Item 6: Secretariat reports b) Team Africa Transnational Companies I. Southern Africa

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1 Item 6: Secretariat reports b) Team Africa Transnational Companies I. Southern Africa The Danish IUF affiliate 3f continued to support the project on Trade union policy co-ordination and capacity building towards regional institutions and TNCs in the agricultural, food and beverages sectors. Affiliated unions in Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have met on a regular basis to discuss and develop common strategies and action plans to combat precarious forms of employment and enhance recruitment and organizing as well as collective bargaining within transnational companies. As of 2014, the hospitality sector was included in this sub-regional network. A memorandum of agreement between the unions was agreed to protect trade union and human rights of migrant workers. An increase in membership has been reported from affiliates in Mozambique and Zambia as a result of the project activities. Furthermore, communications and exchanges among the affiliates have improved considerably. Activities in the beverage sector were coordinated with and reinforced by the IUF global Coca-Cola and PepsiCo organizing project. A number of workshops have been held in South Africa, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia to train shop stewards and leaders in collective bargaining and grievance handling, health and safety, organizing, strategic planning and communication. A particular emphasis has been put on combatting precarious forms of employment and labour brokers through organizing activities.

2 2 / Item 6 (b): Team Africa Transnational Companies An IUF fact-finding mission to Swaziland in 2013 to examine violation of trade union rights and precarious forms of employment at Swaziland Beverage Ltd, a bottler of Coca-Cola products, resulted in the conversion of more than 50 casual workers all union members to permanent positions. In May 2015, the coordinator for the 3f and the CCP projects in Southern Africa, Stella Lequechane, left the IUF. There is, however, a commitment from both 3f and the IUF to continue the cooperation. In the meantime the CCP project activities have been coordinated by the IUF Secretariat. II. West and North Africa Implementation of the global Coca-Cola and PepsiCo unionization project has been in progress since 2006 in West and North Africa. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are the largest transnational companies in the drinks sector in this region. For a number of years, the IUF, with its affiliated organizations, has placed special emphasis on an approach that allows the organization, recruitment and mobilization of workers. This is to enable them to better defend their rights, resolve the problems they face and increase their bargaining capacities or power. 1. Objectives The project s objectives for the West and North Africa Region are: Strengthening the capacities of trade union organizations through training and recruitment methods. Listing violations of workers rights and trade union rights, and support workers in combating violations. Supporting and accompanying affiliates on various subjects relating to the world of work. 2. Training During the period covered by this report, in strict alignment with the overall project objective, training has been organized, in the form of seminars and workshops, in several countries and on a variety of subjects. Thirteen workshops were held involving at least 200 trade union leaders from Benin, Ghana, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Togo and Tunisia. The aim was to strengthen the capacity of the participants in subjects such as: - Collective bargaining techniques; - Trade union mobilization and recruitment; - Labour legislation, workers rights and Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO). These meetings allowed participants to consider the various challenges that they face in the two transnational companies. The concept of organization and its content were presented and discussed to allow the participants to have a better understanding and help them to better resolve the problems with which they are confronted.

3 Item 6 (b): Team Africa Transnational Companies / 3 At the end of the seminars, action plans were prepared to tackle the challenges identified. These mainly related to job security, precariousness and subcontracting, wage disparities and social benefits, unionization, government policies, decent work (worker safety and wages, etc.), migrant workers, health and safety in the workplace and the inconsistencies of government policies (pensions). 3. Field visits and support to current campaigns In order to assist trade unions at local level, field visits were made to Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Tunisia. These visits also allowed the IUF to be presented to a wider audience and share with them the current challenges that it faces, as well as the current campaigns (Coca-Cola and Pepsi Squeeze). In Ghana, a demonstration was organized on 2 October It assembled workers and trade union leaders from the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) in the Coca-Cola and PepsiCo factories. Campaign leaflets were distributed together with postcards produced during the campaign. 4. Results Successes achieved by the trade unions in the period covered by the report are outlined below: West Africa: Benin Following negotiations with the Benin Brewery Company trade union (SYNTRASOB) with the support of the project coordinator, the Coca-Cola management in Benin agreed to pay compensation based on gross wages to all workers rather than the wages net of tax. That led to an increase in the workers purchasing power of some 10 per cent. Togo The Coca-Cola bottling plant of Brasserie BB in Lomé, owned by the Castel BGI Group, experienced a crisis between 9 and 12 June 2015, following management s decision to terminate the temporary contracts of 13 forklift truck drivers. For the workforce, this act was seen as a violation of the agreements. A stoppage was held from 9 to 12 June to protest against this state of affairs. The management finally recognized the justification of the workers claims. The representatives of the workers of the National Union of Workers in the Brasserie BB of Togo (SYNTEB) took advantage of this situation to demand satisfaction of all outstanding claims and other grievances. An agreement was reached concerning the 13 temporary workers who were given an indefinite term, i.e. permanent, BB contract. Another 35 workers who had been outsourced obtained fixed-term BB contracts, i.e. employment contracts (convertible in due course into permanent). In all, 48 workers saw their precarious employment become sustainable. Under the Togo Labour Code, the maximum length of a fixed-term contract is four years. This length was reduced, in the Brewery, to a maximum of two years. This

4 4 / Item 6 (b): Team Africa Transnational Companies new provision allowed 101 workers on fixed-term contracts to obtain an indefinite term contract. A general wage increase of 5% from 1 July 2015 was also obtained. North Africa: Tunisia The Revolution of 2011 allowed the General Food Federation of Tunisia (FGAT) to negotiate the abolition of precarious work in Coca-Cola companies. Officials and activists of this organization participated in several training sessions organized in the framework of the project, both inside Tunisia and abroad. A trade union training manual was also produced to strengthen the capacities of activists in collective bargaining and trade union recruitment. Morocco Support was provided to workers fighting to improve health and safety in the workplace, especially following several accidents at the Tit Mellil site in 2012 in which several workers were injured. The problems found by a mission sent to the site were raised by the IUF delegation in the IUF s periodic meetings with Coca-Cola management in Atlanta, in order that measures could be taken to prevent and eliminate further accidents. Likewise, the National Labour Union (UMT), at that time affiliated to the IUF, with the support of the project, built up relations with the bottler COBEGA, driven by the Atlanta process. Thus, problems relating to wage levels compared to other transnational companies were settled by negotiation and the signing of a protocol of agreement. Consequently, workers earning less than 15 Dirhams per hour received an increase of 30% in 2014 and 40% in Apart from the wage increases, social benefits such as travel and housing allowances, religious festivals, leave and sickness were secured. Other: In December 2012, a network of Coca-Cola trade unions comprising unions from Benin, Niger and Togo was set up. The objective of the network is to allow sharing of information and experiences and strengthen trade union bargaining power, both at local and regional level, and, lastly, to improve living and working conditions of workers in the company. Rules of procedure of the network were adopted in The members of the network meet at least once a year to share the achievements, challenges, problems and solutions to them in the various countries, as well as improvements or difficulties related to working conditions. A work plan was drawn up in 2016 for the next three years. This plan covers the following aspects: - sharing of information and experiences; - training;

5 Item 6 (b): Team Africa Transnational Companies / 5 - visibility of the network; - its financing and expansion. Among other things, it will involve organizing regular training sessions for workers, making the network more visible by publicizing coordination with the IUF in the region, trade union confederations, breweries and the Castel BGI Group. A comparative table of the different benefits and bonuses with amounts and frequency relating thereto was prepared and distributed to trade unions with a view to improving their capacity to negotiate better living conditions for the workers. In all the activities organized in the framework of the project, efforts were made to ensure and improve the participation of women (e.g. 10 women in the seminars organized in Ghana and Togo respectively). During the visits to Mali and Burkina Faso, there were meetings with the national IUF women s committees to discuss women s working conditions. 5. Outlook In terms of outlook, the key issues will be: Reinforcing and maintaining the achievements made; Continuing to build capacities on priority subjects for workers in the sector; Continuing to ensure that trade union and human rights are respected and, if necessary, providing the necessary support to the trade unions concerned; Strengthening the synergy between the project and other IUF projects currently being implemented in the region, in order to increase the visibility of the IUF in the region and, above all, achieve the objectives set.