Swaziland union federation dealt another blow

Organized labour across the globe applauded unity efforts in Swaziland that united workers under one federation when Tucoswa was launched in March 2012 through the merger of the two existing federations, the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) and the Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL).

The government of Swaziland initially congratulated the federation on its formation, but quickly changed its mind when Tucoswa took a resolution to call for free and fair elections in Swaziland including the unbanning of political parties. Tucoswa was deregistered under instruction from the Swaziland Attorney General and its legitimacy challenged.

The court found that whilst there was provisions in law to register individual trade unions, the existing provision for registering a federation had been removed with the Industrial Relations Act of 2000. Thus it was difficult for the court to interpret if the exclusion was deliberate. The judge called on labour to wait for a proposed amendment bill that provides for the registration of a federation to be enacted.

The ruling has paralysed social dialogue in the country as labour has recalled all its members in tripartite structures including the Labour Advisory Council and representatives at the countries structure for conciliation and mediation of industrial disputes.

“Whilst the court has given a directive to government and Tucoswa to come to an agreement on its modus operandi until the amendment has been finalized, similar to a recognition agreement, the ruling confirms that there is no freedom of association in Swaziland, despite the legal framework that appears to give these rights,” said Mduduzi Gina, Deputy Secretary General of Tucoswa.

The ruling based on what seems to be a technicality, raises concerns that the judiciary is being manipulated to achieve the objectives of government’s agenda which has been to frustrate attempts by labour in calling for meaningful democracy in Swaziland. The denial of legitimacy to Tucoswa can be interpreted as a delaying tactic by government making it difficult for labour to have the right to organize actions on political issues ahead of national elections scheduled for later this year.

Minimum wage needed to push back exploitation in Uganda

“The proposal for the 2013 Minimum Wage Bill has been received with a lot of support from trade unionists, members of parliament, civil society organizations and the public,” said Aneno Catherine, General Secretary of the Uganda Textile, Garment, Leather and Allied Workers Union (UTGLAWU), adding, “MP Arinaitwe Rwakajara was given a go ahead to draft the full bill for tabling in parliament.”

Uganda does already have legislation in place to establish a minimum wage, however the 1957 Minimum Wage Advisory Board Act, which would allow trade unions and other stakeholders to participate in setting the wage but this was never implemented. Uganda last set the monthly minimum wages in 1984, at 6,000 Ugandan Shillings (shs), an amount of USD2.26 today.

The lack of established practice to set minimum wages in Uganda has left workers vulnerable to exploitation, where the high levels of unemployment force workers to accept pay well below what could be considered a decent wage.

“Without minimum wage being instituted the workers of Uganda are being unfairly paid,” Said Vincent Ojiambo General Secretary Uganda Mines, Metal, Oil, Gas and Allied Workers Union (UMMOGAWU).

A minimum wage would take the investment incentive of labour exploitation through low wages off the table. It would increase the living standards of workers, reduce hardships faced by the working poor and provide a base from which labour can organize to improve upon in its struggle for a living wage. Yet efforts in the past to establish sectoral minimum wages that would ensure workers have the right to earn at least at these levels have not yielded results.

“This issue has been on since the year 1995 when the Ugandan government appointed a committee to go around the country to get information from the workers of every sector in Uganda and finally came up with the figure of shs 120,000 (US$45) to be the minimum wage of Uganda,” explains Ojiambo. “When the figure was presented, the same committee was asked to come up with a revised figure. This led to a proposal of shs 75,000 (US$28). When the figure was presented to the cabinet it was further reduced to shs 53,000 (US$20), but the President did not endorse it. Up to now the issues of minimum wage has not been finalized.”

SACTWU steps up the fight for a living wage

The living wage demands were consolidated at the SACTWU Annual National Bargaining Conference from 28 February to 3 March in preparation for the 2013 round of substantive negotiations.

SACTWU’s President, Themba Khumalo opened the Conference by reminding delegates that workers join unions for particularly one main reason: to improve their lives, the lives of their families and that of the communities from which they come. He reminded the 200 delegates that to realize these aims workers and their leaders need to be united and militant.

Delegates supported the government’s view that the clothing textiles and footwear industries had stabilised after 15 years of decline in employment in the sector. Delegates appreciated the acknowledgement of this by South African President Zuma in his recent State of the Nation address, where he also mentioned the governments clothing support scheme that has helped to prevent closures and saved many jobs.

The conference convened specialist commissions to develop concrete support for the Living Wage Campaign and to seek ways to address challenges faced by the union and members in the current political environment as well as those in the sector. Delegates also re-affirmed commitment to strengthen the union and centralised bargaining and provide solidarity support for other COSATU affiliates’ living wage, recruitment and organizing campaigns.

A day of action was held on 1st March, with three protest marches, one to the South African Revenue Services to protest against the continued flow of illegal imports into South Africa, which undermines local jobs and leads to de-industrialisation.

The other two marches were directed at Capitec Bank and the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR). These were organised to protest against the involvement of Capitec’s chairperson, Michiel le Roux, in financing efforts to attack workers’ basic rights. This includes funding the campaign by Newcastle sweatshops to stop vulnerable workers being covered by minimum wages, for which CSSR produced what the union calls, “blatant propaganda and employer agenda-driven research.”

SACTWU delegates challenged the main architects of the report to live off the illegally low wages which they are prescribing for Newcastle workers. “In this regard, we handed them R278 [USD32] in cash, which is the typical take-home wage which many Newcastle qualified machinists’ earn for a 45 hour week.”

See a previous report here: http://www.industriall-union.org/south-african-union-slams-minimum-wage-compliance-criticism

Zambian government seizes Collum Mine over poor working conditions

There has been frequent industrial unrest at Collum Mine that has been under Chinese ownership since 2003. As early as 2005, submissions were made to government on poor working conditions and government considered its closure in 2006 after a delegation saw first hand the poor working conditions that workers had to endure.

In October 2010, 13 mineworkers were injured when two managers of the mine opened fire on striking workers. Workers went on strike when they were not paid and to protest poor pay and working conditions. Charges against the two managers were later dropped by the state.

Tensions continued to mount at the mine as labour issues remained unresolved. A pay dispute at the mine after government raised the minimum wage in 2012 resulted in a spontaneous protest by workers during which a Chinese supervisor was killed and another was injured.

“Since the mine was privatized, Muz has taken up the serious concerns of workers on the violation of labour laws, health and safety issues, even implementing the bargaining agreement has been a continuous dilemma,” says Joseph Chewe, General Secretary of the Mineworkers' Union of Zambia (Muz), an IndustriALL Global Union affiliated union. “Muz supports the seizure of the mine by government; this is in the best interest of workers especially since workers’ jobs are secure. But the government must ensure that the new investor follows the labour laws and ensures good working conditions at the mine for these long suffering workers.”

The government revoked mining licences held by the company that owns Collum mine after no improvements had been made at the mine. The state will operate the mine until a new investor is found. Government has assured workers that there would be no job losses.

A recent study by Human Rights Watch (HRW) concludes that whilst there have been some improvements in working conditions in Zambia’s mines under President Sata since 2011, much still needs to be done to ensure labour law enforcement and to improve safety standards, especially in the copper mines. Sata had promised to improve labour conditions in the mines during his election campaign.

A number of trade unions and civil society organizations in Zambia have welcomed the seizure of Collum mine, hoping that this action is a strong signal that the government will not tolerate investors that flout the law and abuse workers' rights.

Ghana proposes criminalizing scrap metal export

Ghana’s new Minister of Trade and Industry, Haruna Iddrisu, has proposed a bill to make the export of scrap metal a criminal offense. The initiative is an effort to clamp down on ferrous scrap exporters that ignore the administrative ban that is in place.

Despite the ban, scrap metal continues to leave Ghana, whilst the local steel sector is under strain operating at only 30 per cent capacity. ICU reports that a large steel company, Wahome has recently had to shut down leading to 700 job losses.

Ghana has no iron ore. As a result, metal scraps serve as raw material to the steel industry, which would otherwise need to be imported.

“The exportation of metal scraps from Ghana leads to scarcity of raw materials hence a huge threat for the survival of the steel industry in Ghana,” says General Secretary of ICU, Solomon Kotei. “Countries like China, Thailand, Malaysia among others, offer attractive prices for metal scraps which the local industries cannot afford to pay. As a result, casualization, redundancy is what has befallen workers in the steel industry.”

Exporters of scrap metal are appealing to government to levy the export of scrap metal rather than criminalize it. Exporters advance funds to scrap metal suppliers in order to secure supply whilst local steel industries need time to effect payment for the supplies, putting local industries at a disadvantage.

The proposed bill will not be enough, even if government makes every effort to enforce the ban as the value chain to scrap metal is quite unique. Additional support to local steel industries will have to be considered, especially access to finance, so that suppliers can be promptly paid. Ensuring good working conditions, including health and safety and social protection in the supply chain is another area that will need to be examined. ICU is aware of these issues and plans to discuss these with the Minister.

"The exportation of scrap metal from Ghana will virtually collapse the steel industries if no drastic national policy is put in place to ban it,” says Kotei “It is for this reason that the ICU-Ghana associates itself strongly with the statement made by the Minister of Trade and Industry. We are therefore collaborating with the honourable minister on the ban of exportation of scrap metal.”

Nigerian unions to work together to organize workers

Affiliates met with African Regional Secretary of IndustriALL, Fabian Nkomo to discuss how to ensure that all Nigerian workers in sectors represented by IndustriALL are organized and united. The meeting was lead by the General Secretary of the National Union of Textile, Garment & Tailoring Worker (NUTGTW) and IndustriALL Executive Committee member Issa Aremu and attended by all affiliates as well as 6 potential affiliates that expressed interest in joining the global union.

Affiliates identified metal, steel and related industries and chemical, pharmaceutical and allied industries as sectors with the biggest potential to increase IndustriALL’s representation in Nigeria. Potential affiliates were encouraged to join IndustriALL through alliances at a national level, strengthening ties between unions organizing in the same sector

Nkomo also used the visit to learn more about the inspiring union building work of NUTGTW and visited a textile factory in Lagos.

Nigeria is a key economy in the region and its unions are well established and sustainable. Nigerian affiliates are expected to play a leading role in West Africa and IndustriALL is keen to have them assist in organizing and union building initiatives in the sub-region.

World Bank reviews labour rights safeguard

Last year the World Bank started consultations for the long overdue review of it’s social and environmental safeguard policies. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Global Union Federations (GUFs) proposed that the World Bank use the policy review to introduce a comprehensive labour standards safeguard in order to ensure that all Bank-financed activities are required to comply with the International Labour Organization’s (ILO's) core labour standards and other basic labour conditions.

For many years the World Bank has relied on its system of safeguards to identify and control social and environmental risks and to improve development outcomes. While almost all Bank projects affect workers in some way, the safeguards do not currently address labour and working conditions.

The ITUC and GUFs recommend that the World Bank’s approach to the safeguards revision should identify the area of labour standards and working conditions as one that the policy must address. The safeguards policy that the Bank submits for Board review and for public consultation should include a robust labour standards policy consistent with the progress made in other divisions of the World Bank Group, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC). (See ITUC and GUFs Summary note)

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates are encouraged to take part in the World Bank safeguard review consultations to advocate for the adoption of a comprehensive labour standards safeguard. See World Bank web page for further information about the consultations and for registering to attend.

Different languages, same message: Union Rights in Mexico NOW!

The days of action are encompassing the struggles of a range of different groups of workers in Mexico. Their stories are all inspiring for trade unionists throughout the world. This stirring video message sent by IndustriALL Executive Committee member Michele O’Neil, TCFUA National Secretary, to the locked-out shoe workers at Bata Sandak well reflects the sentiment of the global campaign.

The grand, historic Mexican union Los Mineros has been attacked in vicious persecution by Mexican authorities and employers over a period of six years. Their fight is always central to the international campaign for trade union rights in Mexico. The global days of action are held in the week of 19 February to mark the industrial homicide of 65 mineworkers at the Pasta de Conchos mine six years ago, and justice at Pasta de Conchos is a central demand of the campaign.

The Mexican days of action started solemnly in Mexico City on 18 February with a silent march from the Monumento da la Revolucion to the Angel de la Independencia mourning those 65 miners. Mineros carried 65 symbolic coffins and placed them at the monument where mineworkers from all sections and locals held an overnight vigil. SME, UNTTYP, Continental Tires Workers, FAT, CAW, USW, UE and IndustriALL Global Union participated in solidarity with Los Mineros.

Other gross injustices facing Los Mineros include the conflicts in Ciudad Acuña, Cananea, Taxco and Zacatecas, and of course the false criminal charges keeping General Secretary Napoleón Gomez Urrutia in exile in Canada. Napoleon will be participating in a demonstration at the Mexican Consulate in Vancouver today, 21 February.

Other main struggles include those of the SME, SUTEIVP, and Bata. The Bata Sandak workers received several hundred solidarity messages through IndustriALL’s online petition, as well as video messages from overseas trade unions representing shoe workers. PKC workers in Ciudad Acuña have been supported by 9,000 messages to the Finnish-based management through Labourstart.

Click here to see in more detail the actions taken in various countries marking the global days. Extra-notable pages are Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland, and United States.

Affiliates of UNI Global Union will take actions marking the global days on 22 February at Mexican Embassies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and USA.

South African unions come out in support of Mexican workers

Christine Olivier, Second Deputy President of Numsa and a member of IndustriALL Exco led the protest and handed over the memorandum of demands to Ambassador of Mexico, who in turn undertook to ensure that the Mexican government received it.

“We have assembled here in solidarity with our fellow workers in Mexico that are denied their rights as workers as well as human beings to associate and organize themselves into democratic, worker controlled trade unions, free from victimization,” said Olivier. “We demand an end to all anti union activities in your country and the reinstatement of all unfairly dismissed workers for their involvement in unions.”

Protestors called upon the Mexican government to uphold internationally accepted labour standards and to resolve the outstanding ILO complaint against Mexico immediately.

Protestors also demanded justice long overdue to the families of the 65 mineworkers that died in the Pasta de Conchos disaster in 2006 and that Grupo Mexico be held responsible for their deaths.

“Now it is the time for millions of workers around the world to stand up in unison and demand the freedom of the Mexican workers,” said Skhumbuzo Phakathi, International Officer of Numsa. “As called upon by IndustriALL and as per our own culture of international solidarity, we are picketing at the Mexican Embassy in Pretoria to demand that the workers of SME be reinstated and that there be an end to union bashing in Mexico. We further call for the withdrawal of police and army from workplaces. NUMSA’s more than 305 000 members are fully behind our friends in Mexico.”

Patrick Mathabane, International Officer of the NUM spoke of the success of the action; “This shows the strength of international solidarity, we had a NUM shop floor union leader that spoke very well at the event on the importance of unity amongst workers beyond borders. This shows an understanding in our unions for the need to stand up for workers that are being exploited even if it is not in our home country”.

See here the letter sent by IndustriALL-affiliated CEPPWAWU to the Mexican president.

Union rights at Nigerian Oil and Gas Free Zone

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (Nupeng) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (Pengassan), came together in November 2012 to take action against employers in the free zone that were refusing oil workers’ union rights. Of the 123 companies in the zone, only 5 had allowed the unions to organize workers and at all 5 companies, union leaders have been victimized and dismissed.

When companies did not heed the ultimatum issued by Nupeng and Pengassan, at the end of January 2013 the 2 unions issued notice of a 3 day strike to start on 13 February, if dismissed shop floor union leaders were not reinstated and union rights established in all companies in the free zone.

Seeking to resolve issue before the strike, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu agreed together with the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) and the unions that companies would be given 90 days to comply with provisions in the law that require companies to allow for unions to be put in place.

The communique issued after the meeting also requires companies to establish industrial relations departments to interface with the free zone authority and the unions. It also requires companies to comply with labour laws and ILO conventions stating, “No worker shall be victimized for any role played in the unionisation process and union activities.”

Isaac Aberare, Acting General Secretary of Nupeng says of the victory; “the free zone authority had been going about its business as if legislated union rights did not apply in the free zone, now these have been established through the intervention of government and oil workers in the free zone will soon benefit from being free to become members of the union.”

“IndustriALL Global Union salutes this historical victory of Nupeng and Pengassan. Unionization is the only way for workers and societies to get a fair share from the wealth, which the oil sector produces. This struggle and victory should be an example for all oil unions, particularly on the African continent,” said IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary Jyrki Raina.