4 October, 2010Shop stewards from two production sites of SONASID-ArcelorMittal in Morocco meet with European Works Council members and health and safety specialists from UGT of Spain, FGMM and FTM of France, FIOM of Italy and FGME of Tunisia at a meeting of the International Metalworkers' Federation.
MOROCCO: A seminar held in Casablanca on September 28-30, 2010 has brought together workers' representatives from some of the ArcelorMittal production sites in Europe and from the plants in Nador and Jorf Lasfar of SONASID, the Moroccan steel company with an important participation of ArcelorMittal.
The initiative was part of the broader IMF strategy to build networks between trade unions organizing the employees of a same multinational in different countries and to coordinate their joint efforts for the respect of fundamental rights at work.
The participants shared their collective bargaining experiences and voiced their concerns in particular with regard to health and safety conditions at ArcelorMittal plants. Concerns were expressed in particular for the inadequate safety measures at the site of Jorf Lasfar in Morocco where there have been three victims recently and the shop stewards denounced an overall deterioration of the situation since 2007.
Increased subcontracting and externalization of parts of the production process - with the employment of workers at much lower conditions and without adequate training - were indicated by all the participants as one key reason behind work accidents. Contrary to the company's stated culture of prevention, its actual policy was reported to increasingly focus instead on sanctions and repressive measures against the workers who are victims of work accidents. The shop stewards underlined changes in the work organization in recent years that appear all oriented to the maximization of profits at the expenses of safety, of working conditions and of employment security, with a fast increasing share of precarious contracts.
Common objectives were identified for coordinated trade union action among the participating unions; key priorities include demands for improved safety conditions through effective prevention and for reduced use of subcontracting. The equality of treatment for subcontracted and other non permanent employees are common priority goals as well as close collaboration in the area of health and safety through the sharing of experience and knowledge between European and North African countries' unions.
All participants strongly supported the reiterated request of the Moroccan trade unionists for the urgent monitoring of the concrete implementation of the ArcelorMittal Global Agreement on Health and Safety.