Union rights victory at Ashton Apparels in Kenya

The wildcat strike broke out in the Kenyan city of Mombasa on 5 January when workers from several factories owned by Ashton Apparel EPZ Ltd demanded the reinstatement of 120 unionised workers. These workers found that they had been made redundant upon returning from their Christmas leave. They also want the company to recognise TTWU.

“The company has been violating labour laws by denying workers their constitutional rights to join the union of their choice and victimizing employees who have voluntarily joined the union,” said TTWU General Secretary,  Joel Chebii.

The company has also refused to sign a recognition agreement with TTWU and deduct union dues from the union members’ wages.

In a letter sent to Ashton Apparels EPZ Ltd, Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, brought to management’s attention that the company is in breach of national labour legislation as well as international core labour standards, including the International Labour Organizations’ Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize and Convention 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining.

Raina states “it is imperative that take urgent corrective steps to address the demands of the Tailors and Textiles Workers Union. He calls on Ashton Apparels EPZ Ltd to “reinstate the 120 workers, sign the Recognition Agreement, deduct union dues from the union members’ wages, and stop harassing unionized workers.” Should demands not be met, Raina has said that further actions will be taken, including bringing these violations to the attention of buyers sourcing from the company.  

On 14 January a Kenyan court ruled in favour of the dismissed workers and ordered Ashton Apparel to reinstate workers immediately. “Striking workers have returned to work today together with their reinstated colleagues,” said Ezra Ojuka, Deputy General Secretary of TTWU. “Workers have shown Ashton Apparel that the union cannot be ignored and that they are prepared to stand united for their rights.”

"Seeing tremendous gains in life safety"

By September last year the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh had carried out more than 1,500 factory inspections, identifying more than 80,000 safety issues. Out of a total of around 4 million workers in the garment industry in Bangladesh, the Accord covers around 2,1 million.

 http://youtu.be/SKy6S951DnY  

2,000 Polish miners protest against plans to close mines

The government decision on 7 February to close the mines and cut jobs will have painful consequences for workers and residents in mining communities.

Polish miners, who insist the collieries could be profitable and have large coal deposits, are demanding a major restructuring of the entire coal sector which provides Poland with a key source of power, heat and energy security.

Miners, trade unions and local authorities had to learn of the plan to cut thousands of jobs through the media and had no prior consultation, discussion or social dialogue. Furthermore, over the last two years the government has appeared willing to restructure the coal industry, and has made no mention of closing the mines.

The announcement sparked spontaneous protests among the affected mining crews, supported by administrative staff and colleagues from all mines.

Poland’s Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz travelled to the Silesia region to talk to the demonstrating miners. However, negotiations have broken down, and with no agreement in sight, it is unknown when talks will continue.  

IndustriALL Global Union’s director of mining Glen Mpufane said:

Together with IndustriALL Europe we support the actions of our comrades in Poland whose future is in the balance. We urge the government to come to an agreement with the trade unions to safeguard thousands of jobs.

Union campaign mounts pressure against Lafarge-Holcim

These actions are the launch of a global campaign against Lafarge’s and Holcim’s behavior during the merger. The campaign is organized by Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) and IndustriALL Global Union.

Since the announcement last year of their plans about the merger, Holcim and Lafarge, headquartered accordingly in Switzerland and France have consistently refused to discuss seriously with trade unions on the impact of the merger on workers. According to the different estimations at least 15,000 workers will be jobless as a result of a major restructuring; however, the companies have not been transparent and public about the merger process, leaving workers uncertain about their future.

The main demands of the trade unions to Lafarge and Holcim are:

Many of the unions in Brazil, Greece, Netherlands, Thailand, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe are distributing flyers and talking to workers about how the merger would affect workers. Since many workers have not received proper information about the merger process these discussions are critical to alleviate the workers’ anxieties about their future. In a number of countries such as Lebanon, Brazil and France, the trade unions are conducting work stoppages at the plants. In the Philippines, Jordan, Romania, and Germany the unions are holding pickets in front of Lafarge and Holcim plants.  Noting the media interest in the merger, unions in Colombia, India, and Serbia are holding press conferences.

The unions will continue to organize actions until the unions’ demands are met.

With the aim to support the on-site actions and pressure the leadership of the companies, BWI, IndustriALL and EFBWW jointly with the website LabourStart have launched an online campaign. Follow the link to send your message of protest to Holcim and Lafarge through http://www.labourstart.org/go/nomerger

Turkey – thousands of metalworkers to strike on 29 January

Birlesik Metal-Is has taken the decision after sectorial level negotiations with the Turkish Metal Employers’ Federation (MESS) failed. Offers made were found unacceptable at union mass meetings. The strike decision covers multinational companies such as Schneider, Alstöm, Mahle, Aperam, ABB, Bosal, Bekaert, Delphi Automotive, Federal Mogul, Prysmian, Isuzu.

In its charter at the beginning of the negotiations, Birlesik Metal-Is demanded additional improvement for those with lower wages and newcomers. MESS refused this critical demand and insisted on a three-year agreement which is traditionally for two-year periods. Birlesik Metal-Is found this impossible since the Turkish economy shows instability and a long-term deal would lessen the purchasing power of the members.

In the meantime MESS has signed a collective agreement with the other two metal unions in the sector. Following a mass meeting with all workers at a rally in the town of Gebze, and the general assembly of all the shop-stewards from the companies covered by the negotiations, Birlesik Metal-Is decided to go on strike by standing firm with its initial demands.

During a press conference at the headquarters of DISK, Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey to which Birlesik Metal-Is is affiliated nationally, General President Adnan Serdaroglu announced the strike decision.

“We have evaluated all the conditions on the 10 January, and our shop stewards as central bargaining commission members expressed their views not to accept all impositions whatever cost they make and to go on strike.

“We know that what remains from today is those who go for tomorrow, and those who struggle for tomorrow.”

In his message of support and solidarity, IndustriALL’s General Secretary Jyrki Raina says the organization fully supports the strike:

“We salute your decision to strike in your struggle for decent wages and working conditions. We encourage all affiliates to show Birlesik Metal-Is support and solidarity. IndustriALL will continue to do everything in our power to support your struggle.”

Why no mention of workers at Davos?

“Global prosperity depends on workers and yet they feel powerless,” says Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, who will be participating at Forum meetings in Davos.

In the new global context, working people are increasingly alienated from structures and corporations. Wages drop while corporate profits and CEO salaries go through the roof, fuelling the lack of trust in multinational companies and in governments’ power to control them.

“Hundreds of millions of people are toiling on poverty wages, leading to suffering and unrest, which is bad for business,” adds Raina.

IndustriALL, representing 50 million workers worldwide, is fighting for living wages for all workers to reduce income inequality, increase economic growth and create new jobs.

A handful of multinational corporations recognize that wage levels in many developing countries are unsustainable. That’s why IndustriALL is working with global fashion brands such as H&M and Inditex to pay living wages to garment workers in their supply chains.

Throughout the world, stable employment is being replaced by temporary jobs with low pay and no career prospects, job security or social benefits. Young people, in particular, are finding it harder than ever to find a decent and secure job.

“You can’t build an economy on poverty wages and insecure jobs,” says Raina.  “Inclusive and sustainable global development depends on a constructive relationship between business and workers. Unions are essential to ensuring a fair distribution of the fruits of industry and must be regarded as partners to business, not rivals.”

IndustriALL works with multinational companies to achieve this balance. We have global framework agreements with 43 multinational companies including World Economic Forum industry partners GDF Suez, Siemens, Volkswagen and Statoil, to protect the interests of workers throughout the operations and supply chains of multinational companies.

“In a world challenged by climate change, workers and the poorest in society are the most vulnerable,” says Raina. “IndustriALL Global Union calls on state and business leaders in Davos to wake up and take action to stop global warming before we face a catastrophic grab for resources in a world of diminishing means.”

Ends

For information, contact: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]

Indian government concedes to coal strikers

Following a marathon six-hour-long meeting between the leaders of the five trade union centres that called the strike and the Coal India Chairman and senior officials, India's Coal and Power Minister, Piyush Goyal, told reporters: 

"There is no intention for denationalization of CIL. The present and future interest of CIL employees will not be affected in any manner. CIL will be protected and there need be no apprehension about its ownership or management going into private hands.

The government has now established a committee to consider the other union demands.

The agreement that ended the strike is available in Hindi. The main points of the text are:

The government also made it very clear that no vindictive actions will be initiated against workers for their participation in the strike. The unions have committed to improve production and improve efficiency.

Rajendra Prasad Singha, IndustriALL Global Union Executive Committee member and Vice-President of the HMS union stated: "The strike has demonstrated the extraordinary unity of the working class and brought down the arrogance of the Government.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was forced to act fast during the strike as coal produces 60 per cent of India’s electricity.  Coal India produces over 80 per cent of the country’s coal. Once the coal-fired power plants’ stockpiles ran out, energy blackouts would have begun tomorrow if the strike had continued.

Coal India is the world’s largest mining employer, producing 472 million tons annually.

High time for Holcim and Lafarge to respect workers’ rights

On 23 December 2014 both companies issued press releases about the leading bodies in the formation and announced a new CEO and a chair of the board of directors for the merged company. But so far the agenda of this merger is driven only by higher profits for the shareholders. There is no discussion in either company on the consequences for the workers on whose shoulders the wealth of both companies has been built.

Both companies talk of sustainability as a corner stone of their policy. This is only relevant when employees are not treated as disposable material. In the absence of an open dialogue the announced merger has created uncertainty and despair among the employees. Dismissals and divestments are going on today; and workers and their representatives are not properly involved.

IndustriALL Global Union, Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) and European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) have addressed a letter to both companies. The union federations are asking to be acknowledged and involved in discussions concerning consequences for labour rights and working conditions at the earliest stage possible. They are also requesting a meeting to discuss workers’ concerns, as well as a new Global Framework Agreement (GFA) for the new company. The Lafarge group is currently signatory to a GFA with IndustriALL and BWI.

Although neither company in principle declined the invitation, answers given fell far short from the union expectations. The unions will continue to insist on proper discussions.

Workers at Holcim and Lafarge demand the leadership of both companies to:

No merger without workers’ rights!

Rio Tinto far from ethical

The environmental devastation caused by the Panguna mine has been one of the key grievances by local communities against Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), the mining company majority-owned by Rio Tinto.

Disputes over the vast mine, located in the autonomous region of Bougainville, contributed to the start of the country's bloody civil war between Bougainville separatists and Papua New Guinea from 1989 to 1998. 

And far from cleaning up its act, Rio Tinto stands accused of ongoing environmental damage, health and safety violations, and clashes with indigenous groups.

For example, nomads living in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert say their wells have dried up after their scarce source of underground water has been diverted by Rio Tinto’s vast Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mine in the country. The company had promised to keep the herders’ precious water source untouched.

In December 2013, Rio Tinto’s Ranger uranium mine in Australia’s Kakadu national park leaked 1.4 million litres of radioactive slurry. It followed a similar leak just a week earlier at a Rio Tinto uranium mine in Namibia. According to an independent expert report on the leak at Ranger, corporate governance and management of process safety did not meet expected standards at the time of the leak.

Rio Tinto’s track record on the environment is no better in Indonesia. Take the Grasberg mine where Rio Tinto has invested over a billion dollars. Norway’s state-owned pension fund sold its entire US $850 million stake in Rio Tinto in 2008 because Grasberg discharges huge amounts of tailings (the often contaminated by-product of mining extraction) directly into a natural river system.

The mining giant also fails to protect its workers. In 2013, 40 people were killed at the company’s fully or partially owned operations. Miners at Grasberg recently threatened a month-long strike after their demands that management be held responsible for the deaths of five workers in September went unheeded.

Rio Tinto, which has a market value of US$ 90 billion, is increasingly turning to contract and subcontracted workers to cut costs. At its Madagascar Minerals operation, there were double the numbers of contract workers as permanent staff as of early 2014. In Australia, Rio Tinto has sacked fulltime workers on mass but kept on casual or contract workers at the Hail Creek mine in Queensland. 

It is this kind of corporate bad behaviour that has led IndustriALL Global Union, which represents 50 million workers in over 140 countries, to run an on-going campaign against Rio Tinto to demand it live up to its claim of being a sustainable company.

Only last October, thousands of workers at Rio Tinto took part in a global day of defiance to demand safer workplaces, secure jobs and respect for workers’ rights.

It is up to the people of PNG and Bougainville to decide whether to let Rio Tinto back. If they do, IndustriALL will work with unions in the area to ensure the workers are organized and to struggle for justice at the mine.

But make no mistake, Rio Tinto remains far from ethical. There’s little reason to believe that the company’s conduct in Bougainville would be any better today than it was in the past.

Historic union victory in Turkish tyre industry

At the end of 2014, Lastik-Is struck a deal with Brisa, a joint venture between Japanese Bridgestone and Turkish Sabanci Group, leading the company to cancel contracts with six out-sourcing firms. The company also agreed to put all 600 contracted workers on the company payroll from 1 December, putting an end to out-sourcing at Brisa. The new permanent workers have subsequently become members of the union.

Lastik-Is negotiations also led Italian-based Pirelli tyre maker, located in the same town Izmit, to agree to cancel its agreements with 13 contractors employing 600 workers. Following intervention from Lastik-Is, Pirelli has agreed to make all ex-contract workers permanent members of staff. After joining the company, the workers immediately joined the union.

“By saying ‘no’ to out-sourcing in the tyre industry, we have launched a new era in our struggle against precarious work,” said Abdullah Karacan, General President of Lastik-Is. “This important move will contribute to improvement of wages and working conditions of the workers as well as boosting union presence at workplaces.”

Over the years out-sourcing, with lower wages and poorer working conditions in comparison with permanent workers, has become a big threat to union density, collective bargaining and solidarity among permanent and contract workers.

“IndustriALL Global Union salutes and congratulates Lastik-Is for this very important achievement,” said Assistant General Secretary Kemal Özkan. “This is what we want to do through our global campaign and struggle against precarious work.”