31 March, 2011While health and safety standards are high on site, the relations between management and the local CNM-CUT union at Tubarao, ArcelorMittal's site in Vitória, Brazil need improvement.
BRAZIL: The ArcelorMittal Joint Global Health and Safety Committee (JGHSC) met on March 28 and 29 at the Tubarao Steel Plant in Vitória. The plant produces 7.5 million tons of steel and has 4,870 direct employees. Safety standards within the plant were very high, but employee relations and, in particular, engagement with the local CNM-CUT union are areas that need improvement.
The poor relationship with the union was demonstrated when it became apparent that in a room of 50 attendees for an opening plenary session with the JGHSC not one representative from the local union was present. This was the first time in any of the visits undertaken by the JGHSC that this had occurred. Normally following the plenary session there are two breakout sessions one for management and the other for the union side. After an intervention from the JGHSC, eventually the local union were invited and attended the union breakout session. CNM-CUT representatives at the site had earlier taken part in the creation of the ArcelorMittal Latin American Trade Union Network.
Issues identified by the local union included the poor relationship with management and a lack of cooperation. CNM-CUT also recognized the need to organize more workers into the union at the plant, currently the density is around six per cent. The plant had at one time had a union density of 85 per cent but privatization in 1992 and the conflict between the union and management had led to a decrease.
Tony Murphy of the European Metalworkers Federation stated, "If Mr Mittal was looking to make a capital investment based on employee relations this site would be way down the list. I would urge management and unions from Turbarao to travel jointly to Acindar in Argentina to receive some training from a benchmark site."
The JGHSC then visited a number of areas on site including the steel shop, blast furnace and coke batteries. Safety standards during the visit were high and in particular housekeeping throughout the plant was very good. Best practices identified included the use of signage, overall use of personal protective equipment and conditions in the control rooms. Areas for improvement included reducing the number of contractors used on site, which total nearly 50 per cent of the workforce. The frequency and rate of accidents among contractors is far higher than direct employees.
Rob Johnston IMF Executive Director commented, "Tubarao has all the ingredients to be a benchmark site for ArcelorMittal, but it will never achieve this until it finds a way for its union and management to work constructively. The local union made an offer for dialogue while we were there and I urge management to take up this offer."