Pay rise for Austrian metalworkers

On 30 October, after several weeks totaling more than 100 hours of negotiation with the six groups of the metal industry, IndustriALL Global Union affiliate PRO-GE and the non-manual workers’ unions in the private sector, GPA-DJP, reached their goal of one collective agreement for about 180,000 employees.

The collective bargaining results at a glance include:

Usually in Austria, bargaining in the metal industry sets the trend for all other sectors in the country. Negotiations were expected to be tough this year as for the first time employers announced earlier in the year that they no longer wanted to bargain jointly but separately.

“The negotiations were mostly cooperative but we continue to criticize the decisions of some employer groups to separate negotiations in the metal industry,”

said Rainer Wimmer, President of PRO-GE and President of IndustriALL’s Mechanical Engineering Sector.  

Austria's metal industry, which is the first sector to agree annual pay deals, split into six groups for this year's negotiations. Austrian metalworkers won a pay rise of up to 3.4 per cent, which is below last year’s increase but above inflation.

"Under difficult conditions, we reached a result that secures the purchasing power of the employees,"

said Rainer Wimmer (PRO-GE) and Karl Proyer (GPA-DJP).

World Bank: ‘Doing Business’ as usual

The Global Unions, including IndustriALL, have long been demanding that the World Bank remove all reference to labour from its ‘Doing Business’ report. The Bank has previously ordered staff to stop basing policy advice and loan conditions on the notorious ‘Employing Workers Indicator’ which awarded its top rating to countries with the most deregulated labour markets, including systematic abusers of workers’ rights such as Belarus.

The latest issue of Doing Business once again states that countries that reduce dismissal notice periods or severance pay “are addressing one of the main factors deterring employers from creating jobs in the formal sector”. But in a severe case of policy incoherence, the World Bank’s own World Development Report 2013, launched only a few weeks ago, finds that the impacts of two decades of labour deregulations on employment levels have been insignificant or modest. This follows a 2008 evaluation of Doing Business by the World Bank’s own Independent Evaluation Group which concluded that there is no basis to claims that labour market deregulation creates jobs.

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow has called on the World Bank to develop a new, balanced approach to labour market issues, inspired by the recommendations of the World Development Report 2013, and to remove the theme of labour from Doing Business once and for all.

Fighting for a living wage in Nicaragua

Veronica, a single mother with a six year old daughter, Angie, and a fifteen year old son, Marvin, is a union leader at the factory where she works. Her story is factual; only her name has been changed to protect her identity.

Over the years she has worked in a number of different factories, but two years ago she landed a job in one of the better companies in the industry, so in that respect things are looking up. But her life is far from easy.

At school Veronica was never much good at numbers, but as a single mother of two working in the garment sector she’s had to come to terms with subsistence maths.

Income

Let’s start with Veronica’s weekly pay. She earns a basic weekly wage of 771 córdobas (US$32) for a 48 hour week.

Let’s assume she reaches her production target, which will give her a bonus of 300 córdobas (US$12.50). You could call this ‘incentive’ pay though in reality it’s more of a stick than a carrot: if Veronica doesn’t break her back all week, she doesn’t reach her target.  Nor is it just a question of working hard: if the factory doesn’t have enough work, she won’t get the bonus.

With overtime, she can usually count can sometimes add another 700 córdobas. But let’s assume for a moment that Veronica sticks to the internationally recognised limit of 12 hours of overtime a week: that would give her an extra 384 córdobas (US$16).

So, that’s 1,455 córdobas (US$60.70) for a 60 hour week. And now we have to start subtracting.

Costs of living

First let’s take out the social security contribution, which at 6.25 per cent comes to 90 córdobas (US$3.75).

There’s no income tax to pay, since the government exempted the 110,000 maquila workers. Good news for Veronica, but bad news for the country’s tax base.  

Then she has to put money aside to pay her rent at the end of the month. Her modest two-room house costs 1,200 córdobas a month, so every week she needs to put aside 300 córdobas (US$12.50).

She needs to get to and from work every day.  A single fare costs 4 córdobas, so that’s 48 córdobas a week (US$2).

Working 60 hours a week, she needs to pay someone to look after six-year old Angie. That’s 1,000 córdobas a month – another 250 córdobas (US$10.40) she needs to put aside.

We should probably include electricity, but the truth is Veronica hasn’t been able to pay her bill for years. Tucked away in a hole in the wall is her last bill: she owes 30,875 córdobas, which is over 3 years pay on her basic wage.

Although she only has running water after 5pm, her water bill still comes to 80 córdobas a month. And let’s hope her tank of butane gas doesn’t run out this week – that would cost her another 200 córdobas.

Keeping her cell phone going will cost her another 20 córdobas (US$0.83). She would let this go if it wasn’t the only way of making arrangements for childcare when she gets unexpected overtime.

So rent, transport, childcare and utilities have just eaten up more than Veronica’s basic wage.

But what about food ?

Twice a month, Veronica buys a subsidized food parcel at the factory: five pounds of beans, fifteen pounds of white rice, ten pounds of white sugar, a bottle of cooking oil and three bars of soap take 340 córdobas out of her paycheck every fortnight, or 170 córdobas a week.

At the local store, her weekly bill for food and a few extra items like dish soap and toilet paper is usually about 700 córdobas. This buys her some pork rinds, a pound of onions, a couple of pounds of tomatoes, some red peppers, a packet of stock cubes, eggs, a few bananas, cheese, tortillas, coffee and milk. Very occasionally some chicken or maybe some off-cuts of beef.

It’s not the most nourishing diet (is it any wonder that Veronica suffers from diabetes?) and it’s certainly not enough to feed an adult working 60 hours a week, a teenage boy and a growing girl, but it still takes up 870 córdobas (US$36.32). 

But wait, that already puts us at 1,666 córdobas (US$66.70), which 200 córdobas more than Veronica will be earning this week. As usual she will need to rely on credit from the local shop, because it’s only two days after payday and already she has only 20 córdobas in her pocket.

And what about her kids? At the start of the school year Veronica had to work 48 hours of overtime for two weeks to pay for school uniforms and books.

What about a party for Angie’s seventh birthday? Or a pair of cleats that would let Marvin join the local soccer league? No way.

Ask Veronica about entertainment or community involvement, and all you get is a blank stare. “All I do is work,” she says.

Value of what she produces

But here’s the thing: The factory where Veronica works is a supplier of high-quality clothing for major sportswear brand that prides itself on product innovation and efficient supply chain management.

The style Veronica is currently producing is a long-sleeved shirt that retails at $84.99 in the US. Her line turns out 600 of these shirts a day. At a rough estimate, her union reckons that the total labour costs represents a paltry US$1 of the retail price.

The brand in question has made a commitment to paying a living wage, yet Veronica earns barely half of the official ‘canasta basica’ (basket of needs).

The retailer concerned is approaching 2 billion dollars in revenue this year. The company’s CEO owns 12.5 million shares in the company. In contrast, a mere 60 shares a year would pull Veronica out of poverty and enable her to earn a living wage.

Veronica recently participated in an FES workshop on the living wage in Managua organized by IndustriALL Global Union. She shares the belief that unions need to make the living wage a priority and to take the initiative in calculating a credible and accurate living wage figure.

She strongly supports the demand that brands pay prices that allow suppliers to pay their workers a living wage, and that suppliers uphold the right to organize and bargain collectively to allow unions to negotiate a living wage.  

Another three die at Gadani shipyard

Nasir Mansoor, General Secretary of the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), an affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union in Pakistan, said in a statement that three workers Kalimullah, Ghulam Nazir and Abdul Rahman lost their lives because of the absence of security measures at the yard.
 
The union believes that the main reason behind numerous accidents resulting in deaths and injuries at the yard is the absence of deputed safety guards.
 
According to the union some 15,000 workers of the shipbreaking yard work in extremely inhumane conditions with no access to potable water or social facilities including school, dispensary, hospital and canteen.
 
With the aim to prevent further accidents NTUF puts forward the following demands:

Gadani shipyard is the third largest shipbreaking yard of the world, after Alang in India and Chittagong in Bangladesh, and is composed of over 130 shipbreaking plots occupying all together 10 kilometers of the beachfront area in the southern part of Pakistan.

IndustriALL affiliates launch Global Company Network of Owens Illinois

The first meeting of the network was organized via teleconference on 22 October 2012. Representatives of the United Steelworkers (USW), Unite of the UK and Ireland, Glass Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International Union (GMP) of the United States and Canada; the Australian Workers Union (AWU)   along with the IndustriALL Officer came together to discuss the continuing problematic labour practices of  Owens – Illinois.

The representatives of the unions in the United States and Australia reported that there was an increasingly worrying issue of the use of agency workers in O-I workplaces, and the treatment of these workers by O-I, with many of these workers being paid only 60% of their equivalent in-house employees.

O-I globally is in a period of acute cost-cutting reportedly to the extreme of $120 million dollars over the next year, and is attempting to achieve this by plant closures, attacking workers’ rights, the use of agency workers and lay-offs. Australia’s O-I workforce has been cut by 10% in the past year.

In Colombia and Indonesia, O-I has been increasing precarious workers and outsourcing production, aimed at weakening current union strength. Precarious workers are being paid 30-60 per cent less than permanent workers.

The unions expressed concern that the pressure for the company to increase its short term numbers will cause it more financial difficulty into the future and seriously challenge its place as an industry leader in glass manufacturing.

The unions involved have agreed to develop a closer working relationship in O-I leading to a Glass Workers Alliance.

USW has recently outreached to unions representing O-I workers in Brazil and Colombia, and IndustriALL has outreached to these unions in Asia. Unite will liaise on European Works Council membership and discuss with IndustriALL the setting up of a more formal structure to discuss issues related to the glass sector.

O-I is the world's largest glass container manufacturer and preferred partner for many of the world's leading food and beverage brands. With revenues of $7.4 billion in 2011, the Company is headquartered in Perrysburg, Ohio, USA, and employs more than 24,000 people at 81 plants in 21 countries (USA, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Hungary, Czech, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, .Indonesia, China, Colombia, Brazil) (www.o-i.com). 

Lesotho workers march for a living wage

Workers are frustrated because government has failed to give reason for the delay in gazetting minimum wages in Lesotho, which were to be effective from 1 October 2012. Daniel Mariasane, Education Secretary of the IndustriALL-affiliated Lesotho Factory Workers’ Union (FAWU) who is leading the campaign says that initially government wanted to exclude the garment sector from the minimum wage gazette, so it is probable that resistance from employers to increase the wage is causing the delay.

At a tripartite workshop organised jointly by the ILO and the Minister of Labour and Employment in February 2012, parties agreed on eight criteria that should be considered by the Wages Advisory Board when setting minimum wages for the garment sector, one of which is a living wage.

A detailed study was then conducted by an independent ILO consultant on what a living wage would be for garment workers in Lesotho, which concluded that workers needed M1,415 (Euro 141) to subsist and M2,148 ( Euro 214) to meet basic needs.

These finding vindicate garment workers that had demanded a living wage of M2,020 (Euro 202) a month in protests during 2011. Mariasane reports that a study was also conducted by the Central Bank of Lesotho that suggested R1,396 (Euro 140) as the minimum wage for the sector.

“Employers want workers to accept an 8 per cent increase on a minimum wage of 83 Euro, this is less than 10 Euro increase,” says Mariasane. We want the minimum wage in the sector to be reviewed in line with the ILO commissioned study and the findings of the Central Bank”.    

Other demands that workers will take to the Prime Minister are that minimum wages must apply to all workers not only those with more than 12 month service, an end to discrimination of garment workers that only receive 2 weeks maternity leave whilst all other workers in Lesotho are entitled to 6 weeks and that a sector level bargaining council must be established to establish the right to strike on wage issues. 

“A great worker is behind every major brand”

CNM/CUT and UAW representatives are actively participating in the show for the first time and have organised a stand at the event, which takes place between October 24 and November 4.

Under the slogan "a hard worker is behind every major brand", the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the national metalworkers’ confederation affiliated to the trade union central CUT (CNM/CUT) are actively participating in the 27th International Automobile Trade Show in São Paulo.

Workers from the Brazilian auto companies Ford, Scania, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen will be helping in a consumer survey. They will ask five questions about decent work in order to gather consumers’ opinions on this issue. The survey intends to collect data that will help the unions determine whether working conditions at the factories might influence consumer choice.

The most significant aspect of this exercise is that the results will be used by the unions to develop the decent work campaign at assembly plants in Brazil and the rest of the world.

The CNM/CUT, which represents approximately 800,000 metalworkers in the country, has a long history of working with the UAW. CNM/CUT leaders believe that this is an innovative and important initiative for the confederation, which is always present when workers’ rights need defending, said CNM/CUT president, Paulo Cayres.

UAW president, Bob King, said “we made contact with leaders of trade union centrals in Brazil with the objective of forming a global network to work together to promote decent work.”

João Cayres, CNM/CUT general secretary and international relations secretary said “this is an unprecedented initiative that we are taking as part of the international struggle against precarious work, a campaign begun by our international federation, IndustriALL. We must raise the awareness of people buying vehicles throughout the world.”

USW ratifies integration agreement with IP

Overwhelming 90 per cent majority of workers voted in favour of the contract. The union represents about 4,000 workers at 61 IP box plants and some 6,000 hourly employees at 19 IP paper mills. This agreement is the second one recently negotiated at IP.

One month ago another agreement was concluded, aimed to integrate former Temple-Inland mills into the IP master agreement. It was ratified by nearly the same margin, bringing a total of 80 sites represented by 90 local unions into the IP master agreements. The necessity of changes has been triggered earlier this year when IP purchased its former competitor.

USW International President Leo W. Gerard praised solidarity between the members and shop floor activists both at and between the plants.

“Especially when bargaining with huge corporations like IP, our members understand that standing together in unity to fight for a fair contract gives us power at the bargaining table,” Gerard said.

On the occasion of ratification of agreements USW issued a press release available at the link: http://www.usw.org/media_center/releases_advisories?id=0629
 

Polish miners went on 24-hour strike

The strike started on 6:00 a.m. at Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa SA (JSW SA). The strike was organized by the local union organization in JSW SA, a member of the Trade Unions Alliance "KADRA", affiliated to the IndustriALL Global Union.

The strike is the result of a disagreement with the management board of JSW SA regarding the introduction of new labour contracts for newly hired employees and wages. The management intends to impose contracts violating the national labour law as well as the previous agreement with the trade unions, particularly the agreement of May 2012 concerning the privatization of JSW SA.

The union demands withdrawal of unfavourable contracts for new employees and an increase of salaries by 3.8 per cent. The company declared 50 per cent of workers participated in the strike and announced Z17million (4.1 million euros) losses in revenues as the direct result of the strike. The union dismisses the data as unreliable. During the press-conference about the results of the strike on 25 October the union declared its readiness to continue the struggle.

The JSW SA mines are located in the Upper-Silesian Coal Basin. The JSW Group is the largest producer of high quality coking coal and an important coke producer in the European Union. JSW is composed of five hard coal mines including Borynia-Zofiowka, Budryk, Jas-Mos, Krupinski, and Pniowek, where coking coal and steam coal is excavated, as well as the Material Logistics Centre. By the end of 2011 the group employed almost 30,000 workers of whom 22,900 were employed by JSW mines and 1,700 by Koksownia Przyjazn (coking operations of the Group).

Goodyear South Africa workers strike over relief allowance

"What used to happen is that when some people went on lunch, some were left behind working,” says Eastern Cape Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), Phumzile Nodongwe. “But now they want the workers to continue doing the same work but do not want to pay for it.”

Numsa argue that whilst the arrangement is not covered by the bargaining agreement, it is an established practice and workers have come to rely on the allowance.

“The employer cannot now hastily renegade from this, without following proper channels of engagement with the workers,” says Nodongwe, “This Relief Allowance has been a great source of assistance or relief to the livelihoods of these workers, including their families.”

Workers went on a protected strike on 23 October 2012 after two months of negotiations between Numsa and failed to resolve on the matter.