NXP workers fight for illegally dismissed colleagues

A number of organisations expressed support for the workers’ fight to reinstate the 24 union officials, illegally dismissed in May. Barbed wires, padlocked gates and the presence of police and emergency response teams met protesters. Undaunted, the workers and their supporters determinedly asserted their right to protest.

Children of illegally dismissed workers joined their parents in calling on the DOLE to act decisively on the labor dispute. They urged the NXP management to reinstate the 24 union officials and get back to the negotiating table.

In the afternoon, protesters rallied in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ), where the NXP plant is located. At the same time as this protest took place outside, workers inside the plant conducted successive noise barrage during lunch and snacks break.

Reden Alcantara, president of the NXP Semiconductor Inc. Workers Union (NXPSCIWU) and National President of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Metal Workers Alliance of the Philippines (MWAP), condemned the NXP management for continuously refusing to settle the dispute and consistently harassing the workers.

In a bid to win public opinion, NXP had published an open letter in one of the country’s leading newspaper, claiming to be prepared to settle the issue.

Alcantara says:

“On the contrary, the NXP management has already suspended the CBA talks despite the union’s willingness to resolve the dispute. Management is campaigning for individual ratification of the CBA in an effort to break the unity of the workers.”

He vowed that the union would continue to fight until they win.

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina says:

“We strongly support of our affiliate in fighting back against NXP’s illegal dismissal of 24 union officials. It’s time for NXP to reinstate the union officials and enter into good faith negotiations with MWAP.”

Show your support!

Sign the LabourStart campaign: Stop union-busting at NXP Semiconductors

Like the Facebook page BringbackNXP24. Take a selfie and/or groupie photo expressing your support for the NXP workers. Post them using the hashtag #bringbackNXP24.

Birlesik Metal-Is fights against union busting by M&T Reklam

The pickets are in protest at the unlawfully dismissal of 45 union members at M&T Reklam’s plants in the cities of Gebze (22) and Duzce (23).

M&T Reklam began union busting after Birlesik Metal-Is, an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, conducted a successful organizing campaign at the companzboth plants. This was in total compliance with national legislation which resulted in certificate of competence issued by the Ministry of Labour in Turkey in favor of Birlesik Metal-Is confirming the union represents majority of workers for bargaining a collective agreement.

However, instead of negotiations in good faith, workers exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of association faced extreme hostility from the company, which has turned against its own workers after they dared to organize a union.

The company’s management has threatened workers at both factories with closure should they decide to join Birlesik Metal-Is, arguing that M&T is not financially strong enough to deal with a union and therefore would need to shut down.

M&T Reklam is a company serving to major customers in the USA, Germany, Denmark and elsewhere. Its main clients are VKF Renzel GMBH in Germany, George Patton Associates Inc in the USA and Dadansk Skilte Inventar A/S in Denmark.

IndustriALL Global Union and Birlesik Metal-Is have started an online LabourStart protest campaign to pressure the employer to reinstate the sacked workers and start constructive dialogue with workers’ representatives. To support Turkish workers and send on-line message of protest to the M&T Reklam follow below the link to LabourStart campaign.

http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=2328

"M&T Reklam must recognize Birlesik Metal-Is as bargaining partner and re-instate 45 dismissed workers without any delay" said Kemal Ozkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. "Otherwise we will continue to advertise union busting of the company to whole world."

Union mobilizes against BHP Billiton job cuts in Colombia

The union representing workers at the mine, Sintracerromatoso, says the company is protecting the interests of shareholders at the expense of workers, their families and communities.  Union leaders accuse local management of hiding behind jargon like ‘restructuring’ , ‘disinvestment’ and ‘cost cutting’ while ignoring the trauma faced workers who are threatened with losing their livelihoods. The company is offering barely 30% of the compensation provided for in the collective agreement.

Sintracerromatoso, which is a member of IndustriAll Global Union affiliate Utrammicol, is linked to efforts to build a strong and united mining and energy union in Colombia, CUSME.

Nobody is asking BHP Billiton to reinvent the wheel.  The company could start by boning up on ILO Convention No. 158 and Recommendation No. 166 concerning termination of employment as well as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, not to mention the slew of best practices that exist. All of these instruments provide valuable guidance for dealing with restructuring and potential redundancies.

Nor is it rocket science to implement the basic principles that emerge:

In considering changes in your company’s operations, provide reasonable notice and engage in meaningful consultations with unions and government as early as possible. Justify why you are proposing such measures.  Be collaborative in finding solutions and bear in mind that workers and their unions can often provide important insights and propose alternatives to avoid job losses. If redundancies are inevitable, negotiate with workers and unions in order to minimise the impact on the workforce as much as possible.

Failing to abide by these standards is not only callous and irresponsible, it is also a violation of the tenets of good management.

IndustriAll has offered its support.

Organizing efforts in Ethiopia’s textile sector stepped up

Ethiopia has a large and growing textile sector employing about 45,000 workers. Its strategic advantage is its closeness to the European market that provides quick turnaround production times. The Ethiopian government has identified the textile sector as a key priority for economic development and has attracted more than USD3,5 billion in investment in the last three years.

The 43 worker leaders that participated in the workshops at the end of May 2014 came from five factory based unions that employ about 17,000 workers of which just over half are union members. The workshops were held in the capital Addis Ababa and in Mekelle, 800 km north of the capital.

“We need to strive for fully organized workplaces in Ethiopia, with factory based unions this leads to greater unity at the workplace and strengthens the position of workers, while contributing to the organized power in the sector as a whole,” says IndustriALL regional officer Thabo Tshabalala.

Tshabalala and the national organizer of the Ethiopian Textile and Garment Union (ETGU), Ayalew Ahmed facilitated discussions with affiliates to identify problems they face in union building at the factory floor level. Organizing strategies to overcome challenges were shared and confidence was built by discussing how unionized workers could take forward worker’s rights at the shopfloor. 

Participants were assisted with developing factory based plans to organize non-unionized workers, including setting goals and objectives in an ambitious recruitment programme. The programme will be evaluated every three months and progress will be reported to the ETGU that committed to providing support to the unions for the initiative.

CSR – Colombian Sponsorship Ruse?

Pacific Rubiales Energy is very influential in Colombia. It has become a state within a state, subjecting the country’s military and institutions to its own interests; it has used violence and repression to silence the protests of workers and communities. For good measure, it has offered up a few crumbs in the name of corporate social responsibility (CSR). 

The anti-union company has now become an official partner of the national football team, angering members of IndustriALL Global Union’s affiliate representing workers in the sector.

José Marin Moreno, communications secretary of the Unión Sindical Obrera de la Industria del Petróleo (USO), slams the move, saying:

“It’s outrageous that 250 relatives of the Colombian national team are enjoying a trip to Brazil at the company’s expense, while USO Vice-President Dario Cardenas continues to languish in jail for his efforts to ensure respect for oil workers’ rights. Pacific Rubiales and the Colombian government need to get this straight: non-renewable resources should be used to promote sustainable development, not to sponsor sports and entertainment!”

Ukraine: continued struggle for payment of wages

On 3 June, hundreds of workers at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih JSC, Ukraine’s largest metallurgical company, launched a protest in front of the main entrance. Protestors demanded increased wages and a stop to the policy of headcount reduction. IndustriALL Global Union affiliates, the Trade Union of Metalworkers and Miners of Ukraine and the Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners of Ukraine, were among the organisers.

In April, employees of ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih demanded a wage increase of 20 per cent. Management responded by a 6 per cent increase a few weeks later. According to unions this is not enough; a minimum of 20 per cent is needed to compensate for the rise of prices on basic goods and services, as well as for the fall of the Ukrainian hryvnia exchange rate.

An employees' conference is scheduled for 12 June, for management to approve the workers’ demands. Should this fail the trade unions will start the procedure of a collective labour dispute.

“Just give us what we earn”

Around 150 workers of the Lviv Coal Company JSC, picketed outside the Lviv regional administration, demanding the three months pay they are owed and clarity over the future of the company. A decline in sales has led to a critical situation, with all warehouses overloaded with coal. And with contributions to the state budget and state funds, the company has no money to pay its current production costs.

Olga Shkoropad, local chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners, said that the staff stopped working because 90 per cent of the wages for January, February and March had been delayed. People would go back to work if the wage arrears were settled.

Irina Mayik, local vice-chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners of Ukraine said:

"We are not asking for a raise; just give us what we earn. They say the factory makes a loss – then why don't the owners close it or carry out a financial rehabilitation?"

With the issues still unresolved, workers are planning two protest actions in Kiev in front of the buildings of the Cabinet of Ministers and the State Property Fund of Ukraine on 11 June. They will reiterate their demands to eliminate the wage arrears and to ensure the sustainable operation of the enterprise.

The employees of four peat mining state enterprises Cherkassyrtorf, Rozhnitorf, Rovnetorf and Volyntorf, and members of the Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners of Ukraine, put forward similar demands while protesting outside the buildings of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine and the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine on 30 May in Kiev. Among the demands were to ensure sustainable operations, to eliminate wage arrears, and to preserve, develop and modernize the Ukrainian peat industry.

IndustriALL Global Union supports the struggle of its affiliates and the workers of the enterprises for a fair wage and a timely wage payment, and expects the management to accept the justified workers’ demands as soon as possible.

In memoriam of Ichiro Seto

Bro. Ichiro Seto, the one of founders and the first General Secretary of Japan Council of Metalworkers’ Unions – JCM(ex-IMF-JC), and also former Assistant General Secretary(1977-1993) of International Metalworkers Federation-IMF, passed away on 7 May, 2014.

The IMF (International Metalworkers' Federation) was founded in 1893 as one of the free and democratic ITS (International Trade Secretariats) unifying metalworkers throughout the world in the fight for human rights, trade union rights, democracy and social justice.

Before the 1950's, quite a few people in Japan were aware of the IMF's existence. The IMF planned to set up a liaison office for organizing activities in Japan to cope with the new labor situation as a result of rapid economic growth.

The IMF office in Tokyo was opened in April 1957, and Brother Ichiro Seto was assigned as a Director of the IMF Liaison Office for Japan. Brother Seto launched organizing drives for Japanese metalworkers in cooperation with Brother Alfred Dannenberg, Assistant General Secretary of the IMF. In May 1957, the IMF Office in Tokyo started regular publication of The IMF News as an instrument for organizing drives. The IMF was gradually gaining popularity through Brother Seto's tireless efforts, including courtesy calls and fraternal participation in various industrial federations' events with IMF officials and affiliates, as well as letting Japanese metalworkers' representatives observe IMF conferences and meetings.

In order to cope with the liberalization of trade, management tried to strengthen companies' structures to survive the fierce international competition through company tie-ups and mergers from 1962 to 1963. Recognizing the necessity to join the IMF, Japanese metalworkers' unions decided to form the IMF-JC (International Metalworkers' Federation-Japan Council) and launched a struggle to improve wages and working conditions. The IMF-JC was founded on 16 May 1964 with an inaugural membership of 470,000 assembled from beyond the boundaries of the nation's major urban centers, coming from four industry-wide federations and two enterprise-based unions including Denki Roren (electrical and electronics workers), Zosen Soren (shipbuilders), Zenkoku Jidosha (automobile workers), Zenkikin (metal and machinery workers), Yahata Steelworkers' Union and Nakayama Steelworkers' Union.

Delegates to the Inaugural Convention elected Brother Tomoyuki Fukuma as president and Brother Ichiro Seto as general secretary of the IMF-JC. In 1966, all Japanese steelworkers affiliated with the IMF-JC through JSW.

The 20th IMF World Congress, which was held in November 1964 in Vienna, unanimously approved the affiliation of the IMF-JC.

Organizing drives at the regional level were also strengthened shortly after the inauguration of the IMF-JC. Nine regional councils were established by 1968. In September 1968, IMF-JC membership exceeded one million, which now has 2 million membership.

Brother Ichiro Seto was truly a pioneer for the Japanese metalworkers and made a great contribution to the development of international labour movement in the metal industry.

IndustriALL forms global communicators’ network

During the two-day forum, which took place at the ILO’s Turin training centre on 3 and 4 June, participants agreed to set up a global network of communicators to share information, stories, strategies and successes.

By tapping into each other’s experiences, skills and knowledge, participants came away with ideas on how to boost their own national campaigns as well as show global solidarity for the struggles of other IndustriALL unions.

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina provocatively asked participants why they forgot 99% of the world on their websites. In a world without borders, dominated by multinational companies, a violation of workers’ rights on one side of the globe is linked to workers on the other, he said.

This was starkly illustrated by Sokny Say, general secretary of Cambodian garment union FTUWKC, who reminded participants that one in ten items worn by the world’s population are made in her country. “In Cambodia the customer is king, and the kings are the brands,” she said.

She asserted that consumers in turn needed to exert their influence on the brands and that unions can play a key role in helping to gain global support for the struggle to improve the rights and wages of garment workers in Cambodia. IndustriALL’s intervention and campaigning was pivotal in achieving brand pressure on the government on the issue of trade union rights, living wages and freeing 23 imprisoned activists last month.

Among the affiliates who shared their own campaign and communication activities were representatives from Unifor in Canada, German industrial union IG BCE, Russian oil, gas and construction industry union ROGWU, Brazilian metalworkers confederation CNM/CUT, and the oilfield workers' union OWTU from Trinidad & Tobago.

The forum also gained insights into digital campaigning from Eric Lee of LabourStart and Walton Pantland from USi.

The interactive programme involved participants working in groups to discuss how to take IndustriALL campaigns forward and ways in which the campaigns could resonate with workers regionally.

Participants also gave their own ideas on how best to put the global network of communicators into place. 

Hugo Gonzalez Chirico, Paraguayan trade unionist on hunger strike

Between April and November 2010, the ACEPAR Workers’ Union (SITRAC) went on strike in protest at the company’s failure to comply with the collective agreement in force, failure to respect workers’ human rights and its dismissal of 325 workers, which exacerbated the dispute. The union has suffered the hardships of social struggle since 2001 in its attempts to ensure the company observes the terms of the collective agreement.

The Supreme Court ruled in favour of SITRAC in July 2009, recognizing the validity of the collective agreement in force. However, the steel company's management, led at that time by the Argentinian businessman Sergio Taselli, did not comply with the agreement.

“In this country, there is no legal security for small investors, there can be no development, much less any equity”, said Chirico, who hopes that his demands will be heard. Among these demands are: “moral and financial compensation for ACEPAR's victims”, respect for property of the workers who have invested in the company, the investigation and punishment “of those responsible for asset-stripping“ and environmental crimes, an end to “the persecution of workers and trade unionists at ACEPAR”, the re-establishment of jobs and respect for the Supreme Court’s ruling, which found that the collective agreement between SITRAC and ACEPAR was valid, and respect for the regulations that apply to the collective agreement.

This is not the first time that Chirico has been in this situation. He also went on hunger strike thirteen years ago, but says that now, at the age of 62, it is more difficult. However, he has been notified of the impending termination of the legal personality of SITRAC, “it is all part of a policy to destroy particular social movements”, he said.

ACEPAR workers have expressed their solidarity with SITRAC's general secretary and, on 28 May, they marched through the streets of Villa Hayes to support him and his call for the authorities, the government and the judiciary not to violate private property.

The workers also denounced the country’s president, Horacio Cartes, for being responsible for violating the property of small investors and prejudicing the interests of genuine Paraguayan capital, represented by Cootrapar Ltd., which has a 33.33% stake in ACEPAR and is protected by the National Constitution and other laws.

ACEPAR S.A. is now owned by the Brazilian company Vectorial, which has reached an agreement on early retirement with some workers. SITRAC will continue fighting to force the company to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling, which found in favour of the union i.e. that the collective agreement between the company and the union is valid.

Members of the trade union will continue to organize demonstrations in front of the ACEPAR Workers’ Cooperative and Chirico says that he will continue on hunger strike indefinitely: “If I die in the attempt”, he said, “the authorities, who were never on the side of the working class, will be answerable to God and the Motherland”.

IndustriALL Global Union Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean holds the employers and the government responsible for any deterioration in our colleague Hugo Gonzalez Chirico’s physical and mental health and demands that they open negotiations aimed at seeking a rapid solution to this dispute.

Stop regression to Korea's authoritarian past!

Join the LabourStart campaign and write to the South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

IndustriALL Global Union condemns the reprehensible body-snatching of Samsung labour martyr YEOM, Ho-seok and imprisonment of trade unionists, including recent high profile arrests of the KMWU Samsung Electronics Service Workers’ Local on 18 and 19 May 2014.

It appears South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Samsung bosses want to take the country back to the bad old days of its authoritarian past. The Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) local representing 1600 workers employed by Samsung Electronics Service is on strike calling for respect for trade union rights and a first collective bargaining agreement.

The KMWU chapter chair tragically committed self-immolation on 17 May in protest against Samsung’s continuing labour repression. 300 police forces stormed his wake, arrested 25 mourners and absconded with the labour martyr’s body.

More info on the Samsung dispute is available at http://kmwu.kr/en/159