IndustriALL workshop for Nigeria affliates

At an organising workshop held with Nigerian affiliates and unions interested in affiliating to IndustriALL, participants found synergy between the action plan of IndustriALL and their goals. They identified industrialisation as the key development policy agenda to champion so that the country can benefit from its vast natural resources. They articulated the need to build their power to confront multinational companies (MNCs) operating in Nigeria and defend worker rights. They also established the need for labour market reform to address the various forms and high levels of precarious work.

During the two day organising workshop on 18 and 19 February, Nigerian affiliates were joined by representatives from the Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN) and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE). Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL’s Sub Sahara Africa regional representative stressed the need to focus on organising and said, “Nigeria is poised to overtake South Africa as the biggest economy in the continent so Nigerian unions must position themselves to play a leading role in the continent.”

Participants mapped the industries that they organise in to determine the potential membership in each sector. Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Senior Staff Association (CANMPSSA) and National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE) have a combined membership of about 25,000 and a potential membership of over 450,000.

SEWUN has membership in steel and engineering sector of about 10,000, with the potential of about 225,000. If the textile sector organised informal workers they have the potential of over 200,000 members. The petroleum sector has the potential of about 65,000 members. Whilst it was difficult to estimate the potential membership base of the electricity sector, this was also considered to be substantial and with the potential to grow even further.

Organising presents a significant challenge as unions are struggling to build a culture of recruitment and organising after changes in the labour law eight years ago that meant union membership is no longer automatic when a worker is employed. Unions still lack significant organising capacity, skills and strategy, in particular strategies to target different types of workers. Participants identified the need for efforts to develop women organisers and young organisers who can easily relate to these sections of the workforce.

“Building a strong organised base in Nigeria is an important strategy for the Sub Sahara African Region of IndustriALL,” says Nkomo. “Our success in Nigeria will be a stepping stone for good work in the West Africa sub region.”

Launch of global campaign against Rio Tinto in Cape Town

On 6 February the Rio Tinto Global Union Network drew hundreds of participants to a rally against mining corporation Rio Tinto. Demonstrators marched through the streets of Cape Town, South Africa, for the right to decent work for Rio Tinto workers. The rally marks the official launch of the network's campaign to increase unionisation at Rio Tinto operations around the globe.

IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan says:

This is the launch of a campaign to increase trade union membership at Rio Tinto plants and make them recognise workers' rights and listen to trade unions. We must fight back against Rio Tinto's consistent anti-union behaviour and we will not stop until Rio Tinto realises that fundamental worker's rights, such as the right to organise and collective bargaining, benefit everyone in the workplace.

Worker action succeeds at Mauritius Stationery Manufacturers

“Following a 24 hour occupation, the big bosses were forced to convene a meeting and find a solution to the problem,” said Reeaz Chuttoo of IndustriALL affiliate CMCTEU (the Chemical, Manufacturing, and Connected Trades Employees’ Union of Mauritius). “It was very hard but with the solidarity of one and all, we finally succeeded.”

Over 500 dismissed workers were given retrenchment packages when MSM restructured and downsized in 2013 but the job security of the remaining 178 workers had been tenuous ever since, especially after the company was put under administration at the end of last year. Liquidation then provided a loophole so the company did not have to provide redundancy packages for employees.

However, MSM is predominantly owned by GML, a major group of companies in the Indian Ocean region which has an annual turnover of around US$ 1 billion and last year made profits of US$ 60 million.

After tough talks between CMCTEU and MSM following the sit-in on 5 February, the union will now negotiate retrenchment packages for all of the workers.

CMCTEU’s Jane Ragoo, who is also substitute member of IndustriALL’s Executive Committee, argued; “The GML group should give to those who produced the wealth of the company. It is not normal that the GML group, which made profits in the billions, let its workers go without a penny.”

Unilever alienating workers in South Africa and UK

Unite the Union members at Unilever’s factory in Purfleet, Essex, have been “offered” a pay cut of up to 30%. Purfleet management has refused to consider all proposals from the union negotiators, instead offering a deal which will slash pensions, bonuses, salaries, replace full time workers with individual contract employees outside the bargaining unit, reclassify jobs, and establish a new shift schedule with much reduced time off.

Purfleet workers have been threatened that the cuts are necessary to maintain the viability of the site, the largest margarine factory in the world. The factory produces millions of tubs of well-known brands Flora and Stork every day.

Unilever espouses at every opportunity the company’s commitment to ethical corporate behaviour, in line with the early history of the company. The workers who make Unilever products around the world want to see clear indications of these high ethics.

Unilever is a giant global conglomerate of consumer products, whose profits continue to rise. The company boasts that every day two billion people use a Unilever product.

However trade unions throughout the world are being targeted with increased pressure from the employer, in a concerning global trend. International trade union networking of Unilever workers is acting to respond to this new aggression.

The international trade union for food, farm and hotel workers, the IUF’s South African affiliated trade union the Food and Allied Workers’ Union (FAWU) is leading 220 members on strike at Unilever’s tea and food factory in Pietermaritzburg. The strike is on-going since 17 January.

IUF reports:

"The strike action revolves around the actual wage increment that workers want at 9%," FAWU general secretary Masemola said. The strike was also to demand "the reversal of a youth wage subsidy-type model where grades are lowered in terms of remuneration rates to employ young workers at lower rates while the content of the grades, or jobs, remains the same".

British Unilever workers at the Port Sunlight factory near Liverpool rallied at the plant gates on 3 February in support of the FAWU strikers.

Workers and their communities have been brutally left out of the company's “sustainable living” plan. Unilever has built a record of hurting its employees in Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, the UK, and elsewhere.

This alarming trend of pressuring workplaces and Unilever workers’ trade unions moved the global network to strengthen mutual solidarity and support.

Said the network statement in March 2013:

“We insist on sustainable workplaces, sustainable employment and guarantees of rights for current and future Unilever workers. So that workers may share in the benefits of the company’s growth, rather than paying for it with the loss of our jobs, our health and our rights.”

Kemal Özkan Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union said:

“Our efforts to unify Unilever workers worldwide with our sister International IUF continue with determination.”

You can send a solidarity message to FAWU by emailing FAWU general secretary Katishi Masemola at this address: [email protected]

Down Rio Tinto, down!

The rally culminated outside the Cape Town Convention Centre, where the world’s largest congress on mining, the Mining Indaba, was on its last day. Members of mining unions, as well as members of NGO’s, came together to point the spotlight on workers’ struggle for decent work at Rio Tinto plants across the world.

Kemal Özkan, assistant general secretary of IndustriALL, said that the race to the bottom must stop.

”As Rio Tinto is generating enormous profits from its operations, workers are struggling with unsafe, precarious work. The benefits from the mines should be shared with everyone and not only used for increasing company profits. Today’s situation is un-acceptable.”

The rally through Cape Town marked the end of a three-day long meeting of the IndustriALL’s Rio Tinto Global Union Network and the official launch of its campaign to increase unionisation at Rio Tinto.

Thanking everyone who attended the rally for their support, Andrew Vickers, general secretary of Australian affiliate CFMEU and chair of the IndustriALL mining section, said:

“Thank you for your support to launch this campaign to stop Rio Tinto – to stop Rio Tinto disrespecting trade unions, workers, agreements, and to stop terrorising and displacing communities.”

While people turned out in numbers to show their support for the mineworkers, Rio Tinto flatly refused to meet with representatives of the network to receive a memorandum of demands.

In the memorandum IndustriALL Global Union demands from Rio Tinto, the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, and the International Council on Mining and Metal to, among other things, stop interfering in the collective bargaining process and to ensure that workers at their operations have a right to refuse unsafe work.

Rio Tinto also needs to commit to engagement with workers and their trade unions, and to minimize precarious work while maximizing permanent, full-time employment at their operations.

“This is a struggle for workers everywhere. The campaign against Rio Tinto is dedicated to strengthening our workers and we will continue the fight”, said Senzeni Zokwana, president of NUM and vice president of IndustriALL.

IndustriALL Global Union to target Rio Tinto in campaign for workers’ rights

The rally is set to take place on the last day of the 2014 African Mining Indaba, on 6 February at 11 am. Hundreds of participants are expected to march from St George´s Cathedral to the Cape Town Convention Centre, demanding an end to Rio Tinto’s bad corporate behaviour.

Claiming to abide by good corporate practice, mining and metals giant Rio Tinto’s conduct includes major disputes with trade unions, communities, indigenous peoples and regulatory authorities.

IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan says that with the campaign, IndustriALL Global Union aims to build union power at Rio Tinto plants around the world, uniting workers in the struggle for decent work:

“Rio Tinto has extensive experience in causing one conflict after another with trade unions, indigenous organizations, environmental groups and other key community stakeholders. Unions and civil society are coming together in an unprecedented way to push back against Rio Tinto for the benefit of workers, the environment and communities.”

Learn more about Rio Tinto’s history of conflict at http://www.industriall-union.org/riotinto

For more information please contact:

Livhuwani Mammburu, NUM Spokesperson, +27 (0)838093257

Petra Brännmark, Communications Director IndustriALL Global Union, +41 79 198 69 13
[email protected]

IndustriALL Global Union represents 50 million workers in 140 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors and is a force in global solidarity taking up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights around the world.

African unions confront precarious work

The IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Precarious Work Conference, which took place at the ITUC training centre in Lomé, Togo on 27-28 January, enabled affiliates to identify regional objectives, strategies and priorities on precarious work leading to 2016 as well as strategies and actions for 2014, within the framework of IndustriALL’s global goals and strategies.

Participating unions painted an all too familiar picture of precarious work spreading throughout the region. In the mining and manufacturing industries it is being driven particularly by multinational companies to reduce wages and conditions and to exclude trade unions. Global employment agencies continue to pressure governments to allow them to extend their operations and replace permanent employment with temporary agency work.

Precarious workers in the region are generally excluded from social security provisions and health and safety protections and are subject to lower salaries and conditions than permanent workers. In Mauritius it is a government strategy to replace local workers with migrant workers on wages that fall way below the poverty level.

Affiliates from the DRC, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Ghana, Cameroon, Mauritius, Nigeria, Niger, Togo, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal and Guinea described what their unions have been doing to confront precarious work. Hostility of employers and workers’ fear continue to be major barriers to organizing. Nevertheless, many were able to point to successes in organizing precarious workers, converting their status from precarious to permanent, and signing collective agreements that have same conditions for permanent and contract workers. For example, SUTIDS in Senegal has amended its statutes to make it easier to recruit precarious workers and as a result has gained 450 new members.

Unions have also been pursuing legislative changes to protect precarious workers and reduce the incidence of precarious work. In Mauritius, the union has achieved amendments to the labour law that stipulate that all contract workers with 6 months service qualify for leave provisions, all contract jobs of more than 2 years must be converted to permanent and all workers, including contract workers, must receive and end-of-year bonus (13 month salary). In Senegal, legislation that regulates agency work has been passed.

Raising awareness among workers and the general public of the consequences of precarious work continues to be an important strategy for all unions. Affiliates in Ghana and Senegal have successfully used media campaigns to this end.

The meeting formed part of the IndustriALL precarious work project for sub-Saharan Africa which is supported by IndustriALL affiliates in Finland and Belgium. This project is now entering a new phase. In 2013 the unions collected data in order to establish a baseline of the number, distribution and situation of precarious workers which will enable them to measure progress and to better target their actions. In each country affiliates are now working together to develop an agreed action plan that will be implemented by all affiliates, working together.

IndustriALL Caterpillar Network Meeting

On 2 and 3 April, thirty Caterpillar union representatives from four continents met in Orlando, Florida, to strengthen their network activities and to link with other company networks. The participants had a vivid exchange overcoming political and company barriers.

The Caterpillar trade union chair, UAW secretary-treasurer, Dennis Williams, made clear that “For the employees within Caterpillar the global network is a means to improve the workers’ situation within the group.”

For two days the 30 delegates from seven countries discussed the situation and the future activities of the group. Besides, they used the chance to interact with the over 60 delegates of the “UAW Agricultural Implement Council”.

The participants in both meetings had a close interaction and learnt a lot from each other. With reference to the situation in the South of the USA, one delegate stated: “The so called “right to work” in some Southern states is just a right to work more for less pay and less favorable conditions”.

The delegates discussed not only the general situation and dismissals within Caterpillar, but also joint future activities. At this occasion they adopted a working plan with a strategic approach in order to achieve a better dialogue. During the exchange with the USA Agricultural Implement Council with reference to the global strategy of the MNC, IndustriALL’s director for mechanical engineering Matthias Hartwich stated, “As the companies today organize their activities on a global level, we as trade unions will also find our answers globally. We are a global family of brothers and sisters.”

At the end of the network meeting, delegates promised to come together again next year and to even broaden their basis with organizing activities in different countries.

Global Labour University announces new Master programs

For application and programme details, please visit http://www.global-labour-university.org/

The Global Labour University is a collaboration between the ILO, universities and trade unions and offers postgraduate programmes on labour policies, economics, workers’ rights, globalization and development to trade unionists around the world. The GLU invites applicants to become part of a global network of scholars and activists to debate and shape the future of the global labour movement.

The final deadline for applications is 1 March 2014. At both campuses a limited number of scholarships will be awarded to qualified applicants in need of financial support.

2013 – A Year of Struggle and Victories

The industrial homicide which killed 1,130 garment workers at Rana Plaza in April expedited negotiations on a legally binding Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

Today, more than 120 leading brands and retailers of the world have signed the ground-breaking Accord with IndustriALL and our sister organization UNI to help make the Bangladeshi garment industry safe and sustainable in a major five-year project. The participating companies have committed themselves to exhaustive inspections, finding funding for the necessary repairs of dangerous factories, and training for management and workers.

IndustriALL will continue action to reach a living wage after the 77% increase to the minimum wage in December in Bangladesh, and launch a major organizing project in cooperation with our partner organizations.

On Mexico, global solidarity was put on full display at IndustriALL’s Executive Committee in December. For the first time since he was forced into exile in 2006, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia travelled outside of Canada to participate in the meeting, receiving a standing ovation. IndustriALL will continue the campaign for democratic unions and against protection contracts in Mexico.

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, IndustriALL is supporting the development and growth of free and independent unions with concrete programs and campaigns. The focus countries are Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia and Morocco. In December, we again delivered our message to the Iraqi government on the need to pass new, modern trade union legislation to guarantee union rights.

An increasing number of multinational companies are engaging with IndustriALL to improve conditions of work in a constructive manner in all their operations. After the Bangladesh Accord with 120 companies and the global framework agreement with electric power giant Enel of Italy, Belgium’s chemical company Solvay lays new ground with an accord that will become a living reality for the improvement of conditions of work.

Our web site www.industriall-union.org will tell you more of our struggles and victories around the world. Issue number 2 of our journal Global Worker delves deep into a wide range of issues from a worker perspective.

But the fight continues all around the world. Trade union leaders are under arrest in Colombia, oil workers are detained in Kazakhstan, chemical workers are locked-out in the USA. And so on.

IndustriALL Global Union will relentlessly continue its mission in 2014 to promote workers’ rights worldwide. Join the struggle!

Jyrki Raina

General Secretary