Works Councils discuss labour relations at German chemical companies in China

China is by far the largest chemical producer in the world, and many German chemical multinational companies have large investments in the country. A total of 189 subsidiaries of German chemical companies operate in China. Together they achieve a turnover of around 17.4 billion euros and employ 52,000 people. At the same time, Chinese companies are increasingly investing in companies in Germany and Europe.

Around 60 participants evaluated developments on labour relations in China and possible cooperation and partnership with their Chinese counterparts. The main expectation raised by the IG BCE’s Industry Forum was that worldwide workers need to stand together and competition by the companies must not be done at the expense of working conditions, safety and wages.

"Companies’ social responsibility is not limited to Germany. Good work needs respect, fairness and trust," said Michael Vassiliadis, President of IG BCE. "We need to build a Competence-Team to help our friends there."

Although the Chinese government has carried out reforms in the field of labour law and the establishment of the Employment Contracts Act, Employment Promotion Act and the labor dispute law, the way to a more efficient and fair labour market is still long and arduous.

The central government’s predetermined legal framework can be interpreted and applied flexibly to the respective region by the local administration, making it difficult to effectively enforce and demand the regulations and laws.

Another fundamental problem is the restriction of forming independent trade unions. Each localized and newly formed union has to join the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) to be considered legitimate.

The participants received reports that multinational companies such as Bayer and Evonik implement the German labour relations model at their plants located in China. This includes elections for workers' representatives and negotiated collective bargaining agreements. The reports showed that support given by German works council members helped creation of common understanding and a joint working culture at workplaces.

Oliver Zühlke, Chairperson of the General Works Council of Bayer AG, reported on the status of participation in Bayer’s factories in China. He said 96 per cent of employees were organized and workers representatives were elected at the Chinese factories of Bayer. However, labour relations are not only working for exchanging technical and organizational information, but also sharing concerns such as investment slowdown or economic migration.

"You can speak up to ensure that the same standards are applied to all employees of the same multinational company. Settling good labour relations in China also helps workers in Germany. Competition should not take place at the expense of labour costs. We want a system whereby all employees can exercise their fundamental rights," said Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union in an interview at the Industry Forum.

Pakistani union NTUF condemns sacking of 24 textile workers

FKN is an offshoot company of Rashid Textile, located at SITE, an industrial zone of Karachi. It produces towels and yarn for export to the EU and other countries. For the company to recruit new workers on low paid wages, management blocked the 24 sacked workers from entering the factory to begin their shift on 18 July, just before the festival of Eid.

The sacked workers then contacted NTUF to take up their issue with the concerned authority and fight against the repressive behaviour of the company.

One of the sacked workers Muhammad Nadeem reports that the working conditions inside the factory are extremely poor and the 900 workers are vulnerable. Many of the employees are forced to work up to 20 hours a day.

The FKN factory workers are mostly employed via illegal contractors and have no rights to form a union. They are paid no social protection benefits often do not receive their pay.

A complaint to the Labour authorities on behalf of the 24 sacked workers was submitted through NTUF’s lawyer on 27 July. The department then summoned the management and one representative of the management appeared without any record or reply. Again, the authorities have ordered the management to appear on 2 August with all records.

NTUF leaderhip states that they will fight for the cause of FKN Workers, until all the workers get reinstated.

Apoorva Kaiwar, IndustriALL South Asia Regional Secretary:

IndustriALL stands with the workers of FKN textile and condemns the inhuman behaviour of the management for sacking 24 workers before the day of Eid.

Supplier for multinationals Enpay sacks 65 for joining union in Turkey

The Turkish company manufactures electric power transformers and transformer components used in circuitry with exports to over 50 countries. Having factories in both Slovakia and in India, Enpay employs around 900 workers at its factory located in Kullar, Izmit, one of the industrial zones in Turkey.

Over the last month, local management has reacted aggressively to its employees after they started to join IndustriALL’s affiliate Birlesik Metal-Is, United Metalworkers’ Union.

IndustriALL Global Union, with its namesake sister organization in Europe, twice urged Enpay management to stop anti-union aggression and reinstate dismissed workers. However, despite a reply from the company on 1 July stating that Enpay is acting in compliance with national law and international labour norms, the sackings have continued.

We note your letter to us on 1 July. We very much wish that your stated compliance with national and international labour norms were true. However sacking all of the worker representatives elected by Birlesik Metal-İs along with other union supporters clearly amounts to punitive action and your management’s “intervention in the unionization of workers” to quote your letter.

Reacting to a large proportion of the workforce joining Birlesik and electing their own worker representatives, Enpay dismissed 11 union members on 13 July, a further 12 on 20 July for joining demonstrations calling for reinstatement, and now a total of 65. All of the elected worker representatives were sacked.

The number of dismissals has ridden steadily as for each employer violation, workers reacted with actions that were then vindictively punished by management. And the escalating cycle is continuing.

Worker action in demonstration against management violations has included work stoppages, pickets, and sit-in demonstrations.

The company applied to the public prosecutor claiming that the work stoppage was illegal, but the claim was rejected and opening a court case was refused.

On Sunday, 26 July, police arrested workers and the local president of Birlesik Metal-Is in Kocaeli for simply assembling peacefully in front of the factory. They were released in the evening of the same day.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan stated:

“IndustriALL Global Union expects from Enpay’s customer multinationals to use their influence to halt the nonsense engaged by Enpay. Unfortunately there are currently a number of similar cases in Turkey. Employers and their corporate clients must know that a policy of outright aggression will never drive democratic unions out of Turkish workplaces. Taking corrective measures through due-diligence is their responsibility.”

Solvay GFA: This is what global level labour relations look like

Together with IndustriALL and Solvay, the Bureau for Workers’ Activities, ACTRAV, presented the industrial relations with Solvay to various departments of the International Labour Organization, ILO, on 28 July.

The advanced industrial relations between IndustriALL and Solvay represent the second generation of global framework agreements. Whereas the first decade of GFAs in the 1990s generally focused on commitments to standards and norms, the next generation strives to commit parties to stringent procedures for enforcing the agreement and proactively solving problems before they escalate.

Joint monitoring and evaluation missions are conducted twice a year, and three missions to China have already taken place. The third revision of the Solvay GFA in 2011 added a global safety panel.

Importantly, through the agreement Solvay expects its suppliers and sub-contractors to respect fundamental principles. The company counts employees and subcontractors the same in terms of industrial accidents.

The company already received warm commendation from IndustriALL in March this year for establishing a new Global Forum with participation of union representatives from different continents. The Global Forum negotiated this year a global performance sharing scheme totaling EUR 10 million, which represents a new development in global level social dialogue.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan negotiated each revision of the GFA over ten years:

What we are doing with Solvay is a benchmark for the chemicals industry. We have real, genuine social dialogue and employee involvement in all CSR processes. We respect each other and appreciate the channel that we have.

The Solvay China activities have set an industry-level standard, with elected worker representatives and negotiated collective bargaining.”

Jean-Christophe Sciberras, Human Resources Director for Solvay told the ILO meeting:

“We believe in social dialogue, trust and transparency. The GFA is the constituency of our relationship. It is not only about rights, our agreement is strong because of its implementation and compliance.

Being challenged by an independent organization can only bring us further. For us IndustriALL is a strong challenger. If we cheat they will know. We talk, we exchange, and together we improve.

The Secretary of the Solvay Works Council, and IG BCE member, Albert Kruft said, “It takes time to establish and build mutual trust. Our EWC is 20 years old now and it is right that Solvay workers have global level representatives as we have a global level framework agreement.”

IndustriALL currently has 46 Global Framework Agreements, and together with partner organization UNI, the two global unions have 80 per cent of all GFAs. Half of IndustriALL’s GFAs come from the automotive and energy sectors, and the most common home countries are Germany then France.

Solvay recently acquired US-based company Cytec to boost its presence in composite and adhesive materials for the aerospace and automotive industries and reinforce its mining chemicals business. Making most of its sales in North America, Cytec has 4,600 employees worldwide and annual sales of around US$ 2 billion.

In 2014, Solvay’s net sales were EUR 10.21 billion with 26,000 employees at 119 sites in 52 countries worldwide.

IndustriALL Singapore National Council formed

The activity was attended by more than 100 delegates from IndustriALL affiliates in Singapore.

The inauguration ceremony had participation from Brother Heng Chee How, Deputy General Secretary of the Singapore National Trade Union Congress, Bro. Koichi Asanuma, General Secretary of Japanese Confederation of Metalworkers and Noriyuki Suzuki, Regional Secretary of International Trade union Confederation. IndustriALL was represented by Annie Adviento, Regional Secretary for South-East Asia and Pacific.

The theme of the inauguration was unity and working together for the better life of the workers in Singapore, and supporting the goals of IndustriALL Global Union.

Bro. Cyrille Tan of the United Workers of Electronic and Electrical Industries was elected President of the Council. Jessie Yeo from the Metal Industries Workers Union was elected General Secretary. The leaders of other affiliates were elected Vice-Presidents and Deputy General Secretary.

Said Bro. Cyrille: “I am very happy that we have finally come to this occasion of inaugurating the IndustriALL Singapore Council. Thank you for the cooperation of our affiliates. Let us now move forward and work to improve the life of the Singapore workers. Let us contribute to the achievement of IndustriALL Global Union.”

IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Raina’s solidarity message was read to the meeting:

I am particularly pleased to learn that the focus of your inauguration will be to strive for unity in the aerospace, iron and steel, chemicals, electrical and electronics, shipbuilding sectors and to endeavor to expand the membership of IndustriALL in Singapore from other sectors under the National Trade Union Congress.

Let me also give recognition to the cooperation amongst our affiliates leading to the formation of the IndustriALL Singapore Council. This is a great contribution to the goal of IndustriALL of building united, strong and self-sustaining unions. 

We demand clean elections!

IndustriALL is calling for a speedy resolution of the legal proceedings and a date to be set for a ballot in accordance with national and international legislation on freedom of association.

Honda Mexico continues to implement a vicious anti-trade union policy at its factory in El Salto, Jalisco and is prolonging the legal battle over freedom of association. The workers are fighting for the right to join a union of their choice.

“Four years ago, the Honda workers’ independent trade union, STUHM, requested collective bargaining rights. However, the legal proceedings that should have culminated in a workplace vote to allow workers to freely express which union they want to represent them continues to be bogged down by a whole range of obstacles,” explained Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary.

The fight for freedom of association

In an interview published in La Jornada, Mexico, STUHM’S general secretary, José Luis Solorio and the union treasurer, Luis Gerardo Rodríguez, denounced the fact that only two of the country’s 29 auto industry assembly plants have independent trade unions and decent pay levels. All the others are controlled by “protection” unions that do not allow freedom of association for workers.

Solorio and Rodriguez also revealed that the fight to ensure that workers can decide which union should have collective bargaining rights at the Honda plant has been hampered by repression, violence and unfair dismissals. Their greatest fear at the moment is that arrangements for the ballot will not be fair and will favour the company’s accomplice, the “protection” union.

STUHM’s leaders told La Jornada that the Social Security Department gave them a register of workers at the plant that does not bear any resemblance to reality and includes Japanese administrative workers employed by the company, managers, people who are no longer alive and people who left the plant ten years ago. Moreover, the department intends to give voting rights to a further 600 workers who are not relevant current employees, which they say would completely invalidate the process, said Solorio.

Jyrki Raina has written to the president of the Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board, Alberto Zorrilla, asking him to expedite a speedy resolution of the legal process, set a date for the ballot and guarantee a reliable voter register, in accordance with national and international legislation on freedom of association. At his last meeting with STUHM, Zorrilla assured the union that a completely reliable register will be used.

The case of Honda Mexico was put on the agenda of the last ILO Assembly in Geneva and the situation of STUHM members was used as an example of serious violations of freedom of association.

During the third regional automotive sector meeting, held in Mexico DF, IndustriALL and its affiliates in the industry signed a declaration supporting STUHM’s fight, reiterated their solidarity with independent trade unions in Mexico, rejected the use of “protection” contracts and demanded compliance with ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association.

FUP prepares September strike in defence of Petrobras

The oil workers’ federation, FUP/CUT, affiliated to CNQ-CUT and IndustriALL Global Union, is organizing action to prevent the privatization of Petrobras. It held a 24-hour strike on 24 July and is planning another strike in September.

Following a corruption scandal and crisis, attempts are being made to sell off Brazil’s biggest oil company, the 64 per cent state-owned Petrobras, at a very low share price. However, members of FUP/CUT want the company to remain in the public sector because of its essential role in ensuring the country’s development.

“Metalworkers, especially those working in this industry, construction workers and contract oil workers are already suffering the consequences of the dismantling of the national oil industry. Thousands of jobs have been lost, construction projects have been put on hold and investments suspended,” said FUP/CUT in a press release published on its website.

The union federation said it will begin an indefinite strike in September if there is not a positive response to its 24-hour strike. It opposes proposed changes in legislation that aim to remove Petrobras’ exclusive rights to exploit the Pre-Salt oilfields.

The 24-hour strike affected refineries, oil platforms, terminals, pipelines, onshore oilfields, biodiesel plants, thermal plants and administrative offices throughout the country. The FUP/CUT said this was the first step in a major historic battle.

Fernando Lopes, Assistant General Secretary of IndustiALL Global Union said that:

Petrobras is essential for the country’s development: the royalties it generates should continue to be used to fund free quality public health and education. The struggle to keep Petrobras in the public sector is not just a struggle of oil workers, it is a struggle of the entire Brazilian people.

Support 1,140 Indian mineworkers organizing at bullying Thriveni

Thriveni is a large scale Indian mining company that sells coal and iron ore to the global market leaders such as Tata Steel.

The organizing drive is being conducted by IndustriALL Global Union affiliate HKMF, the national mineworkers union, and supported by the IndustriALL project to organize workers in the steel, mining and energy sectors of India.

Thriveni’s Odisha Project based in Unchabali includes the following iron ore mines: Unchabali, Balde, Guali, Nuagaon, Thakurani, Jurudi, Ghatkuri, SM & Co, Deojhar, and Murgabeda.

Workers at all of the above locations organized the Thriveni Mazdoor Sabha union from September 2014, with 250 already members and 850 further supporting workers. Thriveni already sacked seven leading organizers on 16 September. Once registered the union will become part of the HKMF.

IndustriALL is informed that B Prabhakaran, the Thriveni owner and Managing Director threatened the union president, Panchratna Mahakud saying that he will be sent thousands of kilometers away and killed. Brother Panchratna was ultimately dismissed on 22 June on sham charges.

HKMF has been forced to raise its case with the Ministry of Labour and Indian Prime Minister’s Office, and is supported in this by INMF, the IndustriALL affiliated national metalworkers federation.

IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan states:

IndustriALL will not stand by and allow Thriveni to intimidate its mineworkers with death threats and bullying. We have raised our concerns with key buyer Tata and demand that the local authorities do their job and stop the abuse.

IndustriALL Global Union South Asia Regional Secretary Apoorva Kaiwar said:

IndustriALL condemns the anti-worker, anti-union behaviour of Thriveni Earthmover’s Company, and appeals to all IndustriALL affiliates to stand with the Thriveni workers who are fighting for their legitimate rights and justice.

S Q Zama, General Secretary of the Indian National Mines Workers Federation (INMF) and Rajendra Prasad Singha, Hind Khadan Mazdoor Federation (HKMF) jointly state:

"Thriveni Earthmovers is a company that does not respect the law of the land and democratic trade unions. We appeal to all the affiliates of IndustriALL, all over the world to support this movement, where the president of the union has been dismissed illegally by the employers."

NUM fighting back on retrenchments at Kumba Iron Ore

Management of the Anglo American owned company agreed during a meeting with the union on 23 July 2015 that they will work with the union to negotiate retrenchments at its Northern Cape mines.

Currently 261 workers stand to lose their jobs at their operations at Kolomela and Sishen in the Northern Cape. Kumba Iron Ore is also closing its Thabazimbi operation in the Limpopo province which will result in 1160 job losses. A meeting between the union and management has been scheduled for next week on the retrenchments at Thabazimbi.

"This is a tragedy for the mineworkers and the community of Thabazimbi. Each worker supports about 10 people so there are too many people that will be without bread at the end of the day," said Lucas Phiri, NUM Chief Negotiator at Kumba Iron Ore, “but if these retrenchments are inevitable we know what a setback this is for workers and the hardship it causes for them and their families so we will work hard to get them the best possible packages”.

The NUM also questions whether the company met its legal obligation to inform the Minister of Minerals Resources of its intention to retrench and has requested the Minister to intervene to prevent the retrenchments. The union has also demanded a moratorium to be placed on retrenchments at all mines saying “enough is enough”.

22-month USW strike ends in agreement with Crown in Toronto

Workers will finally go back to work after a vicious attack on their employment conditions forced the 120 members of USW Local 9176 out on strike in September 2013.

A tentative agreement was reached on 8 July when the company dropped its intransigent condition that the 34 leading union supporters could not have their jobs back even after a settlement is reached.

IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan celebrated the strength of the strike:

Our sisters and brothers finally go back to work by standing strong against the attempts to eliminate the union. Congratulations! We will not forget Crown’s shameful union busting attempts.

Crown achieved double profits in 2012 and hailed the Toronto Crown Metal Packaging factory as its best site in North America. Then told workers there that their salaries and conditions were being cut dramatically, and effectively the company was attempting to destroy the union.

The company was allowed to hire contract replacement workers during the strike. The USW criticized the Ontario government for failing to direct binding arbitration.

“These men and women can return to work with their heads held high. They are going back shoulder-to-shoulder, with their union and their principles intact,” said Marty Warren, USW Ontario Director.

"Clearly, this strike demonstrates the pressing need for amendments to the Labour Relations Act that would provide for binding arbitration in long and difficult strikes and would impose a ban on the use of replacement workers. We urge the Liberal government to take the necessary steps through the current labour law review process to commit to those reforms," Warren added.

The battle against union busting by Crown in Turkey is continuing. IndustriALL affiliate Birlesik Metal-Is has been forced to lodge numerous legal complaints and the labour court has ruled that almost all workers sacked by Crown were sacked for joining the union. One of the managers has been convicted with a six-month prison sentence, although the sentence has been suspended. Pepsi and Coca-Cola are conducting audits into the plant.

IndustriALL’s Ghanaian affiliate ICU had to mobilize a campaign in order to force Crown to negotiate redundancies of its members this year. ICU Deputy General Secretary Emmanue Benimah reports: “Crown has now sold up and left Ghana. We were able to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding with the company that brought our members proper redundancy payments, but this was only possible once we put them under great pressure.”