Unfair dismissal of union officials by Firestone Liberia condemned

The officials, who are a chairperson and a grievance officer from a local branch, are protected by the law on the right to organize and to engage in collective bargaining. The dismissed union officials are leaders in the campaign for better living and working conditions at Firestone Liberia’s rubber plantations. By dismissing the officials, the company is victimizing the leaders to weaken the union.

The officials from the IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, Agricultural, Agro-Processing and Industrial Workers Union of Liberia (AAIWUL), were dismissed clandestinely, and the union wants justice and for the dismissals to be nullified. The United Workers Union of Liberia, another IndustriALL affiliate, also condemns the dismissals in solidarity with AAIWUL.

Says Edwin Cisco, secretary general of AAIWUL:

“We are currently engaged with the national government through the Ministry of Labour, the House Standing Committee on Labour, the Margibi Legislative Caucus and the Liberia Labour Congress to prevail on the management of Firestone Liberia for the reinstatement of the two union executives. AAIWUL, therefore urges management to desist from carrying out any further action that will be tantamount to inflaming the situation.”

The union urges workers not to be distracted by the intimidation and to focus on the “bigger picture of the upcoming collective bargaining agreement which is crucial for the upliftment of the lives of thousands of workers and their families on the plantations.”

Industrial relations between the workers and Firestone Liberia have been turbulent. In August, workers went on strike to have the wages of rubber tappers increased from US $8.36 to US $12.50 per day. The company is yet to meet the workers’ demands.

In October, the company retrenched 76 workers from its rubber wood factory, who are now struggling to look after their families. Firestone has been producing rubber from Liberia since 1926 and has received support from the government. However, the working and living conditions of the workers have remained appalling.

Nigeria: Unions welcome new minimum wage

The announcement on the national minimum wage on 6 November came when the unions were on the brink of going on strike which has since been called off. The old minimum wage of N18,000 ($50) was no longer enough for workers to meet the basics including food, transport, housing, health and education and other necessities. The buying power of the minimum wage set up in 2010 had been eroded by inflation. Further, the unions were concerned by the late payment of the wages, even on the paltry old minimum wage, in 33 of the country’s 36 states.

IndustriALL Global Union’s seven affiliates in Nigeria, organizing in the energy, engineering, oil and gas, and textile and garments, welcome the announcement and are calling on the government to speedily gazette the wages into law so that employers can start paying them. Initially, the unions wanted the minimum wages to be increased to over N65,000 (US$179) and are taking an incremental approach.

Says Issa Aremu, IndustriALL Vice President and general secretary of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria:

“Whilst we welcome the minimum wages, the struggle for living wages continue. Nigerian workers should be paid decent wages to get rid of cases of the working poor – workers who live in poverty yet they are employed. The workers’ living conditions must improve, and higher wages can assist in achieving that goal. Efforts must also be made to end precarious work.”

The unions say the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan and the National Industrial Revolution Plan can boost the struggling economy. They argue that if fully implemented these plans have the potential to revive industries including in the textile and garment sector and to create  sustainable jobs.

Further, the unions are recommending that Nigeria, which gets 80 per cent of its export revenue from crude oil, must move away from exporting raw materials by increasing its manufacturing value addition from the current 5 per cent. The country also needs to develop infrastructure such as roads and improve on the provision of electricity as some of the ways to stimulate industrial development.

Kenyan union takes Hela Intimates to court over workers’ rights violations

Hela Intimates, which makes undergarments, sleep and casual wear, has factories in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, and Sri Lanka, supplies global brands in Europe and the US including Victoria Secrets and PVH, which owns Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and a number of other brands. In Kenya it employs over 2,500 workers at its factory in the Athi River Export Processing Zone in Nairobi.

Rather than assuming responsibility for the collective bargaining agreements signed by Alltex EPZ, the company it acquired, Hela is insisting on signing a new agreement. The company is pays a minimum wage of 12,000 Kenya Shillings (US$116) per month instead of 14,000 (US$136) for machine operators, as per government gazette.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Tailors and Textile Workers Union (TTWU), has taken the legal route to deal with the employer’s unlawful and unfair labour practices. These practices intimidate workers and make it difficult for unions to recruit members. Further, union organizers find it hard to access the factories because of the hostility from the employer. Hela Intimates’ behaviour is in violation of Kenyan workers’ rights and freedom of association as protected by the Labour Relations Act.

Says Joel Chebii, general secretary of the TTWU:

“We have gone to the police station on countless occasions to have our members released from custody. Their crime is that they joined a trade union. This is an injustice that we will continue to fight. The employer is doing this to silence demands for better wages.”

Says Christina Hajagos-Clausen, IndustriALL director for the textile and garment industry:

“Global garment manufacturers should lead by example and not trample on workers’ rights. We call upon Hela Intimates to respect trade union organizational rights, freedom of association, and to pay living wages.”

Kenya’s industrialization policies identify the labour-intensive textile and garment sector as an important driver of economic development and job creation. According to the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, the sector creates more jobs for the youth. For instance, 17 garment manufacturers in the export processing zones employ 52,000 workers while over 40,000 small-scale farmers grow cotton, with thousands other jobs found along the value chain.

Kenyan cabinet secretary Adan Mohamed visited the factory in March

African unions meet in Namibia to plan for Industry 4.0 and sustainability

The Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 is being ushered in by rapid automation caused by smart sensors, machine learning, data management, artificial intelligence and cloud solutions. Initially restricted to a few sectors such as automotive, aerospace, shipping, mechanical engineering and industrial manufacturing, robots will soon be in all sectors, including textile and garments.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates from 12 countries in Sub Saharan Africa, with support from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, met in Windhoek, Namibia 18 – 19 October to discuss how unions can build strategies to engage on Industry 4.0 including the possibility of setting up a research network. Further, the meeting agreed that unions should be proactive in public policymaking on sustainable industrialization by looking at the economic, environmental and social dimensions.

In a region with high unemployment especially of young people, participants at the meeting agreed that unions must continue to fight for employment creation, job security, life-long learning for workers to get new transportable skills, living wages and better working conditions including for women. The importance of the local and global contexts featured in the discussions, particularly in relation to the Paris Agreement and the United Nations’ Social Development Goals to end poverty, create decent work and green jobs. International solidarity and Global Framework Agreements were cited as important in protecting workers rights.

The meeting discussed the need for Just Transition plans to protect workers’ rights and welfare because Industry 4.0 is linked to climate change. These plans should include creative labour adjustment programmes, social protection, and sustainable industrial policies to deliver job security. Social justice for affected communities should also be included. Further, it was stated that technological advancement, which is uneven on the continent, is hampered by high data costs, limited internet connectivity and expensive electricity.

According to Jens Dyring from the ILO, the Future of Work Initiative recognizes that the world of work is changing and for unions to be ready.

However, despite fears of job losses, there were benefits to workers’ health and safety when robots took over back-breaking work and workers earned more from high skilled jobs.

Brian Kohler, IndustriALL director of health, safety and sustainability, said:

"When technology makes jobs better and takes away the drudgery; workers can benefit. Unions should fight for a Just Transition because it is a bridge to the new, sustainable world of work. Building that bridge means that workers must play a role in making sustainable industrial policies.”

IndustriALL investigation uncovers exploitation of Shell workers in Nigeria

The report documents poverty wages, abuse through contracts, fundamental rights violations, poor healthcare, health and safety hazards and miserable living conditions of Shell’s Nigerian workers.

“We work like an elephant and eat like an ant,” said a worker at the Umuebulu-Etche Flow Station in the outskirts of Port Harcourt. “Our salary at (contractor) Plantgeria is about 95,000 naira (US$257). In Nigeria today, you can’t do anything on that. You can’t pay your children’s school fees. You can’t eat well. You can’t do anything better for yourself.” 

Salaries among the workers ranged from US$137 to US$257 per month, working 12 hours a day, six days a week.  Some workers said that they had not been paid by their contractors for several months. 

Workers said Shell determines what they get paid by contractors, but their appeals to Shell for better wages are ignored:

“If you ask for a pay rise, you will be escorted out by police. And then your job is finished. No more access to the yard until you sign something saying you will not join a union and you will not ask for a pay rise,” said one worker. 

Shell is the biggest foreign multinational oil company in Nigeria, earning an estimated US$4 billion from Africa’s largest oil producing country in 2017. 

At its AGM in May, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said it is not financially viable to give contract workers permanent jobs, as they are not needed all the time. But this belies what workers told IndustriALL:

“They keep on classing us as ad-hoc workers but we have been working continuously for as long as 20 years while being paid less than US$150 a month,” a worker lamented.

Many contract workers complained that their healthcare insurance provider (HMO) was inadequate:

“We are exposed to all the hazards. We work in the field. Even with our HMO we are not doing well. We are just working to die. When we are sick and go to the clinic, they don’t treat you well because the money they (the contractor) give to the HMOs is too meagre.”

Port Harcourt and the Niger Delta have seen increasing levels of violence over the years with kidnapping and armed robbery not unusual. “One of our colleagues, a driver, was recently shot dead in the field. In the end Shell didn’t do anything. The most they will do is one minute’s silence. No one cares about you and your family. If anything was to happen to you today, (Shell) don’t know you, it’s up to the contractor.”

In its code of conduct, Shell states:  “We seek to work with contractors and suppliers who contribute to sustainable development and are economically, environmentally and socially responsible.” 

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said: 

“It’s high time that Shell lives up to its own code of conduct and ensures that the thousands of workers toiling at its operations in Nigeria are treated humanely. Shell needs to stop turning a blind eye to the human rights violations of contract workers at its operations in Nigeria. We urge the company to start dialogue with IndustriALL and its trade unions in Nigeria to remedy the situation, which at present is neither responsible nor sustainable.” 

IndustriALL has a global campaign to stop precarious work at Shell, where contract workers outnumber permanent workers by more than 2:1, and do the most dangerous jobs. Unions estimate the ratio is even higher at Shell in Nigeria but the company does not disclose figures for individual countries. 

Last month, Shell announced it had joined forces with other energy companies to create a collaborative approach to human rights supplier assessments in the energy industry. Participating companies say they recognize the importance of working with suppliers that respect human rights including the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organization. However, Shell has refused IndustriALL’s offer to work with the company to investigate the same concerns. 

Achieving gender equality in male dominated sectors

These sectors, which often provide skilled, well-paid and prestigious work, are dominated by men. Women working in these sectors tend to do the most menial and precarious work, with the lowest wages and status, and are often not visible in positions of authority in their unions.

Opening the meeting, IndustriALL assistant general secretary Jenny Holdcroft said,

“Gender equality is not a women’s issue, it is a core trade union issue. Just as we all campaign against precarious work and don’t expect precarious workers to organize themselves, we need to involve men in this discussion and stop treating this as an issue for women to resolve.”

The meeting addressed a number of stereotypes that are used by people – including some union leaders – to explain the low participation of women. A common myth is that that women are not interested in or capable of doing physically demanding or technical jobs. Another is that women lack the emotional stability to be effective trade union leaders, or should be at home looking after the children.

There are significant barriers to women entering these sectors. These include sexual harassment and gender-based violence, which is often not taken seriously, and treated as part of workplace culture.

Companies fail to make accommodation, such as secure changing and bathroom facilities, and personal protective equipment does not fit. Women are expected to take care of children and household duties as well as their jobs. Young women see very few positive role models in these sectors, and the education system directs them to caring and service work.

When women do work in these sectors, male colleagues sometimes perceive them as weak and are overly protective, denying them the opportunity to be challenged and develop their skills.

The meetings heard from women who worked as highly skilled mechanics, did maintenance work at height at a cement plant, drove heavy mining trucks and trains, or operated machinery at utilities companies. Many had to prove themselves in ways that were not expected of their male colleagues.

Several male delegates to the meeting made a powerful case for how their women colleagues, at work and in the union, did their jobs as well as or better than the men. Gender equality benefits men as well as women, because it disrupts power structures that only serve a few dominant men.

The delegates came up with a series of recommendations, which will be presented at the IndustriALL Executive Committee meeting in Mexico in November. These focus on moving gender equality out of women’s committees and making it a permanent agenda item in sector and network meetings. Organizational structures should develop and be mandated to report on a plan for increasing women’s participation, and unions should use global framework agreements to influence corporate behaviour.

Unions stand up to BHP at AGM

IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary, Kemal Özkan, questioned the world’s biggest mining company’s over its claims of sustainability, which he argued is not just about economic performance but also the environment, society and labour.

As a multinational company, BHP should adhere to international standards and create safe, decent work, while respecting social dialogue, social protection and workers’ fundamental rights, said Özkan. 

BHP has laid off 20,000 workers in two years, while distributing a record US$6.3billion to shareholders in 2018. BHP now employs around 26,000 permanent staff compared to 34,500 contract workers.

Jeff Drayton, from Australian union, CFMEU, questioned BHP over the correlation between the rise in contract labour at BHP’s Mt Arthur coalmine in New South Wales and an increase in safety incidents. In a few short years, contract labour has grown from around 10 to 50 per cent of a total workforce of 1,600. Contract labour is paid around 40 per cent less at the thermal coal mine. 

Steve Smyth, from CFMEU in Queensland, demanded to know why BHP workers suffering from coal dust diseases are not being reported as 'lost time injuries', despite being months off work. Earlier this year, miner Tyrone Buckton, passed away from coal dust diseases, silicosis and black lung, after decades of working at BHP. 

While BHP owned up to two deaths at its mines over the past year, Aldo Amaya from IndustriALL affiliate, Sintracarbón, asked why the death of Carlos Roberto Urbina at the Cerrejón mine in Colombia was not in the annual report.  BHP has a 30 per cent stake in the mine. He also accused BHP of using technology in cabs to penalize drivers if they are tired. 

Also in Latin America, IndustriALL mining section co-chair Lucineide Varjão from Brazilian union CNQ/CUT, asked BHP what it planned to do about 2,000 workers who lost their jobs following the disastrous collapse of Fundão Dam in 2015, which killed 19 people, among them 14 workers. 

IndustriALL’s mining co-chair Steve Hunt from the United Steelworkers in Canada, called on the company to cooperate with unions and carry out joint audits of their mines. 

Meanwhile, BHP’s chairman Ken MacKenzie refused to discuss legacy issues from mines it spun off in a separate company, South32.  IndustriALL affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa have been severely affected by job cuts at the company.

“BHP says safety is its first priority but from our experience this is just not the case. The responses we got from at the annual general meeting today were wholly inadequate. If BHP wants to be safe and sustainable, it must start by including workers and trade unions at every step,” said Kemal Özkan. 

While in London for the AGM, IndustriALL’s BHP global network meeting met from 16 to 18 October and agreed to focus on issues of contracting, health and safety and organizing women workers at the company. BHP plans to employ 50 per cent women by 2025.

Trade union leaders beaten and arrested during Zimbabwe austerity protests

In an attempt to stop a march from taking off in Harare, the police surrounded the offices of the ZCTU, beating up and arresting the federation’s president Peter Mutasa and secretary general, Japhet Moyo, according to unions. About 20 protesting workers were arrested in Mutare and 13 in Masvingo.

Five IndustriALL Global Union affiliates took part in the marches in solidarity with other unions.

Recently, the Zimbabwean government announced monetary and fiscal policies to remedy the economy arguing that the reforms were “painful and necessary”. But the opposite happened as the economy nose-dived. The austerity policies are wiping out the value of wages and workers can no longer afford basic necessities

Following announcements to increase taxes on mobile money transactions to two per cent per dollar, and that bank deposits made in US dollars would now be converted to local currency, people went into panic mode buying basic goods out of fear of the return of hyper-inflation. Food prices skyrocketed as goods disappeared from the shelves. Businesses closed for “stock taking” and “renovations” or simply increased prices for their goods and services. 

While the government maintains that the exchange rate for the local currency to the US dollar is 1:1, the reality is that on the parallel market one US dollar is 4.85 Zimbabwe dollars, called bond notes. This makes the panic understandable. In 2008 workers lost wages including pensions when their retirement benefits and savings could not even buy a loaf of bread due to hyperinflation.

Says Christian Ranji, secretary for the IndustriALL Zimbabwe Youth Committee: “Workers have no option but to fight austerity. We can’t be taxed to fund wasteful government spending. Companies are closing, and workers losing jobs. The announcement caused instability as grocery shops increased prices and citizens started buying in bulk to get value for their money.”

Valter Sanches, IndustriALL General Secretary, says:

“We call upon the government of Zimbabwe to respect the rights of workers to protest against the austerity measures and condemn the acts of violence and intimidation. The arrest of the ZCTU leadership, comrades Peter Mutasa and Japhet Moyo, and the protesting workers is unacceptable. We call for their immediate release, and for the government to seek social dialogue with the unions.”

IndustriALL workshop boosts collective bargaining skills in Madagascar

The workshop follows a strained relationship between the unions and the local management and comes on the eve of the commencement of collective bargaining at the ilmenite operations. 

The workshop was run together with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa, who provided collective bargaining expertise to about 16 shop stewards from the two affiliates. Led by Thomas Ketsise, the production unit head at NUM, and Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL’s director of mining, came amidst growing frustration by the local unions at what they consider as local management’s increasing hostile attitude towards unions. 

This hostile attitude, the unions claim, manifests in the daily industrial relationship experience of workers and contractors, and they regard this attitude as being at odds with Rio Tinto and IndustriALL’s global employee relations’ principles. 

Eugene Chretien, regional secretary of SVS, said:

“The training allowed participants to understand the power of QMM as a Rio Tinto Subsidiary and that they need to be better prepared before collective negotiations.”

Anthony Randrianandrasana is regional president of Sekrima, the most representative union for QMM’s direct workforce. He said:

“This is the first training for the newly elected shop stewards. The knowledge they gained from the trainings gave them the technical skills and confidence to enter into collective negotiation."

The workshop follows the recent mission in early February 2018 by IndustriALL and a senior-level delegation from Rio Tinto led by Michael Gavin, Rio Tinto’s head of global employee relations. The joint mission was in response to industrial relations challenges at the operation and to set in motion processes to address them. A subsequent strike by the union over unfulfilled collective bargaining commitments by management underscored how fractured the relations were.

The decision to include the NUM follows the union’s recent signing of a collective bargaining agreement at Rio Tinto’s Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) in South Africa, where the union is organized. Rio Tinto’s QMM and RBM operations mine the same mineral, ilmenite, using the same mining methods.

The workshop was held as part of the Sub-Sahara union building project, supported by Swedish union donor organization Union to Union.

Workers in South Africa strike against union bashing at Lanxess mine

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), says Lanxess, which is listed on leading sustainability indices, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good, is intimidating and harassing its members. For example, the workers are being threatened with dismissals and retrenchments for joining the union.

Lanxess’s specialty chemicals and plastics global value chain employs over 19,000 workers in 25 countries. The chrome mine, which is in Rustenburg, North West Province, supplies organic leather chemicals and chrome tanning salts to the company’s leather operations in China, Germany, Italy, and South Africa. The company is also not cooperating with a request by the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration to finalize the numbers of workers belonging to the union. NUMSA says it will fight against the deplorable behaviour that is meant to continue the abuse and exploitation of workers.

Furthermore, Lanxess mine is failing to respect health and safety standards by not reporting incidents and accidents. To force the company to comply with the law, NUMSA has written to the Department of Mineral Resources to act against the mine. 

The Mokhukhwini (shack dwellers) community around the mine has joined the workers’ protest and is demanding that the mine fulfills its promises to build houses. Instead of listening to the workers and the community demands, Lanxess mine management resorted to bullying tactics by closing electricity and water supplies to the community as “punishment for joining the protest”.

Says Jerry Morulane, Hlanganani regional secretary for NUMSA: “We condemn the backward management at Lanxess and will continue to expose the abuse of workers. Their threats will not stop us from demanding our rights.”

Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa concurs with NUMSA: “Workers’ rights are protected by the Labour Relations Act and other laws. It is shameful that Lanxess mine chooses to ignore workers’ rights and continues to bash unions. We commend NUMSA for sending a clear message to the mine management that this unacceptable bullying will be resisted.”