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.

South African union slams minimum wage compliance criticism

The report asserts that the clothing sector provides an example of how sector labour market institutions and industrial policy creates collusion between government, trade unions and big business that adversely affects jobs in labour intensive sectors.

The report criticises the tough stance taken by the clothing industry bargaining council to ensure that workers are paid the minimum wage. It was released about the same time that five small clothing companies are challenging having to comply with the legislated minimum wage.  

Andre Kriel, General Secretary of the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) has spoken out on the attack on minimum wages in the sector, which start at USD42 a week and even at the highest pay grade, clothing workers are the lowest in South Africa’s manufacturing sector.

Kriel contests circulating information that the bargaining council intends to close down 450 factories for non wage compliance, which would result in 16,000 job losses. He reports that the council holds writs against 297 companies that employ 5,500 workers and that many of these companies are taking steps to become compliant.  

“The issue is not a trade off between jobs and decent work, almost as if the two issues are mutually exclusive. Competitive advantage cannot be based on illegality and a race to the bottom,” states Kriel.

Kriel blames massive job losses in the sector on trade policies and a fast tracked tariff reduction regime introduced more than 15 years ago. Whilst this is true, it is no secret that many South African companies looking to escape minimum wages in the sector have relocated their operations. In Lesotho, a haven for such companies that is surrounded by South Africa on all sides, factory shells can’t be built fast enough for South African clothing companies that want to move in.

Clothing workers in Lesotho are challenging their low wages. An IL0 study in 2011 showed that real wages had declined over a five year period and that the minimum wage in the clothing sector was below that of the general minimum wage in Lesotho. At the time minimum wage in the sector ranged from USD92 to USD113 a month according to job tasks.

Unions demanded a massive increase of up to 172 per cent to USD238 a month and a massive stay away was orchestrated but secured a wage increase of less than 10 per cent. This seemingly unrealistic demand was supported by an ILO Living Wage study in 2012 and efforts continue in Lesotho to push up wages in the clothing sector, which if successful would erode Lesotho’s competitive advantage.

There is no easy solution to achieving decent work in the clothing sector, which is characterised by unfair competition based on wage exploitation and the race to the bottom. In a globalized world, unions need to look beyond national labour legislation to protect wages in labour intensive sectors. International solidarity is required to address competition in the sector that drives down wages and maintains poor compliance with international labour standards.

People before profit is the call at Africa’s Mining Indaba

In its 19th year, the Indaba is no small affair; 7,500 participants and representation from 1,800 companies have gathered in Cape Town, South Africa for the event taking place from 4th to 7th February. Delegates come 100 countries and in addition to those representing mining and government, there is a good sprinkling of services representation, in particular those representing financial firms.

South Africa is keen to portray  that it is ‘business as usual’ after the Marikana incident in which 34 mineworkers were shot dead by police in August last year, related violence and high levels of industrial unrest in the mining sector for almost all of the second half of 2012.

‘No more Marikanas please’ is what government is asking of business.  Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu, gave business the assurance that South Africa will not nationalise the mines and called for an end to discussions and debates on nationalisation. That’s government holding up their end to rebuild investor confidence, but business needs to keep up theirs, which Shabangu spells out as labour conditions at the mines must improve and industrial unrest needs to be avoided. 

It seems quite a gentle approach but Shabangu has been criticised for not being soft enough on mining companies, badly bruised by the events of 2012, in particular her firm objection to Anglo Platinum’s intention to retrench 14,000 workers. Anglo Platinum, which recorded a loss for 2012, is expecting workers to bear the brunt of this, laying blame on workers for the two month strike at its Rustenburg operations. However, Anglo Platinum was on a poor trajectory before the industrial unrest, as a result of high cost inputs, in particular of electricity and water and low platinum prices. Anglo Platinum controls most of the world’s platinum production and so can increase demand and the price of platinum by reducing its output. The company intends to do just that by closing two of its mines and selling another.

A billboard as you enter Cape Town from the airport, tells you how Anglo Platinum is keeping its promise to build 26,000 houses. There should be one next to it saying ‘Amplats giveth and Amplats taketh away’, telling you of the families that could potentially be made homeless when 14,000 breadwinners lose their jobs, assuming that they have houses to lose in the first place.

The need to balance the well resourced spin on corporate social responsibility with a good dose of reality, is one of the principle reasons why civil society working on issues of the extractives sector gather at an Alternative Mining Indaba. It is a side event to the big show; the entrance fee to the Mining Indaba is designed to be out of the reach of civil society, hence ensuring its exclusion.

Civil society draw attention to policy issues as well as actions and impact of mining companies that undermine workers, communities and the environment.  This year has delved deep into the underlying issues that Marikana brought into the public eye and much attention is being paid to the poor conditions for communities living next to the mines; absolute poverty at the coalface of absolute wealth.  

Numsa opposes proposed electricity tariff hikes

Energy regulator had agreed to 3 multi year price determination (MYPD) periods each for three years and the second MYPD is due to come to an end in March 2013. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) argues that Eskom’s proposal for the third MYPD to be extended from three years to five years is a ploy to extend the security period of these enormous tariff hikes.

The tariff increases will result in a 110 per cent increase, raising the price of electricity from the current 61 cents per kilowatt-hour to 128 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2017/18. 70 per cent of energy production is consumed by industry and mining and manufacturing companies will be hard hit by the increase, especially many energy intensive users where Numsa has a strong membership base.

Numsa is concerned that the massive rice increases will adversely affect local industries and companies will be forced to shut down or reduce the size of their workforce through retrenchments. The union has proposed single digit increase that is inflation based.

In his presentation to Nersa at the public hearing in Cape Town, Deputy General Secretary of Numsa, Karl Cloete said, “In a country with already shocking and unacceptable levels of unemployment we cannot facilitate the retrenchment of workers by allowing Eskom to deepen companies’ already severe financial strain and further erode their competitiveness.”

Numsa also raises concern on the impact this will have on poor households for whom the price increase will be far above inflation. These households will also have to faced increase costs of consumer good as a result of the hike.

Eskom’s proposal is based on the need to generate R1.1 trillion in revenue to cover its costs including a massive capacity expansion programme required as a result of poor planning and investment that led to a supply crisis and rolling blackouts in 2007/8.

Whilst Cloete recognises the necessity of the capacity expansion programme, he argues, “Citizens, the poor in particular and local industry cannot be punished with outrageous hikes to the point of deepening unemployment, poverty and inequality as a result of inaction or wrong policy choices by political elites.”

Numsa questions some of Eskom’s revenue requirements, including the accumulation of R43 billion over the proposed MYPD period for its sole shareholder, the South African government, which does not go to the fiscus but is returned to Eskom to bolster its balance sheet to achieve a good credit rating. 

Numsa plans to picket at all nine provincial hearings that will be held through the second half of January.

IndustriALL extends full solidarity to NUM

After the tragic events at the Lonmin Marikana Platinum mine on 16 August 2012, in which 34 mineworkers died in a violent clash with police forces, an IndustriALL Global Union solidarity delegation was received by NUM on 6 and 7 December 2012.  

Andrew Vickers, of CFMEU, and leader of the IndustriALL mission to South Africa, reported on the appalling working and living conditions found in the mines in South Africa by the delegation.

Living in cramped, inadequate hostels and shanty towns with no facilities that are constructed on company land, the unrest of the workers is not surprising, 

said Vickers.

A significant portion of the responsibility for the unrest must lie with the mining houses, which continued to make considerable profit while workers live in temporary and appalling conditions,

he added.

And it is clear to us that if you destroy NUM then you destroy the broader trade union movement in South Africa,

said Vickers.

Commenting on the current situation and the challenges faced by NUM, COSATU and the union movement in South Africa, Frans Belani, NUM General Secretary reiterated the three factors of South African society that needed to be addressed – high unemployment, poverty and inequality.

South Africa had not escaped the effects of the global financial crisis with people at the lower end of the economy, including miners, are feeling the effects,

he explained.

Frans reported that the Platinum producers have now agreed to form a Bargaining Council and next year will negotiate as an industry rather than as individual companies, and that NUM is seeking to establish Bargaining Sectors across all industries.

The government and the Chamber of Mines have agreed on a second Commission of Inquiry to look into the working and social conditions of mineworkers. A lot of faith is being put into the success of the planned second Commission of Inquiry.

The mission on 6 and 7 December took place to enable IndustriALL and key mining affiliates the opportunity to extend solidarity support to the workers and members of NUM and the national centre, COSATU, following the crisis that began in the platinum mining sector.

The mission also gave IndustriALL and affiliates an opportunity to understand first hand the events and challenges that exist, enabling an informed discussion on the issues at the Executive Committee of IndustriALL on 12 December 2012.