Take action to release Iranian trade union leader

Concern for Shahabi, who has been in prison for trade union activities since 2010, has heightened since his health drastically deteriorates due to his hunger strike lasting more than six weeks.

Shahabi, who is Treasurer of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company Workers’ Union in Iran, went on hunger strike on 1 June 2014 after being transferred to from Evin Prison in Tehran to the even more brutal Raja'i Shahr Prison in Karaj.

He has since been hospitalized and is very weak, suffering from serious health issues as he risks his life for his demands.

Shahabi, an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, is appealing for sick leave for medical treatment for a back condition; a return to Evin prison when he leaves hospital; implementation of article 134 of the new Islamic Penal Code; and his conditional release.

In a letter to ITF acting general secretary, Stephen Cotton, IndustriALL offered its full support to the ITF in its campaigning and demanded “the immediate and unconditional release of Brother Reza Shahabi and proper medical treatment for securing his life. The IndustriALL family strongly feels that global unions should work together to mobilize solidarity for making sure that Iran respects human and trade union rights.”

IndustriALL also calls on all affiliates to support ITF’s LabourStart campaign in support of Reza Shahabi. 

Namibian tannery workers back at work

About 120 workers had been on a legal strike since 28 June 2014 after negotiations deadlocked on the demand from workers for transport to and from work. The strike was resolved after intervention by the Labour Ministry which led to a mediated process. Workers accepted that the company’s promise to look into the issue of transport by next year’s negotiation, the company said it required more time to plan for this. 

A 9% wage increase was agreed on across the board and the company agreed to back pay on the increase from March 2014 when the negotiations should have been concluded. Workers’ bonus pay, which the company threatened to withhold if workers went on strike, will to be negotiated as normal in October 2014.

“The union is happy if workers are happy, “says  Narina Pollmann, Deputy General Secretary of Manwu. “Workers were willing to meet the employer half way on their wage demand and were understanding of the company needing for more time to plan for transport. But the strike showed that in the next negotiations, workers’ demands on transport need to be taken seriously.”

Concerns on health and safety at the tannery had also been raised and Manwu is satisfied that labour inspectors have been sent out to investigate and will provide the union with a report. 

EC Project on Organizing ICT, Electrical & Electronics Workers: Training Session in Taiwan-R.O.C.

The ROCMU-IndustriALL Global Union Organizing Seminar on ICT, Electrical & Electronics Workers took place on 11 July in Jungli, Taiwan. 42 union officers from various age groups and 16 plant level unions, including non-affiliated unions in the sector participated.

Over the past 20 years, Taiwan has become an important player in the global value chain of the electronics industry, and many Taiwanese MNCs has been expanding their business to the Asia-Pacific countries. On the other hand, the prevalence of precarious work has also rapidly increased in Taiwan, especially in the young generation while the labour movement has been splitting into several groups and weakening its power. The unions in Taiwan are now under pressure from the need to create a strong solidarity base to secure good quality jobs and organize unorganized workers.

In the keynote lecture, Mr. Wang Hou-Wei, director of the Department of Employment Relations, Ministry of Labour pointed out that in recent years, 44% of labour-management disputes are related to creating/joining a union and in many cases the workers failed to organize because of the strong pressure by the management. He therefore mentioned that the unions should develop the alliance/federation in the industrial level to create scale advantage on union activity including finance schemes to hire full-time organizers and/or labour lawyers.

Kan Matsuzaki, director ICT E&E sector at IndustriALL Global Union explained the importance of organizing workers at Taiwanese MNCs such as Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn) and asked the unions for active involvement on IndustriALL’s campaign. He also gave the concrete example of Japanese Denki Rengo-JEIU who is aiming to organize the workers at 1,534 companies by 2020, on mapping out the target companies, reaching out to key persons at unorganized workplaces and attracting workers to join the union.

In the meeting, the unions actively discussed how to strengthen the unions’ cooperation and how to organize a stronger union. As a result of the discussion, the unions confirmed the need of an internal reformation process which will focus on strategic training on organizing and separation of politics and trade union activity. ROCMU will work on the coordination for the future cooperation among the unions to re-vitalize the trade union movement and organizing drive. 

Unions reject disastrous Peruvian reforms

The package was approved by Congress on July 3 and could be signed into law as early as next week. IndustriALL Global Union has written to Peruvian President Ollanta Humala urging him to shelve the proposed measures and instead to engage with trade unions and other interested parties in a debate on growing the economy while ensuring full respect for labour, social and environmental rights.

In its letter, IndustriALL stressed the importance of promoting sustainable development so that the needs of the present can be met without sacrificing the needs of future generations.

In an attempt to reactivate the economy, the Ollanta government is caving to employer pressure and backtracking on advances made earlier in its three-year administration.

In 2008, the then newly-elected government passed a law on workplace health and safety with the promise of forging a new culture of risk prevention and enforcement through labor-management health and safety committees.  Employers resisted implementing the law, with disastrous results: 436 workers have died in the last three years in industrial accidents.

The government is now letting employers have their own way with a series of cost-cutting measures that will allow them to outsource accident prevention to third-party service providers, reduce the frequency of health testing, limit the time available for trade unionists to be involved in health and safety issues, and decrease fines and criminal penalties in cases of violations.

The government is also turning back the clock on environmental regulation.  The proposed changes would weaken the regulating body OEFA and the Environment Ministry which was created in 2008 as a condition for signing a free-trade agreement with the U.S. The proposed changes will also reduce fines in the event of environmental damage and speed up the approval process for permits in key sectors such as mining and energy, which is likely to increase social conflicts over the use of natural resources.

Violence, Blood and Tears Must Stop in Gaza, says IndustriALL Global Union

In just over a week, at least 225 Palestinians and 1 Israeli were killed of whom 80% were civilians and 20% children. According to the news provided, 1,400 are wounded while 1,255 homes are destroyed and 529 arrested.

IndustriALL strongly proclaims that the military action must be halted immediately. There must be an urgent implementation of the UN Security Council’s call for an immediate ceasefire.

“The United Nations Security Council’s call for a ceasefire must be implemented without any delay,” said General Secretary Jyrki Raina. “The Council has urged de-escalation of the situation, restoration of calm, reinstitution of the November 2012 ceasefire and respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians”.

IndustriALL shares the call of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in demanding that an immediate ceasefire and urgent humanitarian assistance to Gaza be followed by renewed international pressure to end Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and find a negotiated settlement to respect the 1967 borders between Israel and a Palestinian state.

In her statement ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow commented: “The world cannot allow the injustice to continue, nor can it accept the prospect of yet more violence causing the deaths of innocent civilians”.

“Mostly working people are the victims of the current unacceptable situation” said Jyrki Raina.    “The international community must take all the initiatives to avoid further deterioration which could only bring more poverty, chaos and unsafe living and working conditions”.

“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our trade union sisters and brothers for peace and stability instead of violence, blood and tears”.

More action needed from Bangladesh Government

The Compact was signed a year ago between the ILO, EU and Bangladesh government after the Rana Plaza disaster that killed over 1,100 factory workers. With it, Bangladesh committed to widespread reforms on protection of labour rights, fire and building safety and corporate responsibility.

A joint evaluation of the Compact by IndustriALL, UNI Global Union and ITUC has found the Bangladesh Government has largely failed to implement the Compact, despite substantial financial and technical support from a number of foreign governments and the ILO.

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina, said:

“We remain determined to make this industry safe and sustainable but we need to see more action from the government, with the rights to freedom of association upheld.”

The evaluation found that the inability of workers to organize and bargain collectively over the terms and conditions of work meant that gains in building and fire safety would not be sustainable, leading to further tragedies.

Alarmingly, the attitude of the government towards unions seems to be only deteriorating.

In June 2014, IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina, wrote to the Bangladesh Prime Minister criticizing incendiary remarks made by his Commerce Minister, Tofail Ahmed. The minister had attacked trade union leaders for allegedly providing foreign governments with information criticizing the labour situation in Bangladesh, and threatened to take steps against them.

“Such a threat of retaliation by a spokesperson of the Bangladeshi government is shocking behaviour, particularly in the current context in Bangladesh where violent acts of retaliation against trade unionists continue. In specifically naming a number of Bangladeshi trade union leaders, the Minister has put their safety at risk, sending a clear signal to employers and other actors that violence is an acceptable response to legitimate trade union activity,” wrote Raina. 

However, despite the damning critique of the Sustainability Compact, there has been progress in Bangladesh since Rana Plaza. More than 180 global clothing brands have signed the Bangladesh Accord, a legally binding agreement on fire and building safety. The Accord inspection team has surveyed more than half of  the 1,600 factories supplying garments to Accord signatories, with inspections on target to be completed by October.

Furthermore, intensive efforts by IndustriALL’s Bangladeshi affiliates have succeeded in organizing more than 50,000 workers in 150 factories.

Meanwhile, the campaign to raise the minimum wage from US$67 continues, following union gains in securing an increase from US$38 in 2013. 

Hugo González Chirico’s health deteriorates after 60 days on hunger strike

The doctor said that continuing the hunger strike for another five days could result in irreversible damage to the union leader’s health. Visits have to be very short and often with no  communication because Chirico suffers painful retching if he tries to speak.

Chirico is still at the union office, located in front of the company’s offices in the town of Villa Hayes. It is hoped that the Paraguayan Senate will intervene in the next few days and ask the government to take steps to protect his health.

Chirico’s struggle continues despite his deteriorating health. He will not stop his hunger strike because he feels he is still being persecuted. He was taken into custody for a couple of hours on 8 July to answer charges regarding the alleged illegality of a strike in 2010. Chirico made a statement in court at about 9am. He was only shown an arrest warrant two hours after he was detained.

Chirico said he had been detained because of complaints he has made against Enrique Riera Escudero, a member of the Judicial Council, and the Argentinean businessman Sergio Taselli, who benefited from privatisation of the steelworks, although the contract was immediately rescinded due to a failure to make the investments stipulated in the pre-sale agreement.

Chirico accused Riera Escudero of fraud over alleged investments of $20 million. He also said that they withdrew $7 million from ACEPAR to pay for unusable machinery and non-existent work in 2008 without providing receipts. This included the acquisition of obsolete and polluting machinery worth no more than $300,000 for a total of $2.9 million.

Chirico is still on hunger strike after 60 days to call for the return of the 33% of shares owned by workers, which were taken from them by the Horacio Cartes government, which announced it would take responsibility for reviving the steelworks but leased it out to a Brazilian company. He is also calling for the punishment of the people responsible for asset-stripping ACEPAR, compensation for the dismissed workers and for those affected by the plant’s toxic emissions.

IndustriALL’s regional office is carefully monitoring Chirico’s state of health and providing the support and solidarity he needs in his quest to achieve a fair outcome to his struggle and that of the dismissed workers.

Scrapping of European maternity leave directive an affront to women

The Maternity Leave Directive, which was adopted by the European parliament in 2010, has been withdrawn entirely by the European Commission in a move made behind closed doors on 15 July in Brussels.

The Commission has effectively buried the proposal under the guise of its REFIT agenda to slim down legislation.

Over the past four years, certain member states consistently blocked the Maternity Leave Directive which aimed to guarantee working women across the European Union paid maternity leave for 20 weeks, as well as make sure women are protected after they return to work.

In a joint letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, the newly elected EU president, Jyrki Raina from IndustriALL and Ulrich Eckelmann from IndustriAll Europe, said:

“The idea that maternity leave is being sacrificed to the REFIT agenda because it is not efficient is an affront to the rights of women everywhere. Maternity rights are part of the equality agenda, which you indeed have promised to support.

Reconciliation of work and family life is still a concern for many working people, and this directive provides part of the necessary support that families need. Furthermore, strengthening maternity rights is just one way to combat the ageing societies that we are now faced with all over Europe.”

Raina and Eckelmann also called for a fresh start from Juncker to ensure that negotiations to revise the maternity leave directive positively are resumed.

UK glass workers’ strike wins pay deal

Unite’s regional officer Bob Bolam thanked IndustriALL and affiliated unions around the world for support messages during the strike:

We are happy that members at Tyneside Glass are back to work on a new contract with improved conditions. The messages of support and solidarity received during the strike from IndustriALL and its affiliates really made a difference. Thank you.

Around 112 of the company’s 170-strong workforce took the successful action at two facilities in the Team Valley Trading Estate. Members voted to accept the new deal by a ratio of 7:1. The new three-year contract awards workers year on year salary increases and without the longer working time schedule originally pushed by management. The original offer from management would have meant a pay cut in real terms. That deal was rejected by 99 per cent of the bargaining unit.

During the strike, members marched from the toughened glass works to the bulletproof glassworks on industrial estate, a place with a history of industrial action. Local Members of Parliament Ian Mearns and Dave Anderson marched with striking Unite members.

Tyneside Glass workers were last on strike in 2010. During that strike the management used Polish contract agency workers to undermine the strikers and keep production going. This time, those same agency workers were striking and marching together with the rest of the strikers. One of the priorities of the last strike was to unionize the agency workers and win good permanent employment contracts for them. Unite members continue to fight against the use of precarious agency work at the company.

Tyneside Safety Glass make toughened, laminated, bullet resistant and heated glass for the automotive, security and defence sectors, rail, motorsport and architectural industries worldwide.

IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan stated:

Once again we see that only the solidarity between regular and contract workers, and between trade unions in the country and abroad enables us to win this kind of fight, win good conditions for workers and stand up against increased outsourcing.

Liberian union commits to intensify organizing

The initiative is just one of a series of plans devised during a three-day workshop on collective bargaining organized by IndustriALL Global Union. The workshop, held in Liberia’s city of Gbarnga in Bong County, took place in early July 2014 and included participants from Uwul and five locals.

IndustriALL affiliate, Uwul, plans to revise its policy of splitting subscriptions equally between the local and the national union. By giving the national union a larger share, more resources will be available to recruit workers.

Changes also need to be made to the payment of subscriptions at new workplaces. The current practice is that a new local only starts to pay subscriptions to the union once a collective bargaining agreement has been signed with management. This process can sometimes take as long as two years.

At the workshop, Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL’s Sub Saharan African regional secretary, said, "Uwul has the potential to build itself and it can raise resources from within to fund the organising initiative without needing outside support.”

Uwul believes it will adopt progressive resolutions and changes to their policies at their next convention planned for later in 2014.