Union power taking off in aerospace industry

Close to 100 delegates from 16 countries representing 25 unions met for the two-day aerospace world conference in Berlin in the first days of July. The theme was building stronger unions and confronting global capital in the growing industry.

Jürgen Kerner, Treasurer of IG Metall welcomed the delegates to Germany and expressed solidarity with the global family of aerospace workers.

As part of the opening ceremony, Holger Schilenkamp, German Federal Ministry Economic Affairs and Energy, underlined the importance of what in Germany is called co-determination, saying it is in the interest of both workers and employers.

In his opening statement, Tom Buffenbarger, Vice-President of IndustriALL, President of IAMAW, and Chair of IndustriALL’s aerospace sector, said that the global industry is at a cross roads and must choose between two paths:

“One is where workers are forced to give up the fundamental right to strike and where workers are blamed for management failures.

“The other embraces aerospace unions, where management recognizes the value of a unionized workforce able to freely engage in collective bargaining.”

In the USA and Canada alone, more than 600,000 aerospace jobs, nearly 50 per cent of the sector workforce, have disappeared in the last 20 years. As in many other industries, aerospace companies are increasingly relying on contract workers.

During the two days’ panel debates, participants discussed ways of defending workers’ rights and countering anti-union activities. Global framework agreements (GFAs) were recognized as an important tool for strengthening labour rights in the sector.

"We must demand aerospace companies to enter into global agreements which honour international labour standards," said Tom Buffenbarger.

Plan for action

Participants agreed to launch a number of company networks, to exchange information but also to build workers’ solidarity in the sector.

An action plan was adopted with concrete steps to confront global capital, defend workers’ rights, fight precarious work, and ensure sustainable industrial employment.

The world conference also adopted a resolution reiterating IndustriALL’s stance of solidarity with workers of affiliated unions who are facing prison for striking in 2010.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan said:

“We will continue to organize workers and support our unions in the aerospace sector. In a global industry, we are fighting austerity while defending and advancing workers’ rights.

“Workers’ rights are non-negotiable and we must find solutions that protect all workers in all parts of the global supply chain.”

The conference re-elected Tom Buffenbarger to leadership of the section together with an action group that will play a role in implementing the action plan with the secretariat.

IndustriALL calls for fair and sustainable solution to Greek debt

The Greeks go to the polls on Sunday 5 July to decide whether or not to accept proposals from the European Central Bank, IMF and the European Commission, which would entail stringent economic reforms in return for more credit.

Greece is mired in more than €300 billion of debt, equal to around 180 per cent of GDP. Austerity measures imposed by the three financial institutions known as the Troika have led to years of decline, uncertainty and increased poverty in Greece, rather than recovery.

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina said:

“Greece must not be held to ransom by its creditors. Economic recovery in the country will only be achieved with a fair and, above all, sustainable solution to restructure its debt.

“Five years of austerity in Greece have failed. It is time to move on and establish a realistic economic path for the country. The Troika institutions must listen to the voices of the Greek people and not interfere with the democratically elected government.” 

IndustriALL women members demand respect of women rights in India

Participants met to discuss experiences on collective bargaining and workplace issues. 

Testimonies from the different participants showed that multinational companies have a tremendous influence both at the government level as well as on the judiciary system. The result is that workers are more and more exploited, and that the Indian government tries to amend various labour laws to the disadvantage of workers.

Informal work is a key issue for women workers. Many women workers cannot count on maternity benefits and face childcare problems since there are no crèches at their workplace. Moreover, these women have no job security and do not disclose their marital status for fear of losing their jobs.

The meeting drafted a concrete action plan to organize precarious workers among whom women are the most exploited. The WCL women activists plan to organize 500 precarious workers by December 2015, whereas the Mumbai Port women activists agreed to organize 1,000 precarious workers at the port of Mumbai.  Participants working at Yazaki India stated that this company employs 2,500 contract workers versus 500 permanent workers. They decided to discuss with the permanent workers the possibility of organising 100 contract workers.

Participants also discussed a programme for change, including training, building of union resources, strategic planning, organizing, collective bargaining, finances and communication.

A suspended women activist employed by Ever Electronics, a Korean multinational supplying electronic products to LG, testified that her employer is trying to break the union and have suspended many workers.  The meeting launched an appeal to IndustriALL Global Union to support the workers at Ever Electronics through establishing trade union networks at this MNC.  

At the end of the meeting, IndustriALL affiliate Shramik Ekta Mahasangh Women (SEM) decided to launch a campaign across the industrial sector in Pune on the implementation of maternity benefits and the respect for women workers’ rights.

These and other issues were discussed at the Indian women's committee meeting held on 14 July in Delhi. Precarious work turns out to be the most important focus for the women. In general the permanent workers are men, and the precarious workers are women. The women's committee intends to take action on 7 October, the World Day for Decent Work.

Other concerns raised were women's health and especially HIV/AIDS, sexual harassment, caste conflicts – most of the working class women are the lowest castes, and they have to deal with upper-caste men – women's illiteracy, women taking early retirement, migrant workers, domestic violence, low pay for women and the informal economy.

In addition on 15 July the women decided to embark upon a mapping exercise to determine where women work in India and in what jobs. This will take considerable time and effort.

Senate postpones vote on Petrobras bill due to lack of debate

In a letter to senators, sent a few hours before the Senate meeting, Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary, said:

“We are convinced that Petrobras will overcome the challenges it faces and continue its task of promoting greater social justice and democracy in Brazil. We ask you to vote against this bill”.

If approved, the bill would mean that Petrobras would no longer be the only operator in the Pre-Salt oilfields. The urgent business procedure for bill PLS 131/2015 began on 16 June, with the Senate due to vote on the bill at the end of the debate at the 30 June session. However, voting did not take place because many of those present spoke against the procedure and refused to vote without a more extensive debate taking place first.

The request to postpone the voting did not come only from senators who are against the bill, for example, Roberto Requião, but also from those in favour, such as Senators Lúcia Vânia and Cristovam Buarque. Both called for more debate on the bill.

Petrobras should be strengthened rather than weakened

Lula da Silva’s government passed law 12.351/2010, which gave Petrobras exclusive rights over the exploitation of the Pre-Salt oilfields. This was a major achievement for the Brazilian people. It also stipulated that royalties would be used to implement health and education plans and other social reform plans of the Workers’ Party.

Bill PLS 131/2015 to end Petrobras’ exclusive rights to exploit the Pre-Salt oilfields was submitted by former PSDB presidential candidate José Serra. The bill proposes privatising oil wells in the Pre-Salt deep water oilfields in the Atlantic Ocean, which hold Brazil’s biggest reserves of crude oil.

IndustriALL is against the bill, which promotes the interests of foreign multinational companies and reduces the role of Petrobras in the Pre-Salt oilfields. If the bill is defeated: “Brazil can grow and make progress towards energy and environmental sovereignty, control production and ensure supplies to the country. It will also avoid predatory extraction, the risk of accidents and higher financial costs in the future”, said Jyrki Raina in the letter presented to the Senate.

IndustriALL Global Union considers, that, as Petrobras provides thousands of jobs in Brazil and throughout the world, it should be strengthened rather than weakened. It should stay in public ownership and guarantee energy sovereignty, economic development and social progress.

Unions mount pressure on LafargeHolcim

The merger of Lafarge and Holcim is a reality. The merged company will become a single entity on 15 July 2015.

The unions believe this should not only be a success for the management and shareholders, but also for the employees of the new LafargeHolcim.

In contrary to what had been promised and to what employees expect, both Lafarge and Holcim have turned a deaf ear to all proposals to start a proper social dialogue with workers and representing them global unions IndustriALL and Building and Wood Workers International and the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers.

In answer to the unions’ invitations to set up a mechanism on how to deal with numerous concerns of all workers who face dismissals or uncertainty, the management has so far only responded with promises to start doing things properly once the company is established. Enough is enough! Now is the time.

Workers cannot wait any longer! It is time to put aside all other matters and urgently start a proper discussion with your own workers and their representatives on national, regional and also on global level.

Sign an on-line petition that will be forwarded to Eric Olsen, LafargeHolcim CEO, Wolfgang Reitzle and Bruno Lafont, Lafarge-Holcim co-chairmen of the board.

Brazil unions show solidarity with Mercedes Benz workers

After 22 days on strike, 300 Mercedes Benz workers and their families continue to camp outside the factory gates in São Bernardo in support of their dismissed colleagues. A group of trade union leaders from the chemicals and other sectors visited the camp to show their support and solidarity for the cause.

Lucineide Varjão, president of the CNQ-CUT, affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, and representatives of the ABC Chemical Workers’ Union and the São Paulo Chemical Workers’ Union, also affiliated to IndustriALL, the Jaú Paper Industry Union, Fetquim-São Paulo, Cida Trajano (CNTV), Claudinho (CONTICON) and Paulo Cayres (CNM) all visited the camp.

United and on strike until the company agrees to negotiate

On 25 May, Mercedes Benz sent telegrams to 500 employees informing them of their dismissal. On 8 June, the ABC metalworkers’ trade union decided to camp out indefinitely until the company agrees to negotiate an alternative.

An increasing number of trade unions are joining the struggle by donating food to help their colleagues continue the fight. Lucineide Varjão says the intention is to maintain a strong feeling of unity in order to deal with the difficult situation and defend workers’ rights.

The company’s World Employee Committee has communicated its solidarity with the workers in Sao Bernardo do Campo in their struggle for a future for themselves and their families. In a letter from its president, Michael Brecht, it expressed its profound concern about the current economic crisis in Brazil and the constant threats of dismissal faced by workers. It also called on the company to accept its social responsibility and do everything possible to reach a solution to assist the workers.

IndustriALL Global Union extends its solidarity to the Mercedes Benz workers and urges them to remain united in the struggle and in defence of their rights. It also calls on Mercedes Benz management to negotiate with the workers and to try to find alternatives and reinstate the workers who have lost their jobs.

Read more (in Portuguese): 

Contract labour – a threat to Indian Society

The 23 and 24 June meeting, held with support from Dutch trade union aid organization FNV Mondiaal, heard from 35 unionists affiliated to IndustriALL through Shramik Ekta Mahasangh (SEM).

The affiliates are battling to organize the temporary workers and the workshop looked at strategies to overcome the many obstacles they face.

Participants revealed that companies – both national and multinational – are hiring fewer permanent staff and using more non-union precarious workers.

There were stories galore of companies that dismiss permanent workers and rehire temporary workers for the same work, but for a fraction of the salary. Almost all permanent workers in the room had colleagues doing the same work for much less salary (earning up to an unbelievable 80 per cent less).

A living wage is a long distant dream for most of these contract workers, even though many of them work for years and years in the same job. Either their short-term contracts are continuously renewed, or they are sent in through many different agencies to avoid legal pressures to make them permanent. This situation can continue for up to 20 to 25 years in India – possibly even longer.  

The effects on the precariously employed contract workers are disastrous. Not only in regard to their employment conditions, but also for their place in Indian society. Their low wages have a long range of consequences, of which not being able to get married is cited the most. The first question a potential family-in-law asks is whether the worker has a permanent job. If not, there is no marriage.

Contract workers also often find it impossible to send their children to school past a certain age – with girls usually the first victims. However, this affects boys as well, who then have no other option but to become a contract worker themselves at the age of, say, 14.

Many contract and agency workers speak of not being able to take any holiday at all. One contract worker said he was forced to – all of a sudden – work 12 hours per day, instead of eight or sometimes ten. There was a choice between that or no job.

The contract workers do not have the ability to pay for medicines. Not for themselves and neither for their families. There is no childcare or crèche. No maternity leave. No access to bank loans, no… the list is endless.

Many women knowingly hide any jewellery that indicate that they are married, for fear of losing their temporary job if they get pregnant, or for fear of never getting a permanent employment.

SEM is fighting back and tries to organize these precarious workers. Unfortunately, that results in a new range of problems. Not only do contract workers often lose their jobs as soon as they join a union, there has also been pressure, harassment and victimization towards permanent workers’ unions for attempting to organize the precarious workers.

To overcome this situation, SEM registered a separate union for the manpower workers in the entire Maharashtra State, the Maharashtra Contract Workers Union (MCWU) in September 2014. Their registration has so far been rejected for technical reasons, possibly after pressure from the employers’ lobby. The procedure was restarted in March 2015 and it is now hoped the registration will come in August.

The new union hopes that the precarious workers will remain union members even though they may change jobs many times.

SEM is currently, with the support of the IndustriALL-FNV Mondiaal South Asia Precarious Work Project, doing a mapping of the Pune area to gather information on the situation of contract workers in different industrial areas.

The MCWU will also appoint organizers to start organizing and recruiting precarious workers. As soon as possible, the MCWU will then also form local committees, consisting of local and federation level leaders, to negotiate with the local managements on behalf of the contract workers.

SEM expects to organize at least 3,000 precarious workers by the end of 2015 in and around Pune, which is the second largest city in Maharashtra. Once successful, the union hopes to then be able to start organizing in other parts of the state in the coming years – a much needed effort.

Women’s dire working conditions brought to light at IndustriALL ICT conference

It is notable that women’s working conditions in the garment industry are very similar to those in electronics. A report called Mind the Gap analyzing women working conditions in the electronics and garment industries in India was discussed at the conference. For women, work can be empowering and provide independence, but too often it is accompanied by abuse.

The report concludes that the working conditions in both supply chains do not meet the standards set by the International Labour Organization, and that workers’ wages cannot be considered living wages. Low wages keep the workers perpetually in debt and do not allow them to leave the cycle of poverty. Moreover, women garment workers suffer from malnutrition and anemia causing health problems.

The study compares working conditions and wages in two different global supply chains that cater to the European market with links to South India – the garment industry in Bangalore that produces apparel for well-known European retailers including H&M, a Swedish multinational, and Norwegian Varner Group as well as the electronics industry in Sriperumbudur (near Chennai) where electronics companies Dell and Samsung (USA and Korea respectively) are manufacturing their products. 

In general, workers migrate from rural areas looking for better jobs than they had in agriculture. Technological change has brought about employment, but the jobs are characterized by low pay and lack of social security. In their private life workers face poor housing and living conditions, lack of access to hospitals, schools, water supply and sanitation. In Chennai women workers live in the areas, which are not policed sufficiently and are therefore unsafe.

Workers in Bangalore tell of the constant high production targets they are subject to. They have to work more than the legal working hours, they are harassed and intimidated by their supervisors, and are constantly threatened with termination of their contracts. They say that without overtime they are unable to make ends meet, but still overtime is a constraint because it upsets their personal lives and keeps them from looking after the children, cooking, washing and buying food.

Workers are not allowed sufficient toilet breaks. If they use the toilets more than three to five times over an eight-hour period, they are abused and humiliated by their supervisors. They can take just five minutes to go to the toilet each time and must rush back. In order to meet the targets, the workers drink less water in order to avoid having to go to the toilet. In general these workers are women, and their supervisors are men.

At Dell in India most of the workers are young unmarried women. Wages are low. They do voluntary overtime in order to make enough money to meet the families’ expenses. The women send more than half their salaries home to support their families in the villages, so they cannot afford anything for themselves, not even nutritious food. Dell workers do not expect any promotion. The majority only expects to work until they get married, because they go back to their villages for their arranged marriages.

While Nokia was still operating in India, it had a trade union and the working conditions were significantly better. That is why unionization is crucial for improving living and working conditions. Only with trade unions, will it be possible to overcome the abuse that is prevalent in factories the world over producing the goods that we consume every day.

Textile and garment industry director needed at IndustriALL

The garment and textile industry is IndustriALL's biggest sector, with 60 million workers in the world. Very few of them are organized, and the industry has been characterized by low wages, long working hours and hazardous workplaces. The Bangladesh Accord started a systemic change, and we are now focusing on organizing workers and securing bargaining structures with living wages. We need a director to lead our work in the sector. The position is based in Geneva and involves frequent travel.

 Principal tasks 

Requirements 

Applications by Wednesday 8 July 2015 

Please send your application including a CV and motivation letter by e-mail to Maita Wyss at [email protected] at the latest by Wednesday 8 July 2015. In line with IndustriALL’s gender policy and taking into account the nature of the sector, we encourage applications from woman candidates. We will interview short-listed candidates and complete the application process swiftly so that the new industry director can start work in Geneva as soon as possible, preferably in September-October 2015 

ILO is back to work

In February 2015, after a global action day called by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and supported by IndustriALL Global Union and other global unions, the employers group at the International Labour Organization (ILO) finally agreed to recognize the right to strike. A joint statement by the workers’ and employers’ group also ended a three-year blockage on addressing important cases of violations of workers’ rights.

Therefore this year’s International Labour Conference (ILC) of the ILO in Geneva to which 4500 government, employer and worker delegates gathered in June, was different from the past three years.  After the deadlock was broken in February, serious matters could be discussed and key conclusions reached.

I am especially happy about the conclusions on Mexico. The ILO Governing Body and the Committee on Application of Standards asked the Mexican government to take legislative reforms to prevent the registration of trade unions that cannot demonstrate the support of the majority of the workers they intend to represent, by means of a democratic election process.  

The Mexican government was quick to state in public that the law does not support this protection contract system upheld by yellow unions and corrupt employers. However, 90 per cent of collective agreements are made without consulting the workers. Now the ITUC and IndustriALL are discussing the next steps in our joint action towards democratic labour-management relations in Mexico. 

In Bangladesh, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety is making garment factories safer. We also managed to collect from global clothing brands the required US$ 30 million for paying compensation to the victims and families of the Rana Plaza industrial homicide in April 2013. Now the ILO Committee recommends sending a high level tripartite mission to examine legal problems, issues with export processing zones (EPZs), anti-union discrimination and violence, and trade union registration. The garment industry of four million workers has been practically a union-free zone. Now we need to get it organized.

The ILO Committee reiterated its criticism against Belarus where the government has failed to address most of the earlier recommendations. The workers cannot freely join a union of their choice. In its remarkable 2015 Global Rights Index, the ITUC lists Belarus as one of the world’s ten worst countries for workers. The report says Belarus is characterized by anti-union discrimination, forced labour and repression of protests.

In Swaziland, the Committee called for the registration of IndustriALL affiliate Atuswa and for the release of a jailed union leader.

The Committee on Social Protection concluded that although some advances have been made in minimum wage systems, working hours, health and safety, and maternity protection, too many workers lack adequate social protection. These shortcomings need to be addressed throughout the global supply chains, which will be a major topic on the ILO conference in 2016.

For IndustriALL, ILO norms are a cornerstone of workers’ rights. Organizing and mobilizing workers remain the best tools for putting them in practice.

Jyrki Raina

General Secretary