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The ICEM tracks climate negotiations because of their profound implications for all workers, but especially industrial workers in energy-producing and energy-intensive industries. The Global Union Federation supports a fair, ambitious, and legally-binding climate treaty, but insists that decision-makers consider the social implications. 
 
Existing jobs must be made more sustainable, and new, or &ldquo;green jobs,&rdquo; can be created, but they must not be &ldquo;mcjobs.&rdquo; They must provide decent work. This implies a need for national industrial strategies. Strong social programmes must back specific &ldquo;Just Transition&rdquo; provisions. 
 
Lastly, the world must not forget that fundamental structural changes in our economy are needed as the financial crisis demonstrated that the same kind of short-sighted thinking that has jeopardized the environment, equally has jeopardized economic stability. 
 
After the failure that was COP-15 in Copenhagen in 2009, COP-16 in Canc&uacute;n, Mexico, opened to low expectations. Many felt that the best that could be hoped for was to put the process back on track, build some trust, and aim for real decisions at COP-17 in 2011. 
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ICEM&rsquo;s Brian Kohler speaking at plenary session of Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action
At COP-15, before the talks collapsed and the so-called &ldquo;Copenhagen Accord&rdquo; emerged from secret backroom talks, trade unions had succeeded in winning the insertion of a paragraph in the &ldquo;Shared Vision&rdquo; portion of the Long-term Cooperative Action draft, covering a range of issues including adaptation, mitigation, financing, research and development, technology transfer, training and education, and Just Transition. This paragraph came to be known as the &ldquo;Just Transition and Decent Work&rdquo; paragraph. 
 
For reasons unknown, the Chair of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) removed this paragraph from the document under discussion, and labour was faced with a fight to get it back. 
 
The Just Transition language agreed that &ldquo;addressing climate change requires a paradigm shift towards building a low-emission society that offers substantial opportunities and ensures continued high growth and sustainable development, based on innovative technologies and more sustainable production and consumption and lifestyles, while ensuring a just transition of the workforce that creates decent work and quality jobs.&rdquo; 
 
Related stakeholder language that was also missing recognized the need for civil society to participate in decisions that affect their lives, workplaces, and communities. 
 
Recovering this language became a priority of the trade union delegation to COP-16. ICEM Health, Safety, Sustainability Officer Brian Kohler addressed the opening plenary of the AWG-LCA on behalf of trade unions, and emphasized the need for this language. 
 
Throughout the two weeks of COP-16, coordinated by the International Trade Union Confederation&rsquo;s (ITUC) Anabella Rosemberg, every trade union delegate made efforts to contact members of the negotiating teams to stress the need for this paragraph. Kohler himself spoke to negotiators from Europe, Japan, and the assistant to the Chair of the AWG-LCA, among others. This all-out effort finally paid off: at the last minute, on the last day, it was announced that the text had made it back into the &ldquo;Shared Vision.&rdquo; 
 
The final report of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technical Advice, on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) eligibility as a Clean Development Mechanism (part of the Kyoto Protocol track), presented two options on CCS for consideration by the Parties. In the end, the Parties adopted the more favourable of the two options. Therefore, CCS will be an eligible project activity under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), provided it complies with fairly stringent risk and safety assessments. This is a positive development for supporters of CCS, including ICEM and many of its affiliates. 
 
As for protecting the earth from disastrous climate change, much remains to be done. Developed countries must be more ambitious in their emissions reduction targets, and although progress was made on the subject of funding, the poorest nations of the world have yet to see a fully adequate finance plan for mitigation and adaptation. 
 
On balance, however, COP-16 did represent a small step forward, and raises hope that at COP-17 next year, a more effective &ldquo;fair, ambitious, and binding&rdquo; climate treaty may be reached. 
 
The full list of agreements reached at COP-16 can be read <a href="http://unfccc.int/2860.php ">here</a>.

COP-16: Modest Trade Union Successes Inside Big Picture

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Roquette Fr&egrave;res is a family-controlled transnational based in Lestrem, France, that in September 2009 signed the ten principles of the UN Global Compact. One year later, the company submitted over 70 regressive contract proposals to the US union, Local 48-G of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco, and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Union at a corn wet milling plant in Keokuk, Iowa. 
 
When union members rejected the drastic cuts to their living and work standards on 28 September 2010, Roquette America locked its 240-member workforce in Keokuk off their jobs. 
 
That move has now produced an official protest to George Kell, head of the Global Compact. The recommendation to de-list Roquette from the voluntary body comes from the International Union of Food, Agricultural Workers' Association (IUF), the BCTGM&rsquo;s Global Union Federation, the ICEM, and the American labour centre, AFL-CIO. 
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&ldquo;We believe that Roquette Fr&egrave;res actions undermine the legitimacy of the Global Company,&rdquo; stated IUF General Secretary Ron Oswald, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a 3 December letter to Kell. &ldquo;The company should not be able to claim that it supports the Global Compact when in reality it is systematically violating fundamental human rights.&rdquo; 
 
(The entire letter can be viewed <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1012.Roquette.global%20compact%20letter$.pdf ">here</a>.) 
The company&rsquo;s collective bargaining agenda in a proposed four-year renewal agreement is especially egregious. It seeks unlimited rights to employ temporary workers at the corn starch plant in America&rsquo;s heartland; it wants a two-tier wage scheme in which new hires will receive 47% less than other workers; it desires big increases in worker co-payments on their health care; an end to the company&rsquo;s defined benefit pension scheme, to be replaced by a pension savings plan; elimination of sick leave, maternity leave, and personal days; and Roquette America is seeking an end to workplace seniority on layoffs and job bidding. 
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The company also wants a wage freeze for the four years. 
 
A week into the lockout, Roquette hired scab workers to run the plant. It has brought in management personnel from a plant it owns in Gurnee, Illinois, and is using replacement workers from temporary labour agencies and an enterprise in the state of Ohio that specializes in providing contingency workers when staff of a company strike or are locked out. 
 
In a further rebuke to the principles of the Global Compact, earlier this year Roquette&rsquo;s Keokuk plant was hit with a US$1 million fine as a civil penalty regarding air pollution violations. The penalty was part of a consent order by a local district court judge in agreement with the state of Iowa and Roquette, in which the company admitted wrongdoing.
(The IUF's campaign on Roquette can be viewed <a href="http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=539">here</a>.)&nbsp; 
 
Roquette Fr&egrave;res operates in 12 countries and manufactures different corn starches in Keokuk, including starch derivatives and polyols, or sugar alcohols, from the corn wet milling process for use in food and pharmaceutical grade dextrose, corn syrup, and other products.

ICEM Joins IUF in Global Compact Protest of French Firm’s US Lockout

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The ICEM has developed a short guide to dealing with Contract and Agency Labour (CAL). The guide, intended to help unions raise awareness of the prevalence and impact of precarious work, outlines what types of employment are included in the ICEM&rsquo;s definition of CAL, and highlights some of the most common problems associated with such work. 
 
The guide also gives an overview of what the ICEM and its affiliates around the world are doing to promote permanent, direct employment, and at the same time to promote better conditions for CAL workers. 
 
The guide lists a number of specific attempts unions have made to keep employment permanent and direct, for example, by agreeing to a cap on the number of CAL workers who can be employed in a particular company or sector, or by restricting the number of times a fixed-term contract may be renewed before employment becomes permanent. 
 
In terms of ensuring respect for the rights of CAL workers, ICEM affiliates have sought guarantees that CAL workers will receive equal treatment from the first day of their employment and that those on fixed-term contracts will receive severance fees in the event their contracts are not renewed. Unions have also attempted, and in some cases succeeded, in negotiating collective bargaining agreement clauses, which require the company to consult with the union, and to get their approval, before outside labour is used. 
 
The guide proposes ways in which unions can build relations with CAL workers, suggesting that unions consider altering their internal rules to permit CAL workers to join; create a dedicated precarious workers&rsquo; section or representative; or consider introducing different membership fee levels and alternative methods of dues collection. 
 
The guide concludes by encouraging affiliates to initiate a discussion on CAL within their own unions, and suggests a number of questions which may help to get these discussions started. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s Mini Guide to Dealing with CAL is available <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1012.ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20HQ.pdf">here</a>.

ICEM Launches Mini Guide to Dealing with Contract, Agency Labour

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After earlier releases in a number of other languages (for more, please consult the ICEM&rsquo;s Contract and Agency Labour site <a href="http://cal.icem.org/index.php/en/icem-guide-on-cal">here</a>), the ICEM is now releasing the Croatian versions of the &ldquo;ICEM Guide on Contract and Agency Labour&rdquo; (CAL) as well as of the shorter and more practical &ldquo;Negotiators&rsquo; Guide on CAL&rdquo;. The Croatian translations have been made possible through the joint ICEM-IUF South-East European Project on Trade Union Modernisation. 

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This CAL guide describes numerous contract, agency and other precarious work situations from around the world - both in developing and developed countries. It contains a number of best practice examples, as well numerous worrying stories, including some of the terrible working conditions that many workers in precarious employment find themselves in. The guide also provides an overview of some of the more recent changes in national and international labour laws and standards, and further deals with combating this phenomenon at company level. 
 
The &ldquo;Short Guide for Negotiators on How to Deal with Contracting Out, Outsourcing and/or Agency Labour&rdquo; is an instrument to assist trade unionists at the plant level. It provides practical suggestions on what to do when (or before) the issue comes up.

ICEM releases Croatian versions of its Contract and Agency Labour Guides

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A five-week strike at a BHP-owned manganese mine and smelter by members of the Kimberley branch of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa ended 5 October with a satisfactory one-year contract. 
 
The resolve came after global pressure was applied by ICEM mining affiliates, as well as attention given BHP&rsquo;s bargaining indifference at the recent statutory meeting of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and at ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Sahara Africa Region Meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, on 15 September. 
 
&ldquo;We were very fortunate to have international pressure and a COSATU focus on this strike,&rdquo; said NUM Kimberley Regional Coordinator Lucas Phiri. &ldquo;The arrogance of this company from the mine level to the Johannesburg office was something I have not seen in 12 years inside the NUM.&rdquo; 

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The 920 miners and smelting-plant workers at BHP&rsquo;s Hozatel Manganese operation in the Northern Cape downed tools on 28 August. Their dispute was not just about wages &ndash; South African managers, in fact, were cancelling meetings both at the local level and with NUM national officers &ndash; but about parity between black and white miners, and for improved conditions for women in this remote mining region of the Northern Cape. 
 
With 90% of the 920 workers black, the NUM discovered that white workers at Hozatel got better medical assistance benefits, and received a transportation allowance of 2,000 rands per month, while blacks received 440 rands. Many miners live in hostels, but others travel from the village of Kuruman to the Hozatel operation. 
 
Due to outside pressure on BHP, local management finally got serious on addressing issues that caused the strike and called for talks on 5 October. Both sides agreed to an 8% pay increase effective 1 September, with a one-off 4,000 rand payment per worker for the period July-September 2009. A prior agreement expired 1 July, and the agreement reached on 5 October will last until 1 September 2010. 

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Another key issue resolved related to NUM&rsquo;s ability to recruit into membership workers in higher-level classifications. BHP originally demanded a 66% vote, but the resolve reached in early October made that the standard 50% plus one, or a simple majority. 
 
Related to the parity issues, the two sides agreed to establish a separate bilateral forum to address and even out the disproportionate medical and transportation benefits between white and black workers. A deadline of 30 December 2009 has been put on resolving that. 
 
The same deadline holds for dealing with the employment equity between women and men, as well as the company&rsquo;s draconian policy of not granting maternity leave to women who have less than three years of employment service. 
 
The agreement &ldquo;was not all that we had hoped for,&rdquo; stated Phiri, &ldquo;but we are forever thankful for the outside pressure that moved a management that had before been so stubborn to address workers concerns.&rdquo; 
 
BHP operates Hozatel under its Middelplaats Manganese subsidiary, an asset it acquired with its partial buy-up of Semancor in the 1980s. The mine and ferrochrome smelting facility had originally been part of AngloAmerican.

Union Pressure Helps End BHP Manganese Strike in South Africa for NUM

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The Workers Activities Branch of the International Labour Office (ILO ACTRAV) organised a major International Symposium on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining, from 12 -15 October 2009 in Geneva. 

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The symposium brought together over 60 participants from trade union national centres, national unions, Global Union Federations and the ITUC, as well as labour academics and ILO officials. ICEM was represented by Jim Catterson and Phee Jungsun of the secretariat. Discussions centred on the fact that the right to organize and to bargain collectively has faced recent challenges stemming from falling trade union membership, increasing individualization of labour relations and the difficult quest for greater competitiveness and flexibility in the context of globalization. Trade unions need to be strengthened in order to face these challenges and enhance the right to organize and collective bargaining and other fundamental rights and principles such as the global platform rules governing the increasing globalization of the economy and the promotion of decent work for all. 

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Aims of the symposium: 
- To examine recent trends and developments in collective bargaining and the protection of the right to organize. 
- To discuss the relationship between collective bargaining and the social and economic objectives of Decent Work. 
- To identify policies and strategies that would strengthen the capacity of trade unions to organize and to bargain collectively. 
- To identify ways and means of achieving the universal application of the right to organize and to bargain collectively. 
 
One session of the meeting was devoted to Global Framework Agreements. Here after a general introduction by Dr. Michael Fichter of the Otto-Suhr-Institut of the Free University of Berlin, presentations were made of the ICEM GFA with Rhodia by Jacques Kh&eacute;liff of Rhodia and Jim Catterson of ICEM. The presentations generated a detailed and wide-ranging debate on the issue. 
 
See further information on the symposium <a href="http://www.ilo.org/actrav/what/events/lang--en/docName--WCMS_112409/index.htm">here</a>.&nbsp;

Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of ILO Convention No. 98

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During an evaluation mission to Colombian cities Bogota and Medellin, representatives of the ICEM and of 2 Swedish ICEM affiliates (IFMetall and Pappers) were able to see first hand that the Swedish-funded ICEM project on Social Dialogue in Colombia is delivering excellent results. Throughout the two days of meetings and visits, all ICEM affiliates in Colombia unanimously praised the many different efforts and activities of the project. Participating ICEM affiliates are Sintracarbon (mining), Sintraquim (chemical, pharmaceutical), Sintracarcol (paper), Sintraelecol and Fenaltec (electricity) and Sintravidricol (glass, materials). New ICEM affiliate USO is to join the project&rsquo;s activities shortly. 
 
Efficiently run by project coordinator Carlos Bustos, in close cooperation with the members of the ICEM Colombia Committee (i.e. the ICEM affiliates), the project&rsquo;s main aim is to encourage more and better social dialogue between ICEM affiliated trade unions and (mainly multinational) companies in Colombia. And it seems to be succeeding quite well in this, looking at the year-long progress in the joint employer-union social dialogue efforts. 

<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="146" />
Carlos Bustos, ICEM Colombia Project Coordinator
A more recent indication of progress made is the fresh interest shown by a number of additional companies to participate in the project, including Drummond, Repsol, Votorantim, Cerromatoso, SCA, Smurfit Kappa, Ross International and Petrobras. The project&rsquo;s social dialogue activities include joint social dialogue conferences and joint training sessions on specific social dialogue topics. Companies that have been participating in the process for some time include Carbones de Cerrejon (Xstrata, AngloAmerican and BHP Billiton), Linde, Gas Natural, Owens Illinois and Endesa. 
 
Other areas where a great deal of impressive work has been done include the leadership training programmes (which are bringing rank-and-file, as well as both young and female trade unionists into leadership positions) and the discussions on creating a larger industrial union for most, if not all, ICEM sectors in Colombia. Yet another area of work has been around the issue of contract and agency labour (CAL). As in many other places around the globe, CAL is also an enormous problem in Colombia. A number of multinational companies, including from the energy sector, have become almost &ldquo;shell companies&rdquo;, outsourcing virtually everything. Working under difficult circumstances in Colombia, unions nevertheless spoke of a number of successes in organising CAL workers. 

<img alt="" src="" width="156" height="210" />
A worker / trade unionist at Ross International telling the story
Commended was also the communication between the project and the ICEM and other ICEM affiliates (including, for example, the USW in the United States), with virtually all Colombian ICEM unions noting positive after an international intervention. The affiliates emphasised the importance, and success, of this international support. One more positive aspect highlighted by almost all was the work done by the project on HIV/AIDS. 
 
Pointed out by several was also the fact that, since the project began to assist them, the collective membership of the participating unions rose from 1,500 to over 20,000.

ICEM Colombia Social Dialogue Project Doing Well

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The transition to a low-carbon economy must guarantee employment and result in the development of new, decent jobs, say participants at global industrial unions&rsquo; meeting on climate change. That was the message coming from&nbsp;14-15 October multi-trade union meetings in Bad Orb, Germany.
The meetings were conducted under the auspices of the ICEM,&nbsp;the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), the&nbsp;European Metalworkers' Federation, and&nbsp;the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF) in a forum&nbsp;&quot;Cutting Emissions, Transforming Jobs.&quot; 

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The goal of the meeting was to discuss how industrial workers might present a common position at the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen Denmark. The UNFCCC COP-15 conference, as it is called, is expected to propose a new set of agreements on greenhouse gas emissions targets to renew or replace those contained within the Kyoto Accord. 
 
Speaking at the meeting, IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina said, &ldquo;Our industrial sectors are frequently seen as contributors to the current environmental crisis. Yet it is within these very industries that solutions already exist or are being developed. We want to reduce emissions, while at the same time increasing employment and protecting the environment.&rdquo; 

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The industrial workers&rsquo; unions prepared a background discussion document taking into account work that had already been done, such as ICEM's recently-adopted policy on Sustainability. The meeting was structured around five panel discussions: environmental protection, sustainable development, sectoral concerns, sustainable job creation, and just transition. 
 
The lively discussion covered a vast territory, some of the points made include: 
- the environmental crisis is as much a failure of global capitalism as the recent and ongoing economic crisis 
- good jobs and a clean environment go hand in hand, we will have both; or we will have neither 
- developing countries must have their chance to develop. However, their development need not follow the same harmful paths as it did in developed countries that caused the environmental crisis in the first place. International institutions for capital and finance, resurgent protectionism, and restrictions on technology transfer, can create a new era of colonialism if we do not prevent it 
- trade unions must hold governments and employers to account, particularly regarding the social dimension of sustainability 
 
The delegates from all four organizations welcomed the opportunity to discuss the social and economic consequences of trying to solve the present environmental crisis. Overall, there was a consensus that industrial sector unions need to make our voices heard in Copenhagen, and particularly to be the champions of the social dimension of sustainable development. While there are certainly concerns within specific industries and regions, and therefore a need for strong Just Transition programs, there are also many opportunities for sustainable job creation. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="97" />&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" width="146" height="46" />&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" width="105" height="94" />
 
The ICEM, IMF, EMF and EMCEF will be reviewing the discussion document and comments received over the next couple of weeks. Following this review, we will finalize the materials we will bring to COP-15 in Copenhagen to make our points with the country representatives negotiating the new agreement. 
 
Following the meeting, Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary said, &ldquo;For industrial workers and their unions an important question for changing to a low-carbon economy is who pays for it and who benefits from the transition. We only have one planet and we all have an interest in protecting our future.&rdquo; 
All material from the meeting is available on the IMF website, <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=21012&amp;l=2">here</a>.
Additional information about climate change and the position of industrial workers can be found on the following web links: 
 
<a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/climatechange">www.imfmetal.org/climatechange</a>
<a href="/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety">/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety</a>
<a href="http://www.industrialpolicy.eu/COP15">http://www.industrialpolicy.eu/COP15</a>

Cut Emissions, Transform Jobs

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Responding to the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Istanbul on 6-7 October, Turkish trade unions organized a manifestation in Taksim Square, in the centre of the city. The protest against the IMF and World Bank was organized by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK), the Confederation of Trade Unions of Public Employees (KESK), the Turkey Union of Chambers of Architects and Engineers (TMMOB) and the Turkish Doctors Association (TTB). Organisers of the event instructed those taking part to carry out a peaceful protest. Other groups who planned a non-peaceful protest were told to wait until after the trade union event in Taksim Square had finished, before they took their protest to the IMF meeting, in the district of Harbive. 
 
The General Secretary of DISK, Tayfun G&ouml;rg&uuml;n, also Vice-President of ICEM affiliate mineworkers Dev Maden-Sen, spoke first to the crowd of 5,000. However, before speeches could continue, police attacked first with tear gas and afterwards with firearms and water cannons, using tinted water so that protesters would be easily identified later. 

<img alt="" src="" width="360" height="240" />
Not only protesters but also journalists and passers-by were affected by the heavy tear gas, as police did not use the gas to disperse the crowd, instead surrounding the crowd, causing confusion. ICEM affiliates reported extremely heavy-handed behaviour from police, &ldquo;There was more police violence and more tear gas than at the last three May Days,&rdquo; stated Kivan&ccedil; Eli A&ccedil;ik, Director of International Relations at DISK. 
 
Around 100 arrests were made for peoples&rsquo; role in the protest. One man died of a heart attack in the violence, after it was very difficult to get him to the hospital, through police lines. 

<img alt="" src="" width="348" height="233" />
In other news in Turkey, Turkish trade unionist, Murad Akincilar, from ICEM Swiss affiliate UNIA, has been arrested in Turkey with no motive for the arrest communicated with his family. The ICEM is working with its Turkish affiliates to communicate with the country&rsquo;s authorities and demand a swift release or fair trial. 
<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="114" />
Murad Akincilar
International solidarity for the struggle of Turkey&rsquo;s trade unions was illustrated through a successful seminar in the city of Izmit, 8-9 October. Part of the ICEM &lsquo;Project of Capacity Building for Social Dialogue and Organising in Turkey&rsquo; funded by FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, the seminar was supported by unions from France, Holland, Spain, and Brazil, exchanging trade union success stories from around the world. 

<img alt="" src="" width="290" height="187" />
Presentations included the &lsquo;Global Perspective&rsquo; by ICEM&rsquo; Kemal Ozkan, the &lsquo;European Perspective&rsquo; by FCE-CFDT&rsquo;s Sylvain Lefebvre, the &lsquo;Holland: National Example&rsquo; by FNV Bondgenoten&rsquo;s Mail Űrker and Patrick Van Klink, the &lsquo;Spain: National Example&rsquo; by Isidor Boix of FITEQA-CC.OO, &lsquo;Brazil: National Example&rsquo; by Nilton Freitas of Quimicos ABC-CUT, &lsquo;France: National Example&rsquo; by FCE-CFDT&rsquo;s Marc Blanc, and the &lsquo;Turkey: National Example&rsquo; by Uzeyir Ataman of Lastik-İş. 
 
The project aims to contribute to the ability of ICEM&rsquo;s Turkish affiliates to recruit new members, as well as to organize discussions on establishing a base to create a functioning industrial relations system, prioritizing fundamental human and trade union rights, together with good social dialogue.

Police Violence, Turkish Trade Unions Protesting IMF, World Bank Policies

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Whether or not the South African National Assembly passes legislation to ban labour brokers is a question likely to be answered early in 2010. But there is little doubt that the matter has fast become the hot-button employment issue in the country, judging from the current intensity of the debate. 
 
Following two days of raucous public hearings in Cape Town by the Assembly&rsquo;s Portfolio Committee on Labour in late August that firmly pitted political parties against one another, the debate whether to pass a ban or to impose tighter regulations on labour broking moved to four provinces in early October where parliamentary regional hearings were held. 

<img alt="" src="" width="146" height="66" />
And in between, the Congress of South African Unions (COSATU) weighed in strongly in favour of a ban at its Tenth National Congress and immediately launched a national campaign to ban the 25-billion-rand business in coordination with global labour&rsquo;s World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) on 7 October. 
 
In COSATU&rsquo;s congress declaration, the federation states, &ldquo;&hellip; as part of the struggle for decent employment, we call for the elimination of the practice of labour broking.&rdquo; At a press conference following the 21-24 September congress, General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said labour brokers often take up to 20% of a worker&rsquo;s wages in fees. 
 
Three weeks earlier, at the Assembly&rsquo;s Portfolio Committee hearings, Vavi called the system a &ldquo;social ill,&rdquo; likening it to &ldquo;HIV and AIDS or crime and corruption. It&rsquo;s an arrangement made to take advantage of the weak and most vulnerable in a society.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="102" height="111" />
One of COSATU&rsquo;s WDDW activities occurred on 6 October where 400 members of the affiliated Communication Workers&rsquo; Union (CWU) rallied in front of a postal centre in Ormonde. There, some 80% of the total workers are supplied by labour brokers. A CWU representative said eight labour brokers are used and what&rsquo;s worse, he added, is that some of the postal managers are part-owners of the labour-broking agencies. 
 
One such worker abused by the system and involved in the protest said he earns a monthly salary one-quarter of that of a permanent employee in the postal centre, while another said working in precarious employment is no better than being unemployed. &ldquo;They use us like condoms. One mistake, you are out and they get another one in your place anyway.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM affiliate, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), called on parliamentarians of the African National Congress (ANC) to use its majority to pass a law banning labour brokers. NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim said under the latter-day apartheid employment system, the focus of employers is on labour agencies, not workers. &ldquo;In a society with high levels of inequalities, it is a crisis to allow this system to flourish,&rdquo; he said. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="102" />
The political lines have been drawn in the debate. While most ANC legislators favour a ban, the business-friendly Democratic Alliance (DA) is on the defensive and merely calling for regulating labour broking. The fledging Congress of the People (COPE), with little political power following spin-off from the ANC, has been relatively silent on the issue, but is believed to favour tighter regulation rather than an outright ban. 
 
The business lobby says 500,000 people in South African are employed through labour brokers, but it is believed the real number could be triple that. The lobby does admit that of 6,000 labour brokers in the country, only 3,000 of them are properly registered. 
 
In neighbouring Namibia, labour brokers were banned in 2008. But the industry and business lobby has now challenged that law on constitutional grounds, something South African business interests would likely do as well if a ban is passed. 
 
On 27 August, the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI), together with its South African affiliate, the Building and Construction Allied Workers&rsquo; Union, held a forum in Johannesburg entitled &ldquo;Multi-Sectoral Conference on Decent Work Towards and Beyond 2010,&rdquo; aimed primarily at work issues in preparation for South Africa hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. 

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National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Construction Coordinator Isaac Ntshangase pointed out that 32% of the country&rsquo;s building and construction industry is carried out using informal workers. The conference passed a resolution calling for a ban on labour brokers and condemned the sub-standard wages and work conditions common in subcontracting arrangements. 
 
Whether or not section 198 of South Africa&rsquo;s Labour Relations Act of 1995 gets amended to ban labour brokers totally, or if a compromise is struck placing tighter regulations on the practice, is an open question right now. But there is little question that some form of legislative action will result, which will be good news to the global union forces that are now marshalling efforts to rollback non-sustaining work through labour-hire agencies and indirect employment.

Issue to Ban ‘Labour Brokers’ in South Africa Coming to a Head

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