SPAIN

As part of the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) on 7 October, IndustriALL affiliate, the UGT staged some 40 demonstrations throughout Spain under the banner "Employment, social protection and rights for a decent job".

The demonstrations exposed the fact that the economic recovery widely publicized by the government and business organizations, fails to reach the people. In Spain unemployment is an issue, 6 out of 10 workers are long-term unemployed. The newly created jobs are temporary, precarious and part-time, and the decrease of wages and incomes persists. Some 27.3 per cent of the population is at risk of poverty, a percentage that rises to almost 40 per cent amongst the unemployed.

The unions have taken advantage of this day to demand that the government launch a special plan for the long-term unemployed who receive no benefits, as pledged in an agreement with the social partners signed on 29 July.

Australian unions rally at Ansell AGM

AMWU, CFMEU and TCFUA members demanded that Ansell reinstate sacked workers, raise wages and negotiate with the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union (FTZGSEU) in Sri Lanka. They were joined by unions representing nurses, teachers and the Victorian Trades Hall Council.

The shareholders of Ansell, whose primary product in Australia is condoms, were greeted with chants and signs that read “Ansell, there’s a hole in your story” and “What about protection for your workers in Sri Lanka.”

Ansell has thus far resisted all attempts to meet and negotiate with IndustriALL affiliate FTZGSEU to resolve a strike caused by Ansell firing nearly 300 workers who struck in defense of 11 sacked colleagues.

“Ansell has refused all attempts by the union to negotiate for fair working conditions for the workers,” said Michele O’Neil, National Secretary of the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia.

“Currently Ansell workers are paid poverty wages in terrible working conditions.”

“Conditions in the Sri Lankan factories are so bad that workers are forced to urinate at their workstations because they otherwise won’t meet the outrageous production targets,” said AMWU National President Andrew Dettmer.

Members of FTZGSEU continue to fight for their rights at Ansell. They held a rally on 11 October attended by more than 200 workers and their children to mark the one-year anniversary of the strike.

Lisa Fitzpatrick, Secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch), said at the rally that her union is working to ensure that alternate products to Ansell are sourced at Victorian hospitals while Ansell’s abuse of workers in Sri Lanka continues.

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina, said:

FTZGSEU is running a strong campaign in Sri Lanka, backed by an increasing number of allies around the world. IndustriALL will continue to support the call for a fair resolution to see the nearly 300 workers reinstated.

SLOVAKIA

On 07 October 2014 IndustriALL Slovakian affiliate OZ KOVO offered free legal advice on labour law application to the general public in Zilina, Slovakia. One week before the event the union built the public interest by distributing the information in local media resulting in many workers coming for consultation from the union lawyers.

Later in the day the union members from different companies and parts of the country organized a rally through the city of Zilina. At the end of the rally the President of the national confederation KOZ SR, Mr. Jozef Kolar, President of OZ KOVO, Emil Machyna and the leader of young OZ KOVO members, Michal Nirka addressed the gathering and spoke about the precarious work.

During the whole activity young workers distributed ‘STOP precarious work’ leaflets in Slovak language to the public and provided relevant explanations.

Rio Tinto workers protest in 13 countries

The global call for action was made by the Rio Tinto Global Union Network as part of an ongoing campaign coordinated by IndustriALL Global Union.

Our message to Rio Tinto is that the trade union movement globally is here to stay and we will fight and campaign against Rio Tinto until the company shows respect and gives dignity to its workers, to the environment in which it operates and to the communities in which it operates

says Andrew Vickers, IndustriALL mining section chairman and CFMEU General Secretary.

Rio Tinto workers around the world made their voices heard in a resounding demand for safer workplaces, secure jobs and respect for workers’ rights.

From rallies in Canada and the USA to worksite actions in South Africa, Australia and France, the spotlight was put on Rio Tinto’s habit of putting profits before people.

Following recent fatalities at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia that is partially owned by Rio Tinto, IndustriALL affiliate the Chemical, Energy and Mines Workers Union (CEMWU) distributed flyers on the global day to members at the mine. Leadership of the union at the mine also wore campaign t-shirts with the IndustriALL logo and slogan "Rio Tinto, the Ugly Truth".

In South Africa, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) acting President Piet Matosa met with members at the Rio Tinto Richards Bay operation to explain why unions around the world were targeting the company.

A number of actions took place in Australia, and the day of action managed to get a great deal of media coverage. The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) launched a report into Rio Tinto's anti-union practices and National Vice President Andrew Vickers was interviewed on ABC Australia.

More actions took place in the following countries:

Workers and union officials from IndustriALL affiliate the Union Syndicale des Travailleurs de Guinée (USTG) had planned a series of protest actions to mark the global day, however as a result of the Ebola crisis they were sent home and no action could be organized.

The actions were held on 7 October to coincide with the World Day for Decent Work, when unions around the globe mobilize against precarious work. Unions at Rio Tinto have identified the increasing use of temporary, casual and contracted-out work by Rio Tinto as one of their key concerns.

Take a look at IndustriALL’s Rio Tinto page to see who took action and keep updated on the latest news on the Rio Tinto Campaign.

Women call for quotas at IndustriALL

IndustriALL’s general secretary Jyrki Raina told the conference: "Women and men take decisions better than men alone."

This quota must, however, only be seen as one measure on the way toward achieving gender parity. The conference adopted a resolution which in addition to the call for the 40 per cent quota, mentions health and safety, precarious work, maternity protection, women's leadership, and HIV and AIDS.

Despite a booming economy in Africa, women still face difficulties in the workplace. Closing the gender gap would reduce hunger and poverty. The conference took place against the backdrop of the Ebola epidemic – as always women are the most affected by the health scourges.

At the opening, the conference welcomed Senzeni Zokwana, ex-Vice-Pesident of IndustriALL who is now the Minister of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries of South Africa. He stressed the need to create jobs in the face of climate change and fluctuating markets. Africa must process her own products instead of exporting everything, according to Lydia Nkopane from the National Union of Miners (NUM), who said, "We export raw materials and still live in poverty."

Participants had a presentation on the challenges facing women and unions in the region. Among them are violence against women, the informal economy, HIV and AIDS, and maternity protection.

In Sub-Saharan Africa the informal economy makes up 66 per cent of non-agricultural employment. Seventy-four per cent of women and 61 per cent of men are informally employed. This work is marked by extremely precarious working conditions, health and safety hazards and the involvement of families and children. Women's needs must be addressed in a particular way. Here again it is a question of organizing women around their concerns. One of the concerns in mining communities for example is HIV and AIDS.

In Sub-Saharan Africa women are infected by HIV at least five to seven years earlier than men; young women are twice as likely as young men to be living with HIV. As girls are beginning to protect themselves, the rate of new infections is declining. However, these gains are fragile and must be sustained.

It would help if more countries ratified ILO Convention 183 on maternity protection. Up to now it has only been ratified by Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali in the region. Collective agreements could make improvements to women's lives if unions negotiated on something other than wages. Unfortunately maternity and women's issues are usually the first to be compromised.

The NUM highlighted the safety hazards of women working underground. Unfortunately there is still a hostility towards women and their demands. In the past few years the worst form of gender-based violence was perpetrated underground, namely murder. The only thing the Department of Mineral Resource did was to issue an instruction that "no women must work alone underground " but that does not compensate any loss of life. The unions have to have this as a priority and regulate it and compensate it.

At the regional conference, held over the following two days, women made up 35 per cent of participants.

COLOMBIA

In Bogota the three national centres the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Colombia (CUT), the Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia (CTC) and the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) as well pensioners’ associations, students, and Global Union Federations (GUFs) (UNI, ITF, BWI, IUF, PSI and IndustriALL), participated in a rally gathering around a thousand people from Bolivar Square through avenida 7.

Workers United successful strike repels two-tier contract

Two tier contracts, that set in place lower salaries and benefits for future hires, are becoming prevalent in North America as employers see two advantages: firstly to reduce staff costs going forward; and secondly to weaken the union as new hires will resent the previous bargaining unit that voted to maintain their own pay but reduce new hires’.

Staunchly rejecting this attempt by NGF Canada, Workers United Local 2641 were supported by the local unions, students and community in Guelph to stop work at the glass plant. Strike action started on 30 September. Management was forced to the negotiating table on 11 October, after the allies together blocked the company’s attempt to bring in scab workers on 9 and 10 October.

The union and company initiated talks on 11 October and arrived at a tentative agreement. The following day the agreement was discussed, voted and ratified.

The new five-year contract includes wage increases of 1 per cent graduating to 2 per cent in years four and five. An increase in the signing bonus was also included. But most important were the retraction of the two-tier contract and the limiting of part-time student employment to academic holidays.

Susan Taylor, President of Local 2641 stated:

We fought the good fight. We are a small local but we stood up for respect and the next generation of workers. Our local has been invigorated by this experience and by the solidarity and generosity of the labour movement in Guelph, internationally and the community as a whole. We will never be the same. We will never forget.

Workers United gave special thanks to IndustriALL for the quick message of solidarity and support that was read out at the picket line. IndustriALL general secretary Raina also wrote to the general manager of NGF Canada.

Belgian affiliate FGTB Centrale Générale also sent a solidarity message.

NGF is a subsidiary of the Nippon Sheet Glass group, one of the four largest glass multinationals in the world, headquartered in Japan.

ZIMBABWE

To mark the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) a community action took place, at the Harare central bus terminus, where union members cleaned-up the littered area. The clean-up was followed by a march across town with workers singing songs of solidarity and holding banners demanding decent work and decent wages.

The action came at a time when according to a ZCTU survey, a total of 4,172 people have lost their jobs, between January and September 2014, compared to about 9000 jobs lost and 75 company closures in 2013. Most of these job losses were recorded in the security, engineering, motor, clothing and textile, and printing industries.

The fight against against precarious work continues as workers who still have jobs struggle get their salaries paid on time. 2014 has seen workers from various sectors taking to the streets in protest.

For years now, the ZCTU has been fighting for wages that are linked to the poverty datum line which is currently at USD$500.00, we have also been fighting the rot in public institutions for the betterment of our country

said the ZCTU’s President George Nkiwane in his speech whilst addressing workers.

Whilst delivering his solidarity message, IndustriALL Global Union Country Coordinating Committee Chairperson in Zimbabwe, Cde Wise Garira said

workers are an important resource and should be treated with dignity.

He added that

precarious work is associated with death and we all should fight it.

Wise also gave a brief history of IndustriALL Global Union and encouraged same sector unions to merge because there is power in unity.

AUSTRALIA Rio Tinto actions

CFMEU

CFMEU circulated the global flyer to workers at all Rio Tinto mines sites with CFMEU members.

At these sites, CFMEU also circulated a new report it released on 7 October which exposes the anti-union philosophy behind Rio Tinto's 'direct engagement' management strategy.

Bradon Ellem, the author of the report, argues that the long-held policy sounds innocent but is really code for a ruthless effort to exclude unions from playing a meaningful role in its workplaces.

In Mackay, CFMEU did a training for CFMEU members employed by Rio Tinto about the global day and Rio Tinto’s history of labor disputes around the world.

CFMEU in the north near mine sites drove a trailer pulling a sign with the Rio Tinto The Ugly Truth logo and a variety of messages about the need for less precarious labor at Rio Tinto. It was part of the effort to build awareness among union members and communities about the global campaign at Rio Tinto and Rio Tinto’s bad employment practices.

ABC News Australia extended interview:

CFMEU National Vice President Andrew Vickers speaks to Ticky

AMWU

AMWU leadership attended the event to launch CFMEU’s report which exposes the anti-union philosophy behind Rio Tinto's 'direct engagement' management strategy.

AWU

AWU participated in the global day of action at Rio Tinto by promoting the day to its members at Rio Tinto through social media.

SOUTH AFRICA Rio Tinto actions

Leadership of IndustriALL affiliate NUM including Acting President Piet Matosa met with the Rio Tinto branch committee at the Rio Tinto Richards Bay operation to explain why the company was being targeted by unions around the world. NUM also distributed the global flyer to its members at the mine.