Continued union-busting by Deva Holding in Turkey

The eight workers were fired when joining IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Petrol-Is. They were exercising their legitimate fundamental rights of freedom of association, guaranteed by international labour conventions of the ILO, as well as Turkey’s Constitution and national trade union legislation. After the dismissed workers staged protest outside the plant gates and Petrol-Is has gained nationwide media coverage, the situation is still in a deadlock.

Petrol-Is was a bargaining partner at Deva operations. However, the last four years have seen a deterioration of labour relations and the recent dismissals are part of Deva’s anti-union policies. Management has used different tactics to demolish a 40-year-long union existence, contractual labour relations and mature social dialogue at Deva Holding plants located in the towns of Çerkezköy, Kartepe and Topkapı area of Istanbul.

During this time, management has announced that there will no longer be a collective agreement using the pretext of high production costs and government’s policies in the pharmaceutical industry. They exerted pressure on workers to sign individual labour contracts in place of the collective agreement and then dismissed 74 employees because they had refused to sign individual contracts.

IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Kemal Özkan says:

The workers have a legitimate and legal right to choose their unions freely. IndustriALL urges management at Deva Holdings to immediately re-instate the eight dismissed union members; withdraw all pressure exerted over the union members; and enter into constructive dialogue with Petrol-Is.

Update: Shahabi released to civilian hospital

Shahabi, the treasurer of the ITF-affiliated Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (or Vahed union) was unjustly arrested in 2010 for his trade union activities. His health has apparently suffered as a result of injuries sustained during his imprisonment, while repeated calls for his release from international organisations including the ITF, International Labour Organization (ILO) and Amnesty International, have yet to be taken up fully by the Iranian government.

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.

Syngenta Pakistan continues to blatantly ignore court ruling

The case relates to IndustriALL’s affiliated trade union’s effort to ensure that local management of Syngenta respects Pakistani labour law and award 50 contract employees at the plant permanent employment status. These efforts triggered local management to call in paramilitaries to the factory and intimidated workers against supporting the union. The head of the plant level union was then sacked on 23 December 2010.
 
That fired trade unionist, Imran Ali, is also president of the Pakistan Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers (PCEM), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union. Imran Ali was summarily sacked one week prior to the end of bargaining that would have brought a new CBA on 1 January 2011.
 
Even the High Court of Sindh in Pakistan's capital Karachi ruled in favour of the union.

Incredibly, the case of Imran Ali is still pending, and Syngenta has yet to implement the change in employment status of the 50 contract workers, in line with the High Court ruling.

IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina wrote to top Syngenta management in Switzerland:
 
“I am outraged to hear that your company’s vindictive treatment of its workers in Pakistan is continuing. I thought this case of core labour rights violation had been settled and by now your local management would be well on the way toward healing some of the damage made by over three years of union busting and breaches of international labour standards.”

Dying on the job is not the destiny of mine workers!

This industrial homicide entered the global public consciousness through the sheer numbers of the lives lost and the callous comment of the Turkish Prime Minister, claiming that it was the destiny of mine workers to die while eking out an existence.

It is often said that mining is a hazardous occupation. Despite the numerous precautions taken the harsh working environment does not lend itself to ideal cooperation. The tripartite structure of the ILO is challenged within the mining industry, which accounts for one per cent of global employment with 30 million people. At the same time, the sector accounts for 8 per cent of work-related casualties, making it one of the most dangerous professions.

On account of these horrifying statistics, mining, more than any other industry, requires constant and regular inspections and enforcement of safety measures. 

The chief culprit for the mine accidents is the industry’s preoccupation, almost obsession, with profit. The “race to the bottom” is obvious in the mining industry where the lives of mine workers is often sacrificed at the altar of profit. Statistics regarding fatalities, injuries and occupational disease do not tell the entire story; they exclude the extent of human suffering associated with mining.

In terms of methane related accidents, coal-mining is the most dangerous, because of the likely presence of methane. The toxic, asphyxiating gas can be explosive in high concentration. While the dangers of mining are self-evident, it is still surprising and shocking that only 27 countries have ratified ILO Convention 176 Safety and Health in Mines. Notable mining countries absent from the list include, Chile, the world's top copper producer, as well as Australia, Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Turkey and Indonesia.

The roll call of death has the potential to numb the senses, as witnessed by the Turkish Prime Minister’s comment. If we fail to speak up and instead keep silent in the face of evil, this roll call will continue unabatedly. 

The ILO Convention 176 is central to achieving decent work in the industry. Within the convention, governments are expected to create a legislative and regulatory framework that protects workers’ safety and health. This is to be accomplished by requiring employers and workers to comply with the specifics of ILO Convention 176. In addition, the responsible authorities are expected to maintain adequate regulatory mine supervision and inspection, and require the reporting of accidents and maintenance of statistics.

As a response to the mine tragedy in Turkey and IndustriALL's work on health and safety in mines worldwide, a comprehensive and integrated strategy is required, including a comprehensive global campaign demanding ratification of ILO Convention 176 and the implementation of its recommendation. 

We need a strong health and safety culture in the mining industry across all levels. And such a culture will only come about through strong trade unions and strong collective bargaining. The stronger the union, the safer the mine – trade unions save lives.

Kemal Özkan,

Assistant General Secretary

Unity to fight precarious work in Thailand

In the paper sector, many unions have lost their bargaining power and some even exist by name only. The newly created Confederation of IndustriALL Labour of Thailand (CILT) bringing together the auto, metal, textile, chemical and petrol workers of Thailand vows to fight precarious work.

According to the Ministry of Labour, agency workers are classified as employees of the service sector. Under the law, unions can only represent employees of their company or workers in the same industrial sector. This prevents unions in the manufacturing and energy sectors to organise and bargain for agency workers, even when they perform the same work as permanent and direct hired workers.

Trade unions also face the opposition of the companies. Even though unions are allowed to organise and represent employees of sub-contractors in the same industrial sector, often they cannot. One example is when Unocal/Chevron in Thailand refused to let the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) cover outsourced workers on the ground that these workers were not company employees, and despite the fact that the sub-contract workers worked under the principal company’s supervision and control.

But despite the challenges and difficulties, IndustriALL Global Union’s Thai affiliates are fighting to find solutions to improve working conditions for precarious workers.

TEAM advises local unions on how to recruit agency workers. As a result, the local union organising the BMW plant in Thailand has now recruited around 100 agency workers. In 2012, IndustriALL affiliate the Paper and Printing Unions’ Federation (PPFT) won a milestone victory when getting the government certificate on recognition of union representation for agency workers, highlighting a disguised employment relationship.

Thai trade unions have also multiplied efforts to regularize fixed terms workers or outsourced/temporary agency workers, in order to include them in the CBA. Last year, 250 agency workers at Kurusapha printing company were converted to directly hired workers and joined the Kurusapha union.

And as a last resort agency workers can organise their own unions. At Chevron, agency workers have created two agency workers unions that have successfully bargained a new CBA, bringing new rights and benefits for their members.

Notwithstanding, employers continually challenge these victories. In this difficult context, unity among the Thai affiliates through the CILT is even more important and necessary to continue the struggle and achieve sustainable results.

IndustriALL women’s workshop in Colombia promotes organizing

Participants learned about the women’s action plan in Colombia, as well as the status of the developments in creating one national union in the mining and energy sector (CUSME). Moreover, they exchanged experiences about precarious work in Colombia and Latin America and developed their leadership skills.

At the IndustriALL regional women’s conference in May 2014, the lack of resources, the absence of gender policies and the male domination in representation emerged as the most salient issues. The women felt that they had less resources for projects and initiatives than the men have. As far as gender policies are concerned, they said that what was there was improvised and spontaneous according to the circumstances. They wanted to find out how to develop a consistent gender policy.

The women did not feel that they were sufficiently informed about activities, as information is stuck in drawers and in the hands of union leadership without it being passed on to those directly concerned.

According to the women they are under-represented in trade unions. There are unions with a lot of women members but whose leadership is exclusively male. In addition there are other unions that do not participate, and these unions need to become active. The women proposed establishing a negotiation group in each trade union.

Precarious work, outsourcing, temporary employment require immediate and permanent tackling. And women need to be involved in these struggles. Women have untapped leadership qualities and need to use them to get more women to join unions, especially those women who are contract workers. This will multiply the unions’ ranks and strengthen them.

Participants did a role play on how to recruit women contract workers into the union. The arguments they developed were to improve gender equity, to earn better pay, to work in better conditions and to have a better quality of life. The women are creating an organizing team, and one of these women will participate in the CUSME meetings.

In 2009, the pay gap between men and women in Colombia was 15.8 per cent. However, it went up to 21 per cent in 2012. 12.9 per cent of women are unemployed; the same number for men is only 6.7 per cent. Women have a harder time having access to jobs than men do. They are often up against inflexible role assignments, are either too young or too old to work, it is either an advantage or a disadvantage to be married, they have children or are yet to have them, they often have to have pregnancy tests, they are either too beautiful or too ugly, they are socially disadvantaged, women’s bodies are used to sell services, and ultimately there is the plague of sexual harassment. Nevertheless some recent legislation in Colombia has contributed to equal treatment and equal pay between women and men.

Women at the workshop worked on communication techniques and set up a communication group in order to remain in contact.

Mega merger in cement sector alarms workers

Coming together in Brussels on 22 July, workers’ representatives voiced their concerns regarding a number of decisions made by the management. Jobs are under threat and the process of information and consultation is deemed insufficient.

Matthias Hartwich, IndustriALL Global Union Director of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Industries states:

The way the decisions have been made is a sad example of cherry picking and a clear violation of both groups’ CSR declarations.

"Not taking workers’ interests and needs into account, not informing and consulting trade unions in a proper way is absolutely inacceptable, especially considering that we have a global framework agreement (GFA) with Lafarge and both groups have promised a fair social dialogue."

IndustriALL, the EFBWW, and the EWC restricted committees are convinced that the merging companies are seeking tax and wage advantages wherever possible. The first decisions made in Europe are seen as a clear indicator.

But the consequences go beyond Europe; workers in plants and facilities in the USA, Canada, Mexico, India and Russia are also affected.

Matthias Hartwich says:

"We will fight to ensure that workers all over the world will be heard during the merger process, as well as afterwards. We will create a global trade union network for the workers of this Holcim-Lafarge group in order to ensure a fair participation of workers in both Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe."

Ghanaians demonstrate against high living costs

The one-day protest where frustrated workers expressed their fury through wailings, placards, songs, shouts and vuvuzelas was called by organized labour and supported by the Ghana Trade Union Congress. Protestors, at least 7,000 of them in the capital Accra, accused the government of poor fiscal policies and mismanaging the economy.

A core demand is that immediate action be taken to halt the depreciation of the Ghanaian currency, the Cedi, and the rising cost of living. “The Cedi has depreciated so much that minimum wage is now less than two US dollars a day, so we can say it is officially poverty wages,” says Solomon Kotei, General Secretary of Industrial & Commercial Workers Union (ICU) which is affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union.

“Petroleum is almost double what it was a year and a half ago. We face power outages and water shortages all the time and still we face ever increasing utility costs. All this because of the depreciation of our currency but also due to poor planning and inefficiencies,” explains Kotei. “We are the ninth worst managed economy in the world despite our wealth in so many things like cocoa and even petroleum. So this is not about global economic problems, these are home-grown problems rooted in corruption. Workers are saying this cannot be allowed to continue.”

Labour is aware that businesses and industries are facing difficulties and Kotei expressed concern that 20 companies organised by ICU may have to close which would result in over 4000 job losses.

IndustriALL’s other Ghanaian affiliate; the Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) also has put its weight behind the demonstration, “We have to let our government know that we are not happy with the state of the economy,” says Prince William Ankrah, GMWU General Secretary.

Ankrah proposes a way forward, “We need to seek solutions within the industrial relations landscape, we need social dialogue where we can sit together to ensure mature and peaceful engagement on the nature of the economic situation confronting us.” 

International union campaign delivers agreement at Georg Fischer in Turkey

Lastik-Is general president, Abdullah Karacan, told IndustriALL the CBA was signed on 22 July. The signing signifies a long-fought victory to organize workers at the Turkish subsidiary of Swiss based Georg Fischer, a market-leading producer of plastic tubing.

In a letter to the CEO of Georg Fischer before the signing, IndustriALL’s general secretary Jyrki Raina wrote: “The damage done to labour relations at your company’s Turkish subsidiary Georg Fischer Hakan Plastik through months of union busting and sacking of 40 union office bearers seems to be taking time to heal.

I appeal to you to give your strong approval to the management of Georg Fischer Hakan Plastik to swiftly sign the new collective bargaining agreement, and work together to build a constructive and mutually beneficial industrial relations system in the company.”

9,000 supporters joined the IndustriALL-LabourStart campaign to write to Georg Fischer to demand a fair collective agreement and an end to union busting of Lastik-Is, which belongs to the Turkish national centre, DISK.

IndustriALL’s Swiss affiliate Unia also intervened in solidarity with Lastik-Is members at Hakan Plastik, calling on the Swiss management of Georg Fischer to ensure fair treatment of its Turkish workers.

The Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security issued official certification confirming that a majority of the workers at Hakan Plastik belong to Lastik-Is, making it an official party to a collective agreement. However the local management challenged this certification on a groundless basis to stall the process with a view to getting rid of the union presence at the plant, while refusing to re-instate the dismissed workers. In the meantime, negotiations between Lastik-Is and Hakan Plastik management to reach a collective agreement continued.

The bargaining process was disrupted by the local management attempts to exclude mechanics, electricians, quality controllers, forklift operators and experienced workers from the agreement. The local management also attempted to dissuade workers from being members of Lastik-Is by awarding gifts and bonuses aside from those discussed in bargaining. At the Urfa facility new workers are told not to join the union, and at the Çerkezköy plant at least 100 contract workers have been hired from at least two agencies to undermine bargaining.

In spite of these barriers, a final meeting was set for 14 July to sign the new collective bargaining agreement. Disappointingly the local management came to that meeting saying they were unable to sign because the approval had not been sent from head office in Switzerland. But that approval came and the agreement was signed 8 days later on 22 July.

“This is a real victory,” says Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary. “An international campaign conducted by IndustriALL, coupled with a determined struggle in the field by Lastik-Is, has brought this achievement. This is our way to fight back worldwide.”

Daimler World Works Council elects new leadership

In addition to the official members, including IndustriALL Global Union, representatives from Turkey, Argentina, Indonesia and India also attended the meeting at the end of May 2014.

Workers from six countries are now represented in the World Employee Committee (WEC) at the German multinational car manufacturer. They are Germany, USA, Japan, Brazil, South Africa and Spain. The WEC has 13 members in total.

The WEC elected Michael Brecht, head of Daimler’s works council as Chairman and Gary Casteel, Vice President of the UAW, was elected Vice Chairman.

Brecht, who was also voted in as Chairman of the European Works Council, said:

“This meeting of employee representatives from countries all over the world sends

a clear signal: We want to strengthen our international co-operation. The Daimler management pursues its globalization strategy very resolutely. We will do the same in the World Employee Committee and European Works Council and make sure that workers and their representatives also strengthen their ties across boards.”

Gary Casteel, Vice Chairman of the World Employee Committee, said: “Daimler is an outstanding company with outstanding co-determination structures. I’m honoured to assume a leading role in the World Employee Committee. Together we will engage to make Daimler a model for the worldwide recognition of worker rights.”

A World Works Council or World Employee Committee is an agreement with the company about a representation body where union delegates or Works Council members from almost all major production sites worldwide come together, normally once a year.

The company has to pay for this meeting and also to report on international issues such as development of employment, investment, opening or closing of sites, and shifts in production.