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.

Swaziland bans trade unions

Federations were called upon to submit reports of their operations to date, including their prepared audited financial statements to the Commissioner of Labour. This decision affects not only TUCOSWA and ATUSWA, affiliating IndustriALL members SATU, SESMAWU and SMAWU, but also the Federation of Swaziland Employers and Chamber of Commerce, and the Federation of the Swazi Business Community.

Tripartite bodies such as the Wages Council, Labour Advisory Board, Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission, Swaziland National Provident Fund, Training and Localization Committee and the Social Dialogue Committee will stop functioning as a result.

Article 5 of ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize recognizes the right of workers’ organizations to establish or to join federations and confederations of their own choosing.

In response to the complaint filed by TUCOSWA and the ITUC on 23 May 2012 (Case No 2949), the Committee on Freedom of Association recommended that pending legislative reforms TUCOSWA is able to effectively exercise all its trade union rights without interference or reprisal. An ILO High-Level Fact Finding Mission that visited the country in January 2014 recommended the registration of the worker and employer federations by end of April 2014.

The Swazi government has ignored the recommendations and repeated calls from the international trade union movement to respect rights guaranteed under international conventions ratified by Swaziland. Instead they have suspended workers’ right to freely associate and to carry out trade union activities completely.

IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Jyrki Raina says:

“This decision also goes against the decision of the Industrial Court, which recognized that TUCOSWA could operate in terms of its own constitution.

“We urge you to revoke the decision to dissolve TUCOSWA and ATUSWA 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.”

Rio Tinto workers protest in 13 countries

The global call for action was made by the Rio Tinto Global Union Network as part of an ongoing campaign coordinated by IndustriALL Global Union.

Our message to Rio Tinto is that the trade union movement globally is here to stay and we will fight and campaign against Rio Tinto until the company shows respect and gives dignity to its workers, to the environment in which it operates and to the communities in which it operates

says Andrew Vickers, IndustriALL mining section chairman and CFMEU General Secretary.

Rio Tinto workers around the world made their voices heard in a resounding demand for safer workplaces, secure jobs and respect for workers’ rights.

From rallies in Canada and the USA to worksite actions in South Africa, Australia and France, the spotlight was put on Rio Tinto’s habit of putting profits before people.

Following recent fatalities at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia that is partially owned by Rio Tinto, IndustriALL affiliate the Chemical, Energy and Mines Workers Union (CEMWU) distributed flyers on the global day to members at the mine. Leadership of the union at the mine also wore campaign t-shirts with the IndustriALL logo and slogan "Rio Tinto, the Ugly Truth".

In South Africa, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) acting President Piet Matosa met with members at the Rio Tinto Richards Bay operation to explain why unions around the world were targeting the company.

A number of actions took place in Australia, and the day of action managed to get a great deal of media coverage. The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) launched a report into Rio Tinto's anti-union practices and National Vice President Andrew Vickers was interviewed on ABC Australia.

More actions took place in the following countries:

Workers and union officials from IndustriALL affiliate the Union Syndicale des Travailleurs de Guinée (USTG) had planned a series of protest actions to mark the global day, however as a result of the Ebola crisis they were sent home and no action could be organized.

The actions were held on 7 October to coincide with the World Day for Decent Work, when unions around the globe mobilize against precarious work. Unions at Rio Tinto have identified the increasing use of temporary, casual and contracted-out work by Rio Tinto as one of their key concerns.

Take a look at IndustriALL’s Rio Tinto page to see who took action and keep updated on the latest news on the Rio Tinto Campaign.

Women call for quotas at IndustriALL

IndustriALL’s general secretary Jyrki Raina told the conference: "Women and men take decisions better than men alone."

This quota must, however, only be seen as one measure on the way toward achieving gender parity. The conference adopted a resolution which in addition to the call for the 40 per cent quota, mentions health and safety, precarious work, maternity protection, women's leadership, and HIV and AIDS.

Despite a booming economy in Africa, women still face difficulties in the workplace. Closing the gender gap would reduce hunger and poverty. The conference took place against the backdrop of the Ebola epidemic – as always women are the most affected by the health scourges.

At the opening, the conference welcomed Senzeni Zokwana, ex-Vice-Pesident of IndustriALL who is now the Minister of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries of South Africa. He stressed the need to create jobs in the face of climate change and fluctuating markets. Africa must process her own products instead of exporting everything, according to Lydia Nkopane from the National Union of Miners (NUM), who said, "We export raw materials and still live in poverty."

Participants had a presentation on the challenges facing women and unions in the region. Among them are violence against women, the informal economy, HIV and AIDS, and maternity protection.

In Sub-Saharan Africa the informal economy makes up 66 per cent of non-agricultural employment. Seventy-four per cent of women and 61 per cent of men are informally employed. This work is marked by extremely precarious working conditions, health and safety hazards and the involvement of families and children. Women's needs must be addressed in a particular way. Here again it is a question of organizing women around their concerns. One of the concerns in mining communities for example is HIV and AIDS.

In Sub-Saharan Africa women are infected by HIV at least five to seven years earlier than men; young women are twice as likely as young men to be living with HIV. As girls are beginning to protect themselves, the rate of new infections is declining. However, these gains are fragile and must be sustained.

It would help if more countries ratified ILO Convention 183 on maternity protection. Up to now it has only been ratified by Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali in the region. Collective agreements could make improvements to women's lives if unions negotiated on something other than wages. Unfortunately maternity and women's issues are usually the first to be compromised.

The NUM highlighted the safety hazards of women working underground. Unfortunately there is still a hostility towards women and their demands. In the past few years the worst form of gender-based violence was perpetrated underground, namely murder. The only thing the Department of Mineral Resource did was to issue an instruction that "no women must work alone underground " but that does not compensate any loss of life. The unions have to have this as a priority and regulate it and compensate it.

At the regional conference, held over the following two days, women made up 35 per cent of participants.

ZIMBABWE

To mark the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) a community action took place, at the Harare central bus terminus, where union members cleaned-up the littered area. The clean-up was followed by a march across town with workers singing songs of solidarity and holding banners demanding decent work and decent wages.

The action came at a time when according to a ZCTU survey, a total of 4,172 people have lost their jobs, between January and September 2014, compared to about 9000 jobs lost and 75 company closures in 2013. Most of these job losses were recorded in the security, engineering, motor, clothing and textile, and printing industries.

The fight against against precarious work continues as workers who still have jobs struggle get their salaries paid on time. 2014 has seen workers from various sectors taking to the streets in protest.

For years now, the ZCTU has been fighting for wages that are linked to the poverty datum line which is currently at USD$500.00, we have also been fighting the rot in public institutions for the betterment of our country

said the ZCTU’s President George Nkiwane in his speech whilst addressing workers.

Whilst delivering his solidarity message, IndustriALL Global Union Country Coordinating Committee Chairperson in Zimbabwe, Cde Wise Garira said

workers are an important resource and should be treated with dignity.

He added that

precarious work is associated with death and we all should fight it.

Wise also gave a brief history of IndustriALL Global Union and encouraged same sector unions to merge because there is power in unity.