SPECIAL REPORT: Unions putting a STOP to precarious work

SPECIAL REPORT

TEXT: Armelle Seby

As demands for flexible labour markets increase, companies are resorting to outsourcing and subcontracting, with precarious work exploding far beyond any legitimate needs.

Besides insecurity, precarious workers experience lower wages; limited training opportunities; lower occupational safety and health protection; fluctuations in hours of work; lower social security and social protection coverage; limited job mobility; and, critically, low or no trade union representation or collective bargaining coverage.

Collective bargaining is one of the most important tools trade unions have for regulating precarious work and the working conditions of precarious workers. But precarious work is often used as a way to undermine union organizing and collective bargaining. Trade unions universally face difficulties in organizing and representing precarious workers, whose association with a single workplace may be weak and short. Due to the insecure nature of their employment, precarious workers are often afraid to join or form a trade union.

In several countries, agency and outsourced jobs are reclassified in a way that legally prevents these workers from being eligible for membership in the union where they work.

For workers in triangular employment relationships, bargaining can be almost impossible. The user company where they work controls their working conditions, yet the agency or sub-contractor is their legally recognized employer, even though it has no actual control over their work.

Overcoming obstacles to collective bargaining

Outsourcing generates a real risk of fragmenting trade unions’ bargaining power, with single companies contracting multiple numbers of subcontracting firms or temporary agencies.

Organizing precarious workers in an existing union better protects precarious workers and builds stronger unions. This in turn protects permanent workers by preventing division of the workforce into separate, isolated bargaining units. Once the union can show that it is able to bargain collectively on behalf of precarious workers, they will be more likely to join the union when they see that it can do something for them.

In Germany, the major unions have established specific bargaining associations for temporary agency workers in order to recruit these workers and to enforce equal treatment arrangements in collective agreements. In 2012, IndustriALL affiliate IG Metall, gained 38,000 new members among temporary staff through a strong focus on improving conditions for agency workers.

Industry-level bargaining

Coverage of sectoral agreements is often high as a result of the number and size of the companies bound by them. Extension requirements under the law may further increase the reach of the agreement. If agreements cover ‘all workers’ engaged in an industry, as opposed to ‘employees’, coverage can be expanded to include workers in precarious employment relationships.

In Denmark, unions in the industrial production and construction sectors have negotiated sectoral agreements which include protocols on agency work. These protocols state that agency workers must be employed in accordance with the sector-specific agreement, covering all aspects of pay, working time and other important terms and conditions of employment.

In Argentina, the oil and gas federation FASPyGP succeeded in negotiating a clause in the gas industry collective agreement which stipulates that all provisions of the agreement apply equally to subcontracting firms.

In South Africa, NUMSA has reached several industry-level agreements in different sectors (automobile, tyre, metal) that aim at phasing out labour brokers and improving the working conditions of precarious workers.

Company-level bargaining

Collective bargaining at the level of an individual company is more likely to exclude precarious workers, such as agency and outsourced workers, as they are not direct employees of the user company. When industry-level bargaining is not achievable, bargaining directly with the user enterprise on behalf of both permanent and outsourced/agency workers is the best way to consolidate union strength and fight for equal conditions.

In Canada after a six month lockout at Rio Tinto in Alma in 2012, the United Steel Workers (USW) succeeded in negotiating a collective agreement limiting the use of outsourced workers to 10 per cent of the worked hours.

In the USA, USW also concluded an agreement with the tyre company Bridgestone that restricted the use of outsourced workers for maintenance. This clause has enabled the USW to limit the rate of outsourced workers in Bridgestone operations at five per cent. Bridgestone must also consult workplace union representatives on the necessity for, and scope of outsourcing.

Negotiating with agencies and contractors

Trade unions have also negotiated agreements with temporary work agencies or subcontracting firms that are recognized as the legal employers.

In the Chevron-Uni Thai plant (assembling offshore oil and gas platforms) in Laem Chabang, Thailand, two groups of workers supplied by different agencies managed to reach agreement with both agencies. Until then the workers had not been covered by a collective agreement and did not benefit from any rights.

A better alternative to negotiating with individual agencies or contractors is to conclude agreements covering the entire temporary staffing industry in a particular sector. While negotiating with agencies at national or sectoral level has delivered some important outcomes for agency workers, this has largely been restricted to unions in Western Europe. Such agreements are only possible where there is significant union strength among agency workers, where collective bargaining is well protected by the law and is well institutionalized.

Global bargaining

Global Framework Agreements (GFAs) provide an opportunity to set agreed limits on precarious employment through global level negotiations with companies.

The GFA between IndustriALL and GDF Suez holds great potential for limiting precarious work. In it GDF Suez “recognizes the importance of secure employment for both the individual and for society through a preference for permanent, open-ended and direct employment. GDF SUEZ and all sub-contractors shall take full responsibility for all work being performed under the appropriate legal framework and, in particular, shall not seek to avoid obligations of the employer to dependent workers by disguising what would otherwise be an employment relationship or through the excessive use of temporary or agency labour.”

Limiting precarious work

Setting limits on precarious work is crucial, since the more precarious work takes over, the smaller and weaker the bargaining unit becomes, making such agreements impossible in the future.

Some unions, including NUMSA in South Africa, are succeeding in concluding agreements that forbid or phase out the use of labour brokers in entire sectors.

Other agreements stipulate that unions will be consulted prior to changes that could affect the employment status of employees, and include tools and rights to monitor outsourcing processes.

In Canada, the agreement that settled the dispute at Rio Tinto Alma establishes a committee on outsourcing, comprising equal numbers of union and management representatives, which examines and makes recommendations on outsourcing proposals.

In Brazil, tyre union Sindicato da Borracha da São Paulo signed agreements with tyre companies (Bridgestone, Pirelli, Goodyear) which regulate the working conditions of direct fixed term workers. The agreements stipulate that temporary workers should not represent more than five per cent of the workforce involved in production.

In 2012, IndustriALL signed a global agreement limiting temporary work. The groundbreaking ‘Temporary Work Charter for the Volkswagen Group’ sets principles for use of temporary work in the entire Volkswagen Group worldwide (Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Rolls-Royce Bentley, Lamborghini, Auto-Europa). The agreement states that temporary work should not exceed five per cent and allows unions to monitor the proportion of temporary agency workers.

Converting precarious work to regular employment

Affiliates have launched several campaigns to regularize workers. In Senegal, SUTIDS bargained the regularization of 450 temporary workers, after negotiations with employers in six chemical and pharmaceutical companies: SATREC, SIPS, SIVOP, SPN, SYBEL and NDIAMBOURS.

Moving agency workers into direct and permanent employment is not always possible. Therefore unions try to convert agency work into direct temporary work as a first step. This often already allows the agency workers to join the unions and be covered by the collective agreement.

In Malaysia, trade unions in the manufacturing sector had applied to represent outsourced and agency workers, but the ministry of human resources rejected the application, arguing that the union was not competent to represent service workers. In response, the Paper Manufacturing Employees Union bargained the regularization of outsourced and temporary workers at Kimberly Clark Malaysia to direct fixed-term employment, so that these workers became entitled to the terms and conditions of the collective agreement.

Improving precarious workers’ working conditions and protecting their rights

Bargaining for equal pay and conditions between precarious and permanent workers has the dual benefit of eliminating discrimination and combatting social dumping. In many cases, affiliates have been able to bargain equal pay for equal jobs. The extension of the terms of a collective agreement in a particular sector or industry to all workers can also have a significant levelling effect.

Besides basic wages, pay includes allowances, seniority and other bonuses to which precarious workers may not have access. Equal treatment goes beyond pay to include access to social benefits, holidays, working hours, health and safety and training.

Measures aimed at controlling and limiting the use of precarious work must be well designed so that measures intended to benefit precarious workers do not result in them becoming more insecure. In the Netherlands, FNV Bondgenoten found that putting the right to a permanent job after a shorter period into a collective labour agreement can have the opposite effect, with employers firing agency workers earlier in order to avoid such provisions. It now also focuses on obtaining better wages, pension rights and training opportunities for agency workers.

Protecting health and safety of precarious workers

Studies since the 1990’s have shown that precarious workers experience greater health and safety risks than standard, permanent and direct workers.

Agreements that give trade unions access to the commercial contracts between the user company and the subcontracting company enable them to monitor the working conditions of outsourced and agency workers and to ensure a better protection of their health and safety.

Following the deaths of two contract workers from Romania in a fire that completely gutted the house provided by their employers, IG Metall signed a collective agreement in 2013 with the German Meyer Werft shipyard that extends co-determination to contract workers. The two victims were employed as contract workers by SDS, a recruitment agency for the shipyard that provided workers with deplorable living and working conditions. The agreement stipulates that worker accommodation must comply with the relevant standards. A ‘subcontractor agreement working group’, comprising equal numbers of management and worker representatives, was established to monitor compliance. Non-compliance is subject to penalties, including termination of the subcontractor agreement.

Protecting women precarious workers

Women workers are disproportionally affected by precarious work. Where employment rights are linked to length of service, precarious women workers may fail to qualify for maternity leave since they are likely to have shorter lengths of service. Sectoral agreements extended to temporary workers can enable women to access maternity leave rights.

In Senegal, SUTIDS has already achieved the regularization of hundreds of precarious workers, the majority of them men. The union is now bargaining for the regularization of women workers, and fighting to obtain maternity leave for women temporary workers who have no access to this right.

The struggle continues

Collective bargaining plays a vital role in limiting precarious work and protecting precarious workers’ rights and working conditions. However, the victories gained by unions continue to be challenged by employers.

Once agreements have been negotiated, they are not always respected and unions must continue to actively enforce them. When agreements close off access to precarious work in one area, employers find new ways to avoid secure employment.

And when agreements come up for renegotiation, unions have to fight again to keep the gains they have already won.

To be most effective, collective bargaining must be combined with other strategies to fight precarious work. This includes organizing precarious workers; building unity between precarious and other workers; raising awareness among workers and the general public of the dangers of precarious work; international action; and pushing for legislation that puts effective controls on the use of precarious work by employers.

First HIV and AIDS conference in Côte d'Ivoire

As part of World Aids Day, Côte d’Ivoire’s largest trade union federation, the UGTCI, will host an HIV and AIDS conference on 6 December, the first of its kind in the country. By bringing together trade unions and representatives from major industries to discuss the implications of HIV and AIDS organizers hope to bring about further change to the workplace.

Since 2004, IndustriALL has led an externally funded HIV and AIDS project addressing the pandemic at the workplace. The project which has targeted all kinds of workers – contract, temporary and precarious workers, as well as workers in the informal economy – and community members has had a visible impact on workers’ lives.

During this last year of the ten-year project, one of the main focuses has been on women and youth, as both groups are very important for an effective fight against HIV and AIDS.

Unions call for elimination of gender-based violence

IndustriALL affiliates in Colombia met and commemorated the day in Riohacha together with Igor Díaz, IndustriALL Executive Committee member. Women gave testimonials about their experiences with violence. Their stories ranged from harassment and persecution in the workplace to the issues faced by indigenous peoples when displaced by mining companies.

Jasmin, a Wayuu from the La Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia, told her story about the violence the Wayuu people has suffered since the Cerrejón mine opened in the region. Cerrejón is one of the world's largest open-cast mines.

The Wayuu people were displaced and lost their ancestral lands, and the mining activities contaminated the water. Jasmin’s organization, Fuerza de mujeres Wayuu, is the only organization that has spoken out against the assaults.

A story was also told about harassment and persecution faced by women unionists at mining giant Glencore. A particularly active union leader at Glencore was asked by the company to leave the union when fell pregnant. Employers used her pregnancy as an excuse as she was seen as problem due to her activity within the union. This situation has pushed her to fight to put an end to this type of discrimination.

In South Africa, participants at the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Women's Conference commemorated the day by supporting the “16 Days of no Violence Against Women” campaign. This international campaign aims to raise awareness and to address policy issues regarding violence against women and children and also to campaign for the protection of survivors of violence.

In Turkey women from Petrol-Is launched a Twitter campaign to raise awareness on violence against women at the workplace.

The ITUC called upon all unions to continue to lobby their governments in view of adopting a proposal at the ILO Governing Body on gender-based violence. The fight to end violence against women continues.

Nigerian unions challenge obstacles to industrialization

Over 70 participants from trade unions, industry and government came together on 19 November 2014 to discuss the national industrial plan recently launched by the Nigerian government. Discussions highlighted the progress that has been made through policies in some sectors such as automotive. However, manufacturing sectors in Nigeria face multiple challenges posed by inadequate infrastructure as well as unfavourable taxation and other hindrances to investment.

A reliable electricity supply is critical for industrialization and participants agreed that privatization had resulted in price increases with no improvement in supply. Capacity has stagnated at around 4000 megawatts after two years of privatization. The roundtable called for more strategic public investment in electricity generation.

Addressing participants, General Secretary of the National Union Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) and IndustriALL executive committee member, Issa Aremu, said:

“Sustainable industrial development is one of the primary focuses of IndustriALL Global Union. Africa is endowed with raw materials but not adding value to them. Africa should stop being an exporter of raw materials and jobs, but a producer of manufacturing goods and a retainer of jobs.”

The roundtable was followed by a rally, with support from IndustriALL Global Union Africa Region, to mark African Industrialization Day on 20 November. Over 400 workers used the occasion of to raise issues hampering development of industrial sectors, including inadequate customs controls, insufficient state investment in refineries and electricity provision, and the need to revive manufacturing in the country.

In addition to NUTGTWN, affiliates that took part in the rally were the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas, National Union of Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non Metallic Employees, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and Chemical and Non Metallic Product Senior Staff Association. They were joined by prospective affiliates Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria and National Union of Electricity Employees as well as other agricultural and industrial unions.

Tense standoff at Swazi Maloma Colliery

Workers embarked on a legal strike action on 24 November, seeking to double their USD40 housing allowance. Some of the miners earn a mere USD250 a month. The mine is majority owned by South African company Chancellor House with close ties to South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress.

The miners are organized by the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA), which was formed following a merger of nine unions in Swaziland last year. The government of Swaziland has refused to register the union along with the national centre, the Trade Union Confederation of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) formed through a merger in 2012.

Strikers have been confronted by police, despite the strike action being peaceful and this led to the retreat up the hill. Mine management is now denying the strikers water, sanitation and medical treatment.

“The workers have vowed that they are not returning to work or going back to their homes unless the company meets their demands,” said Wander Mkhonza, General Secretary of ATUSWA.

We urge the company to follow the path of the workers and commit itself on negotiations and desist from intimidating workers.

NUM National Women Structure Meets

NUM has been a pioneer in fighting for women working underground. The number of women is rising in the mining industry. A ten per cent quota for women in the industry was agreed with the Chamber of Mines, and NUM fights for to enforce the quota in negotiations.

However, working underground is an enormous challenge due to male domination, patriarchy and women's submissiveness. Women miners say the job is not “human-friendly” and men resist accepting women in their ranks. Furthermore, black women are employed for menial tasks underground, and white women are hired for office work and skilled jobs. Women must be assigned jobs at technical, managerial and strategic level.

There has been recognizable progress at the Chamber of Mines on demands of personal protective equipment, maternity leave and the implementation of childcare and breastfeeding facilities, although not all mining houses have implemented them and not all operations have pregnancy policies.

Violence in South Africa is conditioned by patriarchy, inequality and poverty. Total emancipation of women is wishful thinking without the elimination of gender-based violence.

In the last few years, four women have been murdered underground. The employers will only start paying attention to protecting women when it becomes too expensive for them to compensate them. Up to now the employers can decide that it is a criminal issue instead of a work-related accident and therefore not pay compensation.

The NUM women's structure has the role to lead women across the sectors of the national economy. Participants decided that the women's structure needs to look at laws such as the Mine Act to check whether women's needs are contemplated.

Health and Safety laws stipulate conditions for drilling and rocks falling, but are women's needs taken into consideration? Are women's safety needs covered? Do women have facilities to wash and clean up? What is the impact of shift work on the family?

Lydia Nkopane was re-elected to chair the NUM national women's structure.

This is what exploitation looks like

The Daily Mail exposé found that women garment workers producing a T-shirt with the slogan “This is what a feminist looks like” for upmarket UK fashion chain Whistles, were earning just 1 US$ an hour and sleeping 16 to a room in bunk beds.

Union leader Jane Ragoo from IndustriALL Global Union Mauritian affiliate, CMCTEU, says: “It is outrageous. Just because a t-shirt is expensive and bears an ethical message, doesn’t mean it is made ethically. Garment workers in Mauritius, who are mostly women, are working very long hours on very low pay.”

A garment worker toiling six days a week will earn only 6,000 rupees (US$190) per month. Like anyone working in the export sector in Mauritius, they are bound by law to work 45 hours per week plus compulsory overtime of ten hours per week.

An estimated 65,000 people work in the textile sector in the country, of which around 15,000 are migrants. Many of them come from Bangladesh where wages are some of the lowest in the world.

Exploitation of migrant workers is particularly bad, says Ragoo:

“Migrants are forbidden to join a union so they can’t stand up for themselves as a group. If they become ill and need surgical treatment, they are immediately sacked and sent home, even though there is supposedly free health care in Mauritius. The Ministry of Labour sanctions their dismissal by withdrawing their working permit. There is no possibility to appeal before a court of law.”

Compagnie Mauricienne de Textile (CMT), the textile company implicated in the tabloid story, employs 10,000 workers, of which many are migrants.

“Authorities inspect the company lodgings for migrant workers, granting permission for a limited number of people per dwelling. The problem is that the textile companies will then overcrowd the dormitories, meaning the women lack any privacy or even space to put their clothes and belongings,” reveals Ragoo.

Unions in the country are campaigning for a national minimum wage of 9,000 rupees (US$284) a month for all workers. However, even this is way below the estimated monthly living wage is 14,500 rupees (US$458).

Minimum wage increases in Mauritius are made at the discretion of the labour Minister and have not been updated in most industries for many years.

An estimated 100,000 of the 550,000 working population in Mauritius earn below $130 per month, which means they are living in extreme poverty. Of these 100,000, 85 per cent are women.

Jenny Holdcroft at IndustriALL Global Union, which represents garment workers at the international level, said:

“Exploitation of garment workers is rife, not just in Mauritius but the across the developing world. Fashion retailers make massive markups at the expense of workers while claiming to be socially responsible. The only way pay and conditions will improve for garment workers is if they have better rights and stronger employment laws – and that’s what unions are fighting for in all countries where clothes are made."

Energy workers of Southern Africa building power

Bringing together energy affiliates of IndustriALL from Botswana, DRC, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, South Africa Zambia and Zimbabwe, the SAEN, supported by the Friedrich-Ebert- Stiftung (FES), debated at length the future strategy in the face of concerted employer attacks on trade unions in the sub-region. Unions decided that they needed to increase communication between themselves in order to develop a common analysis of the Energy sector at both regional and national levels. Social media and electronic communication will continue to be used in the future, and unions needed to identify two contact persons for each union so that both leadership and a representative at the workplace can be contacted by other network members.

IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary, Kemal Ozkan, stated that,

This network can be an example of best practice to other regions and industries. Your focus on union organizing and strengthening all member unions is to be commended. That is the way to increase and build union power.

With the external assistance provided by the Labour Research Service of Cape Town (LRS), a database of company, particularly South African-based Eskom, and contract information is being built up. Delegates recommitted to providing the required information when requested and timely to allow the resource being built to be useful and comprehensive.

The network has an established structure, and needs to focus on its vision and mission. The network will produce a sectorial analysis of the industry in the sub-region which will form a basis for the determination by the network of a regional energy policy, that all members can identify with and promote.

The Network emphasized that problems and difficulties described at previous meetings, and reported on globally to the Madrid World Energy Conference of IndustriALL, earlier this year continued with many unions faced with their workers being classed by governments as “essential services” and subject to strike prohibitions. Increased casualization was increasing precarious work in several countries and putting pressure on union efforts to ensure decent work and maintain a living wage.

The network was able to focus on successes as well. From Swaziland, network chairperson, Churchboy Dlamini, spoke of how they had succeeded in eliminating temporary contract worker contracts and all employees at the national electric company were now permanent employees. In Zimbabwe the network had supported ZEWU workers under attack and dismissed by electric power company ZESA. Many of these workers had been reinstated. Angeline Chitambo, the ZEWU President and IndustriALL Executive Committee member, remained dismissed and despite court decisions calling for her reinstatement the company was still prolonging the issue in the courts and attempting to avoid reinstatement. The network stated their full support to her struggle for reinstatement and will continue to support other workers facing similar challenges.

Building strong unions remains IndustriALL’s focus in Africa

Around 150 trade union leaders from 28 African countries met at the IndustriALL SSA Regional conference in Pretoria from 14 to 16 October 2014. Whilst there was much internal reflection on the need to build strong unions as well as unity amongst workers at national and international level, external factors affecting social and economic progress on the continent came to the fore in discussions.

Participants stressed the importance of manufacturing as an engine of growth in national economies. Affiliates committed to prioritize industrial development by taking up the issue with their national centres and seeking to influence their governments on the matter. Affiliates recognize that it will be key to build trade union strength and capacity to demand comprehensive and strategic industrial policies, including educating members and raising public awareness to campaign for policies that benefit working people. At a regional level there is an undertaking to develop joint policies towards regional intergovernmental bodies such as SADC, ECOWAS, EAC, CEMAC and the African Union; and mobilizing regionally on Africa Industrialization Day on 20 November.

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Jyrki Raina, said:

This vibrant conference hosted by the South African unions will inspire IndustriALL affiliates in the whole continent in our joint struggle to build a strong industrial base across Africa to provide good quality jobs for workers and forge societies based on social and economic justice.

There is grave concern for the level of precarious work in the region especially at multinational companies that are not being held accountable for poor labour practices. Poor health and safety standards are also worrying. Another African concern is low wages, in some cases even below poverty levels, which can be found in all the sectors organized by IndustriALL’s affiliates. The Conference resolved that Africa and the world needs an immediate pay rise. Affiliates will continue to mobilize, organize and defend workers’ rights to ensure sustainable employment and living wages in safer and healthier workplaces.

Women’s involvement and participation in trade union activities at all levels was discussed in depth. The Sub-Saharan African Women's Conference was the third region to call for a 40 per cent quota for women at all levels of IndustriALL. Delegates committed to intensify their efforts towards ratification and implementation of ILO Convention 183 on maternity protection. Since adoption of this convention 14 years ago, only three African countries have ratified it.

The Conference strongly condemned the Government of Swaziland for dissolving the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) and the Amalgamated Trade Unions of Swaziland (ATUSWA) and urged the Government to revoke this decision, and to start engaging in a genuine dialogue with unions about legislative reforms that will ensure that workers’ rights are respected in line with Swaziland’s international obligations without any further delay.

The Conference underlined the importance of peace and stability in the region and called on all African governments to ensure the existence of peace and stability in the region. Delegates agreed that Ebola is also posing a real threat to human life and economic stability in West Africa, which requires an international response to eradicate.

Living wages a major demand in Africa

Following IndustriALL Global Union's Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Conference, affiliates from Mauritius, Madagascar, Lesotho, Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria met in Johannesburg on 17-18 October to discuss how to make progress on their living wage demands.

In each of the countries, the wage fixing mechanisms are different and affiliates recognized the need to understand them in order to make progress. Ethiopian affiliates are struggling to establish a minimum wage for the first time, while in many countries the minimum wage is far below the level of a living wage.

Participants recognized the drawbacks of relying solely on the minimum wage for increases when in some countries this is unilaterally declared by government with no consultation of the social partners. In other countries, consultation is cursory and ignored.

Unions from South Africa and Nigeria made compelling presentations of the strength of collective bargaining at industry level as the most effective means of delivering wage increases. For South African textile and clothing union SACTWU, the living wage campaign is at the core of its work and centralized bargaining is used to achieve the best outcome for workers.

The union works to bring employers into the national bargaining council, which covers over 100,000 workers, and the government can extend the agreements to other employers. Increases for 2014 were above the inflation rate at an average of 8 per cent.

Similarly in Nigeria, industry level collective bargaining is recognized by the National Union of Textile, Garment & Tailoring Workers (NUTGTW) as the most effective means of securing wage increases that benefit the largest number of workers.

The unions from Lesotho explained how they are working towards a merger to be finalized in February 2015 as a means of consolidating union strength. They are currently in joint negotiations with government and employers towards their own model of bargaining councils, based on the South Africa experience. The Lesotho unions’ living wage campaign is called 2020, referring to the target figure of M2,020.00 (US $184) per month.

In Mauritius, many workers in the garment sector are migrants, earning well below the poverty line of US $130 per month. The national minimum wage fixing mechanism does not function as increases are made at the discretion of the Minister and have not been updated for most industries for many years. Unions are campaigning for the minimum wage to be set at the level of a living wage.

In Ethiopia, massive growth is expected in the textile and garment sector where there is no minimum wage and wages are around US $35-50.

In Madagascar the minimum wage is US $53 whereas the living wage is estimated at US $400 and 80 per cent of the population live below the poverty line. Unions face a massive challenge in negotiating to raise wages when they lack resources and capacity.

The meeting ended with each of the unions developing action plans targeting a living wage through organizing, union building and increasing unity towards the goal of industry-level collective bargaining.