Organizing electronics workers along the entire supply chain

Malaysia’s Electronics Industry Employees Union Coalition continues to advocate for labour law reform including the revamp of the secret ballot formula, requesting over 50 per cent workers’ votes for union representation.

India’s Unions United focuses on organizing migrant workers, contract workers and young workers.

Thailand’s Confederation of Industrial Labour of Thailand (CILT) is campaigning for ratification of ILO Convention 87 and 98.

The Federation of Korean Metalworkers' Trade Unions (FKMTU) is calling union members to organize "100% workers at my workplace" and companies surrounding their workplaces.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kan Matsuzaki said:

"We must organize workers in the battery supply chain because we represent workers in the entire processes; mining, chemical, manufacturing and automotive sectors. It’s our responsibility to promote decent working conditions and build solidarity between unions across the sectors."

Participants expressed concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) has become an important driver of the ICTEE industry and manufacturing jobs might be replaced by AI as technological development might reshape the industry. MIT and Boston University estimate that two million manufacturing workers will be replaced by AI by 2025.

In March 2024, the Artificial Intelligence Act was adopted by the European Parliament, aiming to protect fundamental rights of European citizens, and to ensure AI technologies are safe, traceable and technology-neutral. The Act conceptualized three levels of AI threats – unacceptable risk, high risk, limited risk and minimal risk. Violation of the Act may be penalized up to 7 per cent % of a company's global annual sales amount.

ICTEE steering committee co-chair Masashi Jimbo said:

"Our sector is under pressure to respond to AI; we must find effective strategies to mitigate the impact of AI and digitalization. AI should not have a negative impact on our employment and working conditions. When the sector is growing, both companies and unions must protect jobs and provide reskilling training for workers."

The meeting also discussed occupational safety and health issues in the electronics sector. Samsung Electronics Group Union Solidarity (SEGUS) surveyed plants workers through the company unionized units. According to the study, Samsung workers suffer from musculoskeletal disorders, sleep disorder and depressive disorder.

A statement in solidarity with the strike of Samsung Electronics workers and the National Samsung Electronics Union’s sit-in action held on 7 June was adopted, with participants calling on Samsung Electronics to respect labour rights, cease repressing the trade union, and enhance fairness and transparency in the wage determination system.

Indian electronics workers unite amid industry challenges

Participants delved into discussions about their respective companies, products, and workforce dynamics. The dialogue brought to light the stark contrast between permanent and precarious workers. A key focus was the impact of technological changes in factories, and the extent of union involvement in negotiations over training, reskilling and the employment of contract workers. The importance of including precarious workers in union activities and collective bargaining agreements was strongly emphasised, alongside the importance of unions staying informed and involved in technological transitions to ensure fair treatment for all workers.

Participants received updates on human rights due diligence and international tools to strenghten organizing, collective bargaining, and occupational safety and health (OSH) practices. Particular attention was given to the EU's new corporate sustainability due diligence directive and its potential benefits for unions in India.

The second day saw union activists exploring the effects of automation and artificial intelligence on jobs. Strategies for upskilling and reskilling the workforce were debated, highlighting the future challenges for unions and workers amidst rapid technological advancements.

Debates on OSH issues in the sectors were equally active. Discussions covered the functioning of safety committees, recent accidents, and union follow-up actions. The need for regular, comprehensive safety training was emphasised, with suggestions for improving current practices.

Participants prepared an action plan focused on organizing and networking. Participants brainstormed ways to increase union density, empower unions and organise precarious workers. Strategies to integrate other unions into the network and boost youth and women's participation in union activities were also discussed.

Delegates left with a collective vision and new strategies to strengthen their unions and improve the lives of workers across India's ICT, electrical, and electronics sectors.

“It has been two days of very intensive debates and our delegates left united in a common cause. The lessons learned and bonds formed will ripple through the supply chains of multinational companies, fostering a culture of fairness, transparency, and respect for labour rights in India,”

says Alexander Ivanou, IndustriALL director of ICT, electrical and electronics sector.

Strike for fair working conditions at ArcelorMittal in Mexico

Workers in section 271 of Los Mineros, affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, are on strike to demand a fair profit-sharing agreement and special bonus from ArcelorMittal. In a statement, the union says that although the steelmaker’s production and price levels remained the same between 2021 and 2023, it reported a fall in profits.

This tax-related decline in profits means that the share of the profits that workers were entitled to by law was also lower. To show its disagreement the union decided to conduct a blockade of the steel plant’s four production processes in an attempt to get the company to reconsider and negotiate an agreement more in line with its actual financial situation.

According to the workers’ representative Eduardo Lopez, the company had been notified of the strike, the union’s red and black flags were installed in strict compliance with legal deadlines, and the strike was launched in keeping with procedural requirements and Mexican labour laws.

However, ArcelorMittal has tried to discredit the union by saying that the blockades and the strike are unlawful. It says that the blockades, including the blast furnace stoppage, has resulted in major production losses. The union says that the losses are the result of ArcelorMittal management's lack of flexibility and its refusal to meet the workers' legitimate demands.

“We call on ArcelorMittal to respect workers’ rights and to immediately begin negotiations in good faith with the union to reach a fair agreement. Multinational companies must comply with labour laws and respect workers’ rights wherever they operate.
“IndustriALL will continue to follow this situation closely and support all necessary actions to ensure that workers’ rights are respected and justice is achieved. We stand in solidarity with the workers and their families in their struggle for justice and fairness,”

says IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Høie.

Global unions’ mission pledges support for Palestinian statehood

History crowds in as you approach the Allenby crossing. It spans the Jordan river, linking the Kingdom of Jordan with the occupied West Bank. Suspended across domed concrete abutments, it resembles a space craft marooned in the desert. The Dead Sea is close by, and Jericho (possibly the world’s oldest city) is the nearest settlement. It is not remnants of bible times that are most striking, however, but marks of the last century.

The crossing takes its name from General Allenby. As Imperial governor, he built a predecessor structure in 1922. Zionist insurgents destroyed that crossing in 1948’s ’night of the bridges’, as they attacked strategic resources and started to drive Palestinians from large parts of what was then a British protectorate.

Today it serves as the West Bank’s only point of exit to a country other than Israel. It is not in Palestinian control, however. Immediately over the bridge, Israel operates a check point – effectively passport control for the land beyond. It is the first, grim sign that this is occupied territory.

Israel issues a ticket upon entry – for a cost. I also paid $133 for ‘VIP’ passage over the bridge. As a result, it took only a couple of hours to travel 500m. A colleague who entered the the previously day was detained for a further two hours and subjected to what he called ‘allegations and senseless questions’ – despite his hefty payment.This is a common experience, I am told.

The road from the border traverses dramatic sandy mountains. Israeli settlements line many of their ridges. Nearer the road, a few houses are ringed with tall, barbed-wire fences, lending their spare, concrete structures the look of prisons.

Ramallah, the aspirant capital of Palestine, is unusually quiet, and has been since 7 October. On a mid-evening stroll back to my central hotel, I pass no one. The evening coffee shops aren’t empty, but repeat visitors tell me that street life has shrunk dramatically since the start of the war.

It is a dramatically hilly city, predominantly comprising geometric concrete buildings built in recent decades. Modern cars fill the streets, although donkey wagons and hand carts are also a common site.

With leaders from eight other global unions, I am here on a solidarity mission to meet Palestinian trades unionists. It is the first visit of this kind organised by global unions, and a response to the unique horrors of this conflict.

Our first engagement is with Shaher Saed, general secretary of the General Federation of Palestinian Trades Unions. He greets us with bleak news. Immediately after 7 October, 200,000 workers from the West Bank who were employed in Israel were barred from their jobs. “They have not been allowed to work for eight months with terrible consequences,” Saed told us. Understandably, he is seeking the help of the international labour movement to recover lost wages, and restore Palestinians’ work permits. We promised whatever support, legal and moral, we could muster.

The West Bank’s population is slightly less than three million. The sudden unemployment of such a large portion of the workforce has dealt a predictable blow to a fragile economy. This situation is exacerbated by the extreme limitations on movement. A day earlier one of our party travelled 60km to Nablus – a journey that passed through four military checkpoints, adding several hours to what is normally a 90-minute drive. And more than 500 people have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers since 7 October – twice the number during the previous year.

Luc Triangle, general secretary of the International Trades Union Congress spoke for us all when he told Palestinian government officials:

“I feel the daily humiliation in the air that you experience. I can see the disregard and aggression that you feel on a daily basis and the anger that inevitably stokes. The lives of Palestinian workers are clearly intolerable.”

Government in the West Bank is provided by the Palestinian Authority, the body created as a result of the Oslo Accords of the mid-1990s. Since the elections of 2006, it has been run by Fatah, while Gaza has been controlled by Hamas.

In February, the Palestinian government resigned in protest at the on-going war in Gaza, and new ministers were appointed. Among those we met, technocratic ability and optimistic vim appeared abundant. For example, social development minister Samah Abdelrahim told us:

“What is happening in Gaza is beyond out minds – nothing will bring back the dead. But Palestinian people want to live, even as the war is ongoing. They want to work for food. This did not start on 7 Oct. This has gone on for is generations, but it did not cause people to lose hope, it made them hard workers.”

Like many of her colleagues, she received some of her education in the west – in her case the University of Manchester in England. She concluded her address saying:

“Having such a number of unions from around the world makes an enormous difference to Palestine”.

Our mission to Ramallah coincided with a celebration of the centenary of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, which represents media workers in Gaza and the West Bank. We joined its president, Nasser Abu Baker as he unveiled a monument to those journalists killed while doing their jobs.

The tally since 7 October is grim – well over 100 have been killed. There is nothing new, however, about Israeli soldiers targeting Palestinian journalists. The best known before the current war was Al Jazeera anchor, Shrine Abu Akleh, but there were plenty of others.

“This monument is to the soldiers who carry no weapons who carry the truth to the world, and sacrifice their lives in the process”,

Abu Baker told a crowd of several hundred at the ceremony to unveil the memorial.

Our mission concluded with an audience with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas – incumbent since 2005. He said to us:

“You can see for yourselves the injustices that Palestinians have to face, due to the continued Israeli aggression against our land and people in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. We are proud of your solidarity with our people and workers against the unprecedented injustice and aggression they are facing.”

He determinedly differentiates himself from Hamas:

“We are against killing civilians, whatever their background”, he told us. “We are against the killing that happened on 7 October, that does not represent us, and we do not accept it And we do not accept what happened since; the death toll has reached more than 100 a day.”

He argues that his government is the best-placed body to oversee the reconstruction of all Palestine.

“Gaza is part of Palestine, and should be run by the Palestinian government, as should East Jerusalem. We are moving towards real statehood. This is all in line with UN resolutions.”

Abbas paints the State of Palestine (a title used by the PA since 2013) as the solution to the current conflict.

“We are part of the international community and abide by our obligations. We want more countries to recognise the two-state solution. Hereby I extend gratitude to Spain, Norway and Ireland. We call on all countries to recognise the state of Palestine, including EU countries.”

In policy and conviction the global unions broadly share Abbas’ aspirations, as was clear from the mission’s concluding statement. Mapping a clear route from the situation today to genuine statehood, however, is the challenge of the ages. If trades union solidarity is able to contribute to its accomplishment, it will surely be a crowning achievement of our movement?

Our return to the river crossing was no less jarring than arrival. As I submitted to fresh scrutiny by occupying guards I craned for a glimpse of the river itself. The site where Christ was baptised is just 3 km from the crossing. Alas, from the vantage of the bridge, no water whatsoever is visible. Indeed, 95 per cent of its flow is diverted by surrounding countries, much of what little remains, evaporates.

Peace, if it is to be achieved, will clearly require a more careful, collaborative effort than has been applied to the watercourse, if its beneficial flow is to be restored and enjoyed by all.

Breaking down barriers for women miners in Africa

This was one of the key threads running through discussions of the women in mining conference in Accra Ghana on 7 June. The conference theme was: Women in mining, changing perspectives and changing lives.

The panel discussions were on sustainable mining that considered environmental, labour, and community issues, and supporting women in leadership roles. Some of the key issues discussed included reversing the male domination of the mining industry through pushing for the women’s agenda on skills and capacity development. Further, mining policies should be inclusive of women to eliminate gender bias and improve access to training. Building knowledge, skills, expertise, and visibility for women miners were identified as pivotal by the delegates.

The conference emphasized that women miners should enjoy maternity protection as per national laws and International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 138 on maternity protection. Daycare centres for children should also be introduced by mining companies at the mines.

Breaking down barriers that impeded women’s advancement in the mining industries was identified as crucial by the participants. These barriers include gender inequality, gender-based violence and harassment, the gender pay gap, gender biases, and the absence of work-life balance. These barriers have been well illustrated in the Intergovernmental Forum (IGF) report on women and the mine of the future that identifies, in 12 countries including Ghana, Zambia and South Africa, the main data gaps and challenges that need to be addressed to enable evidence-based policy-making and open opportunities for women to participate in the future of mining.

IndustriALL Global Union was represented by affiliates from Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The conference was organized by Women in Mining Ghana (WiM Ghana) with support from various corporations. WiM Ghana, aims to improve and retain the employment of women in the mining industry and its supply chains including in artisanal and small-scale mining, has stakeholders that include trade unions, civil society organizations, and large and small-scale enterprises. WiM Ghana also supports the inclusion of women miners in the attainment of sustainable development goals to end poverty and promote gender equality as well as workers’ rights and decent working conditions.

Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa regional secretary, who also participated at the conference said:

“The mining sector is technical and highly skilled, but that does not mean that women cannot thrive as mineworkers. Women must be allowed into the artificial intelligence space and be provided with equal opportunities. This can only happen when the labour market becomes gender sensitive through the removal of discrimination and harmful cultural and religious practices and stereotypes.”

Human rights and responsible business conduct in Asia Pacific’s textile sector

The workshop on human rights due diligence and trade union engagement addressed the growing global trend of mandatory due diligence. Dorothy Lovell from the OECD presented on various global regulatory developments concerning Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment & Footwear Sector. Participants were informed about the new EU Directive on mandatory due diligence.

Representatives from UA Zensen, including Atsushi Shibata from the manufacturing division and Hitomi Akiyama, assistant director of the policy and political affairs bureau, introduced Japan’s approach to human rights due diligence. Yoichi Ishikawa, central executive standing committee member of UA Zensen and advisor to the Mizuno workers' union, provided an in-depth overview of the Mizuno global framework agreement and company structure. He was followed by Yusuke Sato, President of ASICS union, who presented on ASICS and their supply chain due diligence.

On the 6 of June, a roundtable was hosted by the OECD, IndustriALL and UA Zensen, bringing together companies (brands and manufacturers), trade unions, policymakers and other stakeholders across garment and footwear supply chains. The aim was to examine the OECD’s recommendations on meaningful engagement with workers and trade unions concerning labour rights throughout the due diligence process.

A Khmer translation of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment & Footwear Sector was introduced and served as the backdrop for the discussions. A draft synthesis paper on the OECD’s guidance for meaningful engagement with trade unions was also presented for discussion.

Said Matsuura, UA Zensen president:

"Business and human rights in the supply chain are not issues for management alone. It is essential that the trade union, as an important stakeholder, be firmly involved and that the three parties—government, labour, and management—work together to address the issue."

The events were supported by UA Zensen and IndustriALL.

Rapid decline in workers' rights globally

“For eleven years now the Index has tracked a rapid decline in workers’ rights in every region of the world. Workers are the beating heart of democracy, and their right to be heard is crucial to the health and sustainability of democratic systems. When their rights are violated, democracy itself is attacked. Democracy, trade unions and workers’ rights go together; you simply cannot have one without the other,”

says ITUC general secretary Luc Triangle.

87 per cent of countries in the world violate the right to strike and 79 per cent of the countries violate the right to collective bargaining.

The worst region for working people is the Middle East and North Africa, while European workers are witnessing the biggest decline in rights seen in any region in the world over the past ten years. The right to strike and the right to collective bargaing is under constant attack, as the example of Tesla refusing to sign a CBA in Sweden bears witness to.

The rights index lists Belarus as one of the ten worst countries in the world for workers with systemic repression, unjustified detention of activists and arbitrary dissolution of unions.

“Belarus is a world champion in violating trade union rights,”

says Lizaveta Merliak, from IndustriALL affilaite BITU.

After four years of international campaigning, 42 union leaders remain in jail, labelled terrorists by the government. They are forced to wear a yellow label on their prison uniform, a sign for staff to mistreat them. The political prisoners are often put in solitary confinement where temperatures are often too hot or too cold, and they are denied access to fresh air. Women prisoners are kept in so-called colonies where they are forced to work in textuke factories, making uniforms for the military.

Says IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan:

“This year's index increases concerns over the status of labour rights; workers’ rights are deteriorating along with democratic standards around the world. Without workers’ rights there cannot be a democratic world. Now more than ever, the union movement must stand united in determination to mobilize to defend our fundamental rights.”

The ITUC global rights index is a comprehensive review of workers’ rights in law ranking 151 countries against a list of 97 indicators derived from ILO Conventions and jurisprudence, and as such is the only database of its kind. It rates countries on a scale from 1 to 5+ based on the degree of respect for workers’ rights. Violations are recorded each year from April to March.

Uruguay’s PIT-CNT union condemns illegal surveillance of their president

On 6 June, two Uruguayan media outlets published details of their investigation into the unlawful surveillance of trade union leader Abdala by the former presidential security chief, Alejandro Astesiano. Journalist Lucas Silva has also written a book about corruption and spying within the government.

In early 2023, Uruguayan media published audio recordings confirming that Astesiano used surveillance cameras from the Ministry of the Interior to follow Abdala’s route on a public highway after he was involved in a traffic accident in February 2022. At the time, the PIT-CNT – of which IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Union of Metal and Allied Workers, (UNTMRA) is a member – condemned the unlawful surveillance as a practice that “violates individual rights and civil liberties, and calls into question Uruguay’s democratic quality”.

New information published by the media in June 2024 shows that Astesiano also sent WhatsApp messages to the President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pou, informing him about an investigation by the Anti-Drugs Brigade into a shop that Abdala had allegedly visited in 2022. They were trying to find out whether the shop sold illegal drugs, which it was later confirmed it did not. At a press conference, the President acknowledged that he regularly receives information from Artesiano “about high-profile individuals”.

In an official statement, PIT-CNT executive secretariat said:

“We are deeply concerned about these reports, which, if they true, represent a violation of the rule of law and deeply undermine our democratic values.
"The reports that an activist was under secret surveillance by the president’s security team, presumably with a view to harming him, and that the president was aware of this must be investigated carefully and responsibly. It is essential to determine the truth.”

IndustriALL has consulted with labour lawyers, who say that the illegal surveillance could constitute an infringement of Abdala's freedom of association, as he was being investigated as a result of his position as a national union leader and not for any personal reasons.

International labour law plays a key role in Uruguay, which has served as a model for the International Labour Organization (ILO), ranking fourth in the world in terms of the number of ratified labour conventions, including Convention No. 87 on freedom of association and Convention No. 98 on the right to organize and collective bargaining, both ratified in 1954.

“These actions against the PIT-CNT’s president, Abdala, are extremely concerning, as they could damage the country’s strong tradition of respect for human rights, pluralism, acceptance, tolerance, republicanism and democracy,”

says IndustriALL Global Union’s regional secretary, Marino Vani.

Global unions urge ILO to invoke Article 33 on Myanmar

“What do we want? Article 33! When do we want it? Now!” was the slogan delegates chanted at the demonstration.

Article 33 empowers the ILO to take action when a member state fails to comply with recommendations from the ILO's Commission of Inquiry. Specifically, Article 33 states that in cases where a member does not fulfill the recommendations, the Governing Body may recommend to the ILC measures of a punitive or corrective nature, including sanctions or other actions, to secure compliance.

Khaing Zar Aung, president of IndustriALL affiliate the Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), said:

“I have stood here so many times calling for an end to the military junta in Myanmar. You know the crisis. Our people are not safe, especially the youth. We are losing jobs. We can’t survive. The aid that is meant for the people is going through military systems and it is not reaching the people who need it most. We need the international community to intervene. We need article 33 so that we can protect the people.”

Luc Triangle, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), said:

“We are clear that the military has to leave. We have to respect human rights and restore freedom. The military junta needs to be isolated. We will get article 33.”

Myanmar’s trade unions have said that the banning of their organizations, and the absence of freedom of association, means workers face conditions of modern slavery. This finding was confirmed by the ILO Commission of inquiry, which reported far-reaching violations of freedom of association and forced labour Conventions. This means that clothing made in conditions of modern slavery is being sold to consumers.

IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Høie, said:

“Tomorrow we will take Khaing Zar to receive this year's Arthur Svensson Prize for her incredible work for trade union rights in Myanmar and her fight for a return to democracy to the country. We hope that this prize sheds more light on the catastrophic situation for workers in Myanmar under the military junta and contribute to its downfall. We need the international community to react. We need to invoke article 33 now. We will all fight for the freedom, prosperity and liberty for all in Myanmar.”

The military regime has killed more than 4,000 people, arrested almost 26,000, and suspended civil society organizations, including free trade unions. Many state employees, including 200,000 teachers, refused to work for the regime and joined the Civil Disobedience Movement. Many were killed or imprisoned, while others have lost their jobs and are experiencing extreme hardship.

"We need workers' rights and binding agreements"

In his welcome remarks, Athit Kong, C.CADWU president, highlighted the significance of the newly announced legally binding brand support agreement. He further updated the committee on the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with the employer’s association.

Said Athit Kong:

“This is an important breakthrough to hold global brands and retailers accountable for supporting CBAs and wage improvements.”

The meeting, co-chaired by Zehra Khan from Pakistan, featured a review of the sector’s 2024 strategic plan, updates on the progress of the International Accord, and the development of 2025 strategic campaigns. The committee also passed two resolutions.

The first resolution was in support of the Cambodia collective bargaining agreement and the legally binding Agreement to Support Collectively Bargained Wages in the Garment, Textile, Footwear and Travel Goods Industry in Cambodia. The resolution resolved to support IndustriALL’s global campaign to have all brands sourcing in Cambodia to sign the agreement.

The second resolution focused on the REI Organizing campaign, supporting the REI Union's efforts to secure its first collective bargaining agreement in the United States. The resolution commits to ensure union representation for all textile and garment workers producing REI apparel and gear, while guaranteeing compliance with fundamental labor rights, including freedom of association, collective bargaining, health and safety, and the elimination of discriminatory, forced labor, and child labour practices.

Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL textile director, highlighted the importance of IndustriALL’s approach to promote a supply chain industrial relations model centered on workers’ rights and binding agreements with global brands.

“This is in contrast to the voluntary, private auditing model, which has not been protective of workers’ rights and has brought risk to investors and companies alike. Successful and effective examples of the newer model of global company-trade union agreements include the International Accord and now the legally binding support agreements for national collective bargaining that were support by ACT.
For the first time, the ACT process, by addressing the structural barriers to living wages, has a genuine chance of increasing garment workers’ wages in a way that is scalable, sustainable and enforceable.”