Dialogue on union rights opened in Mexico

For several years, Mexico has been a target country for IndustriALL Global Union and its founding organizations on trade union rights. One basic problem is that 90 percent of collective agreements are so-called protection contracts, which protect employers from true unions.

As a regular practice, a yellow union signs a very modest agreement with the company, without workers knowing anything of the deal – or that they have a union. Obviously, the “union” leaders bank a nice consultancy fee.

Protection contracts have kept wages low. According to a recent study by Bank of America, Mexican industrial workers earned three times as much as their Chinese comrades ten years ago. Now Chinese salaries are 20 percent above those in Mexico.

Independent unions such the mine and metalworkers’ Los Mineros have been a thorn in the side of major companies. Stubbornly they have negotiated three times higher wage increases as those achieved by yellow unions, sometimes after industrial action.

In 2006, the leader of Los Mineros, Napoleón Gómez, had to leave Mexico for exile in Canada after death threats. The government and major companies generated charges one after another against him. All the charges have been rejected by courts. All is not rotten in Mexico.

After Mexico recently got a new government, IndustriALL together with the ITUC decided to see if a new opening was possible.

On 23 August, Sharan Burrow and I led a joint ITUC-IndustriALL delegation which included the USW. We met with Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto and Labour Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida at the Los Pinos Presidential Palace in Mexico City. The session opened a dialogue that was not possible with the previous government.

The President and Labour Secretary affirmed that the new government has no intention to persecute independent unions. They expressed a commitment to pursue resolution to existing conflicts. In particular they recognized the legitimate leadership of Napoleón Gómez as the head of Los Mineros.

I welcomed the recognition, but I said the judicial game against Napoleón Gómez had to stop. We also went through the ongoing negotiations with the electricians’ union SME to find a solution for the remaining 16,000 workers.

The government committed to a dialogue on protection contracts which they recognized to exist, but not as a legitimate instrument within the law. The labor minister promised to take steps to ratify ILO Convention 98, consult with the ILO Director General regarding a technical review of last year’s labour law reform, and look at dialogue with unions in line with the ILO’s recommendations in the complaint 2694.

All in all, we now have an opening which we will follow up with the Mexican unions and the government. IndustriALL’s Mexico action will continue to bring Napoleón Gómez safely home and ensure the right of every Mexican worker to freely join a union and to enjoy the protection of a true collective agreement.

Indonesian IndustriALL Council Creates Women's Committee

When opening the meeting, Brother Sjaiful, the convenor of the Indonesian Council, explained that according to the IndustriAll guidelines, a national committee was created, in which all 11 affiliates were asked to nominate one representative. It will be chaired by Lilis Mahmudah from SPN. The committee was accompanied by the two IndustriAll ExCo members, Wati Anwar and Nikasi Grinting.
 
Precarious work continues to be the main challenge to unions in Indonesia. One of the most crucial issues with that is maternity protection, because as a rule precarious workers have no maternity protection, maternity leave or maternity pay. Women cannot get married and keep their job if they are contract workers, and if they get pregnant, their contract is cancelled.
 
The committee tabled its aims:
 
 
The committee intends to arrange monthly or bi-monthly meetings. To start with they are keen to make an impact on 7 October, the International Day of Decent Work. Nevertheless they want to prepare interventions according to the trade union calendar – 25 November International Day to Combat Violence against Women, 1 December World Aids Day, 10 December Human Rights Day, 8 March International Women's Day and so forth.
 
The committee meeting was preceded by women only basic training in the project funded by FNV and LO/TCO. At the training the women understood why it is important to join a union, and they learned about the basic concepts of health and safety and collective bargaining. The tools they got were body mapping and reading the balance sheet. HIV/AIDS was another issue that they explored.
 
After the meeting at a visit to Indonesian affiliates FSPMI and KEP precarious work was revealed to indeed be the main challenge. Nevertheless the women insisted that their concerns such as maternity protection, violence on the job and equal treatment in terms of insurance and taxation need to be attended to.

Mutual support organising US VW plant

The delegates of these bodies are members of the Volkswagen World Works Council. This body meets once a year to discuss international issues and management regularly reports to the meeting on the international policy of the company.

Only the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga US is not unionised yet.

But for some time the UAW (the American Autoworkers Union) and the German Works Council at Volkswagen have been working closely together on how to unionise the plant and create a workers representative body at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga US.

In the US a works council can be created only with an agreement with of the union.  

“VW workers in Chattanooga have the unique opportunity to introduce this new model of labour relations to the United States, in partnership with the U.A.W.,” Bob King, president of UAW said.

Volkswagen and U.A.W. officials met in Germany in August to continue previous discussions on how to cooperate in establishing such a system.

Volkswagen has a long tradition in cooperating with unions and the Works Council and therefore Volkswagen has agreed to not oppose any unionisation drive in their plants.

This is a good example in cooperating between different unions to support each other in organising non-unionised plants.

IndustriALL Auto Sector Director Helmut Lense stated:

“In the annual meeting of IndustriALL’s Automotive Working Group we are discussing such possibilities of mutual support and Volkswagen is not the only example.

The colleagues at Mercedes, Volvo, the Japanese Automobile Workers Federation (JAW), colleagues from Ford and GM and others are building networks to support their colleagues in plants far from the headquarters.

That is the way to strengthen unions worldwide and to improve working conditions and workers’ rights.”

Swaziland unions merge for unity and strength

The merger included IndustriALL affiliates, the Swaziland Amalgamated Trade Unions (Satu); Swaziland Manufacturing and Allied workers Unions (Smawu) and the Swaziland Processing, Refinery and Allied Workers Union (Sprawu). Atuswa represents workers in textile, garment, metalworkers, engineering, mining and quarrying as well as retail, hospitality and catering

The merger took forward a resolution of the newly merged federation, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (Tucoswa) to reduce its affiliates from 28 to 3 through merger processes. The merger process has been supported by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) that has been working with the unions for over a year towards the merger.  The process was also supported by IndustriALL and received solidarity support from other countries.

The congress adopted a progressive constitution that has key elements of worker control and accountability. Delegates mandated Atuswa to take forward key demands at the workplace and to engage stakeholders in the country including government to establish a minimum wage and a ban on labour brokers.

The merger congress took place at the same time as the annual global week of action for democracy in Swaziland. Failure to get any of the planned actions off the ground including a panel organized by ITUC to hear experiences of workers, which were suppressed by the government and emphasized the need for unity amongst workers and continued solidarity support in Swaziland.

German unions curb precarious work

IG Metall, member of the German trade union center DGB and an affiliate of IndustriALL, celebrates a remarkable victory in bringing better payment to agency workers. On 16 September in Berlin, the DGB Wage Committee concluded an agreement with two employers' associations IGZ and BAP. The agreement brings increases in the monthly pay for temporary workers. As of 1 January 2014 their pay will rise in three steps by a total of 9.6 per cent in the West Germany and 12.8 per cent in the East, significantly reducing the pay gap between East and West. The agreement, which also prohibits use of temporary workers as strikebreakers, is valid through to 2016.

Helga Schwitzer, Member of the Executive Board of IG Metall, comments on the achievement, "With the secure and improved newly negotiated collective agreement, and in particular the minimum wage of 8.50 euros, we significantly improve the income situation for temporary workers in Germany." 

At the same time Schwitzer emphasizes that, “The collective agreement for temporary workers is not a panacea. The IG Metall union cannot completely solve the problem of unfair agency work through collective agreements, neither the general abuse, nor the lack of minimum wages in many industries. A special policy is required to deal with the problem.”

Schwitzer continues, "Such a policy must not be vague, but must contain clear legal regulations regarding the abuse of temporary work."

IndustriALL is calling on all affiliates to join the global fight against precarious work by taking action on October 7, the World Day for Decent Work. All updates and campaign materials are available on the STOP Precarious Work campaign page http://www.industriall-union.org/stop-precarious-work. Follow us on Twitter @IndustriALL_GU and share your messages about actions and success in the global campaign to STOP Precarious Work by hash tagging them #STOPrecariousWork.

Unions in Colombia show exemplary unity

The executive committees of the electricity industry workers union, SINTRAELECOL, the oil workers’ union, USO and the coal industry workers’ union, SINTRACARBÓN, have issued a public statement announcing a new unity initiative and support for workers currently engaged in labour disputes in the country.

The mining and energy sector unions are confident about making progress with the initiative and are currently disseminating the proposals among their members. The proposals explain the practical implications and political objectives of this quest for trade union unity.

IndustriALL affiliates will hold a national plenary meeting of their executive committees on 24/25 October to discuss the next steps to formulating an action plan to promote unity among their unions.

The statement also said: “If we are to achieve social justice in our country, we believe it is essential to promote and support the dialogue with the guerrilla movements in the search for peace and national reconciliation.”

The three unions identified the following joint principles on which the move to unity is based:

IndustriALL believes that unity based on these principles will lead to the development of strong unions, supports this initiative to build unity and welcomes the steps taken by the executive committees of these unions to promote the national interest. Jorge Almeida, IndustriALL Regional Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, said that these initiatives are genuine examples of unity.

Indonesian trade unions demand 50% wage increase

The mass rallies on 5 September in Jakarta come as a response to increased living costs after the Indonesian government increased the fuel price. While the government has suggested a maximum increase of the current minimum wage of 20%, trade unions are demanding that it is at least doubled in order to maintain purchasing power. 

There are fears that the new regulation is a return to a regime of cheap labour, with Indonesian workers’ salaries already being below the average salaries in neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.

Trade unions also demand a mandatory health insurance for everyone as of January 2014. The government plans a gradual implementation ending in 2019, which is slammed by unionists as too slow.

The trade union movement in Indonesia face another challenge related to the new law on Mass Organization and the National Security Act. As the new legislation limits the rights of freedom of association, it also cuts short future rallies and demonstrations.

Indonesian trade unions vow to “continue the struggle until the government withdraws the new regulation about minimum wage”.

Swaziland union merge for unity and strength

IndustriALL affiliates, the Swaziland Amalgamated Trade Unions (Satu); Swaziland Manufacturing and Allied workers Unions (Smawu) and the Swaziland Processing, Refinery and Allied Workers Union (Sprawu) came together to form the new union, Atsuwa. The merger process was supported by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and IndustriALL Global Union. Atsuwa now represents workers in textile, garment, metalworkers, engineering, mining and quarrying as well as retail, hospitality and catering.

The merger took forward a resolution of the newly merged federation, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (Tucoswa,) to reduce its affiliates from 28 to 3 through merger processes. The congress adopted a progressive constitution that has key elements of worker control and accountability. Delegates mandated Atuswa to take forward key demands at the workplace and to engage stakeholders in the country including government to establish a minimum wage and a ban on labour brokers.

The merger congress took place at the same time as the annual global week of action for democracy in Swaziland. Failure to get any of the planned actions off the ground, which were suppressed by the government, including an event organized by ITUC to hear experiences of workers, emphasized the need for unity amongst workers and continued solidarity support in Swaziland.

Polish unions in mass demonstrations condemning government policy

The three key demands of the mass mobilizations are:

The protests are expected to be the largest in Poland since 1989.

The three trade unions confederations’ joint demand from the government is for the withdrawal from the Sejm (lower house of Parliament) of a government-led draft legislation on flexible working time. All Polish unions oppose what they call “junk” employment contracts, temporary contracts suited to casual labour that limit employment rights, and also call for a higher minimum wage. Unionists also want more support for certain types of industry and changes to the healthcare system.

They are also protesting against the increase of the retirement age to 67 for both men and women.

Polish Unions do not protest solely on the interests of employees. They want obligatory nationwide referendums on policies once 500,000 signatures have been collected, increased democracy and social policies.

Unions want job security and contracts that guarantee health care and retirement benefits at a time when unemployment is at 13 percent and many companies offer short-term contracts without social security. Unionists say that the Polish work time per week is among the longest in Europe, while average monthly wages are the smallest.  Average wages in Poland are 3,700 zlotys ($1,150) before tax.

The current protest is the result of previous actions of unions. On June 26, FZZ, Solidarity and OPZZ walked out of the Tripartite Commission meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The trade unions demanded the dismissal of Labour Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and a retraction of the already adopted amendment to the labour code increasing the work time settlement period to one year, which had been sent to the president for signature.

On the first day of the protest, September 11, the unionists picketed outside the buildings of eight ministries: the Treasury, Labour, Transport, Economy, Health, Interior Affairs, Agriculture and Justice. PZZ “KADRA”, Solidarity, ZZG and other IndustriALL member unions picketed the Ministries of Economy.

Later they marched to the parliament building to stage a joint manifestation there. On September 12-13 there debates are being conducted with experts. They will be about the health service, the education system, industrial policy, social policy and the labour market. IndustriALL members oppose the climate policy, precarious work, changes in retirement age and working time.

Organizers estimated some 23,000 attended the mass protest at the start of the four-day demonstration. The protests will culminate on Saturday with some 100,000 people expected to join the demonstration in various locations around the Polish capital.

Struggle for imprisoned Thai labour activist continues

Sukanya’s weeklong visit from 9 to 13 September has been organized by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) to profile Somyot case as one of the many alarmingly increasing in the country and discuss possibilities of the international pressure in Somyot case She also participated in a panel discussion on freedom of expression in Southeast Asia, organized by FIDH in parallel to the 24th session of the Human Rights Council.


The case of Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, represents an attack on human rights and freedom of speech. On 30 April 2011 Somyot was put in jail for alleged offences against monarchy. Thai criminal court found Somyot Prueksakasemsuk guilty of ‘lese majeste’ offences after publication of two articles supposedly critical of the monarchy in the magazine edited by Somyot and charged him with ten years of prison, five years for each publication.

Many observers notice inadequacy of the offence and the punishment and believe the sentence shows the real reason was an earlier expressed by Somyot support for a legal revision of the 'lese-majeste' law.

Despite the efforts both by his family and the ongoing international campaigns calling for Somyot’ release, Somyot’s 15th bail application has been denied in July 2013.

Sukanya is not going to give up, commenting on the campaign in support of her husband she says, “We have to continue because there are other new cases when people are charged through this law, it doesn’t stop”.

According to Sukanya currently there are some 400 cases in Thailand based on ‘lese majeste’ offence law, many of them are now in jail.