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.

Passion for better lives in Myanmar

In March, I did a mini-tour of Asia including visits to Myanmar and Vietnam. The programs in both countries were rather similar: meetings with labour ministers, our affiliates and partners, visits to garment factories and press conferences. The schedules were tight, but it was very rewarding.

Just think about my first event in an industrial area near Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon. More than 200 young women and some men gathered in a hall to celebrate the International Women’s Day on 8 March.

It was not possible for us to march because of the 38C heat and strong sunshine. We stayed inside and talked about organizing, building stronger unions, bringing more women into union positions – and about health care and maternity protection.

Fifty years of military regime not only means that there is no civil society or middle class in this country of 50 million people. There is also a lack of hospitals, clinics and knowledge about maternity and health issues. It will take years to build a new Myanmar.

But these smiling, young worker sisters showed so much energy and passion for achieving a better life. They understand that for creating a change, they need to join workers’ forces into unions.

IndustriALL Global Union is supporting organizing, training and union building in Myanmar, together with our partners such as the ITUC, BWI and FES. Since 2012, 1,400 local unions have been set up. But there is still a long way to go.

In December 2014, IndustriALL approved the affiliation of the industrial workers’ and mineworkers’ federations IWFM and MWFM, both members of the CTUM trade union centre led by Maung Maung.

Less than three years ago the unions started from zero, so their growth has been impressive. They see a huge need for training ahead, as there is no experience of bargaining either on the worker side or in company management. The same goes for handling health and safety matters.

But workers are learning quickly. I visited the Japanese-owned Sakura garment factory near Yangon, where 600 mainly female workers toil 60 hours a week, 10 hours a day from Monday to Saturday.

Recently the union committee – women only! – concluded the first ever collective agreement for the factory. They achieved an 18 per cent wage increase bringing the lowest salary to US$ 118 per month. No strike was needed – but all the workers wore red armbands for two weeks as a soft warning.

As foreign investment in industrial production accelerates, the government is busy with new labour laws and deciding on a first-ever minimum wage. I told the labour minister how important it was to set it at a level of a living wage.

The minister knew what I was talking about. Wildcat strikes of impatient factory workers demanding higher wages are spreading. Handling them peacefully will be one of the key tests for the new society.

Jyrki Raina

General Secretary

Kyrgyzstan: Chinese oil company refuses to recognize union

After the management at China Petrol Company Zhongda in Kara-Balta rebuffed workers protests against pay cuts and breaches of labour legislation, workers created a local union affiliated to MMTUK. On 30 December 2014 the local union was registered with the authorities as required by law.

The union members' applications to deduct and transfer their membership fees were given to the company, as well as a letter calling for the start of collective bargaining. However, three months on, the membership fees have not been withheld from workers’ wages and collective bargaining has yet to begin.

Workers now report intimidation from the management, which has since established an alternative union under its own control.

The company’s refusal to recognize the union and the disregard it shows to the union's legitimate demands have worsened the situation at the refinery and increased workers’ dissatisfaction. The employer’s actions violate the labour law and the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan, as well as international law, including International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions No. 87 and No. 98.

In a letter to Mr Shi Jiang Guo, General Director of the China Petrol Company Zhongda, IndustriALL's general secretary, Jyrki Raina, said:

"IndustriALL Global Union strongly urges your management to stop violating trade union rights and to abide by national and international labour laws. It is also imperative that your mangement recognize the local MMTUK union and start collective bargaining negotiations." 

IndustriALL has also written to the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan expressing the hope that the refinery would comply with the ILO Conventions ratified by the country and the legislation of Kyrgyzstan. 

IndustriALL urges its affiliates to support the MMTUK local union by sending protest letters to the employer using the form on the right side of this page.

Building trade unions in Myanmar

Maung Maung is president of the CTUM, to which 50 per cent of the country's unions belong. He spent 24 years in exile before he was allowed to return to Myanmar in 2012. Maung Maung is also a member of the governing board of the International Labour Organization (ILO), as one of 14 representing labour.

There needs to be understanding of industrial relations. You need lots of help raising the awareness and also on developing the skills on organizing and standards regarding health and safety, minimum wage, decent work. So we still have lots of work to to.

Brazilian union secures jobs at Toyota and Ford

The union, affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union through CNM-CUT, signed a deal with Ford on 27 March securing workers’ employment at the firm’s factory in São Bernardo do Campo until 2017.

In addition to job security, the agreement provides wage increases for two years and profit sharing bonuses based on results for three years.

A few days earlier, on 23 March, a similar agreement on protection of employment and sustainable growth was signed by ABC and approved unanimously by the workers at the Toyota’s plant, also in São Bernardo.

The Japanese automaker has announced plans to invest 19 million dollars in modernizing the São Bernardo factory, which opened in 1960 as the first Toyota industrial unit outside Japan.

The company, which currently employs 1,700 workers, produces Toyota exports to the United States for the Corolla and Camry models.

ABC says the company is expected to add some 10 per cent of the production to every unit through the creation of a third shift, and a 14 per cent increase in production to supply parts for the future Toyota plant in Porto Feliz (São Paolo).

With the deal, “Toyota wants to enforce one of its main values as the continuous contribution to the development of economy and society in the countries where the company operates," said Steve St. Angelo president of Toyota of Brazil.

"This agreement comes at a great time for the country in which the automotive industry faces difficulties and many automakers are adopting mechanisms to avoid layoffs," said the president of the Union of the ABC Metalworkers, Rafael Marques.

IndustriALL’s Assistant General Secretary Fernando Lopes said, “We congratulate the ABC Metalworkers’ Union for these big achievements securing jobs for their members in São Bernardo. These agreements are in line with the job protection programme, currently negotiated between our affiliates CNM-CUT, ABC and the government of Brazil, and hopefully when adopted will facilitate the spread of this good practice across all industrial sectors in Brazil.”

Japanese metalworkers secure major wage increase

The Japanese economy has been suffering from deflation and is in a period of uncertainty. The unions believe that increased salaries will contribute to revitalizing the economy. The Japan Council of Metalworkers’ Unions (JCM) represents members of 50 unions at major companies in the automotive, ICT electrical and electronics, machinery, iron and steel, and shipbuilding industries.

In particular, JCM is emphasizing the following achievements.  

In a statement about the results achieved in the 2015 Spring Offensive, JCM declared, “For unions that will elicit replies hereafter as well, we will continue to advance support so that they can soundly win wage increases above the amount secured last year, as has been the case with the responses received thus far.”

IndustriALL calls on Rolls-Royce to reinstate Korean unionists

On 7 January 2015, the Busan National Labour Relations Commission found that Rolls-Royce Marine Korea, which produces winches for ships, had illegally dismissed union members in October 2014.

The company says it sacked the workers, who are affiliated to IndustriALL through the Federation of Korean Metal Workers’ Trade Unions (FKMTU), because of “urgent managerial necessity”.

The Commission found that Rolls-Royce Marine had violated South Korea’s Labour Standards Act, which restricts dismissal for managerial reasons. Therefore, the company is bound to reinstate all the dismissed workers within 30 days after the written judgment.

However, the company has failed to give the workers their jobs back and applied for a retrial at the Central National Labour Relations Commission.

“We will not give up until the company admits their fault and apologizes to the dismissed workers,” said union leader, Ha Young Jae. “We want a victory for our powerless workers.” 

In a letter to Rolls-Royce, IndustriALL general secretary, Jyrki Raina, said:

“We strongly urge you to reinstate right away the dismissed workers, and stop harassing the workers and the union. In addition, we call on the management of Rolls Royce Marine Korea to return to the negotiating table with the union to achieve a fair and just resolution of this conflict as well as create a constructive relationship between labour and management.”

Rolls-Royce Marine Korea Ltd in Busan City is an affiliated company of world-famous engineering business Rolls-Royce, which is headquartered in the UK.

The South Korean company was established in 2000 and had total sales of US$36 million in 2014.

Honduran garment workers under attack

The Petralex garment factory, located in the Buffalo Free Trade Zone on the outskirts of the industrial city of San Pedro Sula, has been an anti-union battleground for the past eight years. 

The latest conflict started on 2 March, when the company began targeting newly elected union officers, offering them up to nearly three times their legal severance pay if they resigned voluntarily – not necessarily an easy decision for workers who earn only a third of what they need to survive. Five leaders from local union Sitrapetralex, which forms part of FITH, refused to accept and were summarily dismissed.  One accepted only after his sister was threatened with the sack.   

At a meeting called by the labour authorities on 24 March, Sitrapetralex and Petralex failed to reach agreement.  This is unsurprising given that the only company representation was a newly appointed lawyer who denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the dismissals were the result of restructuring.

Restructuring is precisely the same excuse given by Petralex on the four other occasions it dismissed entire union executive committees.  In June, July and August 2007 and in January 2008, the company followed the same pattern: the union elects its leaders; the company fires them.

The company has systematically dismissed anyone who might represent a threat to its regime of management-by-terror; 180 union members were dismissed in 2007 and 2008.

In 2012, the Petralex case was considered so serious that it was cited in a Central America Free Trade Agreement complaint lodged by Honduran unions.

A recently released response by a US government report noted that a follow-up investigation by the Honduran authorities had failed to investigate whether the union leaders dismissed in 2007 and 2008 had been reinstated. 

Until now the company has paid a mere US$580 fine for its union-busting activities – a pathetic price to pay for eight years of brutal anti-union repression.

In order to seek justice for the wrongly fired union leaders, IndustriALL is making approaches to the company, to the labour authorities, to the Honduran garment exporters association AHM, as well as to the brands sourcing from the company, which include adidas licensee Outerstuff, Gear for Sports (owned by HBI), the Vanity Fair corporation, and Dallas Cowboys.

Global Labour University launches free online course

The six-week Massive Open Online Course begins on 1 June 2015 and will explain global workers’ rights as well as outline the instruments and strategies that can be used to implement them.

Based on a mix of video lectures, readings, online resources and interviews with activists and labour scholars from around the world, participants will gain both knowledge and practical skills for furthering workers’ rights worldwide.

The course, which brings together labour expertise from around the world, has been jointly developed with Global Labour University’s partner institutions, the Bureau for Workers’ Activities of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and both national and global trade unions.

Participants will gain an insight into the history and concept of global workers’ rights and the institutional structure of the ILO as the key player in setting International Labour Standards. They will also gain an understanding of the concepts behind the fundamental rights of Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining. 

The course will look at the different approaches for realizing decent work in the informal economy and gain an overview of instruments and initiatives beyond the ILO. 

To find out more and how to enrol click here.

Watch a short trailer for an overview of the course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u8dpMVfFh0