11 October, 2024A year after having first called on the Swiss government to exercise human rights due diligence at Absolute Assembly, IndustriALL Global Union is reiterating the call as labour rights are deteriorating, directly breaking the commitments made by the Swiss government. The company in Thailand manufactures e-buses for a programme supported by Switzerland under the Paris Climate Agreement.
Under the Paris Climate Agreement, Switzerland supports investments into carbon neutrality in Thailand, and in return, Switzerland receives carbon credits. The commitments in the Paris Climate Agreement must be in line with achieving a Just Transition, which means decent jobs with fair working conditions.
However, this is not the case at Absolute Assembly in Bangkok where workers continue to be subjected to union busting. The company is refusing to engage in collective bargaining negotiations with the union EMUT, interfering in union affairs, inter alia, by falsely claiming that two union office bearers cannot hold a union position because they hold a supervisory position, and has dismissed two union leaders.
Already last year, IndustriALL raised the serious busting and violation of workers’ rights with the Swiss government, urging the government to take action in accord with its stated commitment to implementing the Paris Agreement, and in agreement with the great importance Switzerland attaches to the “promotion, respect, and realization of the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and expects the private sector to respect human rights in Switzerland and abroad.”
But to no avail. Absolute Assembly is no closer to implementing respect for workers’ rights. Even after the Labor Relations Committee, a tripartite committee under the Ministry of Labor, ruled that the company has violated the Labor Relations Act regarding unfair practice and anti-union discrimination and ordered that the union leaders be reinstated, the company did not allow them back at work. But after over a year-long legal battle and threats from the company, the workers succumbed to financial constraint and agreed to a settlement.
“Absolute Assembly is doing everything possible to destroy the union. It is in fact refusing to recognize the union, and it is disregarding the legitimate demands of the workers concerning wages, allowances, benefits, bonus,”
says Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary.
“It is now more urgent than before, and the Swiss government and the Klik Foundation who manages the project, must intervene without any delay and assume their responsibility for these serious trade union rights violations.”
Switzerland’s pledge under the Paris Agreement
“As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, Switzerland has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% compared to 1990 levels by 2030. The country intends to reduce up to 12.5% of its emissions by financing climate mitigation activities abroad.
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement provides for countries to cooperate for the purpose of raising their ambition for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Bilateral cooperation under Article 6 requires a bilateral climate protection agreement to make binding provisions for the concrete implementation of the Paris Agreement.”
Paris Agreement
Article 6.4 Mechanism | UNFCCC
“Article 6 of the Paris Agreement establishes three approaches for Parties to voluntarily cooperate in achieving their emission reduction targets and adaptation aims set out in their national climate action plans under the Paris Agreement (Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs). One of these approaches is through the Article 6.4 Mechanism, a mechanism “to contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and support sustainable development” (Paris Agreement, Article 6, paragraph 4).
The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA), at their third session in Glasgow, adopted Decision 3/CMA.3 containing the rules, modalities and procedures for the mechanism established by Article 6, paragraph 4, of the Paris Agreement (“the mechanism”). Through this mechanism a company in one country can reduce emissions in that country and have those reductions credited so that it can sell them to another company in another country. That second company may use them for complying with its own emission reduction obligations or to help it meet net-zero.”
KliK Foundation
The Foundation for Climate Protection and Carbon Offset KliK fulfils the legal obligation on Swiss motor fuel importers, mandated under the Swiss CO2 Act to offset parts of the carbon emissions caused by the Swiss transportation sector. To this end, the KliK Foundation supports mitigation activities under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement in Thailand and other countries that have signed a bilateral climate protection agreement with Switzerland. The financial support is provided through the purchase of the resulting Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) of these activities. This should amount to 20 million tonnes of CO2e for the period of 2022–2030.
Photo: Bangkok traffic, Flickr