MAURITIUS ACTIONS

In Mauritius, IndustriALL Global Union affiliate the CMCTEU together with its affiliated Confederation the CTSP held a Mass Demonstration on Sunday 7 October. Workers and their families were invited to participate. Their slogan: “Together We Can !”.

In Mauritius Since the promulgation of two new labour legislations in February 2009 workers of the private sector have seen their acquired rights put at stake.

With the new anti-worker laws, employers can hire and fire at will. And hire again on temporary contract, workers are fired without any compensation. On contract there is no local, sick, maternity or paternity leaves. The Minister of Labour has unilaterally decided to amend the law and render it possible for employers to negotiate directly with a group of workers with view of signing Collective Agreement. The very existence of Trade Unions in the Private Sector in Mauritius is at risk.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

In the Democratic Republic of Congo three IndustriALL Global Union affiliates mobilized on 6 October for the World Day for Decent Work to STOP Precarious Work.

The Fédération des Travailleurs du Textile, Habillement, Cuir et Plastic(FTTHC-PL), the Fédération des Travailleurs de l’Energie et Mines(FTEM) and the Fédération des Travailleurs de l’Energie, Pétrochimie(FTEP) came together to discuss how trade unions can come together to STOP precarious work in the DRC.

Recommendations on measures to avoid the spread of precarious work were prepared by the working group and will be sent to the government by the national center CDT

Zimbabwe’s electricity utility continues to frustrate workers

So far hearings have been held for 58 of the 135 workers suspended on 17 July by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA). 55 workers have been re-instated with pay and 3 dismissed.

Through ZEWU’s efforts, all but 2 of the remaining workers have returned to work pending the outcome of their hearings due to take place over the next 2 weeks. This has been a psychological victory for workers, boosting morale after more than two months of no work or pay.

The two remaining suspended works are ZEWU’s President, Angeline Chitambo, who is also an executive committee member of IndustriALL Global Union and National Executive Committee member Dennis Makote. They face different charges than those of other workers that were suspended.

ZEWU is concerned that their leaders will not have a fair hearing and are opposed to proposed terms of a one year gag order that will affect their ability to represent workers.

ZEWU continues to do battle with ZESA over their suspension as well as defending the 3 workers that have been dismissed.

ZEWU also has been preparing the arbitration award granting a 30 per cent wage increase that is been challenged by ZESA by the high court.

At a meeting of IndustriALL Southern Africa Energy Network held recently in Johannesburg, the union leaders resolved to continue with solidarity support to ZEWU through regional and international efforts.

GUINEA ACTIONS

Industriall affiliates in Guinea, intend to organize a major conference followed by an open debate on the growing issue of precarious work in Guinea, the Causes and the socioeconomic consequences.

Unions fight back against the explosion of agency labour

“Employment via agencies, labour brokers, dispatchers and contractors is being used to wholesale replace permanent, direct employment. Its use goes way beyond any legitimate need to fill genuinely temporary vacancies,” said Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union.

Massive expansion

‘The Triangular Trap’ reports that the “according to the global agency industry body, the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (Ciett) the industry’s global annual sales revenue increased from €83 billion in 1996 to €203 billion in 2009 and the number of agency workers has more than doubled over the same period.”

The defining characteristic of agency labour is a triangular relationship between the user enterprise, the agency and the worker, isolating the worker from the enterprise that effectively controls their work, their pay and their conditions so that the worker has no say in any of them and has no mechanism to negotiate improvements.

The result is agency workers typically receive lower wages than directly hired workers performing the same work and they are excluded from numerous benefits and face higher health and safety risks. Agency workers are also typically unable to join a union or bargain collectively.

“Employers all over the world are taking advantage of laws which allow them to replace their permanent workforces with agency workers in order to avoid their employment obligations,” said Raina.

Industry lobbying to increase use of agency labour

The report exposes how agencies and Ciett gloss over the negative consequences of agency work in their lobbying efforts to remove legal restrictions on agency work. In a chapter on busting the myths put forward by Ciett, The Triangular Trap cites numerous examples from workers and unions around the world who are fighting against the negative impact of agency work.

IndustriALL is launching ‘The Triangular Trap’ as part of its global campaign to stop precarious work. On October 7, the World Day for Decent Work, IndustriALL affiliates mobilized their members to take action against the spread of agency work and other forms of precarious employment.

“With ‘The Triangular Trap’ IndustriALL is sending a message to business and governments worldwide that we will not sit quietly while workers’ rights and the labour standards and protections that have been achieved through union struggle are undermined by agency work,” said Raina.

Unions take action to STOP Precarious Work

Here are some recent actions planed by IndustriALL affiliates to STOP Precarious Work:

Share your actions with IndustriALL by emailing us at [email protected] or through our STOP Precarious Work Cause page. Follow IndustriALL on twitter and tweet using the #STOPprecariouswork hashtag and IndustriALL will re-tweet your actions and photos. Posters and leaflets are available in different languages here.

IndustriALL will also be sharing affiliate actions on the ITUC’s World Day for Decent Work 2012 website. With the global economic crisis still hitting working people hard in every part of the world, trade unions around the world continue to organize mobilizations, events and activities on October 7 to demand decent jobs and full respect for workers’ rights.

IndustriALL European Trade Union is also organizing activities between 8 and 12 October, mobilizing for European industrial workers to stand up for industry as the bedrock of the European economy. Their slogan is “Bring Decency back to work! Industry – that is us”.

Workers celebrate agreements with ArcelorMittal in Pittsburgh and Monrovia.

The USW and ArcelorMittal agreement is valid for three years and will cover 14,000 workers at 15 ArcelorMittal U.S. Sites. The USW reports the negotiations were tough, the union had to defend against the company’s attempts to impose a two-tier wage system. USW also had to protect seniority rights and maintain limits on work performed by outside contractors. The agreement provides for a wage increase and improved health care conditions. The specific details of the agreement are not disclosed until the members’ approval voting, which will last several weeks.

“After ten long weeks of difficult negotiations that continued past the expiration of our previous contract, the hard work of our committee has resulted in a tentative agreement with ArcelorMittal,” said Leo W. Gerard, USW International President, commenting on the agreement. “Our members’ unwavering solidarity throughout the bargaining process in the face of management’s high-risk scare tactics and demands for major cutbacks has been rewarded,” Gerard added.

At the same time the Liberia where United Workers Union of Liberia (UWUL) has concluded its first collective bargaining agreement with ArcelorMittal.

The agreement signed in Monrovia came after years of organizing in the mining sector since Liberia’s civil war forced the shutdown of the iron ore mines in the mid-1990s. Among other conditions the agreement includes a wage increase up to 20 per cent and enhanced benefits for the employees. The company and the union will also establish a joint health and safety committee.

The IndustriALL Global Union puts a special focus on provision of healthy and safe working conditions at ArcelorMittal sites. Back in 2007, the International Metalworkers’ Federation one of the co-founders of IndustriALL, the European Metalworkers' Federation (now IndustriAll European Trade Union) and the United Steelworkers signed an agreement with ArcelorMittal on the creation of a Joint Global Health and Safety Committee (JGHSC). One part of the agreement foresees the creation of joint bodies at ArcelorMittal sites, which are aimed at improving occupational health and safety.

Unions are taking action to STOP Precarious Work

In Indonesia IndustriALL’s affiliates together three confederations, KSPI, KSBSI and KSPSI will mount an extensive national strike to stop outsourcing and fight against low wages from 25 September to 15 October, including a major rally on 3 October.

In Mauritius, since the promulgation of two new labour laws in February 2009, private sector workers have seen their acquired rights put at risk. The CMCTEU, together with its confederation the CTSP, will hold a Mass Demonstration on Sunday 7 October. Workers and their families have been invited to participate.

In Germany, the IG BCE will join the planned actions of the confederation DGB in a one day conference on 7 October in Berlin to raise awareness on issues including fighting precarious work and trade union rights violations.

In South Africa, Colombia, Thailand and the Philippines, more actions are planned in conjunction with other activities and will be reported on the IndustriALL website. Slovak and Hungarian unions are planning to organize a joint meeting on the issue of precarious work around 7 October close to the Hungarian border.

There are no limits on the forms of action that you and your union can take on or around 7 October to support the global fight against precarious work. Actions could include street protests, seminars, membership meetings, press conferences, public meetings, rallies, workplace actions, letter writing campaigns and delegations to governments.

Share your actions with IndustriALL by emailing us at [email protected] or through our STOP Precarious Work Cause page. Follow IndustriALL on twitter and tweet using the #STOPprecariouswork hashtag and IndustriALL will retweet your actions and photos. Posters and leaflets are available in different languages here.

Wage deal at Lonmin but labour unrest continues in South Africa’s mining sector

A wage deal was struck following a month of tense negotiations and continuing labour strife in the aftermath of police killing 34 striking Lonmin miners on 16 August. Rock drillers, whose demands for a monthly salary of R12,500 were at the centre of the strike, will now receive R11,078 after a 22 per cent increase as well a once off bonus to return to work.

The deal is likely to set a precedent for wage demands and create a new benchmark for wages in the sector and could possibly fuel a ripple effect of labour unrest in the mining sector. Already 15,000 gold miners at KDC West operations of Goldfields are on strike citing demands related to those of workers at Marikana. Anglo Platinum has shut down its Rustenburg operations in anticipation of spreading labour unrest and on 18 September, police fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse protestors outside the mine. There are also rumblings that workers at Impala Platinum have been inspired by the deal to make similar demands.

Whilst the strike may be over, shock at the violence and the unnecessary force used by police has led to the recognition that changes are needed in the mining sector. From their congress currently in session, the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) states “We are extremely concerned that the events of 16 August and the on-going violence, whose main victims remain the exploited masses, has shifted the focus and blame from the platinum bosses who have systematically undermined collective bargaining and promoted division amongst workers, and who have been sitting in the shadows enjoying profits from the very workers whose families have now been robbed of their only breadwinners.” Full Cosatu statement.

There is still much to do to address the working and living conditions of mineworkers that have received much exposure as the root cause of the unrest. Attention has also been drawn to the plight of mining communities and sub contracted workers. To this end, Cosatu has called for a second independent commission of inquiry to investigate the employment and social conditions of workers in the mining industry, historically and at present. This second commission will work parallel to the judicial commission already appointed by the South African President, Jacob Zuma to look into the Lonmin tragedy.

Whilst plans are underway to establish centralized bargaining for the platinum industry, worker confidence in union representation and the collective bargaining process needs to be rebuilt. Cosatu has expressed its commitment to defend the National Union of Mineworkers (Num).

The NUM has been at the forefront of calling for radical change in the industry. But its efforts have been frustrated by unilateralism on the part of the bosses, by the blind encouragement of splinter unions by the bosses by competition for positions of shop steward, by the resuscitation of tribalism in some areas, and the resistance of our government to ban the practice of labour broking. COSATU condemns, in the strongest terms, the opportunistic political exploitation of the plight of workers and incitement to violence by any groups or individuals for their own selfish ends.

Workers must come first in proposed EADS and BAE merger

IndustriALL Global Union is calling for an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the merger for workers in both companies.

The proposed merger is suggested as good for business but this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s good for the workforce and the countries where they operate. Eliminating the fear of workers will assist in a faster integration of the two companies should the merger proceed.

The new company would have a workforce of over 200,000 and annual sales of over 57 billion GBP. Although both companies have a presence in similar markets there are also areas that are unique to each such as EADS Space Division.

As both companies have a considerable defense portfolio a lot of attention has been focused on the implications and issues of national interest. Although this attention is warranted what’s likely to have an equally important impact is the companies’ industrial strategy post merger.

In order for unions to support the merger management must first eliminate fear among workers and develop a transparent and inclusive process. Unions in both companies have been developing strategies in response to the announcement and IndustriALL has a central role in coordinating these efforts globally.

Rob Johnston, Executive Director of IndustriALL Global Union and responsible for Aerospace argues, “A merger of this nature needs careful consideration. Both companies provide thousands of highly skilled jobs we can’t afford to gamble with these. We need to ensure the checks and balances are in place to protect employment and that a well thought out business plan exists should the merger take place.”

Critical to unions is transparency throughout the merger process and the ability to influence the company’s future plans. Since the announcement of the merger most commentary has focused on the economic case. Little attention has focused on the industrial strategy and the management’s business plan in particular the case for jobs.

Unions in both EADS and BAE Systems have been loudest in raising this question. To date an answer has not been provided and that’s why unions are seeking a greater involvement in the merger process. IndustriALL will coordinate these efforts at the global level engaging unions across the world and developing a common platform among unions.

Making the case for jobs and employment is a vitally important element to the success or failure of the proposed merger. Developing new tools that will up-skill an already highly skilled workforce should form an integral part of any new business model. The result of the merger must not be a weaker but larger company, but a company focused on developing and retaining a highly skilled workforce to secure its success.