Vietnam – 90,000 workers strike over social security

90,000 workers went on strike after the Vietnamese government suggested changes to the social insurance coverage, starting next year. The changes would mean that workers would lose the possibility of a one-time immediate payment when leaving a job for whatever reason; instead they would be paid a monthly allowance at retirement age.

The retirement age in Vietnam is 55 for women and 60 for men.

According to the suggested new law workers have to accumulate 20 years of social security payments to be eligible to a retirement pay after having reached the retirement age. If 20 years are not accumulated they will still receive the lump sum, but only after having reached the retirement age.

Most of the workers in the garment or electronic companies work long hours, up to 50-60 hours per week. In the workers’ own estimates they will not be able to accumulate more than 20 years of payment, as they will return to their villages once they have acquired enough funds for a life there. There is also a distrust in the Social Security Fund to make the future payments.

The prospect of losing the lump sum, which is also used to tie workers over between employments, triggered the demonstrations. The peaceful strike saw workers protest inside the factory, as well as march along one of the highways.

A week into the strike, vice labour minister Doan Mau Diep suggested that the National Assembly revise the suggested provision and come up with a solution where the workers have a choice; either get the package immediately after leaving a job, or stay in the system and receive the benefits after retirement.

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, says that although this strike seems to be resolved, it shows a need for improved social dialogue in order to find long-term solutions for building a sustainable social insurance system in Vietnam.

A work stoppage of this magnitude sends a strong signal to the government, employers and unions. Workers have high expectations for better lives and they want to be treated fairly. As the Vietnamese unions have wished, IndustriALL will continue training workshops to help them build their capacity on defending workers’ interests and negotiating strong collective agreements.

Women show the way in Mexico

Monica Veloso, member of IndustriALL’s Executive committee, opened the meeting by reminding participants that Latin America is taking a leading role in women's representation.

Ten women who took part in Los Mineros’ leadership training programme “Mineras de acero” shared their experiences at the meeting. In Mexican mines women represent on average ten per cent of the workforce.

At the Phosphate rock mine, Rofomex, five women work alongside 1,500 men. At the Minera Peñasquito mine, there are 117 women out of a total workforce of 1,579.

The women do the same jobs as men and get the same pay and benefits, earning five times the national minimum wage. They believe they are better off than the women who work in free trade zones in the North of Mexico and they are learning practical skills and tools.

Women also face other challenges, for instance, kindergartens are available in Mexico, but they are usually far away from the mine. The women work two weeks on and one week off because they live far away and cannot commute to and from work everyday. They have decent accommodation in camps, but they have to leave their children with their mothers. More accessible kindergartens would also be a welcome demand for men because there is a significant number of single fathers.

Two participants from Trinidad and Tobago working at ArcelorMittal explained that at their factory women only used to work in administration, but now they make steel. They get equal pay for equal work. Usually men are still given preference in hiring, but thanks to union demands, women now get hired as well. Women also face less discrimination. Over the years there has been a lot of sexual harassment. It takes a while for women to speak out and realize that they can fight against it.

In Brazil, metalworkers’ union CUT is fighting for gender parity. According to their policies at least one woman should be elected to the top leadership positions either as president, general secretary or treasurer.

Monica Veloso concluded that "women have to be protagonists and present in their local organizations". The real work to achieve better women's representation has to be done at grassroots.

Participants decided to create a regional women’s network to get to know each other's realities better and to continue gathering strength to get their proposals adopted.

Mauritania – successful end to miners’ strike

Thousands of workers downed tools on 28 January after the National Industrial and Mining Company (SNIM) reneged on an agreement made in October last year with IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Fédération Nationale de l’Energie Hydrocarbure et Mines et Industrie (FNEHMI) to increase wages and implement a production bonus among other conditions.

After intense campaigning by FNEHMI and other unions, the company has agreed to go back to the negotiating table.

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has said the strikers will receive the equivalent of two months’ salary and another month’s payment in advance if they go back to work.

Furthermore, the 400 workers who were sacked for striking will get their jobs back and face no sanctions.

Laghdaf Dia Sanghare, general secretary of FNEHMI said:

All the unions that participated in the strike believe the solution reached is acceptable because of the serious stage of the strike – workers were about to lose their jobs and the company was on the verge of going bankrupt.

“The general solution is satisfactory because the agreement included the condition to continue the negotiations over other issues, especially the key reason of the strike which is the application of 2014 agreement which stipulates giving workers an increase of 10 percent."

The Mauritanian state has a 78 per cent stake in SNIM. The other shareholders include the Industrial Bank of Kuwait, Arab Mining Company and the Iraqi Fund for Foreign Development.

SNIM is known as the lungs of the Mauritanian economy. The desert African country relies heavily on iron ore products, which amounted to 76 per cent of exports in 2013.

IndustriALL calls on Ecopetrol to reinstate dismissed USO leader

The oil crisis has heightened tensions between Ecopetrol and the oil workers’ union USO. The situation took a new turn with the company’s dismissal of USO leader, Edwin Palma. IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina, has written to Ecopetrol president, Juan Carlos Echeverry, requesting the immediate reinstatement of Palma on the grounds that the company acted unfairly and illegally.

Crisis in the oil industry

Ecopetrol is suffering from a lack of investment because the Colombian government wants to make it 100% state-owned. Meanwhile, USO, which is affiliated to IndustriALL, is defending the rights of the more than 10,000 workers who have been dismissed since the oil crisis began.

After the government announced that it would not privatise Ecopetrol or sell any of its shares in the company and that it would prevent dismissals in the industry, Ecopetrol dismissed Edwin Palma on 27 March. It took the decision after Palma published on the social networks figures showing the salaries of company managers. These figures were already circulating in the media. The figures showed that some Ecopetrol managers are being paid a monthly salary of up to 60 million pesos, while thousands of Colombian families have to live on the monthly minimum wage of only 644,000 pesos.

Jyrki Raina has written to Ecopetrol to request the immediate reinstatement of Palma. The IndustriALL general secretary believes that the company’s measure is an attempt to silence the trade union leader’s voice after he denounced abuses and corruption among Ecopetrol’s senior managers. Raina also said that the dismissal violated national and international legislation, including International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 87 on freedom of association and protection of the right to organize.

IndustriALL and its affiliates support workers in the mining and energy sectors in their fight to defend their rights and call for the reinstatement of Palma and an end to attacks on the basic labour rights of USO members.

Morocco: IndustriALL family continues to grow

Formed by 2000 delegates, 60 local and regional unions, 22 sectorial federations, youth and women organizations and 36 national unions, the congress of the UMT was held under the motto of "our revitalized and united struggle continues for a society of freedom, democracy and social justice”.

The large event also welcomed important political figures and international delegates with an intensive debate on international matters and strategic issues affecting daily lives and the future of Moroccan workers. The delegates underlined the importance of the regional, national and international environment characterized by significant economic and political changes that negatively impact on the social rights and gains of the workers, requiring the trade union movement to follow new strategies.

During the Arab uprisings over the last couple of years, Morocco has remained a relatively stable country and continued to attract foreign investment, particularly in IndustriALL sectors. Some of the most prominent auto companies such as Renault have been settled in the country as an important base of manufacturing. The French company’s large investment in the town of Melloussa, close to Tangiers, manufactures low-cost cars under the Dacia and Renault brands at the plant. Likewise another French-based auto giant PSA Peugeot Citroen has an engineering centre in Morocco to increase its footprint in the region.

Another important booming sector is reported to be Aerospace which already received major multinational companies’ attention such as Boeing, Safran, Airbus, Bombardier and United Technologies. According to the information provided, the current level of direct employment in the sector will be doubled by the year 2020. There are many other global companies in the country such as Delphi, Leoni, Dell, GDF Suez, Total.

While multinational companies arrive in the country and entrepreneurs accrued benefits after economic liberalization over the last decade, Moroccan unions keep up uniting their forces against low wages, deterioration in working conditions and rampant disrespect for fundamental trade union rights. Recently three national centers UMT (Union Marocaine du Travail), Confédération Démocratique du Travail (CDT) and Fédération Démocratique du Travail (FDT) joined their forces to exert pressure on the government for defending and advancing workers’ rights and interests.

Until the end of 2014, IndustriALL had two affiliates from UMT and one from CDT. The IndustriALL Executive Committee accepted four more affiliates from CDT in its meeting in December 2014. IndustriALL’s Moroccan affiliates already formed a National Council to coordinate their actions at international level. The active networks for women and youth groups are working in concrete cooperation to increase these special groups’ weight inside the sectorial organizations.

IndustriALL met with all its current and potential affiliates individually and through the National Affiliates’ Council. The number of members of IndustriALL Global Union will increase very soon since the potential unions organizing important multinational such as Renault, Peugeot, Leoni, Total are about to finalize their membership processes. The National Affiliates’ Council raised the common request on working actively on union organizing, precarious work and industrial policy. IndustriALL will also do particular activity on auto and aerospace industries.

“Moroccan unions have great potential for union cooperation and international solidarity,” said Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. “Such activism, militancy and spirit of struggle in all our discussions is really promising and encouraging. I believe involvement and integration of women and youth in Moroccan unions is exemplary”.

Turkey: Metal strike ban still in place

The legal and legitimate strike launched by IndustriALL affiliate Birlesik Metal-Is covering a series of companies in different cities must now go to the High Arbitration Board for a compulsory process because the Turkish legislation does not allow for the union to conduct its strike after the postponement period.

According to the Turkish Law on Trade Unions and Collective Labour Agreements, coded 6356, “A lawful strike that has been called or commenced may be suspended by the Council of Ministers for 60 days with a decree if it is prejudicial to public health or national security”. As the Turkish Cabinet’s Decree was published on 30 January in the Official Gazette, the 60-day period is over as of 31 March.

In the meantime, Birlesik Metal-Is continued to take different types of “industrial actions” as reaction to the ban decision by the Government which was taken after strong lobbying and pressure by the metal employers’ association. During the so-called postponement period, a mediator was designated to work towards a settlement of the dispute, but Birlesik Metal-Is did not consider such a process meaningful because the union members’ fundamental right was clearly violated.

Birlesik Metal-Is applied to the State Council on 2 February for nullification of the Government’s Decree. One of the immediate demands of the union was suspension of the execution of the Decree so that the strike could continue. The Council asked the Government to send its arguments on why the strike was postponed. In its long answer, the Government claimed irrelevant arguments in reasoning its ban decision by trying to liaising the strike to production of some armed forces instruments. IndustriALL Global Union joins Birlesik Metal-Is in its criticism against these nonsense empty government arguments.

However, despite the urgency, the State Council has not so far taken any decision on suspending the execution of the ban. With the suspension period now passing without a decision from the State Council, the law now stipulates “If an agreement is not reached before the expiry date of the suspension period, the High Board of Arbitration settles the dispute upon the application of either party within six working days. Otherwise, the competence of the workers’ trade union shall be void”. This means if Birlesik Metal-Is does not go to the High Arbitration Board, it would lose its certification for collective bargaining.

As the authority conducting this compulsory arbitration process, the High Arbitration Board is composed of a member to be selected by the Council of Ministers, a member to be selected by the Council of Higher Education, the Director General of Labour in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, two members to be elected by the workers' confederation with the largest number of members and on behalf of the employers, two members to be elected by the employers’ confederation with the largest number of members. The board is chaired by the most senior head of the departments of the Supreme Court. The Turkish experience with this Board so far clearly demonstrates that it does not produce results in favour of workers.

“As time goes by, the range of violations in relation to this strike ban widens” said Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. “In theory, the right to strike is guaranteed by the international conventions ratified by Turkey and the Constitution and relevant legislation of the country. Along with this, the strike is also under the protection of judiciary system. As is the Government’s strike ban decision, the way that the State Council is behaving is similarly unacceptable. Taking no decision on suspending the decree’s execution within the postponement period is a clear sign that the Turkish judiciary system is not working to protect fundamental rights in the country. In addition to fundamental rights violation, the right to a fair trial is trampled down. A shameful situation for Turkey.”

While Birlesik Metal-Is is forced to go to the High Arbitration Board by the State Council’s failure to take a decision, thanks to the determination and activism within its rank-and-file membership, the union leadership has managed to reach an agreement with a major proportion of the companies where it decided to go on strike. The union will soon make this information public with all the details.

IndustriALL Global Union continues to give support to Birlesik Metal-Is in this struggle. In addition to a complaint at the ILO over the fundamental right violation, IndustriALL will give assistance to Birlesik Metal-Is to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights after all domestic judiciary mechanisms have been exhausted.

Germany: Chemical workers reach new agreement after tough negotiations

Covering 550,000 employees in 1900 companies throughout the sector, the new agreement brings a 2.8 per cent increase to the wages for a 17-month period and an almost doubling of employer contributions to the sector’s ‘Demographic Fund’ over 24 months.

This is a specific fund in the German chemical industry that facilitates early retirements, part time work, long term working time accounts and other measures in order to tackle the demographic change in this industry. The employers will now pay € 750, up from € 338, per year per employee into this fund, which represents an additional 0.9% pay rise.

The agreement covers major multinational companies such as BASF, Evonik, Bayer, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell in Germany which is Europe's largest chemical producing country.

Given the divergent starting points, the sector-wide negotiations had difficult times and required four separate meetings before the social partners finally reached an acceptable conclusion. Some 100,000 people took to the streets earlier in March to demonstrate their commitment for a wage increase and improved working conditions.

Michael Vassiliadis, President of IG BCE said:

We have shown in the chemical industry, once again, that a strong union achieves sustainable outcomes for workers. We have not only taken care of significant income growth, in a difficult overall environment, but also updated and strengthened the demographics allowances in this collective agreement. This is important for the people and the industry; this is a real investment in the future.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan says:

Concluding this agreement has been a drawn-out process where people took to the streets in force to show support for the IG BCE. IndustriALL congratulates the new collective bargaining agreement which is the result of solid industrial relations.

Germany's inflation rate was 0.9 percent in 2014. Earlier this year IG BCE concluded a collective bargaining agreement for 13,000 hard coal miners at the level of 3,6 per cent and a € 600 one-time lump sum while the union recently achieved a 5 per cent wage increase covering 50,000 employees in 150 paper companies for a 12-month period.

Massive miners’ strike galvanizes Mauritania

More than 3,000 union members, including miners in Zouerate in the north of the country and workers processing iron ore in Nouadhibou, downed tools on 28 January after the National Industrial and Mining Company (SNIM) refused to honour an agreed wage increase at the Zouerate mine.

The workers, from IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Fédération Nationale de l’Energie Hydrocarbure et Mines et Industrie (FNEHMI), are entering the tenth week of strike action as SNIM fails to implement pay rises, overtime and production bonus payments sealed in a collective bargaining agreement made between SNIM and the FNEHMI in October 2014.

More than 90 per cent of FNEHMI’s members are behind the strike, which also has support from civil society organizations and the political opposition.

“This strike is making the whole country uneasy. There urgently needs to be constructive dialogue,” said one opposition leader.

Since the dispute, more than 400 strikers have been sacked.

Union leader, Abdel M’haimid, said:

“Not only does SNIM refuse all contact with worker representatives, but it is aggravating an already explosive situation by pretending that the collective agreement is obsolete, null and void.”

M’haimid says the strike is having a disastrous financial impact on the state-owned company.

“It is also regrettable that SNIM is replacing dismissed staff with outsourced contractors who are inexperienced in operating machinery, which in a year will be ruined by lack of attention and wrongful use,” he added.

The company blames the drop in iron ore prices for not implementing the pay rises. However, union leaders dispute this and say huge investment in other projects has put a financial strain on the company.

Union leaders are demanding that the SNIM makes the promised payments; reinstates the sacked workers; and comes back to the negotiating table.

In a letter to the CEO of SNIM, IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina, said that SNIM’s failure to heed the collective bargaining agreement “reflects badly on the integrity of your company and can only be construed as a mischievous attempt at union-busting and an unwarranted attack on collective bargaining.

“I urge the National Industrial and Mining Company to immediately honour the collective bargaining agreement,” said Raina.

Indonesian unions strengthen unity towards IndustriALL goals

Industry in Indonesia is characterized on the one hand by high-tech production involving skilled workers, and on the other low-tech extraction of raw materials. Production relies on imported materials while raw materials are exported.

At the workshop, Industriall Global Union affiliates identified the need for Indonesia to develop connecting industries such as processing and transportation as part of a comprehensive industrial development policy. Corruption is still a huge problem that needs to be addressed in Indonesia and this eats into resources intended for infrastructure improvement.

The Indonesian Government has developed a national development plan for 2011-2025, known as MP3EI, but the unions were not consulted and are largely unaware of it. The plan identifies Java as a centre for industry, while other regions focus on natural resources.

Affiliates questioned whether the plan centres too much manufacturing in Java at the expense of investment in other regions. A more equal distribution of industry and infrastructure is needed to drive more employment and improved living standards in every region. The plan is based on non-renewable energies rather than providing incentives towards alternative energy or energy-efficient technology and improving industry compliance with environmental responsibilities.

Affiliates concluded that there is a need to work in coalition with other unions and civil society. They committed to raising awareness of sustainable industrial policy and of the MP3EI plan among their members and the wider Indonesian trade union movement. Resolutions on sustainable industrial policy will be put to the congresses of federations and confederations. During the meeting a dedicated Facebook group was created and many posts have already been made.

Planning will continue at the next meeting of the IndustriALL Indonesia Council, which will take the lead on the issue.

Living wage

Minimum wages in Indonesia are set at regional level. Unions have managed to win large increases in minimum wages, but they still do not cover a worker’s basic needs. Inequality is increasing and there are large regional variations in wage levels: one region of Indonesia has the second lowest minimum wage in South East Asia, after Laos. The government is now proposing to only increase the minimum wage every 5 years with no cost of living increases in between.

Affiliates discussed how the minimum wage does not take account of company profits, which are high compared with wage increases. There was discussion of how sectoral bargaining can be used to make sure that more of the value created in global supply chains is retained in Indonesia towards a fairer distribution of corporate profit.

There are some examples of sectoral bargaining in Indonesia, but it is not widespread and the employer counterparts are not representative. An industry approach could help to equalize regional differences in wages and ensure that workers within the same company are paid the same wage, wherever they are located.

The unions agreed that there is value to the current minimum wage fixing mechanism since unions and employers have a voice in it, but it needs improvement. The quality and quantity of the components that make it up need to be improved and it should be properly enforced with sanctions for companies that pay below the minimum wage. Government action is also need to keep prices down after wage increases. The government proposal to only issue increases every 5 years must be rejected.

The workshop concluded with agreement on promoting joint actions and better coordination between unions on wage demands. Among these should be progress towards national sectoral wage agreements.

Trade unions in Brazil fight outsourcing

On 24 and 25 March, IndustriALL’s precarious work project in Latin America held a joint national seminar with IndustriALL’s youth project in Praia Grande – Sao Paulo. IndustriALL affiliates committed to participate in the big demonstration on 7 April, and to better inform workers about the on-going fight against the vote of the PL 4330 bill.

In Brazil, business interests are fighting hard to liberalize outsourcing. Through a very active campaign last year, unions managed to block a judicial process with the Supreme Federal Court (SFC) of Brazil initiated by a pulp and paper company. Had the court ruled in favor of the company, it would have created a jurisprudence allowing employers to outsource activities linked to the core business of the companies as well.

For two years unions have multiplied actions in order to block the adoption of PL 4330 bill. Unions have been able to mobilize other actors of civil society through the Forum for the defence of outsourced workers. This forum gathers various sectors of civil society (academics, NGOs) and confederation centres and actively campaigns against outsourcing. Unions have presented alternative bills on the regulation of outsourcing, and have also submitted amendments to it. However, these initiatives have not been taken into account by the Parliament. Unions want to delay the vote, add amendments to the bill and open a public debate including social partners to discuss the issue of outsourcing.

Young women and men are among the most affected by precarious work. In 2014, outsourced workers in Brazil represented 27 per cent of the total workforce in Brazil’s formal sector (around 13 million workers). Precarious workers’ wages were 25 per cent lower, their working day three hours longer, and there was a higher turn-over.

Together with their confederation centres, IndustriALL affiliates are leading the campaign against precarious work in Brazil. The project offers a platform for discussion and for planning of activities. A coordinating committee, in which leadership of several IndustriALL affiliates participate, leads the project on precarious work.

In 2014, affiliates succeeded to convert about 3,500 precarious workers into permanent workers (including 1,000 workers in Renault- Paraná and 212 in Volkswagen-Curitiba). This year despite a difficult economic situation, the rubber trade union of Sao Paulo has managed to regularise the situation of the precarious workers of the quality management department of Titan.

Affiliates also report on successes in limiting outsourcing to non-core activities through collective bargaining (agreements in St Gobain, in Scania, in Renault, agreement for the footwear, leather, clothing and textiles industries in the state of Paraná).

Ribeirão Preto (Sao Paulo), the metal workers union (affiliate of CNTM-Força Sindical) signed an agreement with the main company to ensure the extension of the collective agreement to all subcontractors’ employees. Metal workers of San Carlos (affiliate of CNM-CUT) have negotiated the same clause with the company Dynamic.

Affiliates are conducting labour inspections together with the Ministry of Labour in workplaces where there are complaints of precarious work and abuses from the employers

(for example by the Dressmakers Union of Sao Paulo where workplaces resort to slave labour, the textile unions of RN, Pernambuco and Sao Paulo).

The Santos Chemical union (Baixada Santista) identified that there was an important number of accidents in the companies they represent, involving outsourced workers as victims. After several efforts with no results to negotiate with the company, the union submitted complaints to the police department, naming the accidents as crimes committed by employers against workers.

IndustriALL supports the fight of its Brazilian affiliates against precarious work. Fernando Lopes, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL says:

“The adoption of the new law would challenge all the progress made by IndustriALL affiliates in Brazil. IndustriALL is supporting the strong mobilisation of its affiliates on 07 April.