Bangladesh workers must continue to wait for full compensation

Eleven of the brands and retailers sourcing from the factories involved in the Tazreen and Rana Plaza disasters joined high-level compensation meetings, facilitated by the ILO as a neutral chair, on 11-12 September in Geneva. Many other major companies failed to attend, showing total contempt for the 1,900 workers who were injured and the families of over 1,200 workers who were killed making their products.

IndustriALL Global Union Assistant General Secretary Monika Kemperle stated: “Consumers will be shocked that almost a half-year has passed since the Rana Plaza disaster with only one brand so far providing any compensation to the disaster’s victims. I respect those brands that came to these meetings. But I cannot understand brands that are not around the table.”

Regarding Rana Plaza out of a total of 29 brands that were invited the following 9 brands showed good faith by attending the meeting: Bon Marché, Camaieu, El Corte Ingles, Kik, Loblaw, Mascot, Matalan, Primark and Store Twenty One.

20 other companies, all of whom were invited, failed to show up: Adler, Auchan, Benetton, C&A, Carrefour, Cato Corp, The Children’s Place, Dressbarn, Essenza, FTA International, Gueldenpfennig, Iconix Brand, Inditex, JC Penney, Kids Fashion Group, LPP, Mango, Manifattura Corona, NKD, Premier Clothing, PWT Group, Texman and Walmart.

IndustriALL, the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC) presented a proposed model for compensation, which has been used by brands and retailers in previous factory disasters in Bangladesh. The model includes payment for pain and suffering and loss of income. For Rana Plaza US$74,571,101 would be needed to provide full compensation to all workers, of which the brands are being asked to contribute US$33,556,996. For Tazreen US$6,442,000 is required, with US$2,899,000 being asked from the brands.

International experts outlined best practices for the establishment of a compensation fund, overseen by a multi stakeholder committee, which could be created through an agreement by all the parties involved. No such agreement was reached at this meeting, although the brands present committed to continuing discussions on this issue.

IndustriALL, CCC and the WRC would welcome the creation of such a fund and urge all parties to work together to ensure this is set up at the earliest possible date.

The Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Md. Abdul Hannan also addressed the meeting.

Bangladeshi workers and victim’s families hoping for immediate aid will be disappointed. Brands’ commitments after two days were limited to:

1 – Meeting again within the next two weeks to share information and tools, exchange views, and consider next steps.

2 – To contribute financially to a fund to assist injured workers and victims’ families, and commit to move the process of establishing the fund forward quickly. A coordination committee was created to take the process forward through a multi-stakeholder forum which would be open to the Bangladesh government and employers, together with the brands and retailers, unions and NGOs.

3 – Commitment to coordinated work going forward, building on initial assistance U.K. retailer Primark has already provided to victims. Primark made available their local banking infrastructure in Bangladesh to deliver any funds that are made available on an emergency basis.

Immediately after the meeting Primark committed to providing a further three months salary to all affected families as emergency relief. Unfortunately, none of the other brands or retailers present at the meeting committed to provide such emergency relief.

ZM Kamrul Anam of the IndustriALL Bangladesh Council called on brands to act swiftly:

“We appreciate Primark having already made a three month salary payment to the injured and victims’ families. But when I go back to Bangladesh they will ask me what more was decided here. Those families need food, medicine and housing. Please, all brands and retailers, match that three months salary for these people in urgent need. Some time can be expected to establish a sustainable solution, but an immediate payment to help these families must be made now.”

At the Tazreen compensation meeting on the previous day, C&A tabled its substantial compensation initiative for the victims and demonstrated its continued commitment to finding a definitive solution. Karl Rieker, which was also in attendance also signaled a readiness to contribute and was commended for positive participation in the Tazreen discussion.

Of the brands and retailers invited to the Tazreen process the following companies failed to participate in the 11 September meeting: Delta Apparel, Dickies, Disney, El Corte Inglés, Edinburgh Woolen Mill, Kik, Li & Fung, Piazza Italia, Sean John, Sears, Teddy Smith, and Walmart.

IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Monika Kemperle stated:

“The disregard of the absent brands for the plight of workers in Bangladesh whose lives have been destroyed by the avoidable accidents at Tazreen and Rana Plaza is shocking in the extreme. Empty promises and direct untruths since the Tazreen fire and the Rana Plaza collapse all so that these Western multinationals can avoid making payments that amount to a minute percentage of turnover.

UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings stated: “Walmart is the world's largest retailer and one of the largest buyers from Bangladesh. They should be a leader in taking responsibility for their global supply chain. Once again Walmart had failed to make a commitment to the workers in Bangladesh who produce the millions of garments sold around the world at large profit.”

Clean Clothes Campaign’s Ineke Zeldenrust stated: “CCC will continue to put pressure on those brands who have not yet committed to immediately and actively engage in the negotiation process and commit to providing sufficient funds to meet the amounts needed to provide the workers and their families with the compensation they are entitled to under international standards.”

Worker Rights Consortium Executive Director Scott Nova added, “It is past time that the victims of the worst industrial disaster in history and their families receive assistance from the international brands and retailers that profited from these workers’ labor. It is shocking that not only have hardly any brands committed to any concrete level of assistance, but even more so that most of the companies implicated in the disaster did not even bother to show up to discuss helping the victims.”

Press contacts:

Tom Grinter, IndustriALL Global Union: +41796934499

Ineke Zeldenrust, CCC: +31 651280210

Scott Nova, Worker Rights Consortium, +1 2023607957

Sam Maher, CCC +44 751 751 6943

Miners strike at CODELCO in Chile

The strike began on the first shift of 5 September and involves 1,122 members of unions N°2 (Potrerillos) and N°6 (Salvador), both part of CODELCO’s El Salvador Division. Unions were unable to reach agreement with the state-owned mining company through the normal process of collective bargaining.

The FTC issued a statement to the general public and its members declaring its support for “the sovereign decision by workers at the El Salvador Division to start a legal strike in order to ensure the government invests enough to make this important mining and metalworking operation viable in the medium and long term while also ensuring respect and decent conditions for the workers who strive every day to achieve this objective for the country”.

The FTC also criticised company management “for not having the capacity to listen and reach an agreement that is satisfactory to both sides”.

The FTC said “that it has always been and will remain available to help find a balanced and fair solution to this dispute in a framework of dialogue, mutual respect and understanding, for the good of the future of the division and its workers, who are the main asset of this company, which is owned by all Chileans”.

Regarding the government’s decision to invest only US$ 1,000 million in CODELCO in 2013, the FTC said that on 10 September “the National Executive Committee filed a claim for the Supreme Decree issued by the Finance Ministry to be declared legally invalid “as it constitutes an infringement of Decree Law 1.350 of 1976, which created the National Copper Corporation of Chile (CODECLO)".

IndustriALL Global Union and IndustriALL’s national council in Chile have declared their support for the Copper Workers’ Federation and its president Raimundo Espinoza, who is a member of the IndustriALL executive committee, and their efforts to find a solution to this labour dispute,

said Horacio Fuentes of the national metalworkers’ confederation, CONSTRAMET.

Back to back strikes continue in South Africa

Employers in the Gold sector rapidly came to the negotiating table with an improved offer, after the National Union of Mineworkers mobilised 80,000 gold miners on a strike action starting 3 September after wage talks reached a deadlock. The strike ended within days with agreements reached on a company by company basis and formalised in a signing ceremony at the Chamber of Mines on 10 September.

Gold mining workers agreed to a settlement of 8 per cent increase for the lowest paid workers and 7.5 per cent for the rest. Inflation linked increases were also agreed to for 2014. Workers will also receive Euro 15 a month increase on their living out allowances in the first year which will be increased by a further Euro 15 in the second.

30,000 auto sector workers organised by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa ended the strike after employers including BMW, Toyota and VW revised their offer from 7 per cent to 11.5 per cent. The strike that started on 19 August went on for three weeks as workers refused the 10 per cent offer brought to them during the strike, sending Numsa back to the negotiation table.

Numsa also agreed to a 10 per cent increase for auto workers in the second year and again in the third year as well as a Euro 100 transport allowance a year, a Euro 62 monthly housing allowance and 70 per cent contribution to medical aid by employers.

As one strike came to an end, another began for Numsa, this time in the motor sector as 70,000 workers have downed tools on 9 September, after a deadlock in negotiations with employer bodies the Retail Motor Industry and the Fuel Retailers’ Association. Workers have rejected a 7 per cent wage offer and are demanding a double digit salary increase and an improvement of afternoon shift and night shift allowance.

Whilst employers have complained about the cost of the strikes to companies and the economy, South African workers and their unions have found it necessary to put up a fight for better wages in the face of increasing cost of living and have come out victorious.

IndustriALL affiliates form International Paper network

Meeting in New Orleans, USA on 9 September, hosted by the United Steelworkers, 120 participants from Brazil, France, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the USA took the decision to build solidarity and power throughout the company’s global operations.

IndustriALL Director for the Pulp and Paper industries Anatoly Surin stated from the meeting:

The creation of a trade union network of workers organized at the International Paper Company worldwide has long been in the planning stage. The development is in line with IndustriALL policy and the sector’s Plan of Action adopted at the World pulp and paper industry Conference in Stockholm.

Solidarity with our colleagues, leading a constant struggle for decent working and living conditions and wages, is the number one priority for us.

The International Paper network will also include trade unions from Chile, India, Poland, Turkey and elsewhere in Europe.

The other company level trade union networks being built in the sector are at Sappi, APP and Smurfit Kappa. IndustriALL and the affiliated trade unions representing workers at the MNCs are establishing the mechanisms for continuous information exchange within each of these networks.

Unions at Alcoa Prepare for Global Week of Action

The global week of action was called by the Global Network of Unions at Alcoa when it met in May. This network includes participation from IndustriALL trade union affiliates representing thousands of Alcoa employees in over a dozen countries.

Alcoa is the world’s largest producer of primary aluminum.

During the global week of action, workers and their unions at Alcoa production sites around the world are participating in numerous ways. These include wearing stickers, holding demonstrations, running ads in newspapers and other activities. A leaflet has been produced in twelve languages for use around the world.

IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina stated:

Alcoa operates in a challenging market, however the company should not lose sight of fundamental values. These include providing a fair wage, putting worker safety before any other concerns, and respecting the fundamental right of workers to organize into unions. Unions around the world will send that message loud and clear to Alcoa next week.

Thai unions make a big step towards unity

At the Unity Meeting held on 7-8 September in Bangkok, union representatives from the Confederation of Thai Electronic, Electrical Appliances, Auto and MetalWorkers (TEAM), the Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation of Thailand (TWFT), the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand Labour Union (EGAT LU), PTT Labour Union (PTT LU), the Chemical Workers Union Alliance (CWUA), the Paper and Printing Unions Federation of Thailand (PPFT) and the Petroleum and Chemical Unions Federation of Thailand (PCFT) expressed their commitment to work together.

A key strategy has been the work towards setting up the new Confederation of Industrial Labour of Thailand (CILT), which will bring together TEAM, the Automobile Labour Congress of Thailand (ALCT), TWFT and the unions that earlier formed the ICEM Thai Council i.e. EGAT LU, PTT LU, PPFT and CWUA.

We are working hard to form the new Confederation CILT, but we also understand that we cannot be hurried as we have to take into account the different cultural, historical as well as social economic aspects of each founding organisation. But we are hopeful that the new Confederation will be successfully formed as each affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union is committed to building unity and foster greater solidarity among the working population, not only for Thailand but also internationally,

said Chalee Loysoong, president of TEAM.

CILT will represent at least 153,000 workers in the electronic and electrical appliances, auto, steel, chemical, rubber, materials, paper, textile, garment, leather, oil, gas and electricity in Thailand. These industries employ millions of Thai and migrant workers from, among other, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

Thailand is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia, with a workforce of 40 million. It receives a lot of foreign investment, including from major multinational companies from OECD countries. At the same time, Thailand has a very poor record on trade union rights and, often as a result of that, very few workers belong to trade unions.

For the day of action to STOP Precarious Work on 7 October, IndustriALL affiliates in Thailand take to the streets of Bangkok to campaign for the ratification of ILO Core Labour Rights, Convention 87 and 98. They will also formally announce the creation of CILT on that day.

Suppression of democracy campaign activities in Swaziland

There was a heavy police presence at the venue of the inquiry organised by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) as part of the global week of action for democracy and worker rights in Swaziland. The panel was to take submissions from workers about conditions in Swaziland and present their findings to the world. Police prevented the inquiry from taking place saying the event was inappropriate as 6 September, Independence Day should be a day of celebration.

Naidoo and several others including Central Methodist Church Bishop Paul Verryn and Southern African Trade Union Coordination Council (SATUCC)'s Paliani Chinguwo were also held were detained at a road block and taken in for questioning the day before and later released.

Also on 5 September, the General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (Tucoswa), Vincent Ncongwane, was arrested and taken In for questioning. He was then placed under house arrest for attempting to stage an illegal protest. Tucoswa insists that protocol was followed and government has informed of the planned mass action which did not take place.

This blatant suppression of human rights has taken place days after King Mswati says he received a vision that his absolute monarchy should now officially be called a monarchial democracy. Critics suspect this is an attempt to confuse people on democratic rights with parliamentary elections in the absolute monarchy taking place later this month.

It has been 45 years since independence from colonial rule in Swaziland and 40 years of a state of emergency which Mswati has used to deny Swazi people democratic rights. Swaziland is one of the poorest countries in the world. Over 60 per cent of the population live in abject poverty and the unemployment rate is at 28.5 per cent. There is no press freedom or independent judiciary. Political parties are banned. Democratic institutions and trade unions are under constant attack and the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland is still de-registered in order to prevent the unification of workers.

None of the promised change for workers at Apple and its suppliers

Apple and its suppliers received wide media coverage when earlier this year pledging to end workers’ abuse with the support of the Fair Labor Association, FLA. The deadline for what turned out to be a hollow promise was set for July 2013.

Not only have the reforms, such as establishing genuine collective representation in the workplace, not been implemented, but also the abuse continues. For example, the question of illegal overtime has not been addressed and workers in Chinese factories supplying Apple still work overtime.

IndustriALL Global Union slams the lack of reform:

"Apple should be aware of who actually delivers the genuine voice of the workers. The effective solution for correcting worker abuses at Apple’s suppliers could only be found through face-to-face dialogue/discussion with representatives democratically elected by the workers themselves."

Read more about the broken promises from the Economic Policy Institute here.

FIOM representatives are back at FIAT

On 2 September 2013 the Italian carmaker FIAT sent a letter to FIOM, inviting them to appoint their union representatives at the enterprise. The decision resulted from a continuous fight by the FIOM in numerous court cases for nearly three years.

The culmination of the solution of the conflict became the Constitutional Court’s corner stone decision dated to 23 July which declared that unions should not be discriminated based on their decision to refuse signing a collective agreement. The Court stated of the necessity to review Article 19 of Italian labour law, the Statute of Workers.

In fact Article 19 of the above mentioned Statute contained the text, which was supposed to provide a stimulus for minority unions to get their union representatives at the enterprise through the signature of the agreement. According to FIOM reports what happened was that FIAT had treated the text in a controversial way affirming that, in case a union, even representing the majority of employees, refused to sign a collective agreement proposed by the employer, it could not form a union representation any longer.

This approach allowed FIAT to exclude FIOM from workers’ councils and deny FIOM the permission for assembly and for any union activities inside the company facilities.

After the invitation to appoint a union representative, the FIOM proudly looks forward to the work in the future and Maurizio Landini, Secretary General of the FIOM-CGIL, comments, " Fiom returned to the factory by the front door. Now Fiat removes all forms of discrimination and faces the real issue: the future production and employment of the Group in Italy."

FIAT nevertheless cautioned that a law on union representation should be developed in order to keep investment in the country.

Goldminers begin strike in South Africa

Employers offered a 6.5 per cent wage increase amounting to only Euro 30 extra a month which the NUM has reject with contempt as slave wages. The NUM is demanding an increase of Euro 230 for surface and opencast miners and Euro 300 for underground miners, constituting a 49 per cent and 60 per cent increase respectively.

The NUM has undergone a nationwide industrial action because of the arrogance of the employers in the sector gold mining industry for changing the gold mining landscape. Leshiba Seshoka, spokesperson for the NUM said: “The captains of the industry have continuously awarded themselves huge bonuses with Gold Fields CEO getting Euro 4.5 million per annum last year.”

“Mineworkers are determined to embark on the strike action beginning tonight until their demands are met. The union has noted the arrogance of the employers in maintaining that they are unshakable in their 6,5% pittance offer. The NUM is unshakable too in its demand for a living wage and as such the Chamber ‘s final offer would meet the union ‘s final demand and there shall be dust on the streets of Carletonville and PWV.” Said NUM in its press statement.

“IndustriALL Global Union fully supports legitimate demands of the NUM” said General Secretary Jyrki Raina. “Our affiliates worldwide, particularly in the mining industry, are shoulder-to-shoulder with NUM in this important strike”.