Greece needs investment and respect of social rights

The leaders of IndustriALL Global Union and IndustriAll European Trade Union visited Athens on a solidarity mission on 28 August 2015. General secretaries Jyrki Raina and Ulrich Eckelmann together with assistant general secretaries Kemal Özkan and Luc Triangle met with Greek affiliates Panhellenic Metalworkers’ Federation, Panhellenic Energy Federation, Greek Electrotechnicians’ Federation and the Greek Federation of Workers in Cement Industry, as well as the Greek trade union confederation GSEE.

Greek workers have gone through extremely difficult times since the financial and economic crisis hit the country in 2008. High public deficit and debt levels brought the Greek economy to the verge of collapse. Financial assistance was needed, but was provided with strict conditions attached.

The result was a 25 per cent fall of Greece’s GDP and a deep humanitarian crisis. Some weeks ago, the Greek government was forced to agree on a new programme of financial support for the third time with severe conditions imposed.

The enforced cuts in wages, pensions and welfare spending are putting massive pressure on economic output, jobs and tax revenues. More than 50 per cent of young people are out of work, and families are unable to pay rents and mortgages, or struggling to feed their children.

The troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund badly miscalculated the extent of the negative impacts of the imposed reforms and severe austerity. This created a fatal vicious circle where more lending based on unsustainable conditions is leading to even more debt. There is now a broad consensus that the increase in debt levels can only be held off by an injection of financial support.

IndustriAll European Trade Union general secretary Ulrich Eckelmann said:

We firmly believe that Greece must be part of Europe’s future. Saving Greece is also about saving Europe in this very difficult economic and political period.

To ensure a successful recovery of growth and employment, urgent measures are required:  

The reform package must include combatting corruption, undeclared labour and tax evasion. Greece is in no way helped by the liberalization of mass dismissals, privatizations, further cuts on pensions, deregulation of labour law and the dismantling of collective bargaining. Such measures are destroying social security, the income of employees and purchasing power, and they will have an adverse effect on domestic demand and thus on the economic recovery.

IndustriALL Global Union’s general secretary Jyrki Raina concluded:

We need to break the vicious circle of increasing debt and declining GDP, and re-create a positive investment climate to bring down unemployment and poverty. We will work together with the Greek unions to put together a plan for industrial growth.

Sherritt – show us the evidence for lay-offs

Only 20 of the 900 laid off workers at the Canadian’ multinational’s Ambatovy operation have been re-instated. The remaining 880 workers are still uncertain about their future and whether they will ever be allowed to return to their jobs.

Sherritt unilaterally announced the lay-off of the 900 workers for a period of six months citing economic reasons, a claim totally rejected by the Comité d’Entreprise (workers' committee) at the mine and processing plant.

Sherrit Ambatovy’s performance was rated as excellent for 2014 and the company reported an 11 per cent increase in revenue from Ambatovy for the first quarter of 2015, just a few months before the lay-offs. Production targets were met in March 2015 ahead of schedule.

To further confound Sherrit’s claim that economic factors are the reason for the lay-offs, the company donated US$ 1 million to the country’s national defence force in October 2014, a move IndustriALL considers unethical and against good governance. This amount of money would have paid for an average salary of 600’000MGA (US$ 181) per month for six months for the 900 retrenched workers.

At the same time, Sherritt Ambatovy continues to recruit abroad. In a move that violates Madagascar’s laws and regulations, Sherritt Ambatovy is looking for workers with qualifications that can be filled by Malagasy nationals. The Madagascar mining code for large investments stipulate that priority for work should be given to nationals.  

Sherritt Ambatovy continues to ignore IndustriALL Global Union’s offer to resolve the dispute. Consequently, IndustriALL is now in discussion with its Canadian affiliate union, Unifor, to mobilize solidarity support for Ambatovy workers amongst Unifor members it organizes at Sherritt’s operations in Canada.

IndustriALL is also in discussion with Unifor to hold Sherritt accountable to Canada’s corporate social responsibility strategy for the international extraction sector, which expects Canadian mining companies operating abroad to promote Canadian values and act with the highest ethical standards.

While IndustriALL is mobilizing direct global solidarity action amongst its mining affiliates, it continues to make the following demands on Sherritt Ambatovy:

Akzo Nobel must end flagrant violations of trade union rights at South Korea plant

Akzo Nobel management at the South Korean plant have consistently refused to engage directly with the unions, instead hiring a labour attorney against the union's protests.

After mediation by the ministry of employment and labour, the employer committed to engage in “collective bargaining in sincerity and faith”, but relations have since deteriorated.

In July, wage negotiations were halted. And, in total disregard of the collective agreement, the employer is hiring more and more contract workers, undermining the working conditions of permanent workers and weakening the ability of the union to achieve the implementation of the legitimate demands of workers.

On 22 July a partial strike was launched. A local union leader was injured and hospitalized for more than a week as a result of physical attack when management tried to remove union posters.

The KCTF is asking management to resume wage negotiations and to stop the systematic violation of basic occupational safety and health standards at the plant. The union has also sent a letter to the Dutch ambassador to Korea, asking for a constructive solution to the conflict.

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina is also calling for immediate remedial measures:

We strongly urge Akzo Nobel to intervene immediately at its Ansan plant in South Korea to ensure that Akzo Nobel Korea’s management act in strict accordance with national and international labour laws, and in consequence engage in genuine collective bargaining and wage negotiations while stopping from attacking workers and union members.

IndustriALL signs an open letter to Samsung

According to one of the recommendations Samsung will have to fund an independent non-profit foundation and resolve all outstanding issues arising from the cluster of occupational diseases such as leukaemia and lymphoma among Samsung workers.

Initial signatories include a wide range of trade unions and civil society organizations including IndustriALL Global Union, Good Electronics, Asia Monitor Resource Centre.

According to the signatories of the open letter, Samsung should agree to the Mediation Committee’s recommendation and establish a body of outside experts to resolve the following key issues of compensation and prevention:

  1. How to fairly determine which workers are entitled to how much compensation, based on their diseases and seniority;
  2. How much transparency about hazardous chemicals is necessary, and how to define legitimate trade secrets;
  3. How much and what quality of chemical and health monitoring needs to be done (and made public);
  4. How to develop an effective strategy for assessing and incorporating safer chemicals into production in order to prevent future diseases.

The letter states:

“The key to assuring effective prevention strategies in the future is through the proposed foundation, made up of a wide range of independent experts who can help you become a respected leader in occupational and environmental health, matching your leadership in global technology.”

“If Samsung insists on controlling all of these key decisions by yourselves, you will fail to achieve the acceptance and labour peace that you profess to desire.”

To support and endorse the open letter follow the link http://bit.ly/1La7vy8

Determined struggle brings Iraqi workers new labour law

On 17 August the Iraqi parliament passed a new labour law allowing the right to strike and collective bargaining, prohibiting child labour, discrimination and sexual harassment. It also includes improvements on maternity and pregnancy leave, and addresses rights of sub-contractors and migrant workers without discrimination.

Iraq’s new law covers workers in the private, mixed and cooperative sectors, but excludes workers covered by civil service law and the armed forces.

Workers in Iraq have suffered severe violations and hard working conditions due to the lack of fair labour and union laws in line with international standards. For the last decade, IndustriALL Global Union has relentlessly campaigned for the fundamental rights of Iraqi workers to enjoy fair and modern labour, as well as trade union laws in line with ILO standards and conventions.

Hassan Juma, president of IndustriALL affiliate Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions says:

Unions contributions were valuable during the drafting process. Over the time unions were able to elaborate and come up with substantial amendments to the final drafts of the law.

Hashmeya  Al-Sadawe, president of Basra Electricity Workers’ Union and member of IndustriALL’s Executive Committee says:

IndustriALL and global union solidarity was crucial for the adoption of a modern labour law corresponding to ILO conventions.

However, the ban on unions in the public sector will continue until the enactment of the trade union law. We urge the Iraqi government to sign and ratify ILO Convention 87, which is now in the Iraqi parliament for ratification. This will in turn pave the way for the adoption of the trade union law.

Final voting on the law was preceded by a two-day session where Iraqi union leaders, Ministry of Labour, the Labour Committee of the Iraqi Parliament, AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center, IndustriALL Global Union and leaders of its Iraqi affiliates discussed the latest version and amendments of the draft.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, congratulates the Iraqi workers, unions and their leaders for their determination and insistence, which was crucial to win the long struggle:

We look forward to see real improvements of the new law on the ground with concrete results contributing to better working and living conditions for Iraqi workers. We strongly urge the authorities to take similar measures and accelerate a trade union law recognizing union pluralism and applicable for all Iraqi workers, including the public sector.

The international campaign has received support from the International Labor Organization (ILO), International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and sister global unions, AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center, as well as a number of national trade union centres and national and international non-governmental organizations. 

We need more women leaders!

IndustriALL Global Union represents 50 million workers in a number of industrial, energy and mining sectors. According to ILO statistics, 75 per cent of garment workers are women. Our most male sector is shipbuilding and shipbreaking, with only 8 per cent women workers. The average in IndustriALL’s sectors is 30 per cent.

This figure contributed to a decision of IndustriALL’s founding congress in Copenhagen in 2012 to adopt the statutes, according to which at least 30 per cent of executive committee members will be women.

But the Copenhagen congress also unanimously adopted a Political Agreement, which says:

"The founding congress of IndustriALL recognizes the need to continue to increase the representation of women at all levels of leadership, decision-making bodies and sectoral structures, and directs the executive committee to establish immediate administrative arrangements to increase women's representation and to take all necessary measures to enable the amending of the statutes at the second congress of IndustriALL in 2016.”

In 2014, our regional conferences in Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa proposed to increase to 40 per cent the representation of women in IndustriALL’s leadership.

Even though these decisions are about IndustriALL’s global structures, our aim is to raise discussion about necessary changes in our affiliated unions both at the national and local level.

We need to develop a culture of equality between men and women in unions. We need to empower women and give them space in the decision-making structures.

The future of unions depends to a great extent on their ability to attract women and young workers. Today they have difficulty in identifying with grey and bald men who occupy the leadership of so many unions. Or believe that the older male generation understands and takes care of matters that are important for women and youth. Diversity in leadership is important in governments, companies and unions.

I acknowledge there is a bit of a chicken and egg problem. It would be nice if more pressure came from the factory level. But today industry is not doing enough to attract women, even though the changing image should be more attractive than in the past. Automation and new technology require less muscle power, and white-collar jobs are increasing.

IndustriALL will continue to organize leadership training for women and actions to defend women’s rights, combat violence against women and to guarantee the right to maternity. These are not women’s issues; they are union issues for us all.

On 14-16 September, I am joining almost 300 union sisters from all five continents at IndustriALL’s women world conference in Vienna where all these questions will be on the agenda. I am looking forward to lively debates on how we will build global union power, women and men together.

Jyrki Raina

General Secretary

Ansell faces Aussie protests against treatment of Sri Lankan workers

Ansell is fighting a war of attrition against 300 poor and mainly female Sri Lankan workers who they sacked for going on strike at one of its factories.

Sri Lankan unionist Anton Marcus from IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union, addressed the rally in defence of the sacked workers.

Mr Marcus, who had his visa denied by Australian authorities last year, said the workers had wanted nothing more than the right to negotiate through their union.

“These women have very little, so when this Australian company cuts their pay, while raising production quotas, they tried to exercise their right to collectively negotiate through the local union,” Mr Marcus said.

“The company made almost US$200 million in profits last year, but it wanted to take a few cents an hour off these poor women.”

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

“Ansell cannot expect its inhumane treatment of Sri Lankan workers to go unnoticed. This issue is not going to go away and support for the sacked workers is growing worldwide.”

IndustriALL has garnered international solidarity support for the campaign to reinstate the 300 Sri Lankan workers and address similar abuses of Malaysian workers by Ansell, including from affiliates in Australia, the USA and Brazil.

Facts:

Ansell made $US187 million profit last financial year – four times the previous year.

Ansell is the biggest condom manufacturer in the Australian market with popular brands including Lifestyle and their ‘next generation’ SKYN.

Ansell workers who were sacked were paid less than 80c per hour to work in conditions so bad that they are forced to relieve themselves at their workstations because they otherwise won’t meet impossible production targets.

The sacked Ansell workers in Sri Lanka were forced to work every day of the week including weekends without overtime payments.

VW workers declare indefinite strike against redundancies at Taubaté plant in Brazil

After failing to reach an agreement with the Taubaté Metalworkers’ Union, Volkswagen management irresponsibly announced 100 redundancies at the plant after deciding against discussing other options with the union.

On the same day as the company made its announcement, 5,500 workers responded by voting to begin an indefinite strike in support of their demand for the reinstatement of their colleagues. On 19 August, a mass meeting took place at the plant to express support and solidarity with the workers. The meeting was attended by representatives of the United Autoworkers (UAW), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, and unions from São Carlos, Anchieta, Curitiba and Resende affiliated to the CUT, Força Sindical and the UGT.

Negotiations are continuing under the auspices of the labour justice system. A mediation hearing is scheduled for 25 August.

Jorge Almeida, IndustriALL Regional Secretary, expressed the global union’s  support for the Volkswagen workers by writing a letter of solidarity, in which he said:

IndustriALL Global Union vigorously condemns the actions of Volkswagen Brazil, which, instead of negotiating an agreement between the two parties, announced in an irresponsible manner that it was making 100 workers redundant. We are calling on Volkswagen Brazil to think again and exhaust the possibilities for negotiating in order to avoid an unwanted dispute. IndustriaALL is following events closely and is ready to provide whatever solidarity is necessary.”

Argentina textile unions unite to campaign against precarious work

Clandestine sweatshops staffed mainly by foreign workers who have no basic labour rights are common in the textile sector in Argentina. Unions in the sector met IndustriALL representatives to discuss how to improve working conditions for these workers. They agreed to start a campaign against precarious work on the eve of the World Day for Decent Work on 7 October.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Textile Workers’ Association (Asociación Obrera Textil, AOT), the National Clothing Industry Workers’ Federation (Federación Obrera Nacional de la Industria del Vestido y Afines, FONIVA), the Clothing Industry Workers’ Union (Sindicato Obrero de la Industria del Vestido y Afines, SOIVA) and the Clothing Cutters’ Union (Union Cortadores de la Indumentaria, UCI) all affiliated to IndustriALL, and the Union of Textile Industry Employees (Sindicato de Empleados Textiles de la Industria y Afines, SETIA). The meeting was also attended by IndustriALL Regional Secretary Jorge Almeida and the Precarious Work Project coordinators, Armelle Seby (world) and Elías Pintado (regional).

Precarious work in clandestine sweatshops

Each union representative described the problems they face and proposed possible solutions. One issue is the immigration of workers who come to work in the country in the clandestine textile sweatshops. About 2.7 million Bolivians have migrated to Argentina lured by promises of a decent job.

However, they are employed in precarious working conditions with no health insurance. They work long hours and are often injured at work because of the lack of safety measures. The unions therefore agreed to organize a high profile campaign to try and attract the attention of the government and textile companies. 

“We have to make them realize that they have a social duty to provide decent working conditions. We are talking here about slave labour, child labour and clandestine sweatshops. There are thousands of sweatshops involved in sewing and cutting clothes with these working conditions in the Flores district. We are very keen to take strong action to influence legislation. It is essential that unions focus on this at every single company,” explained Heraldo Pablo Mage of the UCI.

Armelle Seby and Elías Pintado said that precarious work is one of IndustriALL’s five priorities. Unions are encouraged to add this issue to their agenda in order to stop precarious work becoming more widespread. IndustriALL recommends three methods of action: campaigns to promote better legislation; campaigns to promote union membership; and collective bargaining. The aim is to build sustainable joint strategies in all these three areas.

The meeting proposed action plans and further planning seminars and agreed on the importance of improving contact between IndustriALL-affiliated unions to facilitate information exchange, improve support for each other and build a joint agenda. Finally, they agreed to hold another meeting before 7 October to draw up an action plan for a campaign against precarious work.

Jorge Almeida assessed the importance of the meeting in these terms:

“Precarious work requires us to reorganize our work and improve the day-to-day operation of trade unions. We congratulate the textile workers’ unions in Argentina who agreed to send representatives to this meeting and discuss how to strengthen union work to promote decent jobs.”

USW mobilizes for fair contracts in steel industry

Rallies and marches have been planned from 19 to 21 August at ArcelorMittal facilities in four states: West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.

At the same time, USW members are also participating in a series of events targeting 12 plants in six states belonging to Allegheny Technologies (ATI).

In June, the Steelworkers entered into negotiations of new master agreements at both ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel, which employ around 30,000 USW members combined. Both contracts are scheduled to expire on 1 September.

The USW reports that both ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel persist in their proposals to drive down compensation and force union members to pay significantly more for active and retired health benefits that are unlikely to provide the coverage of the current plans.

“We recognize that this is a difficult time for the steel industry,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard, “but we also recognize that for generations, these have been good, middle-class jobs that have allowed workers to care for their families and support their communities.

“It is important that we make sure that remains true for our generation and for those who come after us,” Leo W. Gerard added.

Steelworkers at U.S. Steel have been organizing strike and lockout preparation sessions at local unions across the country.  Local union activists at each site are coming together to make plans to organizing picket lines, mobilize community support, and administer strike or lockout assistance in the event of a work stoppage.

Elsewhere, steelmaker Allegheny Technologies announced on 14 August the lockout of 2,200 steelworkers at 12 sites around the country. The lockout is the culmination of a months-long campaign by ATI management to force workers to accept draconian and unnecessary concessions. The United Steelworkers say ATI is spending millions of dollars on bringing outsiders to replace skilled and experienced union members even though the union has never threatened to strike or even conducted a strike authorization vote.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Fernando Lopes said, “IndustriALL and our 50 million member strong family fully supports the USW members in their fight for fair contracts for the welfare of workers and their families.”