Owens Illinois glass workers alliance takes action

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates representing O-I workers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, numerous countries in Europe, Indonesia, Peru, and the US, along with the O-I European Works Council, formed the alliance as recent company policy of cutting labour costs, labour rights and jobs has hit workers everywhere.

The newly confrontational labour relations strategy is coupled with a flawed business strategy of other cuts and giving up market share. The Alliance states in its 10 January letter to the O-I CEO:

O-I’s primary strategy to cut jobs, cut production, cut research and development, cut capital investment and give up market share in response to short term market fluctuations is not a formula which will yield either current or long term success.

Another damaging recent tactic of O-I internationally has been to outsource much of its workforce, with contract workers often earning significantly less and with less benefits than the permanent workers they replace.

During the week of 4 February the alliance will lead solidarity days of action calling on management to reverse these anti-worker tactics and accept trade unions’ offer to collaboratively work to accomplish the shared goal of improving the business’ efficiency and delivery. Different unions will employ different campaign activities during the week, with many holding sticker days and handing out flyers at O-I worksites, and others mobilizing members to send postcards to management.

However they do it, the thousands of O-I workers in various countries will loudly tell O-I management that they expect the company to bargain in good faith and work cooperatively with their employees everywhere. If the glass multinational is not willing to treat its workers with this necessary request, the alliance will move to a further stage of campaigning,

…the Alliance will not hesitate to reach out directly to other O-I stakeholders, including, without limitation, O-I customers and the financial markets…

As unions at O-I heads into collective bargaining in 2013 the Global Glass Alliance will move its focus to exert international pressure on the company to bargain in good faith.

IndustriALL condemns conviction of Somyot in Thailand

In a scathing attack on human rights and freedom of speech, a Thai criminal court found Somyot Prueksakasemsuk a trade unionists, social activist and a journalist in Thailand, guilty of ‘lese majeste’ offences for publishing two articles critical of the monarchy, in his Voice of Takshin, the magazine he edited. He was sentenced to an 11 year jail term including five-year jail terms for each article and cancellation of suspension of 1 year jail sentence issued 3 years before.

Somyot was arrested in April 2011 and has undergone prolonged pre-trial detention as his bail plea was denied by the courts 12 times. He was presented in court on several occasions wearing shackles as if he were a dreaded criminal. Trade unionists, human rights and civil society activists across the world including European Union, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Amnesty International condemned the conviction and severe punishment of Somyot.

It is important to note that he was arrested 1 year after the publication of those 2 articles. More significantly after 5 days of launching a petition seeking review of Article 112, he was arrested under the same law. Article 112 of the Criminal Code, states that, “whoever, defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of 3 to 15 years.”

Human rights defenders in Thailand believe that the government has been using the ‘lese majeste’ law under article 112 to silence its critics and called for immediate suspension and revision of ‘lese majeste law’.

"IndustriALL joins the EU and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Amnesty International in protesting for Somyot’s release, based upon the United Nations Human Rights Charter on Freedom of Expression," said Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL.

Migrant workers face atrocious conditions in Malaysian electronics plants

Employed as outsourced labour, the migrant workers are heavily indebted by the time they start working because of extortionate fees of recruitment agencies. Migrant workers are paid less, sometimes even only half of what they were promised, by the agencies that recruited them, and deductions are made from wages without proper explanation.

Workers undergo HIV testing as part of medical screening and women workers have to have mandatory pregnancy tests and are sent back home if they get pregnant. Contracts, if received at all, are often in a language not understood by the migrant workers, and migrants regularly work up to 72 hour per week. In addition, most workers interviewed had their passports held by the outsourcing agencies, to prevent them from leaving.

These atrocious working conditions, along with other violations were found by recent field research presented in the makeITfair-report ‘Outsourcing Labour’, which was released by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) on 18 January 2013.

Researchers in Malaysia interviewed over one hundred workers. The factories that were investigated provide parts for DVDs, cameras, and TVs, chips and remote controls to large brand names like Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba.

These companies take inadequate steps to protect migrant workers in their supply chain, the research shows.

The reseach found that labour rights violations are directly linked to the current outsourcing practices in Malaysia, where recruitment agencies increasingly act as direct employers, blurring employment relationships and obscuring responsibility for labour rights violations.

You can find a copy of the full report here:

http://goodelectronics.org/publications-en/Publication_3922/

This report is part of the ‘makeITfair’ project to raise awareness about sustainable development issues in the production chain of the consumer electronics industry. The partners behind the makeITfair project are also members of the wider Good Electronics international network, where IndustriALL is a member of the steering committee.

ITUC campaign in defence of the freedom of association in Guatemala

Guatemalan workers are the victims of intense anti-trade union discrimination and are often dismissed if they join a union. Union leaders have been killed and many have been threatened with death. According to the annual report of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), at least 64 trade unionists have been killed since 2007, with six killed in 2012.

The report states that in 2011, Oscar Humberto González Vásquez, leader of the Izabal Banana Workers’ Union (SITRABI) was murdered. He was shot 35 times. Idar Joel Hernández Godoy, Finance Secretary of SITRABI, was killed the previous month. In 2012, Miguel Ángel González Ramírez, was killed while he was walking to the banana plantation where he worked. He was carrying his son in his arms at the time. However, this fate is not reserved only for banana plantation workers. In July 2011, Lesbia Elías Xurup was hacked to death at her home in the community of La Selva, Santo Domingo, Suchitepéquez. She was a member of the Communities in Resistance against the Unión FENOSA company. The following day, María Santos Mejía, a member of the Independent Maquilas Union executive, died after being shot in the head by two individuals on a motorbike.

Guatemalan workers have been bringing this situation to the attention of the ILO for two decades. The Commission of Experts on the Application of Standards and the Committee on Freedom of Association have, at various times, denounced Guatemala’s failure to amend its laws and practices to bring them into line with Convention 87.

Given that violations and killings continue to take place, the ITUC is organising a campaign to urge the ILO Governing Body, at its March 2013 session, to approve the creation of a Commission of Inquiry to examine the grave and systematic violations of ILO Convention 87 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) in Guatemala.

In January and February, the international trade union movement will lobby its governments to support the creation of an ILO Commission of Inquiry. Trade unions in countries whose governments are on the ILO Council of Administration will write to their governments on this matter, as will unions in countries that are not represented on the Council.

The ITUC requests unions to keep it informed of the measures they take on this issue and on the responses they receive from governments.

IndustriALL Global Union has joined the campaign and calls on its affiliated trade unions to participate in the action to defend the freedom of association in Guatemala.

Global Unions condemn new Fiji military decree

The decree (Decree 4 of 2013), issued on January 15, 2013 right after the military regime had discarded a new draft constitution which was the product of a popular, consultative process, is the most recent affront to democratic principles and trade union rights.

Most troubling, Article 14 of the decree excludes all public officers from applying for, being a member of, or holding office in a political party. Article 14.2(d) defines “public officer” to include any elected or appointed trade union officer.

It is no coincidence that the decree was issued just days after the Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC) held a special delegates meeting to launch a new opposition political party, which would include trade unions. Incredibly, under Article 14.1(c), a trade union official cannot even express support for a political party. 

If a trade union leader does become an applicant for or member or officer of a party, they will be deemed as having resigned from their trade union office. Anyone defying this decree faces a $50,000 fine, 5 years imprisonment or both.

“The regime is once again attempting to silence the largest civil society organization and opposition force in the country – the trade union movement. The international community needs to recognize that the promise of elections in 2014 will be meaningless if all Fijian citizens cannot fully participate in the political process. This decree should remove any doubt that the regime is seeking to have itself elected in 2014 by any and all means necessary,” explained Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The decree also appears to seek to eliminate many existing parties.  Parties will have less than one month from the issuance of the decree to demonstrate a minimum membership of 5,000 members (up from 128), which must come from all four divisions of the country, and to pay a $5,005 fee. 

The decree even regulates the length of the name and prohibits any party name in the indigenous language of the country. Those parties that do not comply within this timeframe will have all of their assets seized by the regime. If they continue to acts as a political party despite failing to meet the new criteria, party officials will face a $50,000 fine, 5 years imprisonment or both.

“The decree clearly violates principles of freedom of association by prohibiting unions from engaging in political activities for the promotion of their trade union objectives.  All individuals and groups that wish to form a political party should be able to do so, based on the principle of equal treatment before the law. This decree obviously fails this test,” stated Ambet Yuson, Chair of the Council of Global Unions, which brings together the Global Union Federations, ITUC and TUAC.

ILO reports global unemployment on the rise

The ILO’s Global Employment Trends 2013 released 21 January 2013 found:

A quarter of the increase in global unemployment in 2012 has been in the advanced economies, while three quarters has been in other regions, with marked effects in East Asia, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Those regions that have managed to prevent a further increase in unemployment often have experienced a worsening in job quality, as vulnerable employment and the number of workers living below or very near the poverty line increased.

The figures show 74 million young people are unemployed globally. Some 35 per cent of young people have been out of a job for 6 months or longer in advanced economies.

The ILO warns that the rise in unemployment could further increase in 2013 due to an uncertain economic outlook and inadequate policy response.

Commenting on the figures, Guy Ryder, ILO Director General said, “The global nature of the crisis means countries cannot resolve its impact individually and with domestic measures only. The high uncertainty, which is holding off investments and job creation, will not recede if countries come up with conflicting solutions.”

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), commented on the report, saying, “International financial institutions and governments are continuing to pursue the same old policies while the number of unemployed people keeps rising. What will it take for politicians to face up to the truth behind the numbers – their economic policies are failing?”

“By creating jobs, restoring wages, and providing real job security, worker confidence will kick start the global economy,” said Burrow.

The labour movement has five main demands to rebuild the global economy:

Stop austerity for executive staff

Every year before Christmas the delegations from the 5 representative trade unions in the metalworking industries go to negotiate with the employers’ organization UIMM to bargain on the minimum salaries for engineers and executives. Metalworker engineers and executives have a national agreement, whereas the other categories in the sector have regional pay agreements.

For some years now the increases in engineers and executives’ minimum salaries have not been keeping up. The most glaring case was in 2010 when none of the unions was willing to sign the agreement, when the employers decided to freeze the salaries unilaterally. This has meant that the engineers and executives’ salaries have lost ground compared to the legal minimum wage. It would be wrong to think that this only affects entry level pay. This situation has repercussions at all levels and in all companies in the sector. This back-up has to be made up as quickly as possible. Starting this year a plan has to be put in place to raise the salaries by 3 per cent and continue over the next few years in order to make up for the years of stagnation.

In the current negotiations the UIMM is taking advantage yet again of the crisis to propose a puny rise to the tune of 1.3 per cent. No union has been willing to sign this agreement, which indicates that there is a gap between what the employers are suggesting and what the engineers and executives need. The employers constantly refer to the poor health of the French and the European economy to justify their austerity strategy. In their view expenditures must be cut, which means to cut salaries so that the companies will be better off. The cases of Greece and Spain are, however, great counter examples which show us that national economies cannot work like that.

Cutting salaries means worsening the crisis by weakening growth, which, nevertheless, is fired in France by households’ consumption. On the contrary, households should be given more money in order to get growth going and get people back to work in our companies. Moreover we need to remember that salaries are the payment for workers’ qualifications.

Every year workers increase their qualifications by on-the-job experience as well as by doing training, by acquiring new skills, etc. Wages and salaries thus have to rise in constant money, that is, above and beyond the inflation rate. That is why engineers’ and executives’ minimum salaries have to go up more than the inflation rate, which this year is expected to be 1.7 per cent. Proposing only a 1.3 per cent rise is tantamount to paying less for our qualifications and thus decreasing our standard of living.

The financial press is always very keen on competitiveness. And the comparison between the French and German industry is often the issue. Nevertheless upon closer analysis Germany has boosted its competitiveness on the basis of quality production. In Germany one hour worked costs 43 euros compared to only 33 euros in France. But still German cars sell better and for higher prices.

Besides German output has remained stable at 6.2 million vehicles, while it has gone down in France from 3 to 1.9 million due to short-term policies geared solely to making as much profit as possible to the detriment of industrial development. It is because of policies based on innovation, research and development of new technologies that German industry is flourishing, and not because of cutting costs which is what is happening nowadays in France. German industry attracts highly qualified people, technicians and engineers, by paying them correctly. Instead, all players in industry are seeing young people drift away from industry to work in finance or other better paying sectors.

It will not be by offering a mere 1.3 per cent rise that our companies will turn this situation around. The current negotiations cover engineers and executives, but the other categories in the metalworking industries should keep an eye on these proposals.

Source: CGT Metallurgie

Help IndustriALL stop union-busting at Bashneft in Russia

Two union locals at Bashneft, an oil company in Russia, are under attack from the management. The administration strives to undermine Russian Chemical Workers Union (RCWU), IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, and replace it with a company-controlled Labour Council.

The company is refusing to renegotiate collective agreements with RCWU locals, creating its own Labour Council instead.

Soon after reorganization in October 2012 when the companies Bashkirnefteproduct in Ufa and Orenburgnefteproduct in Orenburg became part of the parent company Bashneft, the management refused to renegotiate the CBA with the RCWU locals and challenged their right to collective bargaining.

The administration refuses to recognize union locals and claims that the CBA will be negotiated with a Labour Council, created by the company itself.

Furthermore, the company forces union members at Bashkirnefteproduct and Orenburgnefteproduct to leave the union, threatening them with dismissal. Since October 2012, hundreds of workers left RCWU under strong pressure from the management.

RCWU held public actions and launched a national solidarity campaign (In Russian) http://www.trud.org/3/11000.html with the help of the Federation of the Independent Trade Unions of Russia.

IndustriALL joins RCWU in an effort to stop union-busting at Bashneft, one of the largest Russian oil companies employing over 8,000 workers.

IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina sent a letter to the Bashneft top managers, urging them to withdraw from anti-union tactics and engage in good-faith negotiations with the union.

You can TAKE ACTION too and send a letter to the president of the Board of Directors of Bashneft and the company president.

Steel stability essential for successful economy

Steel employs more than 2 million workers directly worldwide and an additional 2 million contractors and is one of the most heavily unionized industries in the world. Nobody is more passionate about the future of the industry than our steel unions, time and time again in 2012 we saw how hard our unions were prepared to fight to save jobs, communities and advance workers’ rights. In France our unions did not sit idle for one day in the battle at ArcelorMittal Florange, triggering a national debate on the future of the industry.

Our belief is that the steel industry is the backbone to a successful economy and stability in the industry has a knock on effect throughout the whole economy.

Rob Johnston Executive Director IndustriALL believes, “The prediction for 2012 proved to be fairly accurate and this year we believe the industry will also continue in a transitional period. Global steel demand will continue to grow but at a slower pace than the previous decade. However the long- term prospects for the industry remain good and we expect improvements from last year.”

According to the latest Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Economic Outlook, the global economy is weakening again driven by a significant drop in confidence. High and, in some countries, rising unemployment is further reducing confidence and spending. While a recession is ongoing in the euro area, the US economy is growing but at a slow pace below what was expected in 2012. A slowdown is also taking place in many emerging market economies, partly reflecting the impact of the recession in Europe. After expanding by 3.7% in 2011, global GDP growth is forecast to decline to 2.9% in 2012, with a moderate gain in momentum to 3.4% in 2013.

A continued decline in the steel export market and excess capacity have once again seen the issue of steel trade policies come to the fore. A number of new antidumping and countervailing duty cases have brought the focus back onto trade remedy measures. Respect for workers’ rights is not only a social issue but an economic one as well that should be included as a measure of a level playing field. If workers do not enjoy the basic right to freedom of association, or to engage in collective bargaining, the “free” labour market will be severely distorted. This distortion results in unsafe work conditions and suppressed wages, among other things.

At a global steel meeting later this year IndustriALL will develop a common platform amongst unions to tackle these issues. The outcome of the meeting will be an action plan for steel unions until 2016.

Historic win for Rio Tinto workers

Over the past 19 years Rio Tinto has negotiated directly with the workers at Tasmania's Bell Bay aluminium smelter, with no union involvement. After a 3-year AWU organizing battle, this victory is significant for unions in Australia, as it disproves the myth that once a company de-unionizes, the union can never get back in.

“We have made it very clear that Rio Tinto is a company that we are targeting,” said Paul Howes, AWU National Secretary,  “we believe that there is a move to change amongst their workforce. Now many in the business community and in Rio [Tinto] themselves laughed at us two years ago when I announced this at my national conference, I even had some labour ministers say that our tactics wouldn’t be successful.”

Discussions around a new collective agreement for workers at Bell Bay should commence within weeks. Although it’s unlikely that workers will push for wage parity with the mainland, given the smelter's tough trading conditions, Paul Howes says that, “there is no reason why in the long-term these workers shouldn’t be paid the same as their mainland counterparts, after all Bell Bay is a unique smelter in Australia by the fact that it’s running on essentially clean power through the form of hydro electricity.”

In the coming weeks the AWU will be consulting with members to draw up a log of claims to present to the company. One of the most important priorities will be to lock in workers’ existing pay and conditions in the event that Rio Tinto sells Pacific Aluminium to another company.

We knew that this campaign would be successful principally because workers in Rio want to be able to have a say in their working conditions and want to be treated fairly. And that’s why we’ve seen this ground swell of support.

said Howes.

Rio Tinto lost US$14 billion (€10.525 billion) as a consequence of asset depreciation in Mozambique and trading in aluminium, the company dismissed its chief executive officer (CEO) Tom Albanese as a result on 17 January 2013. Iron Ore CEO Sam Walsh took his place. Doug Ritchie, who had led the acquisition of Rio Tinto’s Mozambique coal assets, was also dismissed.