Malawi: Trade Unions Pile Pressure On Tonse Govt Amended Labour Relations Bills


Pixabay
Malawi flag.

15 JULY 2021
Nyasa Times (Leeds)By Watipaso Mzungu

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) have denounced the passing of the controversial Labour Relations (Amendment) Bill of 2021 and the Employment (Amendment) Bill of 2021 by the Malawi Parliament without consulting local Tripartite Labour Advisory Council (TLAC).

ITUC and ITUC-Africa, in a statement released on Wednesday, have strongly condemned the President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera-led administration for trying to limit the right to strike and to punish workers who exercise this right.

The statement further urges President Chakwera not to assent to the bill and to refer it back to the Tripartite Labour Advisory Council for meaningful and thorough consultation, taking into account the technical advice of the ILO.

The two institutions, in a joint statement released on Tuesday and co-signed by the organization's president Ayuba Wabba and his General Secretary Sharan Burrow, say the contentious bills raise serious concerns in relation to their compliance with the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, 1948 (No. 87), which Malawi ratified in November 1999.

Wabba and Burrow say the Bills are also said to be in conflict with the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention of 1949 (No. 98), as ratified by the Malawi Government in 1965 when Malawi became a member of the ILO.

"The Bills are arguing that the 'disingenuous intention' by the Chakwera government to limit the right to strike and to punish workers who exercise this right goes against the principles enshrined in these conventions.

"In addition, we have serious concerns with the provisions that grant an employer the right to withhold wages as well as the provision in the Labour Relations Amendment Bill that arrogates exclusive power to the Minister to determine essential services without due process and excludes the Tripartite Labour Advisory Council; we also have serious concerns about the amendments to the provisions of the Industrial Relations Court," reads the statement in part.

Wabba and Burrow further state that the passing of the Labour Relations (Amendment) Bill 2021 and the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2021 without consultations is an abrogation by Chakwera's government of its international obligation since Malawi is a party to the ILO Convention on Tripartite Consultations (International Labour Standards), 1976 (No. 144).

The obligation requires consultations to be undertaken between the tripartite partners.

ITUC and ITUC-Africa say they find it incomprehensible and unacceptable that a government that ascended to power through popular participatory resistance would engineer a paternalistic legislative process in such a brazen manner.

"In your inauguration speech on 6 July 2020, Mr President, you gave credit to the workers and employers for supporting your campaign... and you promised the Tonse philosophy of collective responsibility that when 'we have differences, we will still have to listen to each other and accommodate each other, for we have no other compatriots in all the world than each other'.

"Unfortunately, just one year into office, we already see this commitment fading, and we are worried by this development of not listening to the workers' concerns," say Wabba and Burrow in the epistle to Chakwera.

"We, therefore, urge your person and office to abide by Malawi's obligations under Conventions 87, 98 and 144 of the ILO; and we advise your government to seek the technical assistance of the ILO to ensure that the draft bills comply with international labour standards outlined in the conventions that Malawi voluntarily ratified.

"Mr President, we call on you not to assent to the bill and to refer it back to the Tripartite Labour Advisory Council for meaningful and thorough consultation, taking into account the technical advice of the ILO," they add.

There was no immediate comment from the Presidential Spokesperson Brian Banda on the matter.

Meanwhile, the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU) has cancelled protests it organized to demonstrate its anger over the passing of the controversial Bills.

MCTU General Secretary Madalitso Njolomole told journalists in Lilongwe that the cancellation of the protest follows a successful discussion they had with Chakwera earlier in the day.

Read the original article on Nyasa Times.

Malawi anti-workers bill: Trade Union cancels demonstrations

Jul 14, 2021 Russell Kondowe 



Malawi Congress of Trade Union (MCTU) has called off protests over the Labour Relations Amendment Bill following a meeting with President Lazarus Chakwera.

Secretary General for MCTU Madalitso Njolomole said they met President Chakwera, Deputy Labour Minister Vera Kamtukule and Homeland Minister Richard Chimwendo today.

Chakwera during the meeting assured the labour union that he will not assent to the Labour Relations Amendment Bill which was tabled in Parliament by the Government last week and was also passed by legislators.

According to Njolomole, Chakwera was shocked that consultations were not conducted before the bill was taken to Parliament. Chakwera then promised that he will wait for consultations before deciding whether to assent to the bill or reject it.

The cancelled demonstrations were expected to be held in all the four major cities of Lilongwe, Blantyre, Zomba and Mzuzu.

The Labour Relations Amendment Bill provides for an employer’s right to deduct wages from an employee who is on strike. It also clarifies the categories of essential services to which the right to strike and lockdown does not apply.

MCTU said last week that the bill infringes on the workers’ rights to stay away from work. The union also complained that it was not consulted.

However, deputy labour minister Kamtukule argued that workers will still have a right to hold strike but they would not be paid. She added that the union was consulted only that the consultation did not mean the union had to agree with the bill.

Do not allow Buhari to censor media – Labour union tells Nigerians

Published
on July 18, 2021
By Musliudeen Adebayo

DAILY POST

The All Workers Convergence (AWC), has appealed to Nigerians not to allow President Muhamadu Buhari-led government to censor the media.

National Co-ordinator of the union, Comrade Andrew Emelieze made this disclosure while speaking with DAILY POST on Sunday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Our correspondent recalls that major newspapers across the country last week kicked against proposed amendments into the NPC and NBC (Media) Act.

The bills sponsored by Olusegun Odebunmi, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values are already at the public hearing stage.

Emelieze while speaking, condemned attempts by the government to suppress genuine agitations and protest nationwide.

He described the proposed amendments as a way to control the media.

Emelieze while speaking further, noted that members of the labour union joined forces with the media to condemn the attempt to monitor the latter.

He called on all media organisations to also mobilise massively against the proposed amendments.

“We condemn attempts by the government to suppress genuine agitations and protest nationwide.

‘We join forces with our media to condemn the attempt to monitor the media and we call on all media personnel to also mobilise massively for the forthcoming mother of all protest which shall help put an end to bad governance in Nigeria.

“We condemn also the uncivilized way President Buhari and some desperate people have been threatening Nigerians with war sounds.

“As our government is planning to totally control the media, many more are wasting away, while daily killings are now the order in Nigeria, to the extent that it is now obvious to all that Buhari has taken Nigeria to the state of nature. Definitely, nobody feels secured any longer.

“Based on the unfortunate situation in our hands, we as a people have developed a culture of resistance against bad governance as seen in the avalanche of protest nationwide.

“We as a people have encouraged other citizens to get involved and secure our tomorrow through protest that will help terminate bad governance in Nigeria. We had earlier called for a national protest against insecurity and poverty in Nigeria.

“We urge all to consolidate on the different national protests and push further for more and more massive protest nationwide. We charged all great minds not to get tired of protesting as protest has shown to be a viable means to chasing away bad governance everywhere; our case in Nigeria will not be different.”

Time to put an end to union-busting

Trade union rights are human rights and must be protected in EU law.

by Esther Lynch on 25th January 2021

The right to join a trade union and to bargain collectively is recognised as a fundamental human right by numerous European and international charters and conventions. And yet union-busting is on the rise in Europe.

Over the last year, the European Trade Union Confederation has been receiving alarming reports of union rights violations—of obstacles, victimisation and discrimination in a number of countries—sometimes using the pandemic as a pretext. The ETUC is calling on the European institutions to take a stand and put an end to union-busting, by including measures in the proposed directive on adequate minimum wages to halt anti-union practices and to guarantee trade union access to workplaces and protection from victimisation.

The best way to secure fair wages is through collective bargaining by trade unions. The draft directive recognises this in article 4, calling for the ‘promotion of collective bargaining on wage setting’. This obliges member states to work with social partners (unions and employers) to encourage ‘constructive, meaningful and informed’ negotiations and strengthen sectoral or cross-industry bargaining. In countries where fewer than 70 per cent of workers are covered by collective agreements, governments will have to draw up action plans to promote bargaining.

All this is welcome but fails to require member states to tackle employers’ attacks on workers’ ability to organise and act together—if necessary through strike action—without risk of reprisals, victimisation, dismissal or discrimination.
Legally binding

The obligation on the European Union and its member states to act could not be clearer. The legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (article 12) establishes ‘the right of everyone to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his or her interests’. Several International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions reinforce the right to negotiate on behalf of workers, including the Collective Bargaining Convention (1981). Principle 8 of the European Pillar of Social Rights further encourages the social partners ‘to negotiate and conclude collective agreements in matters relevant to them, while respecting their autonomy and the right to collective action’.

The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association Digest of Case Law affirms:

The right to bargain with employers with respect to conditions of work constitutes an essential element in freedom of association, and trade unions should have the right, through collective bargaining or other lawful means, to seek to improve the living and working conditions of those whom the trade unions represent. The public authorities should refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof.

Yet ‘interference’ is happening throughout Europe. Union representatives are being victimised, detained or denied the right to communicate with the workers they represent.

The International Trade Union Confederation’s Global Rights Index 2020 revealed that 38 per cent of European countries excluded workers from the right to join or set up a union, 56 per cent failed to uphold the right to collective bargaining and no fewer than 72 per cent violated the right to strike. Many employers are refusing to enter talks or are choosing to bypass legitimate trade unions in favour of non-union and non-representative ‘sweetheart’ organisations.
Growing evidence

The ETUC has growing evidence of anti-union activities by well-known companies, such as McDonald’s and Intercontinental Hotels. In Ireland, the bookmaker Paddy Power and retailer Dunnes Stores have used police to expel trade union representatives from their premises. In Latvia, legislation allows employers to set up ‘yellow’ unions, to prevent legitimate trade unions from reaching collective agreements.

Just last month, a court in Italy found that a Deliveroo algorithm discriminated against riders who took strike action and ordered the company to pay damages to trade unions. Elsewhere, ending the automatic ‘check-off’ payment of union dues from wages has had a severe impact on union finances.

A recent Vice report detailed how the notoriously anti-union Big Tech company Amazon subjected employees to surveillance in a number of EU countries, including Spain, Austria and Czechia, using ‘professional’ union-busters and private detectives to spy on trade union activities. Indeed, union-busting is now big business—and forms part of the business model of major companies such as Ryanair.

Governments are complicit in these activities. Trade unionists are still arrested and prosecuted for carrying out their duties, for instance in Turkey and Belgium. A number of countries fail to protect union members from discrimination or victimisation, including Bulgaria, Romania and Poland, where some categories of workers also do not have the right to organise.

And now some member states have adopted so-called emergency procedures in response to Covid-19, seriously limiting trade union rights such as holding demonstrations. In Hungary, a new law, introduced without consultation, prohibits collective bargaining, outlaws strikes and terminates all existing agreements in the healthcare sector.

Specific measures

The ETUC is calling for specific measures to be added to the directive on fair minimum wages to prevent and tackle these violations. The directive should make it clear that the definition of ‘collective bargaining’ is negotiations between employers and trade unions, rather than undefined ‘workers’ organisations’. Collective bargaining must be the prerogative of genuine, democratic trade unions, and not arbitrary groups often set up to undermine union strength and impose unacceptable conditions.

More action to promote collective bargaining is needed, ensuring that it covers all working conditions and not just wage-setting. Trade union officials must have guaranteed access to workplaces and union representatives should have the time and facilities to carry out their duties.

Governments must also act firmly to protect trade unionists from discrimination, dismissal and blacklisting. Employers should be prevented from interfering in trade unions’ internal affairs, offering bribes or incentives to non-unionised staff or intimidating workers to stop them joining a union.

To make the proposed national action plans effective in increasing the number of workers covered by collective agreements, the EU should require member states to ensure that the right to collective bargaining is respected—particularly at sectoral level. Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that only by supporting sectoral bargaining will member states be able to achieve the targeted 70 per cent coverage of workers by collective agreements.
Key demands

The ETUC is making other key demands. The first is for changes to EU public-procurement law to ensure that only companies which respect workers’ rights to bargain collectively and have implemented agreements can gain access to public contracts, grants and funding.

The second is for clarification of EU competition law, so that non-standard and self-employed workers are not prevented from organising together in a trade union and concluding collective agreements. Economic freedoms and competition rules in the EU must not be a means of circumventing workers’ protection. Nor should collective agreements be made subject to competition rules—something the European Commission seems actively to be considering in its recently published inception analysis.

In practical terms, fair minimum wages and strong collective bargaining are vital to Europe’s recovery from the pandemic, as detailed in the European Trade Union Institute’s recent Benchmarking Working Europe report. But, more importantly, freedom of association and the right to act collectively are fundamental human rights and must be defended—not just by trade unions but by the EU and governments too.
This column is sponsored by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).



Esther Lynch  was elected as a deputy general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation at its Vienna Congress in 2019, having previously been a confederal secretary.

Assam tea workers get a fourth of ‘living wage’: study

Rahul Karmakar
GUWAHATI:, JULY 14, 2021 12:25 IST

Adivasi women plucking freshly grown tea leaves in a tea garden in the out skirts of Guwahati on March 10, 2021. | Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar

Planters’ organisations and a labour union pick holes in the report by Nairobi-headquartered Oxfam and IIT-Bombay

A study by Oxfam India, a confederation of 20 independent charitable organisations headquartered in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has said that tea plantation workers in Assam get less than a fourth of a proposed ‘living wage’ of ₹884.

It also said tea labourers in Assam did not get the entire amount of ₹205 (enhanced from ₹167 when the study was conducted) as daily wage, which was the lowest with respect to the daily wages of ₹403, ₹349 and ₹333 in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Living wage, the Oxfam India report titled “In defence of living wages for tea plantation workers: Evidence from Assam” said, was in relation to the International Labour Organisation’s concept of ‘decent work’ and ‘quality of life’.

The report, based on interviews with 5,000 tea workers across seven districts of Assam, was done jointly with Rahul Suresh Sapkal of IIT-Bombay’s Centre for Policy Studies.

“The study finds a stark gap between the current wages that tea workers receive vis-à-vis the living wage that has been calculated. We appeal to the government and tea industry to consider an upward revision of the wages to improve the lives of the tea workers,” Oxfam India’s CEO Amitabh Behar said.

According to the report, women plantation workers earn 80% of the average ₹4,672 each of their male counterparts earn a month. About 39% are permanent workers and 61% are temporary workers when social security and other provisions under the Plantation Labour Act are taken into consideration.

“Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, only 7% women workers reported access to maternity leave and a mere 2% were able to access the facility for children’s education offered by their employers,” said the study.

During the entire duration of the 2020 lockdown, only 10% of the respondents had worked. While women were not able to work for an average of 45 days during the lockdown, men lost 33 days of work.

Contentious finding

The study said the employers deducted an average of ₹778 from the wages of a plantation worker per month. What the worker actually received was ₹160-180 per day. The deductions were on account of provident fund, membership fee of the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) and other heads.

Oxfam India also said prior to the increase in daily wage by ₹38 two months ago, the ₹167 a tea worker in Brahmaputra Valley received was inclusive of cash and non-cash benefits. The pre-hike wage in southern Assam’s Barak Valley was ₹145.

“This is not factual. When you take non-cash benefits such as housing, electricity, firewood and healthcare, the total wage along with ₹205 in cash works out to an average of ₹390 in the Brahmaputra Valley,” said Bidyananda Borkakoty, adviser of North Eastern Tea Association.

The Assam Tea Planters’ Association too refuted the study findings.

“We do deduct membership charge but it is ₹100 annually. The non-cash benefits of each plantation worker vary from ₹150-200,” ACMS leader Lakheswar Tanti told The Hindu.

Assam tea of mass consumption grade competes primarily with tea exported by Kenya and Sri Lanka. According to Oxfam, tea estates in these countries offer accommodation of poor quality and basic amenities.

The daily wage of a tea plantation worker in Kenya and Sri Lanka works out to $5 and $3.6 compared to $2.6 in Assam.

INDIA
Are trade unions and strikes called by them losing shine? Here’s what data show

Reported industrial unrest incidents among larger firms have been declining thanks to low success in achieving outcomes and reduced negotiating power by workforce or trade associations.

CHAITANYA MALLAPUR
MARCH 01, 2021 


The unrest at the General Motors plant in Pune shines the spotlight on labour rights and the trade union movement in India. The auto industry has often been in the news for labour unrest, but such strikes are becoming increasingly infrequent.

While at least 500 industrial unrest incidents such as strikes and lockouts have taken place over the five years ending 2019, these have been falling over the years, official data show. This is owing to the low success in achieving outcomes and reduced negotiating or bargaining power by workforce or trade associations over the years.

This fact could also perhaps be seen in the lukewarm response to the Bharat Bandh called by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on February 26 against rising fuel prices, the E-way Bill, and the goods and services tax (GST). Despite 40,000 traders associations expressing support, life pretty much went on as normal.The 421 strikes and 100 lockouts reported between 2015 and 2019 did result in a loss of over 14.5 million man-days, according to the ministry of labour and employment’s 2019-20 annual report. However, data show a decline here too. A caveat: this data captures only reported incidents and comes with a lag, so it doesn’t include recent incidents.

STRIKES, LOCKOUTS AND MAN-DAYS LOST

A Flourish chart



Why is there a decline in the number of incidents? Experts suggest a couple of reasons.


“There are not many cases of success,” said Bino Paul, Professor and Associate Dean at the Centre for Human Resources Management and Labour Relations, School of Management and Labour Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. “Very rarely, strikes evolve to the framework of industrial relations and collective bargaining.”

Workers strike or threaten to strike primarily due to two reasons – wages and layoffs.

According to Paul, “it is a stylised fact that the real wage rate in manufacturing and service activities/industries in India hardly keeps pace with the cost of living. It is not unusual to find a good chunk of the blue-collar workforce are paid just the minimum wage or slightly above it. It neither absorbs the cost of living nor premium for productivity or skill.”

Then, workers are increasingly vulnerable to job losses.

“Workers, in themselves, do not have the ability to enforce wage claims especially when they are vulnerable due to the fear of losing jobs and in the absence of a social security cover,” said Jayan Thomas, Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

In the five years to 2019, as many as 76 units have closed down affecting 6,726 workers, according to the labour ministry. Likewise, 150 units reported laying off 20,505 workers over four years ending February 2019. Another 4,345 workers permanently lost their jobs in 28 units during this period.

CLOSURES, RETRENCHMENT, LAY-OFFS

 AND WORKERS AFFECTED

A Flourish chart

Note that this data pertains to only those establishments that employ 100 or more people since they need to seek prior permission from the government to shut down, lay-off or retrench people. We rarely hear about job losses or unrest in smaller units.

Traditionally, trade unions have played the intermediary role in supporting and backing interests of workers at the workplace, helping to fulfil their demands by carrying out negotiations with the management. But they are becoming less effective over the years, said experts. Indeed, India’s trade union density (the percentage of employees who are part of unions) had declined to 12.8 percent in 2011, the last year for which data is available with the International Labour Organisation.

“With the nature of industry and social security of workers changing, the role of trade unions has also seen a change over the recent years,” according to Thomas of IIT. “Capital is now more focused on automated machinery and technology making labour a less critical factor in the production process. With such changes in the nature of industrial production and with the rising share of informal or unorganized workers in the labour force, trade unions are now less effective.”

That said, one area where trade unions have remained active is in the banking sector, perhaps not surprising given the dominance of state-owned lenders. Data showed that the banking industry accounted for a lion’s share – over 60 percent – of strikes recorded (under central sphere) in the three years to 2019, according to a reply given in the Lok Sabha on March 2, 2020. The United Forum of Bank Unions has called for another two-day strike on March 15 and 16 to protest the proposed privatisation of two banks announced in the Budget.

But in general, strikes are more sensitive to the nature of the value chain rather than the type of the industry, said experts.

“The upstream activities in the value chain that are made of micro and small industries resort to cheap labour for the production. This is essential for them since micro and small suppliers may not have good bargaining power over the downstream original equipment manufacturers (buyers),” said Paul.


In the larger analysis, the key issue that remains is the quality of labour standards in India and their enforceability.“India falls short of labour standards, while there are laws, enforcement is far from being satisfactory. A classic example is a minimum wage for domestic workers. Another gap is the inadequate link between wage, productivity and skill,” said Paul. “It is important to come up with workable and fair negotiation frameworks. This calls for creative collaborations between trade unions, industry and state.”

INDIA

Power engineers, staff to boycott work on Aug 10 to oppose Electricity (Amendment) Bill

The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) said that the Bill listed for Monsoon session of Parliament should not be rushed through and instead should be referred to the standing committee on energy.

• PTI
 
• July 15, 2021, 

New Delhi: Power engineers and employees will boycott work for a day on August 10 to protest against the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021, AIPEF said on Wednesday. The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) in a statement said the Bill listed for Monsoon session of Parliament should not be rushed through and instead should be referred to the standing committee on energy.

The Federation alleged that Electricity Act 2003 allowed privatisation of generation and now in the proposed Bill, privatisation of power distribution is being done which will drive state discoms to bankruptcy.

"Power engineers and employees across the country will join a one-day work boycott call on August 10 to protest against the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021," AIPEF spokesperson V K Gupta said.

This decision was taken in the virtual meeting of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey.

NCCOEEE core committee office bearers will meet Union Power Minister on July 27 to hand over a memorandum against the proposed Bill.

Gupta said consumers and power sector employees and engineers, the major stakeholders, are being ignored in finalizing the draft Bill and the Centre has not made any effort to discuss the issues with them.

The move to de-license power distribution is no way to ensure efficient and cost-effective electricity supply to the citizens, AIPEF said adding that unless the reform is designed taking into account ground realities, the well-intended objective of 'choice to consumers' may not be fulfilled.

The move to abolish cross-subsidy in a time-bound manner and proposing a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to such consumers by state governments will take away the rights of access to electricity for farmers and poor domestic consumers, it stated.

Gupta further alleged that the Centre seems more concerned over the profitability of private power companies than protecting consumer interests.

In case the government tries to pass the Bill before August 10, the work boycott will be brought forward to the same day, it stated.

Hashem Foods Factory Fire: Bangladesh Government Must Establish Inquiry

Thursday, 15 July 2021, 
Press Release: ITUC

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is supporting the call for an independent public inquiry into the devastating fire at the Hashem Foods factory in Rupganj, Bangladesh.

An unknown number of people died in the blaze. The police and fire service have confirmed that the factory exits were locked and that children were working there.

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said: “Firstly, our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy, and we’re horrified by the loss of life and the reports that people couldn’t escape because doors and gates were locked. Medical treatment must be provided to injured workers, and they must be fully compensated, along with their families, without delay.

“It’s appalling that children were working there and, due to the hidden nature of child labour, we may never know the number of children who died in the fire or their names.

“The ITUC stands with our affiliate, the ITUC Bangladesh Council, and the IUF in their fight for justice for the victims of this disaster.”

Clear demands

The ITUC is supporting the Sajeeb Group Workers’ Justice Committee, formed by the victims’ families, to demand compensation and to prevent similar tragedies.

Furthermore, the ITUC is backing the IUF and ITUC Bangladesh Council in their call for an independent public inquiry that covers:

the criminal negligence of the factory owner that created the deadly working conditions;

how the company could ignore health, safety and fire regulations;

why no factory inspection had identified the lethal work environment; and

the prevalence of child labour in the factory, in violation of ILO Convention 138 and the Fundamental Principles of Rights at Work.

“We support the call for urgent inspections of all food factories in Bangladesh to check they are safe and not abusing children through using child labour.

“The independent public inquiry and its outcomes should include an expedited implementation of the labour reform road map following the Article 26 complaint on Bangladesh at the ILO. This fire is another reminder that the ILO must recognise occupational health and safety as a fundamental right at work.

“It’s clear that to ensure occupational health and safety and the elimination of child labour, all workers in food factories must be guaranteed access to their right to freedom of association.

“Only independent, democratic trade unions of working people can enforce the right to a safe workplace that does not use child labour. Unions make work safer,” added Sharan Burrow.

© Scoop Media

Are your favourite fashion brands using forced labour?

‘Labour abuse is baked into the supply-chain model championed by apparel giants,’ one labour rights researcher said, and a recent report found luxury brands are among the worst offenders.

Garment employees work in a sewing section of the Fakhruddin Textile Mills Limited in Gazipur, Bangladesh, where one million garment workers were fired or temporarily let go when fashion brands cancelled orders at the height of last year's coronavirus pandemic lockdowns [File: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

By Radmilla Suleymanova
14 Jul 2021

The global fashion and retail industry’s reliance on producing quick-turnaround goods at a low cost through outsourcing and complex, globalised supply chains has allowed forced labour to thrive, workers’ rights advocates warn, claiming that major fashion brands profiting from the model seem reluctant to change.

The apparel sector employs over 60 million workers worldwide, according to the World Bank Group. And while 97 percent of fashion and retail brands have codes of conduct and corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards, such policies are neither effective in preventing forced labour nor in ensuring remedy outcomes for workers, according to advocacy group KnowTheChain.

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Fast Fashion

KnowTheChain’s 2021 Apparel and Footwear Benchmark Report (PDF) recently ranked 37 of the world’s biggest fashion companies on a scale of 0 to 100 on their efforts to fight forced labour, with 100 representing the best practices.

The group identified allegations of forced labour in the supply chains of 54 percent of companies it examined.

“What stood out to us is that the average score for the sector was 41 out of 100, which constitutes a significant failure to address risks,” Felicitas Weber, project director at KnowTheChain, told Al Jazeera.

The report also found that the world’s largest luxury brands are among the worst offenders in addressing the worse forms of exploitation in their supply chains, with an average score of 31 out of 100.

French luxury goods company Kering (owner of the Alexander McQueen and Gucci labels) scored 41 out of 100, while LVMH (owner of the Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton labels) scored 19 out of 100. Tapestry (owner of the Coach and Kate Spade labels), assessed for the first time this year, scored 16 out of 100.

A shopper exits a Coach store at Citadel Outlets in Commerce, California, the United States [File: Bing Guan/Reuters]

Kering, LVMH and Tapestry did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.

Italian luxury fashion house Prada ranked at a mere 5 out of 100 on KnowTheChain’s benchmark, and its score has worsened over time.

But in a statement to Al Jazeera, Prada Group said it strives to push its standards higher and challenged KnowTheChain’s methodology.

Prada claims KnowTheChain does not take into account the fact that most of Prada’s factories are located in Italy, which allows it to closely monitor and address any misconduct or violations.


While KnowTheChain’s findings are striking, they aren’t surprising to workers’ rights advocates.

Garment workers stretch their bodies for relaxation at the Fakhruddin Textile Mills Limited in Gazipur, Bangladesh [File: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

“Labour abuse is baked into the supply-chain model championed by apparel giants,” Penelope Kyritsis, research director at the Worker Rights Consortium, a labour rights monitoring organisation, told Al Jazeera.

By continually demanding shorter turnaround times and lower prices from their suppliers and fuelling competition among supplier factories, fashion and retail brands make it difficult for factory owners to adhere to labour laws and standards, she explained.

“This dynamic has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, when apparel brands sought to minimise their economic fallout by abruptly cancelling orders from their supplier factories, which led to mass layoffs, pushing workers towards the brink of destitution,” Kyritsis said.

For example, in Bangladesh, the second-largest employer of garment workers after China, more than one million garment workers – mostly women – were fired or temporarily let go when fashion brands cancelled orders during the height of last year’s pandemic shutdowns, according to research (PDF) conducted by Penn State University’s Center for Global Workers’ Rights.
Vulnerable migrants

While it is unclear exactly how many migrant workers and refugees are employed in the garment sector, they do make up much of the workforce across all regions, KnowTheChain told Al Jazeera.

For example, garment factories in Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan heavily rely on workers from neighbouring countries, according to the Clean Clothes Campaign.

Jordan’s garment industry is estimated to employ nearly 70,000 workers, 53,000 of whom are migrants, the IndustriALL Global Union found in 2019. And Brazil’s Sao Paulo textile sector is known to employ an estimated 300,000 Bolivian workers, according to nongovernmental organisations cited in a report by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

.

Garment factory workers and staff are seen in a truck as they arrive to receive a coronavirus vaccine at an industrial park in Phnom Penh, Cambodia [File: Cindy Liu/Reuters]

Migrants are often more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, as they are often employed under informal agreements, are undocumented or lack adequate protection under the law.

“Migrants sometimes have to pay up to a year of their salary just as a fee to get the job, so really [it’s] quite extortionate,” KnowTheChain’s Weber explained. “We’ve seen more companies that reimburse these fees, but we need companies to step up significantly and not just take a baby step each year.”

Of the 28 retail and fashion companies disclosing migrant worker policies in the KnowTheChain report, just two companies provided examples of practical changes they take to address worker grievances. Those grievances can include withholding wages, abusive working and living conditions, intimidation, sexual harassment and threats.

While the ability to organise and challenge exploitative working conditions is crucial, thousands of unionised garment workers were reportedly targeted for dismissal due to union membership and organising during the pandemic, according to KnowTheChain.
‘Know and show’ supply chains

More broadly, companies in the industry need to be able to “know and show” their supply chains – and that means mapping and publishing the names of the suppliers they are working with at all levels, Weber said.


Exploitative working conditions thrive in countries where labour laws and enforcement are weak, but many fashion brands based in Europe and the United States continue to try and evade responsibility for what happens further down their supply chain, Chloe Cranston, business and human rights manager at Anti-Slavery International, told Al Jazeera.

Cranston cited the example of goods made using forced labour from members of the Uighur Muslim minority in China’s Xinjiang region.

Workers are seen on the production line at a cotton textile factory in Korla, Xinjiang in the Uighur Autonomous Region in China [File: cnsphoto via Reuters]

A recent Amnesty International report documented the mass imprisonment and systemic torture of Uighur Muslims living in China, including through first-hand accounts. Some of those accounts detail forced labour and Uighurs being “required to live and work in a factory”.

“Almost the entire fashion industry is implicated in Uighur forced labour, through yarn or cotton sourcing, for example,” Cranston said.

On Tuesday, the United States issued an updated business advisory warning companies doing business in Xinjiang that they faced a heightened risk of falling afoul of US law due to the “growing evidence” of forced labour in the region, as well as other human rights abuses and “intrusive” surveillance.

The administration of former US President Donald Trump banned all cotton products from Western China’s Xinjiang region over allegations that they are made with forced labour from detained Uighur Muslims. The US, Canada, European Union and United Kingdom have also sanctioned Chinese nationals over the abuse allegations.

“We’ve seen some progress around this in the past year, yet the sad reality remains that the fashion industry still has a long way to go to ensure it is not complicit in the crimes against humanity suffered by Uighurs,” Cranston said.

Fashion and retail companies have significant corporate power, she stressed, and they have a responsibility to ensure that the way they work with suppliers, trade unions and labourers allows for decent working conditions for people up and down their supply chains – from those harvesting raw materials like cotton to those spinning them into fabric in factories.

“It shouldn’t be the burden of a consumer to try and guarantee a slavery-free purchase,” Cranston said.

POD CAST FAST FASHION

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

 DENMARK

Large share of highly educated immigrants in unskilled jobs

Jan Petter Myklebust  17 July 2021

Half of all people overqualified for unskilled jobs are immigrants who have received higher education in their home country, new analysis shows, and of people with a PhD working in unskilled jobs, nearly 90% earned their doctorate abroad.

The analysis was carried out by Danish labour union Faglig Felles Forbund (3F), which has 370,000 members who comprise both unskilled and skilled workers. Among these, 18,000 have education beyond secondary school; 3,400 have a masters degree; and 270 have a PhD*.

Some 9,000 3F members have a higher post-secondary school education from another country, of whom “5,000 come from Western countries and 4,000 from non-Western countries”.

3F economist Jesper Grunnet-Lauridsen, who carried out the analysis, told University World News: “The biggest surprise is that so many foreigners with higher post-secondary school education work in unskilled jobs. About 33% of all foreigners in Denmark who have completed their higher education in their home country work in unskilled jobs in Denmark.

“This means that a lot of foreigners don’t make use of their homeland education when they come to Denmark. It’s a big economic loss for the Danish society … we don’t make full use of the qualifications that foreigners have.”

According to the analysis, in Denmark there are 22,000 people working in a job with a high-level qualification earned abroad, amounting to approximately 3% of all people registered at the highest level of education.

Among those working in unskilled jobs and having a higher education, approximately half were in possession of a higher education degree earned abroad.

This corresponds to one third of people with a higher education from abroad working in unskilled jobs.

The analysis, published in the newsletter Fagbladet.3F on 7 July, reveals that, among the 270 members with a PhD, nearly nine in every 10 (89%) acquired their degree outside Denmark. Almost half of these come from Eastern-Europe, 80% are men and 70% are aged between 30 and 49 years.

“It is surprising that so many [who have held higher education qualifications for a while] are ending up in 3F-jobs. But even both unskilled and skilled jobs in Denmark can be attractive for foreigners,” Grunnet-Lauridsen, said.

Varying perceived value

He suggested that the value of degrees obtained abroad is viewed differently depending on the country in which they were earned.

“Higher education from other countries is not ranked as high as Danish education. It is also demonstrated by the numbers that higher education from Sweden, the US and the UK is worth more in Denmark compared to higher education from, for instance, Poland or Ukraine,” Grunnet-Lauritsen said.

Half of the population bringing a higher education qualification to Denmark from Germany, India, the UK, Sweden and the US are working in a high-level occupation while the corresponding figure is below 15% for those coming from Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and Nepal. In particular, a large proportion of people with higher education from Poland and Nepal who come to Denmark work at a lower occupation level.

The analysis is based on figures from the Denmark Statistics Research Service and takes into account the highest level of completed education in the population in 2019 and the salary data for employed people in Denmark (Lønmodtagerbeskæftigelsen-BFL).

The information on education gained abroad before coming to Denmark is derived from the register of highest completed education levels. The data on qualifications is based on the DISCO-code. Smaller companies within the private sector do not have a DISCO-code and are hence underrepresented in the study.

Sri Lanka: Protect Garment Workers’ Rights During Pandemic

Compromised Safety, Pay Cuts, Representatives Threatened


Sri Lankan health officials collect swab samples from people to test for the coronavirus in Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 10, 2021. © 2021 AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena

(New York) – The Sri Lankan government, factory owners, and the international clothes brands sourcing from Sri Lanka should protect the safety and employment rights of garment workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Sri Lankan government has used a strict lockdown, first imposed on May 21, 2021, and other measures, including travel bans and bans on public gatherings, to contain a fresh wave of Covid-19 cases. However, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered garment factories to remain open. Trade unions and public health inspectors have reported numerous virus outbreaks in factories, as well as in the congested boarding houses where many workers live, and alleged that employers were under-testing and under-reporting cases to maintain production levels.

“Sri Lanka’s garment workers are entitled to work in safety and be properly paid even when they fall sick or need to quarantine,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government and employers should fully implement existing agreements and guidelines, be transparent about Covid-19 infections in factories, and provide for workers’ welfare instead of intimidating and silencing them.”

One in seven Sri Lankan women work in the garment sector, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). There have been repeated outbreaks in garment factories since April. Yet, five labor rights activists from four organizations told Human Rights Watch they have received complaints from workers that factory managers pressured workers to work without adequate occupational health and safety measures.

All five said that numerous workers from different factories complained to them that they lost pay when they fell sick or needed to quarantine. The activists said that the police or military personnel had intimidated them to stop them from speaking out.

Following an October 2020 Covid-19 outbreak in a factory owned by Brandix Lanka Limited, the government made it mandatory for all factories to have a Covid-19 health committee, including management and workers’ representatives. As of early July, people interviewed said, most factories had not established the committees.

On October 25, the Sri Lankan government issued guidelines requiring garment factories to take occupational health and safety measures for ventilation, screening, testing, and isolating infected workers. Labor rights activists have consistently raised concerns in written statements that employers were flouting guidelines, despite government claims that health measures are enforced. “Labor rights are reserved to a piece of paper,” one activist said, adding that workers, “are scared of losing their jobs, so even when they have symptoms they continue to go to work.”

Another labor activist said, “If factories are aware of a positive test, they don’t do anything about it or share the information” with health authorities. An activist who had assisted workers who were sick with the virus said, “The employers are busy with their orders and workers are not given PCR [Covid-19] tests, because if they are positive, they will not be able to employ them in production.”

Many, though not all, garment factories in Sri Lanka are located within industrial areas called Free Trade Zones (FTZs). Systematic data on Covid-19 cases in the garment sector, which contributes 6 percent of Sri Lanka’s GDP and 44 percent of exports, is not available.

On May 20, a court in Galle detained a manager from the Koggala FTZ on charges under the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Act, after the manager allegedly concealed information and failed to follow instructions from public health officials following an outbreak in the factory. Although this prosecution was unusual, activists told Human Rights Watch they believed factory violations of quarantine rules are widespread.

In April, police dispersed a workers’ protest outside a factory in Bingiriya, where the management was alleged to have kept staff working despite an outbreak. On July 8, trade unionists were detained at a labor rights protest in Colombo and forcibly taken to a Covid-19 quarantine facility, two days after the government banned public protests on purported public health grounds.

Quarantine facilities are run by the Sri Lankan military, which the government has placed in control of its response to the pandemic. When employees are sent to quarantine facilities, their absence is typically deducted from their annual allowance of 14 days unpaid leave.

Following the major outbreak at a Brandix factory in October, trade unions filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka alleging that soldiers “rounded up” 98 workers in the middle of the night and arbitrarily detained them in an unsanitary quarantine facility. In response, the army accused the complainants of pursuing “hidden plans,” and said the military should not be “insulted or downgraded.” Human Rights Watch wrote to Brandix seeking information about the October outbreak but received no response.

Many factories have hired former army officers in management roles, and their tendency to enforce military-style discipline has “instilled fear” in workers, activists said. One activist said that she was threatened earlier this year by a garment factory manager, a retired army officer, who called her and told her he had “dealt with terrorists” and warned against “raising issues.”

The labor rights activists also reported increased surveillance and intimidation by government security agencies. One woman said military intelligence asked her organization why it had spoken to the international media. Another activist said that members of the police Criminal Investigation Department visited her office in April.

“It’s very risky for anyone to talk about these things,” one activist said. “People are very afraid to speak out,” said another.

The government has also taken formal steps to prevent the sharing of information related to the pandemic. In May, the health secretary, Maj. Gen. Dr. S H Munasing, issued a circular banning health officials from speaking to the media, because they were allegedly sharing “incorrect” information and “criticizing health policies.”

In June, the police issued a statement entitled “circulation of fake news, photographs, videos causing disunity, hate and obstructing the Covid-19 programme.” The Bar Association of Sri Lanka said the powers cited “could be misused by police officers in order to stifle the freedom of speech and expression.”

Security force intimidation of workers is particularly acute in the Tamil-majority north of Sri Lanka, which has remained heavily militarized since the end of the civil war in 2009. In Maruthankerny, security officials reportedly told workers they would lose pay and benefits if they did not report for work, despite safety fears related to the spread of Covid-19.

Most garment workers in FTZs live in crowded boarding houses operated by private landlords. Workers’ representatives said that because people with suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19 are frequently not placed in isolation but instead sent back to their boarding house, there is a risk of transmitting the virus among workers of different factories who live in the same building.

Many garment workers come from parts of the country different from where their factory is located, so they do not qualify for the Rupees 5000 (US$25) relief packages distributed by local governments to low-income workers whose incomes have been affected by the pandemic.

The government and factory owners should take effective steps to isolate workers who test positive, and ensure that those receiving treatment or in isolation or quarantine receive full pay, Human Rights Watch said. Relief packages should be distributed to workers irrespective of which part of the country they come from, and safety measures and guidelines previously agreed upon with worker representatives should be followed.

Attempts to intimidate or coerce workers and their representatives, attacks on freedom of association, including the right to join a trade union, and attempts to stifle freedom of expression, should be immediately withdrawn. Foreign companies that buy clothes from Sri Lanka, and trading partners, including the European Union, whose GSP+ trading arrangement includes commitments to uphold labor rights, should press Sri Lanka to adhere to its commitments.

International and local labor rights groups from numerous countries have started a campaign for brands to help support workers and shore up social protection systems by joining a Wage Assurance Fund and Severance Guarantee Fund. Brands should support such initiatives, Human Rights Watch said.

Sri Lankan garment manufactures have applied for loans from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a part of the World Bank Group. The IFC should rigorously ensure that companies receiving loans adhere to its performance standards on labor and working conditions, and uphold fundamental labor rights enshrined in ILO conventions, including freedom of association and collective bargaining.

“Sri Lankan garment workers don’t just provide for their families, they help to keep the entire economy afloat during these very difficult times,” Ganguly said. “Their safety needs to be protected and their rights respected by the global garment industry that relies on their labor.