Malawi: union negotiators learn Mandarin Chinese to deal with errant employers

Five IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in Malawi, part of a union building project supported by SASK, took this decision after facing difficulties communicating with the Chinese employers.

It is common for the employers to say they don’t understand English whenever workers put forward their demands for better wages and working conditions. Besides low pay, the companies are not complying with labour laws on conditions of employment. Most of the workers are employed on precarious conditions of short-term contracts that come with no benefits. Health and safety standards are also being ignored at their factories and operations.

To remove the language barrier, five shop stewards from energy, engineering, mining, and textile sectors are on a nine-month Mandarin Chinese course in Blantyre and Lilongwe. It is hoped that when they finish the course in March 2019, they will be able to negotiate with the employers in their own language.

With China committing to over 60 billion dollars for Africa during the recent Forum on China Africa Cooperation, of which over 100 million dollars will go to Malawi through investments by Chinese companies, the Mandarin lessons are a worthy investment for the unions. Further, China is involved in infrastructural development including road construction, and in the energy sector especially the construction of the Kammwamba coal-fired power plant. However, questions are being asked on why China is investing in coal instead of renewable energy.

Generally, China is supporting Malawi’s economic development programmes that are aimed at reducing poverty and promoting sustainable development. Yet, the balance of trade favours China which sometimes exports labour to Malawi instead of employing locals.

Says Amos Chasowa, the IndustriALL project coordinator for Malawi:

“Unions concluded that they had to learn the Mandarin Chinese language because negotiating with the employers was increasingly becoming difficult. Besides English, the Chinese do not speak any local Malawian languages. The dilemma was that whilst the employers did not understand the workers grievances, unions still had to push for these demands at the workplace”.

Precarious work destroying workers’ lives in Nigerian oil and gas industry

Some 25 representatives from IndustriALL affiliates, the National Union of Petroleum & Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) met in the southern city of Port Harcourt for an oil and gas workshop on 19 and 20 September 2018.

Testimonials from members of NUPENG, which represents blue-collar workers, and PENGASSAN, which represents white collar workers, revealed the extent to which precarious work in the sector is undermining unions and leading to a vicious cycle of poverty. Participants worked across a range of companies including: Total, Shell, Indorama, the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, Plant Geria and Halliburton.

All NUPENG’s members are contract workers, while PENGASSAN reported that jobs that were once permanent are now being casualized, even though the work remains the same. Participants reported that in some cases workers are made redundant and then immediately being rehired for the same job with no medical insurance, life insurance or redundancy benefits.

The gulf between working conditions experienced by permanent staff and contract workers in the industry is huge, said participants and unions agreed that more should be done to close the gap. A contract worker could earn around US$280 a month for doing the same job as a permanent worker earning around US$2,000, or even more.

Furthermore, precarious work is being used by the oil companies to destroy unions. Contract workers often find they are unlikely to get rehired once they join a union, while white-collar workers find do not have the same access to training or promotion opportunities if they are union members.

Unions also said Nigerian workers do not have the same training opportunities as foreign workers, and that expatriates are being used to do jobs that could easily be done by Nigerian workers.

Stagnant wages are another major problem, with NUPENG saying that wages have not increased since 2014, and in some cases longer.

Health and safety is an ongoing issue and unions agreed that workers need to be better educated about the rights, especially when it came to health and safety.

Industry 4.0 is affecting the industry – an accountant from PENGASSAN said that part of his role had been taken over by a robot at his company. Automation is also being used to do jobs in the lubricant sector, such as labelling and filling cans.

Vassey Lartson, a Shell Lab Technician and union representative, who attended the workshop on behalf of the United Steelworkers (USA), told participants he was shocked by the wage disparity between Shell workers in the USA and those in Nigeria. Vassey joined a visit to meet workers at a Shell facility in Port Harcourt the day before the workshop, which included a visit to workers’ impoverished homes.

The meeting also included a report from Charles Egwabor, a lawyer from Port Harcourt, who said high unemployment in Nigeria made it easier to casualize the labour market, which in turn further increases poverty in the country.

IndustriALL’s director for energy, Diana Junquera Curiel, said:

“This workshop has been truly valuable in hearing the problems and challenges facing unions in Nigeria first-hand. We commend our affiliates in their battle to fight precarious work as well as the other challenges in the industry, and we stand by to support them as they campaign for decent work in the oil and gas sector.”

eSwatini union condemns violence against striking workers

On September 19, the police arrested and beat up organizers from the Amalgamated Trade Unions of Swaziland (ATUSWA) – affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union – to stop them from protesting. Over 10,000 workers from five garment and textile factories began protesting two weeks ago after negotiations were deadlocked at the Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration Commission. They are frustrated by their employers’ refusal to honestly engage in collective bargaining to improve wages and working conditions.

The three-day protest action called by ATUSWA is taking place in Mbabane, Manzini and other places, and is happening in accordance with the country’s laws. According to the union, organizers Sbonelo Tsabedze and Nhlanhla Tsabedze were arrested at Nhlangano while mobilizing workers to assemble at the gates of Zheng Yong factory to push for their demands.

The ATUSWA leadership says the police confronted the well-organized workers who were protesting peacefully:

“The police resorted, without provocation, to disperse the workers using teargas and started going after union members and beating them up. We are receiving reports that a lot of our members are injured and running for dear lives as they are hounded by the police. Therefore, we call upon our members to remain united despite glaring attempts to disunite them. As this is a battle for workers, we call on government and the police to stop harassing and victimizing the workers for exercising their right to protest. We further make a call for the release of our organizers.”

Says Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa:

“To build industrial peace, it is important for authorities in eSwatini to respect the workers’ rights to protest. These rights are protected in the labour laws and in ILO Conventions. So, we strongly condemn the use of intimidation and violence against protesting workers and support ATUSWA in its struggle for better wages and working conditions.”

Young workers in Zimbabwe engage on the future of unions

How young workers are to become catalysts for change in unions is the central theme discussed at a recent five-day activist school in Harare organized by IndustriALL Global Union with support from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

The activist school, to which constitutional and labour experts made presentations on scenarios for the country, discussed topical issues on governance and human rights, social and economic development, trade unions and activism, and organizing, recruitment and mobilization. Emphasis was put on understanding the context of the recent elections as well as national economic development strategies. There were also sessions on project management and media and communication.

Given Zimbabwe’s current crisis, characterized by the disputed 30 July elections, economic collapse, high prices and cash shortages, high unemployment, and a public health crisis in which 25 people have died from a cholera outbreak in townships where most of the workers live, these are important topics. Local governments in cities including Harare are failing to provide clean water to residents and even basics such as regular garbage collection.

The closure of factories and the slowing down of activities in most sectors of the economy led to declining union membership while those working earn low wages. With most workers now in the informal sector, unions need to find innovative ways to recruit them. To this end, the suggested mobilization strategies included campaigns, demonstrations, pickets and strikes

Nineteen young workers, eight of them women, from eight IndustriALL affiliates under the Union Building Project attended the activist school. The workers agreed to establish a network to defend workers’ rights, develop leadership skills, promote learning and sharing of information and knowledge, and build solidarity and collaboration at workplaces and within communities. Affiliates from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions also attended the workshop.

Says Tendai Makanza, IndustriALL regional officer for Sub Saharan Africa:

Young workers have immense potential to revive unions in Zimbabwe. This workshop starts the process to strengthen youth capacity for trade union work.

Kenyan union demands decent jobs in the auto sector

Kenya Vehicles Manufacturers assemble for Tata and Scania, whilst Associated Vehicles Assemblers is contracted to Toyota. The value chain includes parts, distribution and maintenance.

With the East African Community customs union relaxing requirements to make it attractive to assemble vehicles in Kenya, this is a growth opportunity for the sector. Promoting the buying of locally produced vehicles instead of used cars from other parts of the world is another stimulant.

However, retrenchments in the auto sector are common and cheap imports continue to flood the market. Unions say this is worsened by weak protection mechanisms in industrial policies and the lack of an integrated economic strategy.

To discuss the challenges and solutions in the sector, the IndustriALL Global Union Sub Saharan Africa region recently organized meetings in Nairobi that were attended by affiliates, the Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metalworkers (AUKMW) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). Collaboration and learning between affiliates in different countries was emphasized. A further meeting is planned for next year, to integrate African auto unions into the global network.

The meetings heard that in 2015, VW, which receives near-complete vehicles from South Africa — only short of doors, bonnets, tyres and a few other items which are fitted by four full-time workers — announced plans to open a bigger assembly line with the potential to create 2,000 jobs. The government even promised to boost production by purchasing vehicles from the plant. Sadly, the AUKMW reported that despite high expectations, the company still employs only four full-time workers. Further, it employs 118 workers who have been on short-term contracts for 10 years. AUKMW is challenging this, but its attempts to push for permanent employment through the courts failed.

After the meeting, AUKMW facilitated a collective bargaining workshop that was attended by shop stewards from Isuzu, KVM, battery manufacturer Chloride, Sunfilter, Choda Fabricators, and Pelican Signs. The national labour centre, the Centre for the Organisation of Trade Unions, was represented at the meetings. There were exchanges on Kenya’s plant level bargaining versus South Africa’s centralized collective bargaining with the deputy labour commissioner expressing an interest in introducing bargaining councils to improve labour relations in the country.

NUMSA explained how it protected workers' interests when General Motors closed shop in South Africa, and during the transfer of some of the workers to Isuzu.

Says Kenny Mogane, IndustriALL regional officer for Sub Saharan Africa:

“We welcome AUKMW’s fight for permanent jobs and better working conditions for workers in the automotive sector and will continue to support their efforts to improve collective bargaining.”

Sub Saharan African regional meeting discusses how to assess union strength

This is the information that will be collected and evaluated using the organizational assessment tool that is being developed by the IndustriALL Global Union Sub Saharan African region for use in six countries that are part of the Union Building Project. The user-friendly tool is already in use in other countries.

At a meeting in Johannesburg 11-12 September, attended by project coordinators from Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mozambique, and Uganda, and with support from Union to Union, it was agreed that union organizational assessments were key to identifying capacity gaps that the union needed to pay attention to.

This would make it easier to develop policies and programmes to strengthen the union. Examples of policies to be included are finance, human resources, gender, media and communication, youth, and anti-corruption. Improving record keeping would also give the union important information on the composition of its membership, the sectors they are from, their gender, age, and whether the dues they pay to the union are up to date. Such information is key when capacity development programmes are being planned.

This year the Union building project is focusing on strengthening union structures, operating systems, procedures and strengthening organizing and recruitment. This includes bringing the union leadership together, setting up women and youth committees, facilitating and providing technical support to affiliates to develop gender, youth, finance, and health and safety policies. For instance, youth in trade union structures’ programmes have been set up in Ghana and Zimbabwe.

Says Fons Vannieuwenhuyse, IndustriALL director for projects:

The Sub Saharan Africa region has developed an organizational assessment tool that will be useful to all. As this is where theory may not always meet the practice, however, as a simple question to one person is not necessarily easy for the next, there is still a lot of important work to do. The tool is work in progress.

eSwatini: Workers protest textile companies’ refusal to increase wages

The police were called in with batons and gunshots were fired to disperse the angry workers who shut down the town in protest. Tempers flared when negotiations deadlocked, and the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission declared an unresolved dispute. Other textile companies, like Fashion Enterprises, are also refusing to engage unions on the matter.

The textile companies are digging in saying they want the negotiations to take place at the wages council — a tripartite body that regulates conditions of employment. But IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Amalgamated Trade Unions of Swaziland (ATUSWA) says it will not be intimidated by such action, as the wages council is there to provide only a wage base and does not replace collective bargaining between workers and employers.

ATUSWA says the workers are not earning living wages and face hardships. Shockingly, the employers seem not to be interested in improving the wages.

Says Wander Mkhonza, the secretary general of ATUSWA:

“The employers must know that workers feel cheated and neglected by them and the government. The cost of living is increasing while wages remain, low forcing workers to live in poverty. Therefore, we are calling for a joint negotiations council in the garment and textile sector. Unfortunately, this proposal is not getting support from the employers and the government. We are horrified that the government does not support collective bargaining 18 years after the passing of the Industrial Relations Act.”

Says Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan African.

“Our call is for textile companies in eSwatini to pay living wages. It is unacceptable for workers to live in poverty while they are going to work.”

eSwatini garment and textile sector supplies garments to South Africa and the USA to which the country is a signatory to the US trade act, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.

South Africa: CEPPWAWU congress agrees on roadmap for union revival

The congress, attended by 224 delegates, took place in East London, 27-31 August, and focused on reviving the union through participatory democracy. The congress emphasized the importance of a leadership collective that is accountable, and which respected democratic traditions of the labour movement including “workers control.” Trust building will be prioritized through bottom-up programmes that include union members.

Since the last congress in 2011, CEPPWAWU, which has 55 000 members, went through a dark period of internal fights for the control of the union and its investment company. Courts described the disputes as “internecine squabbling” between rival factions. During this period, national executive committee meetings did not take place and two congresses were skipped. Dismissals and expulsions of members were common as well as allegations of fraud. This badly affected the membership of the union which declined.

The union also failed to produce audited financial statements as required by the law and faced deregistration from the Department of Labour. However, the union brought the situation under control when Simon Mofokeng, then general secretary was dismissed by the union in 2017 after failing to appear for disciplinary hearings.

Since then the union has adopted a “roadmap” to bring its affairs to order including urgently complying with the law. However, there is still a lot of work to be done by the union’s leadership. In the next few months, the national executive committee will finalize outstanding matters including the secretariat report, constitutional amendments, and an organizational review.

However, no woman was elected despite calls for gender equality. “We need a gender balance in the union leadership. Unions must not only preach about gender equality but should practice it through including women in the leadership,” said Miriam Marishane, who with other women demonstrated against the unfair treatment of aspiring women leaders in the union.

The congress elected the following leaders: Thamsanqa Mhlongo (President), Lucas Mashego (1^st Vice President), Johannes Dube (2^nd Vice President), Lemmy Mokoena (Treasurer), Welile Nolingo (General Secretary), and Musa Bhengu (Deputy General Secretary).

“We congratulate CEPPWAWU for being able to convene this long overdue congress and agree with the views of the workers who want a strong and democratic union. Uniting on common programmes that benefit all workers is key to building union power,” said Kenny Mogane, IndustriALL regional officer for Sub Saharan Africa.

Liberian unions demand better working conditions at Firestone rubber plantations

Led by IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Agriculture Agro-Processing and Industrial Workers Union of Liberia (AAIWUL), in collaboration with the Golden Veroleum Oil Plantation workers and the Sigma group of companies, the unions want Firestone-Liberia to fulfil its promises on improving the wages and the living and working conditions of workers. According to the unions, this failure to act undermined the government’s pro-poor agenda.

When the president and managing director of Firestone-Liberia, Edmundo Garcia, recently told the House of Representatives that the least paid worker earned US$8.36 per day, the workers immediately demanded that they be paid that amount and went on strike to push for the promised earnings.

The announcement was contrary to the minimum of $5.60 per day that Firestone pays which is low for the hard work that workers were doing. In some instances, this back-breaking work includes tapping at least 500 trees per worker before mid-morning, and collecting the latex in the afternoon.

Medical staff at the plantations also worked under precarious conditions. For example, medical doctors and nurses were not paid overtime in violation of the Decent Work Act

Unions are also demanding that the 2008 agreement to employ 50 per cent Liberians should be implemented. Firestone should also provide technical assistance to small holder farmers to enable them to enter the rubber industry.

Firestone, which has a monopoly on rubber production in the country, often with government support, has produced rubber from Liberia for over 90 years. The company has also been condemned for dumping toxic waste into rivers where local communities got drinking water.

Edwin Cisco, AAIWUL general secretary, wants the government “to stand firm and demand that Firestone-Liberia meets its obligations as required by the law.” He says the company must stop “providing inaccurate and misleading information that makes a complete mockery of the valuable service provided by the workers.”

Said Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa: “It is incumbent upon multinational companies like Firestone to pay living wages and improve working and living conditions of workers. Companies cannot continue to declare profits at the expense of suffering workers.”

Lesotho: workers celebrate minimum wage victory

When it seemed that the government was not yielding, the unions called for a shutdown at textile factories in Maseru, Maputsoe and Nyenye’s industrial areas. Then the government succumbed when ministers recommended the minimum wage to the Wages Advisory Board, which advises the minister of labour on wages and conditions of employment. According to Lesotho laws, workers cannot be paid below the mandated minimum wages. The unions are also pressing for wages to be increased by 15 per cent across other sectors.

The minimum wage is significant for the poorly paid workers who are struggling to pay for basics like housing and transport. For example, a general worker earning the previous minimum of LSL1,238 (US$85), will get an increase of 62 per cent. Unions have long described the low pay in the garment and textile sector as poverty wages.

Independent Democratic Union of Lesotho (IDUL), an affiliate of IndustriALL, in collaboration with other unions, has been campaigning for the announcement of better minimum wages which, according to the labour laws, should have been done in April.

“After sustained pressure the government addressed our demands exactly the way we wanted. The increase in minimum wages boosts workers’ confidence in trade unions. We have been fighting for better wages for many years, and now we know that we have been struggling for a worthy cause,”

said Daniel Theko, IDUL general secretary.

“We welcome the minimum wages but will continue to support IDUL in its campaigns for better wages and working conditions in Lesotho,”

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

Employing over 35,000 workers, over 80 per cent of whom are women, the garment and textile sector in Lesotho is an important player in the economy and the second largest employer after the government.