Rana Plaza victims’ compensation fund reaches US$30 million target

IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary Jyrki Raina welcomed the announcement which finally makes full compensation possible for the victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy:
"This compensation scheme is groundbreaking for industrial accidents in the garment supply chain, but the lack of responsibility by the brands towards the workers who make their clothes has been only too apparent.

Meanwhile the fight continues for a living wage and the right to be a member of a trade union. These struggles are fundamental to changing the conditions in garment factories so that tragedies like Rana Plaza will never happen again.

UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings said:
“The compensation fund shows that global unions and NGOs can work with international brands to ensure they live-up to their responsibilities along the supply chain. This is a positive day in a tortuous saga for the survivors and the families of the victims. Two years is way too long for multi-billion dollar companies to come up collectively with US$30 million, but we’ve got there in the end and the families can now start to rebuild their lives. However, let’s not forget Bangladesh still has a long way to go to create a safe and sustainable garment industry.”

ITUC names ten worst countries for workers

IndustriALL Global Union is all too familiar with the findings, which found that Gulf states are among the worst for workers’ rights and that austerity measures in Europe have had the biggest impact on a decrease in standards.

The ITUC rights index ranks 141 countries against 97 internationally recognized indicators to assess where workers’ rights are best protected, in law and in practice.

The ten worst countries for working people are Belarus, China, Colombia, Egypt, Guatemala, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and United Arab Emirates.

Other countries ranked lower but had worsening conditions this year in a clear negative trend for workers. These nations were Burundi, Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, Iran, Georgia, Russia, United Kingdom and Spain.

The report's key findings include:

More than half of countries in the survey deny workers access to the rule of law.

Read the full report here. 

www.ituc-csi.org

Indonesian workers strike against Philips union busting

The workers demand that Philips management:

So far the management refuses to satisfy workers’ demands and applies tactics of intimidation and bad treatment, blocking the strikers from access to any facility including toilets, the canteen or the use of the mosque for prayers.

According to FSPMI, the union PUK PT Philips Batam was registered on 18 March 2015. Batam is an Indonesian municipality granted the status of a Free Trade Zone, notorious for its increasingly hostile attitude towards trade unions.

On 9 April 2015 the PT. Philips Industries Batam management received an official notification of registration of the union. The very next day the management called in rank and file members of the union one by one and put them under strong pressure to sign a letter of termination of their employment. They were both permanent and contractual workers.

The workers, supported by the union officials, refused to accept their dismissals and were forcefully evicted from company grounds. They were not even given a chance to take their personal belongings from their lockers. In total, 83 FSPMI union officers and members were dismissed by PT. Philips Industries Batam in April this year.

The union has tried to negotiate with management on a number of occasions to discuss reinstatement of those unfairly dismissed. However, every time the management referred to work efficiency as the reason for the sackings.

The dismissed workers have received substantial support from their colleagues. An additional 519 workers out of about 1900 employees became new union members by the end of April.

Having used all other possible measures and failed to convince the management to reinstate the workers, the union announced a strike at the end of May and notified the management.

The strike continues to date. IndustriALL has contacted the local and global leadership of the company seeking a fair solution of the conflict. Addressing the CEO of Philips in the Netherlands, as well as the Senior director of PT. Philips Industries Batam in Indonesia Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL General Secretary urged them “to immediately reinstate the unfairly dismissed union officers and members, to stop harassing workers and to respect their right to join the union of their choice.”

Raina also called on PT. Philips Industries Batam “to resume the collective bargaining negotiations with the FSPMI to achieve a fair and just resolution of this conflict as well as create a constructive relationship between labour and management.”

Strike at Volvo Brazil ends with worker victory

Members of the Curitiba Metalworkers’ Union (SMC), affiliated to the National Confederation of Metalworkers (CNTM), in turn affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, voted to strike on 8 May in response to Volvo Brazil management’s threat to make workers redundant. The strike ended on 1 June after an agreement was reached.

Volvo’s Curitiba plant employs around 3,500 workers. On 7 May, the company reached an agreement with the Ministry of Labour establishing a 15 day period for negotiations with the union to seek an alternative to the dismissals. However, on the same day, the company began to inform workers that it would be dismissing 600 workers.

The union therefore called a strike. Sergio Butka, union president, said from the start that he was open to negotiations to discuss options for Volvo to guarantee job security.

Negotiations reach an agreement benefiting workers

On 12 May, Volvo organised a secret ballot on a proposal to make a 50 per cent reduction in payments due this year under the company’s profit-sharing scheme. It also proposed flexibilisation of rights in the pay agreement. However, 77 per cent of employees rejected the proposal, with 23 per cent in favour.

With no further response from the company, the workers decided to continue the strike until the company was ready to negotiate. Finally, on 1 June, Volvo agreed to sit down with the union at the negotiating table and presented another proposal on profit-sharing. It proposed an increase of R$ 5,000-8,000 for the first instalment and a ceiling of R$30,000, depending on production levels. Finally, it negotiated the possibility of a voluntary redundancy plan, in which employees accepting redundancy would receive their pay plus other rights.

Fernando Lopes, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union said, This victory shows that the workers must get behind their unions. We can win if we remain united”.

Industriall Global Union welcomes the negotiations and agreements between Volvo and its employees and the company’s decision to listen to their grievances and agree to accept collective bargaining.  

Lesotho unions merge

Bargaining power in Lesotho has deteriorated significantly over a decade as splinter unions has emerged, competing with each other for membership. As a result individual union membership has remained below the threshold for recognition in many factories. This situation has benefitted employers but has resulted in the erosion of real wages against inflation, so that workers are barely able to survive on their earnings.

Lesotho affiliates Factory Workers Union (Fawu), Lesotho Clothing and Allied Workers Union (Lecawu) and National Union of Textile Workers (Nutex) recognised that the only way to engage government and employers on a living wage would be to build unity amongst workers. They have been engaging their membership to build support for a merger whilst working together over the last two years, supported by IndustriALL and its Swedish affiliate IF Metall. 

On 31 May the new constitution was unanimously adopted by the 92 delegates at the inaugural congress. Newly elected President Leticia Mohobelo, appealed for unity to be maintained amongst textile and garment workers in Lesotho. 

IndustriALL and IF Metall will continue to support the development of IDUL to effectively represent workers.

In a message read to the merger congress, IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina said:

Today, workers in Lesotho have hope for building a strong union that is able to recruit more members, put in place solid structures that keep it accountable to its members. A union committed to improve conditions of employment and increase wages as well as address precarious work and job security.

Strengthened through this unity, workers can take on the fight for a living wage and decent work.

Global network formed to fight anti-union behaviour at Huhtamäki

Participants at the global network meeting spoke about bad relations between management and trade unions. Very often union representatives have no right even to enter the factory, and in many countries health and safety rights are violated frequently.
 
Workers at the Commerce, California plant faced harsh working conditions with temperatures often reaching above 40 degrees Celsius. When they decided to organise  the company refused to meet with them and brought in anti-union consultants who held mandatory meetings urging workers not to unionize. In 2014, the company spent US$430,000 on anti-union consultants.
 
Huhtamäki’s Code of Conduct and Code of Conduct for Group Suppliers recognize all fundamental ILO Principles, including the right of employees to associate. However Huhtamäki’s Vice-President, Sami Pauni, told union representatives that in countries that have not ratified ILO Conventions the company follows national law, even if it is weaker than the Conventions. In fact, more than 75 per cent of Huhtamäki’s workforce is found in countries that have not ratified ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association.
 
Sami Pauni participated in the meeting and gave a brief presentation on the company situation. However, after a question on why Huhtamäki spends a lot of money to fight the unions instead of establishing social dialogue with them, Mr. Pauni became annoyed and left the meeting room.
 
Commerce worker Levi Ross, who participated in the global network meeting on his holiday time, said on the incident:

I came all the way to Finland hoping to have a serious dialogue with the company, but I feel like they turned their back on me and the workers in Commerce.

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina said:

This meeting was only the first step in the fight to restore the rights of the workers and trade unions at Huhtamäki plants. The struggle will continue as long as the owners of the company will not agree to respect the workers’ rights and start a serious dialogue with their unions.

The global trade union network meeting was held on the initiative of IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union and attended by workers’ representatives from Huhtamäki plants in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, UK and USA.
 
The participants of Huhtamäki Global network meeting adopted a statement, proposing steps to improve conditions for Huhtamäki workers and establishing a dialogue with management.
 

Strike ends in victory for Israeli chemical workers

Around 2,000 workers went on strike on 2 February 2015 after Israel Chemicals Limited (ICL) threatened to lay off hundreds of employees at its Dead Sea Works and Bromine Compounds factories in the south of Israel.

In the new deal, reached between ICL, Histadrut and employees’ committees at both factories, only 38 workers (19 from each factory) will be laid off. However, they have until the end of the year to prove themselves, when their future employment will be considered. All of the laid-off workers will receive severance pay of 300 per cent.

ICL employs 4,500 workers in Israel, of which 3,500 are based in the south of the country. A further 25,000 workers are dependent on ICL for business.

The victory will protect the workers and economy of the south of Israel, where unemployment rates are high and job opportunities low, says Histadrut Chairman, Avi Nissenkorn:

“We are returning 2,000 people to work, the South wins…No worker has been laid off at this stage.”

Approximately 100 workers from both factories will be forced to retire, in addition to 100 employees that have retired in recent months. Histadrut has been able to secure a greatly improved conditions package for the retirees.

Chairman of the Dead Sea Works Employees' committee, Armond Lankri, said: "This was one of the most significant battles…Thankfully, the whole country supported us. I'm glad we finished a difficult period and we succeeded in maintaining the status and rights of the workers.”

Chairman of the Bromine Compounds employees' committee, Avner Ben-Senior, said: "We struggled not for money and improved conditions, but a struggle of principle that a profitable company doesn't fire workers, first and foremost!”

Mauritius – learning to organize in the supply chain

Union leaders and workers in export processing zones in Mauritius took part in the joint IndustriALL/FES workshop on 27 to 29 May.

Garment workers have the lowest minimum wage in the country, and IndustriALL affiliates reported long working hours with an obligatory overtime of ten hours per week.

Participants also relayed the difference in treatment between local and migrant workers, which is illegal under national legislation.

Most textile and garment factories are located in the country's Export Processing Zone, where trade unions do not have access to the plant to organize workers. Hence less than 5 per cent of the 60,000 workers are unionized.

Mauritius has ratified the International Labour Organization’s Convention number 87 on the right to freedom of association and organize, but it is not implemented. Participants agreed that the law needs amending to force freedom of association in export processing zones.

Mauritius is producing for South Africa and USA brands, as well as some European retailers.

A delegation from IndustriALL’s South African affiliate, SACTWU, shared their experiences in organizing, introduced South African brands to the participants, and committed to support unions who are organizing in factories supplying for South African retailers.

In discussions with the new Minister of Labour, Soodesh Satkam Callichurn, after the workshop, IndustriALL and its affiliates asked the Minister to raise the minimum wage in the garment sector and requested that a mechanism is put in place to enforce freedom of association and collective bargaining in the country. They also called for the harmonizing of working conditions between local and migrant workers.

Mauritius was among the pioneers in the garment industry, long before the fast fashion changed the face of the sector, and long before export processing zones were established to attract investors from around the world. It has adapted to the changing dynamism of the garment sector through investing in the latest textile and garment technology, establishing fashion and design schools, and maintaining cheap labour through migrant workers.

Blame for Rana Plaza runs far and wide

Murder charges have been brought against the owners of garment factories in the building and more than a dozen government officials, who are accused of ignoring warnings not to enter the building the day before the collapse on 24 April 2013.

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL, which represents garment workers in Bangladesh, said:

Rana Plaza victims and their families deserve justice. Responsibility for Bangladesh’s worst-ever industrial disaster runs far and wide.  The Rana Plaza collapse was the culmination of an unsustainable system of production that demands suppliers produce more for less, and depends on cheap labour and low costs no matter what the consequences. 

“Now, factory inspections carried out by the Bangladesh Accord mean that responsible brands no longer rely on self-controlled auditing systems which failed so miserably in the past.  

However, two years on and Rana Plaza victims are still waiting for full and proper compensation. We urge that brands sourcing from country, as well as the Bangladesh government fulfill their obligations and give the US$ 2.3 million needed to complete compensation payments to victims.

"Spy in the cab" dispute settled

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Unite the Union launched a strike on 27 May including 300 engineering service workers. The strike was a protest against a tracker system used for measuring workloads known as VAMS, deemed unreliable according to Unite. 

An agreement has now been reached, providing safeguards for the workers, and as a result Unite's members are returning to work.

Unite national officer Linda McCulloch said:

The agreement provides mechanisms that will ensure that VAMS accurately records and measures the workloads of the employees.

This is a successful outcome that could have only been achieved by the 100 per cent solidarity shown by our members during the course of this dispute.