PERU ACTIONS
On 5 October IndustriALL Global UNion affiliate FENAMEPSICOP sent letters to the president of the Ministerial Council and the President of Congress, calling for direct employment and an end to precarious work.
On 5 October IndustriALL Global UNion affiliate FENAMEPSICOP sent letters to the president of the Ministerial Council and the President of Congress, calling for direct employment and an end to precarious work.
So far hearings have been held for 58 of the 135 workers suspended on 17 July by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA). 55 workers have been re-instated with pay and 3 dismissed.
Through ZEWU’s efforts, all but 2 of the remaining workers have returned to work pending the outcome of their hearings due to take place over the next 2 weeks. This has been a psychological victory for workers, boosting morale after more than two months of no work or pay.
The two remaining suspended works are ZEWU’s President, Angeline Chitambo, who is also an executive committee member of IndustriALL Global Union and National Executive Committee member Dennis Makote. They face different charges than those of other workers that were suspended.
ZEWU is concerned that their leaders will not have a fair hearing and are opposed to proposed terms of a one year gag order that will affect their ability to represent workers.
ZEWU continues to do battle with ZESA over their suspension as well as defending the 3 workers that have been dismissed.
ZEWU also has been preparing the arbitration award granting a 30 per cent wage increase that is been challenged by ZESA by the high court.
At a meeting of IndustriALL Southern Africa Energy Network held recently in Johannesburg, the union leaders resolved to continue with solidarity support to ZEWU through regional and international efforts.
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.
Termotecnica’s workers have been demanding fairer wages and the ending of ill-treatment by officials. Termotecnica and Cepcolsa, a subsidiary of Spanish-based oil and gas giant CEPSA, to which Termotecnica provides services, both continue to refuse to enter negotiations with USO over the workers’ demands. The conflict is now over 50 days in.
Today IndustriALL has condemned, in letters to Termotecnica and the Colombian president, the anti-union practices of local management in refusing dialogue with union representatives and in various forms of union-busting in violation of core ILO Conventions 87 and 98. General Secretary Jyrki Raina urged them to restore industrial relations with the 1,100 outsourced workers, providing electric motors, generators, centrifugal dryers, filtering and purifying machinery.
Yesterday and today 12,000 oil field workers, led by USO, have conducted a mass work-stoppage throughout the Meta Department, denouncing oil multinationals’ increasing use and abuse of outsourcing and non-compliance labour laws. The demonstrations were met with police force injuring and arresting a number of strikers and trade union activists.
Communities are joining the mass work stoppage in support of workers' demands, and community demands for fairer distribution of oil revenues, preservation of the environment and greater social investment by oil companies in the municipalities where they operate.
The mobilizations will continue 4 October and join up with national demonstrations against precarious work organized in the biggest towns of the country by the national trade union centres on the occasion of the world day for decent work.
Several acts of repression and intimidation have been perpetrated recently in and around Puerto Gaitán by security and intelligence forces, as well as private security forces on USO representatives and on striking workers involved in the current labour conflict. On several occasions, the deployment of security forces has prevented USO representatives to get access to striking workers, and to organize these workers. Unidentified heavily-armed men have been circulating in a vehicle in the camps where the striking workers stay, intimidating them with clear threats against their continued trade union activities. Despite this violent intimidation, mobilization of workers continues.
The GFA was signed by one of IndustriALL’s founder organizations, ITGLWF, in 2007 with the coverage of all workers employed throughout the company’s supply chain.
Earlier this year, the agreement was reinforced through an addendum defining implementation and monitoring through union involvement. The addendum guarantees the global union and its affiliated unions access to all Inditex information on suppliers’ workplaces, including the annual update of company information on its production chain.
One of IndustriALL’s Turkish affiliates, TEKSIF – Textile, Knitting and Garment Workers’ Union, has been for a while developing organizing efforts in several suppliers of Inditex, and facing some problems. As the cases became urgent, IndustriALL and Teksif called a meeting with Inditex management, which was held on 28 September in Istanbul.
Attended by top officials from IndustriALL, TEKSIF and Inditex, the meeting examined the details of the particular cases and agreed on follow-up activities to ensure freedom of association and the right to collective bargain is observed. The participants also discussed developing an efficient dialogue at the local level between union representatives and the company’s local office.
The meeting affirmed the importance and significance of the GFA and its practical steps for implementation. To this end, Inditex and IndustriALL Global Union will develop a joint training project aimed at both workers and their unions in the production chain as well as managers of the same companies.
Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union said:
We consider our global agreement with Inditex very important and valuable. We want to make it a good functioning model of industrial relations for the rest of the sector. This exemplary dialogue with Inditex will be developed through concrete joint activities such as those taking place in Turkey.
Inditex uses some 5,000 suppliers in 40 countries employing about 700,000 workers throughout the world. The company’s major brands are Zara, Bershka, Pull & Bear, Massimo Duti, Stradivarius, Oysho, Uterque and Zara Home.
The new three-year contract was concluded shortly before 1 September, the date of expiry of the previous agreement, and is valid till 1 September 2015. Last three weeks a vote of ratification took place with almost 80 per cent voting in favour of the new deal.
The new contract will cover more than 16,000 workers in Pennsylvania, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio facilities of the company.
According to the agreement workers will get 4.5 per cent wage increase during next three years. In addition, the new agreement protects health care benefits for retirees, which was one of the priorities during bargaining. The contract introduces some changes in plan design and increases contributions. Additionally, certain retirees will receive a series of cash payments.
“This contract was about building toward a lasting future,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “Today, the future is brighter for U.S. Steel employees and retirees because of all of the hard work that went into this agreement.”
The USW represents about 850,000 workers in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean in a wide variety of industries, ranging from glassmaking to mining, paper, steel, tire and rubber to the public sector, service and health care industries.
More details are available on USW website at: www.usw.org
Metalicy and all Bulgarian affiliates on 7 and 8 October will join the national center Round table and present a vision for decent employment in the metal industry; distribute IndustriALL campaign materials translated into Bulgarian; hold a Press Conference of all Bulgarian affiliates and make a joint declaration (petition) to the Bulgarian Government
In Norway IndustriALL Global Union affiliates Fellesforbundet, NITO, Tekna, HK, IndustriEnergi will post an article on precarious work and industrial development in a national newspaper.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina the Confederation of Trade Unions of Republic Srpska (SURERS and Metalworkers union of RS) will Issue a press release; put posters up in Banja Luka and distribute the STOP Precarious Work leaflet in Croatian to the public and the media.
The Asansol Coalfield Contract Workers’ Union (INTUC), an affiliate of INMF (INTUC), organized a one day campaign seminar on 7 October to discuss the consequences of precarious employment. Through this campaign, they may able to organise contract and agency workers working in different public and private sectors of the Asansol coal belt area.
In Delhi a protest was organized on 4 October by IndustriALL Global Union affiliate SMEFI- HMS demanding a fair deal for precarious workers in the state of Haryana and also demanding justice for the Maruti Suzuki workers. Nearly 3000 workers were present.
In Haryana, SMEFI will hold a Demonstration and Meeting on 8 or 9 October in the industrial area in Gurgaon and Faridabad. In Hyderabad SMEFI will hold a rally to STOP Precarious Work on 6 October.
In Kolkata there will be a Rally and a Meeting on 7 October by many independent unions who work closely with the IndustriALL Regional Office.
In Pune Shramik Ekta Mahasangh is organizing a protest and meeting on 7 October.
TEKSIF
36 members the Textile, Knitting and Garment Industry Workers’ Union (TEXIF) who were recently dismissed from Texim textile factory in Istanbul distributed the press release on IndustriALL's report on agency labour –"The Trianuglar Trap" – to the workers at the factory.
Birlesik Metal-Is
IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Birleşik Metal-İş (United Metalworkers’ Union) together with national center DISK carried out a demonstration on 7 October for the “World Day for Decent Work” and European Action Day for Industry.
At the demonstration DISK and Birlesik Metal-Is made a joint declaration:
”Global capital is opening the way to substantial changes in employment. While secure jobs are getting less and less everyday, work agencies, work under contract and temporary work became widespread. Precarious work has become only option for young workers. Precarious workers don’t have any chance to unionize or make collective bargaining agreement. Companies who benefits from precarious working conditions in order to reduce their labour cost, are worsening the pay and working conditions of workers.”
Petrol-Is
Petrol-Is have distributed the STOP Precarious Work leaflet translated into Turkish to workplaces. On 7 or 8 October union’s representatives in each workplace will carry out meeting to discuss the issue.
Tes-Is
Tes-Is and Maden-Is have organized a mass demonstration on 7 October against the privatization of an energy complex in Kütahya. This demonstration was deliberately organized to coincide with the World Day of Decent Work.
IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in Turkey, Tes-Is, Kristal-Is, Petrol-Is and Belediye-Is have translated IndustriALL’s Press release on agency labour and posted on their respective websites.
