IndustriALL decries Mittal pay arrears in Bosnia-Herzegovina

The Ispat Group, owned by Pramod Mittal, has a record of social destruction in several countries. Its actions in Nigeria, Libya and Bulgaria over the last five years illustrate a total institutional disregard for the company’s employees and their communities, as well as for the law and the national economies in which they operate. The record includes lengthy pay arrears of up to seven months, leading to numerous worker suicides. The company is also known for cannibalising equipment and exporting it.

The Ispat Group’s subsidiary Global Infrastructure Holdings Ltd has an unscrupulous history in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company is the minority owner in the coke-chemicals enterprise Global Ispat Koksana Inustrija Lukavac (GIKIL) in the northern city of Lukavac. The enterprise sells coke, a vital element in the steel making process, throughout Central Europe, Turkey and India.

Although the local Canton of Tuzla owns the majority 67 per cent stake, it is Global Infrastructure Holdings that manages the plant. In Lukavac the company stays true to form and repeatedly shows total disregard for the law and for the 1,000 workers at the enterprise.

Repeated failure to pay wages on time have put workers in an impossible position throughout the ten years of the GIKIL operations, especially in light of the unilateral management decision to slash wages to below the minimum wage.

Now GIKIL management has escalated its intimidation of the local Independent trade union of chemistry and non-metals workers of the FBIH, an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate. On 21 June management wrote to 60 members of the senior staff in Lukavac strongly urging them to quit the union and set an example to the rest of the workforce to quit also.

The immediate reason for increasing the squeeze on workers at GIKIL is the 180 million KM (92 million euros) company debt. This artificial debt however was created through highly dubious business dealings by GIKIL, purchasing coal at an inflated price for a prolonged period from another subsidiary of the same holding company, Stenkom owned by Global Infrastructure Holdings.

IndustriALL is taking the case to local and national government in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In writing to GIKIL Managing Director Mr Kumar Nath, IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina confirmed:

We stand in firm support of our affiliated Independent trade union of chemistry and non-metals workers of FBIH, under the leadership of President Kata Iveljic, and expect swift action on the part of your management to enter into good faith social dialogue with your union partner, settle the abusive practice of non-payment of salary, reverse this pressure on union members to leave the union, and to find a business solution that will fix the artificial financial debt created through fraudulent dealings with STENKOM.

Cambodia Unity Group Sets up Women’s Committee

The first session in the meeting was body mapping. The women paired up and drew their bodies, putting stickers wherever they felt a pain. They reported pains in the stomach, intestines, ovaries, head, eyes, throat, heart, ear, nose, fingers, shoulders.  They indicated that sitting long hours gives them back pains, and legs hurt from standing for a long time. They had lung and liver pain caused by the dust from the cloth. They drink water which is not pure which gives them digestion and kidney problems. In addition they do not go to the toilet often enough because of fear of losing out on the piece rate. Nor do they drink enough water. They suffer from sinus pains from inhaling the dust since they do not use masks. Their fingers hurt from the long hours of sewing, and their feet ache from the pedals, in addition to the unease from sitting too long. The women mostly work two hours overtime every day in order to earn more, in order to arrive at 150 USD a month.

The second step was life mapping. The women drew a clock and indicated how much work they do all day and all night.

One conclusion was that trade unions should be more sensitive to women’s health issues. Some of them are easily solved. One recommendation is also to approach other women to show expertise on women’s health issues, since in general women are more interested in their health than men.

After a presentation on ILO Convention 183 on maternity protection groups met to decide on their priorities in connection with maternity protection. The first step would be to do research and collect information and produce training and campaign material. All affiliates together should meet and issue a joint statement in order to approach the government all together for ratification of ILO Convention 183. A group will be formed to do follow up. The point is to campaign for 14 weeks of maternity leave, which is currently 90 days. Work must be done to garner support for the issue from the factories. Collective bargaining is also one important way to improve maternity protection – the law now states that women must work for one year before getting maternity benefits. In negotiations it could be possible to achieve maternity benefits for all. The unions have one hour of radio broadcasting a week. They suggest campaigning on ILO Convention 183 on their radio program. The content of the convention should be part of union training and the study circles. All unions need to join the campaign together with IndustriALL and ITUC-AP in the fight to get ILO Convention 183 ratified.

In cases of miscarriage or abortion there is a National Social Security Fund which covers work-related cases, no health insurance and no maternity benefits. Women on short-term contracts do not have maternity leave or benefits. In some cases however after having many contracts the women do get some benefits, usually after the union insists. Some of the factories are considering some form of childcare. As part of a maternity campaign this national social security fund needs to be reformed in order to pay out maternity benefits. It must be emphasized that maternity protection is a social responsibility and thus paid for by society.

The unions negotiate on women’s issues because so many of the members are women, and as a rule women make up 50 percent of the bargaining committees. They want to form a women’s committee because they feel that would make it easier to elect women leaders. Not all of women’s interests are always communicated to the male leadership. Moreover women are not confident in their own capacities, not least because they are so busy at home and thus have little time left over to devote to the union. The women are overloaded not least by the fact that the husbands do very little. Sometimes they come home late drunk.

They hope that the women’s committee will be able to stand up against all these concepts.

Decision making at the leadership level is done by men. The opportunities available to women are low. The women hope that women’s committees will provide training to members on women’s issues and educate them to understand well women’s role. The 8 IndustriALL federations in Cambodia should join together to have one women’s voice. The aims of the committee will be as follows:

·         To speak with one voice

·         To get more women in the union structure

·         To build confidence among women

·         To get women to vote for women

·         To provide training to women on women’s issues

·         To improve women to women communication

·         To increase women membership since the women will believe that they can get support from the committee

Then a role play was done on the following themes:

  1. How to ratify ILO Convention 183
  2. How to get more men to take responsibility for the family
  3. How to negotiate better working conditions for women

The women’s committee will consist of 2 women from each federation. A chair and vice-chair and secretary were elected.

The garment industry is Cambodia’s largest foreign exchange earner. The sector comprises more than 300 factories, employing some 335,400 workers, 91 percent of whom are women. Since 1 May 2013 the minimum wage has been 80 USD a month.

Time for brands to pay compensation to Bangladesh victims

It is time for those responsible to dig deep and pay the families who are suffering from these avoidable tragedies. 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).

Discussions based on this compensation framework have already begun in relation to the Tazreen victims and survivors. Some of the Tazreen buyers had committed to making compensation payments, but the process was stalled in April as the parties dealt with the fallout from Rana Plaza and establishing the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. 

IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary Raina stated:

All brands sourcing from those two factories have been invited to the Dhaka discussions. IndustriALL looks forward to working with the committed companies to bring some justice to the dead and injured and their families. Those brands ignoring this opportunity will face criticism in the strongest terms.

The work around the compensation issue is not part of the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety. But the strong spirit of cooperation built by the Accord feeds into the process.

General Secretary Raina added:

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. We should together concretise the precedent of this formula which has already been used in Bangladesh and Cambodia. 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.

IndustriALL works with various NGO partners. On this major compensation issue the Clean Clothes Campaign makes a vital contribution.

Contacts:
IndustriALL Global Union: Tom Grinter – [email protected] +41796934499
Clean Clothes Campaign: Liz Parker – [email protected] +44 1225571912

Zimbabwe court orders reinstatement of union leader

Just little over a year ago, Angeline Chitambo, president of the Zimbabwe Energy Workers’ Union (ZEWU), was unfairly dismissed for allegedly inciting workers to embark on industrial action over the national electricity power utility ZESA’s non-compliance with the bargaining agreement. Chitambo, who is also a member of the Executive Committee of IndustriALL, was particularly targeted for statements made to the press.

It has been a year of struggle and a show of international support and solidarity. After an appeal against an unfair decision by ZESA’s disciplinary body, the Zimbabwe labour court put an end to the ordeal last week. The court ruled that President Chitambo should be reinstated at her previous position at work without any loss of salary and benefits.

Commenting after her court victory, Angeline Chitambo said that gone are the days when employer can take workers for granted:

“I am very happy that justice has finally prevailed. This is a lesson to employers that workers can never be taken for granted. Employers must be told that no one is above the law.”

The labour court also ruled in favor of Dennis Mukote, (ZEWU national executive member) and David Nyika. Both had been suspended for a year, but are now to be reinstated with full benefits and without a loss of salaries. All the other suspended workers had already been reinstated earlier.

IndustriALL Global Union’s General Secretary Jyrki Raina welcomes the court’s ruling, and says that he expects ZESA to immediately honor it:

“This is an important victory. We congratulate President Chitambo and her colleagues and look forward to their reinstatement.”  

In April, a criminal court had already found ZESA guilty of contravening the Labour Act by not complying with the registered collective bargaining agreement.

Pacific Rubiales Energy under pressure from international solidarity

The main energy sector union in Canada, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) through President Dave Coles, participated in the tribunal, which heard union and community representatives denounce Pacific Rubiales for violating human and labour rights and polluting the River Meta. USO and CEP are both IndustriALL affiliates.

The effort by USO to organise Pacific Rubiales workers in the Meta region oil fields of Colombia has received international solidarity and support since mid 2011. Read of the sinister alliance between the company and the local mayor of Puerto Gaitán, Edgar Humberto Silva, the great lengths and the dirty tactics employed by Pacific Rubiales to illegally crush the USO presence at its operations here.

In his report to the tribunal, Dave Coles said he was ashamed of the Canadian company’s behaviour in Colombia and that the CEP, whose members have worked tirelessly to promote international solidarity, supported the action taken by workers and communities in the region to pressure the company into respecting their rights and responding to their demands. He said that, if necessary, he supported the expulsion of transnational companies that continue to harm the environment in Colombia.

This activity was based on the proceedings at the hearing into the oil industry, which took place in Puerto Gaitán Meta on 13-14 July. Workers and communities denounced the behaviour of oil companies in this part of the country and described it as a violation of national sovereignty.

IndustriALL also attended the hearing, representing its 50 million members worldwide, and supports this initiative to provide workers and communities with an opportunity to voice their grievances and decide on what action should be taken.

AWU and CFMEU join forces

This newly formed alliance provides a voice for up to 15,000 workers at Rio Tinto’s iron ore mining operations in the Pilbara in the north of Western Australia. For the first time in decades the workers can bargain with the company on an even footing.

On 22 July in Perth 30 years of hostility were swept aside as the AWU and the CFMEU jointly launched the Western Mine Workers Alliance.

AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes and CFMEU Mining General President, Tony Maher, also IndustriALL Executive Committee members, were in Perth for the launch of the Alliance.

It's no secret that our unions have had our differences in the past, a tension that Rio Tinto has been able to exploit,

said Howes

But the days of divide and conquer are well and truly over. We will not allow a wedge to be driven between us,” 

he continued.

For too long, managers at Rio Tinto have been the only avenue of appeal when the workforce has a grievance. This agreement allows members of the new alliance to shake that up. It will boost the power of the people who actually produce our nation’s mineral wealth, the workforce,

said Maher.

IndustriALL deepens its program for independent unions in Egypt

The seminars were held within the framework of the global union’s special program to support independent unions in the largest populated Arab country.

The seminar in Alexandria, second largest city in Egypt after Cairo and home city of several independent unions in the jurisdiction of IndustriALL, included 25 participants from different parts of the country in the energy sector. Mosri Salah, representative of EDLC (Egyptian Democratic Labor Confederation) and Mohamed Elgamal, representative of EFITU (Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions) addressed the opening session by thanking IndustriALL for continuous support and emphasizing the importance and need of international solidarity. 

During the two-day seminar, participants were able to express their challenges as independent unions in oil, electricity and mining industries in Egypt. This included subcontracting, employers' resistance of non-recognition for independent unions, companies' approaches on employing wageworkers and rejecting to make decent work contracts. Participants demanded reinstatement of the dismissed workers in companies like PETROJET and Soukari mine.

The second seminar held in Mahalla El Kobra, an important industrial city in the Nile delta, is home of the largest factory in the Middle East called Misr Mahalla for the Textile and Spinning Company. Mahalla is a labour intensive city as it is the home of hundreds of public and private garment factories. Workers of Mahalla are known for their militancy as they played a major role in encouraging Egyptian workers and public to protest against poor working and living conditions during their famous strikes since 2006 and 2008. 

Kamal Alfaioumy and Sayed Habib, two prominent worker leaders at the Mahalla Company, welcomed IndustriALL’s enthusiasm and solidarity as it is the first Global Union to come to the city providing direct support for workers education. The seminar also welcomed Wael Akl, president of IndustriALL’s new Egyptian affiliate General Trade Union of Electricity and Energy which is headquartered in Mahalla. The seminar brought together 25 participants from textile and garment industry from various parts of Egypt.

According to the participants, the textile and garment industry in Egypt witnessed a large number of workers layoffs and early retirement since the nineties until now because of the economic restructuring, privatization and widespread corruption as many factories stopped to work due to poor management. The participants pointed out the lack of organizing capacity in the private sector and absence of collective bargaining. Participants emphasized the need to establish national mechanisms to face the privatization in the sector and re-start the stopped factories as well as applying modern and efficient management of state owned factories.

In both seminars the participants heard new tools of organizing and campaigning within multinational companies such as GFAs and OECD Guidelines for MNCs as well as updates on the recent development of the draft Egyptian Labour Law and Freedom of Association Law. The seminar benefited from the expertise of Dr. Sedat Kaya, special expert from the Turkish textile unions, Dr. Rafaat Dessouki from Ain Shams University and Ahmed Kamel, MENA Regional Consultant of IndustriALL Global Union.

At the end of both seminars, the attendees showed increasing enthusiasm in coordinating efforts, establishing national sectorial unions and networking among workers of the same industry. Also representatives of EDLC and EFITU called on IndustriALL to continue reaching workers in different Egyptian regions for education and campaigning.

Indian Maruti Suzuki workers fight on

After the demonstration, the workers were planning a peaceful March which was stopped by Police forcefully.

The protest was attended by representatives of major trade unions, student organizations, academics, social activists and other concerned persons. Some of the major organizations were National Trade Union Initiative (NTUI), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Jan Sangharsh Manch, (JSM), Krantikari Naujawan Sabha (KNS), Student Federation of India (SFI) and many more.

Workers and Trade Union Leaders from Hero Motor Corporation, Suzuki Power Limited, IGL, Nerolac Paint, Reco Auto and others were actively participated in the demonstration. They asserted to stand in solidarity with the struggle of the members of Maruti Suzuki Workers Union and their demand for a fair inquiry, release of the arrested workers and reinstatement of the workers terminated after the 18 July 2012 incident. This struggle against capital and the complicit state is a critical turning point in upholding democratic rights of the working class.

"It's been a year since our 147 colleagues are in prison in the Bhondsi jail of Gurgaon, 10 in the Kaithal jail and there is a non-bailable warrant against 66 boys," said Rajpal Gowde, a protestor.

He added that the entire incident was a planned conspiracy by the management to break the workers' union and that the charge of the death of Mr. Avnish Kumar Dev, General Manager (Human Resource) was deliberately imposed on the workers.

Representing IndustriALL Global Union, Bro. SM Fahimuddin Pasha participated in the demonstration and expressed solidarity and requested all participants to sign the LabourStart campaign in support of Maruti Workers.

The Maruti workers are continuing their campaign and demonstrations, again mobilising in Kaithal on 20 July, under the banner of Nayya Adhikar Manch (NAM). They will continue their struggle until their demands are met.

7000 Turkish steel workers on strike

Celik-Is organizes workers at Isdemir, the biggest integrated iron and steel plant of Turkey. Following negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement lasting for more than six months, workers decided last week to go on strike. Celik-Is says that while the union has shown goodwill throughout the negotiations, the intransigent behaviour of the company management has eventually resulted in a strike.

With 5000 out of 5300 workers participating in the strike, the production at the plant has completely stopped. Workers’ families show their support by gathering in front of the factory. Despite obstacles created by the company management, Celik-Is says that the strike will continue until the strikers are given proper job security fair salaries.

At the same time, in the same city, Celik-Is has launched a second strike, involving 1800 of its members at the subsidiary of Russian-based leading steel producer and metals company MMK (Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works).

The workers at MMK joined Celik-Is a short time ago. Following a complicated court and bureaucratic procedure, a collective bargaining certification was finally issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. But with when failing to reach an agreement on the collective bargaining negotiations for better working conditions, Celik-Is’ members went on strike on July 21.

General Secretary Jyrki Raina says in a message to the President of Celik-Is, Ali Cengiz Gül:

“IndustriALL Global Union salutes the strike of 7000 Turkish steel workers who struggle for better working and living conditions, and encourages all its affiliates, particularly in the steel sector, to show solidarity with you”.

Show your support and send your solidarity message to Celik-Is. Please send a copy to IndustriALL Global Union.

It is time to do what the people want

The poll published on 17 July 2013 by the International Trade Union Confederation ITUC is truly representative. 13,000 people from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States were interviewed, representing the opinions of 3.7 billion people.

The ITUC Global Poll is interesting reading. Despite obvious differences between various countries, the basic message of the respondents is clear. People feel abandoned by their governments.

80 percent of voters say their government has failed to effectively tackle unemployment. Only 13 percent of voters believe their government is focused on the interests of working families.

Seeing what is happening in different countries, it is not surprising that people feel governments are prioritizing business interests, saving banks instead of saving people. Unemployment and inequality are rising. No wonder people are taking to the streets in different parts of the world.

Respondents gave an almost unanimous opinion of what they want from their governments:

These demands reflect the reality of our world where 80 percent of the population have no health insurance or pension. As part of our political work, IndustriALL will join the ITUC in a campaign to mobilize workers and unions for a social protection floor. We need to guarantee these basic human rights for all citizens.

The creation of good quality jobs remains a major urgency. More than 200 million people in the world are out of work. Of them 75 million are under 25 years old. Respondents to the ITUC Global Poll have clear demands to their governments on how to boost employment and reduce inequality:

IndustriALL supports the international campaign for tax justice and against tax havens. Despite some modest measures taken by governments, major multinational companies and wealthy individuals are actively dodging taxes. We need these lost billions to provide social protection and quality public services.

All these are questions of values and political will. Trade unions need to be political actors. We need to mobilize to ensure that we have in governments and parliaments decision-makers who will give people what they want.

Jyrki Raina

General Secretary