Gerdau sacks a total of 270 workers at two of its plants in Colombia

At the end of August, the multinational company Gerdau, owner of Diaco S.A. in Colombia carried out mass dismissals of contract workers at two of its plants, Tocancipá and Muña. The company said the dismissals were due to financial problems.

The company said the sudden dismissal of 180 workers at Tocancipá and 90 at Muña was due to difficult conditions in the internal and external markets caused by the economic crisis. It said that a fall in demand for steel in Colombia combined with increased competition from other countries, such as Mexico, had led to excess supply.

The dismissed workers were not union members so they were an easy target for the company.  Sintrametal, which represents workers at Gerdau’s plants in Tuta, Duitama and Cota has signalled its disagreement with Diaco Gerdau about the dismissals. “We understand the company’s financial situation, but it should seek other mechanisms, with the help of the national government. There is no need to cut the workforce, which only serves to make the country poorer”, it said.

Sintrametal, which is part of UTRAMMICOL, an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, has asked the Ministry of Labour to intervene to stop the company from continuing to implement such measures. It has also called on the national government to ensure that the free trade agreement with Turkey includes clauses to protect Colombian workers and national industry and to provide incentives to promote the use of resources and technology by national companies to enable them to compete with other countries.

IndustriALL Global Union has written to the management of Diaco S.A. expressing its concern about the mass dismissals, solidarity with the dismissed workers and support for Sintrametal’s actions.

Two workers die in explosion at Usiquímica

The explosion of a tank of hydrofluoric acid at the Usiquímica plant in Guarulhos, Brazil, has killed two workers and injured ten others. The incident occurred around midday on Thursday 6 September.

After gathering information from workers, company representatives and fire-fighters, the Ministry of Labour and Employment decided to seal off the production area and wait for reports in order to establish whether there was still a risk to workers. The workers will undergo examinations to ensure they have not been contaminated.

Representatives of the Guarulhos Chemical Workers’ Union (Sindiquímicos), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, accompanied the action by fire-fighters and provided support to workers trying to deal with the loss of two of their colleagues.

Antonio Silvan Oliveira, President of Sindiquímicos and of the National Confederation of Chemical Workers’ Unions (CNTQ) regretted the incident. “Let us now find out the causes and circumstances of the accident that killed the workers and take the necessary measures. We demand that those responsible are punished. The union will help the families of the two dead workers in any way it can”, said Silvan.

The union has been calling for measures since 2011, in response to workers’ concerns about the workplace environment. The union is worried that increasing production demands have led the companies to neglect maintenance work. Silvan said that the union would join a working group with representatives of the ministry, Cetesb and other relevant agencies and demand an improvement in working conditions.

On 10 September, the union held a meeting to express its solidarity with the workers. At the meeting, the workers said they were apprehensive about the company’s future but that they were also afraid of resuming work. The union said it will demand safe working conditions at the plant.

Horror in Pakistan after 300 workers die

Expressing outrage over the negligence of government authorities, IndustriALL Global Union launched a LabourStart campaign today, calling on the government of Pakistan to investigate and punish those responsible and compensate the workers who have died or been injured.

Various reports indicate that workers could not escape the fire because the factory buildings lacked basic fire safety standards and emergency exits.

The fire at Ali Enterprises, the garment factory located in Hub river road, Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) in Karachi killed at least 289 workers. Many of them died of suffocation as they were trapped in the basement. Large number of workers suffered grievous injuries as they jumped from the building to safety. The factory was established illegally and not registered under the Factories Act. The four-story garment factory had only one exit and with no fire fighting or extinguishing instruments. All windows were iron grilled and doorways and stairs were stuffed with finished or semi finished merchandise.

Being a pay day, as many as 1,000 workers were in the factory at the time of the fire accident. The basement of the factory is filled with water that was used to extinguish fire and it is feared that many dead bodies are still under the rubble. It is also reported that the identification of the dead became a critical issue as large number of workers were on third party contract with no appointment letter and not registered with government social security institute or worker welfare board.

In another fire accident at the four-story shoe manufacturing unit at Lahore about 25 workers were killed. The factory is said to be located in residential area of the city. Initial reports suggest that the accident occurred while workers tried to start generator during the power cut and sparks from the generator came in contact with chemicals used to make the shoes.

IndustriALL Global Union joined with affiliates the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), Pakistan Metalworkers’ Federation (PMF), The Pakistan Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (PCEM) and Federation of Textile, Garments and Leather Workers criticized the negligence of the government authorities and demanded immediate action against factory owner and appropriate compensation for the families of dead and injured workers with free medical treatment.

In a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL wrote, “The 2010 Pakistan Labour policy has among its objectives the following: Just and humane  conditions of work be guaranteed to all workers. We very much would like to see this be finally applied to the garment and shoe-making workers in Pakistan who constitutes 30 per cent of the workers in the country and who have some of the most inhumane working conditions.”

Nasir Mansoor, General Secretary of NTUF said, “Factories in Pakistan more like death trap than the work places, workers are treated more like slave than human being.” In a street protest organized on 12 September, the NTUF called for the strict inspection of factories in coordination with workers’ representative bodies, registration of all factories under the Factories Act, implementation of health and safety laws in true spirit, abolition of contract system, issuance of appointment letter to all the workers at the time of employment and registration of workers in welfare schemes. NTUF is also supporting the nationwide strike call given by the Pakistan Labour Party on 15 September to stand in solidarity with victims’ families.

Take action and send a letter to the Paksitan Prime Minister today on Labour Start here:

http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1570

Say NO to the hazards of precarious work

Hazards magazine has just released “trashed!” a detailed report on the challenges of the dangerous shift to increasingly precarious work. Hazards editor Rory O’Neill examines the lasting health damage caused to an increasingly disposable workforce. “In a recession-ravaged world, even if you’ve got a permanent job, you feel insecure. If you’ve got a temporary job, you are permanently insecure.”

Union activists have already started preparing actions around 7 October. Last week 695 people joined the online cause to STOP precarious work, bringing the total to currently 1,310 members of which 285 have taken the pledge to take action.  Join the cause and sign the pledge to take action around 7 October and help us reach 1,000 pledges 

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.

Let’s turn facebook and twitter RED on 7 October, change your profile picture and share with your facebook community. Download the STOP precarious work image and upload it to your cover picture. Follow IndustriALL on twitter and tweet using the #STOPprecariouswork hashtag and IndustriALL will retweet your actions and photos.

Dangerous Xstrata-Glencore merger close to reality

Glencore’s new takeover offer, announced 10 September, has been raised 12 per cent from 2.8 to 3.05 Glencore shares to each Xstrata share. The other trade-off between the two groups is over top management positions, now the Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg, who owns an US$8 billion stake in Glencore, will become CEO of the proposed merged company after six months.

The merger deal has been seriously threatened over the past weeks by an unlikely ally in opposition, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, ready to oppose the merger before conditions were renegotiated after overnight talks last Thursday between Glasenberg and Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasim Bin Al-Thani, also chairman of the fund. Xstrata is now expected to recommend the new deal to shareholders.

Both conglomerates have enjoyed a boom in demand over the last 10 years and have directed much of their enormous profits to themselves and their shareholders, paying little tax and operating under secrecy and lack of transparency.

IndustriALL Global Union remains opposed to the merger. Both Glencore and Xstrata have a long list of abuses against workers, communities and the environment.

The merged company would become the largest producer of coal and zinc, and the largest independent producer of copper in the world within four years. The multinational would be so large it would have the power to influence the price of basic metals. 

AMWU and IAMAW call on governments to reject TPPA proposals

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) – a free trade agreement (FTA) between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Peru, the USA and Vietnam – expected to be finalized by the end of 2012 is much more than a trade agreement.

IndustriALL Global Union and its affiliates are outraged that the negotiations are taking place in secrecy with no public access to the proposed text. What information is available makes it clear that the TPPA is focusing on issues such as intellectual property rights and imposing conditions that will override domestic laws in areas such as health, the environment, workplace safety and investment.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) is calling on its members to contact Australian government ministers to reject proposals that would:

Equally concerned about the impact of the TPPA in the US, the International Association of Machinists (IAMAW) is warning its members that, just like NAFTA, the TPPA has the potential to destroy hundreds of thousands of US jobs, erode workers’ rights, undermine "Buy American" laws and override environmental protections.

For more details go to:

http://www.amwu.asn.au/read-article/news-detail/1000/Keep-Free-Trade-Fair/

http://www.goiam.org/index.php/news/member-action-center/10302-tpp-big-mistake

Siemens anti-union campaign bullies workers out of organizing

Committing a raft of breaches to the company’s commitments to workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively, local Siemens management hired union-busting consultants to coordinate with management over a period of six weeks. Those commitments are also enforced by labour legislation in the US and the USW will pursue the legal case through the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB). A successful effort through the NLRB will result in the vote being overturned with a new election in the next few months.

The 7 September election, conducted by the NLRB, was lost 24 votes to 15, with 2 abstentions.

Every day in the build-up to the election “Siemens managers and consultants held daily captive audience meetings where workers were told that it would be futile to join the union and that the company would lose customers if the union won the election,” stated USW Organizer Phil Ornot:

The company removed union literature, prohibited workers from talking about the union, conducted surveillance of union supporters, withheld wage increases, circulated an anti-union petition, and denied Siemens employees from USW locals access to the plant. In its campaign to maintain dictatorial control over its workers, Siemens created a climate of fear and intimidation in the workplace.

IndustriALL stands with its affiliate, USW, as it continues efforts to organize Siemens workers in the US.

See a detailed earlier IndustriALL report on the anti-union efforts in Maryland here.

EU should promote human rights in Kazakhstan

In its detailed 153 page report “Striking Oil, Striking Workers: Violations of Labor Rights in Kazakhstan’s Oil Sector, released on 10 September 2012, the group gives a detailed analysis of the tactics used by Kazakh authorities and three companies operating in the oil sector in western part of Kazakhstan who systematically violated oil workers’ rights to freedom of assembly, association, to organize and bargain collectively and to freedom of speech. HRW also issued a number of recommendations regarding improvement of the human rights climate in Kazakhstan.

The report based on research and interviews with oil workers and union leaders reports on a conflict that started back in May 2011 when workers tried to negotiate collective agreements concerned with their wages and conditions, on which there is currently a LabourStart campaign running here: http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1461.

First met with indifference from management and the government the workers faced a wide range of harassments and mass dismissals affecting at least 2,000 people in three companies of which one is Kazakh firm OzenMunaiGas and two are joint ventures: KarazhanbasMunaiJSC, a Chinese-Kazakh company; and Ersai Caspian Contractor LLC, partially-owned by Italian group Eni.

On 16 December 2011 during a peaceful demonstration by the workers some unidentified men wearing oil company jackets triggered clashes resulted in 16 deaths. The authorities used the case to wage a real campaign against oil workers and activists. In August 2011 a trade union lawyer at KarazhanbasMunai, Natalia Sokolova, was sentenced to six-year prison for talking to the workers about wage disparities, later she was released.

IMF and ICEM, co-founders of IndustriALL Global Union earlier addressed to leadership of the country demanding to stop violations of human and workers’ rights in Kazakhstan. http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=27817&l=2 Recently IndustriALL in partnership with LabourStart joined by the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Kazakhstan, the Confederation of Labour of Russia, and the International Trade Union Confederation started a campaign of solidarity in support of oil workers of Kazakhstan.

To give your support to the campaign please follow the link: http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1461.

In its report, HRW argues that as part of the process of on-going negotiations of a new enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the EU and Kazakhstan, there is “a unique opportunity to promote human rights reform in Kazakhstan by formulating concrete, measurable improvements the authorities should implement before conclusion of PCA negotiations.”

Colombia: Cepcolsa and Termotécnica refuse to negotiate with USO

The Colombian oil industry workers’ union (Unión Sindical Obrera, USO), which is affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, has denounced anti-trade union practices and violations of ILO Conventions 87 and 98 while negotiating on behalf of contract workers who are employed by Termotécnica Coindustrial S.A. and who provide services at Cepcolsa, a subsidiary of CEPSA España and partner of ECOPETROL S.A.

Both companies are refusing to discuss the workers’ list of demands with USO. The union has denounced the companies to the Ministry of Labour and other oil industry organisations and said it will begin to take action against the two companies, which have been ill-treating their workers for a long time.

The dispute began in June 2011 when contract workers employed by Montajes JM who were working at Cepcolsa went on strike. The two companies refused to negotiate and the contractor cancelled the contract. One year later, Termotécnica employees at Cepcolsa went on strike. The outcome of the dispute was not positive as a result of the unequal conditions in which negotiations took place. In addition to not complying with a previous agreement, company managers ill-treated the workers.

In this context, Termotécnica employees at Cepcolsa  declared themselves to be in Permanent Assembly on August 13 this year. They are calling on the company to fulfil its obligations and consider their just complaints. Faced with the company’s intransigence, the workers turned to USO and asked it to negotiate on their behalf, as from August 14 this year.

On August 27, the Ministry of Labour convened a meeting with representatives of the two companies, USO, the town council and workers’ delegates to discuss the situation. However, this attempt at mediation failed because the companies insisted they would not negotiate with USO and would only negotiate directly with the workers about what they described as their list of complaints.

USO said that the companies’ refusal to negotiate with it contravenes a basic right enshrined in articles 38 and 39 of the country’s constitution as well as in ILO Conventions. The union has taken legal action, lodging a formal complaint with both the Ministry of Labour and the Public Prosecutor’s Office on the grounds that the companies have violated Article 200 of the Penal Code. Finally, USO is calling on the entire community, workers, peasants, indigenous people, unemployed and all national and international social movements to demand a positive response to the workers’ just demands.

IndustriALL Global Union extends its solidarity to the contract workers who are demanding improved working conditions and supports USO, a union that seeks to promote the welfare of the workers and helps to fight precarious work in Colombia.

Labour keeps up pressure for democracy in Swaziland

Swaziland, one of the world’s last absolute monarchies, is a country in crisis. For almost 40 years the Swazi people have been subjected to a state of emergency, which has entrenched a repressive state through all levels of government.

In recent years, a deepening economic crisis has pushed most Swazi people into absolute poverty. The health care system is on the brink of collapse which is especially critical given that 25 per cent of the population is living with HIV. The public sector is in disarray due to lack of funding and government struggles to meet the payroll.

Meanwhile, the Royal family continues to live a lavish lifestyle and king Mswati III is accused by the Swaziland Democracy Campaign of looting the economy. Mswati has maintained control through an oppressive regime, with ever increasing human and trade union rights abuses. Political parties are banned and activists are regularly arrested, imprisoned and tortured.  

Labour has been at the forefront of calling for change and is viewed as a threat by the regime. The recently formed Trade Union Confederation of Swaziland (Tucoswa), uniting organized labour in the country, has come under attack from the government.

According to Churchboy Dlamini, General Secretary of Swaziland Electricity Supply Maintenance and Allied Workers Union, Tucoswa’s deregistration by the government is unfounded as all procedures were followed. “The government, who publically congratulated Tucoswa on its formation is now not recognizing the federation,” says Dlamini. “As Swaziland Trade Unions we agreed to form Tucoswa, we speak Tucoswa, we walk Tucoswa, everything we do is united under Tucoswa and there is nothing that will make us change and we will not go back on this.

Labour sought unsuccessfully to urgently challenge Tucoswa’s deregistration in the labour court so that the global week of action could be organized under the auspices of the federation. Unionist interpret the court’s ruling that the matter should be discussed at the Labour Advisory Board as a delaying tactic, designed to demobilize the planned actions. Subsequently, Tucoswa affiliates attempted to mobilize actions as individual unions but were not granted the necessary permission.

Despite this, some actions were able to get off the ground but participants were subjected to police brutality with beatings and arrests. Other actions were demobilized by police turning back buses and those that managed to assemble were subjected to intimidation including some arrests.

Tension grew throughout the week and organizers cancelled the main protest action planned for Friday, not wanting to put protestors in harms way as security forces made it clear that they were prepared to repress the action.

Organizers were able to successfully hold a People’s Summit despite attempts by police to disrupt the meeting and threatening to arrest leaders.  The summit was attended by more than a thousand people despite heavy rains and sought to chart a way forward for a New Democratic Swaziland.

In the week, IndustriALL sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Swaziland calling for constitutional reform and multiparty democracy in Swaziland and demanding that the people of Swaziland should be able to exercise their legal rights without fear of persecution, harassment, intimidation or violence.

The letter also warns the Prime Minister of international pressure. “IndustriALL Global Union stands with the trade unions and people of Swaziland to demand urgent reforms by your Government,” says Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL. “We have prioritized giving support to their efforts within Swaziland and at a regional and international level, and I can assure you that we will not cease our efforts until such time as human and trade union rights are upheld in your country.”

IndustriALL also sent letters to heads of the Southern African Development Community and the African Union as well as to the South African government, calling for their intervention to ensure democracy and freedom in Swaziland. 

“We appreciate the messages of support from organizations globally and those that have come to be with us, particularly from labour. Says Frank Mcina, General Secretary of Swaziland Amalgamated Trade Union. “Comrades from South Africa in Cosatu, especially Numsa have stood by our side here in Swaziland, working alongside us in our struggle.”

“There is no way we will abandon this,” says Mcina, expressing a commitment shared by most unionists in Swaziland. “We will continue with pressure until the regime recognizes that people have the right to speak and we regain our rights, including the fundamental labour right of freedom of association.”