DRC: IndustriALL supports new mining code, demands greater share for workers

The DRC will tomorrow sign into law a new mining code, passed by parliament in January 2018, and announced at the African Mining Indaba in Cape Town earlier in February, where IndustriALL participated as a labour representative.

Unions in the DRC believe that the code is progressive, as it seeks to address loopholes that have led to mining companies accumulating profits at the expense of workers and communities. Although the DRC is rich in natural resources, its 80 million people are among the poorest in the world. Despite billions of dollars in private investment in mining, there has been very limited benefit to the people of the country.

It is appropriate that the people of the DRC benefit from the current cobalt-lead commodities boom. Demand for cobalt, pushed by smartphones and electric car batteries, has seen prices skyrocketing by 127 per cent in a year to $75,000 per tonne, and copper prices increasing above $7,000.

The code increases taxes and royalties on mining companies, as well as addressing environmental concerns and the rights of communities, especially those whose livelihoods depend on agriculture, that are affected by mining.

The code increases royalties from 2 to 3.5 per cent for copper and cobalt. Royalties in neighbouring countries are higher: Zambia (6 per cent), Ghana (5) and Tanzania (4). The state’s stake is also increased from 5 to 10 per cent, to be held by the state-owned mining company, Gécamines. The code also seeks to increase corporation tax from 30 to 35 per cent.

The introduction of the new code is opposed by mining companies Randgold, Glencore, China Molybdenam and Ivanhoe. Mining CEOs travelled to DRC to lobby President Joseph Kabila against the code.

On a recent visit to DRC, IndustriALL witnessed a stark difference between the appalling conditions reported by workers at Glencore operations and Chinese-owned artisanal mines, and the facilities available at Gécamines operations. However, Gécamines lacks the capital to develop DRC’s mining potential. The small increase in royalties will give the DRC the capital to develop mining, create jobs and improve infrastructure, including roads, schools and hospitals.

IndustriALL general secretary Valter Sanches wrote to President Kabila to raise the unions’ issues, saying:

“We were saddened and outraged at what we discovered: the daily experience of abuse and violation of fundamental labour rights of Congolese mine workers at these operations are in total disregard of the laws of the country and collective bargaining arrangements.
"Taking into account the appalling working conditions at some multinational mining companies’ operations in the country, we attach extreme importance to the actual implementation of this new mining code.”

South Africa: Metalworkers' fight against precarious work goes to the Constitutional Court

In South Africa, temporary employment services or labour broking companies hire workers which they then place in “client” companies. NUMSA is being challenged by one such company, Assign Services, which wants to continue employing workers on a contract basis for longer than three months.

Despite losing its challenge against IndustriALL Global Union affiliate NUMSA in the Labour Court of Appeal, the company is determined to continue its anti-worker campaign and is hoping that the previous judgements will be overturned. Assign Services is arguing that both the labour broker and the client company where the worker is placed are employers.

According to NUMSA there is only one employer. Argues NUMSA’s lawyers Suzanna Harvey and Tembeka Ncgukaitobi in their papers to the Constitutional Court:

The parallel employer interpretation is not correct because it does not result in the intended protection. The only interpretation which properly protects precarious workers is that the client becomes the sole employer for purposes of the Labour Relations Act.

The Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa, reserved judgement on the matter.

In a statement, NUMSA says that:

NUMSA won a decision at the Labour Appeals Court last year which confirmed that temporary and casual workers must become permanent after three months, with the same rights and benefits. Assign Services took the matter to court because they want to be able to continue to abuse the working class with temporary contracts, poor working conditions and low pay. The only way they can do this is if these contracts continue endlessly.

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

We are in solidarity with NUMSA in their struggle against precarious working conditions of the temporary and contract workers. By going all the way to the Constitutional Court the labour brokers are determined to continue exploiting workers, but NUMSA is showing them how equally determined workers are in fighting against the labour brokers.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Union organizes artisanal cobalt miners

Local communities were moved off their land involuntarily and resettled without adequate compensation. Their land was then sealed off and they returned to work as artisanal and small-scale miners in the mines that they once owned. Their backyards became mines, now owned by Chinese companies CDM, MKM and Cicomin, says TUMEC, the IndustriALL Global Union affiliate in the DRC.

IndustriALL visited the area as part of a mission to investigate conditions in cobalt supply chains and campaign for commodities giant Glencore to respect human and workers’ rights in Kolwezi.

Artisanal and small-scale miners contribute significantly to cobalt production in the DRC. This is seen by the many cobalt collection depots that line the roadside on the approach to Kolwezi from Lubumbashi. Artisanal and small-scale miners are regulated by the ministry of mines’ division of small scale mining and exploration.

TUMEC is working with the miners to improve health and safety, and deal with the harsh effects of mining on the environment, and on the communities.

“We are dealing with fair trade issues, as some of the cobalt buyers are engaging in unfair trade practices by buying our cobalt cheap and then lying to us that the grade is low when this is not the case,” said a worker in an interview.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director of mining, said:

“We support initiatives by our affiliates that reach out to the community and believe that mining companies have a social responsibility to the communities in which they have operations.
“Therefore, they must improve the infrastructure in the communities by building roads, clinics, and houses. Instead squalor, poverty and diseases are common in the adjacent communities next to the concessions”.

An example of responsible mining can be drawn from the state-owned Gécamines, which has invested in education and health. However, Gécamines has scaled down its operations and ceded its stakes to private companies, including Glencore. The global mission took a tour of some of the infrastructure developed by Gécamines, which contrasted sharply with the Chinese operations at Kasulu.

DRC: IndustriALL mission finds Glencore gravely mistreating workers at cobalt mines

Systemic human and workers’ rights abuses ranging from constant threats of dismissal, poor health and safety practices, occupational diseases, racism and discrimination, unfair and unjust job classifications, low remuneration, and inferior salaries for local workers compared to foreign workers were among grievances raised at a mid-February meeting of the mission with around 80 workers from the mines at the St. John’s Cathedral in Kolwezi.

Glencore just reported record-breaking profits for 2017 and said it anticipates increasing its cobalt production by 133% over the next three years, largely in response to increasing demand for electric vehicle batteries from companies like Renault, Volkswagen and Volvo. Cobalt from Glencore’s DRC mines is also used in the batteries powering Apple and Samsung phones.

The DRC Glencore workers, who are members of IndustriALL affiliate union TUMEC, described their treatment and conditions of employment as “no less than slavery”, comparable to “Guantanamo Bay”. Workers reported that their families are exposed to occupational diseases because they bring their work clothing home, as there are no facilities at work including laundry facilities, ablution, and showers.

“We are so filthy when we get home that we cannot hug our children,” said one worker.

The workers complained that the 750 ml of drinking water that they are given per shift was not enough. They described how their families did not have access to the Glencore hospital because of the distance between the medical facility and the community.

Workers described the different treatment and conditions of employment between Glencore’s Mutanda and KCC operations as a deliberate attempt by the company to divide and weaken trade unions.

IndustriALL organized the 14-17 February fact-finding mission in response to an urgent request by TUMEC to investigate the appalling conditions faced by mineworkers at Glencore’s operations in cobalt-rich Kolwezi, Lualaba province. The global mission was led by IndustriALL mining director Glen Mpufane, and included shop-stewards of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) who work at Glencore in South Africa, as well as representatives from IndustriALL’s Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Office.

Glencore rejected TUMEC’s request for the mission to have access to Glencore’s DRC mines.

Mpufane said in response to a recent media report on the mission,

“Glencore told the press that it’s committed to open dialogue with IndustriALL and has a positive relationship with TUMEC. In fact, Glencore refused to allow the IndustriALL mission to visit its mines, and TUMEC members told the mission that Glencore gravely mistreats them.”

NUM and NUMSA have expressed their concern about how Glencore treats its workers in the DRC, and expressed their solidarity in the struggle to improve that treatment.

The global mission will send a detailed report to Glencore’s Head Office in Zug, Switzerland, demanding immediate attention to the deplorable working conditions at its operations in the DRC. IndustriALL will also share information with Glencore’s investors and cobalt customers.

“Glencore’s rampant violations of the basic human rights of DRC workers present a serious supply chain risk in the global cobalt market,” added Mpufane.

How to get your union’s message into the mainstream media

“Unions must become more aware of workers issues beyond borders, so that we can build a global society which practices equality and dignity for all not just for the few.”

Terry Bell is a South Africa-based journalist, commentator and author with more than 50 years of experience reporting on political and economic analysis and labour issues. He was a guest at IndustriALL’s communications training workshop in Cape Town in December 2017. Terry spoke to IndustriALL about effective communication and how unions can get their message into mainstream media.

Unions in Africa struggle to get their message out to mainstream media. Do you have any advice for them?

"Unions are not communicating enough internally. There has been too much energy put into communicating with outside media. There is also a lack of skill and training among communicators, many unions don't use full-time or trained communicators, often the general secretary or president of the union will make an announcement or write a grammatically badly phrased press release.

"There is a need for professional communicators who are skilled and who understand the sector that they work in, but above all else who understand the principals of trade unionism."

What sort of media should we be using, radio, print and television or social media?

"In Africa we are talking primarily about radio because it is the most widely heard, then print media to a certain degree in some areas but once again it depends on the audience that you are trying to reach.

"You must also be well aware of what language you are using in any specific area. It is significant in South Africa for example among all the trade union websites I have only found one that uses more than one language yet we have 11 official languages here. So with some of the languages being mutually understood you can use at least 3 languages and get to the majority of the population, so one has to think in terms of language."

What is an effective way to reach the mainstream media?

"I think that there is nothing better than rapport with the individual journalist, admittedly it is more difficult these days because there has been a lot of cost cutting in the print and digital media right across the board.

"You also have a lot of people who are under a tremendous pressure who are often very young and often poorly paid, who are having to produce a lot of material. But it is vitally important that the union communicators make contact with these journalists on a personal level to understand and trust one another, because they are both workers after all."

What message should unions have for society?

"The benefit of the union to workers as a whole. I tend to use the term “sellers of labour”. You will sometimes have a journalist or someone who works in a bank say “oh I’m not a worker, I’m white collar therefore professional.” No, anyone who is a seller of labour – and that has to be stressed – has a common interest. The overwhelming majority of the population in any community, country and throughout the world are workers and this has to be the first point that is stressed by unions.

"In South Africa, for example, we have the Bill of Rights which is a fantastic document says that the “dignity of all shall be cherished”. Unions must make it clear that an egalitarian society is a better society, this has to be stressed as the underlying principle."

"Unions shouldn't simply go into a wage dispute and say we want this amount of money, but rather point out how much people are earning in proportion to others, who is being paid what and the inequality between CEO earnings and workers’ earnings."

"Unions must have a more global perspective, we have to make unions aware of what is going on elsewhere. Unions is South Africa should know immediately about what happened at Rana Plaza where a building collapsed killing 1,135 people. Unions must become more aware of workers issues beyond borders, so that we can build a global society which practices equality and dignity for all not just for the few."

Swazi union condemns garment company for not respecting workers’ rights

Although ATUSWA organizes more than 80 per cent of workers at Tex Ray companies, including Union Industrial Washing, Kasumi Apparels, TQM textiles and Katat, the company refuses to recognize the union and has instead formed a sham union.

Organizing through denouncing ATUSWA and using bribes to attract workers, the management-led union is aiming to get the necessary recognition at the Commission for Mediation Arbitration and Conciliation (CMAC) ahead of the finalization of ATUSWA’s recognition.

If buyers continue to source garments from the Tex Ray group of companies without ensuring that the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is respected, they are effectively collaborating with Tex Ray in undermining our rights as workers.
We call on the Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority and the department of labour to continuously engage employers on the importance of respecting workers’ rights. Tex Ray should not be allowed to take our country back to the past that we wish to escape from,

says ATUSWA Secretary General Wander Mkhonza.

“We stand by ATUSWA in their fight for recognition and reiterate workers' right to form their own trade union. Employers should not try to weaken an established trade union by sponsoring a sham union. We call upon CMAC to urgently conclude on ATUSWA’s recognition,“ says Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa.

IndustriALL and AngloAmerican collaborate on creating safe and healthy workplaces

The meeting was attended by delegates from IndustriALL affiliates from Australia, Botswana, Chile, Namibia and South Africa, and lead senior health and safety managers at Anglo American globally, discussed ways to stop accidents that often led to injuries and death of mine workers. Health effects of occupational diseases were also discussed.

AngloAmerican is a signatory to international protocols such as of the United Nations Global Compact and ILO conventions. The initiative, for instance, commits Anglo American to the International Labour Organization Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines. The initiative also commit Anglo American to using its influence to leverage joint country shareholder partners to ratify ILO Convention 176 such as in Botswana,Chile, and Namibia.

As part of the collaboration, training will be conducted on awareness and workers’ rights, hazards, risk analysis, and critical control management. Those who will attend the training will include workers, safety representatives, supervisors and managers.

The collaboration will address real daily experiences at workplaces in the global mining industry as well as integrate with the companies’ human resources policies. It aims to create a new health and safety culture across the business.

“Safety and health should be demonstrated even when no one is watching. Everyone is a custodian, and managers and supervisors should be accountable. Contractors who violate safety procedures should be accountable”, Says Michael Parker, Head of Group Safety, Operational Risk and Insurance at AngloAmerican.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director adds: “Integrity is non-negotiable. We are calling for a global collective bargaining agreement which will provide guarantees and safeguards on safety and health that should include downstream sectors across the supply chain. A safety culture practice should be institutionalized.”

The mining industry must respect labour and community rights: IndustriALL

The Indaba has brought investors, mining companies, governments and other stakeholders from around the world together in the city for the last 20 years. For the first time, this year’s event included a Sustainable Development Day with the motto “Transforming the industry to make mining work for the people”.

This resonates with last years’ theme – “Leaving no one Behind” – suggesting that a consensus is developing between labour, civil society, industry and governments about how dialogue is fundamental to addressing the industry’s pressing challenges.

Across town, the Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI) was held with the theme of “Making Natural Resources Work for the People: Towards Just Legal, Policy and Institutional Reforms”. The AMI was made up of 600 members from civil society organizations, including faith-based, community-based, Pan African networks, labour, women, human rights activists, the media and students.

In a petition to mining companies and governments, the AMI called for the interests of communities affected by mining to be put before profit. This could be done through public ownership that ensures sustainability and equity in mining. Policy reforms should end exploitation by removing unjust laws, and replace the use of force with dialogue. Corruption should be targeted, as it is common for corrupt mining companies to work with elites and exclude communities.

At the AMI there were also calls for governments to adopt the African Mining Vision which calls for: “A sustainable and well-governed mining sector that effectively garners and deploys resource rents and that is safe, healthy, gender and ethnically inclusive, environmentally friendly, socially responsible and appreciated by surrounding communities”.

They called for the recognition of artisanal and small-scale miners by including them in government policies and legislation. Dialogue between workers and communities with governments and mining companies was also demanded.

IndustriALL was represented at both events. As a major stakeholder, IndustriALL was invited to participate in different panels and in the closing session of the African Mining Indaba.

Speaking on a panel on labour and community rights, IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan, emphasized workers’ rights and health and safety.

“Recognizing and respecting workers’ rights is key. This includes the right to join a trade union, and the protection of collective bargaining agreements.
“Fundamental health and safety rights, to know, to refuse and to participate, must be the basis. Workers are experts on what goes on at their workplaces. Therefore, they should be involved in health and safety.”
“We must also achieve the international standards in Convention 176 on Safety and Health in the mines and other ILO recommendations and ratifications”.

He added that building trust between mining companies, trade unions and communities and exercising due diligence were important.

On the sidelines of the both Indabas, the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, to which IndustriALL is a key stakeholder representing labour, was launched. IRMA has developed a standard for responsible mining, which includes responsible sourcing along the supply chain.

IndustriALL and Rio Tinto make joint mission to Madagascar

The QMM operation has been facing serious challenges regarding health and safety and labour rights, which local management and trade unions had been unable to resolve. These challenges are derived from the excessive and uncontrolled use of sub-contractors, who outnumber permanent employees by three to one. Subcontractor workers at QMM have insecure jobs and lack of access to normal conditions of employment. There is no institutionalized form of worker representation on health and safety, and their right to freedom of association is, at best, tenuous.

Taking part in the joint IndustriALL and Rio Tinto mission to Madagascar, were Rio Tinto management, trade unions comprising Piet Matosa of the National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa; Steve Hunt, Alain Croteau and Steeve Arsenault from United Steelworkers/Métallos, Canada; Glen Mpufane from IndustriALL; and representatives from IndustriALL Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Office and local unions. The group visited the site and later met with local community leaders.

The parties reviewed employment and contracting practices at the site. Local management could not confirm nor deny our affiliates’ claims that wages for sub-contractor employees are just US$45 per month, below the minimum wage of US$53 per month. Workers generally work 15 or 16 hours per day. The living wage is estimated at around US$400/month and 80 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line.

There are also systematic challenges for communities and landowners, not unique to mining, related to resettlement and compensation issues, which have been compounded by poverty levels in the country. According to the World Bank, 70 per cent of the island’s 22.6 million population live on less than US$2 a day and 59 per cent on less than US$1.25, ranking the country amongst the poorest in the world.

The parties had a constructive discussion about Rio Tinto’s new Supplier Code of Conduct and how it could be implemented at QMM to help resolve the challenges. It was generally agreed that implementation of the Code at the site would be a welcome development and improve the well-being of workers.

Michael Gavin, Rio Tinto Head of Employee Relations, said of the mission: “This meeting was a great opportunity for the company and union leaders to demonstrate, at the operations level, how employee representatives and the company can work together respectfully and for mutually beneficial outcomes.”

Steve Hunt, District 3 Director of the United Steelworkers and Co-Chair of IndustriALL’s Mining and Diamond, Gems, Ornament and Jewellery Production Section, and who led the global mission, stated: “We have come a long way since the Rio Tinto campaign. There is now dialogue and cooperation in place of acrimony. This meeting demonstrated the fact that Rio Tinto and its major unions are working collaboratively to improve the lives of employees and the company.”

IndustriALL and Rio Tinto later discussed the mission as an example of global dialogue at the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba held in Cape Town, South Africa from 5 – 7 February 2018.

South Africa: Demand for better safety after nearly 1,000 miners trapped

All the 955 miners had been brought to the surface by around 6am on Friday 2 February after being stuck down the mine following a storm on the night of Wednesday 31 January that caused a power outage.

“They are all healthy, but they are just exhausted and resting at home,” said IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). “The NUM is concerned that there were no contingency measures or plans put in place to deal with this kind of an incident.”

Only last week, at least 30 mineworkers were trapped for 12 hours at the Harmony Phakisa mine, also in Free State. Every year since 2012, over 70 people have died underground as a result of mining accidents in South Africa. The number of deaths at South African mines has increased in 2016 and 2017, after years of declining fatalities.

“The NUM is extremely worried about health and safety measures in all mining companies in South Africa. We are calling upon the Department of Mineral Resources as the regulator in the mining industry to conduct infrastructure audits in all mining houses to see if they are ready to deal with these kinds of incidents when they happen.”

Meanwhile, IndustriALL affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), is demanding that Sibanye-Stillwater Beatrix Mine should remain shut pending a full investigation.

“We are calling on the Department of Mineral Resources to do a thorough investigation before allowing the mine to continue its usual operations. They must also investigate why the mine seemingly did not have a back-up generator when the power outage occurred.”

IndustriALL Global Union’s assistant general secretary, Kemal Özkan, said:

“We are alarmed by the increasing number of deaths in the South African mining industry and this latest incident must act as a clear warning to mining companies to review and renew their safety procedures to prevent a possible disaster in the future.”