According to the existing Indian law, Factories Act, 1948, daily working hours cannot exceed nine, and a worker cannot be asked to work for more than five hours without a 30 minute interval.
Factories Act allows exceptions to those clauses, only in situations of exceptional press of work in a factory. Under the exemption, it allows state governments to extend the daily working hours up to twelve and a worker can be asked to work continuously for six hours without any break. Subject to the condition that the total number of hours of overtime worked in three months cannot exceed 75.
The amended law, Factories (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2023, was passed without any debate, not only extends daily working hours to twelve but also overtime working hours from 75 and a ¼ to 145 hours.
The Karnataka government claims that these changes are to create more economic activities, employment opportunities and to facilitate the increase in the daily maximum hours of work in order to increase productivity and boost the manufacturing sector in the country.
IndustriALL South Asia regional secretary, Apoorva Kaiwar, says:
“We know that in practice many workers in the country have daily working hours going up to twelve, but the new law has put a rubber stamp on this illegal practice. The amended law violates ILO C001, which the Indian state has ratified. The Convention lays out that daily working hours cannot exceed eight. IndustriALL demands that this anti-worker law be immediately repealed.”
The new law also allows women to do night shifts. In the name of providing women with equal opportunities to work and earn without mentioning equal pay for equal work, the law allows employers to cut labour cost since women workers are paid lower wages than their male counterparts for the same work.
Prior to the Karnataka government amending the Factories Act, the Indian government passed new labour codes, amalgamating the existing labour laws, and extending working hours to twelve. The new labour laws are yet to be implemented.
Unions in Kyrgyzstan push to ratify ILO C190
On 1 March, the government of Kyrgyzstan published the draft law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Ratification of Convention 190 of the International Labour Organization on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work” for a public discussion to take place during March. This is a first step in the process of ratification.
The government notes that ratification of C190 will minimize and subsequently eliminate violence and harassment in labour relations.
Kyrgyz unions are highlighting the lack of observance by employers of women's rights and gender equality at work. Women in the country face all forms of discrimination, from unequal pay, lack of promotion and limited career opportunities. The psychological harassment faced by women is often ignored, as well as sexual harassment, verbal abuse and bullying.
"Women are often hesitant to speak up in a fear of retribution from their employers, which is detrimental to the mental health and well-being of women, leading to long-term emotional and psychological trauma,”
says Almash Zharkynbayeva, president of the Trade union of textile, light, paper and allied industries workers of the Kyrgyz Republic.
IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan says:
“We welcome the actions of the Kyrgyz unions and government and look forward to prompt ratification of the ILO Convention 190, its incorporation into national legislation and proper implementation”.
Decent jobs for women and equal access to new technology
At the UNCSW 67, global unions are calling on governments to engage in social dialogue for the adoption and implementation of gender transformative plans for equitable access to technology for all, equitable access to quality public education, training and lifelong learning. Gender-transformative plans across the entire education and training systems, ensuring women’s access to STEM-related education, training and jobs and access to re-training and skills development for women whose jobs are impacted by digitalization and automation.
Social dialogue around the impact of digitalization and Industry 4.0 is key for an effective implementation of ILO C100 and 111, enabling pay equity and equal treatment and opportunities for women in a more digitalized world.
Policies should guarantee digital rights, founded on the ILO’s fundamental standards and supported by the implementation of those standards, which are vital for supporting decent work, overcoming gender disparities, including in accessing and using technology and to ensure workers’ health and safety, privacy and decent work/life balance.
Adequate investments and gender-transformative plans should be developed for the creation of decent jobs accessible for all in green energies and industries, as well as in care and health with policies and measures to overcome persistent sectoral and occupational segregation.
Governments need to adopt legislation to ensure workers engaged in the platform economy are recognized as employees, entitled to decent work and ensure that workers in platform and other digitally-mediated and technology-related businesses have full organizing and collective bargaining rights.
Effective policies and legislation to sanction online abuse, are needed to address online hate speech, harassment and violence, including GBVH.
Governments need to guarantee the right for everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including GBVH through universal ratification and effective implementation of ILO Convention 190, including ILO Recommendation 206.
The UNCSW 67 will last two weeks, from 6 to 17 March. You can follow trade union news on the UNCSW global union blog.
Unions' central role in due diligence
In the keynote address, Nazma Akter from IndustriALL affiliate Sommolito Sramik Federation in Bangladesh, spoke about the need for systemic change in the industry, where the brands have the most power and the workers the least.
“We made your clothes. We don’t want charity; we want respect and dignity. Workers should not be begging; we need to be able to make a living. We respect the business, but the business must respect the workers.”
Nazma Akter
Trade unions have an important role to play in due diligence, as workers need to be aware of their rights. The guidance further recommends that for global brands and their suppliers to do due diligence there needs to be meaningful engagement that is two-way, conducted in good faith and responsive. Further workers need to be provided with truthful and complete information and they need to provide input prior to major decisions being made that affect them.
Multiple speakers called on the industry to discard the failed social auditing approach, where companies hire external, private parties to conduct inspections of supplier factories. The imperative now is to move towards a model based on human rights due diligence. IndustriALL called on brands and suppliers to engage in collective bargaining to solve systemic problems in the global supply chain.
There were discussions around the difficulty in building processes for due diligence in countries lacking traditional social dialogue, as it is a key tool for due diligence. Without independent unions, there cannot be due diligence. This issue took centre stage on the last day of the forum when due diligence in conflict-affected and high-risk contexts were discussed.
“Trade unions are at the centre of the fight for democracy,”
said IndustriALL textile and garment director Christina Hajagos-Clausen, raising the issues workers and trade unions in conflict areas face.
“It is not a question of whether a company should stay or go, but if you can carry out due diligence in Myanmar. If a company’s code of conduct requires respects for freedom of association, the circumstances in the country must be deemed unacceptable.”
Christina Hajagos-Clausen
Wages in the industry have stagnated while productivity is on the increase. A minimum wage does not equal a living wage, which is a recognized human right. Several countries in the textile and garment supply chain don’t have a national or sectoral minimum wage, and even in countries where it exists, it is not always complied with.
So what is needed to close the living wage gaps in the garment supply chains? Some of the sessions touched on initiatives that seek to address the imbalances and redistribute supply chain costs and profits more evenly. The brand-trade union collaboration through the ACT initiative specifically targets issues like purchasing practices and living wage, seeking to reach a living wage through sectoral collective bargaining.
On 14 February, IndustriALL hosted a side session at the forum on a new model of supply chain industrial relations for the industry. The panel discussion explored how collaborative agreements between global brands and retailers and global trade unions contribute to a new model of supply chain industrial relations, and how shared responsibility is needed to address gaps in global supply chains, such as a living wage and social protection for garment workers.
In another side session, hosted by the International Accord, IndustriALL together with suppliers from Bangladesh highlighted the positive impact of Bangladesh Accord. Its successor, the International Accord agreement provides enhanced transparency, has international and national trade union presence in decision-making and governance, ensures that the programme is financially feasible through brand contributions, contains a dispute resolution mechanism that hold brands and suppliers accountable and is legally binding on the parties.
Health and safety in Morocco’s textile and garment industry
Earlier in the month, IndustriALL and OECD National Contact Point in Morocco organized a side meeting on the challenges and perspectives of safety and health in textile, clothing, footwear and leather sector in Morocco, as part of the OECD Forum.
Representatives from the government, unions, employers, NGOs, the ILO, IndustriALL, brands and the Accord discussed the current health and safety situation in the sector in Morocco. Implementation of the labour legislation and agreements on the ground is a key challenge. All participants expressed willingness to engage in joint efforts supporting occupational health and safety as a prerequisite for decent work.
Naima Tchiche, from the Ministry of Employment said:
“The Ministry's national strategy for the advancement of health and safety is based on rehabilitation of the legal framework, strengthening and development of monitoring, promotion of the culture of accident prevention, and promoting social dialogue in the field of occupational health and safety. The dialogue led to overcoming many problems during the Covid-19 crisis.”
“Accidents have happened at both local and exporting companies. The legislation contains the requirements, but implementation is stumbling,”
said Hassan Lachoubi, from the private sector employers’ association Confédération générale des entreprises du Maroc (CGEM), and Moroccan Association of Textile and Apparel Industries (AMITH).
Leaders from IndustriALL affiliates Larbi Hamouk, general secretary of Syndicat National des Travailleurs du Textile et du Cuir – SNTTC-UMT and Ahmed Hassoun, general secretary of Syndicat National de Textile Habillements et Cuirs – SNTHC-CDT, emphasized the need for sectoral social dialogue on occupational health and safety, especially in the light the tragic deaths of workers in Tangier in 2021 and Casablanca 2008.
Beatriz Cunha, ILO sectoral specialist, presented an overview of the ILO work programme on health and safety, discussing the ILO code of practice on safety and health for the textile and garment industry and urged the Moroccan social partners to work together on its implementation.
The International Accord enables the development of social dialogue at company level. Véronique Camerer, head of policy & accountability at the International Accord, said that the Accord feasibility study on Morocco is steadily progressing.
The meeting was a continuation of last year's meeting. Assia Besaad, head of the OECD NCP in Morocco, stressed the importance of finding a precise work programme on occupational health and safety.
A group to follow up progress on the joint sector work was created by the stakeholders.
Ahmed Kamel, IndustriALL regional secretary, said:
“Health and safety is not a luxury, it is something essential given the frequent accidents in the sector. We join the social partners in Morocco on the need for coordination and dialogue between all actors. It is a globalized sector with expanding production networks; understanding international tools is useful for the local social partners to really improve occupational health and safety.”
Strong solidarity needed for earthquake victims
On 6 February, two devastating earthquakes measuring 7.7 and 7.6 on the Richter scale killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria. 13.4 million people, 15.7 per cent of Turkey’s population, live in the ten cities affected by the earthquake; Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Adana, Adıyaman, Osmaniye, Hatay, Kilis and Malatya and Elazığ.
The earthquake-affected region generates 9.3 per cent of Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP). The region accounts for around 11 per cent of enterprises and taxpayers in Turkey, with an input of 8.5 per cent to the overall exports of the country. The share of employees covered within the social security scheme in the region is 11.7 per cent.
In its early estimates, the World Bank said that the earthquake caused direct damages of up to US$34.2 billion, equal to 4 per cent of Turkey's GDP in 2021. According to different estimations, reconstruction of cities and houses may cost the double or triple of that amount.
The joint mission from 21-24 February visited seven of the affected provinces, a 1,500-km drive from Adana to Malatya, and observed with great sadness the enormous damage where most towns have been turned into piles of debris.
The mission was shocked to witness the complete collapse of the ancient city Antakya, close to the Syrian border. The 114 seconds of the first earthquake were far more destructive than the war for the city just across the border in Syria, which have now lost all of its historical heritage.
Community solidarity, from other parts of the country and from all over the world, has come out in force as rescue operations, humanitarian aid with food and cloth assistance and shelter have arrived in the region. Food banks with free hot meals are in place, and tents and containers continue to be installed for accommodation under the harsh winter conditions. However, people still need more tents for survival.
Iskenderun
The mission visited visited twelve unionized workplaces and met workers and local union representatives. The region play an important role in manufacturing, particularly in the textile-garment, steel, engineering, oil-gas and mining sectors. Some workplaces have already started to operate without full capacity.
Affiliated trade unions, like Petrol-İş, Teksif, Tes-İş, Öziplik-İş, Özçelik-İş, are reporting direct membership losses. Most of the surviving workers have lost immediate family members, relatives and close friends. Union members report collapse and severe damage to their houses. Workplaces are offering temporary accommodation, while some workers have sought out other cities. It is reported that 2 million people have applied to the government for help to leave the region.
Turkish trade unions have mobilized to help members and communities. Unions formed their own rescue teams, or joined others, to save lives. Thousands of miners from other regions travelled to the affected area and played an important role in the rescue efforts. The whole country has recognized the extraordinary efforts of miners.
As of 8 February, a state of emergency for 90 days has been declared for the affected region. During that time, employers will not be able to lay off workers or cancel service contracts.
Says Luc Triangle, general secretary of IndustriAll European Trade Union:
“The mission was the most tragic moment in my life with what I observed.
“It is everyone’s responsibility to find the bodies of those still trapped under the wreckages. Cities and houses can be rebuilt, but unfortunately, we cannot bring back those who we have lost. It is time to show strong solidarity with our affiliates for their affected members in the region.”
Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary, says:
“What we witnessed during our mission is unforgettable and leaves a big trauma in our minds. The reality is much worse that what we have seen on any screen.
“It is time for our global and European families to show solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the affected areas. We have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them during these difficult times.”
Unions who wish to assist financially can contribute to the solidarity fund:
Bank name: Cler Bank
Bank address: 6-8 Place Longemalle, CH – 1204, Genève, Switzerland
Concerns over workers' rights violations at POSCO Assan in Turkey
IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll European Trade Union are expressing serious concern about violations of human and workers’ rights and anti-union behaviour at the steel company POSCO Assan’s plant in Kocaeli, Turkey.
Five years later, the union scored a win for the Turkish workers when Turkey’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, ruled that the union had a majority in the workplace and that POSCO had to recognize the union as a collective bargaining partner.
POSCO has denied the allegations of anti-union behaviour and continues to mislead.
The company's decision to continue violating Turkish workers' right to the effective recognition of collective bargaining follows a pattern of addressing rulings on its anti-union practices by continued repression of democratic trade unions.
The gap between POSCO's compliance on-paper and genuine redress of its anti-union practices identified by South Korea’s courts, human rights commission and labour ministry over the years highlights POSCO's failure to disavow union busting and reluctance to recognize democratic trade unions. POSCO's continued pipeline of finances to MOGE, recognized as a revenue generator for the Myanmar coup d'etat forces, through Posco International's Shwe gas project, is in an example of utter disregard for the respect and implementation of workers and human rights.
In its most recent response to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) in July 2022, POSCO Assan claimed that the workers had been dismissed for indiscipline and that the company had decided to rehire the workers and pay compensation to those who were not reinstated. A series of court decisions prove otherwise. Courts have in fact ruled that POSCO fired the workers for their union activities and ordered the company to pay twelve months extra salary on top of their severance pay.
In a joint response to POSCO Assan’s reply to the BHRRC of July 2022, IndustriALL Global and industriALL Europe provide evidence and set out a case against the company’s claims.
The two organizations call on the Board of Directors of POSCO Holdings Inc, which is responsible for overseeing environmental, social and corporate governance policies, to effectively implement the Human Rights Management Guidelines, recognize Birleşik Metal İş as the collective bargaining agent and engage in good faith negotiations, as required by the court ruling and enshrined in core labour standards.
“We are shocked by the violation of workers’ rights at POSCO Assan, especially the right to collective bargaining by denying that Birleşik Metal İş is legally the representative union. This is despite clear court rulings. We call on POSCO Assan to engage with Birleşik Metal İş and negotiate in good faith now!
“We also remind the company of its own human rights due diligence process, which states that where company policies and procedures fail – as is clearly the case – efforts should be made to remedy the adverse impact,”
says Luc Triangle, general secretary of industriAll Europe.
Says Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary:
“POSCO has a global track record of union busting which contradicts its own due diligence principles. The dishonesty shown in the company’s response to the case in Turkey should alarm investors: this is a company that is prepared to break the law to undermine trade unions, and then lie about it. The highest court in Turkey has ruled that Birlesik Metal Is represents workers at the Kocaeli plant. POSCO should accept the ruling and begin negotiations.”
Let's mobilize for gender equality on 8 March!
Global figures reveal a concerning regression in women’s economic empowerment. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) suggests that by 2021, approximately 435 million women and girls around the world will be living on less than US$1.90 per day and that 47 million will fall back into poverty due to pandemic-related shocks.
Women and girls are underrepresented in industries, academia, and the broader technology sectors. According to the UN, internationally, two in every ten women hold jobs in science, engineering, and information and communication technology. Last year, women made up only 33 per cent of the workforce at the world’s 20 largest technology companies, with only one woman in four in leadership positions. Women inventors make up only 16.5 per cent of inventors listed on international patent applications globally.
The ILO reports that the Covid-19 pandemic continues to deepen various forms of inequality, from exacerbating gender inequity to widening the digital divide.
As unions, we need to be concerned about the situation of our women co-workers, and women in general, who are kept away from the labour market.
We need to take into consideration the rapid evolution of the world of work with digitalization and automation, especially the impact of the digital gender gap, which will continue to widen gender-based inequalities in our sectors.
We cannot claim to be implementing a transformative agenda if our response to the changes generated by Industry 4.0 and climate change in our industries does not include a gender analysis, especially on how the changes will impact men and women differently.
It is not only a question of asking what and where the decent and quality jobs of tomorrow will be. It is also about asking ourselves and analyzing the extent to which women will be able to access them on an equal basis to men. What can we, as trade unions, do to ensure that public and corporate policies lead to a gender based equal share of these new opportunities? Otherwise, the trade union narrative on gender equality will remain a dead letter.
Join the action on 8 March
On 8 March, the UN proposes the theme DigitALL world: innovation and technologies for gender equality, associated with the priority theme of the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, CSW-67: Innovation, technological change and education in the digital age to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Follow IndustriALL on social networks in connection with the UN CSW67, and share your union’s experience using the hashtags: #CSW67 #UNCSW6. You can also follow UNCSW67 trade union news on the UNCSW global union blog.
On 8 March, we will publish IndustriALL's toolkit on pay equity. The toolkit will be a new instrument for affiliates to conduct collective bargaining for equal pay for jobs of equal value. Studies show that the gender pay gap narrows when trade unions engage in collective bargaining. In the European Union for example, a comprehensive approach to pay transparency and integrating equal pay in collective bargaining could reduce the gender pay gap by between 1.65 and 4.33 per cent.
These advances of gender equality in the world of work will only be possible with the elimination of gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH). IndustriALL is publishing training modules on GBVH and the ILO Convention 190 online. The three training modules are a practical tool to educate unions leaders, officers, educators, and shop stewards, providing practical guidance on how to integrate GBVH in occupational health and safety policies and establish effective complaints systems that workers trust.
At the end of January, Canada became the 25th country to ratify ILO C190. Let’s continue to campaign for the ratification and the implementation of this instrument. Every worker has a right of a world of work free from violence!
Let us know what your union will do on 8 March. You can also join our IndustriALL women facebook group and report back on your actions, or send pictures to[email protected] and [email protected].
Please use the hashtags #ALLWomen, #RatifyC190, #ItCanChangeLives
USW members strike at Continental Cement
The strike was the last resort for workers seeking justice at Continental Cement. Negotiations over a new contract have been ongoing for eleven months, with management dragging their feet over a new contract. The collective agreement expired in May 2022 and workers have continued to fulfil their obligations while negotiations have dragged on.
According to IndustriALL affiliate USW negotiations have been hindered by management’s unfair demands on workers to be silent on matters regarding scheduling issues, overtime, and cross training, as well as its discriminatory terminations of union employees and refusal to provide information needed for bargaining.
“Continental Cement’s actions have left workers no other options but to make their voices heard by striking against unfair labour practices. We are determined to fight for the fair contract. It's time for Continental Cement to follow the law and negotiate in good faith for a fair contract,”
said USW District 11 director, Emil Ramirez.
“IndustriALL stands in solidarity with USW members at Continental Cement and wishes them the most rapid and fair resolution to the conflict. IndustriALL calls on Continental Cement to immediately stop any unfair labour practices and come back to the union bargaining committee with a decent contract proposal,”
says IndustriALL cement director Alexander Ivanou.
The strike is still on-going and USW have prepared a new offer which they will present to management.
Court orders union’s participation in wage negotiation
A Joint Bipartite Committee on Coal Industry (JBCCI) comprising of management and central trade unions, is constituted every five years to finalise the National Coal Wage Agreement (NCWA). NCWA determines the wages of the non-executive employees, including contract workers, in Coal India and its subsidiaries, and the Singareni Collieries Company. The committee also takes decisions on other issues, such as social security concerning workers in the coal industry.
As per the direction of the coal ministry, the eleventh JBCCI was constituted in 2021 but INMF who is affiliated to one of the central trade unions, the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), was not included in the committee.
The union challenged Coal India’s unfair decision to prevent its participation in the wage negotiation process, in Calcutta High Court. On 10 February, the court passed a judgement in favour of the union, directing Coal India to permit INMF to participate in the forthcoming meetings of JBCCI.
SQ Zama, secretary general of INMF, says:
“This is a big victory for us. To keep us out of the wage negotiation process was a political decision. We have been struggling for the past two years to be part of the committee.”
Apoorva Kaiwar, regional secretary of IndustriALL, says:
“IndustriALL congratulates INMF for putting up a strong fight in the matter. We are happy that the union has been included in the committee and can take part in the wage negotiation process.”
Ukraine still suffering one year later
On 24 February 2022, Russian tanks moved into Ukraine, marking the start of Russia’s full-scale attack and occupation of its neighbour Ukraine. Ukraine has been under constant bombardment ever since. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including hundreds of children, and tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed. Exact numbers are hard to confirm, and most estimates are vastly underestimated. Millions have left the country and fled to neighboring countries.
Since the start of the invasion, IndustriALL and industriAll Europe have urged policy makers from Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the USA, the EU, and international organizations to step up their efforts to ensure a stable and peaceful outcome for Ukraine. We have insisted that the only way to achieve this is to focus the process on dialogue and political solutions. Both IndustriALL and industriAll Europe have called on the Government of the Russian Federation to immediately cease its invasion and occupation of Ukraine.
The use of force by the Russian Federation in Ukraine is a deliberate violation of Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, which requires Member States to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
A solidarity fund was set up for donations and many unions throughout the world have contributed to it. Our Ukrainian affiliates welcomed the international solidarity in their existential fight.
In May 2022, IndustriALL visited Ukraine, met with affiliates, saw the destroyed buildings, and heard personal accounts of the effects of the war on workers and unions. During this visit, IndustriALL called on multinational companies operating in Ukraine to support workers by continuing to pay salaries and providing other material assistance.
In meetings, Ukrainian trade unions have painted a grim picture of the situation in their country, which continues to deteriorate. Union leaders have described how workplaces have been destroyed, workers killed and Russian soldiers occupying workplaces. Many jobs have been lost and membership has plummeted. Trade unionists find it difficult to keep track of how many people they have lost. But union leaders and officials are fighting hard for the lives of their members and are working to rebuild the country.
In June 2022, the European Union granted Ukraine candidate status, paving the way for Ukrainian trade unions to become members of industriAll Europe. The path to EU membership and integration into the European trade union family will give our Ukranian affiliates a strong voice in their fight to uphold workers’ rights in Ukraine. IndustriAll Europe and IndustriALL Global Union stand by their side.
On this first anniversary of the Russian occupation, we remain resolute in our solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
