Kyrgyzstan: Chinese oil company recognizes union

The MMTUK local union was created at the China Petrol Company Zhongda and duly registered with the authorities in December 2014. However, three months later, membership fees were still not being deducted from workers’ wages and collective bargaining had yet to begin despite the union's demands.

At the end of March, IndustriALL which counts MMTUK as one its affiliates, sent a letter to the general director of the company urging the management to stop violating trade union rights and to abide by national and international labour laws, including International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions No. 87 and No. 98.

IndustriALL demanded that management recognize the union and start collective bargaining negotiations. At the same time, IndustriALL also sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan expressing hope that the refinery would comply with the ILO Conventions ratified by the country and the legislation of Kyrgyzstan. IndustriALL also called on its affiliates to support the MMTUK local union by sending protest letters to the employer.

As a result of this campaign, the Ministry of Economy and the Government of Kyrgyzstan held meetings in early April to discuss the activity of the Chinese refinery and its violations of workers' rights, including the right to organize, payment of wages, and health and safety.

A meeting was held at the refinery between the MMTUK representatives and company management, at which a state labour inspector also participated. The management agreed to start withholding membership fees from workers' wages, and a separate office and an officer were allocated to the union. Within a week more than 250 membership applications were collected, and the local union expects to have a total of 300 members by 1 May.

Back in March an alternative union under management's control was established in the fire department of the refinery. However, 40 out of 70 workers of this department have now joined the MMTUK local union.

A draft collective agreement was sent to management on 20 April and is now being considered.

IndustriALL Global Union congratulates its affiliate MMTUK on the victory achieved with the help of international solidarity. 

IndustriALL tells Iranian government: Hands off May Day

Jamshid Ahmadi, in the European office of the Union of Metalworkers and Mechanics of Iran (UMMI), says:

Thank you IndustriALL for standing with the crucial struggle of the trade unions in Iran for workers rights and for improvement of Iranian workers’ pay and conditions of service and of course trade union rights.

The government treats all worker disputes and protests as security issues and not labour issues. This creates a justified climate of fear when workers demand unpaid wages, improved working conditions or recognition of their right to organize.

This heavy government repression keeping unions small creates a catastrophically dangerous working environment. High levels of workplace accidents and deaths occur because no mechanism exists for workers to refuse dangerous work or demand protective measures and safe conditions.

IndustriALL stands with the Iranian unions in their demands of the Iranian government:

The demands are urgent as May Day approaches.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan commits support:

Consider the bravery of these Iranian trade unionists who determinedly risk arrest and punishment to organize workers. Clearly IndustriALL stands alongside them in their fight to mark May Day, and in the long-term fight to build strong unions.

Ukrainian coal miners protest against destruction of their industry

A day before, on 21 April, the Third Ukrainian Miner’s Congress took place in Kiev, organized by IndustriALL Global Union affiliates Coal Mining Workers’ Union of Ukraine and Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners of Ukraine. Nearly 800 delegates from all over the country gathered to discuss the difficult situation in the Ukrainian coal mining industry. They demanded that the President convenes the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine meeting to elaborate further plan of actions due to the industry’s difficult situation.

The Congress also demanded the government to eliminate wage arrears, restore social guarantees for workers, set fair price for Ukrainian coal – not less than the price of the imported coal, stop the import of coal and provide financial support to the mines and industry in general, as well as withdraw from the mines closure policy. The resignation of Volodymyr Demchyshyn, Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine, was also demanded.

Thousands of coal miners protesting outside the Cabinet of Ministers also asked for a meeting with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Mikhailo Volynets, chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners of Ukraine, warned the country leaders that the miners will launch nation-wide strikes if authorities ignore their demands.

In January 1,500 coal miners from IndustriALL affiliates across the Ukraine picketed the Cabinet of Ministers building in Kiev demanding that the government review the state budget for 2015. It should include the necessary funding to pay wage arrears, save mining operations, improve health and safety, and restore social guarantees for workers and retirees in the industry. Some measures have been taken to pay a part of wage arrears, but the problem is far from being solved.

Progress update on the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh

Indian unions decide on collective organizing

At a Project Advisory Committee Meeting held in Kolkata, on 21-22 March, IndustriALL Indian affiliates in the textile and garment industry for the first time agreed to jointly organize workers.

Participants at the meeting discussed the possibilities of collective organising, based on the strength of each affiliate. Structures were created to ensure the four rules are implemented at the enterprise and local level, by pooling the resources and strengths collectively through regular interaction and build solidarity. Affiliates agreed for numerical targets and results, which are achievable and measurable.

A national work plan was drawn up and affiliates agreed to work within the policy framework of four principles: unity and non-competition; cooperation and coordination; building structures for democratic functioning and union dues collection; sustainability.

The ready-made garment industry in India is spread across the country, concentrated in four geographical clusters; Chennai, Tirupur, Coimbatore and Bangalore in the South; Kolkata and Suburbs in the East; National Capital Region (NCR) and Ludhiana in the North; Mumbai and Ahmadabad in the West. Migrants make up the majority of the work force.

Each geographical cluster will have a steering committee with representatives from affiliates and the coordinator. Similar structures have been created in the Steel, energy and mining organizing project in India and Ready-made garment project in Bangladesh.

IndustriALL regional secretary Sudhershan Rao says:

This is the first step of a long journey to organize garment workers in India. The textile and garment sector unions need a push and motivation – the supply chain management by the brands and domestic producers is formidable, and we need collective organizing strategies for effective worker representation.

Holcim and Lafarge workers prepare for global mobilization

New actions are planned at Holcim Lafarge facilities in South and North America, Asia and Europe on 28 April – the International commemoration day for dead and injured workers.

In January 2013, five Holcim workers lost their lives in a terrible accident at Ambuja-Holcim factory in India. The accident was the result of factory management neglecting health and safety regulations. The fly ash hopper situated on the fifth floor was overloaded by almost its double capacity. Weighing 300 tons, it collapsed and crashed through four floors. The air was thick with dust for hours. Five workmen remained under debris.

This horrible case is not unique. The same year a total of 73 workers were killed at their workplace in Holcim and Lafarge. The interests of workers who sweat their guts out to build the companies’ wealth remain ignored. As a result workers keep paying a high price with their lives.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The total figure of deaths does not include those who became fatally ill due of exposure at their workplace to hazardous substances known to cause respiratory diseases and cancer.

Workers have repeatedly raised their concerns with both companies. At the most recent Holcim Annual general meeting of shareholders’ where representatives of IndustriALL Global Union, Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) and European Federation of Building and Woodworkers unions (EFBWW) and their affiliates brought forward workers’ demands to shareholders. Union manifestation was organized outside the building where shareholders met and leaflets with workers’ demands were distributed.

Unfortunately, both companies has so far turned a deaf ear to the workers’ plight and seem to take little care about uncertain future of their more than 130,000 strong workforce.

To change the situation and to stop the ruthless profit making at the expense of workers’ lives, on 28 April IndustriALL, BWI, EFBWW and affiliates will mobilize and demand “No merger without workers’ health and safety rights”.

The campaign materials are available on the page. Updates will be published on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/UnionsatLafargeHolcim.

Also, give your support to the Holcim and Lafarge workers’ campaign at http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=2634

Rana Plaza two years on: progress but no hiding from massive task ahead

The compensation fund is still missing US$6 million out of the targeted US$30 million needed to compensate the victims and it is an unacceptable reality that not a single factory can yet be called 100 per cent safe.

Global union leaders are calling on the industry to show that it has courage and leadership to turn this page and move on.

IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Jyrki Raina says:

“Two years after this industrial homicide, the victims of Rana Plaza are still waiting for full compensation. This is a collective responsibility, but we specifically call upon brands like Benetton, Mango, Walmart and Carrefour to contribute more.

The global garment industry needs to show to its consumers that it has learned its lesson and is able to move on to addressing another burning question, the poverty wages paid to workers.

The unions say they will use every tool within the legally binding Bangladesh Accord to ensure that the brands and factory owners fix the factories.

Important progress has been made, but the fact that all remediation is currently behind schedule, some over six months behind, is a serious problem.

UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings says:

“It's outrageous that families who lost their mothers and breadwinners have still not been fully compensated because a group of multinationals cannot find it in their hearts or deep pockets to pay the US$6 million missing from the compensation fund. All brands need to join forces to end the funding crisis by closing the funding gap and stepping up the remedial work on factories.”

The legally binding Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety was negotiated by IndustriALL, UNI and its NGO partners with the brands after the Rana Plaza collapse.  The Accord now has more than 200 brands signed up and has to date completed nearly 1,500 factory inspections and identified many thousands of safety issues to be remedied.

Myanmar: union helps solve strike in garment factory

At the beginning of April, 590 out of the almost 700 workers at a garment factory in the town of Yayni, Myanmar, went on strike. Demanding a pay raise, workers also claimed to have lost several of their rights when the factory was privatized and production changed from paper and household goods to clothing.
 
Organizers from IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) assisted the striking workers. They were told of conditions in the factory, with one toilet for 690 workers, how they lack access to pure drinking water, and that workers do not enjoy benefits that they are entitled to by law.
 
The striking workers made a number of demands including no to forced overtime, double overtime rate on Sundays and national holidays, increased break time to 20 minutes, as well as a salary increase from 30000 Kyats (US$30) per month to 60000 Kyats (US$60).
 
After negotiations all demands apart from the pay raise were met. After first only agreeing to an increase of a few dollars, the employer and the workers settled on a new monthly salary of 41,000 Kyats (US$41).
 
As Myanmar is moving on from a dictatorship where trade unions were illegal, there is a huge need for capacity building and training. Representatives from IWFM explained about privatization, the process for collective bargaining, and how to build strong unions.
 
Workers at the factory have agreed to form and register a union, and membership is expected to be 500.

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina, who visited Myanmar in March, says:

The struggle of the garment workers in Yayni illustrates the challenges workers are facing in Myanmar. Visiting the country recently, I was so impressed by the passion of these young people who have only recently won the right to be protected by a union. We will see many more fights like this, as the workers demand decent working conditions and living wages which are still so far ahead.

IndustriALL empowers women workers in Kenya

When discussing women’s role in trade unions, participants identified a number of problems women are facing in Kenya; companies lay women off when they fall pregnant; casual workers sign a contract only for three months and maternity rights are not even an issue; women's health needs more attention as women do not eat properly in an attempt to save money. Participants agreed that unions need to fight for maternity rights.

At the workshop women did a practical task of their workplace mapping, which revealed the job segregation at work. For example only men do ironing, and women cannot work in the boiler areas. However, due to the unions the situation at the workplace is changing, for example workers do not have to stay extra hours at their job until they met their target.

The participants discussed the idea of women's committees, which do not exist in either of their unions. They also looked at the unions' allocation of executive seats to women. Some had reserved seats, some have women's coordinators but no women's structure. More work needs to be done to make sure women take center stage.

During discussion of the tasks of the women's committees, the participants pointed to the necessity for women to participate in collective bargaining or their demands will be dropped.

At the end of the meeting the participants resolved to:

– provide a copy of the Collective bargaining  agreement to every member,

– encourage more women to join the union,

– raise the issue of women rights with the management

– advise women to make use of their rights and practice their abilities,

– make sure that there is enough ventilation to prevent women from fainting

– fight for more contract workers to join the union,

– fight to make contract workers permanent

IndustriALL Iraqi affiliates fighting for workers’ unpaid wages

Iraqi workers strongly suspect that the 71 state-owned enterprises that operate across the manufacturing supply-chain are intentionally not paying salaries as part of a strategy to facilitate mass privatization.

The government policy of converting the companies from ownership of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals into self-financing enterprises has meant that workers only get paid when the company makes a profit.

During the current tough economic situation in Iraq, many of the enterprises are not turning a profit and the workers are being made to pay with their unpaid wages.

Thousands of the affected workers have been holding mass demonstrations since the end of last year after going three months without pay.

The Iraqi Workers Coordination Committee, led by IndustriALL affiliates, has announced open-ended sit-in protests and struggle until the demands are met, and the deliberate neglect by the Ministry of Industry and Minerals ends.

IndustriALL is raising the demands of its national council to the Iraqi government. The demands include the following:

With the support of IndustriALL affiliated Iraqi trade unions, workers have been organizing around the country to protest and demand their back pay and a long-term solution to the problem.

The wide demonstrations have moved the government to step in to ensure rolling payments of wages each month. This stopgap measure is designed to stop the protest, but there is no long-term plan to.

Despite the illegality of forming unions in Iraq’s public sector, new unions are being formed through the struggle. 

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan says:

We will never accept workers being used as pawns so that publically owned enterprise can be privatized. What a disgrace. These workers are showing great bravery in leading the fight-back, and IndustriALL stands with them.”