GFA with Inditex protects workers’ rights in Turkey

The GFA was signed by one of IndustriALL’s founder organizations, ITGLWF, in 2007 with the coverage of all workers employed throughout the company’s supply chain.

Earlier this year, the agreement was reinforced through an addendum defining implementation and monitoring through union involvement. The addendum guarantees the global union and its affiliated unions access to all Inditex information on suppliers’ workplaces, including the annual update of company information on its production chain.

One of IndustriALL’s Turkish affiliates, TEKSIF – Textile, Knitting and Garment Workers’ Union, has been for a while developing organizing efforts in several suppliers of Inditex, and facing some problems. As the cases became urgent, IndustriALL and Teksif called a meeting with Inditex management, which was held on 28 September in Istanbul.

Attended by top officials from IndustriALL, TEKSIF and Inditex, the meeting examined the details of the particular cases and agreed on follow-up activities to ensure freedom of association and the right to collective bargain is observed. The participants also discussed developing an efficient dialogue at the local level between union representatives and the company’s local office.

The meeting affirmed the importance and significance of the GFA and its practical steps for implementation. To this end, Inditex and IndustriALL Global Union will develop a joint training project aimed at both workers and their unions in the production chain as well as managers of the same companies.

Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union said:

We consider our global agreement with Inditex very important and valuable. We want to make it a good functioning model of industrial relations for the rest of the sector. This exemplary dialogue with Inditex will be developed through concrete joint activities such as those taking place in Turkey.

Inditex uses some 5,000 suppliers in 40 countries employing about 700,000 workers throughout the world. The company’s major brands are Zara, Bershka, Pull & Bear, Massimo Duti, Stradivarius, Oysho, Uterque and Zara Home.

ZF

Through signing the GFA ZF accepts the basic principles of the ILO Core Labor Standards, the ILO Conventions as well as the Global Compact of the United Nations and refers to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

The provisions of the agreement define the ZF standards being applied wherever the ZF Group operates.

The company undertakes to apply the principles of equal treatment and no-discrimintation, respect of freedom of association and right to collective bargaining and negotiations, no use of child and forced labour, health and safety and environmental protection.

The ZF Group also pledges its suppliers to recognize and apply principles of the GFA and motivates them to introduce and implement similar principles in their companies.

Siemens anti-union campaign bullies workers out of organizing

Committing a raft of breaches to the company’s commitments to workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively, local Siemens management hired union-busting consultants to coordinate with management over a period of six weeks. Those commitments are also enforced by labour legislation in the US and the USW will pursue the legal case through the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB). A successful effort through the NLRB will result in the vote being overturned with a new election in the next few months.

The 7 September election, conducted by the NLRB, was lost 24 votes to 15, with 2 abstentions.

Every day in the build-up to the election “Siemens managers and consultants held daily captive audience meetings where workers were told that it would be futile to join the union and that the company would lose customers if the union won the election,” stated USW Organizer Phil Ornot:

The company removed union literature, prohibited workers from talking about the union, conducted surveillance of union supporters, withheld wage increases, circulated an anti-union petition, and denied Siemens employees from USW locals access to the plant. In its campaign to maintain dictatorial control over its workers, Siemens created a climate of fear and intimidation in the workplace.

IndustriALL stands with its affiliate, USW, as it continues efforts to organize Siemens workers in the US.

See a detailed earlier IndustriALL report on the anti-union efforts in Maryland here.

Strengthening Union Representation in Supply Chains in Textile, Clothing and Leather Sectors

The regional workshop, held from 11 to 13 September with funding from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), brought together leaders of affiliates of IndustriALL Global Union representing workers in the textile, garment, leather and footwear sectors in Brazil, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay. 

The participants discussed ways of holding multinationals accountable for working conditions in their supply chains, including making use of global framework agreements and other initiatives to promote unionization.

They gained practical experience of using online research to identify pressure points, and discussed techniques for organizing in an often hostile industry, including creating a culture of organizing, planning and targeting, grassroots organizing, using workplace issues as the lifeblood of a campaign and dealing with anti-union employers. They also reviewed proactive mechanisms aimed at establishing mature industrial relations, including right to organize ‘guarantees’ and access agreements.

In addition to the practical aspects of organizing, the participants engaged in a political debate on the need to ensure effective inter-union coordination and to adopt structures for growth.

In a detailed case study, the participants applied what they had learned to devise effective campaigns aimed at empowering workers to stand up for their rights and supporting them through coordinated global campaigns.

The workshop also explored the issue of precarious work, and participants were asked to formulate concrete commitments to bring the campaign to life in their respective countries on and around the World Day for Decent Work on October 7.

The trade unionists decried the recent spate of deadly fires in shoe and footwear factories in Pakistan and Russia and vowed to support pressure for proper compensation and for measures to make the industry safe.

The workshop was conducted by Programmes Officer Laura Carter and attended by Assistant General Secretary Fernando Lopes who provided information on the policies and perspectives of IndustriALL.

SKF World Union Committee meeting

Delegates to the SKF World Union Committee call for a union perspective to be taken on flexibility, recognizing that an increase in precarious work is not the sole response possible

Meeting in London from 4-6 September 2012, the SKF World Union Committee (WUC) chose the issue of flexibility to be the key theme for their meeting. Delegates from all countries represented on the committee reported an increase in temporary and agency work. Other measures adopted by management to address their declared need for flexibility include trial period contracts and civil contracts (bogus self-employment).

Management representatives who addressed the meeting once again stressed the need for SKF to rely increasingly on temporary labour in order to have sufficient flexibility. The WUC discussed the need to put a union perspective on flexibility and to challenge the company-driven view which is resulting in significant growth in temporary jobs.

Delegates gave examples of where their unions have been able to negotiate ways to address the issue without recourse to precarious work. In Germany, time banks and short-time work were introduced. Overtime hours worked are stored in a time account which can be drawn down to compensate workers during short-time working. At one site in France, workers are paid 35 hours but work 38 and the remaining hours are banked, some to be used at times chosen by the workers, others at times chosen by management, thus allowing changes in production demands to be met. In contrast, in Ukraine a heavy reliance is put on temporary agency workers to manage fluctuations in production.

Delegates concluded that negotiated flexible hours arrangements are preferable to increases in temporary work. Work could also be done to find new ways to enable workers to retire earlier, rather than offering redundancy to young people. The WUC agreed that the suggestions raised in the discussion will be communicated to SKF Group Management to start a discussion on how SKF deals with flexibility and temporary employment globally. Consideration will also be given to seeking an additional clause to the SKF Global Framework Agreement to address the issue.

Siemens GFA put to early test in the US

Siemens became the 40th multinational corporation to sign a GFA with IndustriALL Global Union on 25 July 2012, together with the company’s General Works Council and IG Metall of Germany. Through the joint agreement, German-based Siemens commits to uphold fundamental rights of all its workers throughout the world.

At the same time that global management were making these commitments, local management in Maryland, USA hired a pair of notorious union-busting specialists to aggressively combat a drive by the United Steelworkers (USW) to organize the non-union North East plant of the company. Director of Operations for Siemens, Joe Didwall breached a number of the commitments made in the GFA, making his position perfectly clear in writing to one of his employees, “We must tell you that we do not believe that bringing a third party union into our workplace is in your best interests for many reasons. Nor is it in the best interests of the company or our customers”.

The company’s hired union busters Ken Cannon and Joe Brock, together with management, have threatened workers against joining the union, amounting to clear interference and restriction of the employees’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Ken Cannon has worked with Siemens before and proudly describes himself as having “40 years’ experience supporting managements’ efforts to remain union free”.

The spirit and actions of the Siemens management at the North East plant totally breach the commitments made in the Global Framework Agreement and IndustriALL calls for swift intervention from the company. In a letter to Siemens President and CEO Peter Löscher, IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina stated:

“I call on you to immediately terminate the company’s relationship with union-busters Ken Cannon and Joe Brock, and cease the anti-union activities referenced above. Senior management should call a meeting of all North East employees with USW representatives present, provide them with a copy of the GFA, and inform them that the company will take a neutral position, cease all anti-union activities, take no reprisals against employees on the basis of their union advocacy, and afford the USW reasonable access to the plant to communicate with employees.”

The workplace election will be conducted on 6 September. Let us rally support behind our US affiliate, send a message of solidarity and support to the Siemens workers at North East through the USW-LabourStart campaign.

IndustriALL signs GFA with Siemens

In that agreement Siemens again commits itself to fundamental workers’ rights such as equal opportunity and freedom of association and collective bargaining.

“For the employees and unions, it is of particular importance that globally active companies should support human and workers’ rights and act accordingly,” said Berthold Huber, First Chairman of IG Metall and President of IndustriALL Global Union. “With Siemens we have enshrined that in our joint declaration.”

The Agreement refers to the fundamental workers’ rights contained in the relevant international conventions, the core labour standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UN initiative of the Global Compact. These include, for example, the abolition of forced labour, a ban on discrimination and the principle of equal treatment, prohibition of child labour, the establishment of a minimum employment age, and freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union, said, “The Siemens agreement is one of 40 agreements between IndustriALL and multinational companies, setting the standards for company behavior towards its workforce and unions around the world.”

Lothar Adler, Chairman of the Siemens General Works Council, said, “We are for fair employment conditions worldwide. The Agreement lays particular stress on the fundamental rights of Siemens’ employees. For us, people come before profits. The signing of this agreement will make it possible for the right to participate for fair working conditions to continue to be observed in practice.”

In a company press release Peter Löscher, Siemens CEO, said the agreement was the result of Siemens AG’s awareness of its responsibility toward its employees and shows the relationship of trust among the company, the works council and the union.

Copies of the Global Framework Agreement in German and English are published on the IndustriALL Global Union website.

MANN+HUMMEL

IndustriALL signs global agreement with Saab

The framework agreement was signed on 13 June 2012 and covers all employees of the Group, its suppliers and subcontractors. The agreement outlines the principles by which it will operate, including referring to the International Labour Organization an dthe OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The agreement includes clauses on:

In a separate clause the company undertakes “not to organize or finance company/«yellow» unions, not to implement or support any union busting activity and not to adopt initiatives capable to discourage workers from forming authentic unions.”

In signing the agreement, Monika Theodorsson, executive committee member of IndustriALL Global Union and First secretary of IF Metall said: "Global framework agreements are extremely important as tools to achieve and secure better working conditions, and we are very happy to have signed one with Saab. Hopefully there will be further of our global companies following this road".
 

Saab AB is a Swedish aerospace and defence aircraft manufacturer with over 13,000 employees. More than 60 per cent of company sales are made abroad, its most important markets today are Europe, South Africa, Australia and the US.

Currently, IndustriALL Global Union has three GFAs signed with Swedish-based multinational companies including Electrolux, SKF and Saab AB.

Ford

A Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Ford was signed in Detroit (USA) on 25 April.

The agreement deals with a number of subjects including freedom of association and collective bargaining, harassment and unfair discrimination, forced and child labour, working conditions and wages, occupational health and safety, education, training and development, sustainability and protection of the environment. In addition the company committed to creating the Ford Global Information Sharing Forum where both parties will consider issues and look for mutual solutions at their annual meetings.