For a One Big Union

From the ITUC 2010 annual survey of violations of trade union rights.

Trade unions in Africa suffer from a general lack of respect for their organisations and their activities, both from employers and the authorities. This seriously hampers the free enjoyment of trade union rights. Demonstrations and strikes are often dispersed by the police, who often resort to violence. Sometimes trade union leaders are targeted directly, as shown by the assassination attempts on three union leaders in Burundi and Chad.

Violent repression of striking workers marked the year in South Africa. On several occasions, police and security guards fired at striking workers, most of whom were protesting about pay issues. During the year, a total of 16 workers were reported as having been injured.

Teachers in both Algeria and Kenya organised mass rallies connected to their struggle for better working conditions. In both countries, activists were injured in clashes with the police and many were arrested, and in Kenya, the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) subsequently ordered 90,000 teachers in senior and managerial positions to leave the teachers’ unions.

In Egypt, the Real Estate Tax Authority Union officially became the first independent union in over 50 years to be established in the country. However, since its inception, the union has suffered from interference in its internal affairs, with its members being intimidated, harassed and even assaulted, whilst the Egyptian Trade Union Federation, which is the only legally recognised national trade union centre and has close ties to the ruling party, has tried to pressure the authorities into withdrawing the recognition of the union.

Zimbabwe’s abysmal record of violence and repression of trade unions and their members caused the ILO to send a Commission of Inquiry to the country in February. During the year, trade unionists continued to be harassed by the police and supporters of Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, whilst mass dismissals of striking workers took place, numerous unionists were arrested, several workers were severely beaten by the police while others were shot, and one union leader’s home was raided.

Trade unions are the butt of constant harassment and repression in Swaziland, where the State of Emergency has been in force for over 35 years. Arrests of union leaders and beatings of protesters are not uncommon.

Violations of human and trade union rights are also a matter of serious concern in Sudan. The law only allows one trade union federation, which is controlled by the government and engages more in disciplining workers than protecting their interests. Unionists who operate outside the official union live under constant fear, and 2009 saw no improvement of the situation.

The demands of workers and their representatives are frequently ignored or rejected by employers or the authorities throughout Africa. Furthermore, even where a collective bargaining agreement has been concluded, it is often not honoured. This problem applies in particular to countries like Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania. The authorities also discriminate against independent or representative unions. In Benin, for instance, the government has favoured “patriotic” trade unions and associations and has refused to consult with the representative organisations. Unions have been unduly denied registration in Algeria, Swaziland and the Central African Republic, whilst in Equatorial Guinea the refusal has been systematic.The right to strike is frequently infringed in practice. Workers regularly suffer from retaliation for having participated in strikes, which are often broken up by the police. In Côte d’Ivoire, for example, the authorities took repressive measures against thousands of striking dock workers, leaving 60 people injured, several of them seriously. Strikers were also assaulted in other countries including Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria and Tanzania. Nearly 700 workers were arrested during the year for participating in legitimate trade union activities, mainly in Algeria and South Africa.

Gambian Hotel Workers Strike

The Gambia is a popular holidaying place for Europeans and the tourist industry is one of the country's major source of income . However it is not all swimming pools and sandy beaches for the locals . They have to endure the daily grind of the class struggle . Sometimes , they fight back . This report :-

Three hundred members of staff of the Senegambia Beach Hotel who went on a sit down strike on Monday, December 24, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the management of the hotel. The employees went on strike when management failed to meet their demands of 50 percent salary increment and secure working conditions. Meanwhile, a 5 percent salary increment will be implemented until a review is made based on the audited account of the company. It was also agreed for the hotel to give a two years contract to 100 junior employees. Not total victory but a sign of growing worker muscle .

The hotel usually employs people on a six month contract basis, which could be renewed or terminated at the end of the period. Some members of the staff said that despite the fact that some people have been working for the hotel for over ten years, their employment is still on temporary contracts , and they have not got any other benefits. Some employees receive only D750 dalasi as salary and whose contracts can be terminated without justification.

The strikers, who were assembled in the hotel hall, were chanting slogans and displaying placards with phrases such as; "No more slavery", "No free labour", "We need job security, salary increment and we are fighting for our rights".

Sierra Leone Class Struggle

Over at the Power to the People blog a report on the unrest at the diamond mining area in Sierra Leone where police cracked down on protests about the exploitation and inhumane conditions .

Residents were protesting the mining operations’ impact on living conditions, saying the company has failed to compensate affected families. Residents say Koidu Holdings has not met promises to help in the resettlement of residents displaced by its operations. A private company owned by Israeli diamond magnate Beny Steinmetz, Koidu Holdings mines the deepest vertical kimberlite pipe in the world. It has been in talks with locals who live near the blast site in the concession for several years.

Rich in diamonds, Kono district lacks piped water, electricity and good roads, citizens say. Residents have long denounced what they call exploitation by diamond seekers.

Dozens of young residents of the eastern Sierra Leone town of Koidu swarmed onto the mine to protest against the mining company. Sierra Leone police had to intervene and opened fire on the protesters.
Valnora Edwin is the director of Sierra Leone non-governmental organization, Campaign for Good Governance. She says the residents of the town adjacent to the mine complain the blasting has negatively impacted their daily lives. The residents are also complaining that the mining, which started in 2003, damages their plantations, their water supplies, and more generally, the environment. They want the mining company to pay to relocate them.
"They are complaining that when they are doing the blasting it is affecting their school, it's affecting everyday activities because everyone has to go indoors, there are particles flying in the air, and that is also affecting their health," she said.

According to Abu Brima, executive director of the Sierra Leone Network Movement for Justice and Development
"The community people have made a number of complains, and have written a lot of letters of complaints to the authorities, and recently they also made a memorandum of 14 points to go on strike if Koidu holdings did not meet their demands," According to Brima, because these demands were not met, the villagers resorted to protesting, expecting the support of local authorities. "But, unfortunately they the authorities have used their heavy hands to clamp down on local communities on behalf of the mining company..."

Members of parliament who visited Kono following the uprising issued a statement on 17 December condemning what they called "heavy handed action taken" in quelling the unrest. "We believe it was a peaceful demonstration which could have been settled through negotiations," the seven MPs said in the statement

Stop Firestone - Support the strikers

While your company has reaped millions of dollars in profit from Liberia, you have handed back just pennies to the workers . And now you are compounding these violations of the dignity of workers through your efforts to stymie the freely expressed wishes of the workers for an independent union.” - The United Steelworkers of the USA

On July 7, 2007, workers turned out in massive numbers to participate in the first genuinely free and fair union elections in the 81-year history of Firestone’s operations in Liberia. Workers of the Firestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia say they will continue their strike action until the management of the company recognizes their elected union representatives.

Workers employed at the Firestone Plantation in Liberia earn a little more than $3 a day. They live in shacks with no electricity, no running water or toilet facilities. Their children have no access to a high school education.

The International Labor Rights Fund in November 2005 sued Bridgestone/Firestone for the slavelike conditions in its rubber plantations in Liberia. Firestone's operations allegedly forced children as young as 11 to work in the fields from before sunrise until late day. These kids typically walked one to two miles carrying two 75-pound buckets of rubber to storage or collection tanks. If the children refused to work, their parents risked losing their measly $3.19 daily wage, all while Bridgestone/Firestone celebrates record-level profits for 2005 and 2006.

Tappers and their children are held in virtual bondage, isolated from the world on a million—acre plantation and dependent on Firestone for everything from wages to lodging to food and medicine, all of which are desperately inadequate. Bridgestone/Firestone housing has not been renovated since its construction in 1926. Most of the houses do not include running water or indoor toilets.

Enviromentalists have been documenting Bridgestone/ Firestone’s abuses and have confirmed the habitual release of suspected toxins into the environment and the Farmington River as well as the exposure of plantation workers to compounds and chemicals that are internationally recognized as toxic and environmentally damaging.Bridgestone/ Firestone’s dumping in the Farmington River is polluting Liberian’s waterways and is hazardous to the communities that live along the river; depending on it for fishing, bathing, and drinking water. Bridgestone/ Firestone’s actions have made a once vibrant ecosystem and river way into one that is nearly dead.

For years, workers on the Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia have been represented by the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), which is affiliated to the General Agriculture and Allied Workers Union of Liberia (GAAWUL). However, for years, the leadership of the union did not truly represent the concerns of workers and was what is referred to as a “company union” . This means that Firestone management controlled the previous union leaders .

Since the union leadership on the Firestone plantation has not historically represented workers, workers formed another organization called the Aggrieved Workers Committee.The Aggrieved Workers ran candidates for each union leadership position in the July 2007 elections and overwhelmingly won each seat . The election process was extremely open and democratic.

Since the elections, Firestone management has refused to meet with the newly elected leaders and is continuing to give workers’ union dues to the old, illegitimate leadership. Firestone management has arranged for paid leave for workers related to the old union leadership to “conduct education for members of FAWUL on their role in keeping the Plantation stable to avoid labor unrest.” This is a clear union-busting strategy being used by Firestone to avoid having to negotiate with a truly representative union.

Comfort Willie, the newly elected treasurer general of the Firestone Agricultural Workers’ Union of Liberia, has also accused the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of engaging in witch-hunting against union members.

More here at link

Solidarity

South African mine workers are starting a one-day strike in protest at poor safety in the country's mines. About 240,000 workers are to take part in the 24-hour stoppage, the first countrywide strike by miners. About 40,000 workers are expected to join a protest march in Johannesburg .

"Workers are saying enough is enough. Safety is needed now," said Erick Gcilitshana, the health and safety head of the National Union of Mineworkers, which is organising the strike.

"Our safety records both as a company and a country leave much to be desired." Harmony Gold mine executive Patrice Motsepe has said

More than 180 workers have been killed this year in the country's mines, with another two dying in recent days, slightly fewer than 200 deaths in 2006. In October, more than 3,000 miners were trapped a mile underground at a Harmony Gold mine.

South Africa's Business Day newspaper, in an opinion piece, said mine supervisors "remain hostile to the introduction of new safety values into a traditionally conservative environment."

Yet the average miner still earns only $US500 per month. Fourteen years after the end of white rule, miners are still the poorest paid workers of the industrial sector.