Improved maternity protection needed in Uganda

Participants put together a list of issues that the unions must champion with regard to maternity protection which, include enforcement of legal rights on maternity leave and trade unions taking up grievances on the problem.

They listed health and safety concerns affecting pregnant women as well as concessions that need to be made for special circumstances, such as premature birth. Maternity rights and job security for contract workers was also discussed.

The meeting, which took place in the Ugandan capital, Dar es Salaam, was attended by Angeline Chitambo, member of IndustriALL’s Executive Committee. Participants were enthused with the exchange of experience and advices given by Angeline, who reiterated the need for strong women structures that are constitutionally recognized by unions and which play a major role in encouraging more women to join the trade union movement.

The women’s meeting was preceded by a meeting of the IndustriALL Uganda national council, during which the general secretaries and education officers from affiliated unions agreed to intensify organizing and recruitment of new members, including contract workers, and to develop strategies on labour agencies. They also discussed skills needs now that the labour court in Uganda is being reinstated after a more than a 20-year hiatus.

Lesotho unions merge

Bargaining power in Lesotho has deteriorated significantly over a decade as splinter unions has emerged, competing with each other for membership. As a result individual union membership has remained below the threshold for recognition in many factories. This situation has benefitted employers but has resulted in the erosion of real wages against inflation, so that workers are barely able to survive on their earnings.

Lesotho affiliates Factory Workers Union (Fawu), Lesotho Clothing and Allied Workers Union (Lecawu) and National Union of Textile Workers (Nutex) recognised that the only way to engage government and employers on a living wage would be to build unity amongst workers. They have been engaging their membership to build support for a merger whilst working together over the last two years, supported by IndustriALL and its Swedish affiliate IF Metall.

On 31 May the new constitution was unanimously adopted by the 92 delegates at the inaugural congress. Newly elected President Leticia Mohobelo, appealed for unity to be maintained amongst textile and garment workers in Lesotho.

IndustriALL and IF Metall will continue to support the development of IDUL to effectively represent workers.

In a message read to the merger congress, IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina said:

Today, workers in Lesotho have hope for building a strong union that is able to recruit more members, put in place solid structures that keep it accountable to its members. A union committed to improve conditions of employment and increase wages as well as address precarious work and job security.
Strengthened through this unity, workers can take on the fight for a living wage and decent work.

Mauritius – learning to organize in the supply chain

Union leaders and workers in export processing zones in Mauritius took part in the joint IndustriALL/FES workshop on 27 to 29 May.

Garment workers have the lowest minimum wage in the country, and IndustriALL affiliates reported long working hours with an obligatory overtime of ten hours per week.

Participants also relayed the difference in treatment between local and migrant workers, which is illegal under national legislation.

Most textile and garment factories are located in the country's Export Processing Zone, where trade unions do not have access to the plant to organize workers. Hence less than 5 per cent of the 60,000 workers are unionized.

Mauritius has ratified the International Labour Organization’s Convention number 87 on the right to freedom of association and organize, but it is not implemented. Participants agreed that the law needs amending to force freedom of association in export processing zones.

Mauritius is producing for South Africa and USA brands, as well as some European retailers.

A delegation from IndustriALL’s South African affiliate, SACTWU, shared their experiences in organizing, introduced South African brands to the participants, and committed to support unions who are organizing in factories supplying for South African retailers.

In discussions with the new Minister of Labour, Soodesh Satkam Callichurn, after the workshop, IndustriALL and its affiliates asked the Minister to raise the minimum wage in the garment sector and requested that a mechanism is put in place to enforce freedom of association and collective bargaining in the country. They also called for the harmonizing of working conditions between local and migrant workers.

Mauritius was among the pioneers in the garment industry, long before the fast fashion changed the face of the sector, and long before export processing zones were established to attract investors from around the world. It has adapted to the changing dynamism of the garment sector through investing in the latest textile and garment technology, establishing fashion and design schools, and maintaining cheap labour through migrant workers.

Survival of the fittest in Zimbabwe

At a leadership meeting in May 2015, Zimbabwean unions shared their challenges, including a trend for companies to not pay across membership dues after this has been deducted from workers’ wages. This further weakens the unions that are already struggling with declining membership that reflect job being haemorrhaged by Zimbabwe’s ailing industries.

Affiliates in the textile and the metal sectors are prepared to reconsider their positions on mergers as there seems little option if they are to survive in the current economic environment. Magnus Palmgren from Swedish trade union and IndustriALL Global Union affiliate IF Metall took part in the meeting and made a presentation on the trade union Swedish model.

Unions emphasized the need to organize, train paralegals to handle grievances, as well as train a pool of union negotiators for collective bargaining. Leaders were urged to be gender sensitive during the selection for more women negotiators and paralegals are needed to represent women on gender related issues at the workplace.

Women want more from Zimbabwe unions

A woman’s meeting of Zimbabwean affiliates acknowledged that their absence in trade unions structures was the root cause of their misrepresentation in decision-making structures.

Angeline Chitambo, President of the Zimbabwe Electricity Workers Union and a member of IndustriAll Executive Committee shared her experiences as a woman leader and urged women workers to support each other to be active shop stewards and use gender related issues at the workplace as tools for organizing women in Zimbabwe.

The meeting called for more participation of women in trade union structures. Participants discussed the importance of women in the union having practical knowledge of trade union issues and building their skills on leadership, collective bargaining and organizing, acquisition of knowledge on trade unions issues. The need for women negotiators was also emphasized, especially on health and safety issues affecting women specifically which are often overlooked by employers and male trade unions leaders.

Dialogue needed to save diamond polishing jobs in Botswana

Two companies, Teemane Manufacturing Company and Diamond Manufacturing Botswana, are toclose their operations and shedding about 300 jobs. This follows recent layoffs in two other companies, Leo Schachter and Eorostar Botswana.

The companies have operated in Botswana for years but now claim to be unable to compete with lower costs of cutting and polishing diamonds in Asia. One of BDWU’s major concerns is that cutting and polishing companies in Botswana are obligated to buy only from DeBeers in order to retain their licences, meaning that DeBeers can set the price. As most of these companies have operations in other parts of the world they can easily shift production when supply price in Botswana exceeds what they can source elsewhere.

The BDWU is petitioning the government to set up an industrial bargaining council. The government has so far refused and there is a lack of support from the employers.

The BDWU says in a press statement that the governement is both regulator and businessman: “Government has active and major interests right from the mining of diamonds, through to the sorting and valuing of diamonds. By virtue of its business involvement in the industry, government is severely constrained to exercises its regulatory role.”

BDWU says that they are excluded from discussions between employers and government and are only informed once the decision to retrench has been taken. The union is calling for the setup of a social dialogue forum for the sector.

“A lot of problems could have been avoided if the industry partners were open to social dialogue and sharing important information pertaining to the industry,” says the BDWU.

Government should have long played a leading role in this arrangement by creating a forum at which labour, business, and government come together to address issues pertaining to the sector.

The union also wants the Botswana government to develop an empowerment policy for local diamond entrepreneurs with the hope that local participation in the industry may engender greater commitment than that of multinational companies to the sustainability of the sector.

IndustriALL’s new issue of Global Worker out now

After the industrial homicide at Soma claimed the lives of 301 Turkish coal miners in May 2014, a feature on Turkey’s mining industry exposes how privatization has had devastating consequences.

With the electronics industry being one of IndustriALL’s biggest sectors, an in-depth report examines how unions are organizing and fighting against precarious work in this booming sector.

Another Global Worker special report looks at industry bargaining as an essential tool in the struggle for living wages and the fight against inequality.

While global wealth is concentrated into fewer hands, the increasing inequality is also due to attacks against collective bargaining by corporations, right-wing politicians and international financial institutions. Company agreements offer less protection to a smaller group of workers,

says Jyrki Raina, IndustriALL’s general secretary.

This edition of Global Worker also includes a profile of the Federation of Chemical, Energy and General Workers of Hungary, (VDSZ) and an interview with Nigerian union leader Issa Aremu, whose union the National Union of Textile, Garment & Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTW) has had success organizing informal workers in Nigeria.

In January 2015, IndustriALL welcomed two trade unions from Myanmar as new affiliates. In a country where unions have only been legal since 2012, a report looks at how unions are working hard to organize workers and tackle precarious work in the country.

Also take look at IndustrALL’s interview with Barbara Figueroa, president of the Chilean trade union centre, CUT.

You can also read the Global Worker online.

PROFILE: Nigerian unions get creative and organize informal workers

PROFILE

Country: Nigeria

Text: Cherisse Fredricks

Union: National Union of Textile, Garment & Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTW)

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Union of Textile, Garment & Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTW) has used this trend as an opportunity not only to organize the unorganized, but also to strengthen union membership and increase women’s participation.

A tailored approach to organizing

For the survival of the textile and garment sectors, the NUTGTW thought outside of the box and started organizing tailors. Out of 500,000 workers in tailoring, the NUTGTW has now organized around 35,000.

“In the 1970s and 1990s when the textile and garment industries were vibrant, the tailoring aspect of our work was neglected and that is where the informal sector workers are found. The tailors in Nigeria are mostly self–employed and mostly women,” says Issa Aremu, General Secretary of the NUTGTW.

Some of the tailors were already organized through associations in an unstructured way. The NUTGTW quickly realized it was better to get organizers who are tailoring workers with a better understanding of the issues. The tailors face a great deal of harassment by state authorities that collect multiple taxes making it difficult for them to operate.

“These workers don’t have a voice so we provide one for them. We are rooted in the community and part of IndustriALL. Now that these informal workers know that they are part of this global movement it helps to bring them into the circle,” says Aremu.

To provide the tailors with a platform to discuss their issues, the NUTGTW has made efforts to connect them with government officials at local and state level.

The union also provides equipment like needles, sewing machines, buttons and textiles for the tailors. This partnership makes sense because NUTGTW members also produce textiles so the union can serve as an agent to link them to the industry allowing the tailors to have access to quality fabric at controlled prices.

“The country is being flooded with fabric from China. This damages the textile sector in Nigeria and makes it very difficult for tailors to access quality fabric which really undermines their work. So the union is providing a service to these informal workers, which pushes them to join,” says Aremu.

“The informal sector workers have helped to reinforce the NUTGTW’s campaigns because they are greater in number,” he adds.

Creative solutions to organizing challenges

Establishing a fair system for membership dues is a challenge when dealing with informal sector workers. For a worker from the formal sector the procedure is straightforward because they have a pay slip every month, but for workers in the informal sector with an irregular income, it is less so.

If our union can find ways to provide services that workers in the informal sector find valuable, then they are willing to pay for them,” says Aremu. “We have offered annual educational programs that have been amazing. The fees were reduced to start off, but now we have increased them gradually and the workers are willing to pay because they are eager for an education.

The NUTGTW has revised its curriculum to better suit the specific needs of informal sector workers, such as acquiring loans at cheaper rates to source supplies for their businesses.

“We also participate in national conferences and we want them to partake in these conferences in order to give a voice to their issues. And they are willing to raise the resources necessary to participate,” says Aremu.

Integration into union structures

With pressure to meet 40 per cent women participation in union structures, some unions struggle because of low female membership. By organizing in the informal sector, the NUTGTW have not only managed to build their membership but have also reached a higher proportion of women members.

And the union has amended its Constitution to allow women to participate and to operate at higher-level positions:

Women are now moving up in terms of our leadership structures,

says Aremu.

Optimum Coal closure: a worker’s story

She also had dreams of becoming a team leader one day. But her rosy dreams were thwarted in Janaury 2015 when the company announced its intentions to retrench.

Mahlangu said she was stunned when she heard of Optimum Coal’s intention to retrench over 1,067 permanent workers and 500 contractors.

I have never worked anywhere else, my entire working life I have spent it at this company. I still hoped they would train me further,

said the single mother of three children.

My biggest worry now is that I don’t know where my children will get their next meal. I don’t know if I should take them out of school because as a single parent I won’t be able to pay for their school fees,

said Mahlangu.

Mahlanhu also said that after her father passed away last year, she has taken the role of bread winner for her family and extended family members.

I have seven extended family members that I must provide for –if the retrenchment goes through those people who look to me for financial support will also be affected,

she said.

According to Mahlangu the planned retrenchment will affect the entire community near the mine and will increase the rate of unemployment and poverty.

We need to find a solution that is suitable to all parties to ensure that jobs are not lost. The government should also intervene to ensure that our jobs are saved,

said Mahlangu.

Mahlangu said since the company announced its intentions to retrench morale among workers is very low. There have been many incidents that can compromise the health and safety of workers.

We have until the end of April 2015 and after that we don’t know what will happen. People are not concentrating; they are stressed about the impending retrenchments – there are a lot of accidents at the plant now,

said Mahlangu.

IndustriALL empowers women workers in Kenya

When discussing women’s role in trade unions, participants identified a number of problems women are facing in Kenya; companies lay women off when they fall pregnant; casual workers sign a contract only for three months and maternity rights are not even an issue; women's health needs more attention as women do not eat properly in an attempt to save money. Participants agreed that unions need to fight for maternity rights.

At the workshop women did a practical task of their workplace mapping, which revealed the job segregation at work. For example only men do ironing, and women cannot work in the boiler areas. However, due to the unions the situation at the workplace is changing, for example workers do not have to stay extra hours at their job until they met their target.

The participants discussed the idea of women's committees, which do not exist in either of their unions. They also looked at the unions' allocation of executive seats to women. Some had reserved seats, some have women's coordinators but no women's structure. More work needs to be done to make sure women take center stage.

During discussion of the tasks of the women's committees, the participants pointed to the necessity for women to participate in collective bargaining or their demands will be dropped.

At the end of the meeting the participants resolved to:

– provide a copy of the Collective bargaining agreement to every member,

– encourage more women to join the union,

– raise the issue of women rights with the management

– advise women to make use of their rights and practice their abilities,

– make sure that there is enough ventilation to prevent women from fainting

– fight for more contract workers to join the union,

– fight to make contract workers permanent

Ghana must combat precarious work

Problems related to precarious work and outsourcing were visible on the agenda at a meeting between IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina and Ghana’s minister of employment and labour relations Haruna Iddrisu on 14 April 2015 in Accra.

Raina was accompanied by regional secretary Fabian Nkomo and leaders of IndustriALL affiliates Industrial and Commercial Union (ICU), Ghana Mine Workers’ Union (GMWU) and Ghana Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU).

The minister promised to study carefully a document prepared by the unions on the need to limit outsourcing and casualization. More than 60 percent of Ghana’s workforce is in the informal sector.

In companies, contract workers toil side by side with permanent workers, but they are not covered by collective agreements. Precarious workers earn sometimes only a third of what permanent workers do. They do not get any of the social benefits granted in collective agreements.

Jyrki Raina and minister Iddrisu agreed that Ghana needs to build a strong industrial base with added value products, instead of exporting mineral resources and crude oil. This requires a sustainable industrial policy to boost the creation of good quality permanent jobs, investments in infrastructure, skills and training of workers and access to energy at a reasonable price. Shortage of electricity is a huge problem for industrial companies.

Iddrisu reiterated the government’s commitment to the Decent Work Agenda and promised to continue dialogue with the unions to find solutions to different challenges.

Raina urged again the government to ratify ILO Convention 176 on health and safety in mines. Ghana is an important mining country. The minister tasked his staff to check where the mining ministry was with the ratification process.

During visits to aluminium, steel and textile companies, both management and local union representatives named the shortage of electricity as the biggest challenge on which there was no clear government strategy. Production has to be shut down on several days of the month, which means loss of sales. It also complicates the task of local union leaders to negotiate better salaries and working conditions.

In all meetings and the press conference, salary disparities between local workers and expatriates doing the same job were described as a wide-spread problem. Raina promised to raise the question of fairness and equal treatment of workers with a number of multinational corporations with which IndustriALL has signed global framework agreements.

IndustriALL affiliates in Ghana told the general secretary about their increasing cooperation towards unity. They share a strong commitment towards a merger of all the three unions to create a single organization with a loud and united voice. The Ghana IndustriALL Country Council is preparing a joint Mayday action against outsourcing and precarious work.