Mozambique: South-South solidarity boosts leadership skills for women

The training programme, which is taking place from 2015 to 2017 in Maputo, is carried out by leadership and facilitators from another IndustriALL affiliate, CNM/CUT from Brazil. The programme brings the solidarity and expertise from CNM/CUT to train SINTIME. Both unions organize in the metal and energy sectors, in Sub Saharan Africa and Latin America respectively.

Important topics covered in the training modules include women’s role in political life in Mozambique and globally, women in the trade union movement, in the labour market and in collective bargaining, women’s health at the workplace, and basic human and trade union rights. Participants learn to share experiences and trust each other to grow together within the union.

Under the leadership of Marli Melo do Nascimento, CNM/CUT’s national women’s secretary, and in close cooperation with the IndustriALL head office project officer, two to three participative training modules are designed and conducted yearly in Maputo by a team of experienced union leaders and educators. The Brazilian women leaders from different industrial sectors give examples of women’s needs and demands, and how women leadership was enforced in their unions, showing how this process is relevant for unions in Mozambique. They emphasize the common struggles of the working class against global capital and the importance of building a strong women leadership at local, national and global levels.

Inocência Ernesto Tembe, coordinator of SINTIME’s national women’s committee (Comutra) said:

“The training is helping us to overcome obstacles women face daily at work and in social life. The training emphasizes how to achieve gender equality and to access opportunities for women. We learnt about the Labour Act and how to be effective in collective bargaining processes. The employers now respect us because we know our rights. This is not a struggle that will be won overnight but we will continue to the end. SINTIME decided to conduct additional workshops for women who did not take part in the training programme so that they would benefit as well.”

Maria Eulália Raul Muianga from SINTIME added:

“After the training we were able to interpret the Labour Act on maternity protection and defend our rights as women workers. SINTIME’s women’s committee representatives’ participation in collective bargaining became more noticeable after the training”.

IndustriALL will continue to seek support from its affiliate Unifor, CNM-CUT and other Brazilian affiliates to extend this outstanding and unique experience of women empowering young women.

South Africa: NUM marches against plans to cull 8,500 jobs at AngloGold Ashanti

The union called on the government to intervene through job protection policies in important sectors of the economy such as mining, construction and energy.

The mines have ignored an agreement that ensured job protection, leading NUM to demand a month’s salary for every year served as part of the retrenchment package.

NUM called on mining companies in South Africa to find ways to save jobs especially in an environment where at least 70,000 mining jobs have been lost over last five years, according to the Chamber of Mines.  

As well as the proposed job losses at AngloGold Ashanti, close to 6,000 workers are set to lose their jobs at Bokoni Platinum, half of which are contract workers. Meanwhile, Sibanye Gold has announced plans to retrench 10,000 workers. Earlier, this year, South Africa’s Anglo American Platinum said it expected to cut up to 2,000 jobs at its Union and Twickenham mines.

“The NUM strongly condemns these irresponsible companies. The jobs bloodbath is a clear attack on the working class, communities and the poor, a direct attack on mine workers in particular,” said the union in a statement. 

The NUM is accusing the mining companies of only being interested in maximizing profits and mechanizing mines and paying little attention to job security or retraining of workers. Quick retrenchments were convenient for the companies who often cited making losses as the reason behind their decision, even when they had made profits in previous years. Mining companies are not socially responsible when it came to workers’ rights and welfare, argues the NUM.

Gold mining in South Africa is also declining with some mines reaching the end of their production life, getting deeper and unsafe to mine. It is estimated that gold in South Africa will be exhausted in the next 30 years.

 Glen Mpufane, Industrial director for mining, said: “We are deeply concerned at the scale of job loses proposed by AngloGold Ashanti which will seriously affect working class communities in South Africa. In 2015, AngloGold Ashanti reneged on our global framework agreement by unilaterally cancelling it. This only strengthens our resolve to unite workers across borders to stand up against the company.

Nigerian oil and gas unions fight against precarious work

The fight against precarious work by the National Union of Petroleum & Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) has been an uphill battle with multinational companies in the sector opposing them at every turn.

The union project in Nigeria, supported by IndustriALL affiliates FNV (Netherlands), CSC-BIE (Belgium) and FCE-CFDT (France), is part of a wider precarious work project that also includes Cameroon and Senegal. It also included support for a NUPENG and PENGASSAN workshop in Lagos in July 2017, which aimed to reinforce organizers’ and shop stewards’ capacity to organize precarious workers.

Both NUPENG, which represents junior employees and PENGASSAN, which represents senior employees, have a long history of fighting against casualization and contract work in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria. Major oil and gas multinational companies present in Nigeria, including Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Agip and others, began outsourcing of jobs in the 80s and 90s. Today, agency and outsourced workers represent the majority of the workers in the oil and gas industry.

Herculean task

Organizing precarious workers in the oil and gas supply chain in Nigeria is a Herculean task. Multinationals and contractors prevent workers from joining the unions, while community associations negotiate recruitment and promotions for their members at the oil companies through intermediaries. This indirectly weakens the unions. Companies in the sector are using an increasing number of contractors which fragment the workforce. Some contractor companies are no more than letterbox entities, enabling them to avoid their legal obligations. Worse still, organizers are subject to attacks, and even kidnapping.

Multinational companies have replaced direct employment with third party contracts, destroying job security and permanent employment benefits and contributing to the further impoverishment of workers. Furthermore, these contracts were concluded for only three months, making it difficult for workers to join a trade union for fear of retaliation and non-renewal of their contract. In effect, multinationals operating in cahoots with third parties have tried to subvert Nigeria’s labour laws and limit the right of workers to join trade unions. Challenging this contract labour system is tough because of an ineffective judicial system in Nigeria, which delays the hearing of labour cases in the courts.

Due to a lack of investment, Nigeria has an out-dated refinery capacity meaning that jobs are lost to other countries in the export of crude oil, while state owned refineries are operating at less than 30 per cent of their capacity. More jobs are lost in the petrochemical sector due to on-going social and political conflicts, criminal activities damaging oil pipelines, and social unrest on oil related matters.

Putting the brakes on outsourcing
 

With a view to help each other in organizing agency and outsourced workers in the oil and gas sector into union branches, the unions created a joint platform called NUPENGASSAN. The project has enabled both unions to organize thousands of precarious workers in the downstream and upstream sectors of the industry. They also managed to secure permanent jobs for 200 contract workers in 2016. The solidarity of workers in the supply chain also played a special role in allowing NUPENG to support organizing of contract workers. For example, NUPENG mobilized tank drivers who arranged blockades in companies resisting the union’s efforts to organize contract workers. Thanks to the action of the drivers, management of the companies finally agreed to recognize the unions.

Company-based collective bargaining prevails in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria and, on that basis multinational companies in the sector do not recognize the right of contract workers to be protected by the collective bargaining agreements negotiated for direct employees. For example, PENGASSAN and Shell Nigeria have an agreement that only covers workers in the company’s core business (4,500 permanent employees); yet there are over 50,000 contract workers at the firm. In order to get round this practice PENGASSAN and NUPENG established multi-employer collective bargaining with the multiple contractors in the different multinational companies.

Both unions have been pushing for the establishment of labour contractors’ forums in companies in the upstream sector. These forums are an umbrella body in companies for contractors to negotiate with the union representing contract workers. In the downstream sectors, the unions are also conducting multi employer’s bargaining with marketers’ associations.

High unemployment in Nigeria makes it easy for companies in the oil and gas sector to exploit workers. Thousands of workers have been working for multinationals’ contractors for years with no employment contracts. There are huge disparities in the working conditions between employees and precarious workers. Core staff have access to many benefits including free medical treatment, maternity pay, Christmas bonus, leave allowance, profit sharing, a performance bonus and rent allowance. Meanwhile, precarious workers can earn as little as 10 per cent of the wage of permanent employees for equal work. Most of these workers have no access to free medical treatment and pension scheme nor do they benefit from the same health and safety protections.

Through the continued pressure of PENGASSAN and NUPENG, Guidelines on Labour Administration Issues in Contract Staffing/Outsourcing in the Oil and Gas Sector were issued by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity in 2011. Even though the guidelines were not officially published because of the fall of the government, the document remains a point of reference for unions. The guidelines notably include provisions for the restriction of outsourcing of non-core jobs; respect for collective agreements; and mandatory collective bargaining between contractors and their employees. The guidelines also stipulate that contract staff under manpower/labour contracts shall belong either to NUPENG or PENGASSAN. The two unions are still fighting to get these guidelines adopted by the government but progress has been agonizingly slow. 

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union’s Assistant General Secretary, said:

“The way the contract workers are exploited in the oil and gas supply chain in Nigeria is unacceptable.

Unfortunately precarious employment keeps on spreading, but we will keep on supporting our affiliates, like NUPENG and PENGASSAN, around the world to stop it. Our trade union networks in the oil and gas sectors prioritized the fight against precarious work in their actions. They will be active part of the protests against precarious work in October 2017 as per IndustriALL’s call for global day of action.”

South Africa: Mine accident kills four workers

The workers were trapped underground following an earth tremor. This happened after mine management ignored safety advice from rock engineers who had visited the mine a few days before the accident.

The accident happened when workers were working overtime, and it may be the case that pressure to reach production targets forced them to work under unsafe conditions. Union campaigns have highlighted workers’ right to refuse  unsafe work.

IndustriALL affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), said the accident was due to negligence and could have been prevented. The union expressed shock at the number of mineworkers killed in the mines. Although the number of deaths has gone down over the years, NUM fears that this trend might be reversed.

All four bodies were recovered. Three of the mineworkers were South African while one was from Lesotho. The NUM has called on the Department of Mineral Resources to carry out an investigation into the accident.

With 73 mineworkers killed in 2016 and 2,662 injured, occupational health and safety remains a major concern in South African mines. Of the dead, 30 were gold miners, 27 from platinum mines and 12 from diamond, chrome, copper and iron ore mines. With so many workers being killed, achieving “zero harm” in South Africa’s deep gold mines will take far much longer than anticipated.

IndustriALL joins the NUM in sending condolences to the deceased workers’ families. Said Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa:

“We received the news of the death of the workers at Tau Lekoa gold mine with shock and sadness especially when this could have been avoided. Workers safety in the mines must be guaranteed and given priority by employers, and mine management must always ensure workers safety. Adhering to the provisions of the ILO Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines as well as the Health and Safety Act was important.”

Rio Tinto global union network welcomes commitments from company

In a letter sent to the unions with membership at Rio Tinto operations on 11 April 2017, the company expressed a commitment to a series of fundamental principles and structures for its labour relations. This message was confirmed by Rio Tinto’s head of employee relations, Rick Willmott, who was present at the meeting. He said that the company was motivated to improve perceptions on labour relations. The union network adopted a resolution recognizing this.

The commitment is seen as highly significant. Rio Tinto is the second biggest mining group in the world, and its practices are precedent setting. Industrial relations in the mining industry are frequently strained, and IndustriALL has campaigned for a number of years for social dialogue.

Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary said:

“IndustriALL welcomes the commitment, and we will invest in developing and monitoring this new relationship.

“Rio Tinto has made a policy decision to change the culture of the company. This is a groundbreaking development, and it is long overdue for this global giant to recognize the role and importance of trade unions. “

The joint steering committee, made up of representative of Rio Tinto and union representatives from different continents, will meet twice a year to develop the relationship and monitor compliance with the policy. Regional platforms have also been established in North America, Sub Saharan Africa and Asia, and country reports will be systematically collected.

IndustriALL mining director Glen Mpufane said:

“We are very pleased with the results of our global campaign, however we remain vigilant to ensure the commitments we have received are put into place."

A major focus of the new relationship will on contracting and precarious work, and efforts will be made to bring contractors into collective bargaining agreements.

The network discussed the appalling working conditions of Malagasy contract workers at Rio Tinto. IndustriALL will facilitate a global fact-finding mission to Madagascar. Rio Tinto will be asked to be part of the mission.

The meeting adopted an action plan laying out the next steps in implementing the new relationship with Rio Tinto, and growing and strengthening the network.

Health and safety, especially occupational respiratory diseases, will be part of the network’s activities. Campaigns to highlight the devastating consequence of non-compliance by the mining industry, like the CFMEU campaign on the re-emergence of black lung in Australian coalmines, will be carried out.

There will be demands to co-design and participate in inspections and monitoring protocols. The network will contest the undue influence of the International Employers Organisation on the ILO concerning the uncritical acceptance of the ISO standards.

The network will focus on gender equity across Rio Tinto’s global operations to address discrimination against women, and encourage the setting up of constitutional women’s structures in unions.

The network will build unity and collaboration within national trade unions and facilitate solidarity within and across borders at Rio Tinto operations, and encourage youth recruitment and participation within the global network.

A resolution was passed condemning the dismissal of more than 4,000 workers in Indonesia by PT Freeport, the local subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan, in which Rio Tinto has a 40 per cent stake. A high-level solidarity mission of IndustriALL affiliates will travel to Indonesia in early August.

In conclusion, Andrew Vickers, co-chair of IndustriALL Mining Section and chair of Rio Tinto Global Union Network said:

“I am very pleased the Rio Tinto has made the commitment to change its stance on industrial relations. We hope this sets a precedent in the mining industry, and that other players, such as Glencore, recognize the legitimacy of trade unions.

“We will continue to share information throughout the network, to report non-compliance with the confirmed principles and agreed processes, and to re-energize the global campaign at short notice if required.”

South Africa: Union victory over precarious work

NUMSA brought the case to court for its members placed by a labour broker, Assign Services, who were working for Krost Shelving and Racking, a company that manufactures storage products including steel racking, shelving and lockers. Of Krost’s 90 workers, 72 were organised by NUMSA, and these included temporary and permanent workers.

The court ruled that a labour broker contract for temporary employment was only for three months. Beyond that, the worker had to be confirmed as permanent by the employer where they were working.

The court victory was welcomed by over one million workers employed under labour broking conditions in most sectors of the economy, including those organised by NUMSA.

Unions have campaigned relentlessly for an end to this casualisation and outsourcing of labour. They argued that labour brokers did not create jobs but instead devalued them through reduced wages and benefits to increase employers’ profits. There were no benefits such as medical aid or pension.

Employers were also known to use labour brokers as a front to dismiss workers. In such cases workers were transferred to a labour broker who then terminated their contracts.

Brokers also ignored union demands for equal pay for work of equal value, and were union bashers who trounced collective bargaining rights. Some of their tactics included employing scab labour to break strikes, and they also reduced workers ability to gain skills when they moved them from one workplace to another on short contracts.

NUMSA’s long campaign against labour broking focused on the need for equal treatment of workers. The union says:

“The case also confirmed that once permanent, contract workers must be treated the same as permanent employees, and be given the same rights and benefits”.

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

“Working under labour broking conditions, which treat workers as disposable commodities, makes life difficult for the worker as they can lose their job at any time. When that happens, they have no benefits at all to fall back on. Therefore, we call for an end to precarious working conditions and support decent work and living wages.”

Tanzania – new communication structure to increase union power

From 10 to 12 July, a project monitoring and planning meeting was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at the head office of TUICO, (Tanzania Union for Industrial and Commercial workers), to follow up on the project’s advances and challenges.

Despite many plant closures and job losses, TUICO continues to grow, thanks to a union culture of permanent and strategic organizing. TUICO has become one of the most important unions in Tanzania and East Africa with over 80’000 active members, some 35’000 of these which belong to IndustriALL sectors. The union’s influence also extends to the National Centre TUCTA, where several TUICO leaders hold important positions.

Organizing is a priority

As Boniface Nkakatisi, General Secretary, and Samuel Lyimo, Education Secretary reported, at the beginning of each month the Regional Secretaries report back to head office on the number of workers organised, versus the number of workers targeted.

However, all union membership records are administrated on paper, which is extremely cumbersome, time consuming and bureaucratic. The union’s internal communication system was very slow, as it took more than two weeks to send information between the regional offices and the national head office. The project seeks to address these issues, hence equipping the head and regional offices with electronic communication infrastructure and  building a union membership database.

Since 2015, Shahmez Khimji, Unifor Director for Information Technology, has been assisting the union and working directly with the project committee team in TUICO head office to shape up their IT structures. TUICO is now organizing basic IT training for all their staff members.

The project has a two-fold objective, targeting internal and external communication structures. At the internal level, an infrastructure for rapid exchanges of information is being built. This will help members to get information from the union to improve essential organizational functions; handling of labour disputes and case handling, providing education to members, organizing new members, and sharing information to conclude collective agreements.

The second objective is to develop Tuico’s external communication structure, to develop outreach and alliances with civil society, connect with other unions in the region and improve access to IndustriALL’s sectorial networks and activities. The meeting last week addressed these next steps.

Both Unifor and TUICO presented their union structures, and Mohamad Alsadi, Unifor’s  Director for Human Rights and International Department, explained how the Social Justice Fund functions.  TUICO was particularly interested in the way UNIFOR reaches out to their members and communities to keep them involved and active in nation-wide political struggles understood as union issues.

Suzanna Miller, IndustriALL project and rights officer, said:

"As the communication project progresses, IndustriALL looks forward to supporting and hearing more about workers’ struggles and successes in Tanzania."

Union bashing in Ivory Coast’s oil sector must end

Libya Oil, which operates in 18 African countries, the Island of Reunion, and the United Arab Emirates, cited economic reasons for the recent retrenchments of eight workers. IndustriALL affiliate SYNTEPCI says that Libya Oil is not only ignoring but refusing to update an agreement signed in 2008. Workers’ rights were also ignored, and the reasons given for the retrenchments were unjust and misleading.

SYNTEPCI has approached the Minister of Labour, Jean Claude Kouassi, and the National Council of Social Dialogue, for the retrenchments to be reversed.

A three-week strike, the third in two years, against privatization at the state owned National Oil Company of Ivory Coast, Petroci, ended on 18 July. With no social plan to protect jobs, workers feared that Petroci’s proposed privatization would leave them worse off.

However, an agreement was reached, and wages for workers with more than ten years experience will be reviewed and the rights of the 13 workers transferred to a private company, Puma Energy, after the sale of petrol stations, protected. Working conditions for precarious workers will be discussed, as well as health insurance, pensions, and housing for workers. Packages paid to 48 workers retrenched in 2016 will be reviewed.

At Klenzi, a fuel distribution company, there were blatant violation of the rights to organize, and shop stewards were not recognised. Management, which refused to meet the union, openly harassed workers and threatened them with dismissals if they remained union members. Other grievances included the company’s failure to pay overtime, health insurance and pension benefits.

SYNTEPCI has written to the government, expressing its disappointment on how the labour ministry was dealing with the union bashing and trampling of workers’ rights.

Said Jérémie Wondje general secretary of SYNTEPCI:

“We wrote to the Directorate General of Labour on how badly they were managing workers grievances that we have brought to their attention. We told them that their failure to act was weakening our union.”

Diana Junquera Curiel, energy director at IndustriALL, says:

“We are calling upon Libya Oil, Petroci and Klenzi to stop attacking unions, and to instead engage in good faith dialogue and to work with them to resolve their grievances. Workers’ rights are protected by labour laws and international conventions that the Ivory Coast has signed.”

Women’s issues are union issues

IndustriALL invited three experienced women organizers from affiliates in Zambia; MUZ, NUBEGW and NUCIW, to a three-day meeting with affiliates TUICO & TAMICO in Tanzania.  

The workshop, carried out in the framework of an organizing project in Zambia, supported by Swedish IF Metall and UniontoUnion, had three key objectives:

The meeting was hosted by both affiliates with over 22 women leaders and organizers present from five regions in Tanzania to interact with women delegates from Zambia. The participants represented the mining-construction, steel, metal and industrial workers.

Through extensive and lively exchanges, participants nailed down the main challenges, shared organizing experiences and skills, visited workplaces and met with branch committees. An action plan and strategies to support each other in building policy and space for increased women’s representation in their unions was devised.

The last day each union group presented lessons learned and proposed a way forward, where each union drew up three key points to discuss within their unions and committees, to address and engage union leadership to support proactive measures to build more equal unions.

All women participating expressed that

Women committees cannot be the only space for women workers’ representation in our unions- women’s issues are union issues

Although participants recognized that women committees are a valuable first stepping stone to gather strength and to develop more knowledge about the problems women face in their workplaces, ultimately women cannot aim to remain confined in women committees, while most leadership positions continue to be occupied by men.

Women need to stand up for positions, firmly support each other, and gain backing from both male and female workers in their workplaces and unions. The participants also highlighted that “women and men urgently need to learn to work together in all union matters and structures including leadership”.

In a return visit three Tanzanian women organizers will travel to Zambia to meet with women members and leadership in November, to assess progress and finalize action plans.

No more dirty diamonds

Union representatives met in Windhoek, Namibia 3 to 5 July to set up the Global Diamond Network (GDN), aiming to end human rights abuses and improve wages and working conditions in diamond mining.

The GDN network will work to secure jobs and fight for an end to precarious work and subcontracting. Setting minimum wages, retraining of workers in case of job losses, and fair deals during retrenchments would improve livelihoods for workers. Gender equality, sustainable economic development, and fair competition are some of the key demands.

The GDN plans to work with local and global organizations including companies involved in the diamond trade, as well as governments. It will campaign for the setting up of due diligence standards at local and global levels. In the absence of a world regulatory body on diamond mining, the global network decided to participate in credible voluntary certification systems such as the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) and to call on governments to regulate the industry.

Solidarity initiatives will also be carried out to promote responsible sourcing, that will boycott diamonds produced under conditions of human rights violations.

To achieve the GDN’s goals there will be campaigns for the certification of diamonds and for labour laws, collective bargaining agreements, and health and safety regulations that protected workers’ rights. The network will also promote information and knowledge sharing on organizing, capacity building, collective bargaining, women empowerment and leadership.

The need for the GDN comes from a past tainted with blood or conflict diamonds. Money from such diamonds has financed armies and rebel militias in civil wars that have killed close to four million people in Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Central Africa Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There were also rights violations including rape, child and forced labour, environmental damage, and health risks to local communities because of diamond mining. In cases of armed conflict in the Central Africa Republic and human rights abuses by government security forces in Zimbabwe, international and humanitarian laws were violated.

Existing mechanisms have been largely ineffective in dealing with the abuses. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, some regulations from the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation and even industry associations including the Responsible Jewelry Council have done little to stop abuses.

Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL mining director said:

The GDN will engage stakeholders, and jewelry brands and retailers, to ensure that the mining of diamonds also benefit workers, and that there were no human rights abuses.

Yves Toutenel, AVC-Transcom, Belgium and Beverley Murangi, Mineworkers Union of Namibia will co-chair the network.