Get inspired and organize

Original interviews / Ilya Matveev, G. Manicandan, Aisha Bahadur, Valeska Solis and Anita Gardner

Translations / Ilya Matveev and Chris Whitehouse

Editor / Anita Gardner

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It is 6.30am and the morning shift at a Volkswagen assembly plant in Kaluga, Russia is about to start. Dmitry Trudovoy, deputy president of the local union, is at the gate and holding a meeting of the workers. Out of 2,000 production workers on site, 625 now belong to the union. In Russia a union needs to represent 50 per cent +1 of workers to have the right to negotiate a collective agreement, which is one of the organizing goals of the union.

Through training, trial and error Dmitry has learnt a lot about organizing workers. "Until recently our organizing strategy was: we learned the problems of the workers at a specific location, we distributed leaflets highlighting these problems, and then a union activist arrived and recruited the workers," explains Dmitry. "In the beginning this strategy was quite effective. However, in six months the number of people who joined the union was roughly the same as the number who quit,"
he said.

"We had to rethink our strategy and focus on conscious recruitment of workers. Before recruiting a worker, we now give a clear image of a militant union and its methods, democratic principles of organization, decision-making process in such an organization and the role and place of every member," explains Dmitry. "When we tried out such a strategy, we were very surprised by the results. It has been successful as it allows the workers to think of themselves as a collective and understand that the achievement of a common goal depends on each and every one of them," he said.

A BREAK WITH TRADITION

Dmitry's union, the Interregional Trade Union of Autoworkers (ITUA), was founded in 2006. Going on strike at Ford in Vsevolozhsk near Saint-Petersburg in 2007, it quickly created an image of a strong, independent and democratic union, fiercely guarding the rights and interests of its members. ITUA's formation and early struggles marked a distinct departure from the historical understanding of trade unions dating back to Soviet times.

"Many workers still perceive unions as a kind of charity, giving material support in return for a small fee, and they are seen as part of the administration. In the beginning I shared this view," he said. Dmitry's opinion changed in part through workshops organized by unions in Europe and the IMF. "However, we didn't just take the model of unions in Europe as a basis, we created our own vision," says Dmitry.

Recognizing the central importance of organizing, the ITUA has begun to employ people as dedicated organizers, paid for by the national union. "This has also allowed us to look at other plants in the city, and now we try to support workers' efforts at creating independent, militant unions there," explains Dmitry.

Since February 2011, the IMF in conjunction with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) is supporting ITUA organizing activities at several auto plants in Saint-Petersburg and the surrounding area targeting the 4,300 to 4,700 workers at the Nissan, General Motors, Nokian Tires, Hyundai and Faurecia plants.

IMF ON ORGANIZING

Encouraging workers to build independent, democratic and representative national unions that are autonomous from employers, political parties and governments is one of the key goals of the IMF. As in the case of Russia, IMF works with a range of trade union partners to assist unions in organizing and building strong national unions that, in a permanent democratic relationship with workers, are capable of achieving real gains through collective bargaining and having an impact on national public policies.

In 2003 and 2004 the IMF began to suspect that its Zambian affiliate the National Union of Building, Engineering and General Workers (NUBEGW) was not sustainable when reports from the union indicated poor administration including staff not being paid and offices without equipment. While the union reported membership figures of over 10,000, there was no way to verify it. The union was also undemocratic, resembling a fiefdom under the unchallenged authority of a General Secretary in power for many years.

With support from IF Metall and LO TCO, the IMF Regional Office in Africa took up the challenge to improve the development of union democracy at NUBEGW through an education programme initially focused on the basics of trade unionism and building the workers' role in the union.

A core driver was to create a culture of organizing in the union that went beyond recruiting membership to addressing worker issues and representing worker demands. As workers became more active in the union, structures were revived, membership was registered, dues were collected and members began to demand accountability from the union leadership. A new general secretary was elected in 2005, and when he failed to deliver, another in 2007 and today the union is in much better shape.

NUBEGW has also made great strides to better involve women workers in all aspects of the union including organizing, education and in the Executive. "The National Executive Committee is now gender balanced with three women and four men. There has been no tokenism; women have won their places competitively through elections," reports Gabriel Phiri, NUBEGW General Secretary.

Recruiting members is still a challenge. Currently membership is over 8,000 but NUBEGW hopes to get this figure up to 10,000 by the end of 2011. "We have been working hard to make positive gains to build the union through membership. Our efforts have suffered because of the recession that resulted in job losses and membership losses. But if we were not focused on organizing, the loss would have been even greater," explains Gabriel.

Worker education has been successfully used as an opportunity to recruit and organize workers with a focus on women and youth. It has improved the visibility of the union, putting the union in direct contact with workers to hear their issues and build worker confidence in the union. Union educator Margaret Mwelwa explains that organizing "is very important, as it brings workers together making them able to act with one mind. When you organize things become easier. It shows how serious you are when dealing with employers."

ORGANIZING CONTRACT WORKERS

Education on workers' rights is also a fundamental part of IMF's work with the Indian National Metalworkers' Federation (INMF) and the Steel, Metal and Engineering Workers' Federation of India (SMEFI) aimed at organizing workers in the steel industry. Supported by the LO-TCO and SASK and IMF affiliates IF Metall, Unionen, Metalliliitto and PRO, the project began in 2009 and is running in three of the states where the steel industry is concentrated: Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Both INMF and SMEFI have agreed to join forces and target specific companies, aiming to organize the whole workforce, from the precarious workers to the white collar workers, to avoid fragmentation and competing for members.

Until now, unionization of workers in the steel sector, as it is with most of the metal industry in India, is largely restricted to permanent workers in current or former public sector enterprises. India has one of the world's largest iron ore reserves and expanding domestic consumption of steel. With a trend of concentration of production in large private companies and the growing presence of transnational companies, most of which have no union, the IMF and unions in India have identified this sector as a key target for organizing. With a target of 20,000 new members by 2012, so far 10,000 workers have been organized through the work of this IMF project.

Sanjay Kumar Singh, President of the INMF and one of the IMF India Steel Organizing Project Coordinators, explains that organizing contract and casual workers in this sector is one of the main goals of the project. "In Chhattisgarh a large number of workers in the steel industry are working under poor working conditions with a massive number of contract and casual labourers. Most of them work for 12 to 14 hours a day and are paid less than minimum wages without any statutory benefits and social security," explains Sanjay.

One of the main challenges of organizing contract workers is the threat to job security and organizing initiatives are severely opposed by management. In most cases, when workers start a union the management immediately sacks them. It is difficult to fight as the workers have no records to prove that they worked at a particular factory. Union organizers also face physical attacks from goons and false cases are filed against them by police. "In the Raipur District, our union organizer's house was attacked by management-paid goons. A police case was also filed against him, which could lead to six months of imprisonment, after he participated in a workers' protest," said Sanjay.

In most cases organizing at multinational and big steel companies is further complicated by the presence of "in-house" unions that the companies promote and register as an official agent of the workers. Due to the fierce opposition from companies the union not only focuses on educating workers, but is also engaging with local communities. "This strategy helps to create awareness of trade unions and informs the workers about the benefits of joining trade unions," explains Sanjay.

The unions have also had some success convincing the government to adopt policies that help to improve the situation for contract workers. "Since December 2009, we have been insisting that government authorities frame rules to make payments to contract workers through banks. This provides contract workers with an identity and makes the wage payment process transparent and helps workers to get minimum wages," explains Sanjay. As a result of the union's demands, the Government has instructed companies to pay contract workers' wages through banks and to complete the process of opening bank accounts for contract workers by March 31, 2011.

The unions are also using the strength and solidarity of unionized permanent workers, particularly where there is already good union density. "While we take help from permanent workers, we are following the strategy of contract and casual workers leading their unions," Sanjay explains. "We are in the process of registering separate unions in many companies. We also gained wage increases for contract workers in the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) unit in Bhilai," reports Sanjay.

VIOLENCE & PERSECUTION

Nowhere is the persecution and violence perpetrated against union leaders and organizers worse than it is in Colombia, which has the highest number of murdered trade unionists in the world. In 2010 alone, 46 trade union leaders were killed.

It is legal to form trade unions, a right established under the country's Constitution. However trade unions are considered to be subversive elements and not social partners. National and transnational companies adopt anti-trade union practices, with some companies employing paramilitaries to kill unionists, and all attempts to form unions with any influence at the national level are repressed. Consequently, less than five per cent of the country's economically active population is a member of a trade union and the working conditions of less than half of this number is regulated by a collective agreement.

Despite the frightening reality, there is no reduction in the number of trade union leaders prepared to respond to this dramatic situation and fight to change the country and defend the interests of workers. But as most unions are company-based, the movement is highly fragmented and lacks the capacity to act at the national or industry level. In this context the IMF's work with its two affiliates in Colombia, the Metalworkers' and Miners' Union (UTRAMMICOL) and the Metalworking Industries Union Federation (FETRAMECOL), is focused on improving union strength and unity within and among both federations as a fundamental basis from which to organize workers.

The building national unions project in Latin America, which is supported by IF Metall and LO TCO, covers the period 2008-2012 and involves affiliates in Chile and Colombia. Marino Vani, IMF Regional Officer, explains that the project "obliges each organization to discuss and formulate joint actions to strengthen trade unions and identify common objectives. We hope this project will help workers learn and understand the need to create united and representative national unions that include workers in precarious and outsourced jobs and in this way increase membership."

Precarious work, both a result of low unionization and a significant barrier to organizing, has been a constant focus for struggle in Colombia. The spread of "employment cooperatives", known as cooperativas de trabajo asociado (CTAs), but which are in fact employment agencies, has led to a deterioration in working conditions and further undermined fundamental workers' rights. CTAs and their impact on rights is one of the issues that both of IMF's affiliates are campaigning on together.

Miguel Hernández, FETRAMECOL Education Officer, coordinates study circles in Bogotá and is a member of the SINDICOLMENA union. He believes that the anti-union policies in operation in Colombia, including the persecution of union leaders, legal restrictions and the use of CTAs, are the main challenges that unions face in Colombia. "These anti-union policies make ordinary members afraid to attend training courses and other workers afraid to join the union," explains Miguel.

Miguel's union has found that some of the more successful tactics are a buddy system, individual action plans and study circles. "The increasing unity between affiliates and the education of trade union leaders who now have a better understanding of the sector through mapping the metalworking industry and developing a global vision and analysis of the sector, is making an impact on our work," he adds.

Mauricio Castro has worked at Diaco-Gerdau for the last 25 years and is president of the National Metalworkers' Union (SINTRAMETAL), a member of the UTRAMMICOL executive committee and an Education Officer of the national centre CUT for the Boyacá department. He is regional coordinator for the project in Boyacá. "We have many problems, starting with the type of employment contracts and outsourcing. Physical persecution is another problem, with more than 3,000 trade union leaders killed since 1986," explains Mauricio.

"Our work requires time and results, we must work responsibly, produce results, solve specific problems and develop a clear understanding that unity is the only way we are going to survive in a world full of inequalities," says Mauricio.

OFFSETTING THE EFFECTS OF THE CRISIS

Attracting new members and increasing density is not only an issue for unions in developing countries. Everywhere unionization rates have been in decline for decades and the global jobs crisis has in many cases accelerated this decline. Recognizing that the financial crisis could pose a significant threat to membership numbers, the Australian Workers' Union (AWU) decided to go on the offensive and put significant resources and energy into organizing. In 2008 the leadership of AWU agreed on a "low hanging fruit" strategy of focusing on workplaces where the union already had members, workplace delegates and agreements in place and the union could access the workplace.

Daniel Walton, AWU National Campaign and Organizing Co-ordinator explains how most workplaces used to be "closed-shops". Then with the introduction of anti-union labour laws and individual contracts suddenly things changed. "We went from a situation of not speaking to people, to doing everything we could do to protect pay and conditions of existing members, but we were not looking at the non-members on sites," explained Daniel. "Now at each site we started by mapping out who are members and who are not. Then we updated the conversational skills of organizers and delegates so they know how to ask questions and find out what workers' issues are and how to show that a union can help," he said. "And we focused on workplaces that were due to renew agreements, as this is the time when people are most interested in speaking to a union."

The results speak for themselves. AWU is now the fastest growing union in Australia with an increase of 22 per cent of member, from 115,000 members in 2008 to 140,000 in 2010. "Success feeds success," says Daniel. "Early on when we started to gain members in an area, the existing members would get stronger and this would encourage others to also organize," he said. Existing members are benefiting from the increased strength of the union nationally and at each workplace. "Members have a greater ability to have a voice about the things they want to see. Every site is different, but having a strong membership on site puts them in a better position to negotiate on all conditions, not only the traditional union issue of pay," said Daniel.

On the back of this success, the AWU launched a new campaign in February 2011 to organize in the aluminium industry. The union identified that although 70 to 80 per cent of the aluminium industry in Australia is unionized, when it came to bargaining it was under pressure from lower costs at non-unionized sites. So to strengthen its bargaining position, benefit existing members and continue to grow the union, AWU's first target is organizing a non-union Rio Tinto smelter in Bell Bay, Tasmania.

As part of its organizing strategy, the AWU reached out to the IMF for support against this global anti-union company and has received letters of solidarity from IMF affiliates around the world who have Rio Tinto workers as members. "We had a meeting in Tasmania recently where we handed out copies of the letters of solidarity from all the unions internationally. Bell Bay is a small site off the mainland of Australia, so it was a big moral-booster to know that people around the world are watching and supporting these workers," said Daniel.

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

Like at Rio Tinto in Australia, international solidarity is playing an increasingly important role in union organizing around the world. The cross-border movement of capital and dominance of transnational companies in many metalworking sectors has unions reaching out to one another for support when organizing.

In the U.S., the United Auto Workers (UAW) is putting renewed focus on organizing and at the end of March 2011 announced that it had increased its membership by 21,000 in 2010, from 355,191 in 2009 to 376,612 in 2010. UAW is also now specifically targeting "foreign transplants" operating in the auto sector in the U.S., which are almost exclusively located in the Southern "Right to Work" States, none of which are unionized to date. The union has recognized that a significant factor for success will be the international solidarity between UAW and the workers and unions in the countries of when the multinational auto companies are based, including Germany, Japan and Korea. With assistance from IMF, UAW is building closer links to workers and unions in the auto companies they hope to organize in the U.S.

GET INSPIRED & ORGANIZE

"Growing our unions and increasing the number of members and union density must be the primary goal of every trade union," said Fernando Lopes, IMF Assistant General Secretary, who is responsible for union building work at the IMF. "Our work is guided by the IMF Action Programme and is planned and executed by IMF personnel in the regions and the Head Office with active participation of our affiliates in the field," he said.

"The survival and strength of a union has always depended on organizing and the challenge for the IMF today is to ensure that resources directed towards organizing union members results in stronger unions capable of delivering improvements to the lives of metalworkers and building a better world," said Fernando.