Organizing along a changing minerals value chain

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director, said: 

“Trade unions have an opportunity to increase unionization at South32. With the focus on ESG demands from mandatory supply chain due diligence legislation, low carbon transition minerals provides an opportunity to advance workers’ rights. This is an important shift. But for effective unionization to occur unions must have supply chains mapping strategies to guide them. This entails building data bases on the supply chains and trade union density.”

These were the key issues discussed during an online meeting on 23 March – Mapping South32’s global footprint, unionization, and global supply chains; sustainability and environmental social governance (ESG), accountability gap; and opportunities for the global network.

Dominic Lemieux, IndustriALL mining sector co-chair, said: 

“Energy transition is an opportunity for organizing. However, in Quebec, Canada, workers from blasting, crushing, and transportation are employed by different subcontractors, making it difficult to build workers solidarity at the mines. Additionally, contract workers are reluctant to act against the employers for fear of losing jobs.”

Similar precarious working conditions are found in Australian operations, although some gains have been made in labour law changes that may financially benefit workers. At some mines, unions are considering strike action to improve working conditions, especially amongst the subcontracted workers.

Greg Busson, Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) district secretary, said: 

“Australian mining unions have carried out successful campaigns at South32, with a lot of struggles taking place behind the scenes. This led to improved relations with the employe, and the signing of collective bargaining agreements.” 

According to the International Energy Agency, the green energy transition will be intensive with a tenfold increase expected in the demand for electric vehicles and battery storage. The focus on ESG and mining companies’ adoption of human rights due diligence and sustainable mining standards provides impetus for unions to push for the respect of fundamental rights at work and decent work. Suppliers and contractors must adhere to these standards or risk being recipients of adverse sustainability reports.

Currently South32 mines alumina, aluminium, bauxite, copper, manganese, nickel, lead, silver, and zinc in Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mozambique, and South Africa. It also mines thermal coal for its refineries and smelters.

Israel: union pressure prompts suspension of proposed legislation

Under the new proposals, the government would control the appointment of judges, and parliament would gain the power to override Supreme Court decisions. These changes would threaten the foundation of Israeli democracy. 
 
Histadrut immediately called off the general strike after Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced the suspension of the proposed legislation.  The Prime Minister said that parliament will return to this decision after a recess which is set to start 2 April. 
 
Histadrut chairman congratulated everyone for this result and said:

“I thank all the partners in the movement: the heads of the economy and the representatives of the employers, the heads of the worker committees, the workers, the members of the Histadrut leadership, and the workers of the Histadrut. Together we will return the state of Israel to the right path.”

IndustriALL general secretary, Alte Høie, says

“while we were preparing to give support and solidarity to our sisters and brothers in Histadrut, we received this good news. IndustriALL believes that Histadrut made the final push in this decision, which shows its strength and influence. This legislative work must be completely abandoned. The proposed law would have set the Israeli justice system back many years and would have robbed the people of a fair justice system. We stand in solidarity with the Israeli people and Histadrut in fighting for their dignity and rights.”

 
IndustriALL Global Union has five affiliates from Histadrut in metal, electrical, eletronic, textile, garment, leather, pharmaceutical, energy, packaging sectors and engineering and technician professions.

Attack on workers’ rights in India

The Industrial Relations Code completely undermines the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Strike action, which is an inherent part of freedom of association will be deemed illegal as the conditions for a ‘legal strike’ will be harsh. Workers will now have to give two months’ notice for a strike as opposed to the current fourteen days.

In 2020, the Indian government passed four labour codes that consolidated the country's existing labour legislation. The new codes severely undermine workers' rights while advancing business interests. 

The Maharashtra state government drafted the rules under the Industrial Relations Code in 2021, said rules, namely the Maharashtra Code of Industrial Relations Rules, were approved by the state cabinet this month.

The new rules state that a trade union must represent more than 51 per cent of the workforce to serve as the sole representative in a factory.  

Previously, companies with more than 100 employees needed government approval to lay off workers, but this threshold has been increased to 300 employees. This means that companies with up to 300 employees can now lay off workers without government approval, which will make it easier for companies to hire and fire employees without providing job security.

Unions in India, including IndustriALL affiliates, have raised serious concerns and have protested the anti-worker labour rules since 2020.

Sanjay Vadhavkar, IndustriALL executive committee member, and general secretary of the Steel, Metal & Engineering Workers’ Federation of India (SMEFI), says:

“We condemn the constant undermining of workers’ rights under the current political regime. The new labour rules are geared towards facilitating ease of doing business. As trade unions, we will have to intensify our struggle to safeguard workers’ rights.”

Turkish workers dismissed after wage increase demand

Union members have been on strike since 27 February demanding an additional 25 per cent wage increase, improvement of working conditions, and better health and safety at the workplace.

Since the beginning of the industrial action, Mata Otomotiv management were resistant and hostile towards workers’ demands. Management locked toilets to prevent workers from using them, and instead of entering into good faith negotiations with Birlesik Metal-Is, they dismissed 650 union members. 

Workers, together with their union, and with the support from communities and civil society organizations, are demanding reinstatement, along with their initial demand for improved working conditions.

With high inflation and low purchasing power, many Turkish workers and unions have mobilized their forces to get ad-hoc wage increases in various sectors, including the large metal sector where Mata Otomotiv operates. 

As part of their campaign, Birlesik Metal-Is and union members decided to march from Istanbul to Ankara to voice their demands. However, workers were blocked by riot police on 27 March. 

Despite the disruption, workers reached Ankara to engage political parties and authorities about their demands.

Adnan Serdaroğlu, general president of Birleşik Metal-İş said:

“Turkey has become a 'paradise for bosses' that has been ruled for many years by a government in which the vast majority of its ministers and MPs are the spokespersons of capital. For this reason, they prevented us from making our just demands known to the authorities in Ankara by blocking our way.”

IndustriALL Europe general secretary Luc Triangle says:

“Turkey is a candidate country for the EU, but what we see in practice, like the blockade of Mata Otomotiv in March, is completely against European values, principles and rules. We reject and protest against this anti-democratic behavior. Peaceful demonstration is a human right. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the resisting Mata workers."

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary said:  

“We stand in solidarity with our comrades at Mata Automotive and Birleşik Metal-İş. Dismissed union members must immediately be reinstated, and their demands must be met. We can’t allow for workers to be dismissed when they are fighting for health and safety and better wages and their basic worker rights. We support this fight until justice arrives.”

Mata Otomotiv manufactures parts for high-end car brands such as Tesla, Bentley, Jaguar and Audi.

Iraqi unions demand input on draft social security and retirement law

IndustriALL affiliates are demanding that workers have three representatives who are from the most representative federations. The draft law also makes provision for later retirement: from 60 to 63 for men, and from 55 to 58 for women, if contributions to the fund have not been less than 15 years. Women who have 30 years’ service and children under 15 have the right to retire if they want. This was not included in the current law.

Hassan Juma, president of Iraqi Federation of Oil Union (IFOU) said, 

“The retirement law in Iraq was passed more than 35 years ago. Some articles are not appropriate for the current stage, and there is a need for new law. The preparation of the draft without the involvement of the stakeholders would lead to failures. Our mission is to provide amendments to address those failures.”

On 10-11 March IndustriALL and its Iraqi affiliates organized a workshop to discuss the bill. Kadhem Shamkhi Al-Sudani, former director of the department of retirement and social security in the ministry of labour, presented the draft law and explained the key articles. The presentation also compared the new bill to the current enforceable Law 39 of 1971.   

Participants checked its compatibility with the labour law and the Constitution of Iraq. Iraqi affiliates communicated their observations to the respective parliamentary work committee. The correspondence includes union proposals from the workshop. These observations focused on amending several articles to guarantee workers’ rights.  Union leaders emphasized the state’s financial responsibility toward workers, regarding the fund and that the state should finance it if there is a deficit. The observations also included certain formal legal aspects which examine necessary concepts to avoid any confusion that does not serve the workers. 

Hashmeya Alsaadawi, IndustriALL vice president, said:  

“The adoption of the trade unionists’ observations on new law will be fair to workers and retirees. The law will be fair to women if the amendment on maternity leave is accepted. Trade unionists will do everything in their power to ensure that the new law includes the amendments they proposed.”

IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Høie said

“It’s positive that the Iraqi parliament is working on issuing a new law.  We hope that it will respond to the workers' aspirations. We stress the need for the active involvement of workers and their organizations in Iraq in preparing this important law. We also call on the parliament to adopt the observations submitted by our Iraqi affiliates.”

Chinese power company bashes Ghanaian union

For two years GMWU has been fighting Sunon Asogli Power which it says violates workers’ rights with careless impunity. The power company, which runs a 560MW plant in Kpone is jointly owned by the China African Development Fund and plans to expand its operations to other countries in West and Southern Africa. Sunon Asogli Power is a subsidiary of Shenzen Energy Group, which is based in Guangdong, China.

The union organises workers at the plant and has obtained a collective bargaining certificate which allows the union to represent and negotiate on behalf workers, according to Ghanaian labour laws. But, Sunon Asogli Power has refused to recognise the union. They unfairly terminated three local union leaders’ contracts when they informed the company that they represented the union at enterprise level.

In a case at the National Labour Commission, in which the GMWU wanted to be afforded trade union rights, the Commission issued a directive on 27 April 2022, that Sunon Asogli Power should recognise the collective bargaining certificate that has been issued to the union. Further, the parties should constitute the standing negotiating committee to negotiate and resolve any disagreements they have, failing which, they must report to the Commission. The Commission emphasized that the company should comply with labour laws and stop making excuses for not doing so.

General secretary of the GMWU, Abdul-Moomin Gbana, says: 

“The actions of Sunon Asogli Power is an attack on the right to freedom of association and the right to organize and collective bargaining. Regrettably, the rest of the workers are being subjected to daily acts of intimidation, victimization, and naked abuse for simply deciding to freely exercise their right to freedom of association guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and ILO Conventions 87 and 98.”

The Trade Unions Congress (TUC) Ghana, to which GMWU is affiliated, supports the GMWU campaign against the rights violations.

“This unfortunate development, if not curbed, would amount to a violation of workers’ rights as enshrined in the Constitution and Labour Act (2003) and will impact on our organizing and unionization efforts,” 

says Joshua Ansah, deputy secretary general of the TUC. 

“We support the GMWU in their relentless support for defending workers’ rights at Sunon Asogli Power station. The company’s union bashing must be condemned. Its disregarding of national and international labour standards is unacceptable,” 

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

Although China stopped supporting the building of coal-fired power stations abroad under its Belt and Road Initiative in 2021, in favour of green and low carbon energy projects in developing countries, it still funds other non-renewable energy sources including gas/liquefied natural gas, and oil. Ghana is one of the beneficiaries of some of the loans that have been given to African countries.

Youth academy builds strong network of activists in South East Asia

The training has resulted in a concrete action plan crafted from the IndustriALL youth resolution, a campaign plan to increase young workers at all levels in trade union activities, building-up skills of young workers to become effective negotiators and campaign to end gender-based violence and harassment.  

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the youth academy met online, discussing the changing world of work, multinational companies and workers' rights, trade agreements and social justice, and the elimination of gender-based violence.

“The continuity of the South East Asia youth academy has created a strong network of activists who discuss and act collectively. We expect these future union leaders to have sufficient capacity to effectively run unions and continue to support each other,” 

said Sarah Flores, IndustriALL Global youth coordinator.

The first face-to-face session on 13-16 March in Manila, the Philippines, brought together young workers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. 

Participants visited the Bonifacio monument and Fort Santiago, taking inspiration from the Philippine liberation struggle, connecting their respective national histories with youth activism and realizing that youth plays an important role in political agendas. 

Returning to the meeting room, a dynamic debate revolved around the notion of work, new forms of work, just transition, organizing and campaign. The young unionists also discussed their youth policies. 

“We must continue to organize young workers. Unions should develop training modules for youth and organizing campaigns with the target to organize at least ten per cent of all young workers in the workplace,” 

said Intan Indria Dewi, secretary of the IndustriALL youth working group in South East Asia, East Asia and Pacific.

Participants have decided to organize a social media campaign and a flash mob in conjunction with IndustriALL Global Youth Conference on 19 June.

“Unions should ensure that young workers are part of negotiations concerning their future. We need to provide negotiation training for young activists. The youth resolution must be made known among all IndustriALL affiliates,”

said Jean Faye Daguman, co-chair of the IndustriALL youth working group in South East Asia, East Asia and Pacific.

Unions intensify demands for release of Madagascar trade unionist

They say the arrest and sentencing violate human and trade union rights which are protected by the island’s constitution and labour code. It also violates international labour standards, especially trade union rights to freedom of association.

Sento, a garment worker, and workers’ representative at E-toile, Antananarivo was arrested for writing a social media post. The post was a report to workers on the outcome of meetings with management. According to Sento the posts, which management asked him to delete, were on discussions on improving poor food quality at the factory, workers’ training on the role of the labour inspectorate, according to the labour code, and workers’ rights to holidays, off-days, and sick leave. 

Sento, a shop steward from IndustriALL affiliate Syndalisme et Vie des Societies (SVS), was imprisoned on 28 August 2022 for 12 months and fined 400 000 Ariary (US$92). He is expected to be released by the end of May 2023. 

“At the end of 2022, the President of Madagascar pronounced a presidential pardon to prisoners. Comrade Sento is amongst these beneficiaries, with a three-month sentence reduction. This reduces the sentence from 12 months to nine, but the Malagasy government remains quiet. Even the request for provisional release and appeal of the judgment, filed by our lawyer remains unanswered,”

says SVS general secretary, Barson Rakotomanga. 

IndustriALL affiliates from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia have written letters to Malagasy government in solidarity with SVS. 

Textile and garment workers said employers in the sector are notorious for blacklisting dismissed workers to ensure that they will not be employed in the sector. The employers are also known to give awful references preventing other employers from hiring dismissed workers. Workers said having a criminal record is worse because it will be used as a tool to victimise Sento when he is released. 

The ILO Report of the Committee of Experts on Conventions and Recommendations 2023 requests the government to respond on the arrest and sentencing of Sento. The Committee requests the government to provide its comments on these serious allegations. 

In a letter to ALSICO, who E-toile supplies, IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Høie writes:

“We denounce and protest the serious trade union rights violations in the country as evidenced by this imprisonment and would like to urge ALSICO, E-toile SA and the government of Madagascar to take action that will culminate in the immediate release of Brother Sento Chang. We would like to emphasize to the government and E-toile SA the importance of promoting a culture of social dialogue as a strategy to create harmonious labour relations instead of resorting to intimidation, harassment, and imprisonment.”

Systematic repression in Belarus

In its session in Geneva, the ILO Governing Body again called on the government of Belarus to respect freedom of association and make independent trade unions and employers’ organizations legal.
 
The GB urged that all union leaders and members jailed for participating in peaceful assemblies or conducting trade union activities be released, and that all related charges be dropped.
 
Further, the GB has placed Belarus on the agenda of the next session of the International Labour Conference in June.
 
On 17 March, the UNCHR published a report documenting widespread and systematic violations of international human rights law in Belarus.
 
In the report, the UNCHR urges Belarus’ government to “end the systematic repression of perceived critics and immediately release all detainees held on political grounds”, concluding that “gross human rights violations are being committed across the country”.
 
Human rights defenders, journalists and trade union activists have clearly been targeted in what the report calls a campaign of violence and repression directed at those voicing opposition.

“The OHCHR report suggests that the Belarusian authorities will not be able to simply turn the page. The report offers hope that all those responsible for torture, the use of violence, including unlawful deprivation of life and numerous instances of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, as well as sexual and gender-based violence, violations of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, denial of due process and the right to equal protection of the law, will be punished,"

says Maxim Pozniakov, president of IndustriALL affiliate BNP.
 
The authorities’ campaign to crack down on independent unions in the country is relentless. March saw further activists arrested on trumped up charges.

“The international community puts the spotlight on the violations committed in Belarus. We cannot idly stand by as our brothers and sisters are cruelly punished for exercising their fundamental rights,”

says Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary.
 

Laboratorios SMA SAC in Peru intensifies union busting

The national union of Laboratorios Smasac workers, part of Peru’s federation of manufacturing and allied workers (FETRIMAP-CGTP), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, has faced continued anti-union discrimination since it was formed in April 2022.

Recently, a pre-termination notice was sent to the general secretary, Flor de María Aranda Surichaqui, on the basis of false claims of gross misconduct.

Laboratorios SMA SAC, a Peruvian company specializing in the manufacture of cosmetics and other personal care and household hygiene products, alleges that Aranda Surichaqui misled union members about his discussions with the company.

The company says the union leader told members that there would be no repercussions if they took part in the general strike called by the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP) on 9 February. 

“That’s nonsense. The company made it perfectly clear that workers would lose a day's pay if they decided to go on strike, and they chose to do it anyway,"

says Tom Grinter, IndustriALL chemicals sector director.

“The real reason for threatening dismissal is clear: the company is seeking revenge because the union has brought national and international attention to its labour practices. The notice came just one week after multinational buyers carried out a due diligence audit, in which they asked questions about management-union relations, and just days after an inspection by Peru's national labour inspectorate.”

One of Laboratorios SMA SAC's main international buyers is Unilever. The Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company has a memorandum of understanding with IndustriALL that ensures compliance with trade union rights and recognizes IndustriALL as an internationally representative organization. IndustriALL has informed Unilever about the situation in Peru, and Unilever is now conducting due diligence.

FETRIMAP-CGTP says the threat to dismiss the union leader is the latest in a long series of labour rights violations, which have included anti-union discrimination, interference in the running of the union and refusal to negotiate in good faith.

According to FETRIMAP-CGTP, Laboratorios SMA SAC uses temporary contracts to avoid employing workers on regular contracts, thereby denying them their fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of association. It has also violated their fundamental rights relating to health and safety in the workplace, particularly their right to know about workplace hazards and obtain relevant training and education.