Workers invade streets in London

As part of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) organized campaign against austerity, more than 150,000 people came to London to rally for A Future That Works calling for an end to the government's programme of damaging and self-defeating austerity. Thousands more marched in Glasgow and Belfast.
 
Time and again the participating unions, including IndustriALL Global Union UK affiliate Unite, claim the austerity measures are the worst possible response of the government towards the crisis and are paving a dire future for ordinary people.
 
Speaking to the participants of the march Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey said that with living standards already crumbling people simply will not be able to cope with further punishment from the government. The unions in the UK are concerned by the fact that some 90 per cent of cuts have yet to be imposed by the ruling coalition.
 
“People are already borrowing hundreds of pounds to get by each month. We know – and the government knows full well – that millions of low waged workers are just about keeping their heads above water,” said McCluskey.

He continued, “There is not a shred of economic evidence to support this austerity addiction but plenty to warn about the dire outcomes for ordinary people. Failure to think again is not just heartless, but a senseless assault on our country’s stability.”
 
 

Indonesian union secures overtime pay

Nelson F. Saragih of the Indonesia Federation of Pulp and Paper Workers’ Union (FSP2KI) said the agreement benefits both permanent and agency workers.

The union demanded the company, PT Esa Kertas Nusantara, pay the workers overtime wages dated back to 6 years, which the company rejected. When negotiations reached a deadlock the union members voted for strike. At the same time, the union started an online petition campaign through http://www.Change.org

Three days before the workers went on strike, there was a dialogue meeting and both sides reached an agreement.

When the union was organized at the company in 2011, it raised the issue on overtime pay to the company but the management refused to negotiate with the union representatives.  

Since 2006, the company has imposed forced overtime work on the workers without paying them. On average, the workers have worked 9 hours per day for the past six years, but they have only received wages for 8 hours work, which is not in line with Indonesian labour law. 

The company currently employs 400 permanent workers and 800 agency workers. At this paper mill, permanent workers who work on shift as machine operators earn on average Rp. 2,500,000 per month (US$ 260), while agency workers having the same job function earn Rp. 1,400,000 per month (US$145).

SPEKN was established in 2011 with 400 members. The union is an affiliate of the Indonesia Federation of Pulp and Paper Workers Unions (FSP2KI).  

Etin Rodiana, General Secretary of FSP2KI, said this union victory will lead to organizing all contract and agency workers at the mill. Now the union is distributing application forms to all contract and agency workers and after that it will prepare a new collective bargaining round for regular employment.

PT Esa Kertas Nusantara produces printing paper under the brand names Aviator, Byzantium, Infinite Copy, Copy Fit, and Printec. These paper products are distributed to Asia, Australia, India, Africa and USA.

Oppose Mexican anti-worker legislation reform

The dangerous changes to the labour law in Mexico stand to legalize the mass abuse of workers’ rights throughout the country. The bill was sent back to the lower house of parliament on Tuesday by the Senate, with ammendments over trade union transparancy, but both houses' majorities agree on most of the anti-worker measures. Join unions from around the world in writing your message of condemnation directly to five key senators.

As previously reported, the law was prepared by outgoing President Calderón, an enemy to Mexico’s workers throughout his six-year term, and has the support of the pro-corporate political alliance of the largest parties PRI and PAN. An undemocratic fast-track process has moved the law through parliament without allowing for proper deliberations.

Much of the abuses that stand to be permitted by these changes widely occur already, but for them to be legalized would remove the last protections for workers and trade union freedoms in the country. This year the executive branch of the Mexican government has intensified its crackdown on independent unions and has presented this regressive labour law reform initiative.

A major change will be to increase employer flexibility when dealing with the workforce. This means rampant use of sub-contracting, temporary and short-term contracts, all forms of precarious work that aim to destroy all possibility of organizing and bargaining collectively through independent trade unions. Any worker on a short-term contract who stands up to abuse of their core labour rights or occupational health and safety will risk not having their contract renewed and will have no legal protection. All power is handed to the employer by this trend towards more precarious work.

The current federal labour law does need reform; it allows for loopholes and is weak in terms of labour protections. However the current changes passing between the two houses of parliament do nothing to address these problems and only cause further damage.

The outrageous widespread problem of protection contracts in Mexico, as denounced in IndustriALL's (ex IMF) complaint to the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association has been condemned by the entire trade union movement, and by the International Labour Organisation Governing Body’s recommendations in 2011 calling on the Mexican government to investigate the use of protection contracts that restrict the collective bargaining process. 

Hundreds of miners on strike in Georgia

Workers of mines and plants belonging to Georgian Manganese company in Chiatura, Western Georgia, are on strike. Georgian Manganese is part of the British steel giant Stemcor.

According to the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCIWG), an IndustriALL affiliate, the average wage at the Chiatura mining facilities is only 250 USD. This is way below the national average of 400 USD. Workers are demanding a 100 per cent increase.

Workers are on strike for five days now. TUMMCIWG president Tamaz Dolaberidze says, “The administration still doesn’t negotiate with the workers. They are not giving up either, and the strike goes on.”

Workers demand better pay, safer working conditions and the dismissal of the director of production.

Local authorities met with Georgian Manganese management on 18 October, but no results were achieved.

Workers say that if the company doesn’t begin proper negotiations they’ll go on hunger strike.

Thai workers dismissed with no severance pay

According to the workers representative at Kabinburi Pan Asia Footwear the workers were not organized at the workplace but after being collectively dismissed they got together and demonstrated to voice their demands. Their demand is for 100 per cent of the legal severance pay for all the dismissed workers.  The majority of the dismissed workers dismissed on 8 October are women and had been at the company for over 15 years.  

Kabinburi Pan Asia Footwear Ltd is under the management of the Sahaphat Group, which is one of the largest business conglomerates in Thailand, they produce for Nike and for Hammel; a Danish sportswear company.

After a mediation meeting facilitated by the provincial labour office of Prachinburi on 8 October, the management of the company said that they would pay the workers 30 per cent of the legal severance pay, claiming that the company had to close down due to major losses.  Some workers under economic pressure accepted management’s proposal but the majority of the workers are continuing to fight for legal severance pay and submitted a complaint in writing to the provincial labour office of Prachinburi on 11 October.

According to Thai labour law an employee must be given notice of termination at least one pay period or one month in advance of termination. Therefore, the workers at Kabinburi are also entitled to an additional one-month salary in lieu of notice pay.

Based on the Thai labour law, severance pay is as follows:

Period of employment

Amount of severance pay

More than 120 days but less than 1 year

30 days wages or salary

At least 1 year but less than 3 years

90 days wages or salary

At least 6 years but less than 10 years

180 days wages or salary

At least 6 years but less than 10 years

240 days wages or salary

At least 10 years

300 days wages or salary

The workers are also preparing to file a court case since the employer has refused all attempts made by the workers to negotiate.

Dismissals continue at Honda Mexico as STUHM fights for workers’ rights

STUHM has been calling for a vote to decide which union shall have the right to represent workers at Honda, Jalisco, since the union received official recognition from the authorities in 2009. Workers at the El Salto plant in Jalisco have denounced poor working conditions, harassment, low pay, intimidation towards union members and supporter and the lack of a genuine union to defend their rights.

In August 2011, the Labour and Social Welfare Department (STPS) issued STUHM with registration number 5964 STUHM and recognised the union (the procedure known as toma de nota) after the federal labour courts ruled the workers had the right to form a union.

STUHM is demanding the right (titularidad) to negotiate a collective agreement on the grounds that it is the majority union and is calling for the reinstatement of dismissed workers.

On 13 September this year, the courts held a hearing attended by representatives of Honda, SETEAMI, STUHM and another union that also claimed the right to negotiate a collective agreement. At the hearing, all three unions claimed they represented a majority of the workers and therefore had the right to negotiate a collective agreement on behalf of the workers. Despite repeated calls from IndustriALL and affiliates demanding that the company should remain neutral, the record of the hearing clearly shows that Honda supported the position of SETEAMI. Moreover, the company continues to intimidate and repress STUHM members and supporters and dismiss workers without justification. STUHM affirms that a vote should be held as soon as possible to establish which union has majority support.

The company continues to persecute and dismissal workers. Ricardo Chávez Álvarez, who was employed by the company for five years and was a quality control inspector on the assembly line, was sacked in September for being in possession of STUHM leaflets on company premises. Chávez was a STUHM member but the company forced him to resign from the union in July 2012.

IndustriALL Global Union is closely following Honda’s actions in Mexico and demands that Honda workers in Mexico are allowed to exercise their right to decide freely and democratically which union they want to represent them, without any interference from the company.

Lively debate strengthens IndustriALL’s trade union networks and GFAs

The conference was in unanimous agreement on the importance of trade union networks as central tools to build trade union power and solidarity. While some networks have been born out of struggle and are a long way away from culminating in a GFA, others have operated well in certain regions but encountered communications and inclusion challenges elsewhere.

IndustriALL President Berthold Huber opened the conference. “Our central task is to enforce minimum social standards in order to make globalization more humane. We are negotiating with companies on Global Framework Agreements so as to implement minimum conditions in all locations of the company and in their supply chains,” he said.

On the issue of trade union networks, IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Kemal Ozkan added, “We must strategically choose target companies for building networks and genuine global union solidarity. Then the global union should be able create the infrastructure with the full involvement of affiliates as the real owners of the network.”

Experience and policy differs between member trade unions regarding GFAs and the thematic conference was important in developing ways forward for IndustriALL to strengthen practices that improve existing agreements and the process of signing new ones.

The conference identified some problems around the joint ownership of agreements and the need for a more inclusive, transparent standardized process to establish new agreements.

The conference reached unanimous agreement on a number of clear recommendations to the IndustriALL Executive Committee to be held in December. The recommendations include:

Also, IndustriALL will now structure its world sector conferences differently and couple them with breakout company specific meetings. Identified target company networks will be built and developed through this new practice.

The conference was successful in clarifying areas that need improvement in the GFA and trade union network activity of IndustriALL, and was successful in reaching agreed proposals to make those improvements.

The world conference was held upon invitation of IG Metall on 17-18 October in Frankfurt, with around 150 participants from more than 30 countries, representing all regions and industrial sectors, with FES support.

Colombian oil workers’ union under increasing pressure

Join IndustriALL in calling Termotecnica Coindustrial S.A. management to enter into dialogue with USO. From this page send your letter of protest to the local management.

The conflict with Termotécnica Coindustrial SA and Cepcolsa, a subsidiary of CEPSA, to which Termotécnica provides services, is now over 65 days old. Both companies continue to refuse to negotiate the list of demands of Termotécnica’s workers presented through USO, the trade union chosen to represent them.  On 10 October, the Colombian Ministry of Labour issued a sentence in favour of the workers and the USO, against Termotécnica obliging the parties to negotiate. Despite this, until today, neither have Cepcolsa and Termotécnica reacted to this decision.

In Puerto Gaitán in Colombia, the management of the oil field operator and its subcontractor are practicing strike-breaking strategies in clear violation of national and international labour standards. Workers have been offered economic incentives if they accepted to quit the USO and return to work. The employers have hired new workers with better salary conditions in order to replace striking employees. 

In letters to Termotécnica, Cepcolsa and ECOPETROL, the minority sharing holder of Puerto Gaitán oil field, IndustriALL has strongly condemned the anti-union practices in refusing dialogue with union representatives and in various forms of union-busting in violation of core ILO Conventions 87 and 98.

Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL, also urged the Colombian government to take all the necessary measures to ensure the security of workers and trade unionists in Puerto Gaitán. It has been reported that death threats have been uttered against USO representatives by security forces during the mobilization of workers and part of the community on 5 October. On the same day, security and intelligence forces violently repressed the mobilization. 

These facts are a reminder that Colombia remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for trade unionists.

IndustriALL Global Union once again calls on its members to continue express their solidarity and support for its affiliate USO and the 1,100 striking contract workers in calling Termotécnica Coindustrial S.A. management to enter into dialogue with USO. From this page you can send your letter of protest to the local management.

Sri Lankan trade unions act to protect social security fund

In a bid to protect the EPF, the superannuation benefits of persons employed in the private sector, from the risky investment, eleven trade unions in Sri Lanka filed a fundamental rights vilolation petition in the Supreme Court on 5 October 2012. The next hearing on the petition will take place on 31 October. The unions are calling upon the court to direct the Attorney General to launch a criminal investigation on the alleged fraud and market manipulation of the EPF.

Trade unions argue that the objective of creating the EPF was solely for the purpose of superannuation benefits for its members and it “was based on the principle that all benefits accruing to the EPF should accrue and/or be able to accrue to the benefits of its members”. Accordingly, the EPF organization cannot endeavour to obtain any benefit that will not accrue to or pass on to its members. Thus the Monetary Board is required to act as the custodian and is legally and morally bound to ensure that the operations of the fund stay within the legal framework. 

However, the past investment practices demonstrate that the finances of the EPF are being abused for collateral purposes and trade unions allege that these are not in the best interest of its members. The investments were not reported in the EPF’s annual reports and were beyond the purview of the Investment Policy of 2002. Risky investments of EPF were utilized to artificially raise the share prices, enabling some of the shareholders of such companies to sell their shares at the artificially high prices.

In the petition to the Supreme Court, trade unions called upon the court to direct and issue orders, to responsible authorities to:

Including an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Free Trade Zone and General Services Employees’ Union, the other trade unions that approached the court comprises of Ceylon Bank Employees’ Union, Inter Company Employees’ Union, Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya, Lanka Jathika Estate Workers’ Union, Commercial and Industrial Workers Union, Federation of Media Employees’ Union, Independent Port Employees’ Union, Insurance Employees’ Union, United General Employees’ Union and Ceylon Estate Staffs’ Union.

Respondents in this case are the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Secretary to the Finance Ministry, Commissioner General of Labour, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Attorney General. 

Human Rights Watch exposes hazards tanneries in Bangladesh

The HRW report “Toxic Tanneries: The Health Repercussions of Bangladesh’s Hazaribagh Leather,” documents in a very detailed manner occupational health and safety hazards suffered by tannery workers and local communities exposed to chemicals used in some 150 tanneries of Hazaribagh, the old Dhaka industrial area, one of the largest leather producing zones of Bangladesh.

The hazards include skin diseases and respiratory illnesses caused by exposure to tanning chemicals, but also limb amputations caused by accidents in dangerous tannery machinery. The report documents facts of child labour used in tanneries, where children work long hours with no personal protection equipment often resulting in accidents, also salaries are considerably lower than paid to adults performing similar type of work.

Residents of Hazaribagh slums complain of illnesses such as fevers, skin diseases, respiratory problems, and diarrhoea, caused by the extreme tannery pollution of air, water and soil. According to the government estimates some 21,000 cubic meters of untreated effluent is released each day in Hazaribagh.

Apart from documenting the hazards the report also gives a clear list of recommendations on how the situation can be changed including primarily the urgent necessity to address the issue by the authorities. So far even the existing national environmental laws are not respected by tannery owners, who find it unnecessary to make even minor modification of the production process or use the chemicals that are slightly more expensive but cause less damage to the workers and environment.

A complex approach should be applied including overhaul of labour inspectorate and addressing the issue through the final buyers. According to the report from June 2011 to July 2012 Bangladesh exported around $663 million of leather and leather goods, including footwear. The leather is exported to some 70 countries throughout the world, but principally China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United States.

The report does not state names of concrete buyers but believes that “companies that buy leather produced in Hazaribagh should be aware that businesses of all types have a responsibility to respect human rights, including workers’ rights”. Human Rights Watch considers that “systemic action across the Hazaribagh leather tanneries offers the best hope for remedying the health and human rights conditions identified in this report”.