Climate Change a Threat to the Labour Movement

Climate change threatens everything the labour movement stands for: fairness, social justice, decent work. The science is unequivocal. The need for action to limit climate disruption – no longer prevent, but limit – is clear, and urgent. Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, coinciding with the current round of climate talks (COP19) illustrates the urgency for nations to accept firm and ambitious emissions reduction targets.

Unsurprisingly, powerful voices are waging a campaign of disinformation and job blackmail to delay action. This has nothing to do with science, and everything to do with trillions of dollars worth of fossil fuel reserves whose value may be affected by any action plan.

Likewise, it has nothing to do with genuine concern for working people. The corporate and governmental climate deniers who now pretend concern for jobs are the same ones that have attacked workers and their unions for decades. As Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union says,

This is a class war. While billionaires prepare safe havens for themselves and their money, workers will pay the price of climate change; as will, disproportionately, the world's poorest populations.

According to Raina, "Governments must act now, in the interests of their citizens, and generations to come. We want a fair, ambitious, and binding deal on greenhouse gas emissions. We want sustainable industrial policies that create decent jobs in sustainable energy, and efficient, greener production. We want equitable and reliable access to food, water, and energy for all people. And we need a Just Transition to get to that future from here."

A transformation is coming. The choice we have is whether it will be a violent scramble for resources such as water, energy, and fertile land; desperate last-minute survival measures that completely dismiss human rights and social protection; or an orderly and Just Transition that respects and protects present-day workers while creating new decent work in sustainable industries. Says Raina, "The casino economy has no answers to these questions. We must plan a hopeful future for all workers, including those in industries that may be impacted by efforts to limit greenhouse gases. It is simple social justice".

Jyrki Raina concluded: "There is no credibility in ignoring climate change or becoming the last defenders of the indefensible. Yes, we have a responsibility to worry about jobs and the economy, but there are no jobs on a dead planet."

Cambodia – escalating violence against workers results in shooting

On 12 November workers marched to the Prime Minister's Office in Phnom Penh to demand help to solve a conflict with SL Garment. The response was water shots by police and military troops, with violence escalating to the point where one woman was killed and at least eight other people were seriously injured. Some of the demonstrating workers were charged with criminal offences and sent to jail.

The conflict at SL Garment started when the management began using police and military troops as security guards on the factory premises. Workers felt threatened by the presence of armed police, and felt that operational changes were made to their disadvantage. IndustriALL affiliate C.CAWDU sought dialogue with the management, demanding withdrawal of armed militaries and policemen, dismissal of the manager who is harassing the workers, and that the operations are reverted back to the original shifts.

With no answer from management workers went on strike; a strike that has lasted three months. Major brands supplying from the factory have asked the management to come in good faith to the negotiation table, but to no avail. Instead, the presence of military troops has intensified, also intensifying the feelings of anxiety and frustration among the workers. And despite the loss of a life and several injured, the owner of SL Garment still refuses to have a constructive dialogue with the trade union.

IndudstriALL Assistant General Secretary Monika Kemperle says:

"IndustriALL supports our affiliate and ask for a constructive dialogue with all stakeholders in Cambodia. We call on the government to stop the violence against workers and we call on the factory owners to start a dialogue with the unions as soon as possible."

Building mature industrial relations with the unions is not only beneficial for the workers, but also for the management and ultimately for the country. This has to be the last loss of life in Cambodia over disagreement between management and workers.

La Sierrita members detained two days before hearing against Excellon

The national security forces have arbitrarily detained Omar Pacheco, Adolfo Gómez Chareo, Julio Orona, Luis Orona and Ricardo Calderón, all residents of the La Sierrita de Galeana community in Durango state and relatives of ejido (land cooperative) members. Moreover, two days previously, they detained another resident of the community, Héctor Pacheco, also a relative of an ejido member. With the exception of the last three named, these people are also members of Local 309 of the National Miners’ Union (SNTMMSSRM).

The La Sierrita ejido has been fighting to defend its land and natural resources from Excellon de Mexico S. A. de C. V., a subsidiary of the Canadian company, Excellon Resources Inc., since 2004. PRODESC, a non-governmental organisation that works on important cases concerning the violation of economic, social and cultural rights, has been assisting the ejido since 2007 and workers at Excellon’s La Platosa mine since 2010.

Ejido members have been subjected to repeated harassment and this has intensified in recent months after the ejido decided to rescind its contract with Excellon. The contract allowed the company to temporarily occupy 1,100 hectares of the ejido but the cooperative says the company has failed to comply with the conditions set out in the contract. The presence of the army and the state police force has also increased recently. For example, army vehicles have parked outside the homes of certain ejido members and state police have patrolled the community, shining high power torches inside some homes.

IndustriALL supports PRODESC’s demands, reiterates its solidarity and calls on affiliates to write to the Mexican government (contact details in attached document).

The demands are:

1. Any charges made against the detainees should be immediately withdrawn because the people concerned have only been acting in legitimate and peaceful defence of their human rights and those of their families;

2. Those responsible for the actions outlined above should be investigated, identified and punished;

3. Members of the La Sierrita de Galeana ejido and PRODESC and their families should be offered protection and guarantees for their physical and psychological security and integrity, in accordance with their own wishes;

4. The human rights of La Sierrita de Galeana ejido and PRODESC members should be respected in accordance with the highest international standards and any kind of attack or abuse of power against them should be punished;

5. The federal government should launch a campaign to highlight the importance and legitimacy of the work done by human rights defenders to defend labour and land rights.

USW resists Asarco’s demands for concessions

The unions represent nearly 2,000 hourly employees at Asarco’s American mines, smelters, and refineries spread across four locations in Arizona and one in Texas. As their previous agreement was set to expire on July 1, workers have remained on the job while negotiations proceed with a contract extension subject to a 15-day notice to terminate.

Asarco’s most recent proposal demands far-reaching cuts to the existing contract, including freezing the pension plan, cutting medical benefits and eliminating future retiree healthcare. Asarco also wants to reduce the copper price bonus, a negotiated benefit that allows workers to share in the company’s success.

“Grupo Mexico is an international corporation, so their refusal to bargain fairly requires a global response,” said IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina. “IndustriALL stands behind the USW, and we ask any individual or organization with dealings with Grupo to call on the company to treat its American workers with the justice and dignity they deserve.”

The company’s most recent economic proposals are the latest in a long string of demands for concessions on nearly every issue from random drug testing to harsh new attendance policies.

“These actions do not surprise us, given Grupo Mexico’s permanent campaign against our union,” wrote the National Executive Committee of the Mexican labor union Los Mineros in a letter of support to the USW.

Over the last eight years, Los Mineros has also struggled in negotiations with Grupo Mexico, including the company’s violent response to strikes over health and safety conditions in Taxco, Sombrerete and Cananea.

More than a dozen sections of Los Mineros also wrote letters of support, and the unions at the Southern Peru Copper Corporation, also owned by Grupo Mexico, have similarly expressed their solidarity.

Support Gazprom workers rights in Bashkortostan

In Bashkortostan, workers employed by the JSC Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat (ex Salavatnefteorgsintez) members of IndustriALL through the Russian chemical workers’ union (RCWU) local remain subject to pressure from the company forcing them to leave their genuine representative organization and to join a yellow union created by the management.

In a bid to resist the attacks and attract public attention to their cause RCWU local has recently organized a number of one-person pickets. Unfortunately, as the local authorities deny the requests of the union for bigger pickets, one-man pickets remain one of few available forms of protests and the union requires international solidarity support.

IndustriALL sent a letter of protest to Director General of JSC Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat as well as to Deputy chairman of the board of directors of OAO Gazprom demanding a proper investigation and correction of the situation in their company and now appeals to all affiliates asking them to send their protests through the special on-line protest form published here.

Union protest ends in Peru

Though the workers did not achieve their goal of forcing the company to respect a recent government ruling recognizing their permanent employment relationship, they did succeed in focusing attention on the travesty of Peru’s abusive ‘non-traditional export’ contracts. The union also obtained from the company a commitment that it will make the workers permanent if it fails in its attempts to overturn the ruling on appeal.

Union members at Hialpesa are determined to continue to fight for their rights through all possible channels, and they have the full support of IndustriAll for whom Peru’s non-traditional export contracts are a priority issue.

IndustriAll Global Union has warned the brands sourcing from the company that while the immediate conflict may be over the underlying problem remains unresolved and must be tackled.

UNI Global Union Alliance @ Walmart calls for global actions

The US multinational Walmart is the largest and richest retailer in the world with profits over US$17 billion. And it’s owned by one of the richest families in the world – the Waltons – who are worth more than US$144 billion. Yet when workers have spoken out seeking to improve their jobs Walmart and the Waltons have refused. In the United States when workers in OUR Walmart, the US organization of Walmart workers, have spoken out for better jobs, Walmart has tried to silence and intimidate those who speak out through unfair disciplinary actions, cutbacks in hours and even firings.

Now workers and their unions in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Zambia and the United States are joining together to demand better pay and working conditions for the 2.2 million Walmart workers through the UNI Global Union Alliance @ Walmart. The Alliance is committed to building a strong network among its members to fight for fairness, decent working conditions and a union voice for all Walmart workers. In addition, workers in Walmart’s supply chains are calling for Walmart to improve their working conditions by implementing responsible sourcing policies.

Increased minimum wage in Indonesia at a violent cost

Workers demanded a 50% increase of the minimum wage, the implementation of national health security without exception on 1 January 2014 instead of a gradual implementation by 2019, the abolition of outsourcing, the enactment of a law on domestic workers, and the annulment of Mass Organisation law. As a result of the strike, some of the local governments have promised an increase in the minimum wage between 30 and 40 per cent. However, the Govenor of Jakarta opted for a mere 9 per cent increase.

According to Said Iqbal, President of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate FSPMI and the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI), this is “not realistic and irrational”, as the raise will not cover the living costs.

In the wake of the national demonstrations, IndustriALL representative in South East Asia Pacific, Vonny Diananto, conducted a solidarity trip to Indonesia. Meeting with trade union representatives, Vonny Diananto conveyed IndustriALL’s message of support for a living wage and basic social protection.”

Violent end to demonstrations

The legal and peaceful protest was set upon by paid thugs, resulting in an attack on 28 workers. Seventeen of them were severely injured and are currently hospitalized, three of which are in critical condition.

Said Iqbal is outraged:

“They workers were attacked while fighting for their rights, and the police let this happen. They let the thugs carry weapon and stab and slash the workers. This is a tragedy and democracy in Indonesia is under threat. The police need to find those responsible for this and take legal action against them. “

Jyrki Raina, General Secretary at IndustriALL, slams the attacks on peaceful demonstrators:

“This violation of human rights and workers’ right to strike is wholly unacceptable. IndustriALL condemns the violence and will closely monitor the situation in Indonesia.”

IndustriALL repudiates killing of Colombian peasant leader

César García was engaged in the defence of peasant lands and was a leader of the environment movement. He was president of the La Vereda Cajón La Leona Community Action Committee, a member of the Cajamarca Environment and Peasant Committee and of the Tolima Environment and Peasant Committees Network.

La Colosa is an opencast mine opposed by local people because they feel it will have a disastrous impact on the community and the environment. The community has expressed its rejection of the project in a series of mass carnival marches in defence of water and life and in a popular referendum organised in the municipality of Piedras on 28 July. On that occasion, 99.2 per cent of votes were against the mega-mining project in a 60 per cent turnout of the electorate.

IndustriALL regrets this tragedy, which took place in the context of a major campaign to criminalise the organisations that have expressed their opposition to the project.

Members of the Environment Committee are being called enemies of progress in the region and have suffered threats and intimidation. On 26 October, a group of six people were hurt in an explosion on the highway. During a Rural Strike, several Cajamarca peasant and environment movement leaders and members of the Environment and Peasant Committee were threatened. Government security forces were implicated in these threats.

In response to César García’s death and the seriousness of the situation, environmental, human rights and trade union rights organisations call on:

The Defender of the People to use the institution’s Early Warning System to document and issue warnings of the imminent threat to leaders of the Cajamarca Environmental Committee.
The Ministry of the Interior’s Protection Unit to work with the Defender of the People to take measures to protect the committee’s leaders in order to prevent further killings and forced disappearances.
The National Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to begin an ex-officio investigation into the killing of César García, allocate the case immediately to an investigator, investigate the reasons for the crime and capture the perpetrators.
The Tolima Governor, as regional authority, to ask the competent authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation of the events, to identify the killers of César García and the intellectual authors of the crime and to pursue a line of inquiry based on consideration of who benefits from the crime.
The international community to disseminate this communique, write to the Colombian government requesting protection of the life and personal integrity and security of the committee’s leaders and campaign for an end to mining in the area.
The people of Tolima, the region and the country to send delegations to Cajamarca, Tolima, to attend events currently being organised to ensure there is no impunity for the killers of our colleague César García.

IndustriALL supports all these demands and calls on its affiliates to give their solidarity to the Colombian peasants who are being threatened and frightened just because they are defending their lands. IndustriALL demands an immediate investigation into the killing of César García and asks the authorities to provide guarantees for the security of the members of the community that are opposed to the La Colosa gold mining project.

Minimum wage negotiations continue in Bangladesh

The BGMEA-BKMEA employers associations publically condemned the 77% increase proposed by the wage board and threatened to close factories in protest of any figure above 4,500 taka.

Working people have been hit by sharp recent increases to the price of essential commodities and food. The six-member National Minimum Wage Board is a government-appointed tripartite body that reviews the minimum wage of all industrial sectors in Bangladesh. The IBC was surprised by the swift announcement from the wage board especially without comprehensive consultation. The IBC has previously criticised the choice of worker representative on the board.

The 5,300 taka proposal includes allowances for food, travel and housing. These allowances worth approximately 300 taka are often already paid to workers.

IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC) Chairman Nazrul Islam Khan and Secretary General Roy Ramesh Chandra in a joint statement today on behalf of the IBC highly criticised the minimum wage board’s latest minimum wage declaration and the factory owners’ aggressive reaction.

IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Jyrki Raina told the press today:

An absolute priority for IndustriALL Global Union is that the Bangladeshi garment workers throughout the country's industry start to receive a living wage. IndustriALL supports the principle of fair pricing. The next round of purchasing contracts with the brands must take account of the increased salary.
I have discussed with BGMEA-BKMEA that one essential part of making the Bangladeshi garment industry safe and sustainable and to ensure its future is to raise the wages of workers from today’s low levels towards living wages. The others are fire and building safety and freedom of association.
IndustriALL has been in discussions on the issue of minimum wages with the brands and has not received any opposition to a significant increase. H&M, Primark and Inditex have all been vocal in encouraging an increase, while even Walmart have been quoted this week as supporting the review of wages.
The 109 brands and retailers to have signed the historic Accord for Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh with IndustriALL and UNI all commit to staying in the country for the long term. The Accord brands constitute a critical mass of the industry in the country and their commitments through the Accord will both raise standards and protect jobs. We want the garment industry to stay in Bangladesh, but with safe and sustainable jobs and living wages.

The 109th company signatory to the Accord joined the broad coalition with IndustriALL and UNI today.