Twelve mine workers killed in Pakistan

The underground explosion occurred after a build up of methane gas inside the Jalat Khan Coal Company’s administered coalmine in Harnai district of Balochistan in Pakistan. The explosion caused the coal mine to cave in, trapping the miners. Hearing the explosion, eight workers attempted to rescue the trapped miners but were themselves trapped for several hours.

The rescue operation was carried out in the middle of the night. The bodies of twelve workers were recovered by Wednesday and eight other miners were rushed to hospital.

Underground explosions in coal mines due to build-up of methane gas is a recurring phenomenon in Pakistan. In January this year, three coal workers died from gas poisoning while performing underground mine work. A lack of a proper warning system gas build-ups inside the mines has resulted in a large number of fatalities in Pakistan’s mines. In 2023, according to IndustriALL’s affiliates, at least a hundred workers were killed, while fifty more sustaining serious injuries in accidents at coal mines in Pakistan.

IndustriALL Global Union has been campaigning for proper implementation of health and safety mechanisms in Pakistan's mining areas, where the safety situation in unregistered mines is far worse. Every day, hundreds of mine workers go down the underground mines in Balochistan in completely unsafe working conditions. Often workers and their families do not even receive adequate compensation in case of workplace incident.

Ashutosh Bhattacharya, IndustriALL’s south Asia regional secretary, says:

“These deaths can be prevented if employers and the government take workplace safety seriously. We urge the Pakistan government to immediately ratify ILO C176 as we believe the ratification can be a first step in the direction to ensure proper implementation of safety mechanism at mining sites in Pakistan.”

Binding agreements: building worker safety and reducing risk

Momentum is building to ensure proper human rights due diligence in supply chains. As IndustriALL continues to work to expand and strengthen binding, negotiated agreements with multinationals, it is also raising investor awareness of why these agreements are key to ending serious human rights violations in global supply chains as well as bringing about positive systemic and sectoral change.

On 14 March, IndustriALL co-organized, with the New York City Comptroller’s Office, the third in a series of investor roundtables on binding agreements. Participating asset managers and asset owners represented several trillion US$ of assets under management. An investor working group has also formed to take this work forward.

With increasing recognition that voluntary, corporate self-monitoring of factories, or social auditing, is a failed mechanism comes growing interest in binding agreements. An emblematic example is the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, formed in the wake of the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, which left over 1,100 workers dead and thousands more injured.

The Accord demonstrates some of the fundamental differences between binding agreements and commercial auditing, including: governance (worker participation is built in, increasing stability and buy-in); accountability (both a worker complaints mechanism and binding arbitration provide “teeth” and consequences for non-compliance); transparency in the form of public reporting; and independence (factories are inspected by qualified, independent experts). The Accord has helped drastically reduce OSH-related violations in participating factories, brought OSH training to over 1.7 million workers and provided a robust grievance mechanism and remedy to affected workers.

Social auditing, however, continues to be big business. By some estimates, the auditing industry is worth US$80 billion per year. Many multinational brands and retailers appear unwilling to relinquish it despite its poor track record on human rights and its inability to reduce risks faced by companies with unsafe supply chains, whether these risks are reputational, legal, financial or operational.

Binding agreements are not only more likely to prevent and mitigate serious human rights violations in global supply chains and bring genuine remedy to workers whose rights have been violated. They may also be a better proxy for supply chain due diligence, as called for in multiple jurisdictions by emerging legislation. This means they are more likely than social auditing to reduce risk in supply chains and therefore in the portfolios of investors holding shares in these global companies.

Says IndustriALL textile director Christina Hajagos-Clausen:

“This is why IndustriALL is working with institutional investors to raise their awareness of the stakes involved. Shareholders are an important player in changing corporate behaviour, and conversations with them indicate their impatience with the inertia around social auditing. They’re also looking for alternatives to the model and ways to engage their companies.”

New York City Comptroller’s Office

The Comptroller’s Office manages the assets of five public pension funds, which constitute retirement savings for over 700,000 current and former New York City employees. It is the fourth largest public pension fund in the United States.

Zimbabwean power stations closure to affect 560 jobs

According to ZEWU the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), which owns the power stations, did not consult the union about the impending closure. The union views this as unfair labour practice. To push for consultation, ZEWU, who has written letters to the management, says it will challenge the processes if management fails to engage the union about the decommissioning of stations. The union fears that some of the decisions being made in its absence will have a detrimental effect on the working conditions and welfare of workers.

According to the YPC the power stations to be closed are Bulawayo, Harare, and Munyati as they were built over half a century ago and are no longer in production.

ZEWU general secretary, Martin Chikuni, says:

“We are seriously concerned by the unilateral approach of management at ZPC, as it is clearly in violation of the principles of social justice and democracy at the workplace as enshrined in the Labour Act (Chapter 28:01). The employees have a right to be involved and participate, through their trade union, in decisions affecting their interests at the workplace.”

IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa regional secretary, Paule France Ndessomin, says:

“Engaging trade unions on issues that affect workers’ interests and welfare is one of the demands that we have for a transition from coal powered fired stations to be just. This explains why we support ZEWU’s efforts for social dialogue on the closure and repurposing of power stations in Zimbabwe. There is no Just Transition without workers involvement.”

The union wants to engage the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) Holdings management following an announcement by the Government of Zimbabwe that ZESA Holdings and its subsidiaries, ZPC and Powertel Communications, will become part of the state-owned enterprises that will make up the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF) formerly Zimbabwe Sovereign Wealth Fund.

The union says workers’ futures at these power companies are uncertain as the conditions under which they were transferred to MIF are unclear. The union also says it was not consulted when the decision was made.

Zimbabwe’s power generation is mainly from hydro and thermal power stations in Kariba and Hwange respectively. Less than five per cent of the country’s energy is from solar.

ILO agreement takes important step for living wages

A week long meeting of tripartite constiuents of the ILO, namely workers, employers and government led to a series of recommendations regarding the issue of living wage.

This document brings clarity to the concept of what a living wage is: it is a wage level that is necessary to afford a decent standard of living for workers and their families, taking into account the country circumstances and calculated for the work performed during the normal hours of work, calculated in accordance with the ILO’s principles of estimating the living wage and to be achieved through the wage-setting process in line with ILO principles on wage-setting.

According to the agreement wage-setting practices should be based on the following institutions and principles: collective bargaining and tripartite social dialogue, considering the needs of workers, their families and the economic factors, wage policies and wage-setting mechanisms should promote gender equality, equity and non-discrimination, utilize powerful data and statistics for an evidence-based approach, which means designing and implementing adequate policies which require representative data and timely and reliable statistics and data analysis, which is often not available in many countries.

This document stipulates the methodologies to be used to estimate living wages such as estimating the needs of workers and their families through practical methods, consulting with employers’ and workers’ organizations on living wage estimates and involving social partners and regular adjustments to consider changes in the cost of living and the patterns of consumption.

Going forward the experts recommend that there should be awareness raising on living wages through guidance and information, engaging with living wage initiatives to promote alignment with the ILO living wage principles and conduct further research on living wage trends and developments by sharing knowledge and experiences.

IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Høie, says:

“We welcome this agreement. The gap between rich and poor is becoming wider each year and this agreement sets out proper guidelines on how we can close that gap and ensure that all workers are brought out of poverty and able to take care of themselves and their families.It is very important that the constituents recognize the importance of collective bargaining in the process of reaching national agreements on the definition of a living wage and that a living wage is recognized as a human right.”

Photo: Shutterstock

Towards a Just Transition in the automotive industry

The global automotive industry is undergoing unprecedented change, driven by the need to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. This change, which is vital in terms of social and environmental commitments, affects more than two million workers around the world, in manufacturing, distribution, dealerships and companies linked to the sector, such as parts suppliers, etc.

IndustriALL Global Union participated in a conference in Valencia, held bySpanish affiliate UGT FICA, which provided a crucial opportunity for addressing the challenges facing the automotive industry. Addressing issues from the adaptation of manufacturing sites to the identification of new professional profiles, skills and qualifications, discussions were held on how to tackle the challenges in a collaborative way, bringing together companies, public administrations and trade unions.

Mariano Hoya, general secretary of UGT FICA, made several national-level demands, like relief contracts and reduced working hours.

“The relief contract is considered a vital element in guaranteeing generational replacement and competitiveness in the sector. We are also looking to a reduction in working hours, in light of the transformation of the labour market due to robotisation and decarbonisation.”

It is crucial that companies, public administrations and unions work together to ensure a just and orderly transition in the automotive industry. It was evident from all the sessions that there was a great deal of convergence in the objectives of all the parties involved, which have long been working together to address the challenges ahead and ensure a sustainable future for the industry and the workers.

IndustriALL’s energy and Just Transition director, Diana Junquera Curiel, gave a presentation on new forms of sustainable propulsion, highlighting the impact the changes will have on workers. The intervention stressed the need for a just transition that ensures continuity of employment and economic stability, taking advantage of funding, where available, such as that provided by the European Union to facilitate the transition. The focus is on environmentally sustainable measures built on the premise of ensuring a smooth transition, allowing time for the restructuring and reorganisation required.

Said Diana Junquera:

"The transition to a more sustainable automotive industry must prioritise the protection of workers and ensure their active participation in this process of change. Trade unions must be prepared to adapt to the inevitable changes ahead, so that we continue to be relevant actors in the defence of labour rights in the global automotive industry.”

Latin American unions in solidarity with Argentina’s workers

On 14 March, IndustriALL Global Union held a virtual meeting with affiliates in the region so that Argentinian workers could share information on the situation in their country and other countries could show their support.

IndustriALL’s vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Lucineide Varjao, said:

“Argentina is going through a major political upheaval – it’s a critical time. In Brazil, we had a reactionary, sexist and homophobic government for four years and we faced the same problems. Our colleagues in Argentina played an important role in helping us to get through that time. Now, we’re repaying that solidarity and support.
"We need to connect as workers across Latin America and the Caribbean so that we can support countries in such circumstances. We need to be strong in this struggle and stand together.”

Argentinian members of IndustriALL’s regional executive committee took the floor to provide details of the current situation. They said that prices of services, which were previously regulated by the State, have skyrocketed, inflation has picked up, prices of fuel and essential foods have risen, and workers’ purchasing power has fallen. In addition, the Ministry of Labour has been turned into a secretariat, and the government is looking to privatize state-owned enterprises.

They added that, thanks to the campaigns led by union federations, the labour chapter of the “necessity and urgency” decree – put forward by the Milei government to, among other things, restrict the right to strike and bring in changes to severance pay – had been ruled unconstitutional. The strike organized against Milei's reforms had clearly shown that workers were not willing to give up their rights, and the international solidarity could be felt.

There was also a call for solidarity from the union leaders of the 79-year-old state news agency, Telam. President Milei is looking to close down the agency, which they see as an attack on information sovereignty and freedom of expression. Argentinean union leaders asked for support from all the unions attending the event and from governments that are against Milei; their solidarity was needed to maintain hope and turn the situation around.

IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary, Kemal Özkan, said:

"Argentina's trade unions are really fighting to defend their rights in light of Milei's proposed reforms. We can’t allow such attacks against democracy in Argentina. As trade unions, we have to step up our actions, strengthen our solidarity, play a leading role in the global agenda and make use of international institutions.
"We must stand up for social justice and democracy and fight for peace, equity and better living standards for all. We can and must build a better world – let's work and fight together."

US Volkswagen workers file for union election

The Volkswagen workers have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a vote to join the UAW, after a large majority of workers in the plant signed union cards in just 100 days.

Workers are standing up to say that they are voting yes because a change is needed, they want to be heard and have a voice in their working conditions, and they believe in the power of UAW and the people that stand behind it.

The milestone marks the first non-union auto plant to file for a union election among the dozens of auto plants where workers have been organizing in recent months. The grassroots effort sprang up in the wake of the record victories for Big Three autoworkers in the UAW’s historic Stand Up Strike win.

Says IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie:

“A supermajority of the Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga have signed union cards and are ready to finally secure a UAW contract. Volkswagen needs to keep their hands off the table and give the workers a fair chance to exercise their constitutional rights. Any union busting will seriously damage the company reputation and cannot be tolerated.”

The Chattanooga plant is Volkswagen’s only U.S. assembly plant and employs over 4,000 autoworkers. The plant is located in the US South, which is probably one of the most anti-union regions in the world. For many years, Volkswagen in the US has been aggressively anti-union and have paid large sums of money to union-busting law firms instead of investing in employees and products.

Namibian unions fight for gender equality

The speeches by Namibian Vice President, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, at International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrations, in which IndustriALL affiliates, Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union (MANWU), and the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) participated, confirms that she is fighting on workers’ side on gender equality.

Unions say her involvement is one of the reasons Namibia was the first African country to ratify International Labour Organization Convention 190 to eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work. As minister of women’s affairs, she carried out a national campaign on breaking down barriers that were rooted in cultural norms. She said harmful cultural norms were responsible for gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) at the workplace and eradicating them has a direct impact on ending GBVH. She is also advocating for gender inclusivity at the workplace and has accepted invitations to union events.

There is also evidence of her experience in government that goes way back to the implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action in Namibia and on the continent.

On 8 March at IWD commemorations, organized by the National Union of Namibian Workers, one of three national trade union centres in the country, under the theme: Inspiring women in leadership for inclusion, Nandi-Ndaitwah said:

“This year the UN has themed IWD as: Invest in women, accelerate progress, which highlights the importance of gender equality. Allow me to reaffirm the Namibian government’s commitment to upliftment and empowerment of women in society towards the eradication of historical and cultural injustices perpetrated against women which undermine their ability to realize their full economic potential.”

To address the gender pay gap, she said there must be equal pay for work of equal value irrespective of a worker’s gender.

At the MUN conference earlier, whose theme was empowering and gearing women up for future leadership roles, she said:

“As government we have paved the road for women’s struggles with our experiences, and have made steady progress through national constitutions, laws, and policies. We are fighting against gender inequality because it denies women opportunities.”

However, for women empowerment to be realised, she said there should be inclusive representation and decision making at workplaces, and gender sensitization policies should be promoted. She added that skills training should include collective bargaining. She emphasized the need for action against GBVH which she said is a hindrance to women empowerment and that harmful cultural norms that perpetuated it should be dismantled.

IndustriALL' s Sub-Saharan Africa regional secretary Paule France Ndessomin said:

“It is reassuring that we have gender equality champions in the Namibian government like Vice President, Nandi-Ndaitwah. This is important in the unions quest for meaningful engagement in social dialogue without the anti-union hostility that we have witnessed in some countries, and that women issues in Namibia will be at the top of her agenda.”

The targeting of Gaza’s essential workers and civilian infrastructure is an attack on us all

Across Gaza, public service workers face scenes of unimaginable devastation: 392 educational facilities destroyed; 132 water wells out of service; 24 hospitals knocked out with the remaining 11 only partially functional. The entire energy grid remains offline due to fuel import restrictions and the severing of external lines. Lack of electricity has forced desalination and water treatment plants to close with wastewater openly flowing in the streets. Lack of washing facilities is forcing many women to take pills to delay their menstruation.

Yet amid the rubble and the ruins, they persist. Water workers scramble to prevent dehydration after the destruction of pipes and aquifers. Doctors and nurses save lives while fearing for their own. Aid workers face the impossible task of feeding and housing a displaced population the size of Barcelona, within a ‘safe zone’ of a few square kilometres.
Gaza is now the most dangerous place on Earth to practice medicine with over 340 health professionals lost. More than 150 United Nations staff have been killed; the largest death toll in a conflict in the organisation’s 78-year history. As World Health Organization (WHO) director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus puts it: “What type of world do we live in when people cannot get food and water, when health workers are at risk of being bombed as they carry out their life saving work?”

Civilian casualties have been exacerbated by attacks on locations such as legal associations, universities, union headquarters, telecommunications, roads, high-rise residential blocks and even UN buildings. One Israeli intelligence source has been reported as saying the primary motivation for such attacks is to cause “damage to civil society”. Another says: “Nothing happens by accident. When a three-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target.”

It should not need to be repeated that attacks on civilians and non-military infrastructure are illegal under international human rights law. All governments and actors have an obligation under the Geneva Conventions to protect civilians, especially those providing lifesaving services in conflict zones. Making human rights law optional or context-dependent sends a dangerous message, endangers public service workers and undermines the rights of us all.

At our 31st World Congress, which was held in Geneva between 14-18 October 2023, Public Services International (PSI) condemned the 7 October terrorist attacks by Hamas, which killed over a thousand people, and called for the release of all hostages. We also noted that the reaction by Israel to collectively punish the entire population of Gaza for the actions of Hamas was not justifiable and called for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the unlawful blockade.

“It’s dire and getting worse”

In January, the International Court of Justice determined it is plausible that genocide is occurring in Gaza and ordered Israel to take action. Yet senior Western officials lament that there have been little to no improvements, with one reported in The Guardian as saying, “it’s dire and getting worse.” The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food says “Israel is destroying civilian infrastructure, the food system, humanitarian workers, and allowing this degree of malnutrition and hunger.”

Testimony from our colleagues in Gaza reflects this assessment. In December PSI brought the voice of Ilias Al-Jalda, vice president of Gaza’s General Union of Health Workers to an Emergency Meeting of the WHO to ensure health workers were heard in this debate at the highest level. At the time he was unable to leave Gaza and was sheltering with his family and ageing mother in a church under bombardment. He described for global leaders how “the Gaza Strip has become a scene where human rights are routinely violated”.

Currently 90 per cent of Gaza’s children and pregnant women face severe food and water shortages. Health professionals report children dying from dehydration, malnutrition and disease with hundreds of thousands more at risk. Dr Salama Abu Zaiter tells us: “Even before the war, our union was pushing for a much-needed hospital in Rafah. Now 1.5 million people are here, including many children with severe injuries and diseases which we are simply unable to treat.”

Yet 16 countries which provide funding for UNRWA, the major UN aid agency in Gaza, have suspended payments following Israeli claims that 12 individuals among the organisation’s 30,000 staff had links to the 7 October attack. These individuals were immediately dismissed and, while Israel is yet to provide evidence to the UN to support the claims, investigations are ongoing.

As many public service workers will tell you, it is a common tactic of the reactionary right to scandalise public services when individuals working within them commit, or are alleged to have committed, a crime. It is a tactic repeatedly used and manipulated for political purposes by those who want to undermine the provision of vital public services and cut funding. It is not acceptable in our own countries, and it is not acceptable in Gaza.

The Council of Global Unions has made clear: “The people of Gaza and our members depend on the lifesaving support UNRWA provides.” UNRWA coordinates 98.5 per cent of all UN aid workers in Gaza. Shutting it down would be catastrophic for the five million refugees it helps support across Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and risks fueling a regional crisis. In Australia, the Australian Council of Trade Unions called on the Labour government to urgently reinstate funding to the UNRWA. The EU has already resumed UNRWA contributions, and other countries must follow suit.

In times of war, essential workers and public services are often all that stands between life and death. This conflict is demonstrating the humanitarian catastrophe caused by their destruction. Our global labour movement will never accept the killing of civilians, the bombing of vital infrastructure or the targeting of our comrades as valid methods of warfare – not in Gaza, nor anywhere else.

Unions can:

Advocate for an end to restrictions on aid supplies to restore essential services and to meet the needs of the civilians in Gaza to restore human dignity and rights:
Call for unimpeded import of medicines, vaccines, and vital medical equipment to address the healthcare crisis.
Demand access to care in medical centers outside of Gaza and free movement for patients including through the opening of the Rafah crossing,
Pressure your government to fund provision of public services to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, including funding for UNRWA.
Call for your government to support an immediate ceasefire.

You can donate to PSI’s Gaza Solidarity Fund to provide humanitarian assistance and support to public service workers.

Photo: 27 November 2023, Palestinians families fleeing the north of the Gaza Strip to go to the south ©️ UNRWA photo by Ashraf Amra

Philippine workers demand increased wages

The Wage Recovery Act was filed by TUCP party list congressman Raymond Mendoza in 2023 to tackle escalating inflation and a decrease of real wages.

The labour centre says that regional wage boards have been ineffective in helping workers to increase their wages corresponding to the rise of productivity and gross domestic product. A wage increase would strengthen workers’ purchasing power and reduce hunger.

On 29 February, twenty APTU members rallied outside Congress when the bill was tabled. It is expected that Congress will hold three more hearings and a bicameral conference committee will be set up to consolidate the bills and decide on the amount, after which the Philippine President will either approve or veto the bills.

Unions in the country will continue to advocate for higher wages for Philippine workers. The Associated Labor Union (ALU) welcomes the current moves to focus national discussions on what matters for struggling Filipinos.

“The take home pay of workers must be sufficient to buy at least their families’ minimum basic food and non-food needs. Daily minimum wages in the Philippines continue to be below poverty thresholds. Workers are used to small slices in the wage gap. Our basic labour rights advocacies continue – in Congress, wage boards, industries and at enterprises,”

says Eva Arcos, ALU national vice president.

"Providing for an across-the-board wage increase is not only an economic, but also a social justice issue. It allows the workers to somehow cope with the inequities of the economic system, and assert their politico-economic rights,"

says Darius Guerrero, national secretary of Philippine Trade & General Workers' Organization (PTGWO).

IndustriALL supports the legislative initiative as Philippine workers are hit hard by the soaring price after the Covid-19 pandemic and impact of geopolitical tensions.

Says IndustriALL South East Asia regional secretary Ramon Certeza:

“We will continue to support our affiliates to develop national action plan towards the attainment not only of minimum wage but towards living wage.”