Shipbreakers die at ‘The Love Boat’ in Turkey

The cruise ship came to Turkey on 6 August for disassembly. On its way from Genoa due to severe storm the ship was damaged and the engine room was flooded with water. While draining water out of the engine room on 10 August workers inhaled smoke released from a plumbing fixture’s exhaust pipe. All victims were transported to nearby hospitals. Nine workers were discharged one day later, but two other, Doğan Balcı, 37, and Davut Özdemir, 40, died from smoke poisoning.

An investigation has been started by the prosecutor. According to his relatives, one of the perished workers, Balcı had already suffered from smoke inhalation in the same place two days before the tragedy, but was provided only outpatient treatment.

The MS Pacific, is a cruise ship built in 1971 in West Germany, which became famous after appearance in the popular U.S. romantic sitcom “The Love Boat” in 1970s. The 42- year-old vessel was acquired for 2.5 million euros by the company Izmir Ship Recycling Co. for dismantling in the seaside town of Aliaga.

Aliaga is one of the specialized shipbreaking areas near Izmir. Reportedly there are some 25 shipbreaking companies operating in the in the area, but with no union presence. Local community and NGOs, including Greenpeace, try to facilitate union organizing there, but face a huge resistance from employers.

Turkey is the fourth largest shipbreaking country in the world and a subject of ILO’s ‘Safety and health in shipbreaking: Guidelines for Asian countries and Turkey’, set up in 2004 and designed to assist shipbreakers and competent authorities to implement the relevant provisions of ILO standards, codes of practice and other guidelines on occupational safety and health and working conditions.

Despite declarations of the Turkish government about dramatic improvements of the occupational health and safety conditions both in shipbuilding and shipbreaking industry, the workers are still facing many serious/fatal accidents.

In 2011 Turkey hosted XIX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, however the Prime Minister Erdogan is yet to deliver on his promises made at the Congress http://www.issa.int/content/download/153577/3064987/file/2-PM-erdogan-speech.pdf .

Earlier reports of IndustriALL (ex-IMF) about other occupational accidents in Turkey can be found at http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=29035&l=2  and http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=21680&l=2 .

Bangladesh compensation meetings rescheduled

The meetings aim to put together a full and fair compensation package for all the victims and their families, and were to take place in Dhaka in August. After rescheduling the meetings will now be held in Geneva in September. The exact date has yet to be decided.

“With the sudden illness of a key union official and a strike threat in Bangladesh, we feel that the meetings will be more fruitful at a later date,” says IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina. “All major brands and signatories are invited and we are expecting a high level of attendance.”

Responsibility is shared between the brands and retailers sourcing from Tazreen and Rana Plaza, the factory owners, the BGMEA employers association, and the Bangladeshi government. The aim is to employ the industry’s best practice compensation mechanism that was developed after the Spectrum factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2005. That formula is in line with ILO Convention 121 on employment injury benefits.

The formula sets out clear guidelines for payment to families of dead and injured workers and takes into account loss of earnings, pain and suffering, and also medical costs, funeral costs and other important family expenses. The estimated long-term compensation for Rana Plaza will be more than 54 million euros (71 million USD). For Tazreen this is 4.3 million euros (5.7 million USD).

Jyrki Raina concludes:

“It is a clear priority for IndustriALL that international standards are respected on this important issue of compensation in the case of Rana Plaza and Tazreen. What we all want is to make the mechanisms agreed in the Bangladesh Accord quickly a reality so that compensating dead and injured garment workers in Bangladesh becomes a thing of the past.”

Nupeng strike demands met

Nupeng called the strike to address amongst other concerns, the anti-union and unfair labour practices of multinationals, in particular Shell Petroleum Development Company, Chevron Nigeria Limited and Agip Oil Company.

In a letter to the Permanent Representative of the Nigerian Mission to the United Nations, IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina, urged the Nigerian government to take forward plans to address casualization in the oil and gas sector agreed on in a tripartite meeting in 2011. He also called for intervention on the poor corporate behaviour of multinational companies in the sector, and that arbitration awards in favour of workers be confirmed.

An agreement was reached after a tripartite stakeholders meeting in the oil and gas sector detailed the way forward on the demands put forward by the union. The agreement also addresses unfair labour practices, casualization and confirmed the rights of workers to unionise.

“On behalf of the President of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Comrade Igwe Achese, the entire members of the National Executive Council (NEC) and the Oil and Gas Workers in Nigeria, we appreciate your concern and solidarity support extended to our Union during the confrontation with multinational oil  companies in Nigeria and the Federal Government over unfair labour practices in the Oil and Gas Industry, ” said NUPENG General Secretary Isaac Aberare.

Day of demonstrations in Brazil to demand regulation of outsourcing

On 6 August, trade unions from almost all sectors, including IndustriALL affiliates, held demonstrations in cities across the country. In Sao Paulo, the centre of finance capital in the country, the demonstrations began around 10am in front of the offices of the employers’ federation, FIESP (Federación de las Industrias del Estado de Sao Paulo). More than 3,000 workers participated in the demonstration and sent a message to the government and the National Congress that the working class will be out on the streets of the federal capital, Brasilia, if the bill is put to the vote on 14 August as planned.

Quadripartite negotiations between union and employer representatives, the government and federal deputies to discuss amendments to the proposed legislation on outsourcing ended on 5 August. Union representatives argued for amendments to protect workers’ rights but met resistance from the employers.

The trade union central CUT said that workers from the banking, metalworking, chemical, glass, garment and oil sectors and national and municipal public sector workers from greater São Paulo and the interior participated in the demonstrations.

The trade union central Força Sindical said that workers from many sectors participated because outsourcing affects practically all sectors.

The proposed legislation would allow companies to subcontract work in what are considered to be core activities, that is, those for which the company was created.

At the demonstrations, unions distributed information detailing the problems caused by outsourcing, warning that the bill submitted to congress by deputy Sandro Mabel extends outsourcing to all activities. This will encourage companies to replace permanent workers with agency workers on inferior terms. For example, telemarketing, finance, oil and energy companies will be more likely to outsource work than take on permanent staff.

IndustriALL affiliates in Brazil, together with the country’s trade union movement, believe that the  bill put forward by deputy Sandro Mabel represents a  backward step for workers because it would make it possible for employers to recruit workers on inferior terms. The trade unions want a law to regulate outsourcing, but want legislation to establish equal rights and equal pay for direct and outsourced workers and prevent any outsourcing of core activities.

Accord delegation promotes implementation in Bangladesh

Between July 29 and August 1, the delegation conducted a series of meetings in Dhaka to explain in detail the content and aims of the Accord, signed by more than 80 clothing brands and retailers and to explore how it can complement and reinforce the tripartite national plan of action agreed between unions, employers and the government in Bangladesh.

In all meetings a high level of commitment was expressed to working together with the Accord. A consistent emphasis was put on the need to coordinate efforts in order to maximize impacts and avoid duplication of efforts.

A key meeting was with the Secretary of Labour who chairs the High-Level Tripartite Committee on the National Action Plan on Fire Safety and Structural Integrity, an important point of coordination between the Accord and the NAP.  The discussion focused on the need for both initiatives to apply a common standard of fire and building safety, based on current Bangladesh standards but also incorporating higher international standards.

The need for coordination of efforts and unified standards was again emphasized in the meeting with employer organizations BGMEA, BKMEA and BEF. BGMEA President Atiqul Islam expressed support for the Accord and pledged their full cooperation in dealing with situations when Accord inspections identify factories that do not meet safety standards. The Accord delegation recognized that notifying the BGMEA at an early stage is a vital step in the process to secure the cooperation of factory owners.

In other meetings, the delegation was informed of the difficulties faced by those bodies engaged in implementing building and fire safety standards in Bangladesh. Professors from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), who have so far conducted 200 preliminary visual inspections of factories following the Rana Plaza tragedy, cited a number of problems including lack of engineers accredited in building design and absence of any documentation on structural design or soil quality in as many as 40 to 50 percent of the investigated factories. Similar problems were described by the Fire Service which has the responsibility for conducting fire safety inspections and issuing compliance certificates.

Delegation members also had the opportunity to meet with representatives of several donor governments and the IFC, which are supporting various initiatives to upgrade the garment sector in Bangladesh.

It was widely recognized that the ILO has a vital role to play in assisting the parties to the National Action Plan and the Accord to coordinate their efforts. The assistance of ILO Bangladesh was highly appreciated in organizing the program of meetings for the delegation.

Wage agreement for South Africa’s textile sector

After two rounds of compulsory conciliation a settlement was reached with the South African Cotton & Textile Processing Employers Association, under the National Textile Bargaining Council (NTBC). A 7% wage increase was reached for around 7 000 workers in 65 factories around the country. The settlement will be backdated to 1 July this year.

As a brand new provision, never included in past agreements, the parties have committed to engage at plant level on measures, initiatives and projects aimed at reducing companies' carbon footprints.

“This is the first ever SACTWU wage agreement that directly tackles issues relating to the ‘green economy'. We hope to build and expand on this in future agreements,” says General Secretary of SACTWU Andre Kriel.

Three years of persecution for Pakistani Syngenta workers

Syngenta is a market leader in pesticide used in farming, posting a US$1.8 billion profit in 2012. The Swiss company’s code of conduct proclaims that this multinational:

Commits to comply with all labour laws, national and international codes and conventions, and upholds the principles set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation’s Core Conventions. These include the right to freedom of association, the right to organize and collective bargaining, equal remuneration and minimum age requirements.

In Syngenta’s operation in Pakistan, every sentiment of this code of conduct statement has been breached since December 2010. The Syngenta Employees Union Pakistan is part of the IndustriALL affiliated national union PCEM and the factory level union’s General Secretary is also president of PCEM. General Secretary Imran Ali was sacked for his trade union activities in December 2010 and dragged through countless court case appeals until in July 2013 he was hospitalised with heart problems.

Brother Imran Ali learned of his sacking through an article in the local newspaper during a period of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. A major priority of Imran Ali in the union negotiations was to push through a change in employment status for 50 contract workers who had worked the legal requirement for a permanent contract.

Since the December sacking the union has won court cases at every level of the Pakistan courts both for Imran’s reinstatement following unlawful dismissal, and for the right of the 50 contract workers to be employed on a permanent basis. Each legal victory was followed by an absolute rejection of the judges’ recommendations by the company management who instead continued to appeal to a higher level court all the way to the High Court of Sindh in capital Karachi.

Bearing in mind the history of the conflict, IndustriALL General Secretary Raina today wrote to Syngenta global management to say that there are no remaining avenues to escape the company’s legal and moral responsibilities towards its Pakistani workers. It is time to enact the judicial rulings and cease the union busting campaign. Failing positive action from Syngenta IndustriALL will take this case to the complaints mechanism of the OECD.

Mass dismissals at Rio Tinto in Madagascar

The security company Omega stopped operations on 31 July 2013. No response was ever given to the workers despite the many demands made by the local union FISEMA to the different stakeholders.

The mass dismissals announced at Rio Tinto QMM in Madagascar would affect over 300 workers. IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Fédération des Syndicats des Travailleurs de l’Energie et des Mines (FISEMA) calls on the Rio Tinto and local authorities to adequately deal with the situation. These dismissals come with no social planning for the dismissed workers and Rio Tinto has not entered into meaningful dialogue with the union.

Rio Tinto has demonstrated a common trend in a number of countries where it runs operations, of destroying communities by failing to develop sustainable operations as it always manages to keep wages to a minimum, justifying that they are above the national minimum. This is very far from its commitment to conduct its activities in compliance with environmental, health, safety and well being of its employees and the community.

For the union there has been a real failure for sustainable development in the region. Now that Omega has ceased operations, the fate of the workers now lies in the hands of the local authorities to which the union has made their demands to enable them to be able to sustain a decent life in the region. 

IndustriALL supports Tunisian affiliates' mobilization against political killing

Tunisia observed an official day of national mourning on 26 July in response to the deadly shooting of the prominent opposition leader Mohammed Brahmi, who was general coordinator of the People’s Movement, a member of the National Constituent Assembly and a leading figure in the Popular Front coalition. He was also known as an outspoken critic of the ruling party Ennahda.

An unidentified gunman on a motorbike shot Brahmi dead on 25 July outside of his home near the capital, Tunis. The 58-year-old was the second leading member of the leftist Popular Front to be shot dead this year.

The UGTT also called for all national dialogue meetings and initiatives to be suspended in order for the UGTT National Administrative Commission to meet on Monday 29 July 2013 to assess the overall situation in the country and to take every measure deemed necessary and appropriate, which resulted in a general strike.

The opposition, angered by the assassination of leftist leaders Chokri Belaid in February and Mohamed Brahmi last week, has rejected several concessions and power-sharing proposals from the Ennahda-led coalition.

“IndustriALL strongly supports its Tunisian affiliates and their confederation UGTT’s mobilizations to urge the authorities to investigate the killing of Mohammed Brahmi and make sure that those responsible are brought to justice” said Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL General Secretary.

This killing follows on from a long line of attacks against trade union leaders, journalists, political activists and ordinary citizens over recent months. In February 2013, Chokri Belaid was gunned down outside of his home, sparking protests that led to the resignation of the prime minister. Belaid was the General Secretary of the Democratic Patriotic Party.

 

USW concludes tentative agreements with major tyre-makers

The United Steelworkers (USW) have reached tentative agreements with three of the major tyre producers in the US; Goodyear, Bridgestone-Firestone and BF Goodrich (Michelin). In total, the agreements cover 15, 500 workers at fourteen different locations across the US. The Goodyear and Bridgestone agreements are for four years, while the one for BF Goodrich will be for three years.
 
USW International Vice President Tom Conway says on the agreement affecting workers at Goodyear plants: “the new tentative agreement includes economic and non-economic improvements for all union represented Goodyear employees, which led the committee to unanimously endorse it for ratification by the membership.”
 
“Our goal throughout the bargaining process has been to reach an agreement that ensures a solid future both for our members and their families,” said USW Secretary-Treasurer and Chairperson of IndustriALL Rubber Industry Division, Stan Johnson. Together with BF Goodrich coordinator Larry Jackson, Stan Johnson led the negotiations for the union. “This agreement represents a step forward for USW members at BF Goodrich.”
 
Ratification votes are expected to take place in the coming months, after which details of the agreements will be communicated.