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

Global unions welcome release of Cambodian protestors

After considerable pressure and campaigning both locally and internationally by IndustriALL Global Union, the ITUC and UNI Global Union, as well as support from NGOs and fashion brands, the 23 workers were released following a Phnom Penh court verdict on Friday 30 May.

The 23 men, 21 of whom had been denied bail and detained since January, were given suspended sentences ranging from six months to four-and a half years. In a separate verdict, two trade unionists charged in November 2013 in relation to the SL Garment strike were also released, bringing the total to 25. Charges included instigating a crime, intentional violence with aggravating circumstances, and intentional destruction of property. Four of the men were ordered to pay fines of about US$2,000 each.

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina, who also represented ITUC and UNI at a high-level meeting with brands and government ministers on 26 May, said:

“We are immensely relieved that the detainees have been released and are reunited with their families after five long months in prison. The harsh but suspended prison sentences doled out by the court were an attempt to save face after serious criticism by a number of international observers about a lack of direct evidence against the accused and serious irregularities in their trial.”

Ath Thorn, President of IndustriALL affiliate garment workers’ union, C.CAWDU, said:

“This victory is the first step. The trade union movement will continue to fight for a minimum wage of US$160 for garment and textile workers and to ensure the protection of workers’ rights, decent work and dignity.”

IndustriALL, ITUC and UNI will now focus on the continuing battle over the minimum wage and trade union law process. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has issued a stinging critique on the latest draft of the trade union law, which according to ILO appears to “ignore requests from ILO’s committee of experts on the application of conventions and recommendations”.

The Cambodian government, meanwhile, confirmed that the background research into a new wage setting mechanism will be completed and presented to the unions and the garment manufacturers’ association, GMAC, by mid-June so that minimum wage negotiations can re-start.

Philip Jennings from UNI said:

"We welcome news that the 23 workers who were wrongly imprisoned for standing up against injustice have been released. We now ask the Cambodian government to do the right thing and recognize global labour standards and resolve the issue over the minimum wage. Across the world there is a new recognition that decent wages will be one of the foundations of a global recovery. Cambodia is a mature country and should act as one."

ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow said that joint campaigning had yet again delivered for workers:

“International solidarity works! Our global trade unions have mobilized together in major cities across the world and constantly lobbied the Cambodian government, manufacturers and international clothing brands to reverse the unacceptable situation of early January. The treatment of Cambodian garment workers in early January when they protested for a living wage included police brutality, arrests and outright union busting. There is no way that ITUC, IndustriALL and UNI would allow that treatment to continue. The campaign continues for worker justice in Cambodia."

“IndustriALL will continue to work with the brands, Cambodian government, unions and employers to get these reforms right to make the Cambodian garment industry sustainable, with living wages, freedom of association and functioning industrial relations,” said Raina.

Ends.

For more information, please contact:
Leonie Guguen, Communications Officer, IndustriALL Global Union.
Tel: +41 22 308 50 23
[email protected]
www.industriALL-union.org
Switchboard: +41 22 308 50 50

IndustriALL joins calls for urgent support to flood-hit Balkans

The highest in the last 120 years rainfalls are over and water recedes, but resources are needed to help people in the hardest hit Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and parts of Croatia.

According to various reports landslides represent an important danger after the water receded. Only in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Tuzla Canton alone some 2,500 landslides have been recorded. In some areas there is an increased risk of infectious disease coming with the warm weather.

IndustriALL hopes the governments of the affected countries will provide every possible help and assistance to the families suffered from the natural disaster.

Upon consultations with the affiliates in the affected region together with sympathy and solidarity message IndustriALL also appeals to all affiliates asking for help and support to our brothers and sisters in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia.

Campaign for mine safety in Turkey targets precarious work

Joint union mass demonstrations together with miners who survived Soma have been conducted in several Turkish cities, most notably Istanbul.

The primary demands have been on the government to account for the murders and injuries at Soma, a large percentage of miners are precarious workers, and abolish the dangerous subcontracting system in Turkey. As legislative protection of workers’ rights have weakened since 2002, and the government even intends to open sub-contracting to main industrial and mine production through a new legislation, the total number of temporary workers in Turkey has today risen to 2.5 million.

Precarious workers in Turkey’s mines are vulnerable and underpaid. Their right to collective organizing and bargaining is blocked, they are unskilled and inexperienced, and mine employers pay temporary workers low wages and no overtime or health insurance.

In the meantime, instead of confronting the abusive corporate behaviour in Turkey’s mining industry to avoid a repeat of the Soma disaster, the government and employer has conducted a large campaign to shift blame onto the union movement to run away from main responsibility of the Soma carnage.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan stated: "This false and malicious campaign just aims at diverting the attention of public opinion from those trully responsible."

IndustriALL campaigns under the belief that: “The stronger the union, the safer the mine”. According to official figures, there are 48,706 mineworkers in Turkey who deserve to work in safety and this would best be achieved by Turkey ratifying and implementing ILO Convention 176. A draft law on working conditions in the mining industry is currently being drafted.

A joint IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll Europe mission will visit Soma on 19-20 June to assess and plan the work toward implementation of C176 together with local unions and the mining community.

On 22 May leaders of IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll Europe delivered their message and demands to the Turkish Ambassador to the European Union in Brussels, Mr. Selim Yenel.

The IndustriALL affiliated mineworkers union is directingsolidarity payments for the families of killed miners of Soma to a special bank account opened by their national trade union centre Turk-Is. Turk-Is is a member of the ITUC and ETUC.

Details of the Soma solidarity bank account:
Name of Bank: Vakıfbank
Branch: Turk-Is
IBAN: TR72 0001 5001 5800 7289 9943 61
Bank account in the name of Turk-Is Confederation

Address of the relevant branch of the bank:

Vakifbank Turk-Is Branch
Cumhuriyet Mahallesi, Tuna Caddesi, No:9
Cankaya 06420 Ankara Turkey
Phone: +90-312-435 2081
Fax: +90-312-2083

International solidarity helps FIRST Union win at Toll New Zealand

FIRST Union members ratified the new collective agreement with Toll Carriers on 27 May, following the deal being reached in mediation on 26 May.

IndustriALL intervened with BP on 13 May to call for them to force their contractor to the negotiating table with FIRST Union and reach a fair agreement in line with the national standard for the industry.

Hundreds of supporters sent messages through the IndustriALL online solidarity tool to Toll management.

FIRST Union general secretary Robert Reid reported:

Toll remained an aggressive employer right to the end, even beginning the mediation session arguing against a Collective Agreement. However with the strike, pickets of BP petrol stations and international solidarity work continuing, Toll finally agreed to a settlement.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan congratulated FIRST Union general secretary Robert Reid:

IndustriALL Global Union is happy and proud to have contributed to the solution of this problem. This is our raison d’etre and we will continue to do so.

FIRST Union organizer Jared Abbott said that workers were happy with the settlement and were looking forward to getting back to work.

In the end the workers were happy to achieve a new collective agreement that included a decent wage increase.

Jared Abbott said the workers were very thankful for all the local and international community support they had received over the past month.