Cambodian Embassies besieged – Free the 23!

In a show of global solidarity, demonstrations took place in Brussels, Canberra, Dhaka, Geneva, Honduras, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Manila, Seoul, Sri Lanka, Tokyo and Washington D.C.

It follows a call by IndustriALL Global Union, UNI Global Union and the ITUC to show international support for 23 people arrested in the capital Phnom Penh during demonstrations by garment workers fighting for a fair and living wage.

In the past few days, two workers have been released. Of the remaining 21 detainees, 16 began a hunger strike on Sunday.

In Geneva, representatives from IndustriALL, UNI and the ITUC held constructive dialogue in a meeting at the United Nations with a senior diplomat from the Cambodian Embassy in Switzerland.

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 workers and a fair and inclusive process to determine the minimum wage.

“The message to the Cambodian authorities is clear. We will not stop until all the workers are released,” said Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL’s General Secretary, “The action by the global union movement today has proven that the plight of Cambodian garment workers is supported the world over.”

UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings said:
"The Cambodian government must free all of the “23” immediately and the workers should be allowed to exercise their democratic right to protest against unacceptable work conditions and for a decent wage. Cambodia must begin the race to the top now because today the workers of the world have spoken."

Australian trade unionists kicked off the global day of solidarity with an action at the Cambodian embassy in Canberra. Then Australians spent the rest of the day posting messages of support for the garment workers on the Facebook page of Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen.

In Seoul, members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, KCTU, and five other unions stood alongside many civil society groups in a rally outside the Cambodian embassy. Reporters from various daily, TV and internet news outlets covered the action.

In the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, garment makers marched in solidarity with their Cambodian counterparts while in Jakarta, around 300 members from FSPMI and KSPI took action in front of Cambodian Embassy in Indonesia.

The ITUC and Belgian unions assembled to deliver the common demands to the Embassy in Brussels, with a 75-strong manifestation.

In Tokyo, representatives from RENGO-JTUC (Japanese Trade Union Confederation), as well as Japanese affiliates of UNI and IndustriALL visited the Cambodian embassy in Japan.

Sri Lankan trade unionists demonstrated in solidarity with Cambodian garment workers, and sent a petition of union and civil society leaders to the Cambodian authorities. 

The 15,000 kilometres that separate Honduras from Cambodia did nothing to lessen the ties of solidarity. Undaunted by the distance and the lack of an internet connection, Honduran and Nicaraguan union leaders signed a petition the old-fashioned way and vowed to take the ‘free the 23’ campaign back to their own unions and workplaces.

Letters were also sent to the Cambodian government from union affiliates in countries including Germany, Ireland, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Sweden, and the UK amongst others.

And of course, several actions were conducted simultaneously around Cambodia itself.

See pictures on our IndustriALL flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/industriall_gu/sets/

Watch the action:
http://youtu.be/ENkIi7cWzDA

IndustriAll Europe: Equal Opportunities Committee Meets in Frankfurt

In addition a representative from the European Women’s Lobby gave a presentation on the price of austerity. The meeting was attended by women from Spain, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, France, Denmark, Romania and Finland. Diana Junquera from FITAG-UGT Spain was elected chair. The committee welcomed this election because it marks the transition to a young chair.

The issue of quotas is burning more and more. Nevertheless there is no agreement on whether quotas should be introduced on union side either. But some good examples do exist such as the 30 percent quota for women on the board of the Swiss union UNIA. It was felt that more discussion of the quota issue was required by IndustriAll Europe, which is why the next meeting will have an in-depth look at the question.

In connection with work-life balance the discussion in Germany is tending now toward shortening the working week for parents with young children. IG Metall is demanding a 30-hour working week.

Lisa Hult from the European Women’s Lobby gave a presentation called EU Crisis Policies and Gender Relations. To start with, the European Women’s Lobby groups some 2000 member organizations and fights for, among other things, women’s economic independence, an area which covers the gender pay, poverty and pension gaps, quality work for all women, atypical and marginal employment, access to pensions, individualization of taxes and social security benefits, equal sharing of paid and unpaid work and the reconciliation of professional and family life. The current EU austerity policies have led to cutbacks in services and benefits. These cuts mean that women have an uphill fight to make their job fit their family when childcare is cut, when support for victims of violence is slashed and altogether the funding for women’s rights disappears. On an average in the EU women have 39 percent less pension than men, a recipe for poverty in old age. Instead of making the most of women’s work and increased tax payments to overcome the crisis, women are being punished and condemned to hardship.

For more information on the crisis and its adverse effects on gender equality see the work done by researchers Maria Karamessini and Jill Rubery on women and austerity.

Unions set for global action against Cambodian embassies

IndustriALL Global Union, UNI Global Union and the ITUC together with NGO partners, are garnering international support in solidarity for protestors who were arrested during demonstrations by garment workers for higher wages last month. The call to action to “Free the 23” comes on the eve of a Cambodian court hearing for the workers on 11 February.

Protests are expected to take place outside Cambodian embassies in Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Honk Kong, Jakarta, London and Seoul amongst others. Demonstrators will present a letter to the ambassador condemning the violence against the garment workers and demanding the release of the 23 detainees. The letter also calls on the government to respect the right to freedom of association.

The detainees, which include trade union activists and garment workers, were incarcerated after peaceful rallies on 2 and 3 of January were met with brutal force by Cambodian police, which opened fire on demonstrators leaving four people dead and 39 injured.

“We implore the Cambodian authorities release the 23 detainees immediately. Imprisoning, intimidating and inflicting violence on garment workers will not succeed in silencing their demands for a just wage and decent working conditions,” said IndustriALL’s General Secretary Jyrki Raina.

The planned action follows an open letter to the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, from IndustriALL, UNI and ITUC together with 30 of the world’s major clothing brands, including Walmart, Nike and H&M, demanding a thorough investigation into the perpetrators of the killings and appealing to the government to honour its commitment to establish a fair and inclusive process for determining a new minimum wage.

The Cambodian government has so far been unresponsive while the garment manufacturers have taken a confrontational approach to union demands.  

The past few months have seen a succession of strikes by Cambodian garment workers seeking to double the industry's minimum wage to US $160 a month.

Cambodia has more than 500,000 garment workers with textiles making up 80% of the country’s exports. The country’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 increased.

For more information please contact Tom Grinter – [email protected]

or +41 (0) 22 304 18 53 or Leonie Guguen – [email protected] or  +41 (0) 22 308 5023.

Ineos sacks Unite convenor on sham charges in Grangemouth, UK

Unite in the UK has launched legal action over the sacking of its vice-chair and Ineos Grangemouth convenor Mark Lyon, accusing Ineos of ‘hypocrisy’ and making a ‘mockery’ of justice. 



Mark who has 25 years of service to the company was tried in his absence and told of his dismissal on 4th February for not stopping the union from commenting over fears of job losses at the petrochemical plant which were reported in Scottish national newspaper The Daily Record on 2nd December 2013. 



The move follows the resignation of Unite’s other Grangemouth convenor Stevie Deans last year in protest of his treatment by the company and comes as Ineos drops its defamation claim over accusations by Unite that it had ‘victimised’ Mr Deans. 



The sacking of Mark Lyon comes in the face of significant medical evidence that he is suffering from a serious stress-related illness as a result of the treatment he has endured at the hands of the company.   



Unite believes that Ineos was determined to rush through a disciplinary process against Mr Lyon, denying his legal representatives the appropriate time to prepare his defence. 



Unite will be appealing the company’s decision and issuing an employment tribunal claim for unfair dismissal and victimisation for trade union reasons. 



IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina stated:

Unite is the largest trade union in the UK and a centrally important member organisation of IndustriALL. We stand firmly alongside Unite and the Grangemouth members in face of this intransigent employer. To sack Mark Lyon on pathetic charges is pure union busting, totally in breach of international labour standards. Mark Lyon is a committed trade unionist with a long history of representing oil and chemical workers in the UK.

Pat Rafferty, Unite’s Scottish secretary, said:

Once again, a decent man and loyal employee has been hounded out of his job by Ineos. The rank hypocrisy of Ineos knows no bounds. The company withdrew its defamation action against Unite to “draw a line under the dispute”, yet at the same time it was drafting a letter dismissing a Unite convenor.  
Mark Lyon has been subjected to a grotesque mockery of the disciplinary system which saw him tried in his absence. While he attended a doctor’s appointment, his employer was sacking him on trumped up charges.

Down Rio Tinto, down!

The rally culminated outside the Cape Town Convention Centre, where the world’s largest congress on mining, the Mining Indaba, was on its last day. Members of mining unions, as well as members of NGO’s, came together to point the spotlight on workers’ struggle for decent work at Rio Tinto plants across the world.

Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL, said that the race to the bottom must stop.

”As Rio Tinto is generating enormous profits from its operations, workers are struggling with unsafe, precarious work. The benefits from the mines should be shared with everyone and not only used for increasing company profits. Today’s situation is un-acceptable.”

The rally through Cape Town marked the end of a three-day long meeting of the IndustriALL’s Rio Tinto Global Union Network and the official launch of its campaign to increase unionisation at Rio Tinto.

Thanking everyone who attended the rally for their support, Andrew Vickers, general secretary of Australian affiliate CFMEU and chair of the IndustriALL mining section, said:

“Thank you for your support to launch this campaign to stop Rio Tinto – to stop Rio Tinto disrespecting trade unions, workers, agreements, and to stop terrorising and displacing communities.”

While people turned out in numbers to show their support for the mineworkers, Rio Tinto flatly refused to meet with representatives of the network to receive a memorandum of demands.

In the memorandum IndustriALL Global Union demands from Rio Tinto, the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, and the International Council on Mining and Metal to, among other things, stop interfering in the collective bargaining process and to ensure that workers at their operations have a right to refuse unsafe work.

Rio Tinto also needs to commit to engagement with workers and their trade unions, and to minimize precarious work while maximizing permanent, full-time employment at their operations.

“This is a struggle for workers everywhere. The campaign against Rio Tinto is dedicated to strengthening our workers and we will continue the fight”, said Senzeni Zokwana, president of NUM and vice president of IndustriALL. 

Oil workers in Kuwait plan to strike

Thousands of oil workers in Kuwait plan to go on strike over a government decision to cut their wages. The announcement came from the union leader Abdulaziz Al-Sharthan, following the failure of lengthy talks with the new Oil Minister, Ali al-Omair, and top oil executives to resolve the conflict. The government supported call for wage cuts comes despite the fact that the average wages of Kuwaiti oil workers are reported to be only half that of counterparts in neighboring Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

The union has given a two-week notice period to give the Government time to withdraw from the decision, and negotiate with the oil trade union. At a time of high oil prices, workers and their union are strongly determined to protect their terms and conditions including the “Success Partnership” bonus. Paid by KPC and its member companies for several years, this bonus gives workers a share in extra-budgetary profits made by the company largely due to oil price.

Speaking to IndustriALL Global Union Abdulaziz al-Sharthan said, 

"The government is trying to ignore the trade unions as social partners, and unilaterally deciding on issues related directly to working and living conditions of workers. It is also trying to limit the role of unions especially in oil sector and to harm the reputation of unions and workers legitimate practices including the declared strike".

Jyrki Raina, General Secretary said in his letter written in support to the union, 

“Our affiliated trade union has the full support of IndustriALL Global Union and its affiliates worldwide,” 

IndustriALL also sent protest letters to the company and Kuwaiti authorities.

If workers are forced to take action to defend their present conditions then the strike will be total and include all production operations, exports, and petrochemicals production.

The country's oil sector employs around 19,000 Kuwaitis and currently produces around 3.0 million barrels per day, around a quarter of which is exported as refined products.

Moroccan Union Movement Initiate Historic Unity

This significant historic step reflects the collective will to unify the trade union movement of Morocco in order to challenge the government’s anti-democratic policies as well as contributing to building a society of freedom, democracy and social justice.

The three organizations have signed a joint statement condemning: the abuse of union freedoms; factory closures; layoffs; and the arrest and prosecution of officials and trade union activists under Chapter 288 of the Criminal Code. The statement also addressed the government measures on passing unfair financial laws against the interest of the working class, absence of social dialogue and collective bargaining, and ignoring unions while insisting on passing the draft strike Law.

The signatory organizations have agreed to continue the joint work as a strategic choice; hold the government responsible for disabling social dialogue, collective bargaining and deterioration of social conditions; demand that the government adopt serious dialogue and binding collective bargaining agreements. The national centers also called on the government to withdraw all the bills associated with the issues of the workers such as retirement, right to strike, and a retreat from the critical unpopular decisions, and confirmed the determination to take all necessary initiatives and resolutions of struggle by calling all Moroccan workers for mobilization to confront the attacks against freedoms and rights.

Abdelmajid Matoual, Executive Committee Member of IndustriALL Global Union and Member of the Administrative Committee of UMT said: "Such initiative is historic act towards unifying the union work in Morocco to defend the rights and gains of the working class. The meeting comes at a time of social congestion due to the government’s unpopular decisions that led to the fall of citizens' purchasing power and violations of workers' and unions' rights and gains".

Mohamed Zeroual, Member of the UMT National Secretariat commented: "The meeting aimed at pushing the government to bear its responsibility to pull out all the bills that limit workers' rights as well as the unpopular decisions which negatively affect the purchasing power of the general masses of the people and to accelerate starting a serious dialogue on retirement, rights and freedoms of association and the subsidies fund ".

Mohamed Elharif, General Secretary of National Union of Metal, Mechanical, Electrical and Electronic Workers (SNTIMMEE-CDT) and Member of the CDT National Council said: "The current government has ignored the signed agreements of last year between unions and the former government. The three national centers will continue to discuss, in light of the government response to our concerns, the future actions of struggle to achieve our workers' demands".

“This unity initiative is promising and encouraging” said Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union.

This is what the union movement in the MENA region needs to do. IndustriALL gives full support to this exemplary initiative.

Iraq – workers demand fair laws now!

All IndustriALL affiliated trade unions in Iraq together with other unions are continuing to press Parliament to urgently pass fair and ILO-compliant labor and union laws.

Despite the fact that the country’s latest Constitution recognizes worker rights and the right to unionise, in the absence of new labour legislation the government and courts continue to apply the appalling legislation of the Saddam Era that bans trade unions in the public sector and severely affects the unions’ ability to exercise even basic rights.

Currently there are three different versions of both the labour and union laws in different stages of the legislative process. Over a series of meetings, including a five-day conference with international participation, held in Erbil, in November 2013, unions have met with government delegations and had detailed discussions on draft legislation, including a fully ILO-compliant version produced by the trade unions.

IndustriALL launched a web-campaign in support of these demands, as well as lobbying the Iraqi government representation in Geneva.

A clear bottom line for the unions is that an ILO-compliant trade union law must apply to workers and employees throughout the public sector and it must recognise the present day reality of trade union pluralism.

IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary, Jyrki Raina said:

It really is time now for the old laws of the Saddam Hussein era, presently used against trade union organisation, to be finally consigned to the dustbin of history and a new era of respect for trade union rights begun.

However it is now clear that the government-backed Parliament Labor Committee versions finally put forward remain restrictive of worker rights and continue to deny the right of public-sector workers to unionise.

Hashmeya Muhsin al-Saadawi, leader of the Electricity Utility Workers’ Union stated:

The new draft labour law doesn't include serious improvements to the old laws. Moreover, the insistence on excluding the public sector workers from the new law will make it to only cover less than 25% of the total workforce of Iraq. We need fair laws for all Iraqi workers with no exception.

Oil workers have continued to protest. Hundreds of South Oil Company (SOC) workers held protests throughout December.

Iraqi oil workers’ leader Hassan Juma’a said:

Regrettably, there are many gaps in the current draft labour law discussed now in the Parliament. Iraqi unions and federations sent their observations/comments on the law, but sadly the parliament still didn’t consider them. As for the law of trade union freedoms and after much efforts and concluding an agreement with the parliamentary committee on manpower, we see now a conspiracy aiming at withdrawing the draft from the Parliament. This is because some political blocs object to trade union pluralism. We call on international organisations to push the Parliament to adopt the inclusion of public sector workers to draft law.

See the 5 February letter from IndustriALL general secretary Raina to Iraqi legislators.

IndustriALL protests arrests of striking miners in Iran

IndustriALL Global Union has been  informed that in Iran security forces have arrested over 20 workers of the Chadormalu Mine in the central province of Yazd, including the head and the secretary of the labor union, who stopped work as part of a contract negotiation and labor dispute.

For  several months, more than 3,000 workers have been demanding a pay increase in line with  inflation rate as well as overtime pay which had been unpaid for four months. Bahram Hassaninejad, the secretary of the workers’ labor union, was dismissed from his job during earlier protests over this issue in November 2013. The protest grew wider after Hassaninejad’s dismissal, and his return to work became another demand in addition to the pay increase and back pay.

On January 26, the Ardakan Labor Office Determination Committee confirmed Hassaninejad’s dismissal orders, sparking new protests among the mine workers. Thousands of the mine workers downed tools on January 28 in protest of the dismissal, as well as in continuation of the pay demands. On January 29, security forces summoned and arrested 20 workers who the Governor implied had been instrumental in launching the initial protests. The remaining workers continued their sit-in, and on January 30, four additional workers from among those who were holding a sit-in at the factory site were also arrested. The following day union leaders, Hossein Jenaee and Bahram Hassaninejad were arrested by Ardakan town security organizations.

It is reported that the Chadormalu mine workers are paid between US$205 and US$240 monthly, whereas the authorities have previously stated workers should get paid between US$512 and US$682. The workers of this mine demanded a pay increase that was compatible with the inflation rate in Iran. Additionally, they have not been paid their hardship and other benefits for the past four months.

Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of Industriall Global Union General Secretary, in his letter addressed to Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran:

“We are appalled to hear of the arrests of these mine workers and their union leaders and call on you to immediately order  their release  as well as the payment of all delayed payments. We urge you to ensure that negotiations over a substantial increase in wages to ensure both a living wage and compensation for rising costs take place as a matter of urgency.”

IndustriALL Global Union continues to follow developments in Iran and develops contacts with various union organizations operating in the country.

IndustriALL Global Union to target Rio Tinto in campaign for workers’ rights

The rally is set to take place on the last day of the 2014 African Mining Indaba, on 6 February at 11 am. Hundreds of participants are expected to march from St George´s Cathedral to the Cape Town Convention Centre, demanding an end to Rio Tinto’s bad corporate behaviour.

Claiming to abide by good corporate practice, mining and metals giant Rio Tinto’s conduct includes major disputes with trade unions, communities, indigenous peoples and regulatory authorities.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan says that with the campaign, IndustriALL Global Union aims to build union power at Rio Tinto plants around the world, uniting workers in the struggle for decent work:

“Rio Tinto has extensive experience in causing one conflict after another with trade unions, indigenous organizations, environmental groups and other key community stakeholders. Unions and civil society are coming together in an unprecedented way to push back against Rio Tinto for the benefit of workers, the environment and communities.” 

Learn more about Rio Tinto’s history of conflict at http://www.industriall-union.org/riotinto

For more information please contact:

Livhuwani Mammburu, NUM Spokesperson, +27 (0)838093257

Petra Brännmark, Communications Director IndustriALL Global Union, +41 79 198 69 13
[email protected]

IndustriALL Global Union represents 50 million workers in 140 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors and is a force in global solidarity taking up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights around the world.