Women workers in Zambia and Tanzania pledge to fight violence

All IndustriALL affiliates in Zambia and in Tanzania committed to discuss internally the IndustriALL Pledge on violence and harassment against women and to adopt it formally. The pledge commits the union to a policy of zero tolerance with the slogan “No to violence. Not in our workplace. Not in our union”.

The Womens’ Organizers exchange workshops were part of the Organizing project activities held in Dar es Salaam Tanzania in July and in Kitwe between 27 November and 1 December, which concluded with the project evaluation and the Zambia National Council Meeting.

After the first exchange workshop held in Dar es Salaam in July, three Tanzanian women leaders from IndustriALL Global Union affiliates the Tanzania Union of Industrial and Commercial Workers (TUICO) and the Tanzania Mines, Energy, Construction and Allied Workers Union travelled to Zambia to follow up sharing strategies and experiences in organizing and building women’s representation in our unions.

Margaret Ndagile of TUICO said,
“There are many challenges because we represent many very different sectors such as mining, industrial and energy sectors and we need to study how to bring in more women and workers from all these sectors.”

The twenty-five young women workers from the mining, metal, pharmaceutical and plastic sectors in Zambia expressed the difficulties they face as unionists in their workplaces and in their unions. Their priorities which are not taken into account when their unions make collective bargaining, and the same stereotypical explanations are always given by their unions for the lack of representation of women.

“Women pay equal subscriptions to the unions, but they do not have equal voices in decision making – why?” they asked. The group of participants from each union caucused and drew up their action plans to carry out in their workplaces and take to their leadership.
“We have learned a lot through this exchange with Tanzanian trade unionists especially when it comes to young workers, they are so engaged in union activities and this is very inspiring” said Yuyi Sikananu, union organizer from NUBEGW Zambia

The final evaluation meeting of the last years of the organizing project followed with participation of Magnus Palmgren from IF Metall- Sweden, who commended the number of young women participating in the meetings and who explained why IF Metall has publicly declared itself a “feminist union”.

The union leadership from the Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia, the National Union of Commercial & Industrial Workers and the National Union of Building, Energy & General Workers claimed ownership of the project. They highlighted the advances gained in learning to map out workplaces to target and recruit around 25,000 new members since 2014 by forming permanent organizing teams.

The implementation of the “golden rules” of non-competition and cooperation among affiliates has built concrete unity and solidarity, which lead our affiliates to gain leadership positions in the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions.

Finally, the Zambia National Council adopted the 40 per cent representation of women, a quarterly calendar of meetings and coordination structure and proposed to table the Pledge against violence during the first meeting of the Council in 2018.

Ethiopia: Union recruits in industrial parks

The new members came from 27 companies in the Bole Lemi industrial park in the capital, Addis Ababa, Dukem, and Kombolcha in the North East. Ethiopia’s industrial parks, set up by the federal government’s five-year Growth and Transformation Plans to promote industrialization through light manufacturing, are providing unions, including the IFETLGWU, with an opportunity to organise and recruit workers.

Three industrial parks have been opened. According to the Industrial Parks Development Corporation, when fully operational, they will employ 35,000 and 84,000 respectively and one will only cater for the garment and textile industries and its value chain.

There are plans to set up over 12 industrial parks across the country, and to promote the growing of cotton so that factories can get their raw materials locally. A 700 kilometer electric railway line to link to the port of Djibouti is being built to export goods faster.

Global brands buying from Ethiopia include H&M, Tchibo, and Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH). Other buyers are from Bangladesh, China and India. Ethiopia is also a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, giving some Sub Saharan African Countries preferential trade terms when exporting to the US.

While unions welcome the industrial parks and the investments in the garment and textile sector, they are concerned that wages are low and not enough to meet basic needs. The entry level wages averaged around US$40 in Ethiopia, compared to US$68 in Bangladesh and US$500 in China. According to the Ethiopian Investment commission the country has amongst the lowest minimum wages in Africa, and over 50 million potential young workers below the age of 24.

Further, unions want workers’ rights to be protected and for factories to be safe. Employers are also urged not to withhold dues that belonged to unions.

Said Mesfin Adenew, president of IFETLGWU, says:

The federation is working hard to ensure that the country’s constitution, and ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on the right to organise and collective bargaining are respected. We want workers’ rights and benefits to be protected. Otherwise there won’t be industrial peace.

Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa, says:

We welcome the Ethiopian government policies promoting industrialization, but it should not be at the workers expense. Industrialization should bring better wages to workers and take their lives out of poverty; this cannot happen when wages are as low as US$40 per month. We are calling for better wages in the garment and textile sector.

The recruitment drive was supported by the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions, FNV Mondiall, ILO, IndustriALL, and Solidaridad.

IndustriALL affiliates celebrate Africa Industrialization Day – 2017

First, an intense trade union discussion, was held on sustainable industrial policy and the implications of Industry 4.0 for the Africa region on 17 November 2017, in Nigeria.

Participants included trade union officials from Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Ghana. It was generally agreed that the impacts of Industry 4.0 could be quite significant given Africa’s role in the global marketplace and position within global value chains. This is true despite many industries in Africa being a long way from directly adopting advanced technologies such as digitization or artificial intelligence. Of course, many other aspects of a sustainable industrial policy such as climate change, sustainable energy, decent work and an end to precarious work, and the need for a Just Transition, were discussed as well.

On November 19, trade unions held a well-attended press conference to emphasize the need for a plan – a sustainable industrial policy – for Africa. This plan must address current realities: energy and sustainable development; global trade trends; climate change, and the need for Just Transition programmes, education and training, and the impacts of so-called Industry 4.0 – the rapid transformation of production with digitalization, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and so on.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Although IndustriALL Global Union can help to provide a framework for thinking about these things, it relies on its national and regional affiliates to drive these ideas forward.

Brian Kohler, IndustriALL’s Director for Health, Safety and Sustainability said,

“The environment, the economy, and society must be considered as an integrated whole. Everything affects everything. But as trade unions, of course we are very focused on the social dimension and in particular on jobs – on decent work. Our aim is to create a healthy economy, with both quantity and quality employment while minimizing the negative environmental impacts and advancing the interests of society as a whole.”

“Governments must intervene to ensure wealth is shared; the free market alone will not assure sustainability. The role and credibility of government must be expanded,” Kohler added.

African Industrialization Day is 20 November, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 and organized principally by UNIDO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. A very large event was held to highlight the need for industrial development, attended by government Ministers and officials, industry leaders, ambassadors – and of course hundreds of trade unionists who marched to the event singing and holding signs and banners.

Both Issa Aremu, IndustriALL’s Vice President for Africa region and principal organizer of the events to mark Africa Industrialization Day, and Brian Kohler, IndustriALL’s Director for Health, Safety and Sustainability emphasized the need for social dialogue and a seat at the table for workers, when important policy decisions were under consideration that affect thousands, if not millions, of workers.

The message was well received. At the event, the Honourable Dr. Enelamah, Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment gave his commitment to Issa Aremu that trade unions would be a part of future discussions.

Issa Aremu concluded,

“Despite the challenges of Industry 4.0, climate change, trade and finance Africa must, and will, succeed. With its vast natural and human resources, Africa needs and deserves better than to simply be a supplier of commodities for processing elsewhere. With IndustriALL’s support, the message was delivered.”

Ethiopia: Prioritizing women workers’ rights in the garment and textile sector

The women are organized by IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the Industrial Federation of Ethiopian Textile, Leather and Garment Trade Unions (IFETLGTU).

A training of trainers on women workers’ rights attended by 13 women held earlier this year was one of the activities aimed at increasing the capacity of the women workers. Four of the women who received the training said the issues discussed included maternity protection, organizing against gender discrimination and sexual harassment, recognition of family responsibilities by employers, and equal pay for work of equal value.

On maternity protection, conditions were so bad that some workers did not return to work after maternity leave as they had no one to look after their young infant. Hence, the demand for companies to provide child care facilities.

The training also boosted their confidence as they no longer feared approaching company management. Prepared for active participation in union activities including leadership roles, they looked forward to training colleagues at factories in Addis Ababa, Bishoftu and other places.

Like other Sub Saharan African countries, most workers in the garment and textile sector were women. At around US $40 per month, the wages they earned were too low to lift them out of poverty, and below what they needed for basics. This has prompted the IFETLGWU to put minimum wages on the agenda for future negotiations with employers. The union also saw collective bargaining agreements that ensured fair wages as important in reversing the subsistence wages.

The Global Framework Agreements that IndustriALL has signed with global brands including H & M and Tchibo, who have factories in Ethiopia, were useful tools in protecting workers against poverty wages.

Further, ensuring that employers complied with health and safety standards and labour laws would also reduce accidents and improve the working conditions.

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

“We are committed to improving gender equality, and to ensure that union leadership reflected the membership. Women workers represent their factory issues better when given the opportunity to speak for themselves.”

Automotive meeting discusses transition to e-mobility

The meeting, jointly hosted with the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, took place just a week after IndustriALL’s Industry 4.0 conference in Geneva, Switzerland, discussed how unions should be prepared to respond to the changes expected to take place when the internal combustion engine is replaced by a new generation of electric motors. Participants embarked on a ‘world trip’ in order to discover the current and expected developments regarding the introduction of hybrid, electric, and self-driving vehicles by listening to related reports from around the globe.

Participants pointed out that many traditional Original Equipment Manufacturers were focusing on Industry 3.0 by increasing automation. Genuine Industry 4.0 concepts were instead introduced by newcomers to the sector where employees were rarely organized. The working group agreed to follow-up on this discussion at the level of the global trade union company networks.

Special emphasis was also given to strategies aiming at organizing along value chains. An expert group was formed to elaborate a concrete pilot project for the sector in the next 12 months.

Finally, the group looked at countries and regions – US South, Turkey, Mexico, India, Middle East and North Africa, Thailand and China – where workers’ and trade union rights were often under threat from governments and companies. Delegates decided to pay special attention to these countries and to prepare and support activities in solidarity with the workers who were fighting for their rights.

Georg Leutert, IndustriALL director for the automotive and aerospace industries, said:

“Trade unionists present at the meeting held an open and frank debate about precarious work in the sector, and agreed to look at examples of how best to effectively fight it”.

South Africa: Coalminers give notice to strike

The NUM is also insisting that they will only sign a three-year agreement with the Chamber of Mines if it remains committed to the Collective Bargaining Forum.

“Settling with unions at company level promotes competition and inter-union rivalry at the expense of workers’ unity. It divides workers and sometimes breeds violence between unions, thus weakening union power,” NUM said in a statement defending its continued fight for centralized collective bargaining that included unions, employers and the government.

At the negotiations, the Chamber of Mines represented coal companies including Anglo American, Glencore Operations SA, Msobo, Delmas, Exarro, Kangra and others. However, nothing came out after months of negotiations. Taking the matters to the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration did not help either.

The NUM represents 70 per cent of the unionized coalminers. According to the Chamber of Mines the coal sector employed over 87 000 workers, and was the third largest employer after gold and the platinum group metals.

StatsSA also reported that jobs were being created along the coal mining value chain including in lignite which employed over 6000 workers. Other jobs were in the coal-to-chemical producers where SASOL employed thousands.

More jobs were in the energy sector as 77 per cent of South Africa’s energy was generated from coal.

The NUM said the employers were not committed to improving the lives of the coalminers. “The Chamber of Mines continues to be arrogant and negotiating in bad faith. The NUM is determined to force the companies to lend an ear to its wage demands”.

Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa said:

“We always hope that negotiations will lead to collective bargaining agreements but when that does not happen workers go on strike to push for their demands. We support their actions and are convinced that workers should always fight for fair and living wages.”

Guinea: Mineworkers give notice to strike

The strike at the Siguiri gold mine in the Kankan region and in Conakry, will continue until the workers’ demands are met.

The SAG workers, who belong to the Confédération Nationale Travailleurs de Guinée (CNTG), an affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union, are demanding to be paid at the same levels for work of equal value, including a 13^th cheque, as other AngloGold Ashanti mineworkers globally. Further, the Guinean workers are concerned that there has been no progress on the annual wage negotiations since August, and that this was the first time that the company seemed not in hurry to reach an agreement.

The workers also denounced the false wage figures given by AngloGold Ashanti to the union which were inflated by over 30 per cent. Instead, the company should publish accurate figures, and dismiss those who were providing this false information.

The workers are also demanding that their per diems for health evacuation be reinstated as per the previous agreement with the management. They were also questioning the choice of the clinic made by the management where the workers should be transferred to in the event of a medical evacuation.

Workers suspect a possible conflict of interest in the choice of PIIMEL clinic, which was not the union’s preference. The workers were surprised by the company’s about turn, and failure to respect the workers' choice of clinic. In previous meetings AngloGold Ashanti had agreed with workers on the clinic in Conakry where they will be transferred to from Siguiri, which is about 850 km away.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining, said:

“We are calling for a renewal of the Global Framework Agreement which will enable the Guinea mineworkers to be paid at comparative levels with their colleagues in other countries. AngloGold Ashanti should respect the existing agreements that is has with workers, and must stop the backtracking.”

SACTWU protests in defense of local manufacturing

South Africa’s garment industry has experienced a wave of job losses and factory closures over the last two years. According to SACTWU, a key reason for this is the entry and growth of large international retailers like Zara and H&M, selling no products made in South Africa.

On 4 November, SACTWU organized protests at H&M and Zara stores around the country, to highlight “the damage that is being caused to our domestic clothing industry”, the union said in a statement.

“These foreign retailers cause fewer orders in South African factories, which contribute to local retrenchments and factory closures.”

With the protests, SACTWU is calling on the Swedish and Spanish retailers to procure locally manufactured products and have offered them assistance in sourcing quality local suppliers.

IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Jenny Holdcroft says:

“Multinational companies have a responsibility to make sure that their global commerce does not negatively impact on workers. Supporting local manufacturing is part of that responsibility and we urge H&M and Inditex to enter into discussions with SACTWU on how they can source local products for their stores.”

Cleaners in Mauritius gain hard-earned victory

Fighting precarious work is a priority for Mauritian union confederation Confédération des Travailleurs du Secteur Publique et Privé (CTSP), affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union.

Among the country’s poorest workers are cleaners working in public schools. The government began outsourcing these jobs in 2006 to contractors paying the mostly women workers less than US$1.50 a day, imprisoning them in extreme poverty on earnings of just US$42 a month.

The CTSP reached an agreement with the government in August this year, making everyone working for contractors in public schools permanent employees.

However, on 13 October the government backed out of the agreement, resulting in disappointment and frustration among the 333 women workers that would have benefited from the agreement. This prompted CTSP’s President, Reeaz Chutto, and General Secretary, Jane Ragoo, as well as six women cleaners to start a hunger strike on 16 October to raise awareness and gain public support.

Lasting ten grueling days, the hunger strike was called to an end when the government conceded, and an agreement was reached where women cleaners will be paid a full month package and get permanent contracts with no breaks in their employment.

The strike has been massively supported in Mauritius by citizens, churches and even other employers. CTSP says that the victory was made possible through local as well as international support:

“Thank you to every single person who suffered with us during those ten long days of struggle. We have brought the issue of government contractors making huge profits by exploiting vulnerable workers into the national spotlight. We are committed to achieving the amendments to the labour legislation from the momentum that has been created.”

Zimbabwe: Unions organizing against all odds

It is through organizing more workers that unions can build the power to confront employers on workers’ rights violations including the late payment of wages, gender discrimination and sexual harassment.

Reports on the union building project’s organizing and recruitment drives by women organizers from seven IndustriALL affiliates in chemicals, energy, garment and textiles, engineering, metal, mining, and automotive highlighted not only the achievements but the difficulties as well.

During membership drives to workplaces the importance of joining unions, workers’ rights, health and safety and social protection were discussed. Gender policies were also developed.

The meeting discussed how organizing was badly affected by the current political and economic crisis. The crisis, which reached its peak in 2008, led to the collapse of most industrial sectors. Hyperinflation reached record levels and the local currency was abandoned. Unemployment is estimated to be around 90 per cent with most workers now working in the informal sector.

Most industries in Zimbabwe have shut down, reduced working hours or were retrenching workers. For workers who still have jobs, pay day was anything from one month to more than 12 months. Some employers only paid 25 per cent of wages. Other benefits like medical aid and pension did not exist.

Although union dues were collected from workers, sometimes these were not paid to unions according to the laws. This worsened union finances.

The affiliates vowed to continue fighting against the irregular payment of wages by most employers. According to a Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe report, wage theft was common.

“This failure to pay what workers are legally entitled to is wage theft in that it involves employers taking money that belongs to their employees and keeping it for themselves. This is a clear violation of international labour standards, as well as national legislation on the employment of workers.”

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions was campaigning against wage theft, which has affected over 120,000 workers.

Angeline Chitambo, president of the Zimbabwe Energy Workers Union and IndustriALL Sub Saharan regional co-chairperson said the women’s committee played “a very critical role in mobilizing women's participation and activism in trade unions” and “in the fight against globalization and neoliberalism in all its forms”.

Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa said:

“It is unacceptable for employers not to pay wages on time. We will continue to support the women’s committee in its efforts to end such exploitation of the workers.