Crown campaign continues in UK

The protests on 15 April targeted Arnold Donald, Carnival’s CEO, in his capacity as member of the board of directors at Crown Holdings.

Action took place at Carnival’s corporation headquarters in Southampton, and in London where the company was holding its annual general meeting (AGM) of shareholders.

In 2013, workers at the Crown package manufacturing facility in Toronto – who are members of IndustriALL Global Union through the USW – were forced into striking over working conditions and benefits.

With their life vests on, striking Canadian Crown workers from USW and members of Unite from the UK held a huge banner outside the Southampton offices asking: ‘Why is Arnold Donald throwing workers overboard?’

Protesters also distributed leaflets with information about the strike to around 200 shareholders en route to the Carnival AGM in London. 

Donald, who contended he could play no role in changing the Crown’s position in the Toronto strike, faced a number of tough questions at the AGM.

Addressing Donald at the Carnival AGM, IndustriALL’s assitant general secretary, Kemal Özkan, pointed out that Crown’s demands for dramatic wage and benefit cuts, alongside its efforts to destroy the union, undermined Carnival’s own business plan:

“Carnival is dependent on good wages, pensions and paid vacations that union agreements provided,” said Özkan, who also cited examples of Crown engaging in union busting in Turkey, Colombia, Morocco and Ghana.

Ghana must combat precarious work

Problems related to precarious work and outsourcing were visible on the agenda at a meeting between IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina and Ghana’s minister of employment and labour relations Haruna Iddrisu on 14 April 2015 in Accra.

Raina was accompanied by regional secretary Fabian Nkomo and leaders of IndustriALL affiliates Industrial and Commercial Union (ICU), Ghana Mine Workers’ Union (GMWU) and Ghana Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU).

The minister promised to study carefully a document prepared by the unions on the need to limit outsourcing and casualization. More than 60 percent of Ghana’s workforce is in the informal sector.

In companies, contract workers toil side by side with permanent workers, but they are not covered by collective agreements. Precarious workers earn sometimes only a third of what permanent workers do. They do not get any of the social benefits granted in collective agreements.

Jyrki Raina and minister Iddrisu agreed that Ghana needs to build a strong industrial base with added value products, instead of exporting mineral resources and crude oil. This requires a sustainable industrial policy to boost the creation of good quality permanent jobs, investments in infrastructure, skills and training of workers and access to energy at a reasonable price. Shortage of electricity is a huge problem for industrial companies.

Iddrisu reiterated the government’s commitment to the Decent Work Agenda and promised to continue dialogue with the unions to find solutions to different challenges.

Raina urged again the government to ratify ILO Convention 176 on health and safety in mines. Ghana is an important mining country. The minister tasked his staff to check where the mining ministry was with the ratification process.

During visits to aluminium, steel and textile companies, both management and local union representatives named the shortage of electricity as the biggest challenge on which there was no clear government strategy. Production has to be shut down on several days of the month, which means loss of sales. It also complicates the task of local union leaders to  negotiate better salaries and working conditions.

In all meetings and the press conference, salary disparities between local workers and expatriates doing the same job were described as a wide-spread problem. Raina promised to raise the question of fairness and equal treatment of workers with a number of multinational corporations with which IndustriALL has signed global framework agreements.

IndustriALL affiliates in Ghana told the general secretary about their increasing cooperation towards unity. They share a strong commitment towards a merger of all the three unions to create a single organization with a loud and united voice. The Ghana IndustriALL Country Council is preparing a joint Mayday action against outsourcing and precarious work.

The fight against outsourcing in Brazil intensifies

The Central Única de los Trabajadores (CUT) and other Brazilian trade union centres called on unions to strike and held other events on Wednesday, 15 April. Many aspects of the proposed law threaten workers’ rights. IndustriALL reaffirms its support for its affiliates in the fight against subcontracting in Brazil.

Outsourcing undermines labour rights. If approved, companies will be able to outsource all their activities in all departments and sections. This would put at risk the status of all workers with direct employment contracts because they could be legally replaced by outsourced workers, who would be paid 24.7 per cent less. It would also lead to greater job insecurity because outsourced workers are employed for shorter periods compared to those with a direct formal contract.

Although the Chamber of Deputies approved the bill last week, workers were hoping to delay the process. During the national day of action, workers delayed the start of their shift or held a protest at the entrance to their workplace. Demonstrations were held in Sao Paulo, Fortaleza, Brasilia, Río de Janeiro, Curitiba, Teresina, Aracaju and Florianopolis.

This is not the first time that workers have protested against the bill. On 7 April, leaders and activists representing trade unions, federations and confederations took to the streets throughout the country to protest. They wanted to put pressure on members of the Chamber of Deputies to postpone their vote on the bill and hold a more detailed debate, but this did not prove possible. The police violently repressed the demonstrations, detained four people and injured eight others.

This week, the Chamber of Deputies will discuss amendments to the most controversial aspects of the bill and then it will be sent to the Senate. That is why the workers believe this is the right time to take to the streets to put pressure on Congress.

IndustriALL Global Union expressed its total support for and solidarity with the Brazilian workers on their day of action – 15 April. Workers have the right to decent employment and respect for their labour rights, such as health and safety.

Rio Tinto Pre-AGM: “The way it really works”

The panel was chaired by Business and Human Rights, and the large audience made up of investors and NGOs listened to a number of speakers who told of how Rio Tinto really works.

Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL said in his opening statement:

Rio Tinto is an industry leader and portrays itself as socially responsible, but in a field of ruthless multinational mining firms, Rio Tinto stands out as exceptionally bad.

Rio Tinto needs to live up to the reputation it paints for itself, and for its actions to match its words.

Ron Thomas from United Steelworkers in Labrador City, Canada told of deteriorating relations with Rio Tinto, where so far 2,300 grievances have been referred to arbitration.

“Until now Rio Tinto has refused any dialogue with the union. When they found out I was going here, then they called our first meeting.”

“I’m asking Rio Tinto to treat our members with respect, to stop using contract workers and put our members back to work. Something needs to change. They can’t be allowed to run it our hometown into the ground.”

In an emotional speech Vansler Standing Fox, San Carlos Apache Tribe member opposed Rio Tinto’s planned development of a copper mine on land that is sacred to Native Americans.

“The bill which gave Rio Tinto this land was sneaked through congress. Now people have to stand up and stop this; if there is no water, there will be no jobs, and subsequently no life.”                     

Lucy Graham, Business and Human Rights Legal Advisor, Amnesty International, talked of corporate crimes and abuses at the Myanmar copper mine, the Monywa project.

Liz Umlas, senior adviser on capital strategies IndustriALL, said.

“We have heard from affected parties talking of very poor behaviour from a company who call themselves a leader.”

IndustriALL Global Union’s report “Rio Tinto: The way it really works”, provides more info on Rio Tinto’s controversial practices and the risks it entails for the company. The report is available to download here www.industriall-union.org/riotinto

Clean up Rio Tinto! Workers and communities from around the world take on mining giant’s AGM

Rio Tinto, one of the biggest mining companies in the world, faces vocal criticism and protest on the morning of its AGM for its anti-union behaviour, worker health and safety catastrophes, poor relations with communities, suspect political activities, failure to respect indigenous peoples’ rights, and lack of transparency.

Those protesting will include community members and workers from Rio Tinto sites in Mongolia, Madagascar, Inuit communities in Canada, Indonesia, Apache communities in the USA, France, Australia, Namibia and more.

While the company publicly commits to respect trade union rights, it also openly defends what it calls “direct engagement” where the union is treated as an external, unwanted force. While it claims ‘environmental stewardship,’ Rio Tinto mines have regularly polluted the air and water surrounding their operations, from West Papua to Wisconsin.

Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union says:

“Among the many bad offenders of workers’ rights in the mining industry, Rio Tinto has been picked out for its anti-worker arrogance as well as its damage to local communities and the environment. The company systematically fails on environmental, social and governance factors and our campaign will continue until Rio Tinto becomes the social actor it describes itself to be.

“All we seek is respect for workers, communities and the environment.”

Simon Dubbins, Unite's Director of International says:

”The way Rio Tinto treats it workers and the communities it operates in makes an utter mockery of any claim to be a socially responsible employer. With our global federation IndustriALL we are building a global campaign that will bring together workers and their unions with community activists. We have now amassed excellent experiences in other corporate campaigns and we will use all our knowledge and resources to hold Rio Tinto to account and force it to change its behaviour.”

Richard Solly, coordinator of the London Mining Network says:

“Year after year at Rio Tinto's AGMs, representatives of communities across the world make clear their concerns about Rio Tinto's behaviour. Year by year, the company thanks them for coming, says it respects their views, and offers dialogue. But the pace of actual improvement in the company's behaviour is glacial. It needs to walk its talk.”

When? 10:00 – 11:00, Thursday, 16 April, London

Where? Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster

The Facebook page for the protest: https://www.facebook.com/events/1574775316131163

IndustriALL Global Union’s report “Rio Tinto: The way it really works”, provides more info on Rio Tinto’s controversial practices and the risks it entails to the company. The report will be released tonight at www.industriall-union.org/riotinto

Pharmaceutical workers in the Philippines defend trade union rights

On 31 March, around 35 employees of Takeda Pharmaceutical marched along the busy streets of Makati City, calling for the management to respect and recognize the union and the existing collective agreement valid until 2017.

The dispute stems from a planned corporate restructuring program. Takeda Healthcare Philippines Inc. will replace Takeda Pharmaceutical Philippines, and the move will practically dissolve the existence of the union, Boie-Takeda Employees Union, affiliated to Trade Federation 3, an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate.

Fearing the effect this corporate plan will have on the employees, the union communicated their concerns to management. Union officers were then told to submit a re-application; failure on such would mean their outright termination from employment. The company further insisted that the union will be cease to exist effective 31 March 2015, as it will be under a new corporation.

“It is a fundamental right of the workers to exercise their freedom of association and right to collective bargaining and these rights have to be respected that whatever changes in how the company operates, those rights should not be compromise, said Runstedt Pelayo, President of TF-3.

As soon as the conflict started, IndustriALL Global Union’s Japanese affiliate UA Zensen and its member the Takeda Union started to take direct engagement with the company management to support the struggle in the Philippines.

“We support our brothers and sisters in the Philippines and their fight for the universal rights of freedom of association and the right to negotiate, as stated in ILO Conventions 87 and 98”, said UA Zensen in its statement.

Unions bring workers’ demands to Holcim shareholder’s meeting

Representatives of IndustriALL Global Union, Building and Wood Workers’ International and European Federation of Building and Woodworkers unions and their affiliates attended the annual Holcim shareholders' meeting. The unions spoke about workers’ concerns and demands, which remain neglected in the mega-merger between two cement world leaders Holcim and Lafarge.

The union activists distributed leaflets explaining workers' concerns about the consequences of the ongoing merger to the shareholders. Many of the Holcim shareholders were not aware of the situation and listened to the explanations, prepared in different languages. Some shareholders escaped any contact with the workers who toil for their profits and dividends.

A union delegation attended the AGM and spoke to the shareholders. Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, said:

“Soon you, ladies and gentlemen shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting will decide whether Holcim merges with Lafarge. The price of the Holcim shares on the stock market shows that the merger is profitable for shareholders.

“But where is light, there is often a lot of shade. In order to obtain approval for this merger, the two companies have to sell a number of units and factories. This has consequences for at least 15,000 employees of both companies. Many of them will end up with CRH [another construction materials company]. And no one has so far agreed to provide guarantees for employees. What CRH, Holcim and Lafarge offered is the mere legal MINIMUM.

“Indeed 15'000 employees who have mastered the money for the merger and now are moved to CRH, have no guarantees for their future and pay now with fear of losing their job for the success of the merger.”

A declaration of workers' rights at Holcim and Lafarge has been signed by the workers and their representatives and installed in front of the entry to the meeting hall.

The Declaration reads, “We, the representatives of Holcim and Lafarge employees in Europe and around the world, expect the management of Holcim and Lafarge honour their social responsibility and their declared promises to "their" employees, who by their own labour have made the success of the merger possible in the first place.”

The text of the declaration was finalized by a list of demands to the Holcim shareholders:

Show you support for the Holcim and Lafarge workers’ campaign for their rights at http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=2634  

IndustriALL delegates agree actions and strategies for Latin America and the Caribbean

Discussions at the meeting, which was hosted by the National Miners’ Union in Mexico City on 8-9 April, focused on the political and economic situation of the region’s countries, implementation of IndustriALL Global Union’s regional action plan and preparations for the next IndustriALL world congress in 2016. 

With regard to the IndustriALL regional action plan, delegates discussed the importance of trade union power in defending labour rights, challenging global capital, combating precarious work (http://www.industriall-union.org/workers-mobilize-to-put-a-stop-to-precarious-work) and promoting sustainable industrial employment, while taking account of environmental factors and climate change.

The day before the regional meeting, delegates to meetings for women and young workers shared experiences and planned actions (http://www.industriall-union.org/women-show-the-way-in-mexico). These meetings provided delegates with the opportunity to develop proposals to encourage and facilitate the participation of women and young workers at regional and global levels.

Mexico was chosen as the venue for the meetings to show the solidarity with independent unions in Mexico, a country where freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining do not exist.

Delegates called on the Mexican government to guarantee the right to return of Napoleón Gómez Urrutia (http://www.industriall-union.org/mexican-appeals-court-cancels-last-charges-against-napoleon-gomez), General Secretary of the Miners’ Union, who used Skype to speak at the meeting from his exile in Canada.  Delegates affirmed that they will not stop fighting until Napoleón Gómez Urrutia is able to return to lead the union in person.

They also called on the Mexican government to end pending trade union disputes and take action against harmful practices that leave workers at the mercy of employers and the government http://www.industriall-union.org/ctm-goons-viciously-assault-mexican-miners-organizer). They  also discussed the use of protection contracts, the way in which corrupt trade unions and their leaders are granted official recognition and company use of elections to obstruct collective bargaining.

Delegates expressed their solidarity with the struggle of day labourers in the fields of San Quintin in Baja California. They listened to an emotional speech by a colleague from Ayotzinapa about the forced disappearance of students at the teacher training college in that town and expressed their solidarity with the students and their families. Other resolutions included repudiation of anti-union dismissals and persecution in Colombia.

Honeywell lockout in the US ends with new agreement

The new contract brings a salary increase of two per cent each of the three years; continued participation in the company’s consumer-driven healthcare plan for union employees; increased flexibility for the company to use qualified contractors for maintenance work at the plant.

The USW and Honeywell agreed on a plan to return the workers to their jobs in line with recertification requirements of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. All members should be back on the job by next month.

Honeywell also locked out the USW Metropolis plant workers from June 2010 for 14 months.

Federal mediators assisted the negotiations, and a tentative agreement was voted into force by Local 7-669 members on 30 March.

The plant produces nuclear fuel and reprocesses uranium.

IndustriALL reported on the start of the lockout in August 2014, and on the risks of running the factory with inexperienced replacement workers during the lockout in November 2014.

“Once again, our brothers and sisters in Metropolis have proven that we are all stronger when we stand together,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard.

“We are pleased that the membership ratified another three year agreement. I know that, just like Honeywell, our members are eager to return to work and help make this facility successful. The facility hasn’t produced any product since mid-December, and I’m sure our customers are also eager to see production resume,” said Stephen Lech, local USW 7-669 union president.

IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan welcomed the end to the lockout:

USW members going back to work at Honeywell means production can restart and be carried out by trained and experienced workers. USW Local 7-669 stood strong against an employer attempt to bust their union, and they deserve the fair contract they achieved.

Brazil: general strike on 15 April

The PL 4330 bill sets no limits to outsourcing in private and public sectors. Activities, including those linked to the core business of a company, could be outsourced.

If made law, it could lead to a large-scale replacement of direct permanent workers by outsourced workers with poorer working conditions, less protection and fewer benefits.  

Fernando Lopes, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary, said: 

The adoption of the PL 4330 Bill marks a step backwards for workers’ rights. Outsourcing represents a real obstacle to freedom of association. IndustriALL supports its affiliates which will mobilize on 15 April to withdraw this bill.

The day before the crucial vote, several IndustriALL Global Union affiliates and their trade union confederations demonstrated in the capital Brasilia in front of the House of the Representatives to try to prevent the PL 4330 bill from being adopted.

They intended to lobby parliament members to postpone the vote and further debate the issue of outsourcing. However, trade unions were denied access to the House of Representatives and that afternoon there were clashes between protestors and the police. Two unionists were detained and three were hurt.

Despite this opposition, the House of Representatives decided not to delay the vote and approved the “emergency regime” to vote rapidly on the bill in plenary session. The bill was approved the next day with 324 votes in favour and 137 against. The government had also tried to postpone the vote without success.

On 14 April, political parties will present modifications on the most controversial points of the bill. Once these modifications will have been discussed and approved, the bill will be submitted to the Senate.