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.

Rio Tinto slammed for slipping safety standards at Melbourne AGM

At Rio Tinto’s Melbourne AGM IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), called the mining operator ”the worst industry offender” for their extensive use of precarious workers, leading to a lowering of safety standards.

This was the second protest at a Rio Tinto annual general meeting this year. The first protest took place in London and featured the release of IndustriALL’s report on Rio Tinto’s unsustainable practices.

As was the case at the London AGM, Rio Tinto was confronted by numerous shareholders at its AGM in Melbourne protesting against the company’s violations of workers’ rights, abuse of indigenous peoples, abuse of the environment and overall unsustainable practices.

Rio Tinto has a long practice of using precarious workers in its operations around the world. Workers in precarious jobs have little chance to join a union or to bargain collectively. As companies are driving pay and conditions ever lower, the workforce are often divided inside the plants. Limiting precarious work is a central demand in IndustriALL’s ongoing global campaign against Rio Tinto.

IndustriALL and BWI issue renewed warning on dangers of asbestos

Asbestos is still used in developing countries to make many products, most notably fibre-reinforced cement sheeting.

“Asbestos is still around and there are those who continue to tout it as a magic mineral,” says the BWI and IndustriALL publication “Asbestos is a killer”.

Although this material is no longer used in many countries, asbestos exposure remains a danger because of its long history of use: not only in cement products but for hundreds of other uses such as brake linings, floor tiles, insulation and fireproofing.

Weak regulation and enforcement means that people are still being fatally exposed to the killer fibres. The publication gives detailed steps people can take in case they fear there is asbestos in their workplace.

There are a multitude of environmental and health related issues surrounding the use of asbestos in society. The publication provides for a detailed overview of the asbestos related problems and suggests health and safety activists should keep alert on the dangers inherent with the use of asbestos and to keep the focus where it should be: saving workers’ livelihoods and lives.

Despite advances in health and safety standards on many fronts, asbestos is still in use and the goal of a universal ban has far from been achieved. The first published article linking asbestos to disease came out in around 1906. No other cause of occupational disease has been as extensively studied, yet the industry remains. The art of denying scientific evidence and creating doubt in the public mind was perfected by the asbestos industry; and the tactics have been used by other industries wishing to avoid liability for their actions or products.

IndustriALL Global Union embraces Africa’s Mining Vision 2050

The workshop was attended by civil society organizations and two of IndustriALL ‘s mining affiliates, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMWU). It was hosted by the Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARWA) and the Ghana based Third World Network – Africa.

The intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development’s annual meeting, held in Geneva in 2012 adopted the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Africa Mining Vision. The Mining Vision had been adopted by heads of state and government of the African Union in 2009.

The meeting in Geneva followed a meeting of the 2nd African Union Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development held in Addis Ababa from in 2011 on the theme Building a Sustainable Future for Africa’s Extractive Industry: from Vision into Action.

The Africa Mining Vision (AMV) provides a strategic pathway for Africa’s economic development trajectory, agreed by African nations themselves. It puts the continent’s long term and broad development objectives at the heart of all policy-making concerned with mineral extraction. The AMV sets out how mining can be used to drive continental development.

At the workshop, Industriall presented its industrial policy proposals, which are underpinned by the recognition of manufacturing as the engine for economic growth and decent work.

“IndustriALL’s industrial policy proposal resonates with the tenets of the Africa Mining vision, which recognizes mining as a catalyst for sustainable industrial policy for mining-dependent developing economies”, says Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL Director of Mining. “The AMV prescribes a policy trajectory that moves mining away from its enclave model of production to an integrated model of production. The model has down-stream linkages into mineral beneficiation and manufacturing and up-stream linkages into mining capital goods, consumables and services industries.”

Latin American workers building global trade union power

Igor Diaz, of SINTRACARBON and a member of the IndustriALL executive committee, and Luis Alejandro Pedraza, President of CUT Colombia welcomed delegates to the conference. Iris Deluque (SINTRACARBON) and Monica Veloso (CNTM/FS), representing young workers and women respectively, were the other speakers in the opening session.

Iris Deluque stressed the urgent need to open up space for young people in the trade union movement. Monica Veloso, who is also on the IndustriALL executive committee, reported on the women’s conference held on 6 May and the resolutions passed. She called on delegates to take action to promote female leadership.

On the first day, the more than 250 delegates discussed strategies and priorities to strengthen trade union power and confront global capital in the region, in the context of the anti-trade union practices particularly prevalent in the countries of Central America, Mexico, Paraguay and Colombia and the precarious nature of working conditions in most of the region.

Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL General Secretary, set out the union’s objectives and strategies, emphasising the five points of the action plan for the period up to 2016:

1. Build union power throughout the world by supporting the development of united, strong, democratic, independent, representative and sustainable trade unions.

2. Confront global capital by organising international campaigns to pressure multinational companies into recognising and negotiating with trade unions at the global level.

3. Campaign for workers’ rights, a living wage and healthy and safe workplaces. Increase women’s participation and the number of women in leadership roles.

4. Fight against precarious work.

5. Promote sustainable industrial employment.

Jorge Almeida, IndustriALL Regional Secretary, made a strategic analysis and listed the priorities for building union power and confronting global capital. He regretted the low level of unionisation in Latin America and said: “We must build strong unions and give young workers and women opportunities to participate in trade unions”.

The first afternoon session, chaired by Monica Veloso (Brazil), focused on the defence of trade union rights, the fight for a living wage and strengthening women’s participation. The second session, chaired by Alberto Roberti (Argentina), discussed how to unite trade unions.

On the final day of the conference, on 8 May, delegates discussed sustainable industry and precarious work, passed resolutions and decided priorities for the region.