Russian oil and gas workers fight back attack on their rights

On 24 October 2013 the Constitutional Court of Russian Federation issued a verdict in favour of ROGWU’s complaint against violation of its rights by the Gagarin district court of Moscow, Ministry of Justice, Office of the Prosecutor General and the Supreme Court of Russian Federation. The case also sets the precedent for other Russian unions who can now build their structure according to their internal decisions.

The story began two years ago when ROGWU Congress introduced changes into ROGWU statutes referring to internal structure of the union. According to the national law Ministry of Justice has to formally approve new statutes, if those do not violate federal law, without any preconditions, and with reference to the international legal obligations of Russia, in this case particularly to the ratified fundamental ILO conventions 87 and 98.

Unfortunately the Ministry of Justice decided to interpret the article in the Law on Trade Unions named "Basic Definitions" as an exhaustive list of allowed union structures. The Ministry addressed a complaint to the Office of the Prosecutor General, which urged regional court to file a legal case. Consequently ROGWU received a verdict urging it to dissolve many of its structures created over past 20 years by the union in order to maintain collective bargaining and social dialogue with permanently emerging business units and structures. De facto this court ruling undermined union capacity to fulfil its main functions.

ROGWU interpreted this verdict as an interference with their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Russian Constitution, Russian law and basic ILO Conventions ratified by Russia. None of the complaints filed by ROGWU have found support in either the Supreme Court or the Office of Prosecutor General. Finally, the union brought the issue up to the Constitutional Court of Russia and simultaneously reported the case with the ILO Workers' group as part of the IndustriALL delegation at the International Labour Conference in Geneva in June 2013.

On the eve of the hearings in the Constitutional Court Jyrki Raina, Secretary General of IndustriAll sent a letter to the Constitutional Court of Russia supporting the international legal expertise regarding the ROGWU case and urging Constitutional Court to restore the rule of law and bring justice to labour relations in Russia.

The result is that the Constitutional Court of Russia qualified actions of the Ministry of Justice, Office of Prosecutor General, Gagarin district court of Moscow and Supreme Court as anti-constitutional interference into the union affairs, violation of the Russian law and international obligation of Russia and demanded unconditional and just revision of the earlier verdicts.

Cameroon Actions

IndustriALL affiliate in Cameroon, The Syndicat National Autonome des Travailleurs de l'Energie et de l'Eau du Cameroon (SYNATEEC), mobilized their members on 7 October on the occasion of the World Day For Decent Work. Meetings and seminars were held to discuss the growing issue of precarious work and find solutions to combat the problem.

Japan Actions

This year the Japan Council of Metalworkers' Unions -JCM took action for the worldwide campaign to Stop Precarious Work on 25 October in Tokyo.  Members of JCM including

the Executive Committee members of the organization distributed their leaflet calling for the decent work.

At first, IndustriALL Japanese affiliates the JCM, IndustriALL-JAF and UA Zensen had organized a rally in Tokyo in collaboration with JTUC-RENGO and other GUFs in Japan, but it was cancelled twice due to a typhoon.

JTUC-RENGO adopted an appeal for the World Day for Decent Work 2013 at their Congress which was held on 3 and 4October.

Strategy planning by global network at TATA Steel

Tata has an internal Code of Conduct, which sets out its vision and values for the company at all its global operations. This Code acts as a corporate standard, and is welcomed by the network. However, during the meeting it became clear that in some cases the code has not been fully implemented. For example local management in Thailand appear to have little knowledge or concern of its content. The network has an important role to play in improving this situation, and has committed to raise the issue with Senior Management and ensure implementation in all operations of the company.

Michael Leahy, President, Base Metals Section of IndustriALL says

“TATA prides itself as the world’s most ethical company, the Code of Conduct is a central pillar in that philosophy. I want to see the same level of commitment we have in Europe and India in places like Thailand. Our priority is to work with the company and unions to make that a reality”.

Despite the fact that Senior Management did not attend the meeting and deal with the concerns directly, the network has developed an action plan to support the local unions. The network will also approach senior management to host a global network meeting in India in 2014. In addition to implementation of the Code of Conduct, the unions would also like to develop a joint approach on issues such as health and safety standards in the company.

Unite reaches a deal with Ineos in Grangemouth

Unite, local activists and rank-and-file members struggled hard for securing their jobs and working conditions of 1,370 permanent and 2,000 contract workers in Grangemouth refinery. According to Unite the Union, the agreement will guarantee the future of skilled and well-paid work at Grangemouth well into the future.

Ineos promised to make some £300 million to secure the site’s future. Unite and its members waged all efforts in order to keep their factory open.

“This is the bitter harvest of years of laws designed to weaken trade unionism, of neoliberal dogma that rules public ownership out of court, and of rule by a smug elite whose greatest achievement is not economic or social, but to have paralysed the will of politicians, commented Len McCluskey, Unite General Secretary, in his blog at The Guardian available through the link “Grangemouth shows the inequality of the fight that unions face now”.

Serious dispute at cardboard company in Honduras

When the workers formed a trade union one year ago in response to the abuses to which they were subjected, including non-payment of the minimum wage, the company made their life a misery. It transferred their leaders to very hot workplaces, exposed to the sun and without access to water; forced them to unload containers even though this work was not stipulated in their employment contracts; and locked them out if they arrived one minute after their scheduled starting time of 7am, meaning that they lost a day’s pay and a weekly bonus.

On 15 August this year, in protest at the company’s unfair treatment, all the workers decided to report for work at 7.15am

The company closed the gates and, in the following days, sacked about 70 workers without paying the benefits due to them. The company suspended the members of the union’s executive committee on full pay while it applies to the labour courts for authorisation to dismiss them.

In response to the company’s non-payment of the minimum wage, the union has lodged a complaint with the labour courts and asked them to impose a pay rise to cover the last two years.

IndustriALL Global Union has written to the government of Honduras, through the Ministry of Labour, demanding that it tries again to promote negotiations between the two parties with a view to resolving the dispute.

Nationwide strike in Indonesia announced for 31 October

Indonesian trade unions will strike to demand a 50 percent rise in the minimum salary, end to outsourced precarious work, and implementation of health insurance and introduction of laws to protect Indonesian domestic workers.

Said Iqbal, President of IndustriALL Global Union affiliate FSPMI and the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI), confirms that three million workers in twenty Provinces (with three more Provinces to join) and 150 Districts/Cities (potentially 200) will join the national strike. The strike covers diverse industries and occupations, including outsourced teaching profession, factory, airport, port and transport workers.

“No matter what happens the national strike will proceed as planned. Employers are exploiting the millions of vulnerable workers with low wages, insecure employment contracts and lack of adequate health insurance,” says Said Iqbal.

IndustriALL Global Union supports the cause of the struggle. General Secretary Jyrki Raina says:

“Indonesia is an important part of our global organization. There must be an end to low wages and cheap labour. IndustriALL Global Union stands behind our members in their fight to stop exploitation.”

Information Technology Agreement – countries are warned on consequences

Several WTO members are currently negotiating the expansion of the Agreement to cover information technology (IT) goods created since the first Agreement, in force since 1997. The Agreement covers IT goods that comprise about ten per cent of the global merchandise.

A number or trade union and civil society organisations, including IndustriALL Global Union have drafted a joint letter to the WTO, pointing to the damage the proposals would do to the development of the IT industry in developing countries. The letter warns the participating countries that the Agreement could further harm workers and restrict the prospect of industrialisation for participating developing countries.

“The necessary diffusion of technology and the need to overcome the digital divide within and across countries require policy space for governments in order to implement industrial policies that enable them to develop their own industries or to increase the ownership of production of ICTs (information and communication technologies) in supply chains in which they operate,” it says.

Trade unions and civil society are calling for the negotiations to focus on expanding the potential for decent jobs. They also warn that an expanded ITA will likely benefit mainly multinational enterprises that control patent monopolies and impede technology transfer.

Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, says:

“IndustriALL Global Union is calling for sustainable development in the ICT sector which has been facing driving down wages and the spread of precarious forms of employment as a result of severe global competition driven by the trade agreement.  ITA-II should focus on expanding the potential for decent jobs, especially in the developing countries.”

STOP Precarious Work 2013

As precarious employment continues to spread throughout the globe, the Executive Committee of IndustriALL Global Union has endorsed a worldwide campaign to STOP Precarious Work. The global mobilization of affiliates on the World Day for Decent Work is an important component of the campaign, bringing visibility to the issue and strengthening efforts on the ground.

As IndustriALL’s campaign page shows, unions around the world took to the streets for colourful rallies and demonstrations, while others organized seminars and meetings with the authorities.

I enjoyed the flash mob organized by the Mining and Metallurgy union of Kyrgyzstan. In Nigeria, all affiliated unions together, wearing red and black IndustriALL t-shirts, joined forces with civil society allies to protest against casualization of work and anti-union practices.

And in Thailand, IndustriALL affiliates took the occasion to launch a new joint organization, the Confederation of Industrial Labour of Thailand (CILT), while demonstrating in favour of the ratification of ILO conventions 87 and 98 and a labour law reform.

However, IndustriALL’s STOP Precarious Work campaign is not only about an annual action day, it's about a mainstreamed strategic goal. The issue of precarious work continues to be a standing item on the agenda of all IndustriALL meetings to develop common approaches and actions. We need better laws and collective agreements. We need continuous mobilization and pressure.

Several union networks in multinational companies are undertaking mapping of the incidence of precarious work in their companies and formulating joint strategies to reduce it. New improved language is being introduced to global framework agreements with major corporations like Lafarge and Enel. The “Temporary Work Charter for the Volkswagen Group" remains a benchmark. We need more agreements like this.

IndustriALL’s major externally-funded project is supporting a large number of specific activities in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Regional and national activities are focusing on supporting affiliates to make demands on employers through collective bargaining to limit precarious employment, to push for legislative reform that restricts precarious work, and to resist legislation that expands it.

Organizing precarious workers continues to be a priority. In many cases, union structures do not permit it and need to be reformed.

In October 2012, IndustriALL released a publication attacking the massive expansion of employment via agencies, labour brokers, dispatchers and contractors and the wholesale replacement of permanent, direct employment. ‘The Triangular Trap: Unions take action against agency labour’ exposes the lobbying efforts of the global agency industry body Ciett to remove legal restrictions on agency work. It is still a useful tool for raising awareness of the dangerous impact on workers’ rights.

The massive spread of precarious work is a global problem and we must unite to fight against it. Join us in the global campaign to STOP Precarious Work!

Jyrki Raina

General Secretary

Siemens Employee Federation make efforts on organizing Precarious Workers

IndustriALL Global Union organized Siemens Employees Federation (SEF) Network Meeting on 16-18 October, in Thane, Maharashtra in India. 18 trade union leaders from 8 plants of Siemens, together with Kan Matsuzaki, director ICT Electrical&Electronics of IndustriALL and Dirk Linder, the representative of IG Metall actively discussed the agenda:

The Siemens Group in India employs over 19,000 workers. The group has 21 manufacturing plants with a wide network of supply chains across the country. Unions of the SEF organize approximately 4,000 workers in 13 manufacturing plants, and is the biggest union network of Siemens workers within South Asia and the Southeast Asia region.

Union leaders from different locations shared common issues faced by Siemens workers in India such as pressure by the management. Over the years there has been a significant increase of precarious workers (contract and agency workers) in workplaces, the shifting of jobs from organized workplaces to un-organized workplaces and the de-unionization and unwanted promotion forced by the management. The unions also reported that the precarious workers at Siemens or at Siemens’ suppliers are restrained from joining or forming unions and there is a significant gap between them and the permanent workers with regards to wages, health-care benefits and social security. 

To tackle these issues, the unions have agreed that the SEF needs to gain union density at all of Siemens worksites and to be more powerful on collective negotiation with the management as the union network. At the meeting, the unions unanimously adopted the resolution on organizing workers including precarious workers which highlighted

“It is resolved that all employees working , directly or indirectly for the company, whether in the premises of the company or outside the company will be allowed to be members of respective constituent unions. The unions will make efforts to ensure them the same equal rights, wages and working conditions as of the permanent workers of the company”

The SEF will set up 3 year project to make efforts on organizing all workers working directly or indirectly for Siemens in India to ensure them the same equal rights and working conditions as permanent workers.

The SEF also strongly demanded that the Siemens GFA be implemented at all Siemens worksites and the need for the GFA to help in developing the union network of SEF to defend the workers’ rights and interests.  Uday Mahale, General Secretary of SWU (core union of SEF) stated that

With the view to implement GFA it was decided that SEF will train 55 union representatives. The training will be on  ILO’s core labour standards and significance of other clauses of the GFA. Since Siemens in India has largest operations in South Asia and South East Asia, it is expected that the next Meta-cluster meeting should be held in India. IndustriAll should support SEF to establish links with unions from these regions before the meeting.

On 18 October, Kan Matsuzaki, director ICT Electrical&Electronics of IndustriALL and Dirk Linder, the representative of IG Metall met with the HR management of Siemens India and exchanged views on the importance of a trade union network and the implementation of the GFA. The management expressed their intention towards creating a good and constructive relationship with the Siemens unions and will post the GFAs in local languages at worksites, as the first step of the implementation, in cooperation with the unions.

IndustriALL Global Union and IG Metall will continue to support the activities of the SEF and will focus on the implementation of the GFA as signatory parties.