Egyptian Democratic Labour Congress is launched

The process of creation of the new organization started in October 2012 when more than 100 independent unions of Egypt gathered to announce the initiative of uniting their strength in a single congress.

The solemn event took place in the capital city of Cairo, where the representatives of more than 186 independent unions have gathered together with hundreds of workers from Mahala Al Kobra, the portent of the Egyptian revolution, Helwan, the castle of Egyptian industry Tenth of Ramadan city, Sadat City, Alexandria, Suez Canal cities, and Upper Egypt.

The newly formed congress is based on democratic principles and is governed by the general assembly and the elected leadership.

Before the election candidates were given the floor to introduce themselves to the general assembly. Then through the direct secret ballot delegates elected Youssry Al Sayed Marouf from Alex Containers Co. as President and Saad Shabaan Eid from Al Shima Garments Co. General Secretary of the EDCL.

The event was attended by numerous international guests representing political parties, non-governmental organizations, national and global trade union federations including among others IndustriALL Global Union and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), who proposed to EDCL to join large family of ITUC members.

Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL commented on the event, “This is an important landmark on the road to strong independent trade unions in Egypt. As Egypt is a priority for IndustriALL Global Union we look forward to working closely with all progressive trade union voices in the country.”

A First national strike in Egypt

Workers at North Cairo Electricity Distribution Company NCEDC and 13 of its subsidiaries returned to work this week, ending a strike that began a week previously to demand the release of 17 colleagues who had been arrested during a protest against management plans.

The workers are all members of the new independent trade union, the Electricity and Energy Workers’ Union. A member of EFITU (Egypt Federation of Independent Trade Unions), IndustriALL Global Union has been working with the union since its foundation and it is in the process of affiliating to our global union family.

The initial protest had seen around a thousand workers gathered at the main headquarters of the company in Cairo in support of a series of demands and in protest at management’s decision to remove bonus from their monthly pay cheques.

Despite the totally peaceful nature of the demonstration security forces attempted to stop the protests, arresting 15 of the workers on charges of blocking the street and damaging public property. Thousands of workers in subsidiaries of NCEDC showed solidarity with the detained workers, announcing strikes and halting operations of their branches.

IndustriALL Global Union shared the outrage of the workers and their union and Jyrki Raina, General Secretary wrote a strong letter of protest to the President of Egypt calling on him to personally intervene in the situation concerning the Independent Electricity and Energy Workers’ Union and to instruct the Minister of Electricity to sit down with the union and negotiate in good faith over all the workers’ demands in a calm and peaceful atmosphere. See General Secretary Raina's letter in English and Arabic attached to this article.

We are informed that May 23, 2013 an initial meeting took place in Cairo between Wael Akl, the union President and Mr. Mohammed Issa Abdel Aal, General Director of the Public Administration, responsible for collective bargaining at the Ministry of Manpower and Immigration, where it was agreed that the Minister of Electricity and Energy would convene a meeting in the near future to consider all outstanding issues.

IndustriALL Global Union will continue to closely monitor and support the struggles by Egyptian workers to form real democratic and independent trade unions and will keep affiliates informed of future developments in this important case.

Global brands pull together on Bangladesh safety deal

The companies alongside IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union agreed to immediately move forward with implementing the Accord. The aim is to have safety inspectors on the ground as quickly as possible in order to begin to fix the most urgent problems.

The participants, including the Clean Clothes Campaign and the Worker Rights Consortium who have signed as witnesses to the agreement, said that the Accord was an opportunity to rectify the unacceptable risks currently faced by Bangladeshi garment workers because of poor standards on factory safety.

More than 1,100 people died in the Rana Plaza building collapse, Bangladesh’s largest industrial tragedy, sparking a worldwide debate on how to improve safety.

IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina said:

This is standard setting work from the over 40 founding signatory clothing brands of the legally binding Accord with IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union. Workers everywhere will now seek to expand this historic Accord to other countries and to other industrial sectors. We are invigorated to work with this critical mass of market leading clothing brands and retailers to turn the sentiments of the Accord into reality in Bangladesh.

UNI Global Union General Secretary, Philip Jennings said:

It is time to roll up our sleeves and get on with the urgent task of improving factory safety in Bangladesh.

Work is now beginning on the implementation phase of the Accord.

Here is the list of companies who have signed the Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accord:

COMPANY SIGNATORIES:

Abercrombie & Fitch
Aldi Nord
Aldi South
Auchan
Bay City Textilhandels GmbH
Belotex
Benetton
Bonmarche
C&A
CAMAIEU
Carrefour
Charles Voegele
Comtex
Daytex
Debenham
El Corte Ingles
Ernstings's Family
Esprit
Fat Face
Gstar
H&M
Helly Hansen  
Hema
Hess Natur-Textilien GmbH
Horizonte
Inditex
JBC
John Lewis
Juritex
Kik
Kmart (Australia)
LC WAIKIKI 
Lidl
Loblaw
Mango
Marks and Spencer
Metro
Mothercare
N Brown
New Look
Next
Otto Group
Primark
PUMA
PVH
Rewe
S Olivier
Sainsbury
Scoop NYC
Sean John Apparel
Shop Direct Group
Stockmann
Switcher
Target (Australia)
Tchibo
Tesco
V&D
We Europe
Zeeman

Contacts: 

Tom Grinter, IndustriALL, Mobile: +41 79 693 44 99,  

[email protected]

Richard Elliott, UNI Global Union, Mobile: +41 79 794 9709,

[email protected]

Impressive victory at Volkswagen in Kaluga, Russia

On 22 May ITUA activists met with Volkswagen management in Kaluga, Russia. The management agreed to pay double for work on weekends in the Summer and weekend overtime work would be done only on a voluntary basis.

The management planned to stop operations at the plant for a week in August to prepare for the production of the new model, Škoda Rapid. The management’s solution was to distribute the week’s working time on the weekends in Summer without additional pay and as normal working days.

Workers were outraged by what appeared to be forced overtime work on weekends without additional pay. On 5 April, 400 workers gathered in the management quarters to hand over their demands in writing.  However, the position of the management didn’t change. The negotiations came to a deadlock, and the union began to prepare for a strike.

The local court prohibited the strike on 12 May in order to hold another hearing and decide whether the strike was legal. On 22 May the court ruled that the strike could be carried out. On the very same day the management agreed to the union’s demands.

The workers will be paid two thirds of the normal wage for the week’s downtime in August, in accordance with the Russian laws. And the overtime work on weekends will be voluntary and paid double, again, in full accordance with Russian labour legislation.

The ITUA congratulates the workers with this impressive victory. However, states,

This doesn’t mean we sit back. What we achieved can be easily lost. Problems with work schedule will appear again and again. Therefore we have to strengthen our ranks, recruit more VW workers into the union, and begin a fight for 35-hour work week!

The victory was not without a price. VW workers were under constant pressure when they protested against the management’s plans and prepared for a strike. Dmitry Trudovoy, president of the ITUA local at VW, was summoned to the police.

IndustriALL Global Union will closely monitor the situation at Volkswagen in Kaluga with assistance of the IndustriALL regional office in Moscow.

Two unions merge in Armenia

The Union of Machine and Instrument-Making Workers of Armenia, an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, and the Union of Chemical and Allied Workers of Armenia merged into a new organization at a Congress in Erevan, Armenia.

The delegates of a Congress included presidents of union locals from various plants – AutoMechanics, Armenian Tyres, as well as represantatives of a national union center.

Hamlet Danielian, former president of the Union of Machine and Instrument-Making Workers of Armenia, was unanimously elected as president of the new Union of Industry Workers of Armenia.

Jyrki Raina sent a welcoming address, which was read at the Congress. He stated that

IndustriALL Global Union encourages unity among national unions to foster the strength and influence of workers.

US Utility Workers protest CEO’s pay

The 21 May demonstration in Morgantown, West Virginia, signalled both worker and community discontent toward the firm’s contemptible executive pay practices at the same time it attempts to extract concessions from workers and set in place slower response times for electric consumers.

The UWUA represents some 3,800 workers at FirstEnergy, a privatized utility serving 6 million customers in five US states. The company is an amalgamation of some 10 regional power companies over the last dozen or so years, and its corporate strategy as it bargains with UWUA has been to reduce work and living standards to the very lowest possible, across the board.

Last year, FirstEnergy’s board of directors awarded CEO Tony Alexander a total compensation package of US$ 23.3 million, 27% more than the US$18.3 million he took in 2011 even though corporate revenue and earnings sharply declined. FirstEnergy relies primarily on coal-fired generation units although it does operate 3 nuclear facilities.

UWUA’s eight branch unions have committed to one another to block the company’s plunge to the bottom strategy as it bargains co-ordinately in separate collective agreements over the next few years. Tuesday’s demonstration was accompanied by a handful of trade union resolutions inside the company’s meeting calling on FirstEnergy and its managers to curb executive greed.

UWUA System Local 102 is currently bargaining with FirstEnergy at the former Allegheny Energy complex of companies, a 2011 addition to the Akron, Ohio-based firm that expanded FirstEnergy by a third. Besides seeking work-rule and benefits concessions to the detriment of 1,000 union members, company negotiators want elimination of a consumer-friendly “customer service” clause in Local 102’s contract that would result in longer delays for workers to respond to emergency service restorations.

The UWUA did win a US$1.25 million backpay settlement from FirstEnergy for 150 power plants workers in Harrison, West Virginia. The award came after the company was found in violation of the US National Labor Relations Act, following a successful organizing drive at the power plant. FirstEnergy and UWUA Local 304 are now in talks for a first collective agreement there, while Local 180 in Pennsylvania now begins negotiations with the company in a union strategy aimed at coordination of all bargaining.

UWUA’s ballot initiative at FirstEnergy’s annual meeting was showcased as part of the AFL-CIO’s Executive PayWatch.

Textiles is the sector most threatened by precarious work in Argentina

Romildo Ranú, general secretary of the textiles union, the Federación Obrera Nacional de la Industria del Vestido (FONIVA) an IndustriALL affiliate made a welcoming speech and Jorge Almeida, IndustriALL regional secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, made a presentation on the characteristics of precarious work, highlighting the importance of international solidarity and the unfortunate case of Bangladesh.

Participants examined the incidence of precarious work in Argentina and found that workers in the textile industry, especially migrant workers, were suffering the most from this problem.

There are clandestine sweatshops in some homes, where immigrants work, without documentation and benefits, and where inspection is not possible. It is important to have direct contact with these workers in order to let them know about the benefits of getting organized,

explained Silvia Maidana de Foniva.

Precarious work in the mining sector results from the division of the workforce into core and contract workers. Directly employed workers have better labour conditions than contract workers employed on outsourced tasks. Some contract workers have joined a trade union and gained some benefits but these have only been won on a temporary basis.

Women metalworkers said there had been some progress on this issue thanks to the spread of  union influence to previously unorganized plants, for example, some agency workers had been given contracts. “Every day, we fight to eradicate precarious work. We have to start in our homes, our organizations”, said Alicia Meza, a UOM member.

Participants agreed to take action to eradicate precarious work, for example, they agreed to promote gender equality and equal pay for equal work, denounce abuses by employers, publicize investigations and reports on countries which had made progress on eradicating precarious work, disseminate information on labour rights and seek tripartite agreements on precarious work.

Finally, participants agreed to create a technical committee, composed of delegates from Argentinean affiliates, to investigate precarious work and promote action to eradicate it.

Anti union practices at Petrobras Nigeria

Nigerian affiliate, Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (Pengassan), has brought the unfair labour actions by management of Petrobras in Nigeria to the attention of IndustriALL Global Union. These actions are in breach of the labour laws in Nigeria and against the fundamental principles of the global framework agreement that IndustriALL has with the multinational.

The redundancy clause in the bargaining agreement would only apply in the case of excess manpower in a division but as Petrobras has shut down the whole division, these ten workers are entitled to severance packages negotiated with Pengassan. However Petrobras Nigeria terminated all further negotiation with Pengassan on the matter and served the trade union with notice of its intention to take the matter to court.

The termination of employment of all ten workers in the exploration division is evidence to vindicate allegations that Petrobras is divesting from Nigeria, raising concerns for Pengassan and IndustriALL  that there may be further labour rights violations for the remaining workers currently employed by the company.

In a letter to the CEO of Petrobras, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, Jyrki Raina said,

We strongly urge Petrobras to cease all legal action and return to negotiations with the union on severance packages for these workers. We also insist that any further terminations by Petrobras in Nigeria be negotiated with the Pengassan.

Raina has also warned,

We would consider actions to the contrary to be against the spirit and content of the global agreement which would put strain on our relations at an international level and require us to mobilize solidarity support from for our affiliates that organize your plants elsewhere in the world.

Solidarity with Peruvian textile workers

On 13 May, IndustriALL General Secretary, Jyki Raina met with employers, government officials and lawmakers to convey the message that the law on non-traditional exports which discriminates against textile workers is totally unacceptable.

In a series of meetings, Raina argued that decree 22342, which was adopted in 1978 to promote a nascent industry, has become counter-productive. The industry has grown accustomed to surviving off a subsidy from its workers in the form of low wages, instead of working to improve efficiency and innovation.

In the past thirty-five years the industry has grown by 2,000 percent, yet garment workers in this highly profitable sector are worse off than ever,  sometimes working up to fourteen hours a day to earn a minimum wage which represents only a quarter of what they need to survive.

Peru’s garment export industry is like a 35-year old adult whose parents insist on treating it like a small child – clearly not a healthy situation. It’s time for the industry to grow up and stand on its own two feet!

said Raina.

By denying textile and garment workers their full rights, Peru has lowered itself to the level of a handful of countries, such as Bangladesh, which have adopted laws that discriminate against textile workers.

The law is so egregious that a number of brands and retailers have taken the unusual step of urging the government to support its repeal. 

However, a draft bill introduced over a year ago to ensure equal rights for textile and garment workers continues languish in the Congressional Labour Committee as a result of pressure from employers to maintain the status quo.

Jyrki Raina expressed the full support of IndustriALL Global Union to the textile federations fighting for justice for workers in the sector.  He also met with all affiliates and potential affiliates in order to discuss ways of strengthening union power in Peru.

NUM submits its wage demands to the Chamber of Mines

The union demands that surface workers should receive a minimum amount of R7000 and underground and opencast workers  minimum should be set at R8000 per month. For all other categories, the NUM has put a demand of 15%. Furthermore, the union demands that Rockdrill Operators job categories be rolled up to category 8 whilst other categories of operators are rolled up to category 7.

These demands are informed by many studies which have revealed that cash wages received over time has indeed been growing but, the disposable wage has been under severe strain due to the effects of inflation and other expense incurred to maintain a worker’ modest lifestyle

says Frans Baleni, the NUM General Secretary.

In addition to all these, the union has put forward several other demands dealing with housing allowance, market allowance, commuting allowance, risk allowance and living out allowance. These demands are for gold and coal employers affiliated to the Chamber of Mines.

The NUM will await a response from the Chamber of Mines as to when negotiations will begin.