NUMSA signs wage deal, calls for policy response to protect auto sector

The agreement, running until 2028, provides a 7 per cent increase effective from July 2025, followed by the higher of 5.5 per cent or Consumer Price Index (CPI) in each of the subsequent two years. Workers will also receive a tax-free gratuity of R12,500 (US$720), unchanged medical-aid contributions and an increased transport allowance.

NUMSA members from the seven original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) operating in South Africa — BMW, Ford, Isuzu, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen — endorsed the deal.

“NUMSA welcomes the signing of this agreement, particularly because the union had deadlocked with employers and we were on the verge of a strike. Thankfully, we were able to conclude this round of wage talks and the union is grateful for the efforts made by the negotiations team who worked tirelessly to secure this deal,”

said Irvin Jim, NUMSA general secretary.

While welcoming the settlement, NUMSA wants engagement on industrial policy. For instance, imported vehicles now account for 63 per cent of new-car sales, up sharply in recent years, with much of the surge coming from low-cost producers in China and India — fellow BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) members whose exports benefit from subsidised input costs and scale advantages. NUMSA argues that South Africa cannot compete on price alone and is pressing the government for a comprehensive industrial-policy response.

The union’s demands are threefold: stricter local-content requirements and trade remedies to curb dumping by BRICS partners, policy requirements for Chinese and Indian brands to establish local assembly and component-manufacturing plants, and a broader re-industrialization package encompassing steel, energy and downstream beneficiation. The industry’s own masterplan to 2035 already targets 60 per cent local value addition and NUMSA insists that the government must now enforce it.

NUMSA is calling for an urgent tripartite summit involving government, labour and the OEMs to craft binding measures before further plant closures or shift reductions occur. Continued inaction risks massive job losses in an industry that still employs over 110,000 workers directly and sustains a far larger ecosystem of component suppliers.

“We applaud NUMSA for continuing to fight for living wages and better conditions in the auto industry and for successfully negotiating this wage deal. Manufacturing and beneficiation along value chains are key as they anchor South Africa’s industrialization initiatives,”

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

At least 50 miners killed in Congo bridge collapse; unions demand action

According to IndustriALL affiliated unions in the DRC, this preventable disaster was triggered by excessive force by law enforcement, including the issue of live ammunition, which led to a stampede after heavy rains flooded the site. In a bid to escape, over 10,000 artisanal miners were forced onto a makeshift bridge leading to its collapse. The unions said the bridge collapse, exposes systemic failures in health and safety oversight that continues to haunt the ASM sector in the Central African country.

“The sheer scale of this loss, compounded by the alleged unsafe construction of a makeshift bridge across a flooded trench demands immediate comprehensive action. We call upon the DRC government to launch an urgent transparent investigation to determine the root cause of this disaster and ensure that those responsible are held accountable,”

said Mpho Phakedi, NUM general secretary.

The DRC’s mining sector, which produces over 70 per cent of the world’s cobalt, relies heavily on ASM, which employs 1.5 to 2 million workers directly and supports countless more through informal supply chains. Yet, these miners operate in unregulated sites prone to landslides, floods and structural failures, inadequate or no personal protective equipment and enforcement undermined by corruption, conflict and economic desperation caused by poverty.

However, unions said the Mulando incident is not isolated as similar catastrophes have killed hundreds in recent years, underscoring a crisis that demands immediate transformative policy reform from the government.

“We urgently call on the DRC government to ratify International Labour Organization (ILO) Safety and Health in Mines Convention, 1995 (C176) as a corrective measure,” said Didier Okonda, the general secretary of Travailleurs Unis des Mines, Metallurgies, Energie, Chimie et Industries Connexes (TUMEC). Convention 176, which the DRC has yet to ratify, despite campaigns by trade unions, establishes binding standards for risk assessment, emergency preparedness, worker training and inspection regimes in mining operations.

Ratification would compel the creation of a national mining safety authority, mandatory site inspections and community consultation mechanisms essential steps to avert future tragedies like Mulando. Equally critical is the formalization of ASM to break the cycle of informality that breeds vulnerability, recommended the unions. The ILO Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204), provides a roadmap for this shift.

In DRC, where trade unions like the Confédération Syndicale du Congo (CSC) and other IndustriALL affiliates are already advocating for its monitoring, full implementation could streamline licensing, provide access to credit and markets and integrate miners into social protection systems. The unions are urging the government to convene a national tripartite dialogue involving miners, employers and civil society to operationalize R204, targeting ASM cooperatives for pilot formalization programmes and investing in infrastructure like secure bridges and flood barriers at high-risk sites.

As part of recommendations at a battery supply chain roundtable in Kolwezi in which IndustriALL affiliates participated in October, a human rights due diligence forum will be formed to protect workers in the formal and ASM sectors. Further, the forum will support enforcement of supply chain due diligence under frameworks like the OECD Guidelines.

“A human rights due diligence approach ensures that what happened at Mulondo will never happen again. Artisanal miners rights and dignity must be respected and protected by the laws and regulations,”

said Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director.

“What happened with this case in DRC is a clear example on how mining is dangerous work around the world. Critical minerals are important for the world particularly in decarbonization of global economy and working conditions of miners must be improved through human rights due diligence. While mourning for our killed fellow miners, we demand accountability from the government in order to end further deaths and hazardous conditions for miners,”

said assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan.

Photo: Shutterstock

50 mineurs au moins tués dans l'effondrement d'un pont au Congo; les syndicats exigent que des mesures soient prises

D'après les affiliés d'IndustriALL de ce pays, cette catastrophe, qui aurait pu être évitée, résulte d'un mouvement de panique causé par la présence de militaires qui ont aggravé la situation en tirant des coups de feu à balles réelles, après que de fortes pluies aient inondé le site. Dans leur fuite et la ruée qui a suivi, plus de 10.000 creuseurs ont été dirigés vers un pont de fortune qui s'est effondré. Pour les syndicats, l'effondrement de ce pont illustre les failles systémiques du contrôle de la santé et la sécurité qui continuent de hanter le secteur de l'EMAPE dans ce pays d'Afrique centrale.

"L'ampleur de cette catastrophe, à laquelle s'ajoute la construction d'un pont de fortune branlant pour franchir des tranchées inondées nécessite une intervention immédiate et totale. Nous appelons le gouvernement de RDC à lancer d'urgence une enquête transparente afin de déterminer les causes profondes de ce désastre et de s'assurer que les responsables rendent des comptes,"

a déclaré Mpho Phakedi, le secrétaire général du NUM.

Le secteur minier de la RDC, qui représente plus de 70 pour cent de la production mondiale de cobalt, dépend en grande partie de l'EMAPE qui emploie directement de 1,5 à 2 millions de travailleurs et quantités d'autres dans ses chaînes d'approvisionnement informelles. Or, ces gens travaillent dans des sites non réglementés où sont fréquents les glissements de terrain, les inondations et les défaillances structurelles, l'absence ou l'insuffisance d'équipements de protection individuelle et une application de la réglementation gangrenée par la corruption, les conflits et la détresse économique causée par la pauvreté.

Pourtant, d'après les syndicats, l'accident de Mulondo n'est pas un cas isolé, d'autres catastrophes du même genre ayant fait des centaines de victimes ces dernières années, soulignant une crise qui exige une réforme de politique transformative et immédiate de la part du gouvernement.

"Nous appelons d'urgence le gouvernement de la RDC à ratifier la Convention n°176 de 1995 de l'OIT sur la sécurité et la santé dans les mines pour remédier à ces situations", déclare Didier Okonda, le secrétaire général des Travailleurs unis des Mines, Métallurgies, Énergie, Chimie et Industries connexes (TUMEC). La convention 176, que la RDC n'a pas encore ratifiée malgré les campagnes menées par les syndicats, instaure des normes contraignantes en matière d'évaluation des risques, de préparation aux situations d'urgence, de formation du personnel et de régime d'inspection des exploitations minières.

Sa ratification imposerait la création d'une autorité nationale de la sécurité minière, de mécanismes obligatoires d'inspection des sites et de consultations de la communauté, autant de mesures essentielles pour éviter de nouvelles tragédies comme celle de Mulondo. Tout aussi essentielle est la formalisation de l'EMAPE que recommandent les syndicats dans le but de briser le cycle de l'informalité, source de vulnérabilité. La Recommandation (n° 204) de 2015 de l'OIT sur la transition de l'économie informelle vers l'économie formelle propose une feuille de route pour cette transition.

En RDC, où des syndicats comme la Confédération syndicale du Congo (CSC) et d'autres affiliés d'IndustriALL plaident déjà en faveur de l'application de ses mécanismes de contrôle, sa mise en œuvre complète pourrait simplifier l'octroi des licences, ouvrir l'accès au crédit et aux marchés et intégrer les mineurs dans les régimes de protection sociale. Les syndicats exhortent le gouvernement à organiser un dialogue tripartite national impliquant les mineurs, les employeurs et la société civile pour mettre en œuvre la recommandation 204, cibler des coopératives de l'EMAPE pour des programmes pilotes de formalisation et des investissements dans des infrastructures telles que des ponts solides et des digues de protection dans les sites à haut risque.

Dans le cadre d'une recommandation adoptée à une table ronde sur une chaîne d'approvisionnement de batteries, à Kolwezi, à laquelle participaient des affiliés d'IndustriALL en octobre, un forum sur le devoir de vigilance en matière de droits de l'homme sera créé afin de protéger les travailleurs du secteur formel et de l'EMAPE. Par ailleurs, ce forum appuiera la mise en vigueur du devoir de vigilance dans les chaînes d'approvisionnement dans des cadres tels que les principes directeurs de l'OCDE.

"Une démarche axée sur le devoir de vigilance en matière de droits de l'homme garantit que ce qui s'est produit à Mulondo ne se reproduira jamais. Il faut que les droits et la dignité des mineurs artisanaux soient respectés et protégés par la loi et les règlements,"

a déclaré Glen Mpufane, le directeur d'IndustriALL en charge des mines.

"Ce qui s'est passé avec ce cas en RDC montre bien la dangerosité de l'activité minière pour les travailleurs du monde entier. Les minéraux stratégiques sont importants pour le monde, en particulier pour la décarbonation de l'économie mondiale et les conditions de travail des mineurs doivent être améliorées en recourant au devoir de vigilance en matière de droits de l'homme. Alors que nous portons le deuil de nos camarades mineurs, nous demandons des comptes au gouvernement afin d'empêcher de nouveaux décès et de mettre fin aux conditions dangereuses pour les mineurs,"

a dit le secrétaire général adjoint Kemal Özkan.

Photo: Shutterstock

Curbing violations by Chinese multinationals in African critical minerals boom

Controlling 85-90 per cent of rare-earth refining, China has poured billions of dollars into Sub-Saharan African mines via its Belt and Road Initiative, often bartering infrastructure for raw resources. In return, the minerals feed vertical supply chains for China’s factories. About US$4.5 billion has been invested in lithium mining.

In response to the violations, IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia, and Zimbabwe, are adopting human rights due diligence (HRDD) as one of the strategies to stop workers and human rights violations. Unions have also raised concerns over environmental degradation during the mining of critical minerals by Chinese multinationals.

The violations are on the rights to join trade unions, on collective bargaining, health and safety, discrimination, racism, gender-based violence and harassment, precarious working conditions, and living wages. There is also weak enforcement of national labour laws and international standards by governments while corruption is common. There have been cases of physical assaults of workers by Chinese supervisors in Zimbabwe and elsewhere, as well as environmental degradation and water pollution.

A battery-supply-chain roundtable in the DRC, which alone supplies over 70 per cent of global cobalt, urged unions to launch an HRDD body to spotlight abuses and push the state into protective action. At China Molybdenum’s Tenke Fungurume mine – part of the Sino-Congolese ventures – the unions welcomed an impending audit by the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance as a first for Chinese firms on the continent. In Zimbabwe, the Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union battles intimidation at Sinomine’s Arcadia and Bikita lithium mines.

The Mine Workers Union of Botswana said that MMG’s Khoemacau copper mine imported Chinese labour to quash a strike over poor working conditions. Zambia’s February disaster at Sino-Metals Leach, a subsidiary of China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group, underscores the perils of negligence after a tailings dam burst unleashed 1.5m tonnes of acidic sludge laced with cyanide, arsenic and heavy metals into the Mwambashi and Kafue rivers. The 100km toxic sludge killed fish and livestock, withered maize and groundnuts, and poisoned water for 700,000 Kitwe residents, triggering fishing bans and supply cut-offs. Short-term illnesses like headaches and diarrhoea were reported while long term health risks will include organ failure and birth defects. The Mineworkers Union of Zambia is now campaigning for community redress and communities are taking Sino-Metals to court.

“HRDD in Chinese multinationals mines is vital because it is an inclusive strategy which safeguards workers and communities, enforces government accountability and prescribes remedies,”

said Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining and diamonds.

HRDD in Chinese multinational mines is one of the issues that will be discussed at the global mining conference in Sydney, Australia on 2 November.

Court ruling reinstates retrenched workers at ArcelorMittal South Africa

The retrenchments will affect over 3500 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs along the value chain. AMSA attributes the retrenchments to high energy costs, cheap imports, and logistics challenges on transportation.

The long steel making company issued a retrenchment notice for workers at its operations in Newcastle and Vereeniging in January this year but before consultations were concluded the AMSA retrenched workers on October 21. This prompted the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), which is the majority union at the company, to apply for an urgent interdict at the Labour Court to protect the interests of the workers.

The Labour Court order, issued on 27 October, ruled in favour of NUMSA, an affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union, stating that AMSA must follow a fair process by engaging with the union in negotiations over the retrenchments, and to start fair consultations within 10 days. The court said all dismissed workers must be reinstated and paid for the period they were retrenched. Further, ArcelorMittal is not allowed to dismiss any workers at its Newcastle and Vereeniging operations based on the January Section 189 notice which informed workers of the employer’s intention to retrench. The court ruled that AMSA must issue a new notice.

On the retrenchments, NUMSA said it wants “meaningful joint-consensus seeking consultations” on the closure of the operations.

“This latest victory is another example of NUMSA consistently fighting for workers and their families and provides an opportunity to possibly look at alternatives to retrenchment,”

said Irvin Jim, NUMSA general secretary.

NUMSA argued that it is dishonest for AMSA to be receiving financial bailouts from the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) while retrenching workers at the same time. NUMSA has also picketed at the IDC offices in Johannesburg in February demanding urgent action to stop the retrenchments.

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

“AMSA must always consult with the union and negotiate in good faith. It is unfair on workers to be dismissed when negotiations are still taking place.”

South Africa is the continent’s largest steel producer, accounting for over 10 per cent of continental steel production.

Taming the Congolese paradox in the battery supply chain

The Congolese paradox has resulted in one of the world’s lowest GDP per capita figures despite mineral exports worth billions annually, with over 70 per cent of the population living below the poverty line and millions displaced by violence in the resource-rich eastern provinces.

More than 120 participants from trade unions affiliated to IndustriALL, artisanal small-scale mining co-operatives, non-governmental organizations and community groups gathered at a conference in Kolwezi on 9 October to plot a collaborative assault on human and workers’ rights violations in the DRC’s critical raw materials supply chain.

The DRC is a treasure trove of battery essentials: copper, cobalt, tantalum, lithium and more, all destined for electric vehicles. These are extracted by multinational corporations such as Glencore’s Kamoto Copper Company and Mutanda mine and China Molybdenum’s Tenke Fungurume Mining, alongside artisanal miners that produce 30 per cent of the country’s cobalt.

The conference urged the creation of a forum for engagement on these minerals, intensified trade-union organizing, the formalization of artisanal mining, sustained discussions with multinationals and tripartite dialogue with the government to align interests along the battery supply chain.

Spotlight fell on an IndustriALL study, “Exploring the DRC cobalt value chain: challenges, opportunities and stakeholder engagement,” presented by Theodore Kamwimbi of the Centre for Transformative Regulation of Work at the University of the Western Cape. It dissected mining operations and workers’ rights at Kamoto, Metalkor RTR, the Lualaba Copper Smelter and Sicomines. Subcontractors at Kamoto flouted labour laws, sparking strikes; bribery of inspectors has surfaced at the smelter; Sicomines unions have walked out over bargaining woes and Metalkor has conducted unfair dismissals. The report noted a dip in child labour but bemoaned weak enforcement of labour laws.

Antoine Kasongo, Fair Cobalt Alliance, country director said:

“More needs to be done to combat human rights violations and non-compliance with national and international standards for the benefit of the artisanal mining community.”

He called for awareness campaigns and training on health, safety, eradicating child labour and local industrialization.

Davidzo Muchawaya, labour-sector lead at the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), unpacked the IRMA standard’s nuts and bolts and the audit underway at Tenke Fungurume — the first by IRMA of a Chinese multinational.

“Supply chains span the globe these days,” reflected Constantin Grund, FES country director for the DRC, “but for the manual labourer at the beginning of the supply chain, nothing really changes, even though entire product lines could not be manufactured without them. We need fairness for everyone involved in the manufacturing of a product, especially those blue-collar workers who shed sweat and tears.”

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining and diamonds concurred:

“Key players must form alliances over the critical raw materials supply chain to safeguard workers’ rights, hold multinationals to account and secure remedies for communities and workers when violations occur.”

DRC women artisanal miners face exploitation as unions seek better working conditions

Over 32 000, including 1045 women are working on the site, which is mined by the Mutoshi COMIAKOL (cooperative for artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), under deplorable health and safety conditions as witnessed during a visit by IndustriALL Global Union.

Research by IndustriALL entitled Exploring the DRC cobalt value chain: Challenges, opportunities and stakeholder engagement confirms the conditions:

“Women artisanal miners work in and around cobalt and copper mining sites in harsh conditions on unsustainable artisanal exploitation zones with inadequate sanitation. In their work they very often use dirty water, which makes them particularly vulnerable to diseases, such as urogenital infections, skin diseases, vaginal mycoses, warts and irregular menstruation.” In addition, the women are often victims of discrimination, intimidation, and gender-based violence due to prejudices and stereotypes related to harmful cultural practices.

Women artisanal workers exploitation is an example of the brutal nature of ASM where the miners use basic tools, have no personal protective clothing, no adequate remuneration, no social protection and do not enjoy rights enjoyed by workers in the formal sector as per national mining code and international labour standards. To end this, unions are calling for formalization of ASM.

The ASM pits have depths of over 30 meters, with electric winches hoisting the rocks to the surface as well as taking miners underground. After processing, the cobalt is then bagged into sacks ready for the depots where each sack is sold for around US$75 depending on the quality according to the workers. State-owned Gecamines buys the cobalt from the cooperative.

The DRC’s ASM produces over 30 per cent of the cobalt produced in the country which is globally in demand as one of the materials for battery manufacturing for electric vehicles.

“Organizations have come to this site to film and interview workers. We have seen ourselves on television and on social media. But we are not a museum, we are human beings and workers. We hope that all this publicity will contribute towards changing our working conditions,” said one of the women workers.

Constantin Grund, FES resident representative for the DRC said:

“The impressions we gathered on the open mining site leave us feeling dismayed. The looks on the faces of those who extract copper and coltan from the earth with their bare hands speak volumes. It is politically crucial that we continue to talk about this dark side of supposed prosperity. I am grateful for IndustriALL’s commitment as no one else would take this responsibility.”

“The DRC’s cobalt and copper mining is a tale of two worlds: the high-tech, high value multinational mining companies ventures on the one hand and survivalist often dangerous artisanal operations on the other. As trade unions we are demanding better health and safety and decent working conditions to end the exploitation of artisanal workers,”

added Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining and diamonds.

The site visit is part of a series of meetings with unions working on critical energy transition minerals included round table discussions. IndustriALL affiliates in the DRC are Organization des Travailleurs du Congo (OTUC), Secrétariat des Syndicats IndustriALL de la CDT (SSI-CDT), Travailleurs Unis des Mines, Métallurgies, Energie, Chimie et Industries Connexes (TUMEC), Secrétariat des Syndicats de IndustriALL (SSI-CSC), and Secrétariat IndustriALL Global (SIG-UNTC).

The meetings are part of IndustriALL battery platform which identified issues and challenges on workers’ rights and created discussion forums with key stakeholders, including in the ASM sector to provide knowledge and tools on human rights due diligence and decent work in the battery supply chains.

Organizing and campaigns to revitalize trade unions in Sub-Saharan Africa

In Sub-Saharan Africa(SSA), a region characterised by high unemployment, poverty and inequality, low wages, precarious working conditions, poor health and safety standards and human and workers’ rights violations, unions are concluding that organizing and campaigns are key to their survival and improved working conditions especially in the context of declining membership.

The unions expressed these views at a workshop for organizers, convened from 29 September to 1 October in Boksburg, South Africa, which discussed how to strengthen trade unions using various organizing tools and campaign strategies. These included mapping industries and workplaces and identifying potential union members, recruiting, and retaining them. Identifying and engaging with key stakeholders, using national labour laws and International Labour Organization conventions especially Convention 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize) and 98 (Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining) effectively is crucial. Further, building union leaders capabilities and curbing gender-based violence and harassment are key. Emphasis was placed on strategic planning, effective communications with clear messages and use of digital platforms such as social media.

The 25 participants from Botswana, Eswatini, Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe were trade union organizers and union leaders from IndustriALL Global Union affiliates that organize in energy, mining, diamonds, metals and engineering, textile and garment and other manufacturing industries. The workshop underscored that recruitment must pivot on unions primary mandate of protecting workers’ rights, although other benefits could be used to attract workers. The importance of the union as an organization for building solidarity and unity of the workers was key. Organizing was also described as a long-term activity to build union power and density at workplaces especially when done from the shopfloor while campaigns could be short and targeted at specific issues for impact.

The workshop included case studies, role plays and future organising plans, that were based on real workplace experiences and challenges that the unions were facing.

Global trade union networks like Barrick Gold and AngloGold Ashanti, were identified as providing opportunities for recruitment and organizing. Further, global framework agreements were an example of a transnational collective bargaining agreement that unions could campaign for.

Zazi Mugambi, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa head of secretariat, and one of the participants, hailed the workshop as valuable.

“Unions are facing massive retrenchments because of the geopolitical crisis which weakens us daily. In South Africa we need to find ways to organize workers who are not unionised and increase membership to make our unions stronger.”

Aaron Chappell, who has diverse global experience on organizing, facilitated at the workshop with support from the Sub-Saharan Africa regional office. The workshop is the first under the IndustriALL campaigns and organizing project which was adopted by the Executive Committee in 2023 and seeks to bring synergies between organizing and campaigns.

“The aim is to build strong unions through effective organizing and campaigns’ strategies and tactics among trade unions in SSA and globally as this is one of the anchors of building trade union power,”

said Walton Pantland, IndustriALL organizing and campaigns director.

Strike suspended after conciliation at Dangote Refinery

The strike was suspended after conciliation which reinstated the 800 dismissed workers. The chief conciliator then issued a communique.

“Key among the issue captured in the Communique was the immediate recall and redeployment of all affected workers without loss of pay, affirming that their disengagement was unjust and that no evidence of sabotage was established against them. It also reaffirms Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees the right of workers to freely associate and join unions and provides clear protection against victimization,” wrote PENGASSAN’s national executive council in a notice suspending the strike.

Talks between PENGASSAN and Dangote Refinery had deadlocked on 30 September, during a meeting at the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The suspension comes after a week of militancy by the unions. On 27 September, PENGASSAN, a union for white-collar senior oil workers, ordered its members to halt natural gas and crude oil supplies to the Dangote Refinery plant in Lagos as part of strike action against the unfair dismissal of 800 workers.

The refinery’s pipes ran dry after PENGASSAN members withdrew their labour from upstream companies like Chevron and Shell. Since early this year, the refinery has been producing petrol, diesel, and jet fuel and was launched with support from trade unions.

The dispute traces back to Dangote Refinery’s resentment towards organised labour even to the extent of announcing that it intended to form an in-house union. In August, around 800 Nigerian engineers and technicians at the refinery joined PENGASSAN, an IndustriALL affiliate, citing poor conditions and the absence of collective bargaining. Within days, they were dismissed, and their contracts terminated without notice. The union is condemning the dismissals saying the oil company violated Nigeria’s Trade Unions Act, which protects the right to organise.

Nigeria’s House of Representatives’ petroleum committee called for the suspension of the strike. The lawmakers’ intervention is like the September 9 memorandum of understanding(MOU) between Dangote Refineries and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the junior staff blue-collar counterpart to PENGASSAN, which averted a nationwide shutdown. The MOU, brokered by the government, with support from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), pledged union access but Dangote Refinery reneged after a few days.

As the strike intensified, Nigeria’s House of Representatives petroleum committee urged suspension of the strike on 29 September, while a Lagos court issued an order restraining PENGASSAN from industrial action and mandating the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to sustain crude supplies. However, undeterred and with support from the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the NLC, union members barricaded NNPCL towers, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) in Abuja, vowing to press on until the workers are reinstated.

Lumumba Okugbawa, PENGASSAN general secretary said: “We deeply appreciate your solidarity, discipline and unwavering commitment to the ideals of our union during this critical period. Please remain vigilant and stay united, as the leadership continues to monitor developments.”

IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Hoie, said:

“In full solidarity with the proud affiliates of IndustriALL, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, we express deep concern and unequivocal condemnation of Dangote Refinery’s persistent actions aimed at undermining trade union rights and eroding the hard-won collective bargaining structures established by the two unions. The strike is a legitimate response to these unacceptable developments.”

In letters to Dangote Refinery, IndustriALL expressed concern over the company’s anti-union behaviour and called for dialogue with trade unions.

Photographer: Shutterstock

More benefits for ArcelorMittal workers in Liberia as union signs collective agreement

The three-year agreement delivers substantial gains for workers, reflecting both the union’s growing bargaining power and the critical role of international solidarity in supporting Liberia’s labour movement. The deal comes at a time when Liberia’s economy, heavily reliant on extractive industries, faces pressure to balance corporate profitability with equitable wealth distribution.

The new CBA includes a 14.5 per cent salary increase for ArcelorMittal Liberia’s workforce, a notable achievement given the inflationary pressures that have eroded real wages in recent years. Liberia’s consumer price index rose by about 10 per cent in 2024, according to estimates from the Liberia Institute of Statistics, making the salary increment a critical buffer for workers’ buying power. Additionally, the agreement secures a 75 per cent increase in housing allowances, addressing one of the most pressing concerns for workers in the country’s mining regions, where access to affordable housing remains scarce. The company has also committed to supporting homeownership for workers.

Further, the CBA introduces 15 days of annual leave without salary deductions, a significant improvement in work-life balance for employees. The inclusion of five days of paternity leave signals a progressive shift in Liberia’s labour landscape, acknowledging the importance of family responsibilities in a male-dominated industry. Health insurance coverage has also been expanded to include workers’ dependents. This is important in Liberia, where access to healthcare is limited, according to World Health Organization. By extending coverage, the agreement mitigates financial risks for workers’ families, a critical factor in a nation where out-of-pocket healthcare costs are high.

The agreement’s success is underpinned by international solidarity. UWUL credited technical support from the United Steelworkers (USW) of the USA, the Australian Mines and Energy Workers Union (MEU), and IndustriALL for strengthening its negotiating capacity.

ArcelorMittal, a global steel corporation with operations in over 60 countries, employs thousands in Liberia’s iron ore sector, a cornerstone of the country’s economy, which accounted for 65 per cent of export revenues in 2024 according to the Central Bank of Liberia.

For Liberia, the agreement sets a precedent for other industries, where collective bargaining remains underdeveloped. The mining sector, employing roughly 15,000 workers directly and supporting thousands more indirectly, is a key battleground for workers’ rights.

“Bravo to the ArcelorMittal workers for supporting the negotiating team,”

says Dave Seneh, UWUL secretary general.

“The collective bargaining agreement is a key tool for improving working conditions at ArcelorMittal Liberia and we applaud UWUL for securing a deal that improves workers livelihoods,”

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