other workers (BNP). 

Rally participants adopted a resolution demanding that authorities take measures "to immediately develop a new economic policy that could solve the problems of employment and provide for new jobs, significant wage increases, and a modernization of production facilities".

Independent unions also insisted on abolition of the four notorious presidential decrees (Nos. 29, 9, 5 and 3) that offend human dignity of workers and make it impossible to achieve decent work. 

There has never been any public scrutiny or consultation about decree No. 29 and neither for the later-issued decrees Nos. 9 (2012), 5 (2014) and 3 (2015) which further undermine workers’ freedoms and possibility to protect their rights.

In the 2015 ITUC Global Rights Index, Belarus was listed among the ten worst countries for working people together with China, Colombia, Egypt, Guatemala, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and the United Arab Emirates.

IndustriALL condemns brutal terror attack on Turkish peace march

The large “Work, Peace and Democracy” rally and mass meeting were organized by four organizations, DISK (Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions, KESK (Confederation of Public Employees), TMMOB (Union of Turkish Cambers of Engineers and Architects) and TTB (Union of Doctors of Turkey).

IndustriALL Global Union has four affiliates in the DISK Confederation, Birlesik Metal-Is, Lastik-Is, Tekstil and Tümka-Is.

The two bombs exploded in the crowd while marchers sang, danced and held banners calling for an end to war, and for the rights of poor and suffering people. Those same banners were used to cover the dead bodies on the street.

Police and security forces used tear gas and water cannons on the crowd who simply wanted to put flowers in the area where the bombings happened.

In mourning and protest of the atrocity, trade unions that organized the event are conducting a general strike on 12-13 October.

The general secretaries of IndustriALL Global Union and IndustriAll Europe today jointly wrote to Prime Minister Davutoğlu to demand a full, transparent, and independent investigation into this terrorist attack:

“The peace rally was organized to demand work, peace and democracy, and to give voice to millions of unemployed workers, public workers, and poor and suffering people.”

And in writing to DISK President Kani Beko:

“We fully support the general strike today and tomorrow to express our sorrow, mourn the victims, and condemn this atrocity.”

“This is the bloodiest attack in the history of Turkey. This happened to a group of people who demand peace,” said Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. “While our memories of the bloody May Day killings in 1977 are still in our minds, this is another trauma for workers and unions in Turkey. But we will never give up from our demands for democracy, human rights and peace.”

IndustriALL flashmob for Decent Work

Hundreds of union members of the IndustriALL affiliates from the CIS region participated, as well as the members of the IG Metall union from Germany and FO Metaux union from France.

Participants from Armenia, Belarus, Germany, France, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine formed letters of the “Planet for Decent Work” message in order to show that people across the globe are united by the idea of decent work. The aim of this flashmob is to influence the world public opinion and to popularize the idea of decent work.

Video with flashmob is available on the link https://youtu.be/fwn7D85cIvI

German government commits to ratifying the Hong Kong Convention

The IG Metall Coastal Region called for action from the German government in September 2015. The demand was made by regional secretary Meinhard Geiken in a high profile handover of demands on a large placard, flanked by shipyard workers in Hamburg.

The Parliamentary State Secretary Uwe Beckmeyer responded in a letter:

Ratification of the Hong Kong Agreement

Dear Mr. Geiken,

The establishment of a reliable set of rules and regulations for sound environmentally friendly shipbreaking establishments is our common goal.

I agree with your assessment of the situation that the Hong Kong Convention must quickly be ratified and materialized.  The EU regulation on Shipbreaking of Sea vessels is a primary and important step. Indeed, we need to improve global environment and security standards on working conditions in shipbreaking yards, especially in Asia.

I have transmitted your remark to the person responsible at the Federal Ministry of Transport and digital infrastructure of Germany. Since an agreement on the ratification of the Section 59GG is still to be made, it is still difficult to foresee the exact moment of its implementation. I am committed to ensuring the quick and good progress of these proceedings.

Cambodian unions consider strike action

The 9.4 per cent increase from the current US$128 figure is lower than the garment worker wage in Vietnam, and below unions’ call for US$160 a month.

Ath Thorn, president of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union, IndustriALL Global Union affiliate C.CAWDU, said:

“We are not happy. So on Monday we will be consulting with our general council and colleagues from across the country, as well as other unions in Cambodia, to decide whether or not to strike.”

A tripartite group of trade unions, garment manufacturers and government representatives on Cambodia’s Labour Advisory Committee have spent the last few weeks hammering out a minimum wage proposal, which went to a vote on 8 October. Both independent and non-independent unions made significant progress by uniting behind a figure of US$160 a month during the discussions.

“We are disappointed by the new minimum wage for the garment industry in Cambodia, which is below the expectations of workers who were interviewed in our research before negotiations began,” said Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL.

“It illustrates the relevance of our new ACT initiative with global brands, which sets out to increase garment sector wages by building industry level collective bargaining structures.”

Cambodia is a key target country in IndustriALL’s global campaign for living wages, and the organization will be holding its Executive Committee meeting in Phnom Penh in December.

UGTT in Tunisia receives Nobel Peace Prize

Four Tunisian organizations, the UGTT, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League, and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers, are to receive the Nobel Peace Prize 2015 for their achievement of an "alternative peaceful political process in 2013 when the country was on the brink of civil war and subsequently guaranteed fundamental rights for the entire population", according to the Nobel Peace Prize committee.
 
Tahar Berberi, general secretary of Fédération Générale de la Métallurgie et de l’Electronique affiliated to the UGTT, and a member of the IndustriALL Executive Committee, says:

We are very moved and extremely proud of the award. It recognizes the hard and difficult work done so far, and gives hope to continue building on that. We thank all who supported us and especially trade unions like IndustriALL.

I hope that the Nobel Peace Prize brings together all political and social sides to work together on the noble task of creating a democratic society.

IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Jyrki Raina says:

We congratulate our Tunisian brothers and sisters on what they have achieved for their country. This fantastic news shows that trade unions are an important part of building a democratic and peaceful society.

In December 2014, IndustriALL held its Executive Committee in Tunis as a show of support for country’s democratic development, in which trade unions have played an important part.
 
Invited as a key speaker, Houcine Abassi, General Secretary of UGTT, promised to protect gains made by workers and said that:
 
“Workers are instrumental in the strive for a democratic Tunisia. IndustriALL’s presence in our country sends a strong message of support for our trade unions and their work.”
 

Democratic Republic of Congo

Albania

The BSPSH (Union of the Independent Trade Unions of Albania) and SPMSH (Independent Trade Union of Miners of Albania) mobilized to STOP Precarious Work.

The head of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Albania Gezim Kalaja protested in the region of Puka (Fush-Arrez) against "BERALB" Company’s decision to suspend 300 miners, and suspend work in all its mines.

To protect workers’ rights the President of SPMSH demanded the implementation of the collective bargaining agreement and not to suspend the workers.

The union demands are:

1. The continuation of the work and no suspension

2. Basic salary for each worker in case of suspension, throughout the suspension

3. Agreement with Beralb to return workers to their jobs when operations restart

The Minister of Energy and Industry, Damian Gjiknuri has ordered Beralb to continue the work in all mines in the Puka region, which is the poorest region of all Albania and unemployment rate is very high.

The union says: “We will fight for decent work, for decent life, for decent salaries. After 10 days we will protest again if Beralb does not fulfill our demands!”

Write to Beralb to support the 300 miners of Puka (Fushe-Arrrez) in Albania at this email address [email protected]