Cambodia among the worst countries on the new ITUC Global Rights Index

The International Trade Union Confederation has been collecting data on the abuse of trade union rights around the world for the past 30 years. Now for the first time the ITUC Global Rights Index presents carefully verified information from the last 12 months in an easy-to-use format so that every government and business can see how their laws and supply chains stack up.

“Countries such as Denmark and Uruguay led the way through their strong labour laws, but perhaps surprisingly, the likes of Greece, the United States and Hong Kong, lagged behind,” says ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow. “A country’s level of development proved to be a poor indicator of whether it respected basic rights to bargain collectively, strike for decent conditions, or simply join a union at all.”

Cambodia’s labour law fails to cover many civil servants, there are undue restrictions on the right to elect union representatives, and in 2013 the government responded with lethal force to demonstrators seeking a decent wage and working conditions. This resulted in Cambodia receiving a score of 5 in the Rights Index – the worst possible rating other than for those countries where the rule of law has completely broken down

Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, vows to promote change:

Workers in Cambodia face an uphill struggle which the violent actions and subsequent persecutions by the government in January clearly show. But IndustriALL is committed to change the rules of the game and to ensure that Cambodia's workers will be able to enjoy the fundamental right of freedom of association.

The ITUC Global Rights Index rates countries from one to five according to 97 indicators, with an overall score placing countries in one to five rankings.

1 – Irregular violations of rights: 18 countries including Denmark and Uruguay
2 – Repeated violations of rights: 26 countries including Japan and Switzerland
3 – Regular violations of rights: 33 countries including Chile and Ghana
4 – Systematic violations of rights: 30 countries including Kenya and the USA
5 – No guarantee of rights: 24 countries including Belarus, Bangladesh and Qatar
5+ – No guarantee of rights due to breakdown of the rule of law: 8 countries including Central African Republic and Somalia.

Read the report – ITUC Global Rights Index: The worst places in the world for workers

Tally Weijl signs Bangladesh Accord on one year anniversary

The company signed the agreement, drafted by Swiss-based IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union, on the Accord’s first anniversary and in doing so joined 172 brands to have committed since May 15 last year.

Swiss supermarkets Migros and Coop both source textile products from Bangladesh but have so far refused to sign the deal which commits to independent safety inspections in factories used by Accord signatories. Almost half of all Bangladesh factories for the export market and two million workers are now covered by the scope of the Accord, and amongst its signatories are a host of European supermarkets including Carrefour, Tesco, Lidl, Aldi and more.

IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina welcomes Swiss fashion group Tally Weijl to the Bangladesh Accord.

With so many international brands and retailers signed up to the Accord, it is shameful that Migros and Coop, two of Switzerland's biggest supermarkets, have yet to become signatories. Migros and Coop should follow Tally Weijl's example and show some commitment to a safe and sustainable garment industry in Bangladesh.

UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings says:
“We congratulate Tally Weijl on joining 172 brands in proving their commitment to worker safety in Bangladesh. Migros and Coop are mistaken if they think that the business as usual approach is enough to prevent the next Rana Plaza disaster. The Bangladesh Accord was made in Switzerland and Swiss companies should be amongst those leading the charge to save lives.”

A year on from its first signature, the Bangladesh Accord has taken huge strides forward.

A factory inspection programme is in full swing. So far, more than 500 factories have been inspected. Each factory is examined for structural integrity and fire and electrical safety. By October this year, the Accord aims to have inspected all 1,500 factories. It has employed a dedicated team of more than 100 technical experts and engineers who now conduct 45 inspections per week.

One year anniversary of the Bangladesh Accord

The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety brought together the ready-made garment (RMG) industry and unions for the first time in a legally-binding agreement to inspect and improve the safety conditions of all factories supplying brands signed up to the Accord.

Jenny Holdcroft, Policy Director at IndustriALL, said:

The Accord replaces the ineffectual and piecemeal efforts by individual brands of the past with a binding agreement with trade unions. This is global industrial relations applied to global supply chain violations of workers’ rights.

The Bangladesh Accord, which now has 172 signatories, was a reaction to one of the worst industrial accidents of modern times, which killed over a thousand people and injured more than 2000 when the illegally-built Rana Plaza garment factory complex collapsed on 24 April 2013.

More than 550 factories have since been inspected on behalf of the Accord to identify fire, electrical and building safety hazards at factories producing for the brand signatories. By the end of September 2014, the Accord is on target to have inspected 1500 factories, covering more than 2 million workers.

Alongside working to improve safety conditions, IndustriALL has launched a major project to increase unionization in Bangladeshi garment factories believing that there cannot be an effective safety culture without an organized workforce. Before the Rana Plaza disaster, unionization at garment factories was minimal. A year on, IndustriALL affiliated unions have organized more than 40,000 workers in 120 factories.

IndustriALL also backs unions’ demands for increases in the minimum wage. While there was a 77 per cent increase in November 2013 from 38 to 67 USD per month, it is still a pitifully poor wage and IndustriALL continues to put pressure on brands to pay fair prices for garments.

IndustriALL is also heavily lobbying brands to pay into the independent Rana Plaza Trust Fund to give compensation to the victims and their dependents. A total of USD 40 million is needed to meet compensation payments in line with international standards. So far, less than half of this figure (USD 17 million) has been raised.

Read the statement from the Bangladesh Accord one year on.

Building trade union power in Latin America

The war cry of the Latin America and the Caribbean women, as they called it, was coined at the first women’s conference, held on 6 May, to communicate the nature of the demands on which they will work in the period up till 2016, which include greater representation, a campaign against violence and the fight for a living wage.

The women’s enthusiasm spread to all delegates, who applauded the approval of the resolution and joined in the chanting. “I am very happy with the energy and dynamism displayed at this regional conference”, said Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL General Secretary, expressing support for the 40% representation quota proposal.

“We want to work together, men and women, and be equally involved in the struggle throughout IndustriALL”. Delegates expressed their desire for IndustriALL to promote equal opportunities, strive for more balanced regional representation on the executive committee and support democratic initiatives for women and young workers.

The resolution was supported by all 250 delegates from affiliated unions, who also expressed a commitment to fair representation of Caribbean affiliates.

With interventions such as “we need a new generation of trade unionists that can unite the masses” and “young workers do not want to suffer continued exploitation”, the young workers who took part in the closing ceremony of the regional conference in Colombia called on IndustriALL to support the education and training of young trade unionists.

The plenary showed its support for the spirit, preparation and enthusiasm shown by the young delegates by unanimously approving proposals for the development of training and recruitment policies; the inclusion of young workers in trade union structures; and the promotion of specific agendas for bargaining on behalf of young workers.

At the closure of the conference, Jorge Almeida, IndustriALL Regional Secretary, said: “I am pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere at this meeting, with its diversity of cultures, languages and races, and in which we have all had an opportunity to discuss and decide on these actions and these important resolutions that reflect the work being done to strengthen our unions. We are working to strengthen global and regional unity, we are building the future, because Latin America deserves a better future”.

In the U.S., Huhtamaki Takes the Low Road

“The expansion of precarious work in the United States is a serious concern for the global trade union movement,” said IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina. “And even more so when the perpetrator is from a country with high labor standards, like Finland.”

The report, Huhtamaki’s U.S. Expansion Model: A Low-Wage, Low-Cost, Low-Responsibility Model of Employment, was released by the AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers. It documents how Huhtamaki has expanded rapidly by expanding production in poor communities, using temporary hiring agencies.

Workers employed through the temp agencies generally earn less than $10.00 per hour. Many start at $9.00 per hour with no access to benefits or wage increases. At this hourly rate, a worker’s annual income of $18,720 falls more than $5,000 below the federal poverty level for a family of four, which is a minimum annual income of $23,850.

Precarious work can have serious consequences for workers’ safety on the job. According to workers in one non-union Huhtamaki plant:

"…recently two workers had accidents in which their thumbs were amputated. When asked about safety training, the same group stated that, although they attend regular meetings where management stresses the importance of safety, on the plant floor, management’s only concern is production speed, which causes accidents and high stress for the workers."

This expansion of precarious work, often financed with taxpayer subsidies, creates high costs for both low-wage workers and poor communities. At the same time, Huhtamaki’s low-wage model threatens the job security of its unionized workers.

The combination of expansion in economically depressed areas, using public subsidies, and a nonunion workforce, along with a management methodology that emphasizes increased speed and cost reduction, places workers in both the unionized and nonunion plants in a direct competition where everyone loses. Nonunion workers face low wages, unsafe working conditions, few or no benefits, and a retirement in poverty. Union workers face the erosion of their wages and conditions and the ongoing threat of transfer of production or closure of their facility.

“We know that in Europe, Huhtamaki is a socially responsible company that treats its workers fairly,” said United Steelworkers Vice-President Jon Geenen. “What we need is for them to apply that same standard of fairness to their workers in the U.S.”

Rising death toll turns mine accident in Turkey to carnage

Belonging to a private company, the mine is organized by IndustriALL’s affiliate Maden-İş, Mineworkers’ Union of Turkey. Around 800 miners were in and around the mine when an electrical fault triggered a transformer to explode causing a large fire around noon time on Tuesday 13 May. The fire caused a power cut in the mine rendering mine cages unusable and the majority of workers trapped 2km underground and 4km from the exit. Rescue efforts have continued through the night while families of the over 200 unaccounted for miners wait at the mine’s entrance and in the local hospital.

Turkey’s record on mine safety is poor, and IndustriALL labels the deaths of mineworkers as carnage. Every death in a mine is avoidable and IndustriALL’s campaign for ratification of the ILO Convention 176 will continue in Turkey and elsewhere. Pressure is already building on Turkey’s government, criticized for ignoring safety warnings while workers pay with their lives.

Nurettin Akçul, General President and Vedat Ünal, General Secretary of Maden-İş report that the blast occurred at the time of a shift change, making it more difficult to know how many miners are still trapped underground. The Maden-İş leaders report that: “the mine is registered with necessary legal certification, all workers are covered by social security. The local union reps confirm that all workers are equipped with oxygen masks underground, but nobody knows how long the masks can keep them alive in this situation.”

The survival rate for coal miners following explosions or fires is extremely low, as compared to accidents in mines for hard rock or metal. The rescue must happen as quickly as possible following an explosion in a coal mine if those trapped are to be brought out alive. IndustriALL and everybody watching hopes that this case will be the exception to the rule. Carbon monoxide poisoning is the biggest threat to those still trapped underground.

IndustriALL Global Union wrote today to Maden-İş:

This tragedy must rank as the worst mining tragedy in recent memory, and is made all the more tragic by the seemingly uncaring attitude of the government and mining companies. This attitude is unacceptable and must come to an end. It is intolerable that mine workers in Turkey are denied their basic human right to work in an environment that guarantees their safety, and that instead they are expected to go to work to die.
The number of mineworkers involved in the fatal accident is mind-boggling and staggering. We call upon the private company operating the mine and the government of Turkey to ensure that as many miners as possible of the 400 still remaining in the mine pit be rescued.
Turkey has possibly the worst safety record in terms of mining accidents and explosions in Europe and the third worst one in the world. As recently as 7 January 2013, eight mine workers lost their lives in another mine-related accident, which the President of your sister organization Genel Maden-Is correctly labelled as “killing” of mine workers.
As a matter of urgency, IndustriALL Global Union calls upon the Turkish government to immediately ratify and implement ILO’s Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines to save the lives of mine workers. The “killing” must stop. IndustriALL Global Union will do everything in their power to ensure that the Turkish government act responsibly and ratify Convention 176. We once again call upon the political authorities to take the lives of mineworkers seriously and to place it above profit.

“Turkish Government and employers have responsibility for this carnage,” said Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union’s assistant general secretary. “When governments fail to protect their citizens, it is not merely irresponsible; it is a breach of one of the most fundamental duties entrusted to any government. Turkey aspires to greatness, and it can achieve it: but not at the cost of workers' lives.”

According to the official records, in 73 years more than 3000 miners have been killed in Turkey. We are watching in trepidation knowing that this accident has the potential to become the worst. Enough is enough, Turkey’s government must act now, my country’s miners cannot continue to pay with their lives for their inaction in dangerous mines.

Press contacts:

Kemal Özkan, +41-79-7349044

Tom Grinter, +41-79-6934499

BP must ensure its contractor Toll respects union and pays decent wages in New Zealand

Six tanker drivers are making a stand for decent wages in the Northland region of New Zealand. IndustriALL’s affiliate FIRST Union organises tanker drivers in the majority of contractors in New Zealand where the national standard salary is NZ$32 per hour. However oil and gas giant BP only works with non-union contractors who pay drivers less than two thirds the national standard, NZ$20 per hour.

BP does not pay the tanker contractors enough for the drivers to earn the national industry standard. Therefore today’s call has gone from IndustriALL to BP asking for intervention and resolution to this dispute that is representative of BP’s breach of its responsibilities and CSR commitments to the conditions in its supply chain and contractors.

Toll is now refusing to bargain with FIRST Union, even refusing a request from the government appointed mediator. The workers have been on strike since 1 May following three months of bargaining.

In writing to BP CEO Robert Dudley today, IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina said:

I formally ask for your management’s intervention to ensure that BP’s contractor Toll returns to the negotiations, recognizes FIRST Union as its local bargaining partner and bargains in good faith a new collective agreement that includes a salary in line with the national standard of NZ$32 per hour.

Also on the issue of worker safety, Raina wrote:

We are both fully aware of the potential dangers in the transportation of petroleum. Experience from all over the world shows that developed industrial relations with the appropriate trade union is key to ensuring safety at work.

The striking workers together with their national union FIRST Union have been picketing BP garages and receiving community support and strong press coverage.

FIRST Union organizer Jared Abbott said:

While other petrol stations engage companies that pay their delivery drivers a fairer wage, BP is happy to sit by and preside over much poorer wages. They need to front up and be a part of the solution to low wages at Toll Carriers.

Write to Toll management with the messaging tool connected to this article.

US labour authorities seek bargaining order for Novelis with USW

The General Counsel of the highest labour authority in the U.S., the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB), on May 6 asked the Board to order Novelis to recognize and bargain with the United Steelworkers (USW) at its aluminum plant in Oswego, New York.

Responding to the General Counsel’s order, USW District 4 Director John Shinn said: “The NLRB’s decision to seek a bargaining order sends a clear message to the management of Novelis and the Aditya Birla Group – we welcome your investment to create jobs in the U.S., but not at the expense of our basic rights. We urge Novelis to sit down and bargain a fair contract with its workers in Oswego.”

Novelis is a subsidiary of Hindalco, which is part of the India-based Aditya Birla Group. Last December, the company announced a $120 million investment that would add 90 jobs at the Oswego plant.

IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina declared:

IndustriALL calls on all unions at Novelis, Hindalco, and the Aditya Birla Group to demand that the company treat its workers in Oswego with respect and immediately enter into contract negotiations with the USW.

In January, a majority of workers signed USW membership cards. But in an election conducted by the NLRB on February 20 and 21, workers voted against USW representation by a 287-273 margin. However, the NLRB found that in the days before the election, Novelis management committed multiple violations of U.S. labor law, including:

■ interrogating employees about their union membership, activities, and sympathies;

■ impliedly threatening employees that the plant would close if they selected the Union as their bargaining representative;

■ threatening employees with a reduction in wages if they selected the Union as their bargaining representative;

■ threatening employees with more onerous working conditions, including mandatory overtime, if they selected the Union as their bargaining representative;

■ threatening employees that if they elected the Union, Respondent would lose business;

■ prohibiting employees from wearing union insignia on their uniforms while permitting employees to wear anti-union and other insignia;

■ selectively and disparately enforcing company no-solicitation rules by prohibiting union solicitations and distributions, while permitting nonunion and anti-union solicitations and distributions in employee work and break areas and on bulletin boards;

■ disparaging the Union by displaying a redacted Board letter and telling employees that the Union had filed a charge regarding the restoration of the Sunday premium pay and employees’ use of personal time on Sunday as time worked, at a time when no such charge had been filed;

■ threatening employees that the company would have to rescind Sunday premium pay and overtime benefits if it pled guilty to the Union’s charge.

The NLRB concluded that:

The serious and substantial unfair labor practice conduct described above . . . is such that there is only a slight possibility of traditional remedies erasing their effects and conducting a fair election. Therefore, on balance, the employees’ sentiments regarding representation, having been expressed through authorization cards, would be protected better by issuance of a bargaining order.

Botswana affiliates set up IndustriALL National Council

The three unions are the BPWU in energy, the BDWU in the diamond and the BMWU in the mining sector. IndustriALL particularly welcomed back the latter – the 10,000-member strong Botswana Mineworkers’ Union – into its membership, after a few years’ absence.

Many of the key challenges mentioned were similar for the three unions in Botswana, including the pervading lack of education of rank-and-file members and the need to continue to work on detailed policies and careful planning. Another often mentioned – and major – problem are the high court case costs in Botswana. Employers seem to be all too happy to bring unions to court, thereby avoiding short-term solutions and continuing disputes over years.

A sustainability issue, but also a goal in itself, is the identified need by all unions to engage in active organising. Possible organising targets include a few new mines across the country. Another surfacing issue, as elsewhere in the world, is that of precarious work. With the exception (for the moment at least) of the diamond sector, companies in Botswana are increasingly engaging in outsourcing their work and their workforce – and they do that massively. One of the ways discussed to deal with this is for the unions to further broaden out their scope, including by changing constitutions, so that they can cover a wider range of workers, making it easier to organise the precariously employed workers.

The meeting ended with the creation of the Botswana IndustriALL National Council, an effort aimed at (much) closer cooperation between the IndustriALL affiliates at national level. This new platform will look into, among other, joint campaigning, solidarity support and exchange of information. It will also act as an interface with IndustriALL Global Union.

Kenny Mogane, project coordinator for the IndustriALL Union Building project, said that “this new council will be a great step forward for workers’ struggles in Botswana, as, together, the unions will be able to achieve much more”.

Crown campaign finds support in Italy and France

Their trip was part of a series of field actions within the campaign Take Backs No More aimed at exposing the truth about Crown and put an end to the unabashed union busting practices both in Canada and Turkey. http://www.industriall-union.org/unions-speak-out-against-crown-with-field-actions.

The USW delegation including union activists McHugh and Amos met with their colleagues from IndustriALL Italian affiliate FIOM in Modena, and then moved to Spilamberto where the group joined by the Italian activists distributed the campaign leaflets in front of the factory.

The campaign received strong support from the Italian workers, who are now fully aware of all the violations against workers committed by the company in Canada and Turkey. After the action the works councils present at the Crown factories in Italy delivered a joint solidarity statement. FIOM and its membership at Crown plants in Italy have committed to support the struggle of their Canadian and Turkish comrades until their victory.

During their further visit to France the USW members met with the leadership of IndustriALL French affiliate CFDT FGMM who will spread the information about the campaign Take Backs No More at all Crown sites in France where the union has members.

Soon after the visit of the USW delegation IndustriALL learnt about another violation of workers' rights committed by Crown in Turkey.

According to the report received from the IndustriALL Turkish affiliate Birlesik Metal Is management of Crown dismissed four more people at the factory in Izmit and three others at the factory in Osmaniye.

The company accused the Birlesik activists of Izmit of illegally putting union stickers on the cans shipped to the local beer producer Efes. According to the union these allegations are groundless, as the union did not even send stickers to the areas where the above-mentioned Crown factory is located.

The company so far did not provide for any official explanations about the reasons of dismissals in Osmaniye.