Mar 27, 2013
Solidarity Center staff are leading workshops or presenting on panels this week providing a global focus to discussions on worker rights and social justice at the 2014 conference of the U.S.-based United Association for Labor Education (UALE), in Los Angeles.
Solidarity Center experts will lead sessions that include:
- Combating Child Labor through Trade Law and the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences, examining how child labor has been reduced in Bangladesh and Pakistan through effective organizing and application of trade law;
- Justice Deferred: The Failure of the Labor Action Plan to Protect the Rights of Colombian Port Workers, which looks at the continued vulnerability of workers even after enactment of a plan that promised to support them;
- New Organizing in the New Economy, in which research and cases of organizing successes from diverse workplaces in the United States, Cambodia, Colombia, Tunisia, South Africa and Brazil are presented; and
- Inclusive Off-Site Organizing: Palestinian And Moroccan Workers Unions’ Creative Responses to New Global Economic Realities, where the creative work of Palestinian organizers at the border between the West Bank and Israel and those of Moroccan agricultural workers offer new models for organizing in atypical workplaces.
Solidarity Center staff and allies also will be represented on the plenary panel, Women Workers Organizing for Labor Rights and Social Justice in the Global Economy.
The UALE conference—attended by labor educators, community organizers and those committed to worker education—is designed to unite people dedicated to educating, empowering and organizing working people
Mar 25, 2013
Child care is now provided for union members attending NANNM meetings. Credit: Shuibu Usman Leman, NUJ general secretary
Since 1978, when the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) was formed, few women have been part of the professional trade union’s leadership—even though 80 percent of its members are female.
But in the past two years, union members have been working to increase the number of women leaders while establishing family-friendly policies that address issues such as child care during union meetings. By the end of 2012, the number of women holding state-level leadership positions in NANNM stood at 114, and the union now provides child care for nursing mothers at the union office in the capital, Abuja. NANNM also offers child care for nursing mothers who attend the union’s national meetings and training activities.
Ebiuwou Obiyai, who recently won the national financial secretary position at NANNM’s national office, described her election this way: “I want to create the awareness to our female comrades that this union belongs to all of us and we (women) can encourage effective leadership only if we decide to get involved in the affairs of our beloved NANNM.” Obiyai was one of five women who ran for nine open positions in November 2012. The elections marked a watershed in the history of the union elections—it was the first time such a sizeable number of female members voluntarily ran as independent candidates. Obiyai was one of two female candidates elected to the NANNM National Administrative Council.
In another milestone, NANNM held its first-ever National Gender conference in August 2012. Participants at the conference, held in Ibadan, Oyo State, included more than 140 female members. They created a National Women’s Committee with a five-member steering committee leadership and a mandate to support the first election of female officers in early 2013.
Underlying these successes is NANNM’s national gender policy, which has served as an effective tool for addressing some of the challenges hindering female members from involvement in union activities. Ever since the union’s National Executive Council adopted the policy in October 2011, gender activities have been included in the union’s budget. Members are pushing for an adoption of a gender clause in NANNM’s constitution which will also create opportunities for more women in leadership. Lawal Dutsinma, the unions recent past president and NANNM President Abdulrafiu Adeniji, have actively supported these changes, which began in 2009 when the Solidarity Center launched a series of gender and leadership trainings for members. The trainings, which continued through 2012, led to creation of the gender policy.
Just a few years ago, NANNM’s gender desk office was staffed by one person. That office had no power, no clear budgetary allocation and no programs. NANNM’s 2008 national memorandum stated gender issues would be a priority. In practice, women were never encouraged to play an active role in the union’s leadership and child care was never discussed. Today, women have moved into elected positions in states like Lagos, Benue, Kaduna, Kogi, Osun, Ekiti, Kano, Anambra, Bayelsa and Rivers States. Although the union’s gender power imbalance has not been completely resolved, these moves are powerful steps in the right direction.
Mar 18, 2013
Short-term work contracts are one way employers around the world deny workers job security, seniority rights and health benefits, often while paying them low wages. So it’s noteworthy that six international apparel companies now support repeal of a law in Peru that allows employers in the garment and textile export industries to hire workers on consecutive short-term employment contracts.
In a letter to Peru President Ollanta Humala Tasso earlier this month, the companies write that repeal is “an opportunity for your government to demonstrate its strong support for social inclusion and decent working conditions.” The law, DL 223422, allows companies that export “non-traditional products” to employ workers on short-term contracts—typically for six months, but often for three months and sometimes for as little as one month—to work on specific export orders. The workers are re-hired on subsequent contracts, but never attain full-time job status.
The letter from New Balance; Nike; PVH Corp (owner of the Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein brands); VF Corporation (owner of Wrangler, Lee’s, North Face, Nautica and Timberland brands); 47 Brand; and Life Is Good, comes as the Peruvian Congress is getting set to reconvene. A proposal to repeal the labor provisions of DL 223422 has been presented to congressional committees by members of congress, but textile and apparel manufacturers strongly oppose it.
Passed in 1978 to promote the textile industry, the law was slated to be in place only 10 years, says Vicente Castro, secretary general of the Textile Workers Federation of Peru (Federación de Trabajadores en Tejidos del Perú, FTTP).
In their letter, the corporations also wrote that “in addition to monitoring our suppliers in order to ensure compliance with labor standards, we also look to governments to support and enforce the rule of law in order to ensure that business and workers can operate in a fair and safe environment.”
Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union says: “Peru produces quality cotton and fibers and has succeeded in positioning itself as a provider for major brands.
However, the ‘made in Peru’ label is being tainted by the abuse that comes with the use of short-term employment contracts.”
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has repeatedly asked the government of Peru to amend the law and during his 2011 election campaign, President Ollanta Humala promised to abolish the decree.
The two Peruvian textile federations, Federacion Nacional de Trabajadores Textiles de Peru (FNTTP) and the Federacion de Trabajadores en Tejidos de Peru (FTTP), are urging members of the Peruvian Congress to ensure that the legal reform proposal is discussed in committee.
The federations also are working with their membership and media to generate grassroots pressure so that if needed changes are not made, the U.S. Congress and the Obama administration can add their influence on behalf of Peru’s workers.
Read more at The Maquila Solidarity Network and US LEAP.
Mar 15, 2013
Two massive fires at garment factories in Bangladesh and Pakistan last year killed hundreds of workers, many trapped in buildings with inadequate or locked exits. A new report examining both horrific incidents finds that the deaths and injuries were “caused or exacerbated by illegal, unsafe buildings, faulty electrics or machinery, poor safety procedures and avoidable hazards such as blocked or inadequate fire exits.”
The report, Fatal Fashions, points out that workers’ lack of freedom to form unions and bargain collectively to improve working conditions underlies this deadly environment. “Under different conditions, worker representatives could be expected to address this issue with factory management, but in both Pakistan and Bangladesh, factory owners generally refuse to allow trade unions into their factories,” the report says.
“In countries with generally higher factory safety standards, experience proves that involvement of workers in safety committees, the availability of complaint procedures and the freedom to refuse work under unsafe conditions, has contributed to improved safety.”
The report presents company profiles of the factory owners, Ali Enterprises in Karachi, Pakistan and Tazreen Fashions in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and details accounts of the September and November 2012 fires and actions taken in their aftermath, including victim compensation. The report was produced by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and SOMO (Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen), an organization that provides independent research for civil society organizations. Among the report’s findings:
• Bangladesh has only 80 inspectors in the entire country—including 20 inspectors for occupational health and safety—for 24,299 factories, 3 million shops and establishments, and two major ports.
• Many of the workers and families affected by the garment fires in Karachi and Dhaka have not yet received any compensation or have only received compensation that fails to cover the loss of income for the survivors and their families. Neither Bangladesh nor Pakistan has ratified International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 121, which recommends a structured compensation plans for victims of workplace disaster.
• The legal minimum wage in both countries “does not equal a living wage.” Bangladesh garment workers are the lowest paid in the world, followed by those in Cambodia and Pakistan.
• Neither Bangladesh nor Pakistan has ratified ILO conventions on freedom of association or the right to a safe and healthy work environment.
In conclusion, the report states that the two cases “are not stand-alone incidents, but the result of systemic hazardous conditions in the garment industry in Pakistan and Bangladesh.” The fires “reflect systemic flaws on the level of government protection of human rights and lack of respect shown by the garment industry for workers’ rights.”
Read the full report.
Mar 15, 2013
Mohammed Hamid, a cement worker in Alexandria, Egypt, has worked for the same company for 12 years. Yet he says he is classified as “temporary,” which means he makes far less than full-time workers and receives no benefits. Many of his co-workers are in the same position. So in February, he and other workers at Portland Cement waged a sit- in at the corporate office—and were routed by more than 1,000 security forces with attack dogs and electric prods. Several workers suffered injuries, including broken bones.
Eighteen workers were arrested and are awaiting trail, set for March 20. Hamid describes his situation in a video.
The company has been owned by three foreign investors, one of many such operations to be sold to outside corporations following Egypt’s 1991 privatization law.
Says Morsi Salah, coordinator for the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS), a Solidarity Center partner: “We are not against investment, but we are against imposing slavery, against despotism that forces workers to labor under the most difficult conditions.” The CTUWS is assisting the workers in their efforts to get permanent contracts, receive the same benefits as the full-time workers and be paid profits due them from 2007.
Hamid says employers should understand that “if you want to move forward, move first with workers. Take care of workers, as workers are Egypt.”
Watch the full video.
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