MENA unions build power by strengthening cooperation

More than 70 union leaders from 17 countries attended IndustriALL’s MENA regional conference which was held on 24-25 March 2014 in Amman with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES). The hosts welcomed affiliated unions from the region including Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Kuwait and Yemen. Potential affiliates from Bahrain, Somalia and Egypt, as well as partner unions from Spain, France, Germany, Norway and Turkey were also present.

Discussions focused on the ongoing fundamental political changes that are taking place in the region and IndustriALL Global Union’s goals and key strategies until the 2016 Congress, as endorsed by the executive committee in December.

Delegates evaluated actions taken since the regional conference held in March 2013, and looked at how to build union power and confront global capital in the region. Specific attention was given to active campaigns in Egypt and Iraq.

Trade union freedoms and rights including equality were subject to considerable debate. The delegates agreed to actively work on gender issues with creation of a women’s network in the region. Many panelists voiced concerns about problems with migration, as security problems in countries such as Syria and Iraq force people to move to other countries in the search of proper jobs. Jordan has around two million migrant workers, of whom 1.2 million are from Syria, 500.000 from Egypt and 200.000 from Iraq. A sizable portion of migrant workers are employed in the textile and garment industries.

The conference exchanged experiences on building strong, democratic and sustainable trade union structures, as the backbone of democratic societies. Growing population, mass unemployment particularly among the youth, inequality between men and women, lack of education, health and public services and unhealthy economic structures were indicated as major barriers to building sustainable economies and industries.

The participants welcomed IndustriALL’s worldwide initiative on sustainable industrial policy. Textile, garment and oil sectors were identified as targets for strengthening union capacity and social protection, particularly to guaranteed decent work with a living wage.

Trade union networks and global framework agreements were recognized as important tools for building solidarity. Unions from the MENA region need to be involved to facilitate organizing and collective bargaining.

At the end of the conference, the delegates discussed priorities and actions in the region, and endorsed a plan for the future.

General Secretary Jyrki Raina said:

IndustriALL Global Union is excited about the expansion of its family in MENA region into new countries such as Libya and Somalia. Our actions and campaigns will help our affiliates grow stronger.

Strikers say ‘No’ to Crown’s miserable offer in Canada

On 24 March 117 members of Local 9176 of USW, affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, voted against and only one for the offer made by the Crown Holdings Inc, one of the biggest metal container companies in the world producing cans for beverage and food products in 149 countries. According to the Ontario legislation, striking workers were obliged to vote on the contract offer made by Crown.

During negotiations for a new collective agreement in October 2013 the company arrogantly demanded to impose unacceptable conditions to the workers at its plant in Ontario. The workers had nothing to do rather than to go on strike against the proposed deterioration of their conditions.

The company so far rejects the possibility for a fair solution of the conflict, at the same time tried and appealed to the local legislation with the idea to force workers to agree to even worse than originally proposed conditions through a vote on 24 March.

The company behavior is no different in other parts of the world. Only recently the Turkish subsidiary of Crown Holdings, Crown Bevcan, dismissed four trade union leaders with false and groundless allegations while the real reason was the fact that they had led union organizing at the company plant located in Izmit, Turkey.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary commented, “IndustriALL salutes the courage and solidarity of Crown workers, those who years after years generated profits for this company deserve a fair treatment. Our congratulations in this victory to Crown workers, together we can’t be defeated.”

Union members go on hunger strike in Belarus

Mikhail Kovalkov, the chairman of SPB union and the leader of the SPB local at BZTDiA, holds the hunger strike at the factory gate in reply to the factory management failure to fulfill their promises given two months ago and to start collective bargaining. The union leader is denied access to the territory of the enterprise. According to him since 25 March four more workers have been supporting the hunger strike at their workplaces. On 26 March, the second day of the hunger strike, three more people joined them, including two colleagues dismissed because of their union SPB membership.

The discrimination of union members still persists at the enterprise. "Members of the Free Trade Union of Belarus get neither any benefit payment to recover their health during holidays, nor benefit payments when retiring, although these are paid to the members of the official union, the Belarusian Automobile and Agricultural Machinery Workers’ Union", – Kovalkov said. Labour contracts are not renewed with SPB members. The union local is gradually destroyed. For the time being around 130 factory workers are members of SPB.

Back in January the union leader demanded the management to stop persecuting and firing union activists and to start bargaining with SPB local union. In return the management first demanded to re-register the local union, since the factory was reorganized as a joint-stock company. However the unionists could not get the recurrent registration of their local union, because they needed a legal address, which the management refuses to provide.

"The management has many times promised that all union problems will be settled, but they have never kept their promise. We did not have any other way out", – Kovalkov explained his decision to go on hunger strike.

The chairman of the local union hopes that the management will take the decision during the three-day hunger strike of the workers. "If the management refuses to cooperate, we have plans to hold a more significant action some time in April,” – said the trade union leader.

Georgian miners win after long strike

On 25 March around 3,000 workers of RMG Gold and RMG Copper, mining enterprises located in the town of Kazreti, district of Bolnisi in Georgia ended their indefinite strike that began on 14 February.

As a result of negotiations between the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCIWG), an affiliate of IndustriALL, and the management it was agreed that 87 fired workers should be reinstated on 25 March, another 50 workers should be back at work within the next two months.

It is expected that new health insurance contracts will be concluded for every worker, and the TUMMCIWG and management will sign a collective agreement.

A salary increase was also agreed. The salary of the 1,000 lowest-paid workers will be increased by 15-20 per cent by March and April – at the moment these workers earn 90-170 USD per month. In autumn 2014, if the economic situation does not get worse, the same increase of 15-20 per cent will be made for every worker of the enterprises.

IndustriALL Global Union congratulates its affiliate TUMMCIWG and all workers of RMG Gold and RMG Copper on this victory and expects the management to thoroughly fulfill all commitments as agreed.

Labour conflicts deepen at Glencore Xstrata subsidiary

On 24 March, workers at the Antapaccay company, a Glencore Xstrata subsidiary, began a two-day stoppage in protest of the failure to pay legally-mandated profit sharing; the violation of the collective bargaining agreement; the use of fixed-term contracts, and the illegal dismissal of employees for forming a union of technicians and administrative staff.

The Antapaccay mining company first came to the attention of IndustriALL Global Union in December last year, after its shameless attempts to destroy the newly formed union of white-collar staff.

Unions at the plant say that the positive industrial relations’ climate that prevailed at the company for eighteen years under a succession of different owners, came to a brutal end when Glencore Xstrata acquired the company less than a year and a half ago. Since then, Glencore Xstrata has closed several unionized operations and has resorted to the widespread use of precarious employment and unfair labour practices.

The job action at Antappacy has been taken jointly by the two unions at the plant, the Sindicato Unico de Trabajadores de Xstrata Tintaya Antapaccay and the Sindicato Unificado de Trabajadores de Xstrata Tintaya Antappacy. It is supported by the Sindicato de Trabajadores Funcionarios de la Compañia Minera Antapaccay, whose leaders are currently demanding reinstatement. IndustriAll’s affiliate the Federación Minera is actively supporting the action.

IndustriALL Indonesian Council intensifies organizing and campaigning for a better future

The meeting was chaired by Sjaiful D Patombong, IndustriALL Indonesian Council Chair who is also the president of FSP-KEP. One day before the meeting took place IndustriALL Indonesian Council organized a visit of the union representatives from 11 national federations and IndustriALL South East Asia Office to PT Pindo Deli Paper Mills Karawang – Asia Pulp and Paper – which is one of the largest paper mills in the world. The national federations leaders jointly signed a letter to the management of Asia Pulp and Paper demanding that it stops union busting, reinstates 17 union leaders, pays the workers fair wages , stops using the police to intimidate the workers and returns to the negotiation table.

Pindo Deli Paper Workers Union (SPKPD) walked off the jobs on 27 February 2014 in response to the breakdown of collective bargaining negotiation.

“Although they have worked at this largest paper mill for a long period, Pindo Deli workers work under low wages. The strike is also supported by agency workers who work side by side with the regular workers at the paper mill. Agency workers in the pulp and paper industry in Indonesia are forced to work under low standards of safety, low wages, and are intimidated when joining the union,” said Nelson F. Saragih, General Secretary of Indonesian Federation of Pulp and Paper Workers Union (FSP2KI)

Among the highlights discussed at the Indonesian Unity Meeting, state owned companies contract workers are also at the heart of the concerns.

“The situation of state owned companies’ contract workers is not better than their fellow workers in the private sector. Although the Indonesian government has ratified the Core ILO Conventions, including the right to organize and collective bargaining, contract workers in the state owned companies still have difficulties joining the trade unions due to threats of dismissals.” Said Nikasi Ginting, General Secretary of Federation of Mining and Energy-Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (FPE-SBSI) who is also member of IndustriALL Executive Committee.

The Indonesian union representatives actively engaged in the discussions and in planning aiming to unionize millions more workers and curb precarious work in the country. An example is the organizing initiative of FSPMI, which aims at unionizing 400,000 precariously employed workers in the state owned companies in the electronic and electric sector.

Another issue that was highlighted by the Indonesian women leaders concerns maternity protection.

“Indonesia is the leading country in Asia-Pacific in terms of maternity related laws which protect all women workers in the country; these protections include 3 month maternity leave, full cash benefits paid by the employer, health protection for pregnant employees, employment protection, and breaks for breastfeeding and childcare provisions; in reality precariously employed women workers have not been able to enjoy this right and protection.” Said Indonesian Women Committee

The Indonesian Council is soon to launch the national campaign on maternity protection for all women workers in Indonesia. In the campaigning process, union shop stewards and activists at the plant level will be trained to collect concrete information on the issue as well as educate precariously employed workers about their maternity rights.

The National Unity Meeting also opened a discussion around the controversial Regulation on Social Conflict Settlement UU 12/2012. The said regulation allows intervention in industrial relations by military, paramilitary and police. IndustriALL Indonesian Council members are monitoring closely on the use of the regulation and are in the process of documenting cases and analyses for further discussions at the ILO level.

Bangladesh action in full swing

Since September 2013, IndustriALL Global Union was involved in negotiations chaired by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with Bangladeshi partners, global clothing brands and the Clean Clothes Campaign to come up with a comprehensive compensation plan for the families of 1,100 dead and 2,500 injured workers after the Rana Plaza industrial homicide on 24 April 2013.

Finally on 18 March, the Coordination Committee of the so-called Rana Plaza Arrangement could confirm that the compensation payments from a centralized Trust Fund, administered by the ILO, will start as of 24 March.

An advance payment of 50,000 BDT (650 USD) will be made to each of the 3,600 beneficiaries before the one-year anniversary of the industrial homicide on 24 April. These payments will total 2 million USD.

The final compensation will be based on the life expectancy of the dead workers and the degree of handicap of the injured workers. The estimated total required funds are USD 40 million, following ILO Convention 121 and good country practices.

IndustriALL and CCC will now campaign to get all the 28 clothing brands and retailers that were sourcing from Rana Plaza, to pay into the Trust Fund by 24 April. Some companies have already assume their responsibilities, but all need to follow suit to provide the suffering families their long-awaited compensation.

At the same time, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety has become a living reality. 250 inspections are carried out every month by the Accord’s specially hired expert team. By the end of September 2014, more than 1500 factories will have been inspected with recommendations on corrective action.

A key element in the legally binding Accord which covers over 2 million workers is that the clothing brands will need to negotiate with factory owners on how to secure funding for the repairs of dangerous facilities. This could happen through pricing, joint investments, loans, external support or direct payments.

Difficult situations however lie ahead, as recent news about a couple of imminent danger situations and subsequent temporary closures show.

As a next step, we are focusing on building a comprehensive union presence in the Bangladeshi garment factories through a major multiyear organizing project together with our partners.

The reality has already started to change, after the government last year agreed to facilitate the registration of new local unions. During the past 12 months, IndustriALL affiliates have organized more than 100 factories and 40,000 workers. Our ambition is to beat those figures in 2014.

After that the new local unionists will need a lot of training to build their capacity for collective bargaining, health and safety, and for solving problems. I invite our affiliates in other countries to participate in this major union building effort.

The long march towards a safe and sustainable garment industry in Bangladesh is gaining pace.

Jyrki Raina
General Secretary

Analysis of labour conflicts and protests in Russia

The monitoring, which had for a goal the study of the level of conflicts in the sphere of social and labour relations in Russia proves that the biggest number of protests actions happened at the end of 2013. This indicator is higher than the previous record from 2009. The situation in 2009 is explained by the fact of crisis in the economy resulted in a triple increase of protest actions comparing to 2008.

According to the research many experts considered the situation in the second half of 2013 as an inevitable precursor to an economic crisis. The level of production did not grow, the strength of the currency was weakening and many discussed potential increase of unemployment. The research says the most important reasons for the protests were the “policy of business leaders” and “refusal of the management to negotiate”.

The research is based on a daily monitoring of mass media resources including specialised web-based labour resources as well as central and regional information agencies. The study argues that the results of the research could potentially allow seeing the increase of conflict situations and preventing the more difficult social disturbances, which can evolve from labour protests. Information coming from more than 80 resources was considered in 2013.

The research explains that by the end of 2013 Russian workers chose the three main ways to declare about their discontent. Most often they put forward their demands, conducted meetings of protest and held strikes. The study also concludes that these methods have nothing in common with the procedure on settling collective labour disputes set forth in the Russian Labour Code.

Under the present conditions the chosen methods are the only way to obtain some results in the current economic and political situation. Given the number of conflicts that led to a strike, the study comes to a conclusion that Russian workers usually prefer to solve conflicts in a peaceful way, as they believe the extreme protests will only aggravate the situation at their enterprises and will neither solve workers’ problems nor improve their situation. Therefore, the study concludes, “The current labour protests (in Russia) are an insistent invitation to dialogue. However, many employers do not understand it.”

Center for Social and Labor Rights (CSLR) is a Russian non-profit and non-governmental organization focused on promotion, compliance and protection of social and labour rights.

The full text of the study is available on CSLR website. http://trudprava.ru/expert/analytics/protestanalyt/1047

3,600 oil workers in Jordan prepare to strike

Two years ago, IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the General Union of Petroleum & Chemical Workers signed a collective agreement with the management on improving working conditions and increasing wages. However, management has failed to properly implement the agreement and has ignored the negotiations with the workers’ representatives.

Members of the Jordanian parliament recently intervened and urged the government as well as the management of the refinery to negotiate with the workers. The first round of the discussions managed to bring parties to an agreement on guidelines on wage increases and improving work conditions. However, a final agreement proves difficult to reach as the management fails to respond to workers demands.

Khaled Elzyood, president of General Union of Petroleum & Chemical Workers, says:

"We have announced our strike after receiving no response to our fair demands regarding improving economic, social, health and environmental conditions of our members. Our workers suffer hazardous working conditions and injustice. We will continue our strike until our demands are met. We also hold the government responsible for any negative consequences of the strike that may harm the country economic interests and Jordanian peoples living."

Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary IndustriALL Global Union, is clear on the global union’s strong support of the Jordan workers’ demands:

We welcome the parliament’s intervention and the government’s initiative to dialogue at this delicate stage. We strongly urge the government to conduct serious negotiations that will lead to an enforceable agreement.

Italian unions mobilize against dismissals at Micron Semiconductor

On 20 January, upon request of the unions a meeting was held at the Ministry of Economic Development between the national trade unions, the company's union representatives and the Management of Micron Italia. At the meeting the company announced the programmed cuts – involving all sites – and initiated immediately as of 21 January, the consultation procedure established by the law regarding employment reduction, which is due to end next 7 April.

Since April 2013 the multinational group has done a major reduction of its workforce from 3,200 to 1,028 employees by January 2014. Also in 2013 the company has announced another restructuring plan foreseeing 5 per cent cut of workforce, with the most severe redundancies in Italy going as far as 40 per cent reduction of workforce.

The announced plan, which puts in risk further presence of group in Italy was not initially negotiated with the representative unions. The company plans will have a dramatic impact on employment and downsizing of industrial sector in Italy. The move is especially painful in the high technology company such as Micron, where almost exclusively university and higher education graduates are employed, most of them under their 50-ies.

The unions organized a series of protests actions and strikes across the country while searching for an urgent meeting with senior officials of the parent company U.S. based multinational Micron Technology, Inc. So far the company has refused to meet the union representatives.

In a joint statement National Secretaries of FIM, FIOM and UILM declared,

“Micron cannot shirk its responsibility and must submit a recovery plan for its Italian plants, as well as a social plan to deal with the reorganisation and the maintenance of employment levels.”

The statement further reads, “We want to solicit public opinion and government agencies so that attention is paid to these sectors of technological and professional excellence, and that all necessary measures are taken to encourage investment and safeguard the industrial future of our country,”

In the solidarity message sent to its Italian affiliates FIM, FIOM and UILM IndustriALL Global Union expressed full support of the struggle by the unions at manufacturing and research sites of Micron Semiconductor Italia to safeguard employment and preserve the industrial role of Micron Italia.