Swaziland: Union welcomes return to US-Africa trade agreement

Swaziland was removed from the list of beneficiaries three years ago for not respecting workers’ rights including freedoms of assembly, association and expression. To reverse this, the government worked closely with the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland, to which ATUSWA is affiliated, to improve on the rights. The US subsequently restored trade benefits to Swaziland on 23 December 2017.

AGOA is a trade agreement that allows duty free market access to the US for products from Sub Saharan African countries. The product range includes textile and apparel. According to the US International Trade Administration 33 countries qualify for AGOA benefits.

Wander Mkhonza, secretary general of ATUSWA, says:

“We are encouraged that our beautiful country is back within the AGOA fold. Our readmission is a testimony that great achievements can only be realized when government, labour and employers work together for common good."

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

“Linking trade agreements to workers’ rights is important, and this makes the return of AGOA a welcome development. Workers’ power comes from increases in membership, and membership cannot grow if trade unions rights are not respected."

ATUSWA is also hoping that court cases challenging its existence as a union will be concluded soon. The union says the cases are dividing workers and holding it back. For instance, the union is unable to receive subscriptions from workers whose membership is in dispute.

On collective bargaining, ATUSWA is campaigning for a joint negotiating council in the textile and apparel sector. The union disagrees with suggestions that Swaziland is not ready for collective bargaining because the Industrial Relations Act supports it. According to the union, the current set up in which wage councils are responsible for bargaining is leading to low wages thus threatening workers’ livelihoods. The wage councils, made up of people handpicked by the government, are not representing workers.

ATUSWA says it will continue to fight companies that are anti-union and campaign for minimum wages. Further, it will recruit young workers, ensure safe and secure jobs, transparent workplaces, and better industrial relations.

Namibia: Union protest sloppy safety standards at Skorpion Zinc mine

The workers are demanding improved communication on safety issues at the mine, which is owned by Vedanta Zinc International. They want the mine to improve safety by reporting to workers conditions at the open cast mine including slope failures and pit wall structures, train workers on emergency evacuation procedures, and discipline managers who report for work drunk.

The MUN says the continued neglect of safety precautions is putting workers lives at risk. For instance, when there was a slope failure on 18 December 2017, the management seemed confused. This happened despite getting advice from experts on how to deal with slope failures and stabilizing the walls of the mining pit.

Further, workers were not being trained on necessary evacuation procedures in cases of emergency. According to the MUN, safety standards are falling as “it has become a norm that procedures and policies are ignored to increase production, and safety standards dropped leading to unsafe working conditions”.

Another threat to safety at the mine is drunkenness. The MUN suspects that managers refusing breathalyzer tests often came to work drunk contrary to the mine’s alcohol and drug abuse policy. One of the managers has since been suspended after workers cornered him to take an alcohol test which proved that he indeed came to work drunk.

Further, the union wants Skorpion to improve workers skills through training and for subcontractors, Basil Read, to employ more local staff at management level as well as provide personal protective equipment. Skilled workers should also be recognised through certification especially after attending courses on how to operate machines.

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

“Safety at mines is non-negotiable, and mining companies must always ensure that standards are adhered to. Therefore, it is not acceptable for mining companies to sacrifice workers safety to increase production targets and profits.”

Textile workers remain with no jobs, no pay in Madagascar

Just 15 days before the beginning of the Christmas and New Year break workers of the Malagasy company CLASSIC KNITWEAR represented by the IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Syndicalisme et Vie des Sociétés (SVS), received notice of technical unemployment. The company refers to the reduced number of orders as the reason for their decision.

On 11 December 2017, workers were announced they are on a leave for 30 days followed by technical unemployment from 8 January to 5 March 2018.

According to the union the national labour inspectorate approved the company’s decision without a proper investigation of the causes of the situation. Thus, workers who have no longer left a day of holiday will remain in an unconfirmed status for at least 30 days and later will face a sort of “zero contract” situation for another two months at least, deprived of gain sources and not even able to search for a new job.

As per the situation on 09 December 2017 the employer still refuses to pay neither for the time of leave or unemployment whatsoever. The workers tried in vain to solve the issue through the labour reconciliation two times including the most recent session on 21 December.

The same day workers went on indefinite strike. The SVS union demands that the government representatives, namely labour inspectorate and minister of labour, interfere and settle the problem.

Workers’ demands are as follows:

to remain on a technical leave with payment of the remained part of their salary, including leave allocation and a non-refundable safety monthly payment equal to MGA200.000 (US$62) and the guarantee to return to work on 5 March 2018; or
to end the contract with all due payments including payment of the due salary, compensation for not taken leave, a notice as well as an indemnity of dismissal of 10 days per year of seniority.

Ivory Coast: Continued fight for workers’ rights in the oil sector

Klenzi dismissed eight workers for refusing to denounce their union membership, in clear violation of their freedom of association, as well as of the country’s labour laws.

However, the company’s lawyers are denying violations, and the ministry of labour is asking SYNTEPCI to provide evidence. The union is surprised by this as it gave evidence for the violations a long time ago and see the new request as time wasting. Whilst all this is happening the workers are yet to receive their benefits and struggling to survive. For instance, one of the dismissed workers, Verbier Gautier, has no place to stay after being evicted for failing to pay rent.

Libya Oil, having retrenched eight workers, is refusing to abide by the conditions of a signed agreement. The agreement clearly states that fair compensation should be given to workers when retrenched.

Petroci is also breaking the law by employing temporary workers for more than six months. Some 200 workers have been on temporary contracts from five to even 15 years and have no benefits.

Jérémie Wondje, general secretary, for SYNTEPCI says: “In August, when we picketed at Klenzi offices in Abidjan against the blatant union bashing, the company called in the police and the military to disperse the workers. However, they left without incident after realizing that the picket was caused by a labour dispute.

We are demanding the reinstatement of the workers. The companies lack commitment and this is frustrating; the issue should have been resolved by now.

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

We are in solidarity with SYNTEPCI that has remained resolute despite sustained intimidation, and have written to the Government of the Ivory Coast and the ministry of labour to express our disappointment with Klenzi’s union bashing tactics. The oil companies in the Ivory Coast need to respect workers’ rights.

The union is supported by the confederation UGTCI, the Ivorian League of Human Rights and the Ivorian Human Rights Commission.

Minimum wage win for unions in Mauritius

The new monthly minimum wage announced in parliament on 8 December is Rs 8,140 (US$232) but various compensation payments by the government or the Mauritius Revenue Authority will mean that all workers will take home Rs 9,000.

“I can assure you that for 2019, employees will not be paid less than 9,000 rupees,” declared the Labour Minister for Mauritius, Soodesh Callichurn, about the decision that will benefit around 120,000 workers in the country.

It will be a significant increase for many workers, particularly those in the textile sector, some of whom were averaging only RS 4,000 (US$114) a month, according to unions. Ninety per cent of workers in the Mauritian textile and garment industry are women; conditions are tough and many need to stand all day while they work.

Once the new minimum wage comes into effect, these garment workers will be paid RS 9,000 for a 45-hour week. It will mean they will no longer have to work such long hours to scrape a living.

However, the figure is still below what trade unions judge to be a living wage, calculated at around RS 14,500 (US$414) in 2014.

Reeaz Chuttoo from IndustriALL Global Union affiliate in Mauritius, the Chemical, Manufacturing and Connected Trades Employees Union (CMCTEU), said:

“It’s a step in the right direction. I also appreciate that the government has decided to include the 20,000 workers in the free trade zone (in Mauritius).”

Trade unions have been pushing for the new minimum wage during tripartite negotiations with the government and employers in Mauritius.

IndustriALL’s assistant general secretary, Jenny Holdcroft, said:

“This is an important win for trade unions in Mauritius. Years of campaigning have paid dividends and the new minimum wage will make an enormous difference to the lives of thousands of workers, particularly women. We congratulate our affiliates in Mauritius on their success as they continue to push for a living wage.”

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”.