IndustriALL and ThyssenKrupp sign global agreement on promotion of fundamental rights

IndustriALL German affiliate, IG Metall and ThyssenKrupp Works Council finalized the GFA process with ThyssenKrupp with a ceremony that was held on 16 March 2015 at the company’s headquarters in Essen. The GFA was developed in consultation with IndustriALL’s affiliates having membership throughout the operations of the company. The process also played important role in finding solutions for the labour conflicts in the US and Italy.

Berthold Huber, who signed the GFA as IndustriALL President, called the new GFA a “trend-setting agreement”, in which the participation of workforce representatives would be ensured via the involvement of representatives in the complaint system as well as in the international committee. Huber further said:  

“Multinational groups that are acting globally, have to ensure that they offer fair working conditions globally for their workforce, and that they abide by existing rules, regulations and legislation in favour of their workforce.”

According to the agreement, ThyssenKrupp is obliged to comply with the principles of the International Labour Organzation (ILO), among other international standards, at all its subsidiaries worldwide. These include particularly ILO conventions nos. 29, 87, 98, 100, 105, 111, 138 and 182. Under the newly signed GFA ThyssenKrupp undertakes to respect the following principles:

The GFA has also strong provisions for implementation and monitoring through an International Committee with the participation of various management and workers’ representatives.

ThyssenKrupp is one of the world's leading metal companies providing components and systems for the automotive industry, elevators, escalators, material trading and industrial services. 

81 Maruti Suzuki workers granted bail

It was after the violent incident at a Maruti Suzuki plant in India in 2012, resulting in the death of a manager, that around 2,800 workers were fired and 147 were imprisoned. The workers were charged with murder, attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy.

Two workers received bail in February this year, and 79 more followed on 17 March. 64 workers are still waiting for their bail.

The process of getting bail has been long, with management failing to produce substantial evidence against the workers.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Vrinda Grover commented on the delay of the bail procedure:

“Criminal investigation, prosecution and incarceration are being used by the State to please private corporations, crush trade unions and repress workers.”

Sudhershan Rao, IndustriALL Regional Secretary, welcomed the decision of the court to protect the fundamental rights of the workers and expressed solidarity:

"The workers’ ordeal could have been cut short if the government had followed the spirit of tripartism. Now we hope that the remaining incarcerated workers get bail very soon.”

USW reaches tentative agreement in oil sector

The agreement, reached on 12 March and approved by union’s lead negotiators, is the first major step towards ending the largest oil refining industry strike in the United States since 1980.

“We salute the solidarity exhibited by our membership,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “There was no way we would have won vast improvements in safety and staffing without it.”

The strike has focused on safety and working conditions rather than wage increases and the new four-year contract will act as a pattern agreement for the rest of the industry.

Safety issues have been central to the negotiations, and the proposed agreement calls for the immediate review of staffing and workload assessments, with USW safety personnel involved at every facility.

Over recent years, the industry has increased pressure on the workforce, often forcing employees to work 12-hour shifts for several weeks straight. This has now been successfully confronted. Daily maintenance and repair work in the plants was another critical issue that has also been addressed. The tentative agreement also calls for yearly wage increases as well as maintaining the current health care plan cost-sharing ratio.

The strike began at nine oil and chemical facilities when negotiations over a new contract broke down. By March, six more facilities had joined the strike bringing the number of striking workers to close to 7,000.

The union expectation is that other employers will offer the same terms at their local bargaining tables.

Already the deal is showing support and progress being made on local issues at four facilities owned or co-owned by Shell. Each local union now needs to negotiate a contract that incorporates the national agreement and resolves local issues as well.

Latest news at the time of writing is that Local 13-423 has voted unanimously to accept the settlement offer in Port Arthur, Texas.

IndustriALL general secretary, Jyrki Raina, told USW oil workers:  “Your focus on health and safety issues means that not only workers but also the communities living close to oil industry facilities will face fewer hazards than they did before the strike began. Congratulations!”

USW represents in total about 30,000 workers at more than 200 refineries, terminals, and pipelines across the country, which accounts for as much as 64 percent of U.S. fuel output.

Tunisia: ‘They will not steal our revolution!’

The brutal attack at the Bardo museum in the Tunisian capital is a bitter blow to the country, which has had two peaceful democratic elections since dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted by a popular uprising in 2011.

“We will not let you steal our revolution,” was the message being shouted on the streets of Tunis in an immediate reaction to the attacks, said Tahar Berberi, leader of IndustriALL-affiliated metal and electronics workers' union FGME-UGTT.

“We offer our deepest sympathies to the families of the murdered victims and hope that the many who are injured make a quick recovery. Terrorists must never be allowed to undermine the Tunisian people’s desire for democracy and peace, for which the unions have fought so hard,” said IndustriALL general secretary, Jyrki Raina.

To show their anger, the national trade union centre, UGTT, is leading a sit-in of unionists and citizens outside the national parliament this afternoon, to express solidarity for the victims and their rejection of terrorism.  

“Unions in Tunisia are united in condemnation of this cowardly attack, which will only strengthen our solidarity. We will emerge stronger than before,” said Berberi.

Unions have played a pivotal role in achieving democracy in Tunisia and toppling the dictatorship four years ago.

“All the civic and political parties have cast aside their differences and are behind the President and the Tunisian government,” said Berberi.

Twenty of the dead were foreign tourists, according to Tunisian authorities.

“In addition to the human tragedy, it will harm the country and its economy,” said Berberi. “Tourist agencies are already cancelling trips.”

On Sunday, the UGTT executive committee will discuss a call for an international conference to fight terrorism which would include global social forces and civil society, said Berberi.

In recognition of unions’ contribution to democracy, IndustriALL held its Executive Committee meeting in Tunis last December to support building a new society in which trade unions and workers are important players.

Next week IndustriALL will send a sizeable delegation to the World Social Forum taking place in Tunis next week from 25–28 March. “The social movement in Tunisia and the region counts on the global support of democratic forces to oppose violence and terrorism,” said the Forum’s coordinator Abderrahmane Hedhili.

IndustriALL will be participating in several workshops with affiliates and social partners at the event.

“Now, more than ever, the international community must show its solidarity for Tunisia,” said Raina. 

Vietnam – on the road to a living wage

In January 2015, the Vietnamese government raised the minimum wage by 15 per cent to US$ 145 per month. This was a result of research and a consultation process through a tripartite National Wage Council.

According to studies, the minimum wage now covers 75 per cent of living costs, and increases will continue in the coming years. Reaching a living wage is a priority for the government and the trade unions, as well as a key global campaign of IndustriALL.

On a recent visit to Vietnam, IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina, said:

“With a systematic tripartite minimum living wage program, Vietnam sets a good example to other countries in Asia for boosting purchasing power, economic growth and creation of new jobs.”

IndustriALL’s three affiliates, Vietnam National Union of Coal and Mining Workers, Vietnam National Union of Oil and Gas Workers and Vietnam National Union of Workers in Industry and Trade (VUIT) represent almost 400,000 workers. They are all affiliated with the only existing trade union centre, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL).

The unions and Vietnam’s deputy labour minister Pham Minh Huan told IndustriALL about ongoing talks to ratify ILO conventions on the right to organize, collective bargaining and forced labour.

“The adoption by Vietnam of the ILO conventions 87, 98 and 105 which are key to safeguarding workers’ rights, would send a positive signal around the world”, said Jyrki Raina.

Vietnam’s National Union of Textile and Garment Workers is preparing an application to join IndustriALL. The situation in the sector highlights the structural difficulties that the unions are trying to solve.

The Textile and Garment Workers’ Union represent 120,000 workers, but there are more than 3 million workers in the booming textile, garment, shoe and leather industry. At the moment, the VGCL provincial and city organizations organize workers in foreign-owned enterprises and joint ventures. 

A number of foreign investors refuse the respect workers’ rights, which led to almost 300 strikes in 2014.

Korean electronics giant Samsung fought organizing and gave up only after a strong intervention by the Vietnamese government, which allowed VGCL to set up local unions at Samsung factories.

VGCL and its affiliates have an ambitious organizing target to raise the total union membership from 8.5 million to 10 million by 2018.   

IndustriALL supports organizing and collective bargaining through a regional union building program. In this context, five workshops will be held in this year Vietnam to increase the affiliates’ capacity.

“New laws on democratic processes, including social dialogue in the workplace, facilitate our task. But there is still a lot to do; to build capacity for democratically elected union representatives, negotiate strong collective agreements and defend the interests of workers”, concluded Jyrki Raina.

Colombia – declaration of indefinite strike

The objective of the meeting was to build consensus and plan actions and activities to consolidate unity in the form of a large and strong national union. In the name of CUSME, the meeting also declared an indefinite strike in the oil sector from 19 March.

The meeting was chaired jointly by the presidents of the CUSME unions: Pablo Santos (Sintraelecol), Jairo Quiroz (Sintracarbon) and Edwin Castaño (USO). Marino Vani, Assistant Regional Secretary and Carlos Bustos, coordinator of  IndustriALL projects in Colombia represented IndustriALL Global Union.

The meeting discussed points of agreement and disagreement about the statutes for the new union, drafted at regional seminars in 2014 and worked on further by the coordinating committee since then. The meeting also discussed CUSME’s plan for activities and 12 regional seminars in 2015.

These seminars begin on 27 March in six regions of the country. More than 300 regional and local leaders will continue the discussion on joint action and consolidation of the mining and energy union.

Solidarity with indefinite strike

After formulating a plan to merge the three unions, delegates drafted a resolution calling for more measures to make CUSME a strong union. They drew up a joint action plan in response to the immediate challenges facing them and to consolidate class solidarity among the workers in the three sectors. They have the support of the country’s trade union centre, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), IndustriALL Global Union, Swedish trade unions represented by their trade union centre, Solidarity-LO-TCO and Dutch unions represented by the FNV.

“We in CUSME reaffirm our support for an indefinite strike in the oil sector starting on 19 March because we believe the government is getting ready to privatise, open up or sell state shares in the Colombian state’s most important company (Ecopetrol) to transnational companies” explained Edwin Castaño from USO.

The main reason behind the decision to declare an indefinite strike is the Colombian government’s under-investment in Ecopetrol, which is one of the world’s largest companies . The unions are calling on the company to distribute 70 per cent of the profits made in 2014 to workers. They want Ecopetrol to remain a 100 per cent state-owned company.

The strike is also designed in response to the intimidation of workers and to the many recent job losses in the oil transnational companies.

“We give our support and solidarity to the strike action taken by our colleagues in USO in response to the dismissal of 600 workers and in defence of the country’s oil policy and jobs” said Pablo Santos, Sintraelecol.

IndustriALL supports CUSME and all workers in the mining and energy sectors in their fight to defend their labour rights. It calls for solidarity with our Colombian colleagues and supports the strike that begins on 19 March.

Ontario government opens inquiry into 18-month strike at Crown Holdings

An Industrial Inquiry Commission, a rarely used tool, will investigate the labour dispute provoked by the US-based multinational Crown Holdings back in September 2013.

Despite an incredibly lucrative year in 2012, when the company saw its profits almost double, workers were told to make further concessions over pay and benefits. Faced with intransigence from the employer, workers had no option but to go on strike.

During the past 18 months, Crown has continuously refused to negotiate a fair settlement of the dispute with USW Local 9176. Instead it has recruited replacement workers to prolong the dispute, bust the union and break the strike.

Steelworkers allies such as IndustriALL affiliate Unifor have joined the USW in calling on the Ontario government to help end the labour dispute by compelling Crown to negotiate a fair settlement.

USW Ontario Director, Marty Warren, said,

Most of the Crown strikers are long service employees who have given their working lives to build Crown into the huge and profitable company it is today. This 18-month strike has caused untold financial and personal tragedies for our members. The announcement of an industrial inquiry must lead to an end to this long and tragic refusal by Crown to deal fairly with its dedicated employees."

IndustriALL’s Director for Health, Safety and Sustainability, Brian Kohler brought solidarity greetings to the Crown picket line as the government announced its inquiry:  

This fight has an importance beyond the picket line in Toronto. Other North American employers are watching closely, if Crown succeeds there will be a flood of similar disputes all over the continent. Our joint response to Crown's shameful behaviour: global solidarity!”

Farewell to Fred Higgs – a great union leader

Fred was elected general secretary of one of IndustriALL's founding organizations, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), in 1999, re-elected in 2003 and served until retiring at the end of 2006.

He joined the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G) in 1967 and served as a T&G shop steward at Chloride Battery for 11 years. He was appointed as a full-time union officer in 1979 and he then went on to become the T&G National Secretary for the chemical, oil and rubber sectors.  In the 1990s, he became vice president of both of the ICEM and EMCEF.

Fred was strongly committed to supporting oppressed workers everywhere in the world.  He was actively engaged in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa; in solidarity campaigns to help workers in Colombia, Palestine and other countries; and helped rebuild trade unions in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Workplace health and safety featured strongly in Fred’s work, through his membership of both official and voluntary industrial safety bodies in the UK and other initiatives at European and global level.  He was vocal in the fight for equality and women’s rights. 

During Fred’s years as general secretary, the ICEM progressed considerably in the area of global framework agreements. Fred was also serving on the board of the UN Global Compact since its launch by UN general secretary Kofi Annan in 2000. He made a groundbreaking initiative towards multinational companies in the pharmaceutical industry about the need to provide HIV-AIDS drugs to developing countries free of charge.

He was given the T&G’s highest award, the Gold Badge, in 2007 for his achievements during his remarkable trade union career from rank and file through national structures to the top of a global union.

Fred suffered over the years from various health problems. In 2006, he was diagnosed with pleural plaques of the lungs, a condition brought about by industrial exposure to asbestos while working at Chloride Battery near London in the in the 1960s.

Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL’s general secretary, said:

“I had the pleasure to work with Fred since the late 1980s, in all his different jobs. I grew to respect his professionalism of a true trade unionist who had a deep understanding of health and safety and collective bargaining, and superb negotiation skills which helped unblock difficult situations so many times. We shared a lot of good moments together around the world, sometimes including his lovely wife Rita. Fred was such a good comrade – and I can still hear his characteristic laughter.” 

Russian unions getting ready to merge

Among the merging unions are the Russian Aircraft Industry Workers’ Union (Profavia), the Automobile and Farm Machinery Workers' Union of Russia (AFW), the Engineering Workers’ Union of Russia (Rosprofmash), the Shipbuilding Workers' Union of Russia, all affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, as well as the All-Russian Defense Industry Workers’ Union and the Interregional Union of Shipbuilding and Ship Repairing Workers. IndustriALL discussed the initiative with the chairmen of three merging unions.

Speaking about the merger prospects, the Profavia chairman Nicolay Solovyev said: "The merger is inevitable. All the unions that are getting ready to merge are working under one ministry, the Ministry of Industry of Russia. We have one federal authority. So why conclude five or six sectoral agreements, if we can have one for all of us?"

There are several reasons for the merger said Solovyev: "First of all, there is a reduction in union membership. Our industries are shrinking for a number of reasons, therefore the union membership is going down too. Secondly, there are many forces in the society that are against the unions. In order to resist this pressure, the union has to be large and strong. It is time to speak not just about an aircraft industry workers’ union, a shipbuilding workers' union or an engineering workers’ union, but about one metalworkers’ union. All our union members are doing something with metal, making products from metals.”

The chairman of Rosprofmash Nicolay Shatokhin said: "Since 2008, performance in the mechanical engineering sector been erratic. There was a downturn in 2008-2009, a rise in 2011-2012, and we have been stuck in another recession since 2013. This has been aggravated by sanctions and the drop in oil prices last year. If the enterprise has no clear stock of orders to ensure production, then jobs are no longer guaranteed. The enterprise has to optimize production and non-production costs, including salaries, staff numbers, and the social guarantees specified in the collective agreements".

Shatokhin told about his previous experience of union merger: "Rosprofmash was formed by a merger of two unions: the Union of Heavy Mechanical Engineering and the Union of Engineering and Instrument-making Workers in 1995. We were the first to merge based on our independent decision, as earlier it had been happenning under pressure from the party and government authorities. Already at that time the need to strengthen the territorial unions was the main reason for merger. Our country is huge, and it is difficult to solve all the problems from Moscow.”

"Now the desire to merge is also based on the necessity to strengthen the territorial unions, it will also allow to strengthen the central union body that will make the union more powerful in negotiations with our social partners. For example, the Russian Engineering Union, the employers association, does not have branches in every region of Russia that could cooperate with our territorial unions. Now we have concluded the industrial agreement in cooperation with two more unions, AFW and the All-Russian Electric Trade Union. In 11 regions of Russia, our territorial unions conclude regional bargaining agreements also teaming up with other unions. It works well and allows us to solve social problems.”

The chairman of AFM, Andrey Fefelov, said: "In last ten years we have lost 50 percent of our union members, there were 800 000 of us, and now only 390 000 remained. We need to consolidate the finances; the Russian unions won't be able to exist without it.”

Speaking about the coming merger Fefelov added: "We have to understand that we will work for a common goal. We need to cast out all the emotions and personal ambitions to make the decision because it is directed on further consolidation of all efforts and the strengthening of our union. Without it I don't see the future."

IndustriALL considers the willingness of six Russian unions to merge as a wholly positive step and hopes that  the unions will make a decision to create the joint union at their respective congresses. 

Electronics industry challenged over use of toxic chemicals

On 16 March, the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), an industry association representing over 100 electronics companies, will meet in Brussels to discuss chemical management strategies.

Civil society groups, led by the GoodElectronics Network and the International Campaign for Responsible Technology (ICRT), are using the occasion to deliver a formal Challenge to the electronics industry urging it to improve chemical safety and stop endangering workers with exposure to toxic substances. 

The Challenge emphasizes the importance of disclosure, substitution of hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives, protection of workers, freedom of association, participation of workers in workplace monitoring, environmental protection, and the need for compensation of workers, communities and the environment for harm done.

Brian Kohler, Director of Health, Safety and Sustainability at IndustriALL, said:

“Health and safety is a matter of workers’ rights. Workers have rights and employers have responsibilities. It’s as simple as that. It’s time for the electronics industry to stop hiding behind ineffective auditing systems and weak regulation and take real action to stop workers being poisoned on production lines.”

There is growing evidence of illnesses and cancer among electronics workers. Trade unions and NGOs report hundreds of cases of electronics workers who have fallen ill over the past five years from exposure to benzene and other highly toxic chemicals used in manufacturing.

IndustriALL and its trade union affiliates in the key electronics production areas of Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and the USA have joined the call for electronics employers to heed the challenge. 

Click here to read the Challenge and see its supporters.