IUF Women Workers News

Australia: Historic gender pay decision narrows pay gap

2012-02-04T04:22:12Z

Fair Work Australia has found in favour of the Australian Services Union in a claim for 150,000 community workers in Australia. The decision will raise the pay of mainly female workers by 40 to 65 per cent over the coming eight years.

]]> Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard welcomed the ruling as a “significant advance for equal pay for women”. The decision is regarded as the most important equal pay case since 1972 when equal pay for work of equal value was formally recognized in Australia.

It is more than likely than many other unions across Australia will pursue similar claims based on the ruling with a narrowing of the pay gap across the labour force and particularly amongst poorly paid groups too often dominated by women.

India: Women dairy workers form action committee to fight discrimination and precarious employment

2011-07-04T16:19:30Z

On 2 July 2011, delegates to the National Conference of Women Dairy Workers reported that women workers in the world’s largest dairy industry face wage discrimination, excessive working hours, increased night work, denial of opportunities for promotion, precarious employment, and access to even the most basic facilities such as separate toilets and changing rooms.

]]> Contract workers employed continuously for 5 to 9 years are denied the same wages and benefits of permanent workers who are covered by collective agreements, and even basic legal entitlements like provident funds (pensions) social insurance are not paid. Many contract workers cannot even get hold of their account numbers to see if employers have made the legally required payments over the years.

For permanent workers discrimination in promotion is a major issue.
Sarojamma, a dairy operator at Bangalore dairy for the past 30 years has not had any promotion or change in job assignment despite her seniority.
“I’m doing the same work I was when I was a young woman and at my age it’s very hard,” she said.

Geetha, who has had no opportunity for promotion in the past 12 years, is a degree holder and qualified chemist at the Dharwad dairy. While the men who do the same work as her are designated “chemists” she is designated “senior technician” and paid less. This is despite the fact that she has more responsibility than the male “chemists”.

The conference organized working groups on four key areas and drew up action plans:

1. tackling discrimination in the workplace (discrimination between men and women workers and discrimination between permanent workers and contract workers);
2. fighting for equal opportunity and promotion rights for women dairy workers;
3. getting women workers’ issues into the “top 3” priorities of their union;
4. more active involvement of women in the union, with a goal of 30% all union officers in union leadership at national level being women.

After a lively discussion and collective effort a series of action points were adopted by the conference. The delegates then formed a Women’s Action Committee under DEFOI to implement the plan and promote this agenda within their unions.

Workplaces free from sexual harassment and violence

2011-05-27T15:25:41Z

For all our women members in the hotel and restaurant sector around the world it is reassuring to see that in a unionized hotel in New York, the right to a workplace free from sexual harassment is taken seriously.

]]> The IUF and its affiliates have long been fighting agaist sexual harassment as it is one of the worst expressions of gender inequality and one of the most serious occupational health and safety risks facing women.

« Sexual harassment (…) arises from power relations rather than sexual interest. This form of humiliation does not occur among equals » (IUF Equaltiy Memorandum, 1987)

In the African regional women’s project, the struggle for workplaces free from sexual harassment and violence against women has become one of the top priorities.

For all our women members in the hotel and restaurant sector in Africa and around the world it is reassuring to see that in a unionized hotel in New York, the right to a workplace free from sexual harassment is taken seriously.

With the permission of the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, AFL-CIO (NYHTC) which represents NY Sofitel workers we are reproducing their recent editorial :

EDITORIAL: New York is the wrong place to prey on hotel workers...
NYHTC - May 20, 2011
It is an unfortunate fact, which attracts little attention from the media or the public, that workers in the "hospitality industry" suffer exploitation silently, almost everywhere.

Normally, they do physically grueling and often unsafe work in return for disgracefully low wages, and few, if any, benefits. Normally, they work on-call, and their livelihoods thus depend not only on the daily fluctuations of a volatile business, but also on the petty whims of managers who exercise arbitrary power over them.

Most workers in this industry are non-union and therefore have few rights vis-a-vis their employers, even on paper, and far fewer rights in practice. They can be disciplined or penalized, or fired or simply denied work, without cause, at any time. Those non-union workers who happen also to be undocumented immigrants – a large proportion of the total workforce in the U.S. hospitality industry – live almost entirely without the protection of law. For these reasons, employers generally feel free to mistreat employees, to cheat them, to disregard their safety, to rob them of their dignity, and to violate even the few pitiful legal rights that exist in theory, knowing they can do so with impunity. So, employees in this industry, throughout the world, are normally too afraid to complain about anything.

The management philosophy in this luxury service business expects employees to behave with extreme servility toward customers ("guests"). The watchword, "the customer is always right," strongly influences the industry, at least in its attitude toward employees. This encourages an atmosphere in which workers are often virtually invisible to the public, except perhaps to some who see them as easy prey.
"Hospitality" companies, with the help of the politicians, lawyers, and publicists who serve them, work hard to keep employees stooped and subservient, while the industry's public image sparkles.

These conditions exist all over the world, except in certain enclaves, like most of the hotel industry (but, unfortunately not most of the restaurant industry) in New York City, and portions of some of the other largest hotel markets in North America. That is because those are the places where hotel workers have strong unions. Even in Europe, most hotel workers do not.

In the worldwide hotel industry, New York City has the highest proportion of unionization (75%), and hotel employees here have the strongest union with the best contract. They enjoy the highest wages in the industry, excellent benefits, strong job security, good working conditions, and powerful grievance rights. They also have a militant union – their own organization, governed and funded not by wealthy donors but by themselves – that aggressively enforces those rights.
As a result, this island enclave is one of the only places on earth where most hotel workers are not afraid to speak up and demand justice.

Young women leaders in CTSWF trained

2011-05-26T17:22:31Z

On May 14-15, the IUF AP and CTSWF Women's Committee held a May Day Seminar and Training in Basic Trade Unionism in Phnom Penh.

]]> In the 'May Day' Seminar, 16 participants from both Siem Reap and Phnom Penh had a chance to learn about the history of struggle for the reduction of working hours and to set priorities in the spirit of May Day. These include reduction of working hours, basic salary increase and fixed rate of service charge by the law. Participants shared the procedure of decision making and how to convince union members to take up these issues and get involved in campaign to achieve what they plan. Next May Day they are expected to develop these priorities as campaign issues on national level.

In the one and a half day training session that followed the May Day seminar, the fundamental notion of trade unionism such as exercising labor rights and holding on three important principles (unity, independence, democratic methods)was highlighted. Six more participants joined this session and especially one sister from a newly unionized hotel (De La Paix) got inspiration how to approach and unionize non-members by workplace mapping.

At the conclusion, everyone joined the solidarity campaign with the struggle of Sister Gertrude Hambira, launched by IUF and Amnesty International, and wished her back to Zimbabwe in safety as well as her union being fully guaranteed its fundamental rights.

Pia Stalpaert first woman president of CSC Alimentation et Services

2011-03-23T15:50:10Z

On March 18, retiring president Louis De Prins was succeeded by Pia Stalpaert in the leadership of the Belgian food & services union, CSC Alimentation et Servies. Pia is the first woman president of the union.

At the EFFAT Congress in 2009, Pia was elected as a member of the EFFAT Management Committee and in November 2010 as a chair of its Women's Committee. She has been actively involved in defending domestic workers' rights both through her union and in the ILO discussions on a Convention for domestic workers. Read more about the organizing experiences of CSC Alimentation et Services in the previous article.

Domestic workers increase representation in CSC Food union in Belgium

2011-03-23T15:20:23Z

CSC-Alimentation & Services is the domestic workers representative union in Belgium

As the trade union responsible for the domestic service sector, the food and service workers’ union, CSC-Alimentation & Services, has always striven to defend the interests of domestic workers. Domestic workers today do not always have the same rights as other workers. Among key actions to improve their status, the following are of particular note:

]]>  Participation in the great demonstration in 1982 to demand better social legislation;
 Active involvement in the campaign organized by Wereldsolidariteit (World Solidarity) to mobilize public and political opinion on the international status of domestic staff;
 The inclusion of these workers in an effective joint commission which enabled them to enjoy a series of benefits;
 The establishment of collaboration with a body charged, among other things, with studying the prospects of improving the status of domestic workers and their training needs.

CSC-Alimentation & Services is counting heavily on the adoption by the International Labour Organization of a Convention on domestic work to improve its status in Belgium.

At the same time, CSC-Alimentation & Services is also monitoring the titres-services sector. Here it is quite a different story. In 2001, the Federal Government decided to introduce service vouchers or titres-services. The objective was to encourage neighbourhood services, combat informal labour, ensure training of workers (low-skilled, women,… ) and satisfy personal needs which had not previously been encountered. The new system came into being in January 2004. The principle is simple. In exchange for titres-services (a kind of cheque which can be obtained from an approved company), users (private individuals only) can buy in certain household services: home cleaning including window-cleaning, laundry, ironing, small sewing tasks and cooking, shopping, transport of persons with reduced mobility, and ironing including repair of clothes to be ironed. These services are provided by approved companies and the company’s workers have a proper social status.
The attractive price (the price of a titre-services does not represent the true cost of the service and is also tax-deductible) and trends in society (organization of work, growing number of homes where both parents work, increase in the number of elderly,…) mean that the system has been a growing success.

Even if at the current stage it is not possible to combine these two systems completely (domestic workers and titres-services workers do not carry out exactly the same role in the families/households which they help), the titres-services model can serve as a source of inspiration in securing a decent status for domestic workers.

Thanks to its involvement on behalf of domestic and titres-services workers, CSC-Alimentation & Services has seen a significant increase in its membership in these sectors.

March 8 rally in Karachi

2011-03-12T10:45:41Z

Women members from the local Coca Cola plant affiliated to the National Federation of Food Beverage and Tobacco Workers, were among the 2000 women who participated in the March 8 rally in Karachi, Pakistan. The rally was organized jointly by trade unions, incl the IUF Pakistan office, NGOs and Human Rights organizations.

Women Workers fighting precarious employment

2011-02-04T17:29:45Z

At the Asia/Pacific regional food & beverage conference held in Kuala Lumpur on 5-6 August, 2010,a joint presentation on "Women workers and precarious work" was given by Ok -Soon, Cheong, IUF Korea Liasion officer, Premjai Jaikla (Yong), IUF Thai officer, and Saima Querishi, IUF Pakistan Women/TNC organizer. They gave interesting examples on women workers' struggles and victories.

]]> Saima reported on organizing women workers at Unilever and Coca Cola in Pakistan:
At Unilever Rahim Yar Khan, dismissed temporary workers organized struggles by fighting against their illegal dismissal and forming an Action Committee (see article of December 18, 2010). As a result, 120 workers, including 7 women, were eventually able to get permanent positions for the first time in the production department. The National Federation of Food Beverages and Tobacco Workers’ Unions and the IUF supported their struggle. Earlier, they had faced lots of issues at the workplace but didn’t have any idea what to do or how to handle different challenges, such as how to raise workers’ problems to management in order to solve their issues. They have faced some problems such as company houses, working hours and commuting, which is very dangerous for women because of darkness in the winter. Their working conditions are tough due to heavy and hard work. They have to lift heavy rolls of product of between 10 to 20kg, not once a day but many times a day and have to wash huge tanks. Earlier they had no maternity leave, but it is very much appreciated that now they have obtained it by themselves with the support of the Action Committee and consultation with the IUF.
At Coca-Cola Karachi, there were 3 permanent women workers (in October 2010, 1 more casual woman worker obtained permanent status) and 6 casual workers, who have been working for 5 to 6 years with the contractor at 7000PKR per month, which is minimum wage in Pakistan. Earlier, women workers did not participate in union activities and they did not have any interest to attend union meetings. But now we have a woman official in the union, who can consult with women workers because women are uncomfortable with talking with male union leaders in the workplace. I met them to inform them about the trade union and their rights at work. Sisters with permanent status are satisfied with their jobs, do not experience any discrimination from the management and get legal rights/benefits so that was why they thought there was no need to be active in union activities. Furthermore, they didn’t have any idea about why a union is important at theworkplace. Later when they came to know about their rights at work, they became active in union activities. The casual women workers are interested in being active in union activities. Some issues they raised and shared with me included low wages, transportation, working hours and getting a permanent position.
The result of the consultation with women led to their active participation in the Coca-Cola global campaign for Multan in July 2010; they participated in the solidarity protest at Coca-Cola Karachi plant.

Young's reported on the situation of poultry workers inThailand
Poultry is one of the most significant food industries of Thailand. To imagine how big it is, Thailand ranks the fourth exporter in the world market after the US, Brazil and the EU. Thailand's Department of Export Promotion estimates that there are 600,000 farmers and workers in poultry farming and processing plants combined.
But in this very important industry, there are only 2 unionised plants. One union struggled very hard on its own to improve working conditions though at the end experiencing a harsh backlash. However, its struggle is worth noting and can be read about in the book 'Food for Thought'.
The outreach and organising work in the poultry sector in Thailand started in late 2008. Since the majority of the workforce are women, our organisers are also women. The work has been done with assistance and support from IUF A/P secretariat.
Starting with doing research on general working conditions, making contacts, building trust, organising workshops and study groups, the network of poultry workers has been set up and we are working to expand its membership.
Challenges in our organising lie in the very poor working conditions that women face in workplace as follows:
 average production line speed at 130 - 160 birds/minute,
 average temperature 9 – 12°C,
 12 hours working per day, meaning forced overtime,
 6 days a week, but sometimes being forced to work on weekend and holidays,
 very short rest breaks with name and shame of anyone taking longer than the allowed limit,
 personal protective equipment (PPE) is not fully provided nor laundered, and
 cost of some (or all) PPE are deducted from wages.
Due to low wages, workers are trapped in a vicious cycle of working harder to make ends meet, hampered by fast line speeds and limited rest, which then lead to occupational disease like repetitive strain injury (RSI) or illnesses related to blood circulation and bladder infections. Also, injuries at work like cuts, especially of those working with a knife, and falls, due to slippery floors, are prevalent.
Therefore, occupational health and safety is our organsing issue with its link to food safety for consumers. If workers’ safety is at risk, food safety for the public will be in question. The right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is very important tool to help protecting workers and the public.

Ok-soon informed about the struggle at Hotel Renaissance Seoul and about legal framework in Korea:
Now I’d like to share a Korean case, which is based on the legal framework. Of course we don’t much rely on the legal framework but we can use it to organize workers in precarious work, especially women workers.
Recently we had a meaningful ruling from the Supreme Court declaring that in-house subcontracted workers are regarded as directly-employed workers by the primary company from the day after working for consecutive two years. It recognizes the primary company as the real employer and not as a subcontractor of the workers. This ruling will affect the manufacturing sector so that we can expect our affiliates to utilize it and expand their membership more as well as improving precarious workers’ working conditions.
Apart from that, I think this ruling will affect our members in Korea such as Renaissance Labor Union. I believe you know the Renaissance Labor Union’s case in Korea. Its membership is mainly women and they used to work in the hotel as housekeepers. Back in the late 2001, the housekeepers were outsourced as part of restructuring. Which meant the hotel’s restructuring attempt discriminated in the first place against women. After their jobs were outsourced, they received much lower wages under the subcontractor. In 2004, the Ministry of Labor ruled the hotel violated the law of protection for dispatched workers and so the hotel should re-hire those housekeepers as directly employed. But the hotel refused to accept and fired them as a retaliatory measure at the end of 2005.
From the beginning of 2006, they had been fighting for reinstatement for almost 5 years in front of the hotel, which resulted in their reinstatement as housekeepers. But they are still fighting against the hotel’s unfair treatment and for improving their working conditions and bridging the wage gap by using the legal framework. Their legal case is pending in the Supreme Court and the previous ruling for manufacturing workers will affect positively on the Renaissance Labor Union’s case. The reason why I mentioned this case might impact on whole sector as long as precarious workers exist.
Many women workers are suffering from their precarious status. I believe this ruling can give us access to women workers in precarious employment so we can organizing them effectively.

The Women’s project makes headway in the West African countries

2011-02-04T14:58:38Z

National co-ordinators of the IUF Women’s project in French speaking West Africa met in Dakar, Senegal, from 6 to 10 December to evaluate the 2010 results and plan for activities in 2011.

]]> They were accompanied in their discussions by the regional project co-ordinator, Adwoa Sakyi, and the sub-regional women’s co-ordinator, Assétou Soumaré.

Participants welcomed the efforts made by the co-ordination committees in Benin and Niger in promoting the ratification of Convention 183 on Maternity protection. In the two countries, the ratification process is well advanced. In Burkina, where the government authorized the ratification in 2009, the application of the final decree is expected shortly.
In Mali, the first African country to ratify the Convention (in 2008), the co-ordinating committee monitors the implementation and is informing women, particularly in rural areas, about their new rights.

In collaboration with the sub-regional IUF/ILO H&S programme, a special training module for Women’s H&S has been elaborated. Following the first courses that started in Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast and Niger, there are now women H&S focal points, women integrated in the Safety Committees, and establishment of new Safety Committees.
According to a report from Burkina Faso, the H&S training has given concrete results for pregnant women workers in the agricultural sector, such as:
 They are no longer obliged to travel long distances and/or on motorbikes
 They shall have adequate protective equipment if in contact with pesticides and have the possibility to change jobs

The H&S training program for women was presented by the co-ordinator from Burkina Faso, Assétou Traoré, at the African forum for prevention of professional risks (SAPRIP) that took place on November 8-11, 2010, in Niamey, Niger.
Her presentation as well as the others made by the IUF delegation attracted a lot of interest among SAPRIP participants.

The recruitment and organizing efforts have continued in all the countries concerned.
On an average, each co-ordinating committee enrolled 150 new women members. In the Ivory Coast, six new women’s committees were formed in the agricultural sector and in tuna fish canning factories. In Niger, five locals in the informal economy were established in the urban surroundings of Niamey.

Furthermore, the first sub-regional meeting for domestic workers took place in Benin in August 2010. This meeting contributed to the integration of French speaking countries in West Africa to the regional domestic workers’ network.

CBA training workshop in Cambodia

2010-12-18T18:17:28Z

From 11-13 December training workshops on collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) for women union leaders in the hotel and catering industry were held in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, by the IUF Asia-Pacific and the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers' Federation (CTSWF). A total of 29 women leaders from 11 unions participated in the workshops.

]]>

The training focused on sharing collective bargaining experiences and agreements, identifying the best clauses on in collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that protect and advance the rights of women, and to develop priorities that were then turned into an action plan. Overseas examples - especially from the Asia-Pacific region - of different types of CBA clauses that impact directly and indirectly on women were also presented and discussed. Ok-soon Cheong and Premjai Jaikla (Yong) from the IUF Korea and Thailand offices facilitated the training program.

Vital victory for PC Hotel Workers' Union

2010-12-18T18:00:31Z

After eight years legal battle the labour appellate tribunal Sindh reinstated NASREEN RESHAD (Ms), a vice president of PC Hotel Workers Union with all back benefits. Nasreen was working at the health club of the Pearl Continental Hotel Karachi.

]]> Nasreen Reshad joined the hotel in 1994 as casual worker. In 1995 the union secured an agreement with management that every month two casual workers will be given permanent status. In 1998 Nasreen got permanent status through union and became an active member of the union. In 1999 she contested in union election and became vice president.

In 2002 management attacked the union and she was dismissed when key union officers were in jail. Tthrough the union, she filed a case for reinstatement in the labour court and was part of every protest rally which union organized during last eight years.

Management tried to pressurize her through different means. Nasreen has responsibility of two children and living in a rented house but she did not accept any offer from the management and continue faced financial and social hardship for eight years.

In December 2006 the Sindh labour court rejected her application but she was not agonized at that occasion and showed her commitment to fight till last moment. The union filed an appeal in the Sindh High Court. In 2008 the Industrial Relations Act was amended and Labour Appellate Tribunals were established. The case was transferred from Sindh High Court to the Sindh Labour Appellate Tribunal. On 15th Dec. 2010 the Sindh Appellate Tribunal reinstated Nasreen with full benefits. This is a vital victory for the union which will boost the moral of the union members and officers.

African women coordinators report on substantial progress

2010-12-18T17:24:50Z

At the evaluation & planning workshop held in Accra, Ghana, from November 28 to December 3, the national women project coordinators reported on many important achievements during 2010.

]]> In the nine English speaking countries represented at the workshop (Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda) the cooperation and solidarity between the IUF affiliates have been reinforced and both female and male membership considerably increased through the project activities.

Several collective agreements now have clauses regarding maternity rights, paternity leave and prevention of sexual harassment. Many concrete examples were given on how unions had taken up the fight for women’s rights and won cases ranging from maternity to pension scheme issues. This is a result of skills training and women being included in the bargaining teams.

After a presentation made by the sub-regional coordinator for the global TNC-project, it was agreed that in order to fight gender discrimination within these companies it is crucial to make sure that women are included in TNC-activities.

The women’s project has stimulated women workers to take up union positions from local to national level. In Malawi for example, the Sugar Plantation and Allied Workers’ Union elected a women general secretary for the first time. In Tanzania, strategic work place visits have proven efficient in getting more women to stand for elections. The big test will be next year when there are general union elections.

Just as the panel discussion on women in leadership positions, the role play performed in a session on organizing and recruitment provoked a lively debate and sharing of experiences also with the sub-regional women’s coordinator for French speaking West Africa and seven participants from three Swedish sister unions.

Two work places visits - one to a banana plantation and the other to a tuna fish canning plant - generated a number of observations on how to improve working conditions, particularly from a health & safety point of view.

The workshop was concluded by the presentation of work plans for 2011. Among the common themes for 2011 are the promotion of the ratification of Convention 183 on Maternity Protection, a strong support for domestic workers in each country and for an international Domestic Workers’ Convention, continued struggle for improved working and living conditions for women, and better representation of women at all levels of their unions and within IUF structures.

Women leaders elected in NFFBTW

2010-12-18T17:16:14Z

At the 2nd National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers (NFFBTW) delegates’ conference held in Karachi on 11-12 December 2010 under the theme “Struggle Against Precarious Employment”, Mehek Butt was re-elected as Chairperson for Women's Affairs . Mehek is also president of the Women Workers' Federation in Multan.

Rahat Abdullah was elected as Secretary for Women's Affairs. Rahat is a member of the new Coca-Cola union in Lahore formed earlier this year during the global Coca-Cola Pakistan campaign.

Improving knowledge - improving bargaining power

2010-12-18T16:53:10Z

IUF Pakistan and the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers (NFFBTW) held a five-day leadership training program in Karachi on 6-10 December 2010 under the theme “Improving knowledge-improving bargaining power”. The training focused on developing skills for a new generation of union leaders.

]]> Saima Qureshi, the IUF Pakistan women/TNCs organizer and Bushra Ilyas, the IUF Pakistan women's officer helped to facilitate the meeting and observed that the women participants not only took a strong interest in this training but learned a lot of techniques to overcome a lack of confidence and also improved their public speaking and debating skills in just a few days.

A third of the participants were women, including:

Rahat Abdullah, a member from the new Coca-Cola union in Lahore formed during the Coca-Cola Multan campaign and Rahila, a Unilever Rahim Yar Khan action committee member who got a permanent job under the June 2009 IUF-Unilever agreement.

Arzoo Kawnal and Aqeela Pervez from Coca-Cola Karachi union. Aqeela was made permanent in October 2010 under the employment security agreement signed at Coca-Cola Karachi in 2007 with IUF support, through the Atlanta process.

Saira and Shanza are Unilever Rahim Yar Khan action committee members who got permanent jobs under the June 2009 IUF-Unilever agreement.

Domestic Workers Demand Respect and Our Rights!"

2009-05-04T15:47:57Z

The international network of Domestic Workers has published a leaflet about the need to mobilise for an international convention for their rights.

]]> Click here to download the leaflet.

The ILO has also recently published the first report for the the first discussion on an international instrument that will take place in June 2010. The report "Decent work for domestic workers" reflects the law and practice in a wide range of countries and can be downloaded from the ILO web site.