Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights 2012 - ITUC

Foreword

Sylvie de Ryck — 2011-12-31T14:01:00Z

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 recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. 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 collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers' representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
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 organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. 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 strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat 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 strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat 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 strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike of steel workers, arrested the union's leaders and forced the workers back to work. Strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat 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 freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one's choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework and collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers' representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
rights, while in New Zealand amendments to the Employment Relations Act reduced workers' rights.

There is still no freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one's choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework 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 (EPZ export processing zone A special industrial area in a country where imported materials are processed before being re-exported. Designed to attract mostly foreign investors by offering incentives such as exemptions from certain trade barriers, taxes, business regulations, and/or labour laws. s), where organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. is notoriously difficult. Legal restrictions are still in place in Bangladesh for example, and violations continued in Sri Lanka's EPZ export processing zone A special industrial area in a country where imported materials are processed before being re-exported. Designed to attract mostly foreign investors by offering incentives such as exemptions from certain trade barriers, taxes, business regulations, and/or labour laws. s. 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 International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights ) 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 International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights . 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.

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary

Foreword 2011

Alex Gomes — 2011-04-26T09:16:35Z

The publication of the ITUC Annual Survey this year comes at a time of momentous change across the Arab world as people mobilise for their democratic rights. The denial of fundamental rights at work in these countries and the failure of countries to ensure decent jobs for millions of people, especially the young, are documented in this report. These trends, especially severe in the Arab countries, have been major drivers of the massive demand for reform there, but the denial of rights at work is by no means limited to the Middle East.

Further erosion of the rights to organise unions and to collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers' representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
worldwide is a strong feature of this year's Survey, which covers 143 countries. The crisis in employment, set off by the global economic crisis, continues in every region as those who make policy have largely failed to make the changes needed to create and sustain employment. Governments have simply swallowed free market corporate rhetoric at the expense not only of working families but also of the stability and future of their own national economies. Big banks, big finance and big business have been allowed to dominate government policy, while unemployment, poverty and insecurity continue to grow. The very inequality, which was a driving force in tipping the world into economic crisis, is still growing, and the violation of basic international labour standards international labour standards Principles and norms related to labour matters, primarily codified in the Conventions and the Recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Include core labour rights such as freedom of association and the right to organise, the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike, which are all covered by ILO Conventions 87 and 98.

See ITUC Guide to international trade union rights is itself the primary cause of this inequality.

While these global trends accelerate, trade unions in many countries face the most severe repression by governments and employers. Ninety people were killed in 2010 due to their involvement in legitimate trade union activities, and a further 75 were subjected to death threats. This Survey also documents some 2,500 arrests and 5,000 dismissals of trade unionists. Many more cases went unreported, in particular due to the climate of anti-union fear and intimidation in which many workers carry out their union activities.

Once again this year, the Americas was the deadliest region with the death toll remaining high in Colombia (49) and in Guatemala (10). A further 20 murder attempts were recorded in Colombia and two in Guatemala. Killings were also recorded in Bangladesh, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, Pakistan, the Philippines, Swaziland and Uganda. In Iran, a teacher trade unionist was hanged after a “trial” which violated the most basic standards of justice, despite international protests.

In Belarus, Burma, Cambodia, Djibouti, the Russian Federation, Honduras, Iran, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Mexico, the Philippines, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, many trade union organisations continued to operate in a climate of violence and constant threats. The ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights 's Commission of Inquiry on Zimbabwe confirmed that the Zimbabwean government was responsible for systemic and systematic violations of trade union rights. In Djibouti, the ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights expressed its deep concern at the government's complete lack of will to settle several cases of trade union rights violations.

Even before the popular uprisings in the Arab world, workers taking part in strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike actions and other union activities faced violence and arrest. Again, such intimidation was not limited to Arab countries. The Survey includes cases from Bangladesh, South Korea, Cambodia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, India, Iran, Nigeria, Panama, the Philippines, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen amongst others. In Iran, the government failed to deliver on its promise to free Mansour Osanloo, leader of the Teheran bus workers union, and imprisoned at least seven others. One person was also sentenced to corporal punishment. In Panama, some 700 people were injured and 101 arrested when the authorities reacted to worker protests at the removal of key legal protections at work.

Complete bans on trade unionism remained in place in several countries, notably Burma, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while severe restrictions on the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike and other forms of union activity made effective trade union representation almost impossible. In certain sectors, especially agriculture, the public sector and domestic service, bans or restrictions on union activity deprived workers of representation in a number of countries, as did overly-broad definitions of “essential services essential services Services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. Can include the hospital sector, electricity and water supply services, and air traffic control. Strikes can be restricted or even prohibited in essential services.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
”. Single, government-controlled or government-sponsored trade union systems also remained in China, Laos, North Korea, Syria, Vietnam and other countries.

Other notable deficiencies highlighted in the Survey include weak or non-existent enforcement of labour laws, including lack of investment in labour inspection labour inspection An authority responsible for ensuring compliance with labour laws and legal provisions relating to protection of workers through the inspection of workplaces. , appalling treatment of migrant workers in every region, especially in the Gulf countries, and exploitation of the mainly female workforce in the world's export processing zones.

Some of the world's most wealthy economies also figure in the report, in particular the USA, where attacks on organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. and collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers' representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
rights already identified in 2009 and previous years have actually intensified in 2010.

Defending and promoting workers' rights to freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one's choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework and collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers' representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
constitutes the primary mission of the ITUC. Our actions in direct solidarity with workers whose rights are under attack, as well as in international fora, in particular at the ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights , are and will always be the top priority of the ITUC. Our work across the scope of global institutions and international events – at the UN, the G20, the international financial institutions and elsewhere – will continue to put these fundamental rights, which are essential not only to human dignity and social justice but also to ending global poverty and ensuring sustainable development, at the forefront.

Foreword

Nadine Thevenet — 2009-01-01T12:47:00Z

Since 2008, the global financial and economic crisis has had a massive impact throughout the world on the level of employment. Tens of millions of jobs have been lost, and many millions more workers are still feeling the threat of unemployment. This in turn has made the central task of trade unions, defence and promotion of workers' rights and decent jobs for all, even more difficult than at any time in recent history. Indeed, in many countries, despite a call by G20 leaders, public authorities and companies have continued to use the crisis as a pretext to weaken and undermine trade union rights.

The ITUC is adamant that the struggle for the universal respect of trade union rights enshrined in the ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights fundamental conventions is needed more than ever before. The ITUC Founding Congress in 2006 mandated the organisation to expose and denounce violations of workers' rights, wherever they occur. The publication of this Survey is an important part of fulfilling that mandate.

This Survey again records an extensive list of violations suffered by trade unionists struggling to defend workers' interests, this year in 140 countries. Other violations remain unreported, as working women and men are deprived of the means to have their voices heard, or fear to speak out due to the consequences to their jobs or even to their physical safety. The Survey provides detailed documentation of harassment, intimidation, persecution and, in the worst cases, murder of trade unionists. Killings of trade unionists actually increased by 30% compared to the previous year.

At least 101 trade unionists and labour activists were murdered in 2009 compared to 76 the previous year: 48 were killed in Colombia, 16 in Guatemala, 12 in Honduras, six in Mexico, six in Bangladesh, four in Brazil, three in the Dominican Republic, three in the Philippines, one in India, one in Iraq and one in Nigeria. Colombia was yet again the deadliest country in the world: 22 of the trade unionists who died were senior trade union leaders and five were women. The rise in violence in Guatemala and Honduras is deeply worrying.

A further ten attempted murders and 35 serious death threats are recorded, again mostly in Colombia and Guatemala. Furthermore, many trade unionists remained in prison and were joined by around hundred others in 2009. Many others were arrested in Iran, Honduras, Pakistan, South Korea, Turkey and Zimbabwe, in particular. The general trade union rights' situation has continued to deteriorate in a number of countries, including Egypt, the Russian Federation, South Korea and Turkey.

Trade union rights continue to be infringed, in many cases with total impunity, and the repression of trade unionists goes on while governments fail to meet their responsibility to ensure that trade union rights are respected and that the people defending these rights are protected. In a number of countries, governments again showed that they are intent on keeping trade unions under their firm control.

Anti-democratic forces continued to target union activity, aware that unions are often in the front line in the defence of democracy. This was evident in Honduras during the post-coup violence and in Guinea during a protest demonstration against the ruling junta which turned into a terrible massacre on 28 September.

Numerous cases of strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike -breaking and repression of striking workers were documented in each region. Thousands of workers demonstrating to claim wages, denounce harsh working conditions or the harmful effects of the global financial and economical crisis have faced beatings, arrest and detention, including in Algeria, Belarus, Burma, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Honduras, India, Iran, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and Turkey. Dismissals of workers due to their trade union activities were reported in many countries. In Bangladesh, six garment workers on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike for a pay increase and settlement of outstanding wages died after a police intervention.

Union busting union busting Attempts by an employer to prevent the establishment of a trade union or remove an existing union, e.g. by firing union members, challenging unions in court, or by forming a yellow union. and pressure continue to be widely used by employers. In several countries, companies threatened workers with closure or transfer of production sites, should they organise or join a trade union. Often employers simply refused to negotiate with legitimate workers' representatives while the authorities did nothing. Some labour codes were amended to permit more “flexibility” and to unravel social welfare systems which often impacted the existing industrial relations industrial relations The individual and collective relations and dealings between workers and employers at the workplace, as well as the institutional interaction between unions, employers and also the government.

See social dialogue systems and thus curtailed trade union rights.

Another negative effect of the economic and financial crisis is that more and more workers are forced into various forms of precarious work. Indeed, the ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights now estimates that 50% of the global workforce is involved in vulnerable work. This affected workers in export processing zones, especially in South East Asia and Central America, domestic workers (especially in the Middle East and South East Asia), migrants as well as agricultural workers. It is worth mentioning that women represent a significant majority of the workforce in these sectors. Furthermore, the growth of informal employment and the development of new “atypical” forms of employment was seen across both regions and industrial sectors. The difficulties these workers face to organise or exercise their trade union rights are directly related to their highly vulnerable position in the labour market.

Where legislation protects some trade union rights, this often comes with restrictions. Fundamental rights remain restricted for many categories of workers, including public employees in several countries. Severe restrictions or outright prohibition of strikes also exists in a large number of countries. Furthermore, complex procedural requirements, imposition of compulsory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party's recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation and the use of excessively broad definitions of “essential services essential services Services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. Can include the hospital sector, electricity and water supply services, and air traffic control. Strikes can be restricted or even prohibited in essential services.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
” provisions often make the exercise of trade union rights impossible in practice, depriving workers of their legitimate rights to union representation and participation in industrial action industrial action Any form of action taken by a group of workers, a union or an employer during an industrial dispute to gain concessions from the other party, e.g. a strike, go-slow or an overtime ban, or a lockout on the part of the employer. .

2009 was the 60^th Anniversary of the ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights Convention on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers' representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
, 1949 (no. 98). Countries such as Canada, China, India, Iran, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam have still not ratified it. Thus, approximately half of the world's economically active population is not covered by the Convention. Even when ratified, implementation of this vital Convention is frequently weak. Respect for the rights to organise and bargain collectively are crucial to restoring purchasing power and economic growth around the world, and governments must act to ensure that these rights are respected in law and in practice. The alternative is greater inequality, and deeper recession.

The free exercise of fundamental trade union rights by independent trade unions is also essential to the functioning of a democratic society and to a global economy based on social justice. The ITUC will continue to fight for the protection of these rights, and bring support and solidarity to the men and women who risk their jobs, their freedom and even their lives to defend workers' rights.