misc 1. 2015
TRANSCRIPT
International Employment Relations Network List
(IERN-L)
A Miscellany of International Employment Relations News
Miscellany 1, 2015
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Contents
Main Stories
Australia: Sage Sagittarius: Letters reveal bullying and gun smuggling on
vessel dubbed ship of death
China: Stepping into the breach: labour groups start to take on the role of the
trade union in China
Oman: Illegal expat workers still being hired on the streets of Oman despite
mass arrests
Qatar: This Chart Shows the Staggering Human Cost of Staging a World Cup
in Qatar
UK: Tories take a big risk by limiting strike action
1
In BriefBrazil: Brazil protests oppose austerity, ‘third party’ laws
Cambodia: Union law ‘excludes voice of workers’
Global: McJobs report documents pattern of global abuses
Hong Kong: Trainee pay in Cathay union sights
Kenya: Civil servants threaten to quit National Hospital Insurance Fund
citing poor services
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000163985/civil-
servants-threaten-to-quit-national-hospital-insurance-fund-citing-poor-
services
Nepal: Nepalese official rips Qatar and FIFA for refusing to let workers
return home after earthquake
What the Unions SayUSA: Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Department of
Labor Proposed Guidance on Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order
What the Employers Say
Australia: Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Submission to the
Productivity Commission on Workplace Relations
Publications
Journals, Conferences, Seminars, Symposia
________________________________________________________________
Main Stories
Australia: Sage Sagittarius: Letters reveal bullying and gun smuggling on
vessel dubbed ship of death
2
ABC News, Four Corners, 1 June 2015 at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-01/letters-
reveal-bullying-gun-smuggling-on-ship-of-death/6510516
It has been dubbed the ship of death. In 2012 three seafarers met their fate while working
aboard the Sage Sagittarius, a giant transport ship which ferries coal between Australia and
Japan.
Four Corners has pieced together the events on board using the accounts of crew members
themselves.
On August 30, 2012 the MV Sage Sagittarius was weeks into a routine voyage to Newcastle.
Alone in the Coral Sea, about 470 nautical miles from the Queensland coast, the ship was on
course to pick up its next load of coal from Newcastle Port on schedule.
As dawn broke, the 42-year-old chief cook, Cesar Llanto, woke and began his daily rounds in
the galley, mixing mincemeat for that day's meal.
It had been an unusually tense few weeks.
Llanto's subordinate, 26-year-old messman Jessie Martinez, was part way through his first
contract at sea.
Martinez's initiation had been rougher than most.
Martinez was bullied into declaring he was gay; which only made the bullying worse. His
crew mates scoffed at his discomfort; one observed he was "always crying".
Thousands of miles from home, Martinez was alone with his tormenters. The only figure with
the power to stamp out the behaviour on board was the ships' captain, Venancio Salas.
But Salas was himself one of the chief culprits.
The captain took a dim view of Martinez, and was irritated by the missteps and stumbles of
the first-time sailor.
"He tried to chat back when I try to tell him something," Salas later explained to the
Australian Federal Police.
"He always had ... reasons ... There has been so many, many lapses, and errors and
everything and I've been trying to correct him."
In fact, Salas assaulted the cook's hand whenever the whim took him.
3
It took Martinez several days to recover from one punch Salas had landed in his kidney one
morning in the galley - the messman had not greeted his captain suitably.
Salas demanded Martinez write him a grovelling letter of apology, then rejected several first
attempts as insufficiently remorseful.
"Things have been so difficult for me from the moment I started," Martinez wrote.
"I really had a hard time to figure out the best way to do my responsibilities ... Things didn't
work out the way I wanted it to be."
Martinez saw the cook Llanto as an older brother, and his only potential protector.
Llanto told him he would speak with the captain on Martinez's behalf.
But as the ship neared Australia in August 2012, Martinez instead considered writing a
complaint to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and the International Transport
Workers' Federation.
He was being urged on by the 35-year-old oiler, Raul Vercede.
Sitting together Vercede and Martinez drafted the complaint listing Martinez's concerns:
"Overtime not paid", "harassment", "humiliation", "threatening contract termination".
And as a final note, "gun smuggler".
Salas had been peddling semi-automatic side arms to his crew — 9-millimetre and .45 calibre
weapons that he sold for more than $600.
He flashed handgun catalogues to his staff when they came to the bridge or the engine room,
and it was clear he expected his crew to make a purchase.
He got a clip on each transaction.
Martinez's complaint letter was explosive.
It threatened not just to delay the ship in Newcastle, but even the livelihood of the captain
whose primary responsibility was the swift return to Japan with a ship full of coal.
A late shipment was also not a good reflection on the rest of the crew whose jobs depended
on arriving on time.
The skies were overcast on the morning of August 30. A rough wind was blowing across the
bow of the ship as it ploughed the water at a steady 13 knots. The seas were heavy, but
aboard the hulking 70,000-tonne vessel the waves were barely noticeable.
4
The ship would come within communication range of the mainland that day, and, under the
guidance of his superior, chief cook Llanto, Martinez was rethinking his plan to send his
complaint.
The sun had barely breached the horizon when he decided not to send the letter, and to
instead confess his plan to the captain.
Llanto, furious and angry, rushed after him, his hands still oily from the mince he had been
preparing that morning.
On the bridge Martinez found not the captain, but the chief officer.
As the words spilled out of his mouth — about the complaint, about Vercede and the plan to
blow the whistle the cook, Llanto barged in, but it was too late.
He barely spat out a sentence when he was cut off by the chief officer, his superior.
Martinez was marched to the doorway of the captain's cabin and ordered to destroy the
complaint.
With the crisis averted, the captain settled in for his breakfast, but soon noticed something
odd — the cook was not in the galley for breakfast.
After a search of the ship failed to locate Llanto, concern turned to alarm.
Soon search parties were organised aboard.
Within two hours Australian authorities were contacted and a full-scale land-and-sea search
began for the missing cook.
The ship turned around.
As every hour passed, the odds of the cook having survived in open water plummeted. After
36 hours, the search was called off.
Half a world away, in the headquarters of the ship owner in Japan, a telephone rang.
It was picked up by the man responsible for the Sage Sagittarius, superintendent Kosaku
Monji.
A former ship's engineer, the Sage Sagittarius was one of three ships he had under his
control. That day, reports rolled in of the cook lost at sea.
Investigation hampered by mismatched alibis
5
In short perfunctory emails he ordered the captain to collect statements from the crew,
directing them to detail their whereabouts during the crucial moments before the cook
disappeared.
As these statements spilled out of his fax machine in Japan, Monji studiously marked up each
sailor's whereabouts on a spread sheet.
Most crew members had alibis, but a handful did not.
One discrepancy was blindingly obvious; two men claimed to be in the galley at the crucial
time but both swear that they were there alone.
The only witness was frustratingly vague on the matter. He was also one of the most senior
officers on the ship, the chief engineer, Hector Collado.
Under orders from his superiors, Monji was dispatched to the ship to calm the crew.
Within days he arrived in Brisbane where he landed on the ship via helicopter, accompanied
by two Caloundra security guards.
He found a terrified crew.
Some had barricaded themselves in rooms. Others only dared to walk the ship in twos or
threes.
Adding to the tension, the ship had now been contacted by the Australian Federal Police, who
had diverted the ship to Port Kembla.
On September 7 the ship was met by an army of AFP officers as they berthed at Port Kembla.
News cameras captured the arrival of the ship as it lumbered into port.
Forensic officers completed an exhaustive search taking finger prints, DNA swabs, seizing
telephone records, log books and engine read-outs.
They also searched the ship's incinerator but found nothing but ash. It had been seven days
since the death, and any forensic evidence of value had now been contaminated.
During police interviews, a fearful crew offered little. Detectives examined the key witness,
engineer Collado.
During an unrecorded interview they spoke with him, but he said almost nothing and they felt
certain he was holding something back.
6
The oiler Vercede and messman Martinez left the ship along with three other crew members,
but tensions remained.
The ship left Port Kembla for Newcastle where the AFP planned to interview the remaining
crew. During the short voyage, some began to notice the engineer Collado acting strangely.
Rumours circulated that he wanted to change his statement to police.
Alone in his cabin he packed his bag and prepared for his disembarkation at Newcastle; he
would fly home after leaving the ship.
He called his wife in the Philippines, telling her that he feared he was being followed.
He instructed her to take an unmarked car to the airport and to leave the grandchildren at
home.
Chief engineer met grim end as ship sailed into Newcastle
On September 14 the ship neared Newcastle. Harbour pilots landed on deck via helicopter as
tug boats pulled alongside the ship to steer it into berth.
Deep inside the ship, the engine room hummed. It was a cavernous space filled with valves,
boilers, stairwells and elevators. Collado walked the upper levels more than 11 metres from
the engine-room floor.
Down below, the engineers sat awaiting orders. The engine room was alive with noise but
even above the din the engineers started at the sound of a loud bang. Surely a burst valve.
Some ventured out to inspect. What they found shocked them. Lying, face down, was the
mangled body of chief engineer Collado.
Waiting at Newcastle, AFP officers were told the frustrating news. They were now forced to
delay their interviews while the NSW Police conducted their own.
This time forensic officers flooded the ship moments after the death.
They soon made a grim discovery; a trail of blood near the railing where the chief engineer
fell.
An autopsy report later confirmed their suspicions; something or someone had struck the
chief engineer before he plummeted to his death. It was now a homicide investigation.
7
The deaths became front-page news in Newcastle. On September 15, one by one, crew
members walked into Waratah Police Station, a short drive from the port, to be interviewed
by NSW Police.
They were terrified, and police gleaned little from their interviews.
Within days their investigation suffered another setback when the captain and all the crew
except one, boarded planes and flew back home.
Both the AFP and NSW Police were in an impossible predicament, left to investigate two
suspected homicides with no witnesses and no suspects to interview.
Third death aboard the Sage Sagittarius
On the evening of September 18, four days after Collado's death, the Sage Sagittarius
steamed out of Newcastle.
But one man still had a chance of getting to the bottom of the deaths. The company man,
superintendent Kosaku Monji, who was left on the ship. On board he began an internal audit
on behalf of the ship's operator, NYK Line.
Now laden with coal, over two weeks the ship retraced its path back to Japan from Australia,
arriving in Japan's busy Kudamatsu Port on the morning of October 3, 2012.
Almost immediately, the ship began unloading its cargo using vast on-board conveyer belts,
powered by giant mechanical rollers.
It took three days to unload the ship. Monji remained on board to supervise. On his last night
he sat down with the new captain to discuss his internal audit.
It was an early start the next day and he returned to his cabin at 9:00pm, but was still up and
sending emails up until midnight.
Unloading began before daybreak the following morning. Coal streamed off the ship via the
rapid conveyer belts into containers below.
Around 3.15am a strange sound was heard coming from the rollers powering the conveyer
belts and Monji, torch in hand, investigated.
Hours passed. Unloading continued. Around 7:27am a crew member made a grisly discovery
— a human leg protruding from the rollers. The conveyer was stopped and Monji's body was
removed. He was dead.
8
His body was finally brought ashore around 9:30am.
Japanese Transport Safety Board determines death was 'self fault'
Two days later, the AFP learned of Monji's death back in Australia.
On October 30, three weeks later, AFP officers contacted the Japanese police via Interpol and
asked about the circumstances surrounding the fatality.
Crucially, they asked whether "Japanese authorities believe there are any links between Mr
Monji's death and the two other incidents".
Two months later they received a one-page response: "As for the death of Mr Monji, the
Japan Coast Guard determined it as self fault."
Japanese police passed the investigation on to the Japanese Transport Safety Board, which
handed down its report almost 12 months later.
The board were never told about the deaths of the chief cook or the chief engineer.
Its report found that it was "probable" the death was an accident, but that "it was not possible
to determine the situation in which [Monji] was trapped ... because there were no witnesses of
the accident".
'I am putting my whole faith in the AFP', says Cook's widow
More than two-and-a-half years later the wife of chief cook Llanto sat in front of a video
camera in a board room in the Philippines.
Nelia Llanto was weeping and struggling to speak among great, heaving breaths.
Her image was being beamed more than 6,000 kilometres away into a court room in Sydney,
where a handful of lawyers were hanging on her every word.
"I am putting my whole faith in the AFP," she said.
The AFP officer who led the investigation watched her testimony from the front row inside
the court room, sitting alongside his NSW counterpart along with a throng of journalists,
lawyers and union representatives.
It was now the NSW Coroner's turn at trying to get to the bottom of the deaths and Nelia
Llanto was testifying via video link.
Despite the years, the grief was still raw and she begged the court for justice.
"Have pity on my children. I put my faith in you," she said.
9
___________________________________________________________________________
China: Stepping into the breach: labour groups start to take on the role of
the trade union in China
China Labour Bulletin 30 April 2015 at http://www.clb.org.hk/en/content/stepping-breach-
labour-groups-start-take-role-trade-union-china
China’s sole legally-mandated trade union, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions
(ACFTU), has consistently failed to protect and promote the interests of China’s workers.
This failure has been particularly apparent over the last two years; a period of enhanced
labour activism in which the need for a properly functioning trade union has become ever
more urgent.
The failure of the ACFTU to act meant that a growing number of civil society labour groups
in China, primarily based in Guangdong, had to step into the breach, helping to organize
workers and resolve their disputes with management through collective bargaining.
In China Labour Bulletin’s new Chinese-language report on the Workers’ Movement in
China, published today, we focus in particular on the growing importance of China’s labour
groups during this period of rapid social, economic and political change.
The report (中国工人运动观察报告 2013—2014 年) notes how ACFTU officials too often
remained aloof and distant in the face of worker activism, acting more like government
officials rather than real trade unionists. This stance only alienated them further from the
workers they are supposed to represent.
Most of the activists working in China’s labour groups, on the other hand, used to be workers
themselves; they understand workers and remain close to them. As such they have been able
to successfully guide workers through collective action and resolve labour conflicts with
management. Over the last two years, the hands-on experience of these labour groups has
grown immeasurably and they have now become a key part of the workers’ movement in
China.
The first part of the report analyses 1,793 specific incidents of workers’ collective action
across the whole of China in 2013 and 2014, and discusses why the number of incidents has
increased both in number and scale, how workers’ demands have developed, and how their
actions have matured. It also looks at how some local collective actions have evolved into
industry-wide or regional actions.
10
The report stresses the extent to which the confidence and organizational ability of workers
has grown to the point where they are not only aware of their rights but understand that they
are part of the working class; a class that increasingly has the strength and ability to forge its
own destiny.
In addition, the report looks at the response of government officials to the workers’
movement in China and shows how many officials have been forced to look beyond the
simple “maintenance of stability” and accept that collective bargaining can be a more
effective means of improving labour relations.
The 62-page report is the sixth in a series of reports on the workers’ movement dating back to
2000, all of which can be found on the CLB website. It develops and expands upon many of
the themes discussed in our English-language report, Searching for the Union: The Workers’
Movement in China 2011-13, published last year.
________________________________________________________________
Oman: Illegal expat workers still being hired on the streets of Oman
despite mass arrests
The Times of Oman 27 May 2015 at http://www.timesofoman.com/News/52329/Article-
Illegal-expat-workers-still-being-hired-on-the-streets-of-Oman-despite-mass-arrests#
Muscat: It's 5am and the streets of Hamriyah are packed as hundreds of desperate workers
queue, hoping to get picked to work on building sites around Oman.
Some know they are breaking the law, others don't thinking they hold what has been dubbed
'a free visa' which allows them to work, in reality that won't save them from a prison cell and
deportation.
It is a scene repeated daily where agents haggle for labourers for ongoing projects, the worker
getting just 600 baizas per hour, while the man hiring him pockets 400 baizas. When the deal
is done they board buses and cabs which flood the streets.
Less than a week has passed since the Ministry of Manpower officials swooped and arrested
1,000 Asians for illegally working on the new airport project, but when Times of Oman
visited Hamriyah the raids seem to have made little dent in the clamour for illegal jobs.
11
"There are hundreds of workers in Hamriyah who are ready to be hired on a daily basis. We
come daily at around 5 am. By that time agents are ready with small and big buses to hire and
transport us.
According to our skills and nature of the job, we agree and take the offer. Only a few go for
the jobs which are mentioned on the labour card. Majority are ready to take up any kind of
offer," a Bangladeshi worker told on the condition of anonymity.
"We get 600 baizas per hour. But actually the payment is around OMR1. The agent who hires
us keeps 400 baizas," said the worker who was waiting to be picked by his agent.
Meanwhile, another worker told Times of Oman, "I was told that it's free visa. I paid the
agent back in Bangladesh OMR1,500 for the visa.
"Moreover, I pay a monthly amount to the sponsor. Some pay OMR15 and some OMR30.
Now, when we are arrested for labour law violation, we are being held in prison for a certain
period and sent back. We have to leave the country halfway itself. Loans will be pending
back in home country. Don't know what the solution is for this."
The worker showed a money deposit receipt which he claimed to be of the transaction he has
made for his sponsor.
According to an official from the Bangladesh embassy, there are 564 of his countrymen
among the workers who were arrested in the mass expat raid at the airport. When officials
questioned the construction workers, they were found to be having visas of tailors, barbers
and restaurant staff.
"All of them are in Samayil jail. They will be deported," the official said, adding that the
company which hired them was illegal.
The Ministry of Manpower has vowed to clamp down on the issue, with one official saying,
"It is a punishable offence. More steps will be carried out to wipe out this wrong practice."
'Free visa'
Under the so-called "free visa" system, an expat gives a monthly payment to his sponsor who
allows him to work for another job, in reality this illegal.
"The concept of free visa doesn't exist in Oman. All those who are involved in the racket
should be punished. The sponsor who is allowing a worker to work on the so-called free visa
12
system, the companies hiring such workers and the worker who is involved in such practice
should be penalised," said Tawfiq Al Lawati, member of Majlis Al Shura.
"The authorities concerned should step up raids to nab the violators. Only through strong
steps this practice can be stopped," the Shura member added.
The Shura member, quoting an official document, said that out of 1.6 million workers,
including Omanis and expatriates, only 600,000 are getting salary through banks.
Since last year, payment of workers' salary through banks has become mandatory.
"The bank salary payment document shows that either the rest run their own business or they
are on a free visa system," the Shura member said.
The Shura member added that commercial licences of employees who are working in
government and private sector should be cancelled because these people are reportedly
behind the 'free visa' system.
A senior official from the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that hiring workers
to do a job contrary to that mentioned in their labour card is wrong.
Wrong practice
"This is a wrong practice and it should be stopped. However, the business has to run. So, the
government should make sure that enough visas are provided to contractors to carry out
projects. The Ministry should allow companies to bring in workers on proper visas, or how
will the business run? At the same time, they should develop a mechanism to stop this
practice," said Mohammed Hassan Al Ansi, vice-chairman of the Committee of Logistics and
Transportation Affairs at the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI).
"Moreover, the main contracting company should not be subletting their work to other many
companies. It should be given to only one firm," the OCCI official added.
Not enough visas
One construction company official claimed that most of the companies are not getting enough
visas to carry out their projects. "This situation is continuing for the last two years. So, they
are compelled to depend on the so-called 'free visa' holders. Meanwhile, some of the
companies see it as a good opportunity to cut their expenses.
"When they can hire such workers, they don't need to pay for visa charges, medical care,
accommodation, food, air ticket and other things. They just have to pick the workers in the
13
morning and drop them after work. It is a wrong practice," a construction company official
said on the condition of anonymity.
A social worker said that this practice has been going on for a long time.
Reality check
Shaji Sebastin, a Muscat-based social worker, said, "The reality is that, workers from Asian
countries just board the flight with whatever visa they get. They may be a good mason but
will be coming on a barber visa. He won't mind what visa he has. His aim is to just board the
flight. That is why these kinds of cases happen."
According to the Article 18 of Oman Labour Law, the employer shall not let any non-Omani
worker authorised to work for him, to work with any other employer.
__________________________________________________________________________
Qatar: This Chart Shows the Staggering Human Cost of Staging a World
Cup in Qatar
Edwin Rios 27 May 2015 at http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2015/05/chart-fifa-
deaths-qatar-move-it-to-the-united-states
On Wednesday, the US Department of Justice dropped the hammer on FIFA, the world
governing body of soccer, indicting nine senior FIFA officials and five sports marketing
execs on charges of corruption, wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering.
Allegations of bribery have long plagued FIFA, especially since its controversial decision to
grant Qatar the 2022 World Cup. But much worse is the plight of South Asian migrant
workers brought in to build the stadium infrastructure there: Since 2010, more than 1,200
migrant workers have died in Qatar under hazardous working conditions, and a 2013
Guardian investigation found that at least 4,000 total are projected to die before the 2022
World Cup even starts. And as we reported yesterday, Nepali workers weren't even allowed
to return home after the country's recent devastating earthquake.
___________________________________________________________________________
UK: Tories take a big risk by limiting strike action
Chris Rowley, The Conversation 28 May 2014 at http://theconversation.com/tories-take-a-
big-risk-by-limiting-strike-action-42279
14
Parliament has officially opened and the new Conservative government has laid out its policy
agenda for the next year in the Queen’s speech. One of the key proposals is to reform strike
laws, with a view to curbing industrial action.
Changes would mean that strikes affecting essential public services (listed as health,
transport, fire services or schools) will need to be backed by 40% of eligible union members,
and a minimum 50% turnout in strike ballots. The government also proposes to lift
restrictions on the use of agency staff to replace striking workers.
In the lead-up to the Queen’s speech, newly appointed business secretary Sajid Javid claimed
that over the last five years, strike action has taken place where “perhaps only 10% to 15% of
the members of that profession actually voted for it”. Citing the impact that strikes have on
“ordinary people”, Javid said, “by increasing the thresholds it will certainly increase the
hurdles that need to be crossed, but that’s the right thing to do, it’s the fair thing to do.”
Railing against authority
Recent negotiations over the proposed rail strike, which was narrowly averted ahead of bank
holiday Monday, can offer some useful context here. Members of the TSSA and RMT unions
were due to walk out for 24 hours, in what would have been the the first UK-wide rail strike
in 20 years.
The dispute started after unions rejected a four-year pay deal, which included a bonus of
£500, followed by three years of rises in line with RPI inflation. The offer would have seen
pay lag behind the rate of inflation and National Rail refused to extend the “no compulsory
redundancy” for the last two years of the deal. Network Rail argued staff had been
comparatively well paid over the past four years, while unions feared restructuring could
mean significant job losses after 2016.
It’s worth noting that the ballot for this strike saw 80% of RMT members in favour of strike
action, on a 60% turnout: well above the threshold the new government plans to introduce.
From a turnout of 52% of TSSA’s 3,000 members, some 53% voted in favour of strike
action, while 79% voted for action short of a strike (members were asked to support one or
more options).
Yet after days of talks at Acas – the UK’s conciliation service – the TSSA “suspended”
action after receiving an improved offer, followed shortly after by the RMT. This highlights
the importance of independent, behind-the-scenes assistance that allows both parties to
continue to negotiate without losing face. In light of these events, the Conservative
15
government’s proposals raise a crucial question – would it be possible to resolve disputes like
this fairly, if unions' power to call a strike were mitigated, or even taken away entirely?
Back to the future
As it stands, Acas provides a range of help, from conciliation (where a neutral third party
identifies the key issues in a dispute) to mediation (where a neutral third party suggests
solutions that are not binding) through to arbitration (where a neutral third party suggests
solutions that are binding). Private companies may also offer similar services, while
organisations – even universities like the LSE – may also have their own system of in-house
mediation to, as they put it, “improve and develop working relationships without the use of
formal procedures”.
But there are a set of issues with arrangements as they may actually inhibit serious attempts at
settlement with the “chilling” of negotiations preventing meaningful talks with low offers and
high demands across a range of issues, as sides become “addicted” to simply waiting to go to
arbitration where they believe they may get what they really want. This has lead some to
propose the use American style pendulum arbitration whereby the total offer or demand of
one side or the other is awarded in its entirety.
If the ability to take official strikes is restricted, it could increase other forms of industrial
action, such as walkouts and wildcat strikes – sudden and unexpected strikes, which lack
official union support. So, one alternative is to go"back to the future.
Rather than having ad hoc arbitration, we could have permanent systems, like the Railway
Staff National Tribunal, chaired by the late Lord McCarthy – my supervisor for my DPhil at
Nuffield College, University of Oxford. The tribunal was the industry’s ultimate appeal court,
but its rulings were not binding. McCarthy oversaw a number of union difficulties throughout
his 13 years as chair until 1983.
Yet the tribunal brought its own problems. Its independence was increasingly questioned over
time, and there were concerns that it produced “flip flop” decisions; alternating between the
sides (irrespective of the actual veracity of the claims being considered at the time) to try to
be seen as maintaining its impartiality.
Although a reversion to past practices may not be what’s needed to ensure effective industrial
relations, the Conservatives must be wary of creating a vacuum by making industrial action
ever more difficult – they need to put something in place. Otherwise, as it stands, Acas will
be overwhelmed by its workload.
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__________________________________________________________________________
In Brief
Brazil: Brazil protests oppose austerity, ‘third party’ lawsBen Tavener 1 June 2015 at http://news.videonews.us/brazil-protests-oppose-austerity-third-
party-laws-2921032.html
SAO PAULO – Union-organized protest groups took to the streets across Brazil on Friday to
voice opposition to the government’s current austerity measures and new legislation that
expands the range of jobs that can be legally outsourced.
Rallies, stoppages and blockades organized by workers’ unions were held in at least 24 states
and the Federal District, but have been modest in number — with typically a few hundred
protesters at each event.
Some marched through city centers, while other protests blocked strategic highways to draw
attention to their cause.
Teachers, public transport workers and bankers were well represented among protesters, with
as many as 100 bank branches closing across Sao Paulo, according to the city’s main bank
workers’ union.
Protesters are angered by the government’s fiscal adjustment strategy that has brought a
string of new laws that changes labor rights and regulations, including one that expanded the
range of jobs that can be outsourced.
Where only auxiliary roles could be hired from to third-party companies, such as secretaries,
cleaning staff and security guards, now companies can outsource core jobs.
Another new law, approved by Brazil’s Senate on Tuesday, increases from six months to a
year, the amount of time that must be worked before applying for unemployment benefits.
The government is hoping to save around $1.6 billion (5 billion reais) with the move,
according to the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.
Most of Friday’s rallies have been peaceful, although a group near the University of Sao
Paulo clashed with police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.
Local media also broadcast footage of at least two protesters being pepper-sprayed by
security forces; at least one person was detained in the clashes.
Members of the Homeless Workers’ Movement also attempted to occupy the headquarters of
government-owned bank Caixa Economica Federal in Sao Paulo.
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The government is trying to push through a raft of austerity measures, including tax hikes and
a recently-announced $23 billion cut in public spending, to kickstart a sluggish economy
widely predicted to be heading for recession this year.
Economists expect GDP to contract at least 1.0 percent in 2015, before improving next year.
The government’s official statistic agency, the IBGE, announced Friday that the economy had
shrunk 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015 — 1.6 percent down on the same period last
year. The fourth quarter of 2014 saw expansion of 0.3 percent.
Disappointing results from the services (-0.7 percent) and industry (-0.3 percent) sectors
dragged the figures down, despite a good performance from agriculture and livestock areas
(4.7 percent). Household consumption also contracted the most since 2008, shrinking 1.5
percent.
__________________________________________________________________________
Cambodia: Union law ‘excludes voice of workers’
The Phnom Penh Post, 29 May 2015 at
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-law-excludes-voice-workers
More than 20 labour groups said yesterday that they are sending a petition to the government
regarding changes to the contentious trade union law currently being drafted by the Ministry
of Labour.
The petition will also be sent to foreign embassies and other international institutions asking
them to intervene and cease the creation of the law, which some union leaders say violates
international labour conventions and freedoms of workers.
The government previously held consultations regarding the draft, but according to Cambodia
Tourism and Service Workers Federation president Morm Rithy, the Labour Ministry failed to
incorporate suggestions that were raised.
Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Sour said they will submit the petition to inter-ministerial
groups for consideration.
“There are more than 3,400 unions in Cambodia, and only about 20 unions sent this request,”
Sour said. “It’s not a common voice expressing workers’ desires, but we will accept the
minority’s request.”
The law is set to be completed by this month.
________________________________________________________________
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Global: McJobs report documents pattern of global abusesUniting Food, Farm and Hotel Workers Worldwide 29 May 2015 at http://www.iuf.org/w/?
q=node/4260
McDonald's fought a losing battle for years to keep 'McJobs' - generally defined as low-wage,
insecure, dead-end work with no benefits - out of dictionaries. The new McJobs report should
contribute to adding 'systematic rights abuses' to the current definition.
McJobs, released by the IUF and its North American affiliate SEIU on May 29, documents
widespread employment abuses throughout the company's global system: wage theft,
discrimination, unsafe workplaces and anti-union practices.
Simultaneous with the launch of the report, a public event in the European Parliament was
hosted by MEP Jutta Steinruck (S&D, Germany) on the "European challenge of decent jobs
and social dumping in the fast food sector". Social Democrats in the European Parliament
have also kept up pressure on the European Commission regarding McDonald's tax practices.
__________________________________________________________________________
Hong Kong: Trainee pay in Cathay union sightsThe Standard, 1 June 2015 at http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?
we_cat=4&art_id=157517&sid=44580623&con_type=1&d_str=20150601&fc=1
Cathay Pacific's flight attendants' union has demanded that trainees be guaranteed a pay rise
when they become permanent staff.
The matter will be brought up again at a meeting today with the airline, union vice chairman
Julian Yau Chi-hung said.
After signing a memorandum of understanding on better benefits and pay last Thursday, the
two parties agreed to meet again today to sign an official agreement. Only after the agreement
is sealed will the union call off its proposed strike in August.
"We want a guaranteed pay rise of 16 percent in hourly rates when trainees sign a permanent
contract upon completion of their three-year training," he said yesterday.
The clause should cover all trainees who joined the company on or before last Thursday, he
added.
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Cathay should also explain how it will consult unionists when choosing overseas hotels for
flight attendants.
Over the weekend, the union received two draft agreements from Cathay. The first, sent on
Friday, lacked details of implementation such as dates and scope of coverage. Cathay sent
over a revised draft on Saturday night with more details.
Cathay said the proposed agreement was based on the memorandum of understanding.
"Subsequently, we received notification from the Labour Department that the union had
requested to incorporate some of the points mentioned in the department's minutes into the
agreement," the spokesman said.
"We agreed and revised the proposed agreement. This was shared with the department for the
union's comments."
___________________________________________________________________________
Kenya: Civil servants threaten to quit National Hospital Insurance Fund
citing poor servicesStandard Media 30 May 2015 at http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000163985/civil-
servants-threaten-to-quit-national-hospital-insurance-fund-citing-poor-services
Civil servants are threatening to pull out of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF)
over consistent disagreements with the management of the fund. The Union of Kenya Civil
Servants (UKCS) Secretary General Tom Odege yesterday said lack of drugs in hospitals,
delayed payment of claims, unclear referral procedures and members' limited use of medical
facilities have been a nightmare. He also said deductions of rates based on the gross pay has
heavily robbed workers pay slips and warned that civil servants will hit the streets to demand
a comprehensive cover for all.
___________________________________________________________________________
Nepal: Nepalese official rips Qatar and FIFA for refusing to let workers
return home after earthquakeNate Scott5, 26 May 2015 at http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/05/nepalese-official-rips-qatar-
and-fifa-for-refusing-to-let-workers-return-home-after-earthquake
Tek Bahadur Gurung, Nepal’s labour minister, ripped the government of Qatar and FIFA for
refusing to allow migrant Nepalese workers to return home after a devastating earthquake
killed more than 8,000 people there in April. Thousands of people are still missing.
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Over 400,000 Nepalese workers are in Qatar, many of them working on infrastructure for the
2022 World Cup.
This is Tek Bahadur Gurung speaking in an interview with the Guardian:
“After the earthquake of 25 April, we requested all companies in Qatar to give their
Nepalese workers special leave and pay for their air fare home. While workers in some
sectors of the economy have been given this, those on World Cup construction sites are
not being allowed to leave because of the pressure to complete projects on time.
“Nothing will change for migrant workers until FIFA and its rich sponsors insist on it.
… (but) we are a small, poor country and these powerful organizations are not
interested in listening to us.”
Many foreign workers in Qatar are forced to adhere to a system of labor rules called kafala,
where workers are tied to a single employer, not allowed to move freely, and may be
expected to hand over their passports to their bosses.
___________________________________________________________________________
What the Unions Say
USA: Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Department
of Labor Proposed Guidance on Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive
Order
AFL-CIO 27 May 2015 at http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/Statement-by-
AFL-CIO-President-Richard-Trumka-on-Department-of-Labor-Proposed-Guidance-on-Fair-
Pay-and-Safe-Workplaces-Executive-Order
“This proposed rule will help ensure that businesses that contract with the federal government
lift standards for their workers. Companies that mistreat workers should not be rewarded
with taxpayer dollars, and this rule will help weed out bad actors who profit by denying
workers their right to a safe job and a decent wage.”
__________________________________________________________________________
What the Employers Say
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Australia: Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Submission to the
Productivity Commission on Workplace Relations
Productivity Commission at
http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/workplace-relations/submissions
Executive Summary
ACCI welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Productivity Commission
inquiry into Australia’s workplace relations framework.
The Productivity Commission has noted that “[t]he current structure is a product of history
and social preferences” and that it has not been tasked with simply evaluating the current
system and considering improvements
The Productivity Commission has correctly described the task before it as going “beyond
evaluating the current system to consider the type of system that might best suit the
Australian community over the longer term”
This task involves considering different reform propositions. Rather than looking exclusively
at what we have, the Productivity Commission must look for what we need. Australia will not
be served well by solutions confined by the current framework or that merely ”tinker around
the edges”. Rather, ACCI recommends that the Productivity Commission consider reform
options somewhere between wholesale deregulation and the complex system in place today.
The task ahead requires emulating the policy reform trajectory that commenced in the 1990s.
To be clear, ACCI does not seek a completely deregulated system, underpinned only by
common law. Such an approach would represent a significant departure from our current
system and has potential for unintended consequences. However the current arrangements –
intertwining the National Employment Standards, minimum wages, award conditions and
agreements produced through restricted bargaining options – fails to deliver a simple
framework. The current complexity and regulatory overlay is counterproductive and
unsuitable for future conditions.
ACCI believes the workplace relations framework should complete the evolution from the
centralised system of compulsory conciliation and arbitration of the past. It should become a
truly decentralised system of collective and individual agreements underpinned by a simple
safety net of minimum standards.
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ACCI supports the national minimum wage and is not advocating for it to be cut. The
national minimum wage should continue to be adjusted annually. There must be
rationalisation of award content as we move toward legislated minimum standards that
provide the foundation for agreement making.
Bargaining should not be layered with prescription. It should instead be focussed on
delivering wages and conditions linked to productivity, industry and regional conditions as
well as employee and employer circumstances at the enterprise concerned. To support this, a
suite of agreement-making options must be available, including individual statutory
agreements, with industrial action only a last resort.
The workplace relations framework needs to strike a balance between protecting employees
against unlawful behaviour and preserving the right of employers to manage their operations.
Fundamental rights such as freedom of association and the freedom to contract must remain.
To meet the challenges of the future, the workplace relations framework must be pro-
employment, small-business friendly, responsive to changing domestic and international
conditions and receptive to the needs of the unemployed and underemployed.
ACCI has a broad membership and the Productivity Commission will receive submissions
from ACCI’s members. Each ACCI member will bring their own focus to this Inquiry and
ACCI commends their submissions to the Productivity Commission for its consideration.
ACCI acknowledges that there may be some points of difference or areas of differing
emphasis. ACCI’s submission is made without prejudice to the specific interests and views
advanced by our members.
ACCI and its members have long held a vision for a workplace relations framework that
empowers employers and employees across the nation to work co-operatively and make
decisions in their shared interests that lead to more jobs, higher living standards and a better
future.
Recommendations
A framework with objects that not only protect those in employment but help the unemployed
and underemployed become more competitive in the labour market.
A flexible, simple safety net comprising:
A set of legislated minimum standards reflected in a Minimum Conditions of Employment
Act (or equivalent).
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A national minimum wage and industry rates of pay retained from awards, adjusted annually
by the independent wage setting body.
Other award conditions adopted as terms and conditions of employment by agreement.
A full suite of agreement making options assessed against the legislated minimum standards
and applicable industry pay rates retained from awards or the national minimum wage (for
those who fall outside award classifications).
3. The safety-net of legislated minimum terms and conditions to include:
maximum weekly hours; requests for flexible working arrangements; parental leave; annual
leave; personal carer’s leave and compassionate leave; community service leave; long service
leave; public holidays; notice of termination and redundancy pay; rest breaks; minimum
wages (including casual loading and piece rates).
4. An appropriately balanced national minimum wage and compulsory industry rates of pay.
5. Reform penalty rates.
6. Include statutory individual agreements as part of a full suite of agreement making options.
7. Simplify the bargaining framework, with:
processes that drive cooperative and productive negotiations;
agreement content limited to matters that pertain to the employer/employee relationship;
sensible limits relating to the taking of industrial action; and
streamlined agreement approval processes;.
8. Exempt businesses with less than 20 employees from the unfair dismissal laws.
9. Regulate workplace bullying within the WHS framework.
10. Restore the longstanding ‘Freedom of Association’ protections and unlawful termination
protections.
11. Restore the Office of the Australian Building & Construction Commissioner (ABCC)
with its full suite of powers.
12. Balanced right of entry laws.
13. Restore balance to transfer of business rules.
14. Recognise the right to engage in contracting and labour hire arrangements.
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___________________________________________________________________________
Publications 2014-2015
Atzeni, M. (2015) ed. Workers and Labour in a Globalised Capitalism, Palgrave Macmillan.
Gunderson, M. and Fazio, F. (2014) eds. Tackling Youth Unemployment, Cambridge
Scholars.
International Labour Review (2014) Special Supplement – The International Labour Review
and the ILO: Milestones in a Shared History, ILO.
Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (2015) Labor Situation in Japan and its
Analysis: Detailed Exposition 2014/2015, Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training.
Latinne, A. (2014) The Mondragon Cooperatives, Intersentia.
McColgan, A. (2014) Discrimination, Equality and the Law, Hart Publishing.
Wilkinson, A., Donaghey, J. Dundojn, T. and Freeman, R. (2014) eds. Handbook of
Research on Employee Voice Edward Elgar.
Wilkinson, A., Woof, G. and Deeg, R. (2014) eds. The Oxford Handbook of Employment
Relations, Oxford University Press.
.
__________________________________________________________________________
Journals, Conferences, Seminars, Symposia, Meetings
E-Journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies, ADAPT University Press
May-June 2014, Volume 3, Issue No. 2 at http://adapt.it/EJCLS/index.php/ejcls_adapt
__________________________________________________________________________________
Associazione per gli Studi Internazionali e Comparati sul Diritto del lavoro e sulle Relazioni
industriali (ADAPT) Bulletin at http://www.adapt.it/englishbulletin/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=32
___________________________________________________________________________
Economic & Labour Relations Review (ELRR) at www.asb.unsw.edu.au/elrr
___________________________________________________________________________
Indian Journal of Industrial Relations (IJIR) at http://www.srcirhr.com/ijir.php
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___________________________________________________________________________
International Labour Review (ILR) at
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/revue/m_scripts/index.htm. Email: [email protected]
__________________________________________________________________________
Korea: The Korean Journal of Industrial Relations (KJIR)
at http://www.lera.uiuc.edu/news/Calls/2007/Korean%20Journal%20of%20Industrial
%20Relations.htm
___________________________________________________________________________
Korea Labor Review (KLR) at
http://www.koilaf.org/KFeng/engPublication/bbs_read_dis.php?board_no=144
__________________________________________________________________________
Labour and Industry at http://www.airaanz.org/labour--industry.html e-mail:
_________________________________________________________________________-
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