South Africa: Unions meet to build an Africa-Europe network across the Lear supply chain

Discussions among trade union representatives and shop stewards from German union, IG Metall, and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) are focusing on wages, in particular equal pay for work of equal value; improving adherence to health and safety standards; employment equity; provision of transport; and other benefits. The meeting, which received support from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, seeks to strengthen the 30-year collaboration between IG Metall and NUMSA that can be traced back to the struggle against apartheid.

Employing over 165,000 workers globally, US-headquartered Lear Corporation manufactures automotive seats and electrical distribution systems. Of these workers over 44, 000 are from Europe and 16,600 from Africa. However, most of the African workers are in Morocco where the company employs 13,000 people mostly in electrical systems. In South Africa the company employs 3,600 workers of whom 1,552 are NUMSA members.

The meeting is a follow up to a discussion held last year to form a network that would not only share information and knowledge but also learn from the other’s experiences. The network would enable Lear workers from Africa and Europe to deal with common issues, especially the practice of lowering of conditions of service for workers in countries considered to be low cost by the company. There was also an agreement to facilitate the representation of South Africa on the European Works Council as the continents were under the same management.

Jochen Schroth, IG Metall departmental leader for shop steward policy and the union representative for Lear Corporation in Europe says:

“Transnational union activities make us stronger through joint agreements for future collaboration and learning from each other. This allows us to develop concrete steps towards building a strong network.”

Kenny Mogane, IndustriALL Regional Officer for Sub Saharan Africa, says:

“We welcome the Lear network in the motor sector as it will build solidarity between workers in Africa and Europe, as well as improve working conditions.”

South African unions reject Eskom’s zero-increase in wages

With the cost of living going up because of tax increases and fuel price hikes, unions in South Africa argue that Eskom shows little concern for the welfare of workers and their families.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates, the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, are collaborating to force Eskom to dump the zero-increase and vowed to continue picketing nationally.

After negotiations with Eskom reached a deadlock and the issue is heading for arbitration at the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration, unions resorted to picketing. Tthe minister of public enterprises, Pravin Gordan, said in a meeting with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and other stakeholders that wage negotiations will be reopened.

The unions, who are against the privatization of the state entity which produces 95 per cent of South Africa’s electricity, say most of Eskom’s woes can be traced back to the IMF and World Bank loans, poor management and corruption, and the decision to put Independent Power Producers (IPPs) onto the national grid. Eskom is implicated in corruption in the State of Capture report by then public protector Thuli Madonsela.

In April the ministry of energy signed an agreement with 27 IPPs to produce electricity through renewable energy sources mainly solar and wind. While the unions agree on the use of renewable energy they say that there is no Just Transition plan in place to protect 92,000 jobs that will be lost if five coal-fired power stations in Mpumalanga are closed. Such a plan will also involve training and absorption of workers into the renewable energy sector.

Says the unions in a joint press statement: “It’s a fact that Eskom has a high wage bill but that can’t be blamed or attributed to poor workers who are the lowest earners”, as workers and communities were not amongst those who got renewable energy contracts.

Diana Junquera Curiel, IndustriALL energy director says:

“It’s ridiculous for Eskom to announce that workers will not get an increase when inflation is going up. Instead, the company must negotiate with unions on wage increases. There must also be dialogue with unions on the Just Transition plan and on Independent Power Producers contracts."

South Africa: Union calls for improved health and safety after four mineworkers are killed at Sibanye Stillwater gold mine

Four mineworkers were killed, and one is still missing in yet another mine accident at Sibanye Stillwater’s Kloof Ikamva gold mine, about 60km from Johannesburg. The four are said to have died from heat exhaustion.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director of mining says:

The dangerous conditions which Sibanye Stillwater continue to subject workers to are not acceptable and now bordering on negligence. The company must make efforts to always ensure the health and safety of the mine workers before profits.

In a petition to the Chamber of Mines last month, after the death of seven workers at Masakhane mine, a Sibanye Stillwater operation, the NUM urged the company to come up with a plan to implement the Mines Health and Safety Council requirements.

By so doing, the company would make progress towards achieving “zero harm”. Further, the mining company must also allow workers to exercise their rights to information, education and training, representation and to refuse to do dangerous work or enter unsafe workplaces. The union also demanded that the South African mining industry must stop recalling full-time health and safety representatives as they are necessary in building worker-control on health and safety issues, as well as reducing the number of accidents and deaths in the mines.

Peter Bailey, NUM health and safety chairperson, calls on the department of mineral resources to take action against the mining company and for inspectors to make compliance visits to the mining company’s operations:

NUM is highly disturbed and angered by the deaths.  It is unacceptable as we don't sell our lives, limbs or lungs to the industry but our labour to provide for our families.

African unions condemn global trade in used clothes as it suffocates textile sector

Africa imports 32 per cent of the world’s used clothes valued at US$1 billion and the main customers are poor people who can’t afford new clothes. The global trade rakes in US $3.7 billion.

Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda are amongst some of the big markets for the used clothes. In the same countries, the garment and textile industries have either collapsed or are struggling with thousands of jobs lost.

With little success, governments have tried to ban or impose huge tariffs on the used clothes, but as often clothes are smuggled across borders, like in Zimbabwe.

IndustriALL affiliates in Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe are against importing used clothes as it threatens the growth of the garment and textile sector which suffered huge blows in the 1980s and 1990s with the adoption of the neoliberal International Monetary Fund/World Bank sponsored structural adjustment policies. They argue that the growth of the sector has potential to create jobs for hundreds of thousands of young women and other workers along the value chain. The unions also say cheap imports from China made locally produced clothes more expensive.

The East African Community announced a ban on used clothes, and Rwanda implemented the ban despite threats by the US that it was violating the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), to which it is a signatory with 40 other African countries. After the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textile Association petitioned to the US Trade Representative that the ban by Rwanda would cost 40 000 jobs in the US, the East African country was suspended from AGOA.

However, facing US pressure Rwanda insisted in April that as the ban restores the “dignity” of the country’s citizens and will create over 25,000 domestic jobs, it will not withdraw the ban. On the other hand, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda opted to retain AGOA benefits and did not implement the ban.

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

We call upon governments to develop sustainable policies that promote the development of the garment and textile sector and the employment of young workers. International trade agreements should prioritize the interests of developing countries instead of promoting the dumping of used clothes on the continent.

DRC unions close ranks against Glencore

The affiliates agreed not to compete amongst themselves but cooperate and give each other necessary support in the upcoming social elections for union representatives at workplaces that are held every three years according to the DRC labour laws.

The grievances that were raised by workers to the IndustriALL fact-finding mission to Glencore’s copper and cobalt mines in the DRC which went to Kolwezi in February were read and adopted as the reality prevailing in the mines. The grievances included workers’ rights abuses through constant threats of dismissals, poor adherence to health and safety standards, occupational diseases, racism and discrimination, unfair and unjust job classifications, low pay, inferior pay for Congolese workers versus foreign ones. Further, workers complained of inadequate drinking water during shifts and that no laundry, ablution facilities and showers existed at the mines. The hospital was also too far away for workers' families.

These are the grievances that IndustriALL took to the Glencore AGM in Zug, Switzerland in May where TUMEC was joined by trade union representatives from Australia, Canada, Italy, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Zambia and NGOs who demonstrated outside and later attended the meeting.

The affiliates agreed to support CSC which is the majority union that currently chairs the ten unions represented at Mutanda Mine. They will also support each other by developing common positions at KCC and supporting the same candidates at the two mines in the social elections.

In their organizing and recruitment drives, the affiliates will also not compete for members but will instead work as a unit and collaborate to build the strengths of their unions.

The meeting set up an IndustriALL Lualaba provincial committee of six members to coordinate the Glencore campaign and other pressing issues that the unions are facing.

Says Charles Kumbi, IndustriALL Sub Saharan Africa region project officer:

“What was emphasized at the meeting is the need for the union leadership to involve workers in whatever decisions they make. It is important for workers to participate in decision making as this promotes participatory democracy in the unions which is key to building strong unions in the DRC. This will also counter the practices by mining companies to divide the workers by pitting them against the other.”

Namibian union declares dispute over retrenchments of 600 workers at Langer Heinrich Uranium mine

The LHU mine, a subsidiary of Australia’s Paladin Energy, has given notice to retrench 600 workers and put the mine on care and maintenance citing lowest spot uranium prices in 15 years. The company says uranium prices have not recovered since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 that was triggered by an earthquake and a tsunami. The mine, which employs 317 permanent workers, while the rest are employed by contractors, only wants to retain 20 workers, and has informed the ministry of mines and energy, the labour commissioner, and the provincial governor of its intentions.

However, Paladin doesn’t want to sell the mine but to keep it as an asset until prices pick up. Uranium spot prices are averaging US$30 but contract prices are higher. Contracts are signed years in advance of making the first delivery. In 2017 LHU produced 3.4 million pounds (1542 metric tonnes) mainly from stockpiled ore. Uranium is used in nuclear reactors. According to the World Nuclear Association there are 447 nuclear power reactors globally, with 61 under construction.

Concerned about the job losses which will affect hundreds of its members MUN is fighting for fair severance packages and has declared a dispute of interest according to Namibia’s labour laws and is questioning how the proposed severance packages were arrived at. Further, the union says LHU is negotiating in bad faith by not giving the union enough time to consider the retrenchment packages that it is proposing.

In a petition to the LHU, the MUN expresses “disappointment and dissatisfaction in the way the company has approached this very serious and equally sensitive issue of the care and maintenance decision. Despite having an active recognition and procedural agreement, the company instead elected to address a memo to the union without attempting to engage the union prior to making the decision.” The union demands that LHU considers workers families and financial obligations when coming up with the severance packages.

Says Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director of mining:

“We expect global multinational mining companies to mine responsibly and respect the human rights of workers. This also applies to fair compensation of workers when there are retrenchments. It is unacceptable for mining companies to continue sacrificing workers’ livelihoods for profits.”

Organizing the diamond mining industry in Lesotho

 High in the Maluti mountains of Lesotho, in the Leribe region, at an elevation of 3,100 metres above sea level, operators such as the United Kingdom’s Gem Diamonds Letšeng mine produce high colour and quality diamonds. Although some of the diamonds produced in the mountain kingdom are rated at the highest price per carat production in the world, the lives of mineworkers and communities adjacent to the mines reflect a different reality of poverty.

The Independent Democratic Union of Lesotho (IDUL) is an active participant in IndustriALL Global Union’s diamond global network, which integrates the whole supply chain of the diamond industry, namely mining, gems, ornament and jewellery production. Major challenges confront the global diamond industry supply chain, including in Lesotho, and building strong unions lies at the heart of sustainable solutions to those challenges.

“The luxury diamond, mining, gems, ornament and jewellery production industry does not reflect the harsh reality of the working conditions suffered by those working in the sector, including women,” said Dan Theko, general secretary of IDUL.

IDUL has undertaken the task of organizing these mineworkers. Recognizing the scale task of organizing in mines buried deep in the remote mountain valleys of the Maluti mountains, IDUL invited IndustriALL and affiliate the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) to assist and participate in its organizing drive.

The organizing drive, conducted in a freezing cold mountain winter, involved a two-day training workshop and an organizing and recruitment drive at British miners Firestone Diamonds’ flagship Liqhobong mine. General secretary Daniel Theko led his organizers in the four-day activity.

Besides the Liqhobong mine, IDUL has identified the Mothae mine, owned by Canadian Lucara Diamond, the Kao mine, owned by Namakwa Ltd of Bermuda, the Letšeng mine and the Lemphane mine, owned by British Paragon Diamonds, for organizing and recruitment drives. These mines are in various stages of development or initial production.

“The diamond industry is under greater pressure to improve its social and environmental performance, while workers face challenges of job security, trade union rights and achieving the decent work agenda,”

says Glen Mpufane, director of mining and diamond, gems, ornaments and jewellery production, who led the organizing and recruitment drive. The Sub-Saharan Africa regional office was represented by regional programme officer Charles Kumbi.

The vision of IDUL is to become the fastest growing mining union in Lesotho. NUMSA has committed to strengthening relationships with IDUL to realize that vision while IndustriALL, through its union building project, will continue to train and to build capacity to this new emerging union in Lesotho. Organizing in the diamond mining sector in Lesotho is a new initiative by IDUL since its formation from a merger process in 2015.

Ethiopia: Meeting stirs debate on living wages

With support from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, key players at the discussions in Addis Ababa on 22 May, including the ILO, reminded the government of Ethiopia of its obligations to fully implement Convention 87 on freedom of association and the right to organize. Further, the country should also implement a decent work agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Social dialogue will also stop union-bashing tactics by some employers that include terminating, transferring or demoting union leaders to weaken the union.

The 55,000 strong IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Industrial Federation of Textile, Leather and Garment Workers Union (IFTLGWU), 56 per cent of whose members are women, says workers should be paid decent wages to live better lives and be able to look after their families.

The Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU), to which IFTLGWU is affiliated, supports the proposal and calls for minimum wages that meet workers’ needs. Government officials, the Ethiopian Investment Corporation, global brands and the Ayka Addis textile company, who were present at the meeting, discussed how decent wages benefitted workers. The government emphasized the importance of social dialogue that included trade unions, employers and government.

With the list of global brands from North America, Europe, China and Asia sourcing from Ethiopia increasing, and 20 brands including Peter Van Heusen, Quadrant Apparel, Epic Apparel and Ontex Hygiene Disposables already sourcing from Hawassa Industrial Park, calls are being made for wages to be pegged using international benchmarks. When fully operational, the park will house factories employing 60,000 workers. However, unions are questioning why they are being denied access to recruit members at Hawassa.

Says Masho Beriku, from CETU’s external and public relations department: “We are fighting for living wages and for Ethiopian workers’ rights. Therefore, we want restrictions stopping unions from organizing to be removed. This will enable us to grow the CETU membership from the current 550,000 to our target of two million. We also would like labour law reforms to protect workers’ rights.”

Ethiopia’s Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Hirut Woldemariam, says in a statement: “We are living in a society and an economy that is driven by globalization. The textile and garment sector is a notable globalized business with high female proportion in its labour force. With the establishment of industrial parks, our country has positioned itself in supply chains in the garments sector”.

The meeting was attended by affiliates from Bangladesh and South Africa who shared experiences on campaigning for better wages and collective bargaining.

South Africa: Union condemns retrenchment of 1,722 mineworkers at Evander gold mine

The company, which went through the retrenchment processes according to the Labour Relations Act, says the Evander 8 mine shaft will be closed to reduce further losses caused by weak gold prices and a strong currency – after the South African Rand’s recent gains in value.

The company mentions that it will prioritize low-cost operations including the Elikhulu Tailings Retreatment Plant in which it is investing 1.74 billion rand (US$139 million) and where 250 jobs will be created. In contrast, Pan African Resources will only pay 160 million rand (US$12.8 million) towards the retrenchments and says some of the retrenched workers will be reskilled for the new operations.

The NUM disputes that the company is making losses, and says that it is instead sacrificing workers for profits as seen in its tailings investments. This money could have been invested in the underground mine facing closure and thus saving jobs. The union points out that the mine is prioritizing surface mining where it employs cheap contract labour rather than underground operations.

Says the NUM:

There is plenty of ore body which can allow the operation to run for the next 40 years. It is therefore irrational for Pan African Resources to close down such an operation where there is an opportunity to create employment.

Workers were given short notice to vacate the houses they are living in, which the company intends to sell. According to the NUM, 80 per cent of the workers are from other parts of South Africa and neighbouring countries, and some have lived in the houses for years and their children go to local schools.

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

Instead of retrenching thousands of workers, jobs should be protected. Retrenchments should be used as a last resort to protect the interests of workers and their families.

According to Statistics South Africa, mining is the largest employer in Mpumalanga. Although gold mining is declining, the precious metal’s sales are third in value after coal and platinum group metals.

Ethiopian textile unions campaign to end poverty wages

To end poverty wages, IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the Industrial Federation of Textile, Leather and Garment Workers Trade Unions (IFTLGWU) is amongst the unions leading the campaign for better wages, workers’ rights to organize, and collective bargaining.

The campaign targets the industrial parks set up by the government including Bole Lemi in Addis Ababa where South Korean garment manufacturer, Shints, employs 4,300 workers, of whom 3,800 are union members. Other parks targeted by the campaign are Hawassa and Mekele.

Unions see minimum wages as a starting point in reversing the low wages and are demanding that they be included in the new labour laws under consideration. Eventually the unions want to shift the campaign to living wages.

Unions are campaigning for minimum wages above 3,373 Birr (US$121). These wages can be pegged using the official minimum wage, 1,800 Birr (US$64), or the consumer price index, 2,400 Birr (US$86). Current wages average below US$50.

Meetings have taken place between the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU) and various stakeholders including the ILO. There were also meetings with the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to discuss minimum wages.

IndustriALL director for the textile and garment sector, Christina Hajagos-Clausen, who will speak at a workshop on organizing in the supply chain in Addis Ababa later this month says:

We support Ethiopian unions on the introduction of minimum wages to set at a level of a living wage. We demand further that workers be paid what other garment workers earn globally.

Therefore, we are promoting global framework agreements in the sector to stop global brands from exploiting cheap labour in developing countries. Living wages can lift workers out of poverty.