Bulgarian unions react against attacks on workers’ rights

During recent months Bulgarian unions have been witnessing newed attacks against labour legislation, reflected in a set of proposals for major changes put forward by representatives of employers’ organisations.

In a drive to “stop the excessive administrative pressure on business”, the Government has submitted a draft bill which, if passed, would weaken workers’ rights and social protection.   

In particular unions denounce Government plans to revise the regulations governing relationships between employers, workers and supervisory bodies, and attempts to deregulate the labour market further. 

The unions also warn that some of the proposals would accelerate the development of temporary work agencies and increase precarious work in Bulgaria, and they have voiced deep concern about the lack of genuine social dialogue and consultation on the draft bill.

Over the past few years, the Bulgarian Government has introduced a number of so-called reforms of labour legislation and trade unions have made specific proposals aiming at better protection of employee rights. 

IndustriALL Global Union has expressed its solidarity with its Bulgarian affiliates in their fight to resist the attacks on workers’ rights against a backdrop of hard times in the country and union demands for safe and secure jobs, and a sustainable future for industry in Bulgaria.

“Your fight is our common fight,” said Jyrki Raina, General Secretary in his letter addressed to the Bulgarian affiliates. “You can rest assured that IndustriALL Global Union stands by your side in the struggle against attempts to revise regulations governing employment relations, and lack of genuine social dialogue.”  

IndustriALL stands with unions in Bosnia-Herzegovina fighting for industrial fairness

IndustriALL Global Union also calls attention to the courageous industrial workers at several once-proud enterprises in Tuzla Canton that initiated this month’s social protests, and hopes all trade unions of Bosnia & Herzegovina will follow and engage in peaceful protests to realign the social order in the Balkan nation. 

“The seed now germinating across Bosnia & Herzegovina is one of anger brought by hunger and impoverishment due to lost jobs, unpaid salaries, and a new generation without opportunity,” said IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina. “It is encouraging that trade unions inside encourage open and peaceful dissent to take on social dumping, social disenfranchisement, and soaring social inequality.”

Bosnia & Herzegovina, with a population of 3.8 million, currently has one in five citizens living in poverty. It has an unemployment rate of over 40%, and worse, the youth jobless rate is 57%. IndustriALL blames the system of 15 years ago, when neo-liberal industrialisation was privatised, creating a dangerous class of profiteers who colluded with government officials to downsize, close, and asset-strip, leaving in its wake poverty and unemployment.

IndustriALL Global Union is encouraged by spontaneous social protests across Bosnia & Herzegovina, spurred largely through social media, and calls for citizens to unite across all ethnic boundaries to forge a society based on fairness, justice, and openness to all.

IndustriALL Global Union congratulates the industrial workers at these and other failed Tuzla Canton enterprises for inspiring workers both inside and out of Bosnia & Herzegovina with street actions demanding change: Soap and detergent maker Dita, chemical producers Polihem D.D. and Polilchem D.D.O., motor parts manufacturer Resod Guming, and kitchen, office, school furniture producer Koinjuh D.D.

Global unions and brands to meet with Cambodian government

The violent end to the strike of Cambodian garment workers, rallying for an increased minimum wage in January, left four people dead, 39 injured and 23 workers imprisoned. Recently two workers were released. Of the remaining 21 detainees, 16 are on hunger strike.

IndustriALL Global Union and the ITUC will be joined by brands including H&M and Puma in the talks with the Cambodian government in Phnom Penh on Wednesday 19 February.

IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina says:

It is encouraging that the government has agreed to meet with us and some of the major brands for constructive dialogue. It is in the interest of all to find a path towards a sustainable garment industry with living wages and freedom of association in Cambodia.

In a rapid response, IndustriALL, UNI, the ITUC and brands joined forces in sending a letter to the Cambodian government demanding an investigation into the violence, as well as a sustainable process for reaching a new minimum wage.

Earlier in February, representatives from IndustriALL, UNI and the ITUC held constructive dialogue in a meeting at the United Nations in Geneva with a senior diplomat from the Cambodian Embassy. At the same time, members of IndustriALL and UNI were vociferous in their demands when delivering a letter to the Cambodian mission in the city calling for the release of the jailed workers and a path towards a minimum living wage.

The world has seen solidarity actions supporting the plight of garment workers in Cambodia, following a call by IndustriALL Global Union, UNI Global Union and the ITUC to protest outside Cambodian embassies earlier this month. 

Cambodia’s garment industry is growing rapidly and now employs more than 500,000 workers with textiles making up 80% of the country’s exports. Cambodia’s low wages and government incentives for businesses have seen a boom in the textile industry worth some 5 billion US dollars per year, while living standards for workers have not improved.

IndustriALL and Mexican miners’ union condemn deaths of five miners at Grupo Mexico mine

The Mexican Miners’ Union (SNTMMSRM), affiliated to IndustriALL, calls on the government to take drastic measures to punish those responsible for the latest accident, which has left five families in mourning. The union wants the government to bring criminal charges against the managers and shareholders of Industrial Minera Mexico, a company owned by Grupo Mexico.

The workers and their union blame Grupo Mexico, owned by Germán Feliciano Larrea Mota Velasco, for this accident. It subcontracted maintenance services, but remains responsible for occupational health and safety under Mexican law.

The dead workers are Teódulo Rivera López, 45; Blas Guzmán Gatica, 47; Benito Arriaga Gatica, 56; Juan García Puente, 57 and Isidro Rodríguez Ramírez, 45.

The union has previously criticized Grupo Mexico’s negligence and careless attitude to health and safety, but the company continues to disregard trade union action to increase safety and protect workers’ lives.

On 19 February, it will be eight years since the industrial homicide at Pasta de Conchos Mine 8, Coahuila, in which 65 miners lost their life. The bodies of 63 miners remain in the mine, without a proper burial. None of the managers and technical staff responsible for that tragedy have been prosecuted and the families of the dead have not received the compensation due to them.

Eight years after the industrial homicide at Pasta de Conchos, company negligence and insufficient attention to safety is still causing accidents at Grupo Mexico’s mines. IndustriALL Global Union therefore supports the miners’ call for the government to prosecute those responsible and the state and federal governments to inspect the mines and protect miners’ lives.

IndustriALL National Council formed in the Dominican Republic

In a meeting held on 13 and 14 February and facilitated by Jorge Almeida and Laura Carter of IndustriALL’s regional office, union leaders agreed on the workings of the national council as well as on its terms of reference. The national council builds on the loose coordination that existed previously between affiliates in the country.

The National Council will be a forum for affiliates to coordinate their respective action plans, to organize joint activities and solidarity action, to promote unity and to facilitate their involvement within IndustriALL.

The affiliates agreed in principle to a series of ground rules to build unity and strength from the ground up and will formalize the agreement following consultations with their respective national centers. They also agreed a dispute resolution mechanism to resolve several existing inter-union workplace conflicts.

The affiliates recommitted themselves to IndustriALL’s rules and action plan and shared ideas on how to build union power in their sectors.

Outside interference undermines VW workers’ free choice in Chattanooga

Workers at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant voted against union representation that would have led to the establishment of a works council. It would have been the first such model of labor-management relations in the United States, supported by the Volkswagen company and its CEO of the Chattanooga plant, Frank Fischer.

At the end of a three-day election  supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, on 14 February it became clear that Volkswagen workers had voted against United Auto Workers (UAW) representation by 712 to 626.

The workers’ free choice was undermined by an aggressive opposition campaign led by Republican politicians and anti-union groups, involving threats and intimidation. Tennessee’s Republican lawmakers threatened to withhold tax incentives from Volkswagen if the workers voted for union representation. A Republican senator claimed he had been “assured” of new investment if the workers voted against the union.

The election took place after unprecedented cooperation between IndustriALL, United Auto Workers (UAW) and German’s IG Metall. UAW worked hard in the weeks leading up to the election, being allowed to enter the plant to inform workers of the consequences and benefits of establishing a works council.

“While we certainly would have liked a victory for workers here, we deeply respect the Volkswagen Global Group Works Council, Volkswagen management and IG Metall for doing their best to create a free and open atmosphere for workers to exercise their basic human right to form a union,” said UAW President Bob King.

“We commend Volkswagen for its commitment to global human rights, to worker rights and trying to provide an atmosphere of freedom to make a decision,” said UAW Region 8 Director Gary Casteel, who directs the union’s Southern organizing. “Unfortunately, politically motivated third parties threatened the economic future of this facility and the opportunity for workers to create a successful operating model that that would grow jobs in Tennessee.”

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina says:

“This is sad news for IndustriALL’s global family, but equally for the workers at the VW plant in Chattanooga. Outside interference undermined the workers’ free choice.  Workers  in Tennessee should be able to enjoy true freedom of association. We applaud the 626 who resisted threats and intimidation and voted in favour of defending their rights collectively.”

The Tennessee plant is the only Volkswagen manufacturing unit in the world without union representation.

Don’t criminalize the right to strike in Spain, IndustriALL demands

The eight workers who are members of IndustriALL affiliates, FI-CC.OO and MCA-UGT, were arrested after demonstrating outside the Airbus factory in Getafe, Madrid which employs more than 2,000 people in manufacturing aircraft parts.

After protracted court proceedings, the union members are set to stand trial imminently, with the prosecution recommending they are each sentenced to eight years and three months in prison.

“The prosecution’s demand for such a grossly excessive prison term is totally out of proportion to the charges and marks a dangerous step towards the criminalization of the right to strike in Spain,” says Jyrki Raina, General Secretary at IndustriALL. “Not only is it an affront to democracy, it is also unprecedented in the post-Franco era.”

IndustriALL has written to the Attorney General in Spain denouncing the false accusations and extreme sentencing orders against the workers, who were exercising their legitimate right to demonstrate in front of the Airbus factory.

The letter also urges Spanish authorities to give up their policy of violating workers’ rights and to end the repression of democratic freedoms.

“We demand justice for the eight workers who were demonstrating in defense of the working class against the casualization of labour and industrial relations; unemployment; welfare cuts; and the abolition of labour rights,” writes Raina.

FI-CC.OO and MCA-UGT believe the false accusations are part of a wider campaign by Spanish authorities against trade union organizations.

IndustriALL together with FI-CC.OO and MCA-UGT, also questions why judicial proceedings have been solely focused on persecuting unionists without taking into account the abusive and illegal actions of the police on 29 September 2010, who opened fire on demonstrators wounding dozens of people.

Demonstration of unpaid EVM chemical workers in Budapest

The workers started a blockade-type strike at the chemical factory on 3 February.

One hundred demonstrating workers and sympathizers were present in the center of Budapest in spite of the cold and rainy weather. The main speakers at the event were the local union president and the chairman of the works council. They demand that workers receive the wages, allowances and all the documents that are needed for further employment and tax returns. For this reason the workers of EVM started a blockade to stop the company removing valuable machinary.

The company owners are unreachable and during the demonstration, news was received of the former CEO resigning. The out-going CEO blamed the perilous condition of the company as the main reason behind this decision.

As the president of the VDSZ trade union, Tamás Székely announced to the demonstration, the union will provide all possible legal assistance to help the workers. The speaker read out the name of other trade unions from Hungary and international unions who sent solidarity messages.

President Tamás stated:

We would like to wish our thanks for all the solidarity declaration and good wishes for the workers of EVM.

The EVM employees continue the blockade type strike continuously, because as of the 10 February deadline they received no wages. The VDSZ union will continue to support this group of workers into the future as well.

Indonesia – minimum wage must equal living wage now!

IndustriALL Global Union secretary general Jyrki Raina expressed the global union’s full support for the Indonesian trade unions’ campaign for continued increases of minimum wages to secure a living wage, the social security reform and limiting outsourcing in favour of decent jobs.

At a meeting with the director general of the Ministry of manpower on Thursday, Jyrki Raina conveyed the message that wage increases are nothing to fear.

“Last year, we saw increasing minimum wages in many countries around Asia. Unions in Bangladesh managed to get a 77 per cent increase in 2013, and the minimum wage in China is already higher than in Indonesia. It is high time that Indonesian workers and their families get their share of the profits they actually help create.”

President of the FSPMI and the KSPI Said Iqbal said that for 2015, the unions would ask for a 30 per cent increase of the minimum wage.

“We need a good minimum wage if we want to build a welfare state. And we refuse to wait.”

Earlier in the week, KSPI members came out in full force on the streets of Jakarta as 30 000 workers rallied for an increased minimum wage and access to the general health insurance promised by the government.

The universal health insurance is meant to apply to all citizens in Indonesia from January this year, but it still leaves more than 10 million people lacking cover. Now there are increased concerns to secure the pension reform agreed to enter into force as of 1 July 2015. Increased social security will help people move from the informal to formal sector. Employers’ attempts to draw back already adopted reforms are a threat to social peace and Indonesia’s path towards prosperity for all citizens.

Jyrki Raina concludes:

“Although the Indonesian trade unions have achieved a great deal, struggles lie ahead. But with their force, commitment and ability to organise I’m convinced that we will see the minimum wage move closer to becoming a decent wage. Indonesian trade unions are an inspiration to us all.”

Launch of global campaign against Rio Tinto in Cape Town

On 6 February the Rio Tinto Global Union Network drew hundreds of participants to a rally against mining corporation Rio Tinto. Demonstrators marched through the streets of Cape Town, South Africa, for the right to decent work for Rio Tinto workers. The rally marks the official launch of the network's campaign to increase unionisation at Rio Tinto operations around the globe.

IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan says:

This is the launch of a campaign to increase trade union membership at Rio Tinto plants and make them recognise workers' rights and listen to trade unions. We must fight back against Rio Tinto's consistent anti-union behaviour and we will not stop until Rio Tinto realises that fundamental worker's rights, such as the right to organise and collective bargaining, benefit everyone in the workplace.