6 June 2012: 2011 was a difficult and often dangerous year for workers throughout the world, with those who dared stand up for their trade union rights facing dismissal, arrest, imprisonment and even death. That in essence is the picture that emerges from the annual survey of trade union rights violations published today by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). This year’s survey examines 143 countries.
Colombia is once again the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists. Of the 76 people murdered for their trade union activities, not counting the workers killed during the Arab Spring, 29 lost their lives in Colombia. And in Guatemala yet again trade unionists paid a heavy price, with 10 assassinations committed with impunity. A further eight trade unionists were murdered in Asia.
The worldwide trends highlighted in the survey include the non respect of labour legislation by governments, the lack of funding for labour inspection and workers’ protection, the lack of rights and the abuse faced by migrant workers throughout the world, particularly in the Gulf States, and the exploitation of the largely female workforce in the export processing zones around the globe. Among the most vulnerable are the 100 million domestic workers.
The year 2011 was of course the year of the Arab Spring and the revolutions surrounding this in North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf States. The repression of trade union rights has been particularly harsh in these regions. Trade union organisations played a leading role in the revolutions, notably in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain. They paid a heavy price. Hundreds of activists were killed in the clashes and thousands were arrested. Today however the road to democracy is getting smoother, as could be seen from the massive turnout for the Egyptian elections in November and the continued protests in Syria and Bahrain. The creation of an independent trade union movement is well underway, although there is still no freedom of association in some nations, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Eritrea or Sudan.
The world economic crisis continued to impact unfairly on workers, as governments persisted in favouring austerity measures over stimulating growth and employment, says the ITUC survey. The consequences have been devastating, particularly for the young. Unemployment reached 205 million in 2011. In Spain, 40% of young people are out of work while Greece has an unemployment rate of 21%.
The measures taken to optimise profits and flexibility at the expense of the workforce have failed. One consequence of this failure is the increase in precarious forms of working, making it extremely difficult for trade union organisations to defend workers rights, for example in South Africa, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Pakistan.
“The situation of hundreds of thousands of workers is very disturbing,” said Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the ITUC. “Most of them do not enjoy the fundamental rights of collective bargaining and freedom of association, and are in precarious employment. Their lives are thrown into disarray because they have to work long hours in dangerous and unhealthy conditions, in return for salaries so low they cannot meet their own needs or those of their families. That partly explains the worldwide recession.”
The ITUC survey reveals how strikes are fiercely repressed in many countries, by means of mass dismissals, arrests and detention, including in Georgia, Kenya, South Africa and Botswana, where 2800 workers were dismissed after a public sector strike. Trade union rights do not only come under attack in the developing world however. They are also under threat in many industrialised countries, including Canada, whose conservative government has repeatedly sought to undermine union organising and collective bargaining rights.
Organising workers in the export processing zones remains very difficult, according to the ITUC survey. Legal restrictions persist and trade unions are still banned in most of them.
Migrant workers remain another very vulnerable group, particularly in the Gulf States where they represent the majority of the workforce in Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but have few or no rights. Among these migrant workers are some 100 million domestic workers, the great majority of whom are women with little knowledge of their rights and no means of enforcing them. The ITUC has therefore welcomed the adoption of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention no.189 on Domestic Workers, which gives these workers the right to form unions and enjoy decent working conditions. The international trade union confederation is campaigning vigorously with its
“12 by 12” campaign, aimed at getting 12 countries to ratify the convention by the end of 2012.
:
For an easy graphical overview of this year's data, please click here
2011 was a year of dramatic change, with the Arab Spring heralding new opportunities and new challenges. Trade union rights are more heavily repressed in the Middle East and North Africa than anywhere else on the globe. As people rose up to demand the
recognition of their long-suppressed democratic rights, trade unions played a leading role, notably in Tunisia and Egypt. Sadly they paid a heavy price for that involvement, being among the many hundreds killed and the thousands arrested and detained. The struggle continues, both to remove other authoritarian regimes and to build real democracy where they have already fallen, creating an environment in which independent trade unions can flourish. The spirit and determination of the people remains unbowed, as shown by the huge turnout in the November elections in Egypt, and the continued protests in Bahrain and Syria, despite the repression.
The world economic crisis continued to impact unfairly on workers, as many governments persisted in favouring austerity measures over stimulating growth and employment. Unemployment rose to record levels in 2011, with over 205 million people out of work. In Europe, trade unions felt the impact of the Eurozone crisis, with Portugal, Hungary and Romania all further restricting workers’ rights as part of their austerity measures. The most dramatic changes were in Greece however where unemployment rose to 21%, wages and living standards fell sharply and
collective bargaining rights were severely curtailed.
The rise in precarious work, a term used to describe work that is not-permanent, indirect, informal and/or otherwise insecure, is the result of employment practices meant to maximise short-term profitability and flexibility at the expense of the worker. Unions in many countries cited the high level of contract and casual labour as one of the biggest challenges to
organising and protecting workers’ rights, notably in South Africa, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Pakistan. In Korea, unions report that employers systematically hire workers on precarious contracts to prevent them from forming trade unions.
For some workers, defending their trade union rights can cost them their life. In 2011 at least 76 workers died directly as a result of their trade union activities – in addition to those killed during the repression of the Arab Spring protests. There were 56 deaths in Latin America alone, including 29 in Colombia and a further 10 in Guatemala, crimes committed with almost total impunity. At least eight trade unionists lost their lives in Asia. Four were killed in the Philippines, all shot and killed, in four separate incidents, but all had played a prominent role in defending workers rights. A garment union leader and activist was brutally killed in Bangladesh, two years after the government had severely beaten him for his activity. And a one-year-old child died in Zimbabwe after spending a night on the roadside in the rain because its family was among the farm workers summarily evicted for daring to organise.
Some of the deaths occurred as a result of excessive police violence. In South Africa a municipal worker died in clashes with police, two workers were killed in Indonesia when police opened fire on strikers and in Bangladesh one worker was killed when police attacked protesting chemical workers. Other incidents of police violence leading to injury and death were reported in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Egypt and Nepal.
The repression of
strike action through mass dismissals, arrests and detention was widely reported, including in Georgia, Kenya, South Africa and Botswana, where 2,800 workers were dismissed after a public sector
strike. In India, striking brick kiln workers were warned that the owners would “kill them and rape their women” if they did not return to work. In Georgia, a governor and dozens of police broke up a legal
strike of steel workers, arrested the union’s leaders and forced the workers back to work.
Strike action also came under attack in other ways. In South Korea, there was a continued use of law suits claiming huge amounts of damages against unions, while in Australia employers and governments successfully invoked laws forcing striking workers back to work.
Trade unions and their leaders were regularly persecuted, particularly the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), and the independent trade unions of Mexico. In Fiji the military junta launched an aggressive campaign to dismantle the trade union movement, and Felix Anthony, leader of the Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC) was arrested, threatened, insulted and beaten. Other incidents were reported in the Philippines, Belarus and the Russian Federation. Many members of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) faced arrested and imprisonment, and in November the government announced its dissolution.
Governments in developed democratic countries also attacked trade union rights. Canada’s conservative government has weakened
freedom of association and
collective bargaining rights, while in New Zealand amendments to the Employment Relations Act reduced workers’ rights.
There is still no
freedom of association at all in some countries, notably Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Eritrea, Sudan and Laos. Jordan has a tightly regulated single trade union system and in China and Syria the single trade union is still used as a means not to protect but to control workers. There was good news in Burma however, where the Labour Organisation Law was signed by the President in in October, laying the foundation for workers to form unions.
Problems persist in some export processing zones (
EPZs), where
organising is notoriously difficult. Legal restrictions are still in place in Bangladesh for example, and violations continued in Sri Lanka’s
EPZs. Migrant workers represent another very vulnerable group, particularly in the Gulf States where they make up the majority of the workforce in Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but have few or no rights.
Perhaps the most vulnerable workers of all however are the worlds’ 100 million or so domestic workers, often young, women migrants with little knowledge of their rights and no means of enforcing them, suffering oppressive, even violent conditions. The ITUC warmly welcomed the adoption in June 2011 of the International Labour Organisation’s (
ILO) Convention no. 189, the Domestic Workers Convention, which will at last give these workers the right to form unions and enjoy decent working conditions. The challenge now is to ensure the adoption of this convention by governments, and the ITUC is currently campaigning hard to that end, with its “12 by 12” campaign to get at least 12 countries to ratify the convention by the end of 2012.
The ITUC will be at its affiliates’ side as they continue to fight for the respect of internationally recognised labour standards, through solidarity campaigns, pressure on governments, its presence at international fora and above all using the mechanisms of the
ILO. It will also continue to urge governments and the international financial institutions to adopt measures to promote quality employment and a global social protection floor as part of an income led recovery to the economic crisis.
Source : http://survey.ituc-csi.org/By Sharan Burrow, General Secretary
