Nigerian unions welcome minimum wage progress

Nigerian unions, including seven IndustriALL Global Union affiliates, will now lobby the Senate to pass the legislation when it resumes sitting. 

If that is successful, all that will be left is for President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the minimum wage proposal into law. The new minimum wage is meant to cushion lowly paid workers in both the public and private sectors. 

Attempts to have a two-tier minimum wage structure in which state and private sector workers would be paid N27,000 (US$74), sponsored by the National Council of States, were rejected by the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the United Labour Congress. 

Further, the federations demanded that there be no retrenchments because of the minimum wage. They rejected N27,000 because it is not the one recommended by the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage in which the labour federations were represented. The committee held public hearings across the country and consulted widely before presenting their recommendations to the federal government.

The unions say the depreciation of the Naira has reduced the value of the minimum wage. For instance, in 2011 the N18,000 minimum wage was equal to US$150 but the approved minimum wage is less than US$100. This means going below N30,000 (US$83) is further pushing workers into poverty. 

Afolabi Olawale Olufemi, acting general secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, said: 

“We welcome the approval of the national minimum wage by the National Assembly and commend them for adopting the recommendations of the minimum wage committee which came out of a protracted consultative process.”

IndustriALL’s seven affiliates in Nigeria organize in sectors including chemical, energy, oil and gas, steel and engineering, and textile, garment, leather and footwear.  

Will blockchains verify virtue in the value chain?

– By Brian Kohler and Glen Mpufane

The lure of the quick technological fix

We live in a time when new technologies seem to promise new solutions to old problems. IndustriALL has studied the digitalization of industry and the rise of an assortment of advanced and disruptive production technologies: Industry 4.0.

An example of digitalization is blockchain technology. Blockchains are promising everything from the protection of privacy to its final destruction, from a new intrusion of artificially intelligent machines to the salvation of humanity.

As discussed in IndustriALL’s research paper, “The challenge of Industry 4.0 and the demand for new answers”, mining falls into the low immediate impact category of Industry 4.0. However, blockchain technology ranks high among pathways proposed to address and tackle labour abuses and other unsustainable practices in mineral supply chains.

What is a blockchain?

Fundamentally, blockchain is an information security strategy. It provides a deeper level of security than defending a database held on a computer server. Blockchain encrypts specific records or “blocks” of data, structured in what are called linked lists to form a “chain”. Each item on each list has identifying data and a link to the previous and the next item. Each new block of data must authenticate itself at particular points by some kind of proof, for example performing a mathematical operation, in order to be added to the chain. This proof must be difficult to falsify but easy to verify, to discourage spammers and hackers.

This creates a data chain where one can be reasonably certain that each item was added in chronological order and not manipulated. It works fairly well with Bitcoin, for example. It is this property that makes blockchain seem attractive for the task of verifying the cobalt supply chain.

The example of cobalt in the DRC

A traceable and verifiable digital record of cobalt from its origin in mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through to its installation in the battery of a Tesla car would, proponents argue, enable anyone to know exactly when and in which mine – and potentially even by which miners – the particular cobalt in a particular battery was produced. This could provide assurance that environmental and social abuses, such as child labour, or abuse of trade union rights – were not used in the production of the cobalt, or if they were, enable tracing and tackling the abuses for remedy or punishment. Access to remedy is fundamental, and represents the litmus test for blockchain technology’s utility in bridging the divide between abuse and remedy.

Technological limitations

Even though we use terms like blockchain, in reality there is no abstract entity called a blockchain. It is just a network of physical computers, owned by a variety of people, using an agreed-upon authentication protocol. Where are these physical computers, and what are their characteristics? Are they vulnerable to failure or compromise?

The application of blockchain to the cobalt supply chain raises the problem of capacity. It can be assumed that most small-scale producers, particularly so-called artisanal miners, will not have the resources or capacity to participate as a link in the chain. Artisanal mining, even though it is legal in the DRC and forms a large part of the country’s mining landscape, presents a huge challenge for the supply chain of cobalt. The industry is forced to sell through bigger operators, creating new opportunities for corruption and the input of questionable data. Technology does not ensure trust in the human sense.

There are geopolitical boundaries within the internet, therefore public blockchains may be difficult to implement in some regions, as could possibly be the case with the DRC. Furthermore, there are developing countries to whom rich countries or multinational corporations will try to sell specific implementations of data infrastructure. This may lock a developing country into one standard that is incompatible with others. Intercommunication and standardization between potentially thousands of actors in different regions in a value chain may be a problem.

Immutability is one of the words frequently used to describe blockchain, and it is this characteristic that makes it suitable for cryptocurrencies. However, it remains vulnerable to fraudulent or misidentified data, particularly at the beginning of the chain. Given the lengths that some employers have gone to avoid or falsify social audits, and the resources that some corporate and government actors have to undermine any system that restricts their behaviour, it would be naive to assume that this will never be attempted. Recent reports involving a major player in the diamond industry point to this as a real possibility. Serious allegations by a major international diamond trader, the Rapaport Group, have emerged against De Beers, accusing it of obscuring the source of origin of the diamonds it markets across its extended sightholder network. It is important to note that these allegations have been made against the backdrop of De Beers’ ground-breaking announcement about blockchain technology being implemented to track the origins of its diamonds and as proof of its ethical sourcing practice.

It all comes down to ensuring the integrity of not just the technology, but also the data that is input to the technology. The current players in the DRC cobalt mining industry do not, at least for now, inspire confidence towards ensuring that integrity. With the emergence of the supply chain sustainability standards, could blockchain technology be the bridge between abuse and remedy? That possibility will remain only aspirational unless this technology can be fully adapted to the non-mathematical characteristics of sustainability’s social dimension – and the quality of input data is assured. Blockchain technology does not alter the principle of “garbage in; garbage out”.

Potential pitfalls and unintended consequences

The traceability and verifiability of blockchain raises concerns about personal privacy. Granted, privacy is not an objective of its application to a value chain such as cobalt. However, it could be problematic if someone identified in the chain were to invoke the EU’s “right to be forgotten” legislation, for example. Removing one piece of data could potentially damage the entire chain. Businesses, too, have privacy concerns. How will these be addressed?

Is the proposal for a public blockchain, or a private one? If the former, who will set the rules and standards that govern it, and can they be enforced on a network of independently controlled nodes? If the latter, who would own it? There are at present different proprietary systems. Who will own the data?

Suppose that a particular lot of cobalt is identified as having child labour in its production or violations of the rights of workers, what then? Will blockchain help law enforcement? Will the cobalt itself be forever tainted, or it will be used nonetheless? A complication is that the metal can be melted and added to any other, becoming physically and chemically untraceable at that point – emphasizing the importance of chain-of-custody in sustainability reporting.

The proposal to use blockchain technology to trace a problematic raw material like cobalt emphasizes the difficulty that blockchain experts are data specialists, computer scientists, and cryptographers. Cryptocurrencies can be viewed as products of pure mathematics. However, the environmental and especially social dimensions of sustainability are not so neat and tidy. Social scientists, human rights lawyers, and ecologists are not typically experts in the technology. This gap would need to be bridged.

Credibility of the blockchain solution

 

Past attempts to solve complex social problems with a technological quick fix have often failed. Information technologies that were supposed to democratize the gathering and distribution of news have instead isolated, alienated and fragmented society. Blockchain is a technology. The problems in the cobalt supply chain are social, cultural, environmental, political and economic, and we must always be wary of unintended and unforeseen consequences, for example an explosion in energy consumption to support the blockchain, confounding of certification with truth, or corruption. If evidence of human rights abuses arise after the initiation of a blockchain, will its immutability become a liability rather than an asset?

Much of present knowledge of blockchains arises from cryptocurrencies. In contrast, performance in the social dimension of sustainability is notoriously difficult to evaluate. Typically, the data will be qualitative rather than quantitative, and to a degree subjective rather than objective. This does not make these social indicators less important than economic or environmental ones that are easier to measure and track. However, the attempt to apply blockchain to this problem is to try to apply a solution worked out for an easily quantifiable item – a unit of currency – to a social problem. There are at least two concerns here. One is the assumption that something that has social value can be assigned a monetary value that everyone would agree on. This is rarely, if ever, the case. Furthermore, even if we pretend that we are only assigning a numeric rating with no implied financial value, it becomes a hard number that falsely suggests a degree of scientific certainty.

The real state of virtue of a particular commodity, e.g. cadmium, can only be established by audit. There is an entire industry of people and organizations who specialize in social and environmental auditing, some connected to the traditional financial auditing houses, many independent of them. Blockchain will not change that. It is the output of such audits that will become part of the digital signature of a particular lot of cadmium, an electronic tag on that lot. Unfortunately, it will prove easier to verify the authenticity of the tag, than the real-world conditions under which the commodity was produced.

Alternative solutions

In the case of cobalt, managing the value-chain data could also be accomplished with a database, or a distributed ledger, without blockchain. One question to ask is, what value does a blockchain add that these other approaches lack? Are blockchains the best solution to the problem of verifying behaviour in the cobalt value chain?

Although there is promise in the use of protocols such as blockchain to verify or certify the value chain for cobalt, we should be cautious. It may not add very much benefit versus other, less complicated technologies. Finally, we should not confuse traceability or certifiability with virtue – a dimension of sustainability that will remain complex and difficult to quantify.

Zimbabwe union leader arrested after general strike call

The arrest comes after more than a week of turmoil in Zimbabwe that left 12 people dead and hundreds injured. Police and soldiers, responding to mass demonstrations on 14 January, used live ammunition on protesters.

On 15 January, police raided the home of ZCTU president Peter Mutasa, destroying property. He was not home at the time, and his whereabouts are unknown. His brother, who was home, was severely beaten. Mutasa’s “crime” was recording and circulating a video calling on workers to take part in the general strike from 14-16 January to peacefully protest government policy.

Japhet Moyo – who was not in Zimbabwe at the time of the strike call – was arrested at the airport upon his return to the country and charged with subversion for the part he allegedly played.

The president of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Obert Masaraure, was abducted, tortured and imprisoned. According to a tweet, in his last call to a friend he says: “I’m not ok; they (security forces) are breaking in.”

Zimbabwe is experiencing a spiraling financial crisis. A currency collapse in 2009 lead the country to use the US dollar instead of its own currency, but it lacks the foreign exchange reserves to meet its obligations. Prices have risen dramatically, and purchasing power has collapsed. Early in January, the country’s 305,000 civil servants gave notice of strike action after they were paid in the local currency called the bond note instead of dollars.

On 12 January, the government raised fuel prices by over 200 per cent, making Zimbabwean petrol the most expensive in the world. The next day, the ZCTU called a three-day general strike, which was supported by a number of civil society organizations. Widespread anger led thousands to take part in mass demonstrations – not called for by the ZCTU – which included looting and property destruction. This led to a brutal crackdown by the security forces. The government also shut down the internet, making communication difficult.

IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Valter Sanches wrote to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, calling on him release Japhet Moyo and guarantee the safety of Peter Mutasa:

“We are calling for an end to the persecution and harassment of union leaders, and for the government to engage in social dialogue that involves trade unions and other stakeholders to resolve the economic crisis in Zimbabwe and to arrest the hyperinflation environment that is impoverishing workers. We believe that sound economic policies, whose formulation is inclusive, are some of the ways to deal with the crisis.”

Global Diamond Network demands better conditions in the supply chain

The supply chain from “mine to finger” includes exploration and evaluation, mining and processing, grading and valuation, rough diamond sales, cutting, polishing and trading, and jewellery manufacturing and sales.

Seven Sub Saharan African countries are amongst the top 10 diamond producers that account for 99 per cent of global production. Botswana leads with the highest value and is the second producer in volume after Russia. Angola’s Catoca is the biggest diamond mine whilst Lesotho, despite being a small producer, is known for producing large diamonds. United Kingdom based company, Firestone Diamonds, unearthed a 46-carat stone in December 2018, and a 134-carat yellow gem in October 2017 at Liqhobong mine. Over 700,000 artisanal miners dig for diamonds from alluvial deposits in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Case studies presented by meeting participants painted a dark side. For instance, organizing diamond workers in Lesotho is difficult due its mountainous terrain, which is difficult to reach by road but accessible on horseback. Precarious work is rampant and working for 12 hours common, while the application of different laws causes confusion. As a response, the network will support an intensive organizing and recruitment drive in Lesotho.

In Botswana and Namibia, the laws favour employers, and unions are fighting unfair dismissals and retrenchments. In India there is child labour while workers in Zimbabwe earn paltry wages sometimes paid in a few grocery items like cooking oil, maize meal, sugar and salt. Further, there is no access for unions to diamond mines especially in Marange which is guarded by armed soldiers. To end this, the network resolved to put pressure on governments and offending companies to respect workers’ rights and improve working conditions. Further, protests will be made at the International Labour Organization.

The network, which was launched in Windhoek, Namibia in 2017, resolved to engage on the Kimberley Process (KP), a multistakeholder initiative to remove conflict diamonds from the supply chain. The National Union of Mineworkers will organize a workshop on KP in 2019. Collective bargaining agreements will be shared while attention given to women and health and safety. 

The network extended solidarity support to Beverly Murangi who was unfairly dismissed because of her appointment as co-chair of the network. She got financial support for eight months from ACV Transcom-Belgium which was coordinated by Yves Toutenel the network’s other chairperson.

The delegates visited Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan Mine where they went over 800m underground to see the mining operations. The mine which is 100km from Johannesburg employs over 1,000 workers.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director of mining, diamond, gems, ornaments, jewellery and precious stones, said: 

“We are demanding that the riches from the diamond supply chain be beneficial to workers. Countries should also benefit through economic development and creation of downstream industries through beneficiation. We urge companies to apply due diligence through international declarations that promote United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and other voluntary mechanisms.”

“We want an industrialized Africa” say IndustriALL affiliates

“Africa should boost its manufacturing, which is low according to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization,” said Issa Aremu, Vice-President of IndustriALL representing Sub-Saharan Africa. “The focus should be on manufacturing and value addition that creates decent jobs.”

“We cannot talk of industrialization and Industry 4.0 without infrastructural development. Energy policies are important and access to electricity critical,” Arremu added.

Even though there has been economic growth over the last two decades, the African continent has not seen a rise industrialization. Growth has been the result of expansion of domestic markets and some macroeconomic developments, favorable commodity prices, urbanization and increasing public and private investment.

The conference stressed that the development model of low-tech extraction and export of raw materials including minerals, oil and gas, and agricultural products isn’t working. African industry generates merely US$700 of GDP per capita, compared to US$2,500 in Latin America and US$3,400 in East Asia.

The conference recommended an alternative development model will be one anchored-on manufacturing, responsible mining, sustainable industrial policies, fair trade, Just Transition and living wages, and should be in sync with the UN Sustainable Development Goals especially on green and decent jobs. 

However, the success of an alternative model is hinged on the political will of governments and strong national institutions, reforming international finance institutions approaches to development, responsive multinational companies, sustainable environmental policies, and the essential involvement of civil society organizations and communities. 

“Africans live in poorness surrounded by richness,” said IndustriALL’s Assistant General Secretary, Kemal Özkan. “This cannot be the destiny of our African sisters and brothers. Industrialization is the best route for change and a means to promote economic and social policies that benefit African people.” 

Participants agreed that unions must have a say in shaping economic and social policies as important actors representing workers. Fair representation of young workers, education and lifelong learning, and innovation in collective bargaining are needed for changing workplaces. 

The conference recommended that unions adopt some of the recommendations of The Africa Mining Visionwhich articulates what should be done for mineral resources to support sustainable industrialization. 

The participants decided to take action vis-à-vis African Union as part of the ongoing campaign for sustainable industrial development, and design and develop national plans and actions through IndustriALL’s national affiliates’ councils.

“Our campaign of Africa Industrialization is critically important for our affiliates in Sub-Saharan African countries. IndustriALL Global Union will continue to support its affiliates” said Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary.

The conference, hosted by IndustriALL Global Union and its affiliates in Sub Saharan Africa, was supported by the International Labor Organization (ILO), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), national trade union centers and civil society organizations.

Lesotho union observes AIDS Day

The HIV and AIDS prevalence rate for Lesotho is one of the highest globally and most workers don’t even know their HIV status. This explains why this year’s message of "know your status" for World AIDS Day on 1 December is important. Research shows that once someone knows their status, they will access antiretroviral treatment early and change their lifestyles to avoid further infections or affecting others. This is unlike a situation when someone doesn’t know their status or know it late.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Independent Democratic Union of Lesotho (IDUL) organized two events in Maseru to mark World AIDS Day with support from the Sub Saharan Africa Region’s union building project and Union to Union. The first was a roadshow at Precious Garments on 29 November during the lunch break where the union distributed sanitary pads and diapers to young working mothers living with HIV and AIDS. The timing meant reaching more than 4,000 workers during lunch time. Precious Garments, like most textile and garment factories in the country, employ over 90 per cent women.

The second event was a mass meeting on 1 December, at which the Minister of Health, Nkaku Kabi, said the government is willing to work with unions and non-governmental organizations because HIV and AIDS is a social issue which requires collaborative efforts. Over 1,000 workers turned up from the regions of Maputsoe, Maseru, Nyenye and Tikwe.

At both events there were speakers from Lesotho Network for People Living with HIV and AIDS (LENEPHWA) that IDUL is in a strategic partnership with on HIV and AIDS. While the union fights on workers’ rights to health, the network provides treatment and care for people living with HIV and AIDS, fights stigma and discrimination, and promotes awareness on prevention and treatment.

Says Daniel Teko, the general secretary of IDUL:

“HIV and AIDS affects union members. We have lost brothers and sisters and some children are orphans. It is a social issue that cannot be ignored, and we must work together to deal with the pandemic. IDUL is working with the ministry of health and LENEPHWA to educate its members on prevention, treatment, care, support and related issues.” 

Shell’s hidden shame – Contract workers on the poverty line in Nigeria

Country: Nigeria

Text: Léonie Guguen

Poverty wages are typical for thousands of contract workers in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. In September 2018, IndustriALL Global Union carried out a mission to Port Harcourt to meet contract workers as part of its global campaign to stop precarious work at Shell. 

Despite 28 years of service as a contract worker at Shell, Oscar Tamuno, has little to show for it. He, his wife and four children live in a tiny two-room, one-storey dwelling in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt. Out the back is a small courtyard where he and four other families share basic toilet and washing facilities. Cooking is done outside on an open stove. 

Precarious work has become the focus of IndustriALL’s campaign, which also urges Shell to engage in global dialogue with IndustriALL and its affiliates. Contract workers outnumber permanent workers two to one at Shell and do the most dangerous jobs. 

In May 2018, IndustriALL’s affiliates from five countries, including Nigeria, raised their grievances to the Shell at the company’s annual general meeting in the Hague. Further, IndustriALL highlighted issues of union busting and violations of freedom of association of contract workers at Shell in Nigeria at the International Labour Conference of the ILO in Geneva in June. Shell has however repeatedly refused to enter into meaningful dialogue with IndustriALL to address these concerns.

IndustriALL affiliates in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria: 

The National Union of Petroleum & Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), which represents blue collar workers, and the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) representing white collar workers.

Shell in Nigeria 

Shell’s history in Nigeria is blighted by corruption, environmental destruction and human rights atrocities. It is the biggest multinational oil company in the country and pioneered oil exploration in Nigeria in 1936, producing its first shipment of oil in 1958. Nigeria has since become Africa’s largest producer of crude oil with the world’s biggest oil companies including Total, Eni and Chevron operating there. 

Thirteen years after Nigerian independence from British colonial rule in 1960, the Nigerian government took a stake in Shell’s operations in the country. In 1979, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) was established, which is now owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which has a 55 per cent stake; Shell with 30 per cent; Total with 10 per cent, and Eni with 5 per cent. Shell, however, remains the operator. 

In 1990, frustrated by oil companies’ exploitation of natural resources and environmental damage, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) led by activist and playwright, Ken Saro-Wiwa, demanded an end to oil pollution and a fairer share of profits. 

Shell businesses in Nigeria 

Despite oil being extracted from their lands in the Niger Delta since 1958, they had seen nothing in return.

In January 1993, MOSOP mobilized around 300,000 people to protest against pollution and Shell, which was the largest operator in Ogoniland. It prompted the Nigerian military to move in. Saro-Wiwa and eight other MOSOP activists were hanged in 1995 by Sani-Abacha’s military government causing international outrage. Shell Royal Dutch Petroleum was sued by the US Center for Constitutional Rights for complicity in the repression of the Ogoni people and the executions of the Ogoni Nine. In 2006, on the eve of the trial, Shell settled out of court, resulting in payouts of US$15.5 million to the Ogoni people.

Although Shell moved out of Ogoniland in 1993, its myriad network of pipelines in the Niger Delta remained. In 2008 and 2009 two massive oil spills from its pipelines struck the Bodo community in Ogoniland. They caused catastrophic damage to the environment and devastated the community’s livelihood, which had been heavily dependent on fishing and agriculture. 

In 2015, Shell admitted liability for the Bodo spills, which the UN described as an ‘ecological disaster’, and agreed to pay US$83 million for the clean-up that is expected to take decades to fix.

Today, high levels of poverty, unemployment and the abject failure of oil revenues to benefit local people, has led to increased insurgency and Shell is plagued by militant attacks, oil spills and sabotage. In 2017, SPDC reported oil losses of 9,000 barrels per day (bpd) through theft, costing around US$180 million a year. This was up from 6,000 bpd in 2016. 

US$4 billion – amount earned by Shell from oil and gas production in Nigeria in 2017. Source: Reuters

As the company seeks to move away from dependence on crude oil, it is focusing on Nigeria’s vast untapped reserves of gas, which is regarded by Shell as a cleaner alternative to oil as it seeks to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets. 

Precarious work

NUPENG president, Williams Akporeha, calls Nigeria the “headquarters of precarious work”. Shell has, over time, contracted out almost its entire production workforce, who have low pay, minimal benefits and no job security. The predominance of contract workers is not unique to Shell, but indicative of the situation at most, if not all, of the international oil companies in Nigeria. 

Meeting contract workers at Shell

NUPENG guided the IndustriALL mission on a visit to Shell’s Umuebulu Flow Station at Etche in the outskirts of Port Harcourt. Contract workers in Shell uniforms were eager to tell their stories. Many said they worked under a community contract, which is a contract organized between an oil company and the local community leader, in this case, the local king or chief. Workers under this contract seemed to have the worse deal. Following the death of the king, and then of his son, workers said they weren’t paid for several months. While Shell did intervene to cover some of the wage losses, many workers said they were still owed salaries. 

A community contract worker at the plant told the mission:

“My contractor doesn’t pay when due. I haven’t been paid for six months. My salary is just 50,000 naira (US$137) a month. I will go home and beg my neighbour for food. For six months my children can’t go to school. I’ve been working for eleven years at Shell but I don’t have carpet in my house. I don’t have a radio in my house. 

“If you open your mouth and you want to say something, they will sack you. The next day they (Shell) will call that contractor and they will sack you and they will bring in another person. That’s what we’re facing at this particular Shell (operation).”

“Our salary at Plantgeria is about 95,000 naira (US$260),” said another worker contracted to Shell. “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. We do the dirty jobs. We work like an elephant and eat like an ant.” 

All the workers referred to the contractors as their ‘paymasters’ and considered they worked at Shell, as they report directly to Shell management. They said Shell determines what they get paid by contractors. However, 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 maintains 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. “I have a letter that says I am not entitled to any benefits at all. In the last two months, we gathered ourselves to join NUPENG. Now, if they threaten us, we will just say ‘sack us’.” 

Workers said they are initially given a contract for two years, but after that the contractor will keep adding an extension for three or six months, for years at a time. “That’s why we have stagnant wages. There is no variation in the extension of the contract. Sometimes they even reduce the salary,” said one worker.

Prospects for contract workers at Shell are zero: “We have no promotion. We have been on the same salary scale for the past ten years. We have agitated for a pay increment but it has not been forthcoming.”

Vassey Lartson who works as a lab technician for Shell in Houston, USA, joined the mission to Nigeria as a member of IndustriALL’s affiliate the United Steelworkers. He was shocked by the workers’ living conditions. 

“I am ashamed that we work with the same Shell sign on our back. No way should there be that level of disparity between me and those workers. I take it personally that my brothers and sisters are being exploited in the way that they are. If a company is global, then why can’t behave global and pay global?”

There is a stark contrast to expatriate workers at Shell, who can earn up to US$20,000 a month. Nigerian white-collar workers at Shell are paid around US$2,000 a month. Shell has a 224 hectare high-security compound in Port Harcourt where Shell’s local and expatriate staff dependents live and socialize. 

Inadequate healthcare

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, so we don’t get the right treatment. They just give you some tablets. Then the doctor will say we can’t go further than that with the level you’re on. So, you use your meagre money to pay again.” 

One worker, who has four children, said he could only claim up to 40,000 naira (US$100) a year for his family. Some workers said they didn’t have any health insurance at all, depending on the contract they had.

The mission visited the bereaved children of Mr Kalu Ngozi, a contract electrician who had worked at Shell for over 20 years. Mr Ngozi had died three days previously leaving his four sons as orphans. Their mother died two years ago, and another brother passed away two months before. His children, aged between 12 and 22, are now alone living in a one room place in a Port Harcourt slum. Mr Ngozi who suffered from a stomach ulcer could not afford the medical attention he needed, and the hospital said that typhoid was a contributor to his death. 

Dangers

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.”

Workers also revealed they faced hazards such as chemicals, carbon pollution, militancy and snakes in the field.

The workers also said they felt ill equipped to handle dangerous situations: “Shell is good at the health and safety paperwork but it’s different when it comes to implementation. They will send you to training, saying ‘this is what you need to do’, but sometimes when you get to the field (the equipment) is not there.” 

A Shell contract driver was recently shot dead during an attempted kidnapping of an expatriate in the Umuebulu area, resulting in immense suffering for his family.

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

“Our mission to Nigeria has allowed us to see and hear first-hand how contract workers are suffering at Shell. We will confront Shell with our findings. We will hold them to account. Shell says it wants to take responsibility for workers in its supply chain. It can start right here, in Nigeria.”

Using global framework agreements to raise standards 

While Shell refuses to engage in global dialogue with unions, French energy giant Total has signed a global framework agreement with IndustriALL since 2015. The agreement has helped to resolve health and safety issues in Nigeria by connecting workers on the ground to global management in Paris. As a result of the agreement, Total is also demanding that all its contractors meet international standards on labour rights. In addition, IndustriALL also has a global framework agreement with Italian company Eni, which also operates in Nigeria.

Gas flaring and effects on workers

Gas flaring is caused by burning of natural gas that comes to the surface during the extraction of crude oil. According to the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership, not enough is being done by oil companies in Nigeria, particularly the Niger Delta, to capture the leaking gas, which is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the world. It is cheaper to burn the gas off rather than find expensive ways of capturing it. 

Most recent figures from the government show that while gas flaring has dropped from two billion cubic feet per day ten years ago, it still stands at 700 million cubic feet per day – enough to generate 3,000 megawatts of power. But this reduction does not help workers and communities who remain badly affected by the flaring. 

Reports in Nigerian media say villagers at a Polaku community in Bayelsa State, who are living near the SPDC’s Gbaran Ubie Integrated Oil and Gas plant, say they can’t sleep at night and their homes are coming apart due to the vibrations caused by gas flaring. The flaring causes acid rain which contaminates crops and water, and villagers say their children are getting ill. They say the flaring takes place at night to avoid public outcry. 

Workers IndustriALL spoke to at Etche had similar experiences: 

“There is a lot of gas flaring. If you park a white vehicle overnight the yellow crude oil and soot will cover it by morning. You wake up and your nose is blocked with soot. It affects your eyes too.” 

The Etche facility IndustriALL visited is just a stone’s throw away from many schools in the area. “What is happening here affects the world. Shell asks us to not steam our motors for so long, but they are polluting the whole planet!” says one worker.

Union signs recognition agreement with Walker Industries in Kenya

Following a recruitment and organizing drive that saw union membership increasing by 387 male and 338 female workers, IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Kenya Shoe and Leather Workers’ Union (KSLWU) signed a recognition agreement with Walker Industries on 13 November in Nairobi. The company manufactures EVA slippers, PVC sandals and gumboots. The slippers and sandals are popular because they can easily be molded into different shapes unlike those made from leather.

The recognition agreement establishes labour relations harmony at the company and commits to cooperation between the employer and the union. It also aims to create relationships that will promote better working conditions and living wages. Workers’ right to strike and collective bargaining will be respected and labour disputes will be dealt with according to the Labour Relations Act. Provisions of the ILO Convention 135 on the protection of workers’ representatives against dismissals and other forms of victimization that arise from their being representatives of a union will be respected.

The recruitment and organizing drive is part of the IndustriALL East African union building project, supported by the Danish trade union federations’ LO/FTF Council, which promotes social dialogue and labour rights in developing countries. The project aims to build strong unions in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. 

Says Catherine Aneno, IndustriALL coordinator for the project:

“We welcome the signing of the agreement with Walker Industries. Recognition agreements are one of the crucial instruments that are used to promote better working conditions and social dialogue in the factories. Further, it is important to commend the vigour that is being put by the KSLWU into gaining more members. It is this energy that will make unions grow in Kenya.”

The government’s policies including the Kenya Vision 2030 identifies manufacturing, including in the textile and garment sector, as a key driver for the country’s industrialization. The country also exports to the USA under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act whilst international garment brands source from the country.

South African plastics strike enters sixth week

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) called for the indefinite strike on 15 October with support from another affiliate, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union, and other unions.

The unions are demanding that the employer organizations, the National Employers Association of South Africa and the Plastics Converters Association of South Africa (PCASA), improve wages and benefits instead of removing them. For example, the unions are condemning the reduction of wages, in some grades, by 50 per cent and are calling upon employers to restore bonuses and leave benefits.

NUMSA is demanding that workers in the plastics sector be paid same wages as other workers in the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC), which the plastics sector falls under. The MEIBC has a 2017 to 2020 agreement, which gives workers a better deal, and was signed by NUMSA and other unions. But the employers are refusing.

The strike is affecting over 450 companies along the plastics value chain and NUMSA has been picketing at plastics factories in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal.

However, management response has been to intimidate workers to sign “inferior individual agreements”, lockouts and violence including hiring private security companies to shoot at workers as what happened at Mpact in Pinetown.

NUMSA has rejected accusations of strike violence by plastics companies and blames infiltration by “criminal elements and agent provocateurs.” NUMSA says the companies are using the courts to break the strike. For instance, the recent temporary order, if finalized, will fine NUMSA R1 million (US$73,000), general secretary Irvin Jim and sector coordinator Vusi Mabho R100,000 (US$7,300) each for strike violence. The union is challenging the court order.

Says Andrew Chirwa, NUMSA president:

“Instead of engaging us, employers keep rushing to court to make frivolous court applications to undermine the strike. It is in everyone’s interest to resolve the strike. We repeat the call for employers to come to the table and negotiate meaningfully and in good faith!”

Jim explains why the strike is on:

“We are fighting for workers in the plastics sector to retain wages and benefits which they fought so hard for. It is unfair and immoral that they should unilaterally be denied these benefits. They are the creators of wealth and deserve a living wage and better life.”

Women in the textile and garment sector in Ethiopia trained in labour law

A five-day workshop in Addis Ababa, 26-30 November, which drew 19 participants from women's committees in the textile, garment and shoe factories, recognized the pivotal role of the law in employment contracts and discussed that it is always better for the contracts to be in writing. Collective bargaining agreements also protect the rights of workers and improve working conditions as well as wage determinations.

The topics discussed in detail included what the law says on basic rights and the obligations of the workers and employers, freedom of association, labour proclamation provisions, grievance handling, and resolving conflict at the workplaces. It was also highlighted that Ethiopia had ratified ILO Conventions on the freedom of association, protection of the right to organize, and collective bargaining.

Examples given were drawn from Ethiopian case law, and dealt with dismissals, sick and maternity leave, and occupational health and safety. On health and safety, the law says the employer must give clear instructions to workers, appoint a health and safety officer, provide protective equipment and report accidents among other provisions.

Organized by the Industrial Federation of Textile, Leather, and Garment Workers Union (IFTLGWU) with support from the IndustriALL Global Union regional office for Sub Saharan Africa and FNV Mondiaal, the workshop highlighted some sections of the law especially on unfair dismissals that the unions would like to be changed. Further, the unions wanted minimum wages to be included in the amended labour laws, and for rights of workers to be recognised in the industrial parks.

Unions said they will continue fighting outsourcing which in most instances replaces permanent jobs with precarious ones.

The workshop was facilitated by Alem Abraha, a legal expert from Mekelle University.

Says Sisay Tulu, IndustriALL coordinator for Ethiopia:

“Understanding the labour laws is important to counter situations where employers take advantage of the workers not having a full understanding of the law, and this often leads to their exploitation in the factories. This often changes when workers understand the laws better and are able to stand up for their rights.”