Citizens’ initiative to end zero-hours contracts in Finland

Behind the initiative are young trade union activists. “Zero-hours contracts and part-time work are a reality for many young workers,” says Tatu Tuomela, Youth Secretary of the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions, SAK.

These are contracts where the weekly working hours vary from zero to 40, and give employers the possibility to hire staff with no guarantee of work. Employees therefore work only when they are needed and don’t usually know in advance how many hours to expect.

Young activists have started Operaatio vakiduuni (Operation steady job) to fight against zero-hours contracts. They are demanding that zero-hours contracts are outlawed and that part-time jobs should guarantee at least 18 hours of work per week.

Other demands include more advanced notice on working hours, better unemployment benefit for part-time workers and more rights for people working for temporary work agencies.

The citizens’ initiative is one part of the campaign. If a minimum of 50,000 Finnish citizens of voting age submit an initiative to the Parliament to pass an act. The initiative must include a bill or a proposal to start drafting legislation and the reasons for the proposal. There is a six month time period to collect signatures.

IndustriALL Global Union has an on-going campaign to STOP Precarious Work – to combat the growing trend of full-time workforces being replaced by temporary, part-time, agency and on-call workers.  

Philippine unions unite for year ahead

Leaders from 14 trade union affiliates gathered in Quezon City on 23 and 24 January for a joint meeting organized by IndustriALL and Swedish trade union organization LO-TCO.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Fernando Lopes and Erik Anderson from Swedish trade union IF-METALL discussed the key achievements of the union building project in the Philippines as well as strategies to improve activity implementation.

With more focus on organizing workers in 2015, the participants devised a concrete action plan of activities guided by three golden rules for organizing – increasing capacity, improving financial structures and strengthening democracy in each organization.

Leaders committed to conduct national joint activities complementary to organizing drives and vowed to sustain a unified campaign on critical issues such as the fight against precarious work and supporting legislative measures securing workers’ rights.

To complete the mission in the Philippines, IndustriALL Geneva and South East Asia officers visited affiliates from the metal sector on 26 January 2015 at their respective offices.

Coinciding with the council of leaders meeting of the Philippine Metalworkers Alliance (PMA), the federation leadership provided an update on the struggle of their five local union affiliates who are facing harassment and grave violations of workers’ rights by their employers.

Fernando Lopes expressed his solidarity on behalf of IndustriALL for PMA affiliates and committed to support the campaign launch at the national, regional and global level.

In the meeting with Metalworkers Alliance of the Philippines (MWAP), the discussion focused on the recent success at NXP as an outcome of the global campaign last year. NXP local union officers revealed there will be significant positive changes in the coming days. However, Lopes warned against complacency following the victory: “Let us guard our ranks so that what happened in the past shall be avoided,” he said.

Mexican authorities bully Bata workers

Epifanio García Carrillo, an executive committe member of the Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de Calzado Sandak, was taken into custody on 20 January. The independent union represents workers at Bata's subsidiary in Tlaxcala, where members have been blockading the Calzado Sandak plant since August 2012. Unionists want to prevent the company from removing machinery and illegally shifting production from the unionized plant to unregulated home-based workshops.

As if it wasn’t already hard enough for workers to stand up for their rights in a country known for its rampant violation of freedom of association and its perverted ‘protection contracts’, it seems that the authorities and the government are getting the courts on side to make the situation even harder. This latest move sends a chilling message to workers: ‘if you occupy your factory, albeit legally, we will have you arrested’.

IndustriALL Global Union continues to lend its support.

UPDATE: After eight days in detention, Epifanio García Carrillo was released on 28 January. All charges against him have been dropped. 

Unions mobilize globally for workers’ rights at Holcim Lafarge

On this day the message of “No merger without workers’ rights!” resonated globally. The campaign is in response to the failure of the two largest cement companies in the world to engage with trade unions on the effects of the merger on workers.

Over 7,000 protest messages with workers’ demands have already been delivered to the leadership of both companies through the web-based resource LabourStart. More electronic petitions in support of workers’ demands to the leadership of Lafarge and Holcim can be sent via www.labourstart.org/go/nomerger.

A number of trade unions in Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Uganda, and Zimbabwe used the opportunity of the global action day to outreach to workers at the various cement plants operated by Lafarge and Holcim.  Union leaders distributed flyers and explained the implications of the merger on the workers’ future. 

In Colombia, France, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Nigeria, Philippines, and Romania unions mobilized workers and conducted pickets and rallies in front of the Lafarge and Holcim plants.  Following these actions, some of the unions held work stoppages surprising the company management.

Press conferences were organized by unions in Egypt, Nigeria, Mauritania, and Serbia resulting in significant national press coverage. Other countries where actions took place include Cambodia, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland and Thailand.

The strong global mobilizations are indicative of the anger and frustration of the workers and trade unions at Lafarge and Holcim plants in being side-lined and not consulted throughout the entire merger process,”

stated Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of BWI.

Workers are demanding respect and the first step would be for the Holcim and Lafarge management to include workers and trade unions as the merger moves forward.”

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union commented,

We fully support the workers’ demands on guaranteeing the respect of existing collective agreements, and the conditions of workers in parts of the business that will be sold off, as wel as maintaining global level social dialogue and a framework agreement.”

The three unions will continue to coordinate further actions until their key demands are met by the Lafarge and Holcim. 

NUM strike upholds rights at Northam Platinum

Protesting workers at Northam’s Zondereinde mine in South Africa were unhappy at management plans to unilaterally change recruitment and sick note policies. 

"There were clear indications to divide, weaken and reverse all the progressive policies that are regulating the employment relations at Northam Platinum Mine. (For example) workers discovered that a white female employee was employed without following proper procedures. When management was alerted to this malpractice they tried to justify it. Employees further demonstrated against this practice. Management responded by threatening disciplinary action without dealing with the actual issues," said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, NUM, says the company also attempted to discipline workers who had valid sick notes and force them to work while they are injured or unwell.

"Workers were also subjected to unfair dismissals for being on valid sick leave. We suspect that management wanted to alter these policies for intentions known to them without informing the union leadership and without following the due processes," Baleni added.

As a result of negotiations, a draft memorandum of understanding was accepted by the workers, in which the parties have agreed the following:

Northam Platinum produces around 1,000 ounces of platinum group metals per day, which is 65 per cent of the mining company’s total output.

Why won’t Roche stop the abuse of workers making their product?

Pharmaceuticals giant Roche has failed to intervene and stop its Turkish business partner, Deva Holdings, carrying out an aggressive attack on workers’ attempts to form a union.

IndustriALL Global Union called on Roche to intervene at a critical juncture at the end of November when a response to the Labour Ministry edict was needed.

Roche sent its Turkish management to meet Deva in mid-December. Roche concluded however that Deva was acting in compliance with Turkish law, regardless of international law and Roche’s sustainability and compliance commitments. Roche failed to address the mass sackings and other grave labour rights violations.

Since the Turkish Labour Ministry instructed Deva to begin collective bargaining with Petrol-İş as its recognized bargaining partner on 14 October, the company management has continued sacking trade union members, given pay rises to workers leaving the union, threatened further action against anyone refusing to quit the union, tampered with Labour Ministry classifications to skew the bargaining unit, and built up a climate of fear and intimidation inside the workplace.

IndustriALL affiliated Petrol-İş has filed a court case against these actions, but during the delay Deva continues to sack union members and offer pay rises to those who quit the union. The first court hearing of this case will be 1 April 2015.

Deva began the year 2015 with the same behaviour, sacking union members Sercan Kambur and Can Topçu on 8 and 9 January respectively. See the table of all 32 Deva employees who have been sacked since 20 June simply for being members of the union.

IndustriALL general secretary Raina wrote to Roche on 20 January:

“The simple fact is that a considerable portion of Deva’s workforce is being treated without dignity and respect, and aggressively denied their right to join and be represented by a union. This situation should be unacceptable to Roche, both instinctively and in compliance with your company’s sustainability and compliance commitments.

IndustriALL will be forced to escalate a public campaign if the situation is not remedied by the end of February.”

The Deva management has been sent thousands of protest messages as part of a global LabourStart campaign supporting the Deva workers.

In the years following Deva’s 2010 union busting of Petrol-İş at the three sites in Çerkezköy, Kartepe and the Topkapı area of Istanbul, working conditions have deteriorated. Workers have suffered non-payment of wage increments, harassment, wrongful dismissals, and poor occupational health and safety. These worsening conditions moved the workers to rejoin Petrol-İş in 2014.

IndustriALL signs global union agreement with Total

As part of the agreement with IndustriALL, Total, which employs 100,000 workers in more than 130 countries, pledges to:

Furthermore, Total agrees to promote the agreement among the many suppliers and contractors in its supply chain, even going so far as to terminate contracts with those who do not comply.

Jyrki Raina stated:

“We applaud Total for its commitment to better rights and conditions for workers. IndustriALL’s agreement with Total makes it clear that trade union rights and freedoms must be upheld across the company’s operations and throughout its global supply chain. Total promises to act in strict neutrality in its relations with unions and is prepared to terminate contracts with suppliers if they breach the agreement. It sends a strong message to Total’s suppliers and provides new levels of protection for workers.

A committee including representatives from Total, IndustriALL and its trade union affiliates will meet annually to ensure the agreement is implemented.

“I am pleased to sign this first agreement with IndustriALL Global Union, which is designed to extend the Group's tradition of corporate social responsibility to all of our operations around the world through quality social dialogue and insurance coverage for employees,” said Total’s Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Pouyanné.  

The agreement also abides by the guiding principles on Business and Human Rights approved by the United Nations Human Rights Council, as well as key ILO Conventions on freedom of association, equal pay, discrimination and child labour.

ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, praised the agreement between IndustriALL and Total:

“I am pleased to witness the signature of this agreement between Total and IndustriALL Global Union, an organization that represents millions of workers around the world and that contributes extensively to the fight for better working conditions and for the respect of labour union rights. Companies such as Total have a major role to play in promoting decent working conditions in their host countries and in ensuring that their employees benefit from tangible measures to improve their work life.”

Contact: Leonie Guguen, Communications and Media Officer, IndustriALL Global Union. Tel: +41 (0)22 308 50 24 Mobile: +41 (0) 79 137 54 36. Email: [email protected]

www.industriall-union.org

What is a global framework agreement?

Multinational companies operate in many locations with many fully or part-owned subsidiaries, and often rely on hundreds or even thousands of suppliers.

Global framework agreements are negotiated between IndustriALL and multinational companies to protect the rights and working conditions of people at all stages of a multinational company’s global supply chain, including people working for suppliers and contractors.

Framework agreements signed by Polish miners and government

After 11 days of protests, Poland’s Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz and representatives from all trade unions in the mining sector signed the framework agreement. It guarantees the involvement of the energy sector in restructuring the mining sector, the transfer of four mines to a mine restructuring company, as well as the possibility of selling the mines to investors.

The agreement also opens for talks on a new collective bargaining agreement for the mining sector, state aid for energy-intensive industries and the reindustrialization program for the Silesia and Malopolska Region. There will also be negotiations on the future of Polish industry and jobs.

Social dialogue between the government and the trade unions will continue.

Dariusz Trzcionka, President of IndustriALL affiliate KADRA said:

“The success of the negotiations would not have been possible without the support and solidarity of workers, residents, local governments, European and international trade unions, IndustriALL and the Polish trade unions. We thank you for supporting the miners in these difficult times!"

Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said on the agreement:

“I wanted to thank you for a good, healthy compromise. Good is not for us, but for the future of Polish mining.”

Turkey: Remarkable achievement for precarious textile workers

DISK-Tekstil have made their struggle against sub-contracting a priority and through their strategic work managed to put an end to the sub-contracting system in place at Greif Enterprises in Turkey.

The sub-contracting system has become prevalent in the industrial and service sectors in Turkey. The informal economy thrives off it; it triggers unfairness in wages; increases social vulnerability; endangers occupational health and safety; and lowers the quality of the product and service,

said Ridvan Budak, General Manager of DISK-Textile Workers’ Union

The struggle against sub-contracting has become one of the primary objectives of our union. With the regulations on our collective labour agreement, we have made progress.

A consulting firm by the name of StratejiCo was called in to carry out research on the internal operations at the four Greif plants. The firm’s findings clearly showed the benefits of making contract workers permanent and further reinforced the union’s demands.

In line with the collective labour agreements signed between DISK-Tekstil and Greif FPS management, they succeeded to resolve the sub-contracting issue at four plants in total, including the two Greif subsidiaries Sunjut and Unsa.

Following the decision between the union and management, an action plan was put into place to facilitate the transition of the contract workers to permanent worker status. As permanent staff of Greif, they will benefit from the collective labour agreement in place.

Holcim, Lafarge unions protest merger of companies without workers’ rights

The world’s two largest cement companies, the Swiss Holcim and French Lafarge, announced in 2014 that they will merge to form a company with 130,000 workers and a turnover of 35 billion Euro.

The companies have already announced the composition of the merged company’s executive committee and claim the merger will be complete in the first half of 2015 but they have failed to engage in real substantive consultations with unions about the impact of the merger on workers.

Workers and their trade unions today are taking action at Lafarge and Holcim plants around the world to demand the companies allow workers and their unions to have a voice in the merger process.

Actions include pickets and rallies in front of Holcim and Lafarge plants in Germany, Jordan, Lebanon, Philippines and Romania; press conferences in India, and Serbia; and distribution of flyers and discussion with workers at Holcim and Lafarge plants in Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Egypt, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Thailand and many other countries. In France, the French unions will conduct a picket and work stoppage from 10:00 to 11:00 at their worksites and at Lafarge Headquarters in Paris.

Today’s actions are being coordinated by IndustriALL Global Union, Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), and the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW).

“Tens of thousands of workers will likely be spun off or laid off as a result of this merger, but management still refuses to consult with unions,” said Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL. “This is unacceptable for companies that claim to be socially responsible. Today workers around the world are standing up and saying no merger without workers’ rights.”

“This is the first of many activities we are planning.  In a strong and unified voice we will continue the campaign until the management of Holcim and Lafarge recognize that they cannot ignore the voices of its most vital asset, the workers who have built the companies to its current financial success,” stated Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of BWI.

“Even at European level, with all the legal requirements and obligations concerning information and consultation, we have to conclude that workers’ representatives so far have not been adequately informed and consulted during the merger process, and many times have had to rely on mass-media to get information. This is an unacceptable state of affairs which has to be remedied by a clear-cut commitment from the management to properly consult with workers’ representatives”, says Sam Hägglund, General Secretary of EFBWW.  

Union leaders from 22 countries representing workers at Lafarge and Holcim decided upon this day of action and subsequent actions in the campaign when they met last November in Belgium.

Press contacts:

Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL, +41 79 945 57 26
Genevieve Kalina, BWI, +41 22 827 3786
Sam Hägglund, EFBWW, +32 475 84 06 51

IndustriALL Global Union – represents 50 million workers in 143 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors and is a force in global solidarity taking up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights around the world. For more information http://www.industriall-union.org/

BWI – The Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) is the global union federation for unions covering workers in the building, building materials, wood, forestry and related areas of work. The BWI has 335 national affiliates in 131 countries with a global membership of 12 million. For more information http://www.bwint.org/

EFBWW – The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) is the European Industry Federation for the construction industry, the building materials industry, the wood and furniture industry and the forestry industry. The EFBWW has 76 affiliated unions in 34 countries and represents a total of 2,000,000 members. For more information http://www.efbww.org/