Join the resistance against proposed regressive labour law reforms in Mexico

The legislation has been drafted by outgoing president Felipe Calderón, who has been an enemy to workers in Mexico throughout his six-year term. The list of violations of core labour and trade union rights committed by the Calderón regime is long, and his outgoing attack through proposed changes to a number of regulations would cement his legacy. It must be strongly and urgently opposed by the international labour movement, as the 30-day initial consultation period for the legislation began on 1 September.

Join those calling on the parliamentary coordinators of the Mexican Congress to end this proposed initiative to regressively reform the labour law, and to instead focus on establishing a national process of social dialogue that is inclusive of Mexico’s independent trade unions as the legitimate social partners.

IndustriALL urges all affiliates and supporters to use General Secretary Raina’s letter as a model to write to Mexico’s parliamentary coordinators. The contact details of the seven individuals are in the letter. Please send on your organization’s letterhead to those addresses, with [email protected] in copy.

Concretely the proposed legislation would weaken the right to strike, widen the abuse of protection contracts used by employers to bypass the legitimate trade unions representing its employees, and interfere with union autonomy. Further, the proposed changes would proliferate precarious work in Mexico by legalizing subcontracting without creating a regulatory mechanism to ensure accountability of companies for the respect of labour rights through their production chains. Under the new law workers could be hired without job security on six-month probation contracts or even hired by the hour. Back pay in cases of illegal termination would be capped at 12 months to allow employers to delay legal cases for years and pressure workers to accept smaller compensation payments. Clearly the core, internationally recognized rights of Mexico’s workers would be traded away by this proposed legislation in exchange for greater freedom and flexibility of employers.

Even the legality of the legislative process itself is highly dubious in this case. The preferential fast-track process is new in Mexico and would bypass the democratic process. As IndustriALL General Secretary Raina wrote to parliamentary coordinators of the Mexican Congress, the process shows:

… utter contempt for the views of legislators, workers and citizens and is in clear violation of international labour and human rights standards, including ILO Conventions 87 and 98, and other international law.

President of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) Richard Trumka has written to the OECD General Secretary to initiate a meeting after the OECD shamefully publically endorsed the anti-worker legislation.

Workers celebrate agreements with ArcelorMittal in Pittsburgh and Monrovia.

The USW and ArcelorMittal agreement is valid for three years and will cover 14,000 workers at 15 ArcelorMittal U.S. Sites. The USW reports the negotiations were tough, the union had to defend against the company’s attempts to impose a two-tier wage system. USW also had to protect seniority rights and maintain limits on work performed by outside contractors. The agreement provides for a wage increase and improved health care conditions. The specific details of the agreement are not disclosed until the members’ approval voting, which will last several weeks.

“After ten long weeks of difficult negotiations that continued past the expiration of our previous contract, the hard work of our committee has resulted in a tentative agreement with ArcelorMittal,” said Leo W. Gerard, USW International President, commenting on the agreement. “Our members’ unwavering solidarity throughout the bargaining process in the face of management’s high-risk scare tactics and demands for major cutbacks has been rewarded,” Gerard added.

At the same time the Liberia where United Workers Union of Liberia (UWUL) has concluded its first collective bargaining agreement with ArcelorMittal.

The agreement signed in Monrovia came after years of organizing in the mining sector since Liberia’s civil war forced the shutdown of the iron ore mines in the mid-1990s. Among other conditions the agreement includes a wage increase up to 20 per cent and enhanced benefits for the employees. The company and the union will also establish a joint health and safety committee.

The IndustriALL Global Union puts a special focus on provision of healthy and safe working conditions at ArcelorMittal sites. Back in 2007, the International Metalworkers’ Federation one of the co-founders of IndustriALL, the European Metalworkers' Federation (now IndustriAll European Trade Union) and the United Steelworkers signed an agreement with ArcelorMittal on the creation of a Joint Global Health and Safety Committee (JGHSC). One part of the agreement foresees the creation of joint bodies at ArcelorMittal sites, which are aimed at improving occupational health and safety.

Unions are best way to prevent further disasters in Pakistan

According to the report of the New York Times, published on 20 September 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/world/asia/pakistan-factory-passed-inspection-before-fire.html inspectors of a prominent factory monitoring group, Social Accountability International, heavily financed by industry rendered two visits to the Pakistani apparel plant last month, just weeks before a fire engulfed the premises and killed nearly 300 workers.

Analyzing the certification process in Pakistan the report questions the entire factory monitoring system used by multinational garment and electronics companies to approve their use of low-cost suppliers in the developing world.

Many of the conditions supposedly part of the prominent SA8000 certificate issued to the Ali Enterprise factory in Karachi, including provisions about health and safety, minimum wages and absence of child labour, were not respected. Workers had no union representation and faced closed doors, lack of emergency exits and barred windows.

When interviewed after the tragedy, the workers said that they were threatened by management if they told the truth on what was happening inside the factory during the time of the certification process. They could not use their basic rights including the right to freedom of association, and the only condition of a safe working climate is if workers’ concerns are openly sounded through their own freely elected representatives.

In a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, said, “If workers, who are day by day in the factory, have no way to report and be protected from the employers when reporting, there is always a huge risk that such a tragedy in one form or another happens again.”

Raina demanded compensation for all workers of the factory both registered and unregistered, as well as to their families and insisted on proper involvement of trade unions in the investigation and distribution of compensations to the workers.

Raina adds, “Dear Mr Prime Minister, IndustriALL Global Union, representing 50 million industrial workers in 140 countries, offers its cooperation to the Pakistani government to improve safety and working conditions and thus help restore the damaged reputation of your country as a manufacturing location.”

Earlier IndustriALL and LabourStart.org launched a protest campaign demanding safety at textile factories in Pakistan. To support this campaign follow the link: http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1570.

Unions are taking action to STOP Precarious Work

In Indonesia IndustriALL’s affiliates together three confederations, KSPI, KSBSI and KSPSI will mount an extensive national strike to stop outsourcing and fight against low wages from 25 September to 15 October, including a major rally on 3 October.

In Mauritius, since the promulgation of two new labour laws in February 2009, private sector workers have seen their acquired rights put at risk. The CMCTEU, together with its confederation the CTSP, will hold a Mass Demonstration on Sunday 7 October. Workers and their families have been invited to participate.

In Germany, the IG BCE will join the planned actions of the confederation DGB in a one day conference on 7 October in Berlin to raise awareness on issues including fighting precarious work and trade union rights violations.

In South Africa, Colombia, Thailand and the Philippines, more actions are planned in conjunction with other activities and will be reported on the IndustriALL website. Slovak and Hungarian unions are planning to organize a joint meeting on the issue of precarious work around 7 October close to the Hungarian border.

There are no limits on the forms of action that you and your union can take on or around 7 October to support the global fight against precarious work. Actions could include street protests, seminars, membership meetings, press conferences, public meetings, rallies, workplace actions, letter writing campaigns and delegations to governments.

Share your actions with IndustriALL by emailing us at [email protected] or through our STOP Precarious Work Cause page. Follow IndustriALL on twitter and tweet using the #STOPprecariouswork hashtag and IndustriALL will retweet your actions and photos. Posters and leaflets are available in different languages here.

Argentinian rubber workers with 23% salary hike

SUTNA (Sindicato Único de Trabajadores del Neumático Argentino) members voted to endorse the agreement by a 70 per cent majority in a high turnout secret ballot this week. The 23 per cent increase will be awarded to every worker covered by the agreement and equates to 23 per cent in real terms of the net salary. Each worker also receives a signing bonus of 500 pesos.

SUTNA General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko had pushed for a two-year sector wide collective agreement as achieved in the past, based on conditions linked to the cost of living, as used since 2007. However this agreement will be renegotiated next year, and will significantly increase workers’ purchasing power now, one of Wasiejko’s priorities at his reelection as General Secretary in March this year.

Unions call for policies that favour development and equality

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) delivered a statement to the opening session of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board on 17 September 2012. In the statement the ITUC said that better income distribution is a matter of policy choice and that income inequality is not the natural outcome of globalization.

Progressive taxation, social protection floors, minimum wage setting, collective bargaining and employment policies all play a role in narrowing the income divide. It also pointed to evidence from the International Labour Organization of the contribution of national and sectoral collective bargaining in lowering wage inequality, as well as contributing to productivity and competitiveness.

Industrial policies that favour industrial development are urgently needed in order to generate employment and decent work. However, significant policy space has been lost to governments as a result of the opening of trade and finances.

Governments are constrained in their policy-making role by trade and investment agreements that constrain their capacity to levy taxes and allow corporations to sue them when legislation passed in the public interest of their citizens impacts on corporate profits.

The ITUC called on UNCTAD to help countries regain this policy space and be a strong global advocate for redistributive mechanisms such as social protection floors, global tax floors, progressive taxation systems, global regulation of the banking sector, universal core labour standards, and universal access to education and health care.

On 18 September the ITUC also sent a strong message to the International Monetary Fund that the financial sector must make a ‘fair and substantial contribution’ towards the costs of resolving financial crises.

At a workshop organized by the IMF fiscal affairs department and attended by experts from the European Commission, the European Parliament, private financial institutions, and national governments, the ITUC called in particular for the imposition of a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT).

Wage deal at Lonmin but labour unrest continues in South Africa’s mining sector

A wage deal was struck following a month of tense negotiations and continuing labour strife in the aftermath of police killing 34 striking Lonmin miners on 16 August. Rock drillers, whose demands for a monthly salary of R12,500 were at the centre of the strike, will now receive R11,078 after a 22 per cent increase as well a once off bonus to return to work.

The deal is likely to set a precedent for wage demands and create a new benchmark for wages in the sector and could possibly fuel a ripple effect of labour unrest in the mining sector. Already 15,000 gold miners at KDC West operations of Goldfields are on strike citing demands related to those of workers at Marikana. Anglo Platinum has shut down its Rustenburg operations in anticipation of spreading labour unrest and on 18 September, police fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse protestors outside the mine. There are also rumblings that workers at Impala Platinum have been inspired by the deal to make similar demands.

Whilst the strike may be over, shock at the violence and the unnecessary force used by police has led to the recognition that changes are needed in the mining sector. From their congress currently in session, the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) states “We are extremely concerned that the events of 16 August and the on-going violence, whose main victims remain the exploited masses, has shifted the focus and blame from the platinum bosses who have systematically undermined collective bargaining and promoted division amongst workers, and who have been sitting in the shadows enjoying profits from the very workers whose families have now been robbed of their only breadwinners.” Full Cosatu statement.

There is still much to do to address the working and living conditions of mineworkers that have received much exposure as the root cause of the unrest. Attention has also been drawn to the plight of mining communities and sub contracted workers. To this end, Cosatu has called for a second independent commission of inquiry to investigate the employment and social conditions of workers in the mining industry, historically and at present. This second commission will work parallel to the judicial commission already appointed by the South African President, Jacob Zuma to look into the Lonmin tragedy.

Whilst plans are underway to establish centralized bargaining for the platinum industry, worker confidence in union representation and the collective bargaining process needs to be rebuilt. Cosatu has expressed its commitment to defend the National Union of Mineworkers (Num).

The NUM has been at the forefront of calling for radical change in the industry. But its efforts have been frustrated by unilateralism on the part of the bosses, by the blind encouragement of splinter unions by the bosses by competition for positions of shop steward, by the resuscitation of tribalism in some areas, and the resistance of our government to ban the practice of labour broking. COSATU condemns, in the strongest terms, the opportunistic political exploitation of the plight of workers and incitement to violence by any groups or individuals for their own selfish ends.

Tchibo second retailer worldwide to commit to groundbreaking fire safety programme

The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), IndustriALL Global Union, Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) and Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN), together with Bangladeshi trade unions and labour rights groups, have reached an agreement with Tchibo to implement a fire and building safety programme in Bangladeshi garment factories. The German-based company becomes the second retailer to commit to the groundbreaking safety programme, which was first agreed with PVH (owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger) in March. Since 2006, more than 600 garment workers died in Bangladesh due to unsafe buildings.

Says Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union: “The garment industry is notorious for its safety hazards. The requirements of this programme are straightforward, commonsense measures which will have a significant impact on worker safety in many factories in Bangladesh. Tchibo and PVH have taken the lead, now it’s time for other brands to follow.”

Says Tchibo: “We take fire risks very seriously and see the need to join forces at a multi-stakeholder level in order to achieve a sector-wide change in Bangladesh. We are looking forward to collaborating with unions, labour rights’ groups, other brands, Bangladeshi employers and the government. We believe this programme has the potential to make a real difference and to be a benchmark for other Asian sourcing countries.”

Fire incidents cost the lives of thousands of garment workers worldwide, which recently became world leading news with more than 300 workers deaths in two factory fires in Pakistan. CCC has been campaigning on safety issues in Bangladesh since the collapse of the Spectrum factory in 2005, which left 64 people dead and involved high street brand Zara. The programme has the potential to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers currently at risk.

The programme allows for independent building inspections, worker rights training, public disclosure and a long-overdue review of safety standards. It is transparent as well as practical, and unique in being supported by all key labour stakeholders in Bangladesh and internationally. The labour signatories are now calling on all major brands sourcing in the industry to sign on to the initiative in order to ensure its rapid implementation.

– END OF PRESS RELEASE –

For more information, contact:

Fanja Rasolomana

Programme Officer, IndustriALL Global Union

[email protected]

T: +41-22-304-1852

F: +41-22-308-1841

Tchibo joins agreement on garment factory safety in Bangladesh

IndustriALL Global Union, The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) and Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN), together with Bangladeshi trade unions and labour rights groups, have reached an agreement with Tchibo to implement a fire and building safety programme in Bangladeshi garment factories.

The German-based company becomes the second retailer to commit to the groundbreaking safety programme, which was first agreed with PVH (owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger) in March. Since 2006, more than 600 garment workers died in Bangladesh due to unsafe buildings.

Fire incidents cost the lives of thousands of garment workers worldwide, and recently became headline news yet again following the deaths of over 300 workers in two factory fires in Pakistan.

The programme, which allows for independent building inspections, worker rights training, public disclosure and a long-overdue review of safety standards, has the potential to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers currently at risk. It is transparent as well as practical, and is supported by key labour stakeholders in Bangladesh and internationally.

The agreement only comes into effect once a minimum number of buyers have signed on. The labour signatories are now calling on all major brands sourcing in the industry to sign on to the initiative in order to ensure its rapid implementation.

See today's press release here.

Flame for workers’ rights passes to Sochi and Brazil

IndustriALL Global Union welcomes progress made by the organizers of London 2012 (LOCOG), but is dismayed that Play Fair’s calls for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to take steps to protect the human rights of workers in Olympic supply chains continues to fall upon deaf ears. Only the IOC has power to develop a policy that would apply to all Olympic Games host countries.

As the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games end IndustriALL calls on the IOC to commit to working with the organizers of London 2012, Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 so that progress made in London can be built upon and advances made where LOCOG fell short.

A key demand from the Play Fair campaign is that Olympic products should only be made in factories where the human rights of workers are respected. In response to this demand LOCOG developed a Sustainable Sourcing Code for London 2012, based on the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code. Following engagement with Play Fair LOCOG also developed a complaints mechanism to enable workers in its global supply chains to report violations of their rights.

These steps did not go far enough to ensure that goods were made in the right conditions. LOCOG refused to work with unions in producer countries to monitor workplace conditions, and failed to inform factory workers about the existence of the complaints mechanism.

Exploitative working conditions in Olympic supplier factories were exposed in two reports published by Play Fair in 2012. Immediately prior to the publication of Toying with Workers Rights LOCOG negotiated an agreement with the British TUC, which saw them publish the names and locations of supplier factories in China and the UK covering 72 per cent of licensed goods for London 2012 and commit to improving workers’ awareness of their rights, including by providing training to some workers in Olympic supply chains. Following the release of Fair Games? 5,964 people took action calling on the IOC and major sportswear brands to up their game by ensuring that workers are guaranteed freedom to organize, are paid living wages, and benefit from secure employment relationships.

Play Fair submitted formal complaints about working conditions to LOCOG, utilizing the new complaints mechanism. Mediation on the complaints is underway. A complaint on working conditions in the Mactan Economic Zone in the Philippines catalysed a wider multi-stakeholder process, which resulted in the signing of a cooperation agreement in August 2012 between Adidas, Brooks Running and New Balance, IndustriALL affiliates, suppliers, NGOs, and the Filipino government.

Despite advances made during the course of the campaign, little has changed for the vast majority of workers making sportswear, who continue to be paid poverty wages, are forced to work excessive overtime and are routinely denied the rights to organize and bargain collectively.

The cost of 1 of the 11 million tickets available to watch the Olympics and Paralympics ranged between 20 GBP to 2,000 GBP, meanwhile the economic reality for a worker in China was to receive less than 100 GBP a month to produce the Olympic mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville, which is less than half the living wage in the region.

Beyond London 2012 the Play Fair campaign will continue to campaign and lobby sportswear brands and the organizers of mega sports events to ensure respect for the human rights of workers making their goods.