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worldwide Business and human rights Apple has joined the Fair Labor Association (FLA) in a move which should see the computer giant undertake more extensive monitoring and reporting on social and labour issues. In recent years Apple had begun to attract criticism for labour standards in factories producing its products in China. Goodelectronics and MakeITfair who in 2011 ran a campaign ‘time to bite into a fair Apple’ say time will tell if the new move will lead to any substantial impact on the ground. Business and human rights A report published by Leeds University shows serious failings in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting. The term CSR covers a range of initiatives under which private companies report on respect for social and environmental rights. The new report shows that in many cases there are problems with routine recording of "irrelevant data, unsubstantiated claims, gaps in data and inaccurate figures". The findings, which cover major companies, including Ford, BP and Volkswagen & E.ON, raise questions around the quality of reporting of labour rights, both in terms of internal reporting by companies and for reports presided over by slick, corporate 'social auditing' companies. Business and human rights The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal against a 2010 ruling in the Kiobel case. The 2010 ruling had threatened a major upheaval for human rights advocates by shifting the grounds on which the Alien Tort Claims Act could place responsibility on transnational companies for rights violations committed overseas. In late 2011 and early 2012 a flurry of activity has seen legal activists hastily preparing Amicus Briefs to submit to the Court in support of the plaintiffs case. One strong if perhaps unexpected expression of support arrived in the form of an Amicus Brief submitted by the US Government, which strongly supported the view that corporations are accountable under the ATCA. Domestic Workers A new global campaign ’12-by- 12’ has been launched to bring the new ILO Domestic Workers’ Convention (C189) into force by getting 12 countries to ratify the convention and pass decent national laws for domestic workers before the end of the year. Campaigners are calling for domestic workers’ entitlement to one day off a week, a minimum wage, an eight-hour day, the right to join a union, protection from exploitation and abuse, social protection and the regulation of employment agencies. The 12 countries that are the focus of the campaign represent 40 percent of the world’s domestic work industry: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Peru, Paraguay, Kenya, South Africa, Senegal, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Saudi Arabia and EU countries. G20 The international union movement has called on the G20 to do more to ensure job creation and decent work for the millions of young people across the world entering the labour market. Unions at the first meeting of the G20 Task Force on Employment in Mexico City in December 2011 highlighted a growing jobs deficit of 64 million people that severely threatens economic recovery. ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow called for a “G20 Youth Jobs Pact, with training and job guarantees for young unemployed and school-leavers, an expansion in apprenticeships and strengthened rights and social protection for young workers”. The trade union discussion paper ‘Developing a Compact to Raise Youth Employment’ can be found at: www.ituc-csi.org/trade-union -discussion-paper-for.html. Human trafficking A new report highlights the growing levels and increasing complexity of the phenomenon of human trafficking and calls for increased labour regulation and co-ordinated international monitoring. The Centre for Equal Opportunities in Belgium describes increasing abuse of migrant workers and a growing professionalisation of trafficking activities. ILO The ITUC has announced that it will support its former General Secretary Guy Ryder in a bid for leadership of the ILO when Juan Somavia leaves in May this year. Ryder began his career in the international department of the British TUC before moving on to one of the International Trade Secretariats (now known as GUFs). Since 1998 Ryder has moved between the ITUC and ILO holding increasingly senior positions in the two organisations. Indonesia Speaking in support of Government proposals to revise the labour law Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan (a former Chairman at JP Morgan bank) has described the law as a major impediment to development. The revisions will reduce dismissal payments and create longer periods between minimum wage reviews. So far the House of Representatives has rejected the proposed revision but according to Gita’s comments investors feel that the current law is ‘inflexible’ and too favourable to workers. Migrant workers An official trade union relationship has been created for the first time between Nepal and Kuwait and Bahrain. The Gulf States are the largest employer of Nepali workers, who send home remittances to their families in Nepal. Many workers are female domestic workers or male construction workers whose labour rights are systematically undermined. Two memorandums have been established between the Nepalese trade union centre GEFONT and the KTUF in Kuwait and GFBTU in Bahrain. It is hoped that the agreements will lead to a framework of protection being available for these vulnerable workers for the first time. A campaign for legislative reform in Kuwait has also been initiated as well as better monitoring of recruitment agencies in Nepal and trade union rights education for migrant workers. INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 26 Volume 18 Issue 4 2012
Netherlands The Dutch Labour Federation FNV is due to be reorganised following a series of internal divisions arising from an agreement with the Government on pensions. The majority of FNV’s affiliates disagreed with the position put forward by its two largest affiliates Bondgenoten and AbvaKabo, leading to fears of a split and a non-confidence vote in the FNV leadership. In order to avoid the break-up of the organisation external mediators have been brought in and a reorganisation is underway that will group member unions into more coherent and smaller sector specific units within a renewed organisation. Philippines The ITUC has recently examined the Philippines in its ongoing series of country reports on core labour standards to coincide with the WTO’s Trade Policy reviews. The report is highly critical of the trade union rights situation in the Philippines where, even though all eight ILO core labour conventions have been ratified, there are severe rights violations including harassment, intimidation, violence, false criminal charges, and murder of trade unionists. In Special Economic Zones (SEZs) workers face blacklisting by employers for attempts to organise. Union leaders and members ‘are frequently threatened with dismissal’. Employers ‘sometimes react violently’ to strikes and have rammed picket lines with vehicles. Employers have also established fake (‘yellow’) unions. The report also criticises high prerequisite thresholds and technicalities as barriers to union organising (such as a minimum number of unions required to form a federation). Strikes for public employees are banned. Employment on short contracts with weak protection is also used as a way to deter union organising. Discrimination on various grounds is prohibited but it is a problem. Women are concentrated in low skilled, low paid occupations and face a sizeable pay gap. Forced labour, trafficking and child labour all remain commonplace in the country. The agricultural sector lacks a minimum age provision even though in 2009 agriculture, hunting and forestry employed more than half of the country's child workforce. The vast majority of children in these activities work with their parents in family businesses. Forced labour is nominally outlawed but the Labour Code prescribes imprisonment and an obligation to perform labour for declaring or taking part in a strike after ‘assumption of jurisdiction’ by the Secretary of Labour or submission to compulsory arbitration. Saudi Arabia Another ITUC report for the WTO’s Trade Policy reviews concerned Saudi Arabia. Although Saudi has ratified six of the ILO core labour conventions it has not ratified either of the two conventions dealing with trade union rights (Conventions 87 and 98). The country has an appalling record on union rights, and as the report notes ‘unions, collective bargaining, and strikes are not allowed by law’ and ‘public demonstrations are also prohibited’. The only labour organisations permitted to operate are ‘workers’ committees’, which are in fact tripartite bodies, with State and employer representatives on the executive bodies. Despite the total ban on freedom of association the ITUC reports that some unauthorised strikes do take place, although the authorities respond ‘ruthlessly’ to such actions. Discrimination between men and women in respect of wages is apparently contrary to law, though this does not appear to be respected in practice and there is serious discrimination against women in numerous areas, such as the requirement that women obtain permission of a guardian before taking up work, and the fact that women may only work in jobs ‘deemed appropriate for a woman’. Discrimination against migrant workers and against the religious minority group are also identified as serious problems. Homosexuality, the report, ‘is punishable by death or flogging’. Child labour is prohibited but occurs in Saudi Arabia, including in agriculture and domestic work. The Labour Code prohibits forced labour and prescribes penalties for offenders. However a 2005 Royal Decree excludes all domestic workers, depriving them of rights granted to other workers including a weekly day off and maximum working hours. Approximately 8.3 million migrants, who make up 90 to 95 per cent of the private sector workforce, are legally employed in Saudi Arabia. The report identifies ‘violence, intimidation, confinement and threats against many migrant workers, especially female domestic workers’. A ‘sponsorship’ visa system ties migrant workers to their employer. These workers, the report says, ‘are not allowed to change employer or leave the country without written consent of the employer’. worldwide International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, & General Workers’ Unions Giving Practical Solidarity to Trade Unions Across the World ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana (National Mineworkers Union of South Africa) ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda 20 rue Adrien Lachenal, 1207 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41-22-304-1840. Fax: +41-22-304-1841 E-mail: info@icem.org www.icem.org Page 27 Volume 18 Issue 4 2012 INTERNATIONAL union rights
Page 1: INTERNATIONAL union rights Volume 1
Page 4 and 5: IUR ❐ EDITORIAL Editorial: the ph
Page 6 and 7: PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNION RIGHTS
Page 14 and 15: ICTUR IN ACTION ❐ New website ICT
Page 16 and 17: REPORT ❐ ICTUR TRIAL OBSERVATION
Page 30 and 31: BOOK PROMOTION ❐ PROTEST STRIKES
Page 32: Plus: ■ The legality of protest s

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