President of the CUT in Caldas, Colombia, escapes attempt on his life

The attack took place when Óscar Orozco was driving home on the night of 13 November. The car window was hit by bullets and Orozco suffered cuts to the neck and the left hand. Immediately after the attack, Orozco reported the attack to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and requested a ballistics report on the car.

Oscar Orozco said: “this regrettable event is the latest in a series of attacks we have denounced in recent months and we hold the government responsible for our physical integrity and lives. We demand that these attacks be investigated and those responsible are quickly brought to justice”.  

Orozco is a prominent social and trade union activist in the department of Caldas and has suffered four attacks in recent years, including letter bombs. On 4 August 2012, the CUT Caldas president and secretaries were victims of an attack while en route to a meeting of fisherfolk and miners in the district of Arauca. No attempt was made to examine the vehicle they were in or to investigate what happened. “One year later, the prosecutor did a U-turn and charged the victims themselves on the basis of what must certainly be false-positive test results. We call on supporters to follow this case because it seems that having escaped an attempt on their lives, the victims face the prospect of being put behind bars by the prosecutor and the Defender of the People”, said a spokesperson for the union.

This indicates that a new method for persecuting trade unions is taking shape in Colombia, in which leaders are put on trial to answer fabricated charges. In this case, a court in Medellin has charged Orozco with organising an attack on himself. He is, of course, the victim of persecution by the government, which has fabricated charges against him in an attempt to silence his fight for an equal and fair society and against the policies of hunger promoted by the multinationals and their accomplice, the government.

IndustriALL calls on its affiliates to take solidarity action on behalf of our colleague, Óscar Orozco, and write letters of protest to the Colombian authorities, demanding that they investigate and punish the physical and intellectual authors of these attacks and put an end to impunity for crimes against trade unionists and members of other social movements in Colombia (see attached note).

Pablo Emilio Santos Nieto, national president of SINTRAELECOL said: “we are very concerned for the life of our colleague, Orozco. Providing another couple of police escort cars is not enough, we are asking for an end to impunity for these crimes”.

Scab-made medical gloves sicken Ansell workers in Sri Lanka

Join the IndustriALL-LabourStart Campaign here.

IndustriALL Global Union is mobilising solidarity behind its Sri Lankan affiliate the Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union (FTZGSEU). The FTZGSEU has organised and defended the workers at the Ansell Lanka Ltd factory in the Biyagama Export Promotion Zone for many years. Ansell has an ugly history of union busting at the factory since 1994, when management refused to recognise FTZGSEU as the legitimate bargaining partner that led to demonstrations in which one worker was shot dead by police.

Large purchasers of Ansell products include national, regional and local governments, military, health care institutions (hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, home-care companies), correctional institutions, security agencies and companies, safety equipment supply houses, laboratory supply houses, and retailers. In communications to these institutions IndustriALL Global Union’s message is to check usage of "Dirty Gloves".

The company’s refusal to recognise the FTZGSEU continues now and was the primary reason for the 800-worker strike that is on going since 11 October. The strike is the longest ever in a Sri Lankan free trade zone. Management’s retaliation to the strike has been appalling and constitutes a clear strategy of crushing the union completely.

The union president was summarily sacked on 11 November, without any disciplinary inquiry. The only reason given for the sacking was that the branch union president had insinuated to police that management was involved when two men on a motorbike assaulted him.

Since that first sacking, a further 10 summary sackings have been made, including other key branch union office bearers. Contract agency workers, following a long-term strategy to weaken the union by outsourcing the factory’s workforce, replace all suspended and sacked workers. Ansell has shown equal arrogance in face of the Sri Lankan authorities, ignoring recommendations as well as meeting invites.

IndustriALL has exhausted all avenues of remediation with Ansell, after a number of letters sent over a period of over a year, to which the company only flatly denied any accusation of anti-union activity in Sri Lanka and never accepted repeated offers of a meeting.

IndustriALL is teaming with LabourStart to launch a mass online petition condemning this corporate behaviour. LabourStart will call on its large mail lists of trade union activists to write to Ansell CEO Magnus Nicolin and other top management, calling on the company to halt its union busting in Sri Lanka and instead enter into good faith bargaining with FTZGSEU to build positive industrial relations at the plant. Join the thousands of angry activists writing to Ansell now at this link – http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=2053

IndustriALL and its affiliates in North America, Australia and Europe are now expanding the solidarity campaign by informing hospitals and other customers of Ansell of the dirt on the surgical gloves they buy. An OECD complaint will be lodged soon also.

FTZGSEU also needs your financial support. Over 80 per cent of the strikers have children. The union has set up a strike fund into which you and your union can transfer financial support. Write to [email protected] for the details.

You can also send a message of solidarity to the striking FTZGSEU workers on the messaging tool opposite this article.

Ansell must change its consistent anti-union policy in operations around the world. At the Kurin site in Malaysia, the Ansell management has refused to negotiate or dialogue in good faith with the union.

Support action at the ILO to defend the right to strike

IndustriALL affiliates can take action by sending letters, requesting discussions and organizing meetings. More information is available in the ITUC newsletter.

Materials unions intensify global solidarity

The Bangkok Conference examined recent developments in the materials industries, and discussed the severe challenges that unions face, particularly job losses, deterioration in working conditions and the future of employment in the sectors. Particular attention was given to the campaign that the European trade unions conducted for the survival of the glass industry.

The delegates precarious work as one of the most threatening practices for workers in the materials industries all over the world on the basis of experiences and lessons learnt, and decided to pledge full support to IndustriALL’s worldwide fight to STOP Precarious Work. Health and safety issues were also debated with particular emphasis on occupational diseases in the sector.

Trade union networks and global framework agreements were also on the agenda of the meeting, and delegates underlined the importance of networking in multinational companies dominating materials sectors, such as Holcim, Lafarge, Saint Gobain, Asahi Glass, Nippon Sheet Glass and Owens Ilinois (O-I).

IndustriALL’s organizing and campaigning programme through experiences from Asia was intensely discussed. Sustainable industrial policy in the materials industries was part of the presentations and panels. The Future of sectors and employees were focused in the context of sustainability.

All working men and women deserve a clean and safe workplace; respect and fair treatment from their employer

said Newton B. Jones, Chairman of the IndustriALL Global Union’s Materials Industries Section, also International President of Boilermakers.

Today, by necessity, we commit to global unity.  We join hands.  We link arms.  And we stand together with our newly-formed federation of International labor unions as the IndustriALL Global Union.

He continued

To conclude, the delegates discussed and unanimously adopted an action plan for the sector covering the upcoming four years. The action plan includedthe following:

The Conference elected new leadership for the Section. Newton B. Jones of the Boilermakers of North America was re-elected as Chairperson while Rosemeire Theodoro dos Santos of CNQ-CUT of Brazil became Vice-Chairperson. Along with this, the delegates decided to create a Steering Committee where Peter Schuld from IG BCE of Germany, and Bambang Surjono from FSP-KEP of Indonesia will work together with the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson.

“The delegates in the Bangkok Conference made very good discussions and adopted an action plan in line with IndustriALL’s general strategies”

said Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL’s Assistant General Secretary.

IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa Region creates Women’s Committee

One of the main concerns raised by the Committee, was how to reach the many women in the huge continent of Africa. The Committee also wanted to avoid the exclusion of any countries. But as a start the structure was conceived this way, and the women pledged to make it work.

The women’s committee will always meet in connection to the regional executive. The women and indeed the men welcomed the establishment of the structure because that would be one step toward changing the masculine make-up of IndustriALL.

In addition it was agreed to set up national structures to feed into the regional structure. The regional office will need to monitor the national activities. In addition the region was divided up among the office bearers.

Christine Oliver and Jane Ragoo will attend to Southern Africa, Angeline Chitambo and Margaret Ndagile to East and Central Africa and Beauty Zibula and Yuyi Sikanu to West Africa. They are responsible for reporting on challenges and activities in those sub-regions. They will challenge the affiliates to organize women’s activities. Unions have to contribute more to achieve the objectives.

The women saw the following roles for the women’s structure:

On 5 November the women met with some 50 women from IndustriALL’s Nigerian affiliates. There was a fruitful exchange that focused mainly on issues of women’s leadership.

Rana Plaza compensation talks still frustrate

Meeting yesterday, 14 November at the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the various parties involved in compensation negotiations once again discussed establishing a fund to pay survivors and families of the dead workers of Rana Plaza. Almost seven months have passed since the building collapse.

Relatives of the dead workers visit the Rana Plaza site every day in Savar, Bangladesh. While they remember their lost loved ones, the labels of well-known clothing brands are easy to find in the rubble next to them.

The situation for many of the survivors and their families is extreme. Rana Plaza survivors told IndustriALL at the site that around 90 per cent of all employees of the five collapsed factories are still unable to work due to the psychological damage the collapse caused.

How can the brands that sourced from Rana Plaza continue to refuse to pay what they are obliged under international employment standards and ILO Convention 121?

Said IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Monika Kemperle,

We can commend the brands who have so far been committed to the talks process and we have made good progress under the expert guidance of ILO. The Arrangement has been signed by four brands Primark, Loblaw, Bonmarche and El Corte Ingles. This Arrangement will establish the independent fund in Bangladesh into which the brands will pay, as well as local actors.

Those four brands have led the way and sent a clear signal to consumers everywhere of their sincerity to the accident in their supply chain. We call upon other brands to follow their example, and expect them to continue to lead with full commitment to the Arrangement and implement a joint response under the auspices of the Coordination Committee chaired by the ILO.

Yesterday’s meeting had participation via teleconference from ILO Dhaka with the Bangladeshi government, BGMEA, IndustriALL Bangladesh Council and the NCCWE Bangladeshi workers’ body.  

“All brands need to step up – and stop hiding or presenting excuses. No brand can go it alone on compensation – by doing so they will fail the majority of workers and any compensation paid out will be partial, limited and unpredictable." said Ineke Zeldenrust of the Clean Clothes Campaign. 

The Arrangement will ensure that ALL the victims of this terrible disaster finally get the compensation they deserve in a transparent manner with independent oversight. We are urging all brands to commit to signing the Arrangement now and to work with the committee to enable payments to begin.

The Bangladeshi government is under pressure to soon sign the MoU following minor amendments to the text, and BGMEA will follow.

Further discussion will consider how to incorporate the increased minimum wage, scheduled to be announced in a week’s time, into the compensation figures. The next compensation meeting is scheduled for 28 November.

Affiliates in Tunisia and Morocco Reinforce Unity

Attended by the affiliates of IndustriALL Global Union in Tunisia and Morocco, the unity building meetings, one in Tunis on October 21-22 and another in Casablanca on October 23-24, discussed expectations and formalized priorities. The meetings were also attended by German and French affiliates.

Participants at the meetings in Tunisia came from the affiliated unions in metal, petrochemical and textile & garment sectors, belonging to the national center UGTT, which is by large the biggest trade union confederation in the country. The UGTT played a key role during the Arab Spring, and is a respected actor in key political negotiations taking place in the country at the moment.
                  
Unions voiced their hopes for the continuation and strengthening of the present bilateral activities regarding multinationals in the metal sector, and the expansion of those activities to other companies, countries and industries. Assisting in the struggles against unemployment and youth unemployment was seen as of particular importance for IndustriALL.

At the seminar in Casablanca, participants were from two of IndustriALL’s affiliates, representing electric power workers and textile workers along with potential affiliates from metal, chemical, mining and oil & gas sectors. Both aerospace, a new industry for the participating unions, and the electric, automotive and textile sector were discussed.

Common issues in Tunisia and Morocco
In both countries the decision was taken to establish national councils. This is a step towards bringing together both affiliates and potential affiliates to discuss international activities, and to coordinate IndustriALL’s activities in the country. Precarious work, especially in the metal and mining sectors, and the protection of women workers are issues that will benefit from increased coordination in the area.

Networks were also discussed, both industrial and company networks at sub-regional, regional and global levels. The participating unions pointed out a need for IndustriALL to develop networks covering oil and gas workers, phosphate mining and textile workers, as well as promoting their inclusion in all relevant Global Networks at both industrial and company level.

“The industrial situation in Tunisia and Morocco requires a special union strategy” said Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL’s Assistant General Secretary. “There is huge potentials in both countries, and we will conduct result-oriented actions to boost union presence in the multinational companies”.

The long road towards ILO–compliant Labour and Trade Union Laws in Iraq

High level delegations from five confederations in Iraq and the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) met together with representatives of ILO-ACTRAV, ITUC, IndustriALL Global Union and the International Transport Federation (ITF) over five days. The meetings were supported and coordinated by ACILS-SC as the latest part of an extensive program aimed at achieving ILO-compliant Labour legislation throughout the country. On the first day the trade union delegation met alone to prepare their negotiating positions and a further meeting on the final day allowed the next stages of the on-going campaign to be considered and an action plan produced.

A government delegation, including senior officials from the Ministry of Labour as well as the Labour Committee of the Iraqi Parliament, attended the three central days and extensive discussions of a draft Labour Law and a series of different draft Trade Union laws took place. Draft trade union laws had been prepared by the ministry, the shura council and the parliament as well as a fully ILO-compliant version produced by the trade unions with the help of their international partners.

Discussions were wide-ranging and goodwill expressed by all sides with a general view from all that future laws should meet international standards and conventions and be ILO-compliant. However there was no unanimity over what this required in practice.

With regard to the Labour Law a draft version, largely ILO-compliant, was discussed with minor alterations suggested. Such a law however would not apply in the public sector where workers and employees are covered by civil service legislation which in some areas is preferred by the workforce in question.

Consequently the proposals are for a separate law regarding trade unions and freedom of association and it was here that the discussions were more contentious. There was agreement that the two laws needed to proceed through parliament in parallel. A clear bottom line for the unions is that such a trade union law must apply to workers and employees throughout what is classified in Iraq as the public sector (over 80% of the economy) and it must also recognize the present day reality of trade union pluralism. The old laws of the Saddam Hussein era, presently used against trade union organisation, need to be consigned to the dustbin of history and a new era of respect for trade union rights begun.

Iraqi workers need good laws now!

Despite the repression, Iraqi workers have managed to form their own unions and in recent years six Iraqi affiliates representing workers in our industries have joined IndustriALL Global Union. In an effort to coordinate and consolidate forces, these unions came together in Baghdad, July 10, 2013 and created a new IndustriALL Global Union National Council. This is an important step towards a united struggle for new trade union legislation. Assistant General Secretary Kemal Özkan was present at the founding meeting.

We strongly support our affiliates’ demands that the Iraqi government respects the rights to form and join unions in both the private and public sectors as well as the right to free assembly and demonstration. It is essential that a fair and just ILO-compliant labour and trade union law that respects workers’ rights is enacted as a matter of urgency.

In Iraq, roughly 80% of all industries are in the public sector. It is appalling that Saddam was brought down but his notorious Public Law 150 banning all trade union activity in the public sector, remains in force and Iraq is still without a legal framework for industrial relations that meets ILO standards. Iraqi Labour legislation, as presently enforced, denies unions and their members basic rights.

While in Iraq, Kemal Özkan also met with Mr Osama Al-Nujaifi, Speaker of Iraqi Parliament, Mr Nassar Al-Rubuiee, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, and Mr Kanna Yonadam, Chair of Labour and Social Affairs Committee at the Parliament, discussing the current legislation. IndustriALL made it clear that the new law must cover the public sector. Legislation should also make it easier to form a union by ensuring that requirements follow ILO norms and standards – trade unions must be allowed to determine and establish their own democratic structures, and the law must provide effective guarantees against interference in the trade union movement’s activities by government and employers.

“Our mission was very timely”, says IndustriALL’s Kemal Özkan:

If the trade union legislation is not adopted now, nobody knows when the next opportunity will be, and we cannot wait years and years for this.

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said:

For 25 years, the vast majority of Iraqi workers have been deprived of the fundamental right to freedom of association. After repeated promises over the years to amend the trade union law, the Iraqi parliament finally appears poised to do so. However, most recent drafts reflect a failure of political will to address the major flaws of the Hussein-era legislation, including to extend the legal right to freedom of association to the vast public sector. This is unacceptable. We urge the parliament not to squander this opportunity to at last bring its laws into line with international standards.

With this is mind IndustriALL Global Union, in cooperation with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), is launching this campaign. Use the online petition linked to this article to write to the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Labour and Social Affairs. Register your urgent support for a new labour law that respects workers’ fundamental rights.

Persecution of trade unions continues in Colombia: USO leader detained

USO, an IndustriALL affiliate, has denounced the detention of Darío Cárdenas and announced it will report the matter to national and international bodies to request assistance in ending persecution of the union.

“It is clear that the government, state security forces and oil companies, particularly Pacific Rubiales Energy, have formulated a strategy to prevent, at all costs, USO from establishing a presence in new oil production areas in the department of Meta, as this is the biggest oil producing region in the country. This is another government attack on trade unionism and conforms to a central facet of this strategy: leaders who have not already been killed by the paramilitaries or army should be brought before the courts and imprisoned. We face a perverse alliance of employers, corrupt court officials and members of the security forces, who have joined together in a crusade to work against trade union freedoms and punish workers’ organisations for their activities”, said the union.

USO reiterated that the charges against its leader are spurious and are part of a campaign against the freedom of organisation that also involves the distribution of leaflets, defamation and threats against leaders and their families.

IndustriALL Global Union repudiates this regrettable persecution of our trade union colleague Darío Cárdenas, which constitutes a violation of trade union rights. IndustriALL Global Union extends its solidarity to USO and supports its actions in defence of the interests of Colombian workers.