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A strike by over 200 militants of the Metal and Allied Namibian Workers&rsquo; Union (MANWU) from 6-9 June succeeded in winning salary and housing increases at the companies of the Plastic Packaging Group, a polymer manufacturing and recycling chain of companies that operates in Namibia, Angola, and the Northern Cape of South Africa. 
 
At Namibian workplaces in Windhoek and Okahandja, striking MANWU workers forced company managers back to the bargaining table on 9 June, where they increased a previously unacceptable pay and housing allowance offer. The bargaining was aided by mediation from the Namibian Labour Commissioner&rsquo;s office, which on 23 May had declared the collective agreement unresolved. 
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The strike caused Plastic Packaging managers to raise a prior and combined 12% offer closer to the 19% demands of workers. The compromise agreement will give each worker an N$280 (&euro;29) monthly pay and housing increase retroactive to March of this year. 
 
The dispute was fraught with charges and counter-charges of threats and intimidation on shop stewards who were calling for the strike. The Plastic Packaging Group is Namibia&rsquo;s only maker and distributor of polymer packaging products. It consists of Plastic Packaging Namibia, Polyoak Packaging Namibia, and Namibia Polymer Recyclers, as well as Plastic Packaging Cape and Agno Plastics. 
 
MANWU is affiliated to the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF).

Metal, Allied Namibian Union Wins Pay, Housing Gains in Packaging Strike

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From the International Union of Food &amp; Agriculture (IUF) Association
Business is doing well at Unilever&rsquo;s personal products factory at Doom Dooma in the Indian state of Assam. But nearly four years after management tried to destroy the union with a punishing six-week lockout, and almost one year since the IUF and Unilever formally concluded an agreement to settle the dispute under the auspices of the UK government, the workers are still waiting for their union to be recognized as their collective bargaining agent. 
 
The workers&rsquo; mood is one of deepening frustration. How has this happened? 
 
On July 15, 2007 a dispute over the breach of a provision in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) led to a lockout of 700 union members of the Hindustan Lever Workers&rsquo; Union. Management&rsquo;s condition for ending the lockout was that the legitimate union disbands and that all workers transfer their membership to a hastily improvised construction dubbed the Hindustan Unilever Democratic Workers Union (HUSS). Workers were forced to sign forms to this effect as a condition for returning to work on September 3. Shortly after this, a CBA with the new organization was registered with the local authorities &ndash; and workers found that their union check-off was being paid to the sham union against their wishes. 
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On December 5, 2007, the union protested this illegal subsidy to a non-representative trade union to management &ndash; together with a petition with 372 signatures, of names and employee numbers. 
 
In October 2007, the IUF followed a complaint about these union-busting practices with the UK National Contact Point (NCP) responsible for the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises. Nothing happened, either in Doom Dooma or at the NCP. 
 
In June 2008, the NCP suspended the complaint because the legitimate union petitioned the Assam High Court to hold a state-supervised election to determine which organization represented the workers for collective bargaining purposes. The Court took its time. Unilever continued to illegally deduct the check-off subsidy for their own creation. 
 
In February 2010 the High Court finally got around to issuing a decision: it had no jurisdiction to supervise an election, but there was no legal obstacle to the parties agreeing on an election procedure outside the court. 
 
In July 2010, Unilever and the IUF agreed, under the auspices of the NCP, to do just that. The illegal dues check off would cease, the authorities would be asked to conduct an election under agreed conditions, and should the authorities refuse a procedure was agreed to hold voluntary elections under a third party. 
 
The deductions stopped for a month &ndash; and then resumed. Only in February this year, did illegal deductions to the yellow union definitely cease. But workers cannot use the check-off to support the work of their own union &ndash; there is no check-off. And the elections exist only on a paper signed in London, with one excuse after another invoked to explain why they don&rsquo;t take place. 
 
For four long years, workers at the plant have been denied the right to support, with a contribution from their wages, the union they have repeatedly declared should represent them. By consistently refusing to implement an agreement signed by the IUF in good faith, Unilever has shown contempt for the Assam workers, for their union, for the IUF and for the UK National Contact Point. The IUF will take all necessary action in support of its members in Doom Dooma. 
 
See the full <a href="http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/951">IUF report</a> here.&nbsp;

Patience Thin at Unilever-India as Company Evades Union Rights

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The ICEM and Public Services International (PSI) last week supported the OECD petition under the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises of joint US affiliate Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) against United Water, Suez Environnement, and GDF SUEZ for alleged environmental deceit and unfair labour practice complaints lodged by the US government against United Water. 
 
GDF SUEZ is signatory to a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with ICEM and PSI, and compliance with the OECD Guidelines is one framework inside the GFA. In a 14 June letter to the National Contact Points of the French and American governments, ICEM and PSI General Secretaries Manfred Warda and Peter Waldorff called on the respective contacts points to intervene and mediate the charges contained in UWUA&rsquo;s petition. 

&ldquo;We have been aware of United Water&rsquo;s negligent social conduct in the United States since December 2010, first related to the felony indictment of the Clean Water Act by the US Justice Department, and later (May 2011) of the US National Labor Relations Board&rsquo;s (NLRB) issuance of labor law complaints against United Water for breach of standard collective bargaining practices with the UWUA,&rdquo; wrote the two Global Union Federations. 
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Under the GFA, ICEM and PSI had previously criticised GDF SUEZ over United Water&rsquo;s derisive social conduct in America. United Water is wholly owned by Suez Environnement, which in turn is 35% by GDF SUEZ. The GFA, signed in November 2010, covers all GDF SUEZ businesses, including ones in which the company holds a minority stake. 
 
The UWUA&rsquo;s OECD complaint cites the NLRB&rsquo;s unfair labour practice complaints against United Water at two separate locations where the UWUA represents workers and is now negotiating with the company over renewal agreements. The US government agency charges management with failure to provide relevant information to the union related to bargaining. The GFA specifically references transparency in labour-management forums in pledging adherence to the OECD Guidelines and the ILO Tripartite Principles, both of which have clear language regarding exchange of information for &ldquo;meaningful negotiations&rdquo; in social partnerships. 
 
The alleged environmental infractions already had seen the ICEM and PSI take issue with United Water. Those charges stem from December 2010 when the Justice Department issued a criminal indictment charging that United Water intentionally manipulated E.coli bacteria monitoring tests at a wastewater treatment plant in the US state of Indiana. The indictment alleges that United Water engaged in a scheme in which it increased chlorine levels on government-mandated E.coli inspections, and then lowered chlorine input levels after such testing. The US government alleges United Water did this as a costs-savings measure. The company has pleaded not guilty to the charges. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4208-US-Affiliate-UWUA-Challenges-GDF-SUEZ-Inside-Global-Agreement">ICEM report</a> on that alleged environmental crime here.)&nbsp; 
The UWUA filed the OECD petition on 8 June at the French embassy in Washington, DC, along with the American NGO Food and Water Watch, at the French embassy in Washington, DC, as well as to the US government&rsquo;s National Contact Point. Under the OECD complaint process, both the US and French governments are obligated to forward the submission to the French parent companies and to the US subsidiary for a formal reply.

ICEM, PSI Join US, French OECD Complaint Against GDF SUEZ

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The Council of Global Unions (CGU), at its meeting in Geneva on 10 June, adopted two statements; one on labeling chrysotile asbestos in the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) category of the Rotterdam Convention, the other condemning the assault on public sector workers in the US state of Wisconsin, and endorsing Wisconsin as a pilot site in this week&rsquo;s campaign launch of &ldquo;Quality Public Services &ndash; Action Now.&rdquo; 
 
The CGU, founded on 10 January 2007, is the coordinating body for nearly all Global Union Federations (GUFs), the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) of the OECD, and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). CGU&rsquo;s charter calls for &ldquo;a common determination to organise, defend human and trade union rights and labour standards everywhere, and promote the growth of trade unions for the benefit of all working women and men and their families.&rdquo; 
 
The 10 June statement on chrysotile asbestos is aimed at this week&rsquo;s Rotterdam Convention meetings in Geneva and urges an override past objections to PIC listing &ldquo;by a tiny number of countries who have a vested interest in maintaining their lucrative trade in this potent human carcinogen.&rdquo; 
 
The Rotterdam Convention establishes controls on the trade of toxic substances. With chrysotile asbestos, also known as white asbestos, unlisted, countries can export it without warning labels or safety precautions. The five biggest export nations of it are China, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Canada. 
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The CGU statement cites the mineral with causing 100,000 deaths annually and cautions that failure to classify it risks the spread of even more deaths particularly in the developing world. 
 
&ldquo;The Global Unions asbestos policy stipulates that the only &lsquo;safe use&rsquo; of asbestos is no use at all,&rdquo; reads the CGU statement. &ldquo;We call on Canada and other asbestos stakeholders to accept that the time has come to include chrysotile on the PIC list so that developing countries can make informed decisions on a subject of such deadly importance.&rdquo; 
 
The CGU&rsquo;s Wisconsin statement reads: &ldquo;The attack that public employees and their unions are now facing in Wisconsin is part of a larger design by those who want to create a powerless and compliant workforce, and to plunder the common good of public services. 
 
&ldquo;Turning back this tide is not a local or even national challenge. Trade unions worldwide and our allies are working together with a shared determination to organize, defend human and labor rights, promote the growth of unions and advance quality public services for the benefit of all people.&rdquo; 
 
On 14 June, in a 4-3 ruling, the Wisconsin state Supreme Court struck down a lower court decision that blocked implementation of Governor Scott Walker&rsquo;s law, clearing the way for the gutting of public sector bargaining rights for 300,000 teachers, nurses, and other public workers. (See a prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4308-Wisconsin-Eliminates-Public-Sector-Bargaining-Resistance-Continues ">ICEM report</a> on the midnight passage of Walker&rsquo;s legislation here.) 
The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) and other US unions will now bring the fight to federal courtrooms in further lawsuits to block Walker&rsquo;s anti-social, anti-people measure.

Global Unions Issue Statements on Chrysotile Asbestos, Public Sector Assault in Wisconsin

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ICEM-affiliated United Mine Workers&rsquo; of America (UMWA) members ratified a front-end loaded and pattern-setting US national coal collective agreement on 17 June. The contract with the Bituminous Coal Operators&rsquo; Association (BCOA) was ratified by 70% of miners voting at 125 UMWA local branches, and comes six months before expiry of an existing national contract. 
 
The five-and-a-half-year agreement replaces the existing one and takes effect on 1 July. It will cover 10,000 miners and preserves the long UMWA tradition of providing excellent salaries, pension benefits, and health care coverage to US miners and retired miners. 
 
The US$6-an-hour wage increases over the life of the contract will now serve as a national pattern in union and non-union mines across North America. More importantly, that pattern is extended to include pension benefits &ndash; including health care benefits &ndash; for tens of thousands of retired miners and for workers and retirees of many coal and energy companies outside of the BCOA. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="139" />
UMWA President Cecil Roberts
&ldquo;Our members will receive the largest pay increase in the 121-year history of our union,&rdquo; said UMWA President Cecil Roberts. &ldquo;In addition, we were able to preserve full health care benefits for active and retired members and their dependants, as well as preserve pensions for current and future retirees with no cuts in benefits.&rdquo; 
 
The national accord includes two US$1-per-hour increases in the first six months of the new agreement, on 1 July and again on 1 January, which is an average 8.2% increase over current wages. Wages will be increased by US$1-per-hour on 1 January in each successive year until 2016. 
 
The UMWA preserved health care benefits for active and retired miners with no cuts. The agreement preserves a pension plan that sees a company-contributed US$5.50-man-hour-worked into a pension fund that ensures the benefits are paid in full. 
 
The UMWA posted several other improvements in the proposed agreement, including pay increases for shift work, increased sickness, accident, vision and dental benefits, and better life insurance terms. 
 
The ICEM termed the new collective accord exemplary on several fronts. &ldquo;This contract again is verification of the tremendous power that UMWA holds for a social America,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;It deserves attention and wide applause.&rdquo;

UMWA Wins Excellent Terms in US National Coal Talks

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The ICEM CAL Mini Guide to Dealing with Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) is now available in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, and Bahasa Indonesian. 
 
The guide gives an overview of what the ICEM and its affiliates around the world are doing to promote permanent, direct employment and at the same time to promote better conditions for CAL workers. It also suggests ways in which unions can build relations with CAL workers, for example by creating a dedicated precarious workers&rsquo; section or representative, or introducing different membership fee levels and/or an alternate methods of dues collection. ICEM affiliates are encouraged to initiate a discussion on CAL within their own unions, and the Guide suggests a number of questions which may help to get these discussions started. 
 
The CAL Mini Guide in <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20French.pdf">French</a> is available here. 
 
The CAL Mini Guide in <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20Spanish%20HQP.pdf">Spanish</a> is available here. 
 
The CAL Mini Guide in <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20Portuguese.pdf">Portuguese</a> is available here. 
 
The CAL Mini Guide in <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20Hindi.pdf">Hindi</a> is available here. 
 
The CAL Mini Guide in <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20Bahasa.pdf">Bahasa Indonesian</a> is available here.

ICEM Mini Guide to Dealing with CAL now in multiple languages

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On 8 March, to coincide with International Women&rsquo;s Day, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) released a report exploring the gender dimensions of the increasing move towards contract, agency and other types of precarious work. Entitled &ldquo;Living with Economic Insecurity,&rdquo; the report analyses global employment trends, including the global economic crisis, and concludes that the crisis has had a particularly far-reaching, but under-acknowledged effect on women. This has been exacerbated by the fact that women are over-represented in insecure forms of employment. 
 
There are no global figures regarding the number of women in precarious employment, but the report details a number of studies which illustrate the over-representation of women in insecure employment. In industrialised countries, where the female employment rate in 2009 was 53.1% versus 68.4% for men, women are more likely to be employed in part-time jobs. In Japan, women represent two-thirds of all non-regular workers and 80% of the female workforce are in temporary jobs. In some developing countries, female employment is predominantly in export-orientated manufacturing sectors, characterised by low wages, insecurity and denial of trade union rights. 
 
According to the report women are increasingly working in the outsourced public sector jobs, for example as cleaners and care-workers, where they are denied access to social protections and receive lower wages than their permanent counterparts. Jobs in the care sector are highly precarious and low paid. Many workers in the sector do have contracts that guarantee a set number of hours, and work on an &ldquo;upon request&rdquo; basis. Workers in the cleaning sector suffered due to the cutbacks brought on by the crisis, such as in Belgium where many office cleaning contracts were reduced from once a day to once a week, with negative impacts for the predominantly female, precarious workforce. 
 
According to the ITUC, women suffer from a &ldquo;double pay deficit,&rdquo; firstly from gender discrimination and secondly as a result of lower pay for precarious work. In Korea, for example, 70% of female workers are in precarious employment and earn only 43% of the salaries of regular male workers. 
 
The overrepresentation of women in precarious employment has become a key factor contributing to the global pay gap between men and women, and according to the report &ldquo;Job insecurity, far from being compensated through higher wages, actually tends to go hand in hand with low pay.&rdquo; 
 
The ITUC has prioritised getting women out of precarious and informal jobs in the following ways: 
 
1. Shifting policy focus to the creation of quality jobs, including by ensuring that the employment relationship is legally secure. 
 
2. Implementing the gender equity agenda, including through investment in public services and taking steps to promote the employment of women in all sectors. 
 
3. Providing universal access to social security through the implementation of a social protection floor for all, regardless of their employment situation. 
 
4. Taking up the challenge of organising workers in insecure forms of work by removing legal obstacles and broadening collective bargaining strategies. 
 
The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ITUC%20report%20-%20women%20and%20precarious%20work.pdf">full report</a> is available here.

Gender and CAL: ITUC’s Women in Precarious Work Report

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In late 2010, the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) carried out research into working conditions in 83 sportswear-producing factories in Asia, together employing over 100,000 workers. One key finding of the research was that Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) is being routinely used by employers in the industry as a way to evade employment responsibilities. 
 
In Indonesia, ITGLWF affiliates SPN and Garteks found that agency workers are being denied basic entitlements including written contracts, pay when taking annual leave and sick pay. In factories supplying multinational sports brands, up to 80% of the entire workforce were found to be on fixed term contracts. 
 
In the Philippines, despite the fact that Article 280 of the Labour Code prohibits the use of contracts workers to perform core functions, a full 25% of workers were employed precariously. In one factory in Cavite, 50% of the workforce were employed on a contract basis. After five months, workers were forced to join the in-house manpower cooperative before being rehired on a new contract. The Filipino Labour Code prohibits the contracting out of work through an in-house agency. 
 
In both Indonesia and the Philippines, the vast majority of CAL workers were not union members. The workers who were interviewed told researchers that the main reason for this was fear that if management found out they had unionised their contract would not be renewed. 
 
A summary of the research findings is available <a href="http://www.itglwf.org/lang/en/documents/ITGLWFSportswearReport2011_000.pdf">here</a>.

ITGLWF Research Shows CAL rife in Sportswear Industry

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Why did NUMSA decide to make CAL a priority? 
 
Contract and agency work is one of the big challenges for trade unions. The percentage of contract and agency work has gone up. That&rsquo;s why NUMSA has demanded that the government ban labour brokers. Workers are exploited in a big way &ndash; because they are not employed by the primary employer they receive less benefits. They are easy to dismiss &ndash; a broker is just told to take that worker off my premises. 
 
In the engineering sector, labour brokers are regulated, but there are many loopholes. There is no proper monitoring system to make sure there is respect for their rights. 
 
In the auto sector, we won our demand &ndash; it was agreed that the use of labour brokers will be phased out until there are none. The workers who had been employed by brokers must become permanent. Despite the need the workers to have medical care, employers do not want to pay medical aid and also transport allowances. In the engineering sector, the employers have rejected our demand. In all sectors, there are more and more workers employed by brokers. 
 
Do permanent workers and labour broker workers receive different wages? Does this create tensions? 
 
This issue also divides workers. I work next to you but my conditions are not the same as yours. Why should I support you? If I am earning $US50 and you earn $US40 but we are doing the same work, that&rsquo;s inequality. South Africa is seen as the most unequal country in the world. Workers employed through labour brokers are on the minimum wage of the industry. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="102" />
What are the challenges in organising labour broker workers? Have you had successes? 
 
In many of our companies, we organise labour broker workers. Some company unions are not strong, some workers are afraid. Labour broker workers are easy to dismiss. Labour brokers often say just don&rsquo;t come back. 
At ITRON, a company which manufactures pre-paid electricity meters, 100% of the workers are unionised. They have a history of dealing with the workers. They can challenge the primary employer if conditions are not up to standard. 
 
Then there is the constitution. There is the constitutional right to be associated with any organisation of the workers&rsquo; choice. We can use the constitution to fight when it comes to labour brokers. The union must be strong to fight. 
 
Canteen and cleaning workers are often outsourced. You find that these workers belong to another union. 
 
What are the main concerns and priorities for labour broker workers? 
 
In some companies, permanent workers get medical aid, but labour broker workers don&rsquo;t qualify. Medical aid is not compulsory. Labour broker workers don&rsquo;t have job security. They cannot plan in the long term. They live one day to the next. There is never stability in their life. The wages are different, mostly labour broker workers are paid the minimum wage of the industry. In terms of training and growth, as a labour broker worker you are compromised. 
 
In the auto sector, when we go to negotiate, we look at what we can demand that responds to the challenges. It might take one-to-two years before labour brokers are completely out of the industry, but at least there is that agreement for them. The workers know the union will give legal support. 
 
There are two parallel processes. We still continue to demand that labour brokers are banned and also, at the same time, we organise labour broker workers. The number of permanent workers has been drastically reduced. In the engineering sector, workers who have been retrenched must be employed first, but they do so with labour brokers &ndash; there are so many loopholes. 
 
An argument against the use of labour brokers is that they are a form of modern day slavery. They are the worst kinds of exploitation. These workers are vulnerable but trade unions can fight for their rights. There are more women working for labour brokers.

Interview with Christina Olivier, Vice President, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa

<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="55" />
Klaus Priegnitz of IG Metall, the German Metalworkers&rsquo; Union, has become the new General Secretary of the ITGLWF. 
Klaus was a former officer of the clothing and textile workers union Gewerkschaft Textil/Bekleidung till the integration of GTB with IG Metall in 1998. 
He has been closely involved in the work of the ITGLWF over the past two decades and was elected a Vice-President of the ITGLWF at the 10th World Congress in 2009. 
Klaus was elected General Secretary at a special meeting of the Executive Committee held on 25 May in Geneva. 
He replaces the outgoing General Secretary Patrick Itschert who was recently elected Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

ITGLWF Elects New General Secretary

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