Unity - The Way Forward

Transcription

1 2nd ITUC - Asia Pacific Regional Conference Unity - The Way Forward Activities Report (by Affiliates) May 2011 Downtown East, Singapore

2 2 nd ITUC - Asia Pacific Regional Conference May 2011 Downtown East, Singapore ACTIVITIES REPORT (By Affiliates)

3 Table of Contents Bangladesh Sanjukta Sramic Federation (BSSF), Bangladesh Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), Hong Kong...3 Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), India...11 Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), India...16 Konfederasi Serikat Pekerja Indonesia (KSPI), Indonesia...20 Konfederasi Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia (KSBSI), Indonesia...22 HISTADRUT, Israel...28 Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO), Japan...39 Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), Korea...48 Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), Malaysia...53 Nepal Trade Union Congress Independent (NTUC-I), Nepal...56 General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), Nepal...59 New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU), New Zealand...68 Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF), Pakistan...76 Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Philippines...82 National Trades Union Congress (SNTUC), Singapore...95 National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), Sri Lanka...99

4 Ceylon Worker s Congress (CWC), Sri Lanka Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TURK-IS), Turkey...106

5 REPORT ON ACTIVITIES Name of Organisation : Bangladesh Sanjukta Sramic Federation (BSSF) Country : Bangladesh 1. Summary of Achievements and Challenges ITUC has 6 affiliates in Bangladesh. BSSF is one of them. Since its inception BSSF is closely working with ITUC and ITUC-AP BSSF participates all activities of ITUC and ITUC-AP. When we receive and call invitation from ITUC. The ideas and political line received from ITUC helps organising our workers. Trade union movement in Bangladesh are suffering from multiplicity. As an adverse effect of globalisation, many mills and factories were closed and workers loose their jobs. Very recently, Garments workers are united and put forward demands to the authority. There is a united platform of trade union workers in Bangladesh, it is called SKOP. It is working but, could not act for the satisfaction of all concerned. The six affiliates works closely in Bangladesh. We unitedly participate all programs of ITUC-BC, now in Bangladesh ITUC-BC is known and respected by all globalisation in Bangladesh. 2. Organising BSSF organises with 14 sector workers there are, Jute & Textile, Garments Transport, Construction etc. (Please see attached document Annexure-A) Reasonable number of members in these sectors joined BSSF. In last 2 years, although we suffered a lot during state of emergency in This happens because of our relentless afford in these sectors. 3. Human and Trade Union Rights BSSF individually and unitedly organised programs. When there is violation or human rights, nationally and internally. BSSF organises, rally, procession human chain, seminars for the establishment of trade union rights in Bangladesh. 4. Employment and Working Conditions BSSF is continuously organising programs to improve working condition. BSSF always doing lobby work with the employers for safety and security in the work place. BSSF always speaks for decent work. 5. Labour and General Legislation and Institutional Reforms, Social Dialogue Workers of Bangladesh got a labour law in 2006 now the present government with the help of trade union leaders made some reforms for the benefit of workers. Some time there happens some problem in labour law and general legislation. Social dialogue was almost absent, but nowadays, we see social dialogue in different sector and society. 1

6 6. Gender Equality Gender equality concept in Bangladesh is very popular to achieve this goal, Bangladesh adapted various strategies like elimination of the gap between male and female, creating gainful employment for woman, mainstreaming of woman in the development process etc. BSSF specially specify five issues with regard to promoting gender equality at works. 1. Sensitisation through educational programs and seminars. 2. Equal wages for equal work. 3. To promote women to the rank of the decision makers. 4. To accommodate more women leaders in different tiers of trade union structure. 7. Youth Man has established himself as the best creative character on earth after a long struggle. For this task he had to apply hard labour. This absolutely reveals youthfulness of human being. In course of time man has introduced modern civilisation and society. In every society, people of different age groups live together. Youths are a strong age group and part and parcel of the society. Society depends on its youth community for every positive development. Evil deeds are also done with the derailed youths in our social life. Above all, pros and cons of the society rest on the youth community. Youth leadership is very significant in Bangladesh. Bangladesh suffers from the problems of over population, poverty, unemployment and political and economic instability. These are the obstacles to development in Bangladesh. The youths can remove the obstacles and move the wheel of development. For smooth running of development activities, participation of youths is vital in Bangladesh situation. We, all should recognise youth leadership. We, all should welcome it for better result in our socio-economic life. Future of youth leadership is well and good in Bangladesh. Youth leadership can present a healthy and happy Bangladesh in the days to come. BSSF is trying to organise youth works in a platform. BSSF continuously trying to make capable youth leaders so, that they take responsibility in future. 8. Specific Achievement and Challenges in Other Areas Recently a big primary teacher s globalisation joint with us. BSSF supported their demands to be nationalising them. 2

7 REPORT ON ACTIVITIES Name of Organisation : Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) Country : Hong Kong, China SAR 1. Summary: Achievements and Challenges 1.1. In 2010, the HKCTU celebrated its 20 th anniversary. One of the celebration events was the International Conference on November 21, It was attended by over 200 participants, over 60 were members of the ITUC-AP General Council and the IUF AP Regional Committee. The support and contribution of the international trade union organisations such as the ITUC-AP has been generally felt and much appreciated by the members of the HKCTU The legislation of the Statutory Minimum Wage has been the major achievement of the HKCTU in the past decade. Since its General Secretary, Brother Lee Cheuk Yan made his speech at the Legislative Council to demand a minimum wage legislation in 1999, the HKCTU has been campaigning robustly, employing various tactics and actions and at various level. It was only until 2004 when the general public opinion began to turn and the government agreed to introduce the Wage Protection Movement in the cleaning and property management sector. Finally in 2008, the government approved the Statutory Minimum Wage Legislation (SMW). However despite strong advocacy from the HKCTU, in particularly the migrant domestic workers organisations, the SMW excludes all live-in domestic workers, majority of them are migrant workers By the end of 2010, the HKCTU Training Centre has become one of the major training bodies of the government-sponsored Employees Retraining Board. With successful bids of government funding, the HKCTU Training Centre has been able to recruit an average of 12,000 intakes annually in the past 5 years for a wide ranging courses on various job skills and soft skills trainings. Through these provisions, the HKCTU has broadened its contact with workers and hence the possibility of trade union organising However, in the labour-management relations, the progress has been slow and minimal. In the period under review, the HKCTU has initiated and led a number of major strikes such as the historic 36-day strike by bar-benders in 2007, the three consecutive strikes by the beverage workers of Vitasoy, Nestle and Watson s Distilled Water in 2008 summer. All these have led to substantial improvement of workers rights and benefits and formation of trade unions. Other unions have staged strong and open protest actions to voice their demands and in most cases have made real gains for their members. In each one of these cases, the unions have to launch industrial actions in order to press the management to face the unions at negotiation table. This is a major challenge to the HKCTU and its affiliates. 3

8 1.5. In order to be effective, the HKCTU has to face the challenge of building strong workplace organisations of workers. The impressive performances of the HKCTU in campaigns for workers rights and democracy have not translated into strong membership growth. In mid-2009, the HKCTU developed a three-year plan focusing on membership growth and achieving the rights of collective bargaining. With this, the HKCTU aims to be more focused to strengthen its organisation as a whole Lastly, development of political democracy remains sluggish. In 2010, the government promulgated a so-called political Reform Package which expanded the number of seats equally among those for direct election and those of Functional Constituencies. In the case of the election of the Chief Executive, the number of members of the election has also been expanded. Even with the implementation of this Reform Package, there will be very little impact on the democratic rights of workers and their families. Therefore, the HKCTU must continue its campaign for democracy. 2. Organising 2.1. In the period under review, the number of affiliates of HKCTU increases from 84 in 2007 to 89 in 2010 and the total membership increases from 167, 000 to 172, 400. The newly recruited affiliates include those in construction, beverages, migrant domestic workers; public services and voluntary agencies In organising, the HKCTU works closely with its affiliates to develop their capacities, and to assist them to develop strategic planning and organising campaigns. In view of the growth of precarious and flexible employment in almost all industries and sectors, the HKCTU has developed specific organising strategies and action plans targeting at these workers. From the experiences, many affiliates have succeeded to improve the working conditions of the workers with precarious employment but at the same time gain more members. The First World Bus Driver Union was a case in point. In 2008, it got consent from the management to give permanent contract to those who have completed two 2-year contracts. Similarly the Cathy Pacific Flight Attendants Union concluded an agreement with the management to retain the terms and conditions of the hourly-paid crew members in early In both cases, the contract workers and the hourly-paid workers have started to join their unions since then 2.3. On the other hand, the HKCTU attempted a new strategy to organise workers in some of the most precarious and flexible employment such as part-time domestic workers, property management workers and cleaners. With this new strategy, trade unions shift away from the workplace where traditionally organising begins. Instead, trade unions identify the needs of workers today and develop services cater to those needs. In this way, workers who are isolated from each other in the workplace meet and united again in trade unions. Through its job-skill training provisions, the HKCTU offers trade union education and training as well so that workers do not only acquire job-skills but also learn their rights and join trade unions. Today there are at least two unions which recruit some of their members at the HKCTU s 5 training centres the Hong Kong Domestic Workers General Union and the Building Management and Security Workers General Union. These two unions have also developed district branches based at each one of these 5 centres to build more cohesive membership networks. Today the former has over 700 members who are women, part-time and extremely informal while the latter has over 2000 members Organising migrant workers has gained momentum within the HKCTU in the past 4 years. In both the Statutory Minimum Wage campaign and the campaign for an ILO 4

9 Convention for domestic workers, the HKCTU has been working closely with its affiliates in the domestic work sector which include local and migrant workers. In November 2010, the Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) was formed, bringing together domestic workers of 5 nationalities Chinese, Filipinos, Thais, Indonesians and Nepalese. This also marks the beginning of local and migrant workers unity. Currently the FADWU has a total membership of over 1,500. In cooperation with the BWI, the HKCTU affiliated Construction Site Workers General Union succeeded to organise a branch union of Nepalese construction workers in It has grown to over 400 member-strong today. At the end of last year, the Union supported the Nepalese workers of a construction company to gain equal rights and equal treatment over meal break and overtime pay In June 2009, the HKCTU launched a Three-year Plan. One of its 6 strategic goals has been membership development. To achieve it, the HKCTU has intensified working with its affiliates to develop organising strategies and plans. Furthermore, it has developed a membership database which will be the major tool to monitor membership grow and grow of active members of each one of its affiliates. 3. Human and Trade Union Rights 3.1. The right to strike is limited, as the Public Order Ordinance permits the use of force to break up strike pickets and demonstrations, and employers can seek an injunction order to suppress workers protests. There is also little protection for striking workers, as the law only ensures that, when a worker to be dismissed for participating in a strike, s/he would have the right to sue the employer for compensation. There is no legal entitlement to reinstatement. (Please refer to the fifth point) Collective bargaining is neither promoted nor encouraged by the authorities, and employers generally refuse to recognise unions. Since the law on collective bargaining was abolished by the government in 1997, there has been no legislative measure to remedy the situation of lack of collective bargaining rights of workers. Although almost 25 % of the workforce is unionised, unions are not generally strong enough to force management to engage in collective bargaining. Thus, less than 1% of workers are covered by collective agreements, and the collective agreements that do exist are not legally binding. Without legal protection to guarantee these rights, workers are also subject to arbitrary and unilateral actions by employers and are denied job and income security Several strikes broke out to fight for a pay increase after the economy has recovered. In 2007, over 1,000 bar benders have gone on strikes for 36 days asking for a pay rise. Strikes occurred in four beverage companies including Coca-cola and Nestle in In 2009, around 100 Nepali security guards undertook a strike action as they have not had pay rise in nine years. Some union leaders were sacked by the employers amid the strikes. Some of them could be reinstated only by collective actions instead of legal protection. Nevertheless, the strike actions have led to the successful formation of HKCTU trade unions to carry on the fight for better working conditions for the workers The government has consistently claimed that there is no need for collective bargaining rights in the public sector because the administration "consults" civil servants over their pay and conditions. However, recent civil service reforms, involving transfers, reductions in wages and benefits, retrenchment and contracting-out to the private sector, have demonstrated very clearly that the government is free to act unilaterally without consulting the affected civil servants. The same attitude is persistently held in 5

10 the private sector led by prominent companies such as Cathay Pacific which swaps collective bargaining with consultation while unilaterally proposing and determining major labour policies. A strike lodged by the Flight Attendants Union was avoided in the last minute in April 2010 after the management scrapped the new roster policy that was introduced unilaterally impacting on the terms and conditions of thousands of hourlypaid crews in March Since 2009, with the launch of the Three-year Plan, the HKCTU has set the goal of having 15 affiliates to successfully achieve collective bargaining rights in their respective workplaces by the end of the third year. To do this, the HKCTU has set up a special Task Force on Collective Bargaining Rights. By discussing and reviewing with its affiliates, the Task Force identified the target unions, followed by developing strategic planning and indicators. Through a process of actions and education, by the end of 2010, the HKCTU has already assisted 7 affiliates to reach their specific indicators. In the next one year that is the final year of its Three-year Plan, the HKCTU has to work very hard to reach its goal. 4. Employment and Working Conditions 4.1. Hong Kong economy has grown robustly since 2004, the real GDP per capita increased 5.3 percent in Economic crisis broke out in 2008 and it quickly bounced back in The unemployment rate was 4 percent in 2007, and then climbed to 5.4 percent in 2009 and descended to 3.7 percent in Even the overall unemployment rate has been kept in low level, the youth unemployment rate remains high around 20% Workers could not get a pay rise during good years. On the other hand, they suffered pay freeze immediately in bad years. From first quarter in 2007 to third quarter in 2010, the real wages only increased in 3 quarters, while in other 12 quarters has gone down in real term. The problem was even worse in low among income groups. As there is abundant labour supply for low skill industries, such as catering, security and sanitary, workers in those industries face long working hours and insufficient income for living. Unions and social activists have asked for a legislation of minimum wage since the 1990s. The demand was only realised in the coming The law provided some basic protection for working poor, but still has several loopholes and deficiencies (Please refer to the fifth point) Long working hours is another major problem. Nearly 20 percent of the workers work for 54 hours per week. Catering, security, sanitary and elderly care are the four longest working hours industries, 25 percent of the workers work over 60 hours per week. 70 percent of the workers worked unpaid overtime. The government pledged in late 2010 to study the legislation of standard working time In Hong Kong, there are two sets of holiday arrangements for white and blue-collar workers respectively. Former entitle 17 public holidays while later only get 12. The HKCTU intends to scrap the practice of having separate standards in this case, different holiday arrangements for blue-collar and white-collar workers. 5. Labour and General Legislation and Institutional Reforms, Social Dialogue 5.1. Although the Basic Law, which is essentially the constitution of Hong Kong, contains provisions guaranteeing freedom of association, the right to organise and the right to strike, no laws have been implemented to secure the effective application of these fundamental rights. While the law protects workers against dismissal for trade union 6

11 activities, it does not cover other forms of anti-union discrimination. A trade union may not use its funds as it wishes, as particularly the use of funds for political ends or for transfer to foreign trade union organisations is restricted in law. Furthermore, only those currently or previously employed in the trade, industry or occupation of the union concerned are permitted to become union officers with consent from the government Regarding the Statutory Minimum Wage Legislation which is the major HKCTU achievement in the past decade is implemented in May 1, With this, the minimum rate is set at HKD 28 per hour. However, not all workers are covered by it. Live-in domestic workers are excluded. In Hong Kong, over 99 percent of these workers are foreign workers. It is a de facto discrimination to them. For the minimum wage rate, the HKCTU has been demanding $33 HKD (around $4.3 USD) but employers group have proposed $24 HKD (around $3 USD) per hour. The hourly rate was finally set at $28 HKD (around $3.6 USD) and will be implemented on May Day of Employment ordinance has been amended in An employer who willfully and without reasonable excuse fails to pay any sum awarded by the Labour Tribunal will be liable to prosecution. Before the amendment, employees are required to go through lengthy and costly civil procedures to enforce the order of the Tribunal. Thus, employers can easily ignore the court s order without having any punishment The government has once pledged to look into the legislation of reinstatement which has been one of the HKCTU s major advocates. But there has been no progress in recent years Lastly after years of campaigning, the government implemented the Transport Subsidy Scheme (TSS) in 2007 so that the low-income workers in the New Territories West were entitled to a grant totally to HKD 600 a month. The government reviewed the scheme in 2010 and revised and renamed it as the Work Incentive Transport Scheme (WITS). Under the new arrangement, all low income workers, irrespective of their residing locations are entitled to the benefit when deemed eligible. The HKCTU s criticism of the revision is that it has become a mean-tested scheme and the applicants are household-based thus discourage many low-income workers to apply. 6. Gender Equality 6.1. Gender inequality has long been an important issue addressed by the HKCTU. In the past three years, one of the major focuses of the Women s Affair Committee of HKCTU falls on the problem of employment poverty By 2010, according to the government statistics, 14.9%, i.e. 215,400, of the female employees, compares with 6.1%, i.e. 113,100, of male employees, earn less than $6,000 per month. The income disparity is attributed to the fact that women with family responsibilities are being forced to find part-time jobs. Furthermore, discrimination against female workers lead to the difference of the hourly wage between female and male employees. The median hourly wage of the female employees is $54.4 while that of the male employees is $ Legislation of statutory minimum wage is one of the solutions of tackling the employment poverty faced by the female workers. The Women s Affair Committee of HKCTU has been playing an active part in the Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) campaign in the past 4 years by highlighting the gender perspective and the specific issues and needs of low income women and mobilising women to participate in the process. Jointly the campaign has turned out to be a major success of the HKCTU. 7

12 6.4. Fighting against age discrimination, a big issue faced by women workers, is another focus of the Women s Affair Committee of HKCTU in the past years. Public actions have been staged to demand a legislation against age discrimination on Women s Days in recent years. A specific campaign has been developed with the affiliates in the civil aviation sector. In 2009, the Cathy Pacific Airway cooperation extended the retirement age of all employees from 45 to 55. It is a major success Addressing the gender imbalance of participation in trade union activities, especially at the leadership level, the Women s Affair Committee has been providing training and education to female union leaders, in order to strengthen their organising skills and knowledge on various women issues. Topics include equal work and equal remuneration; sexual harassment in the workplace; gender mainstreaming in the trade union organisations and enforcement of the CEDAW. Regarding the CEDAW, the Women Committee has also actively working in close collaboration with the Hong Kong Women's Coalition on Equal Opportunities to promote consciousness among women in general on the Convention and to produce alternative views and positions Lastly since 2009, the Women Committee has supported its affiliates in the domestic work sector to demand an ILO Convention for domestic workers by participating in discussions and inclusion as one of the main themes at the Women s Day Rallies. 7. Youth 7.1. Despite stable economic growth during most of the time in the period under review, young workers continue to suffer from the problem of high unemployment rate and increasing precarious and flexible employment. The average unemployment rate of young workers from has been ranging between 8.8% to 10.2_% compared to the average 3.4% of the general unemployment rate. High unemployment rate has been attributed to a number of reasons such as lack of employment opportunity in the job market, discriminatory attitude of employers, lack of skills and work experiences. At the same time, many young workers face the problems of low wages, long working hours and lack of job securities which are the result and product of precarious and flexible employment. Therefore, the two phenomena are interrelated and together have given rise to lack of decent work for young workers today Industries and sectors which offer most job opportunities to young workers include retails, personal and community care services, food and catering, civil aviation, IT and communications. However job opportunities available to young workers, in particular those at the lower end of the industries and sectors are often with short-term contracts and even self-employment that offer minimum benefits and no job protection and prospect. Apart from being low-paid, working hours are usually long, averaging from 10 to 12 hours per day make it difficult for young workers to access to further training and education opportunities In the period under review, the HKCTU aimed to increase organisation of young workers into trade unions, especially those in the precarious and flexible employment. At the same time, it has targeted on the issues of unemployment and aimed to develop policy interventions and concrete proposals to government to alleviate the problems. 8

13 7.4. Major Activities a) Organising and Education A number of affiliates have experienced growth of youth membership in the last few years notably in the civil aviation, food & beverages and personal care services. Different organising strategies and tactics have been attempted to recruit and organise young members. The Cathy Pacific Flight Attendants Union has been using Face Book and s to keep regular communication with its members and has been successful to develop a lot of interest in the union among its youth members. With its 4 beverages unions, the HKCTU attempted to develop a network of beverage unions to foster unity among members. More importantly each one of the unions has developed its strategic plan to recruit members and specific goals to achieve at various stages and points of time. Through the process of strategizing, campaigning and education, the members and workers in general who are often young workers have been attracted to the life of their unions that brings to them sense of achievement and satisfaction b) Campaign on Transport Subsidy Scheme The HKCTU formed the Youth Concern Group in 2007 to take up campaigns on issues facing young workers. It consists of 10 to 12 members from various unions and it is based at the HKCTU Training Centre. Since its formation, it has been campaigning for transport subsidy as a means to assist low-income workers in the communities especially those in the New Territories West. It also includes demand for Job-Seeking Allowance. A number of rallies, demonstrations, and surveys were organised over the years as part of the campaign. As a result of series of campaign actions and activities, the government finally adopted the proposal and implemented the scheme in June, 2007 for workers with a monthly income of less than HKD $5600 and was later raised to $6500. It has greatly relieved the financial burden of low-income workers including young workers who have been discouraged to work due to low and insecure income. c) Annual Youth Employment Survey Survey on the working conditions of the youth is carried out annually during March or April of each year since 2007, especially focusing on wages, working hours, and job security. According to the results, it has been observed the median monthly income of the working youth has dropped from HKD 7,500 to HKD 6,500 from 1997 to Even though it has bounced back to HKD 7,200 in 2010, it is still $300 short from the level of However, this can be explained by the fact that the working hours of the youth have also increased from 51.8 hr/wk in 2007 to 52.7 hr/wk in 2010, which means the working youth in Hong Kong has to work more for better wages. d) Skill Training and Job Placement Provisions The HKCTU Training Centre has been providing skills training to the unemployed young workers. Courses like beautician, manicure and IT were implemented so as to attract the younger workers. The number of intake for those aged increased from about 420 in 2008 to 942 in Training of the young workers does not only confine to vocational skills, other soft skills like basic labour laws, communication skills, money and time management are also included. In 2010, the Training Centre also implemented a new training programme for young school leavers. The young workers were trained in basic electrical and plumbing skills and immediately after the training; the placement team assisted them in finding suitable 9

14 jobs. As there has been a strong demand for electrical and plumbing trainees, over 50% of them were placed and 30% continue to further their studies. e) Youth Union Leadership Education and Training Youth leadership training and education program has been carried out since 2008 to develop new leadership in the organisation in particular those who join the Youth Concern Group. The last was a two-day union education workshop for the working youth held during September, The main purpose of the workshop is to introduce union organisation to the working youth and get them familiarised with various social and labor issues. Over 30 from a number of unions participated. 8. Achievements in Other Areas 8.1 The HKCTU believes that to defend and advance workers rights and trade unions rights, it have to build its strength in the workplace as well as in the political sphere. Therefore the HKCTU has been a major force in the struggle for democracy and human rights. In 2008, its General Secretary, Brother Lee Cheuk Yan again was elected into the Legislative Council through direct election. As member of the Legislative Council, the HKCTU has been able to reflect workers collective voice in the government more effectively. 8.2 Being the one of the major workers skills Training Body of the government sponsored Employees Retraining Board, the HKCTU Training Centre has been offering a wide range of skills training provisions. In the period under review, it has been able to recruit over 12,000 intakes averagely each year and reached the target successful job placement rate of 70% of those workers it has trained. Through this service, the HKCTU has been able to reach out to more workers and hence recruit them into trade unions through workers education and trainings. Lastly, the HKCTU has been attempting to develop waste-recycling (or so-called Green) projects to assist its members to understand and meet the challenges posed by issues of climate change. The HKCTU has founded the Workers Recycling Centre which collects second-hand clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bags, shoes, etc. from people in the communities which will be sorted out and sold at its two second-hand shops. This project is self-sustaining, employing 9 full-time workers and 7 part-time workers. The second project is called Save Food, Save Earth which collects unsold vegetables and other foodstuffs at the market stalls at the end of each day. They will be sorted so that lunch will be provided to workers who come to the HKCTU Training Centre twice a week. The unused parts will be transported to organic farms as fertilizers. 10

15 REPORT ON ACTIVITIES Name of Organisation : Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) Country : India Summary: Achievements and Challenges India is the world s largest democracy with a progressive Constitution based on fundamental rights and freedom, periodic elections, multi-party system, representative parliamentary form of government, federal structure and 5 yearly national development plans (11 th Plan: ). Although the Constitution has been amended on several occasions to keep pace with developments, it provides a firm foundation to promote socio-economic transformation of a society marked by diversities of various kinds, through rights to equality and equal opportunities. The system of tripartite consultations has existed for many decades. This was strengthened by the formation of tripartite industrial committees for important industries and the established practice, both at central and state level, to adopt tripartite principles for labour policy and administration areas. Regular participatory tripartite consultative mechanisms include the yearly Indian Labour Conference, Standing Labour Committees and Tripartite Committee on Conventions. Coordination Committee of Central Trade Unions The Coordination Committee of Central Trade Unions established in 2009 under the Chairmanship of Dr. G. Sanjeeva Reddy, M.P., President INTUC. The first historic convention of workers on 14 th September, 2009 agreed for joint action programme over five commonly agreed demands which are: Price rise of essential commodities to be contained through appropriate corrective and distributive measures like universal PDS and containing speculation in commodity market. Concrete proactive measures to be taken for linkage of employment protection in the recession stricken sectors with the stimulus package being offered to the concerned entrepreneurs and for augmenting public investment in infrastructure Strict enforcement of all basic labour laws without any exception or exemption and stringent punitive measures for violation of labour laws Steps to be taken for removal of all restrictive provisions based on poverty line in respect of eligibility of coverage of the schemes under the Unorganised Workers Social security Act 2008 and creation of National Fund for the Unorganised Sector to provide for a National Floor Level Social Security to all unorganised workers including the contract/casual workers in line with the recommendations of National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector and Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour Disinvestment of Shares of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) is not resorted to for meeting budgetary deficit and instead their growing reserve and surplus is used for expansion and modernisation purposes and also for revival of sick Public Sector Undertakings. 11

16 The joint actions, such as ALL INDIA PROTEST DAY on 28 th October, 2009 Massive Dharna on 16th December, 2009 and Satyagraha/Jail Bharo on 5 th March 2010 in which 10 lakh workers participated. The National Convention of Workers held on 15 th July, 2010 came out with a Declaration and as resolved the All India General Strike was held on 7 th September, The Central Trade Unions Coordination Committee includes: - Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) - All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) - Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) - Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) - All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC) - Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC) - All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) - United Trade Union Congress (UTUC) The united call for countrywide general strike was a total success. There was a March to Parliament on 23 rd February, 2011 for which workers from all over the country participated and the Capital City was fully jammed by the presence of more than Four Hundred Thousand workers. The Coordination Committee of Central Trade Unions is still struggling to achieve the 5 point demands. Economic Situation The Indian economy has witnessed steady economic growth in recent years. The growth is underpinned by a number of factors, i.e. increase in savings and investment rates, good response by the industrial sector to economic reforms and industry s standing in the global economy, which confirm that the growth goes beyond cyclicality. India is on the path to becoming a key player in the world economy over the next two decades with prospects of continuation of such growth in the coming years. The economy is now at a point when it can achieve sustained economic expansion with potential for significant improvements in the lives of the people. Baring the recent economic fall out the world over, in which Indian economy faced no impact, the economic situation is quite satisfactory if not the best and the growth of 8.6 per cent of GDP comfortably one can describe it as a growing economy. Organising More recent figures indicate that employment growth has started to pick-up, but almost wholly in the vast informal economy consisting of the informal sector and informal employment in the formal sector. The increase in the share of self-employment is viewed as a matter of concern since decent work deficits are quite serious and these are mostly home based workers, street vendors, small shopkeepers, small workshops and so on. The conditions of the casually employed, both in agriculture and non-agriculture, is no better with irregular work, poor working conditions and low wages. And this vast majority of the workforce has little or no access to social security. Article 43 of the constitution states that State shall endeavour to secure to all workers a living wage and such conditions of work that ensure a decent standard of life. India s population crossed 1.21 billion ( million). 457 million are working. Out of that 397 million are in informal economy. In other words, the work force in the informal economy (IE) constitutes around 93 per cent of the total working population in India. Around 237 million people are working in agriculture and allied industries and 133 million people are employed in non-agricultural sectors. Women constitute about 32 per cent of the total work force and most of them are vulnerable to hazardous work, exploitation and harassment. 12

17 Majority of the working women are mainly employed in the informal sectors such as agriculture, construction, beedi-rolling, home-based work, and even garment and textile. The increase in the share of self-employment is viewed as a matter of concern since decent work deficits are quite serious and these are mostly home-based workers, street vendors, small shop keepers, small workshops and so on. The conditions of the casually employed, both in agriculture and non-agriculture, is no better with irregular work, poor working conditions and low wages. And this vast majority of the workforce has little or no access to social security. To protect all such workers from exploitation, we demanded for a Bill and the Government in consultation with all stakeholders has passed Unorganised Workers Social Security Bill, Human and Trade Union Rights India has broad legal means to deal with human rights violations through ratification of 6 major international human rights instruments and a National Human Rights Commission. It has been a dynamic and independent civil society with a free media, intellectual academia, a thriving human rights movement and a strong private sector, whose presence in the global market is becoming increasingly conspicuous. The INTUC is very much concerned about workers welfare and raising its voice in every forum. Social Security, Occupational Safety & Health (OSH) Elimination of Child Labour, Better Working Conditions, Removal of Ceiling on Bonus, Enhancement of Gratuity Limit, Fixation of National Minimum Wage, Equal Wage for Equal Work etc are some of the main issues focused by INTUC. MNREGA INTUC played a positive role in bringing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. INTUC organised such workers and ensure that the workers get the benefit of the scheme. Employment and Working Conditions The INTUC played major role in preparing a National Employment Policy, Skill Development Policy and Employment and Training Policy etc. The INTUC fully participated with MOLE & ILO for preparing a Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) India by ILO and keen to implement the same through State/Federation and local levels. The ITUC and ITUC-AP has been at the forefront of addressing the social dimension of globalisation, not least by developing Decent Work Agenda-with its four pillars of employment creation, workers rights, social dialogue and social protection. The INTUC supported Decent Work Agenda, including efforts to promote better coherence in global economic governance. Labour and General Legislation The principal social security laws enacted in India are the following: (i) The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 (ESI Act) which covers factories and establishments with 10 or more employees and provides for comprehensive medical 13

18 care to the employees and their families as well as cash benefits during sickness and maternity, and monthly payments in case of death or disablement. (ii) The Employees Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (EPF & MP Act) which applies to specific scheduled factories and establishments employing 20 or more employees and ensures terminal benefits to provident fund, superannuation pension, and family pension in case of death during service. Separate laws exist for similar benefits for the workers in the coal mines and tea plantations. (iii) The Workmen s Compensation Act, 1923 (WC Act), which requires payment of compensation to the workmen or his family in cases of employment related injuries resulting in death or disability. (iv) The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (M.B. Act), which provides for 12 weeks wages during maternity as well as paid leave in certain other related contingencies. (v) The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (P.G. Act), which provides 15 days wages for each year of service to employees who have worked for five years or more in establishments having a minimum of 10 workers. Gender Equality Even though unions promote women workers in union activities the percentage of their participation is less in number. INTUC has a National Women Committee and it undertakes activities for women workers. Similarly, the State Branches and Industrial Federations have their own women committee which encourages more participation of women in union activities. Youth As like women committee, the Youth Committee of INTUC is also very active at central level and also at state level. The youth members are active in membership drive and organising the informal sector workers and also casual labourers in different sector. Ratification of ILO Conventions So far India has ratified 41 ILO conventions including Convention 144. Out of 8 Core conventions, India has ratified the Conventions related to forced labour (C. 29 & C.105) and related to equality (C.100 & C.111). As regards the Child Labour Conventions 138 & 182, a Technical Advisory Committee had been formed to consider the issues relating to ratification and their recommendations are being examined. India has already filed the papers for ratification of Convention No182. With regard to Conventions 87 & 98 The Government stand is that provision is given in the Constitution and there is no difficulty in implementation of freedom of association and collective bargaining and ratification will cover the essential services like military and police it is not possible to ratify these conventions as such. However, trade unions and particularly INTUC is pressurising the Government to ratify these Conventions. INTUC has organised a National Trade Union Conference on ratification of ILO Core Conventions at New Delhi from August 2010 which was inaugurated by the Labour Secretary and the concluding Session was addressed by Honourable Union Minister of Labour & Employment which was attended by senior central trade union representatives and ILO officials.. 14

19 Unfortunately, Social Protection Conventions (C.102, 155 and 183) are not ratified. As stated earlier the Tripartite Committee on Conventions meets every year to review the progress on ratification of Conventions. Union Training INTUC union members participates the training programmes conducted by VV Giri National Labour Institute at Noida and Indian Institute for Workers Education at Mumbai which are established by Ministry of Labour & Employment. Both these institutes conduct regular training programmes for workers at national level on different topics and unions nominates its cadre to get training. In addition to that, The Central Board for Workers Education was established to cater the needs of unions locally and financial aid is given to the unions to conduct educational programme for the union members. Wage Negotiations The wage negotiations in most of the Public Sector Undertakings started in early 2009 and completed by end of the year and in some cases in early The Indian Worker (in house publication) The Indian Worker plays a substantial role in the growth and spread of INTUC organizational need as it is the only mouthpiece of INTUC which is being published fortnightly in English and Hindi. Efforts are being made to publish it in other regional languages also. Plenary Session The 29 th Plenary Session of INTUC was held from 9 th to 12 th October, 2009 at Kochi (Kerala). The General Council Meeting held on 12 th October, 2009 immediately after the Delegate Session unanimously re-elected Dr. G. Sanjeeva Reddy, M.P. as President, Shri Rajendra Prasad Singh, MLA as General Secretary and Shri KK Nair as Treasurer along with other office-bearers and working committee members of INTUC. 15

20 REPORT ON ACTIVITIES Name of Organisation : Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) Country : India Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) completed 60 years of its age on 25 th December A Diamond Jubilee Conference along with 32 nd Triennial Convention was held in New Delhi which was inaugurated by Noriyuki Suzuki General Secretary of ITUC AP on 11 th September A year long celebration was held all over the country by various state councils, industrial federations and local unions affiliated to HMS. The theme of these conferences was consolidation of trade union into one national trade union centre and to achieve the basic tenets of free independent and democratic trade union movement. HMS is not affiliated to any political party. It does not claim that it is an arm of any political organisation. At the same time believes in democracy, democratic socialism and international solidarity of workers. HMS is one of the founder members of the ICFTU which converged into ITUC. Members of various political parties are members of HMS unions. Despite all political differences, a remarkable development that has taken place during the last couple of years is that all Central Trade Unions (except Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh B.J.P. wing) got together and took joint programmes on common and crucial issues like price rise, unemployment, social security, implementation of labour laws etc. The Action Plan included meetings, conferences, March to Parliament etc. with great degree of success in implementation. HMS played an important role in all these programmes. CONSOLIDATION OF TRADE UNIONS On 23 rd October 2010 Hind Mazdoor Sabha could effect a major merger of another national trade union centre known as HMKP which was led by the erst while socialists into the fold of HMS. This was witnessed at Mumbai by Noriyuki Suzuki who blessed the event. Earlier as part of the program for consolidation small and big individual unions in various state could get affiliated to the HMS. A group of trade unions having more than 1.5 lakhs membership led by the communist leaders in Kerala known as AICITU dissolved that organisation and got themselves affiliated to HMS in Similarly major unions functioning in the informal sector came into the fold of HMS during the period under reference. All these could increase the base as well as the membership of HMS. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING & AGREEMENTS It was the achievement of the working people in India that the appointment of 6th Pay Commission and revision of wages for the 5.4 million government employees including railway workers and para-military forces on the bargaining of Joint Consultative Machinery under the leadership of Umraomal Purohit General Secretary of HMS. Through this settlement based on 6 th Central Pay Commission the Employees got (i) (ii) 40% in Pay rise Automatic rise in some of the allowances when Consumer Price Index cross 50% of the Dearness Allowance. 16

21 (iii) (iv) All Group D employees (Bottom grade employees) are upgrades to the next higher grade and to be called Group C with full benefits as are applicable to Group C. This is a step in the direction of achievement of decent working and living condition. Many specific benefits to women workers relating to job flexibility, long maternity leave and leave for the education of the child till the child reaches adult age etc. This will also certainly go long way in women empowerment. This report and revision paved way for many agreements in public sector undertaking and even in private firms. The wage agreements for the coal workers, cement industry, Port and Dock Workers, NASIK printing press, Kudremukh steel plant, BHEL are the achievements of HMS negotiation and struggle. This has increased the confidence of the workers in HMS and HMS could come out as number one in various membership verifications. It stands first in railways, airlines, Port & Dock, coal & cement industries. INFORMAL SECTOR 93% of the Indian work force numbering about million is in informal sector. They are not organised and their problems are not properly tackled by the government. There is a deficit of social security and labour law implementation. All the trade unions have been raising the issue to resolve their problems at the highest level including Indian Labour Conference. A national commission was appointed to study the various problems of informal sector. Recommendations were also made. The trade unions were able to get partial implementation of a national employment guarantee scheme and declaration of some social security programs. Ultimately Government has enacted a low Unorganised workers Social Security Act, 2008, but its implementation is yet a problem as the Act is without a financial backing. HMS with other Central Trade Unions has demanded the Government to allocate funds to the tune of at least 3% of GDP for the proper implementation of the Act but we have not so far succeeded. HMS had made inroads into the informal sector and organised hundreds of unions. HMS has organised many workshops to build the capacity of its affiliated unions and plan strategies for organisation of workers in the unorganised sector. The workshops were given so much importance that General Secretary invariably attended all the workshops and remained present for the entire duration. HMS has successfully implemented an ITUC-AP Project for organising workers in Beedi and Kendu leaf in Orissa which has fetched positive results that HMS membership in this sector increased by 30,000. Follow up project has also been taken up. A massive rally was organised in Delhi on 1 st March 2008 demanding social security for the informal sector. Similar rallies were held in various parts of the country. Joint platform were also made in this regard in co-operation with other central trade union. There are massive enrollments of membership in lakhs to the HMS fold from the informal sector. CONTRACT WORKERS The issue of contract workers had been a burning problem in the Indian working class scenario. As a result of globalization permanent and perennial job were shifted to contract employment. This has defeated the UN declaration of decent work agenda and ILO s programme for better job and less exploitation. An action programme was chalked out to highlight the issues of the contract workers. an all India demands day for the contract workers was observed on 8 th January A declaration was also adopted by the joint forum demanding the redressal of the problems of contract workers. HMS has succeeded in forming unions of the contract workers and fighting out their problems. In most of the cases the wages and working conditions of contract workers have been got improved. In a recent agreement with BHEL the biggest Power Equipment manufacturing Company the wages of contract workers have been got increased from 17