Asian Labour Update - 81

ASIANASIAN LABOURLABOUR UPDATEUPDATE

PUBLISHED BY ASIA MONITOR RESOURCE CENTRE, HONG KONG Issue 81 May 2012 - August 2012

In this issue: ‘Slavery’ in New Zealand 4 ModernModern Slavery,Slavery, Waters? By Kate Day EnvironmentalEnvironmental ExploitationExploitation Deconstructing Green Jobs, 9 Foregrounding Decent Work By Joselito M. Natividad

Why , hundreds of years after it was legally abolished, does slavery persist? Decontamination Fantasy and 14 Compensation: Bonded labour, or debt bondage, is perhaps the least known form of slavery Getting TEPCO and the today, and yet it is the most commonly used method of enslaving people. Government to Take Responsibility By Sugai Masuro People turn into bonded labour when their labour is demanded as means of repayment for a debt. It characterised by ‘creditor-debtor’ relationship that Gender Column: 20 Two Recent Advances for labourer passes on to their family member. Bonded labours are trapped into Working Women in Australia: working for effectively no pay, often for restless working hours, seven days a Universal Paid Parental Leave week; it’s often involves the whole family member and endures from generation and Recognition of Industry- Wide Pay Discrimination to generation. There is no doubt, the value of their work is always far greater By Michael Walker than the money they borrowed. OSH Column: 24 Recent Situation of The ILO estimates that in the Asia-Pacific region today a minimum 11.7 million are Occupational Health and in forced/bonded labour. However, the occurrence of bonded labour is much Safety in Turkey greater than generally estimated, and it may be increasing in various forms and in By Emre Eren Korkmaz specific contexts. In India, for example, bonded labour has not been purely a Regional Round-up 26 matter of economic, but also reinforced by custom or coercion in many sectors including agricultural, silk, mining, and brick kiln industries. Resource/Review 34

In Nepal, although bonded labour (known as Kamaiya , meaning forced labour and forced prostitution due to debt) has also been banned under the law, but the

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ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 81

Contributors & Editorial Board ASIAN LABOUR

UPDATE

ISSN 1815-9389

• Kate Day works for the Christchurch Anglican Church EDITORIAL TEAM and on the board of Slave Free Seas : http:// Sanjiv Pandita, Apo Leong, Omana George, Wulandari, Sally Choi, Fahmi Panimbang slavefreeseas.org. Email: [email protected]

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE (ALU) is a quarterly news • Joselito M. Natividad Program Coordinator , Asia Pacific bulletin on labour issues in southern and eastern Asia. It Mission for Migrants (APMM), Hong Kong. Email: jna- is prepared and published by the Asia Monitor Resource [email protected] Centre Ltd (AMRC), a non-profit, pro-labour, non- governmental organization based in Hong Kong. • Sugai Masuro , Professor at Faculty of Economics - Ko- Articles and information in ALU may be reproduced in non-profit publications with clear citations, credit to kugakuin University, and activist with People’s Research author/s and ALU. For online reprints, please notify us Institute on Energy and Environment , Japan. of the relevant URL; for printed matter, please send one hard copy to the address below. • Michael Walker , a union official in Sydney, Australia. ALU articles do not necessarily reflect views and Email: [email protected] positions of AMRC.

Opinions to the editor are encouraged. Asian labour • EILER (Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and groups and NGOs may ask for complimentary Research, Inc), Philippines. Email: [email protected] subscriptions. The Editor • RIAWM (The Research Institute for Alternative Workers Asia Monitor Resource Centre Movements, South Korea (http://www.pssp.org) Flat 7, 9/F, Block A Fuk Keung Industrial Building • Kong Athit , Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' 66-68 Tong Mi Road Kowloon, Hong Kong Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), Cambodia. Email: konga- Tel: (852) 2332-1346 [email protected] Fax: (852) 2385-5319 Email: [email protected] • Amirul Haque Amin , President of National Garment URL: http://www.amrc.org.hk Workers Federation (NGWF), Bangladesh. Email:

[email protected] Photo cover by Emma Bevernage. Indonesian crew and their supporters demonstrate over wages unpaid by both their FCV operator, Taejin • Eren Korkmaz is international oﬃcer, Leather Workers Fisheries, and the New Zealand charter party. Union of Turkey, MA Student in Sabancı University, Tur- Christchurch, New Zealand, October 3rd, 2012. key.

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Editorial

system has evolved in various forms (such as Haliya in their contracts, even if fleeing abuse. They become western part of the country) where the rehabilitation bonded labour in the ocean. of the kamaiyas has been erratic. In Pakistan, systematic enslavement of many generations of On the other hand, the Korean vessels have also been people has also been alarmingly widespread. Bonded exploiting and polluting the ocean. Despite the labour was legally abolished everywhere, yet many overfishing that has caused environmental disaster, governments fail to enforce their own laws against its they often throw the catches overboard to provide practice. space for higher value ones, which researchers estimated as much as 40 to 50 per cent of the catch. Many of bonded labours have been held for There is a clear need for a structural and serious generations, paying off a supposed ‘loan’ taken out by response to these slavery as well as environmental their grandparents. Ashraf, a bonded labour being exploitation in the fishing supply chain. Making bonded enslaved near Lahore in Pakistan in brick kiln factory labour as modern slavery a history requires authentic has said: " There is no way out. How do I get out from commitment from governments to adhere to their here? I have no way out of this. My grandfather died constitutional ban of its practices, and of course here, my father has grown old here, and I am growing democratic control from the society. old too. We are slaves, we are not free ." ( Slavery: A 21st Century Evil , http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/ The second feature of the ALU examines and uncovers slaverya21stcenturyevil/2011/10/20111010144417942321.h the notion of green economy and green jobs; it is a tml). cover-up tool for neoliberal globalization, a mantra that nothing less than the overhauling of a system that Ashraf also mentioned that he and his fellows labour is driven by the profit motive. Green economy and normally sleep only two hours every day to continue green jobs are excuse for not dealing with the reality working; nobody will be able to escape as guards are that neoliberal globalization has failed. This article watching from every spots. Like many other bonded argues that green jobs programmes have been proved labours, he gave his kidney to his employer for organ that they are not really contributing to decent work. trade/trafficking which agreed as part of his repayment For example, recycle industry which in principle it is to a supposed ‘loan’. But he and his family remain viewed as green, are especially notorious for exploiting enslaved in the ‘camp’. cheap, informal labour to squeeze out high rates of return from what are generally considered to be one of The main feature of current issue of Asian Labour the most hazardous occupations. Update (ALU) discusses the practice of bonded labour in fishing industry. ILO estimates not less than 27 The third feature analyses Fukushima and nuclear million people work in capture fisheries globally, and disaster. It argues that Tokyo Electric Power Company commercial fishing takes place in some of the world’s (TEPCO) and government should take the most difficult to regulate places including Asia. By responsibility to the impacts of the disaster, where taking the story of Indonesian fishing labourers both TEPCO and the government would likely shift the working in Korean vessels that operate in New burden to the consumers by raising its electricity rates Zealand’s sea, the article describes many of bonded and pay the cost from people’ taxes. TEPCO and labours from Indonesia have been severely exploited government should compensate the victims and and enslaved: they have exposed to verbal, physical cautiously decontaminate piles of contaminated soils, and sexual abuse, forced to work 16 hour a day for not only in Fukushima but also in Tokyo and Chiba monthly wages as little as US$ 212 and these wages Prefecture. The article suggests how to make TEPCO have not been paid for two years. The workers put up completely pay compensation, come up with the land certificates which held by their employers to money from bank and stockholders instead of taxes, secure their jobs on the boat. They also paid off dismantle the community of people who profit from recruitment agents’ fees incrementally from their nuclear power, and orient Japan toward a nuclear wages; they can be fined up to US$ 10.000 for leaving phase-out. ***

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 81 3

Feature

‘Slavery’ in New Zealand Waters?

Kate Day

At 4am, 20 th June, 2011, the Indonesian crew of the Oyang spread non-payment or underpayment of wages, appalling 75 fled their vessel into the port of Lyttelton, New Zea- working conditions, shifts of up to 53 hours, and physical land. The 32 crew had worked aboard a Korean factory and sexual abuse of crews working aboard FCVs in New trawler, chartered by a New Zealand company to fish New Zealand waters. Abuse occurred almost solely on Korean Zealand waters. Seeking refuge in a church, the crew ex- vessels. plained they had escaped verbal and physical abuse at the hands of their Korean bosses. For months they had not The report also documented debt bondage. Many Indone- been paid. Furthermore, having put up significant collat- sian crews had been forced to put up house titles, educa- eral to manning agents to secure their jobs, the crew had tion certificates and money to secure their jobs. Many become bonded labour. The experience of this crew, and crews paid off manning agents’ fees incrementally from others like them, was to expose severe labour problems in their wages. Many reported fearing fines of US$2,000- the international fishing industry. It would also prompt an 10,000 for leaving their contracts, even if fleeing abuse. unusual case of international solidarity. The report was followed by still more revelations of ex- The experience of the Oyang 75 crew was not unique. In ploitation. Between May 2011 and Feb 2012, there were May 2011, seven Indonesian crew had walked off another allegations of mistreatment and wage problems aboard chartered Korean vessel, the Shin Ji, in the New Zealand the Shin Ji, Oyang 75, Oyang 77, Melilla 201, Melilla 203, port of Auckland. The crew claimed they were expected to and Dong Won 519, a total of no fewer than six incidents in perform 16 hour work days for monthly wages as little as ten months. As international media picked up the cases, NZ$260 ($US212). They claimed these wages had not been concerns rose about ‘slavery’ in New Zealand waters, and paid for two years. The crew claimed verbal, physical and severe problems in international fishing supply chains. sexual abuse. The crew had put up land certificates to se- Environmental Problems cure their jobs on the boat. With these held by their employers, they had become bonded labour. The labour problems were accompanied by acute environmental concerns. Many FCVs in New Zealand have been In late 2011, Auckland University academics revealed linked to illegal dumping of fish, as well as ‘high-grading’, “institutionalised” abuse aboard foreign charter vessels throwing fish overboard to create room on board for high- (FCVs), the foreign-owned vessels chartered to fish for er value catches. New Zealand researchers estimate that New Zealand companies.[1] The academics revealed wide- the average dumping on Korean charter vessels is as much as 40 to 50 percent of the catch.[2] Other Box 1: Interview quotes from the report: vessels have engaged in ‘fish-mealing’- grind- "Officers are vicious bastards ... factory manager just rapped this 12 kg ing up illegally caught, high value fish, and selling it as fishmeal. These practices create a stainless steel pan over his head, splits the top of his head, blood piss- mockery of New Zealand’s quota manage- ing out everywhere…." ment system, designed to prevent overfishing "I told the Master can't leave him because he's bleeding all over the in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In 2011, squid. He said 'oh no no he's Indonesian no touchy no touchy'... Took the total illegally dumped fish was estimated him to the bridge and third mate said 'Indonesian no stitchy no stitchy'. between 79,000 and 197,000 tonnes, draining I ended up giving over 26 stitches ... bit of a mess." tens of millions from the New Zealand economy. The 405 tonnes illegally dumped from As another interviewee described, the vessels are "A floating freezer ... one vessel alone, the Oyang 75, was estimat- absolutely appalling conditions just like a slum ... there are definitely ed to be worth NZ$1.4 million (US$1.03 mil- human rights abuses out there, they are slave ships." lion).

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New Zealand’s Part: Shortcomings in Regulation tion on the Law of the Sea), New Zealand does not have jurisdiction for crimes which occur aboard foreign-flagged The problems aboard FCVs are in part the result of inade- vessels in its EEZ. These fall within the jurisdiction of the quate New Zealand regulation, but in part due to practices ‘flag state’, the state to which the vessel is registered. extending well beyond New Zealand’s borders. The New Zealand industry is unusual in its reliance on foreign char- Victims of crimes aboard FCVs must therefore go to the ter vessels (FCVs), which are particularly difficult to regu- flag jurisdiction to seek recourse. However, they face for- late. The New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries allocates com- midable barriers to doing so. To date there have been no mercial fishers a quota of fish they are entitled to catch. convictions in the flag states for abuse that has occurred in However, many companies lack the fleet needed to fish New Zealand's EEZ. While the New Zealand Government the entirety of their quota. They therefore charter foreign has pursued several cases of fish dumping, there has been vessels. The majority of FCVs is from Korea, and usually not one arrest despite the numerous allegations of physi- hires Indonesian crews. Fishermen from Vietnam, Ukraine, cal and sexual abuse. The Government has regulated envi- Philippines and China are also hired. ronmental protection more stringently than protection of workers. In chartering FCVs, New Zealand companies effectively ‘outsource’ to companies which provide cheaper labour. By Auckland University estimations, foreign crews on Korean boats receive as little as US$560/month compared to the legal minimum wage of roughly US$2000/month received by New Zealand crews. In chartering FCVs, New Zealand companies also distance themselves from responsibility for conditions aboard the boats. While many small New Zealand companies claim reliance on FCVs, others claim that this is a culture that has arisen out of convenience.

Until 2012, foreign vessels in New Zealand waters operated in a law enforcement black hole. Under international law (speciﬁcally, the United Nations Conven-

Box 2: International Solidarity Through AMRC’s networks, the Christ- need to have supporters of the crew in church Anglican Church sent out an interna- Indonesia, ready to help them upon their The Oyang 75 case prompted an unusual tional petition urging the Government not return. case of international solidarity. After the to deport the crew. This was successful, crew fled their vessel, there were several and 6 crews were permitted to remain in Through AMRC’s networks, we contacted immediate needs. One was the crew’s wel- New Zealand. But there were other needs. ATKI-Indonesia. Some of their staff was fare and accommodation. Another was the The 26 crew that did return home to Indo- able to meet the crew at the airport and to threat that the New Zealand Government nesia feared retaliation from manning provide on-going support. New Zealand would deport the crew, since they had left agents. They faced formidable fines for groups arranged for the Indonesian embas- the contracts on which they were granted breaking their contracts, as well as the loss sy to provide official letters documenting visas. Deportation would have severely of collateral. Several of their families had what had happened, for the crew to take hindered the crew’s access to justice. For already been intimidated by manning back with them. ATKI-Indonesia were able several decades, no crew that has returned agents. Indeed, when the first of the crew to use these letters to protect the crew. home without pay has ever received their returned to Indonesia, they found the man- There was also a need for attention to the wages. ning agent representatives waiting for issue in Korea, and for action against the them at the airport. There was an acute

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The New Zealand Government has over the years made crews were subject to exploitation well before they ar- weak attempts to regulate labour conditions aboard FCVs. rived in New Zealand. Until 2012, to be granted visas for a foreign crew, a New Zealand company had to sign that it would abide by a Code Furthermore, as allowed under the Code of Practice, many of Practice outlining minimum wages and working condi- crews were paid through their manning agents, who kept tions. However, the Code was weak and poorly enforced. substantial portions in deductions and simple embezzle- For instance, the Government continued to grant visas for ment. In many cases, crew never received their wages. The vessels of Sajo Oyang Corporation, despite numerous trail of wage payments through webs of manning agents is breaches. In 2010, the Oyang 70 sank, killing six men. In opaque. In the Oyang 75 case, even a New Zealand Govern- 2011, the Oyang 75 crew fled their vessel alleging physical ment-commissioned investigation failed to trace where abuse and unpaid wages. In 2012, the crews of a third ves- the wages had ended up. sel, the Oyang 77, also allege non-payment of wages. There is a clear need for greater attention to this point in Several factors prevented a more adequate Government the fishing supply chain. Simple steps would make sub- response. The profits from FCV catches were lucrative. The stantial improvements, for instance requiring wage pay- companies chartering FCVs were influential. In the case of ments directly to crews (not through manning agents); Korean vessels, New Zealand was able to export fish requiring the employer to pay all recruitment fees; and caught aboard Korean vessels tariff free. It was not until imposing a responsibility on vessel operators to recruit media attention made action a matter of economic signifi- only through reputable agencies. These steps would re- cance that the New Zealand Government was provoked quire cooperation between migrant sending and receiving into action. countries, as elaborated below.

Crews’ Home Countries: Unregulated Manning Agents New Zealand: Changes in Progress

Some elements of the abuse, however, occurred well out- In New Zealand, media attention in 2011 forced the Govern- side the enforcement mandate of New Zealand fisheries ment to take action over labour standards aboard FCVs. and labour department officials. In many migrant sending The Government launched a ministerial inquiry.[3] In 2012, countries, regulation of private recruitment agencies Bloomberg Business week published an article linking (manning agents) is poor. Agencies took collateral and abuse in New Zealand waters to United States supermar- trapped many crews in exorbitant debt. They also took a kets and consumers, a major New Zealand market.[4] Lat- substantial part of crews’ wages in fees. Receiving recruit- er in 2012, the Government announced comprehensive ment fees from workers goes against ILO conventions on changes, which will come into effect by 2016. These in- private recruitment agencies as it traps crews in exploita- clude compulsory direct payment of wages to crews (not tive employment. These recruitment practices meant that manning agents). Changes also include compulsory

Korean perpetrators. We put a call out and Advocates for Public Interests Law KHIS and APIL conducted a fact-finding through AMRC’s networks, and connect- (APIL) submitted a petition to the Na- mission to Indonesia. With the assistance ed with the Korean House for Interna- tional Human Rights Commission of Ko- of Indonesian groups, they interviewed tional Solidarity (KHIS), a member of rea (NHRCK). The petition concerned the crew members, Korean Embassy offi- Korean TransNational Corporations sexual abuse of several crew members cials, an official of the Ministry of Man- (KTNC) WATCH. In August 2011, they aboard the Oyang 75. The groups ex- power, and the head of a manning agen- organised a joint letter condemning the pected that as Sajo Oyang vessels were cy. Throughout this time, Korean lawyers actions of Sajo Oyang Corporation. They legally Korean territory, NHRCK should were in contact with New Zealand coun- also held a press conference outside the be willing to investigate. However, terparts. headquarters (see photo 1). Later, back NHRCK rejected the petition in April in New Zealand, we used photos of this 2012. The grounds for dismissal was that KTNC WATCH also arranged a campaign protest as part of a submission urging ‘there is no objective evidence to prove in Korea to publicise the issue. They invit- the Government to take strong action. sexual harassment...’. ed two crew members, one Indonesian activist and one New Zealand activist to Korean groups took further action. In At the same time, the Korean groups Korea in June 2012. This aroused Korean October 2011, KHIS, Corporate for All, pursued legal action. In December 2011, media interest (see photos) and

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reflagging of foreign vessels to New Zealand. This will Further Cooperation Needed bring foreign crews into the New Zealand jurisdiction, and therefore under the protection of New Zealand criminal The abuse and environmental degradation in New Zealand and employment law. fisheries are likely just the tip of the iceberg in the fishing industry internationally. There are three key areas where These changes effectively extend New Zealand jurisdiction further cooperation is needed. over a ‘foreign’ supply chain; one that previously operated in a legal vacuum. This is a significant victory. However, the 1. Cooperation to identify ‘reputable’ recruitment agen- changes fall short of addressing recruitment of fishing cies. crews. Media publicity has created interest within the New Zea- The International Picture land government, fishing companies and large supermar- kets in recruiting from reputable sources. This may be an The changes also do little to address the problems else- opportunity to add market pressures to calls for improved where in the global industry. According to the ILO, an esti- regulation of recruitment agencies. This would require mated 27 million people work in capture fisheries interna- methods of identifying reputable agencies. tionally.[5] Commercial fishing takes place in some of the world’s most difficult to regulate regions. Little is known Some countries such as the Philippines already have public about conditions aboard vessels in other jurisdictions, or registers of licensed agencies. There is also the possibility those operating on the high seas. of creating private standards to identify reputable agencies. Should either mechanism be developed for recruit- Following pressure from Korean NGOs, the Korean Gov- ment agencies in regions such as Indonesia, this would ernment recently announced its intention to prosecute allow foreign governments, NGOs and consumers to pres- Sajo Oyang regarding unpaid wages. It will also increase sure for recruitment of crews to be only through recog- pressure on five other fishing companies with overdue nised agencies. wage payments. This is a testament to the work of Korean NGOs in monitoring and advocacy. However, there is a 2. Monitoring of Korean fishing corporations’ conduct else- need for ongoing monitoring of these companies, and for where in the world further research into companies that operate in other juris- While the law changes will reduce problems in New Zea- dictions. Unless scrutiny of the industry is increased, the land waters, action is needed to stop perpetrators continu- same companies that have abused workers in New Zea- ing to harm workers and the environment elsewhere. land waters will continue to do so elsewhere. There is a need to monitor companies with a history of abuse, such as Sajo Oyang Corporation, Dong Won Fisher-

strengthened links between the groups. Korean fishing firm gags crew with to pay its crews. The Government will Photo 2 shows a demonstration outside 'peace' contract, Fairfax News, 7 Octo- also order five other companies to pay Oyang headquarters in June 2012. Photo ber 2012), and that the crew desperately (Dongwon, Dongnam, Taejin, Juam, and 3 shows a press conference during the needed these wages to support their GOM), and will prosecute if they fail to same week. families. At time of writing, it is uncertain do so. whether the Korean officers will be pros- In late 2011 and mid-2012, Korean Govern- ecuted for their physical and sexual What has been achieved through inter- ment delegations visited New Zealand. abuse crimes. national solidarity has been extremely The delegations found sufficient evi- encouraging. It has enabled protection dence to confirm that four Korean offic- The Korean NGOs’ pressure does seem for the crews that would not otherwise ers had consistently violated Indonesian to have paid off in the pursuit of unpaid have been possible. It has also enabled crews. However, in September 2012, wages. The Government ordered Sajo advocacy in all three countries. Given the Korean groups received notice that two Oyang to pay unpaid wages. In Septem- work still to be done, there is a need for Indonesian crew members had with- ber 2012, the Korean Government an- even closer cooperation in the future to drawn their statements. It appears Sajo nounced its intention to punish for hu- crews are protected and can access jus- Oyang offered to pay the two crew man rights violations aboard deep sea tice. members their outstanding wages if they fishing vessels. The Korean Government withdrew their evidence (Danya Levy, will prosecute Sajo Oyang for its failure

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ies, and Taejin Fisheries, in other parts of the world. Ulti- 5 International Labour Organisation. “Fishers”. 2012. Re- mately, there is need for a campaign to end these abuses. trieved 18 October 2012, from the ILO website tions

Very little is known about the extent of labour abuses in the fishing industry internationally. There is a need for References research and monitoring in other jurisdictions. Slave Free Seas, in cooperation with the United Nations Inter-Agency Levy, Danya. Korean fishing firm gags crew with 'peace' Project on Human Trafficking, is currently mapping known contract. Fairfax News. 7 October 2012. cases. Any groups that could provide information on their International Labour Organisation. “Fishers”. 2012. Re- own regions would help to build up a global picture. Any trieved 18 October 2012, from the ILO website information can be sent to [email protected] or

1 Christina Stringer, Glenn Simmons, and Daren Coulston. Morrah, Michael. Illegal fish dumping may be common 2011. Not in New Zealand Waters, Surely? Labour and hu- practice. 3News. 13 May 2012. man rights abuses aboard foreign fishing vessels. New Skinner, E. Benjamin. 2012. Slaves Put Squid on Dining Ta- Zealand Asia Institute Working Paper Series. bles From South Pacific. Bloomberg, March 31, 2 Michael Morrah, “Illegal fish dumping may be common 2012. practice,” 3News, 13 May 2012. Stringer, Christina, Glenn Simmons, and Daren Coulston. 3 P. Swain, S. McGrath, and N. Walter. 2012. Report of the 2011. Not in New Zealand Waters, Surely? Labour Ministerial Inquiry into the use and operation of Foreign and human rights abuses aboard foreign fishing Charter Vessels. vessels. New Zealand Asia Institute Working Pa- per Series. 4 Skinner, E. Benjamin. 2012. Slaves Put Squid on Dining Tables From South Pacific. Bloomberg, March 31, 2012. Swain, P., S. McGrath, and N. Walter. 2012. Report of the Ministerial Inquiry into the use and operation of Foreign Charter Vessels.

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Feature

Deconstructing Green Jobs, Foregrounding Decent Work

Joselito M. Natividad

Much has been written about Green Jobs and Green Econ- the more fundamental economic issues that are inevitably omy, both positive and negative. It also been one of the linked with the workings of global capitalism and its cur- focal points in debates around the Rio+20 conference in rent operating paradigm, neoliberalism. More so, it seeks Brazil in June 2012, with all its grand narratives on saving to paper over these problems in the worst possible way, Mother Nature and reversing climate change. But what by proposing a solution that will in fact aggravate these has not been given much attention in these discourses is a problems and lead to the further institutionalization of substantive appreciation of the labor agenda as reflected core labor standards violations on a global scale. in the concept of Decent Work. Just how viable is Green Jobs creation? While views on what constitutes Green Jobs vary, the Unit- ed Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) defines it as This question has often been asked by both labor advocates and big capital, for the same reason but with totally “positions in agriculture, manufacturing, R&D, administrative, and service activities aimed at alleviating the myriad different interests in mind. The crux of the matter is just how much global capitalism is willing to tone down its environmental threats faced by humanity. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help to protect and profiteering ways and moderate its greed in the interest of the environment and labor. From the horse’s mouth, the restore ecosystems and biodiversity, reduce energy consumption, decarbonize the economy, and minimize or alto- answer surprises no one. gether avoid the generation of all forms of waste and pol- A labor-oriented, rights-based approach to the question lution.”[1] would show that Green Jobs programmes are not really contributing to Decent Work, and that the former is not On the other hand, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines Decent Work as “opportunities for women analogous to the latter. At first glance, however, data pre- sented by the UNEP Green Jobs Initiative would seemingly and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. [It] bear out optimistic prognostications on the ability of sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives – Green Jobs to create, well, jobs. their aspirations for opportunity and income; rights, voice “Investment in renewable energy is booming, surging and recognition; for family stability and personal develop- from $10 billion in 1998 to at least $66 billion in 2007, equiv- ment; for fairness and gender equality. Ultimately these alent to 18 per cent of all energy investment. It is expected various dimensions of decent work underpin peace in com- to reach $343 billion in 2020 and to almost double again by munities and society. Decent work is central to efforts to 2030 to $630 billion. It may be noted that in the past even reduce poverty, and is a means for achieving equitable, optimistic predictions concerning the development of re- inclusive and sustainable development.”[2] newables have consistently been exceeded. Projected in- Green Jobs (and Green Economy) advocates may be ac- vestments would translate into at least 20 million addition- al jobs in the sector, making it a much larger source of em- cused of one “cardinal sin” in promoting their agenda vis-à -vis workers’ rights: approaching labor concerns from the ployment than today’s fossil energy industry (mining, pe- troleum extraction, refining and fossil power generation), perspective of environmental conservation and mitigation of global warming. It is also a sin committed by the US which, in spite of rising production, has been shedding jobs through technological advances.” (UNEP/ILO/ITUC, Obama administration in trying to address the country’s grave unemployment problem, and which may yet cost 2008) him his re-election bid. A study conducted by the Golman School of Public Policy What is so wrong about this approach is that it totally ig- of UC Berkley also came out with findings that would seem to support buoyant forecasts for Green Jobs. According to nores the underlying causes of labor rights violations, and

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this study, the renewable energy sector generates more Gabriel Calzada, an economics professor at the Univer- jobs than the fossil fuel-based energy sector per unit of sidad Rey San Carlos in Spain, came out in 2010 with a re- energy delivered, and that the employment rate in fossil port on the Spanish experience with green energy and fuel-related industries has been declining steadily for rea- jobs promotion. Calzada says that Spain's torrential spend- sons that are not necessarily related to environmental reg- ing — no other nation has so aggressively supported pro- ulation. “The renewables industry consistently generates duction of electricity from renewable sources — on wind more jobs per MWa in construction, manufacturing and farms and other forms of alternative energy has indeed installation, and in O&M and fuel processing, than the fos- created jobs. But Calzada's report concludes that they of- sil fuel industries.” (Kammen, Kapadia and Fripp, 2004) ten are temporary and have received $752,000 to $800,000 each in subsidies — wind-industry jobs cost even However, the same study also recognizes that the shift more, $1.4 million each[3]. Spain now has one of the high- away from fossil-fuels will lead to some job losses, as est unemployment rates in the Eurozone, at 25.1% in the green jobs may require an entirely new set of skills. It rec- third quarter of this year, and its highest since 1976. [4] ommends compensation or retraining for workers that will be dislocated by any restructuring of the energy industry, That the Obama administration merely brushed off Calza- and further asserts that “winners will outnumber the los- da’s report is evident in its jobs-creation policies. In Febru- ers”. ary 2009, a month after his inauguration, US President Barack Obama issued a call for the country to “ultimately Again, the long-term imperatives of environmental conser- make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of ener- vationism are cited for making the labor sector pay for the gy” as response to the multiple crises.[5] Rhetoric on failings of the global capitalist system: “The fact that there “green-collar jobs” were also aired by at least three presi- will be some losers does not take away from the case for dential candidates in the 2008 US elections, including making a shift in the energy economy towards clean tech- Obama himself, who promised to allocate $150 billion to nologies. Perpetuating a region’s dependence on volatile create 5 million green jobs in 10 years. and polluting industries with low and steadily declining employment rates is bound to negatively affect that re- After Obama won in 2008, a total of $247 billion in stimulus gion’s development in the long run.” funding were poured into the green project – $167 billion in grants and loan guarantees for clean-energy to the De- What is not evident in these rosy portraits of Green Jobs’ partment of Energy , and initial $80 billion for the creation future is that a large percentage of paid work that are con- of green-collar jobs. By 2011, a report came out that an sidered to be “green” easily fall outside the ambit of De- estimated 225,000 clean energy jobs were either created cent Work. Recycling industries, which as a matter princi- or preserved in 2010 due to more than $80 billion in stimu- ple are viewed as green, are especially notorious for utiliz- lus by the Obama administration, which means that the US ing cheap, informal labor to squeeze out high rates of re- government spent $355,555 in taxpayers’ money just to turn from what are generally considered to be hazardous create or maintain each green job.[6] occupations, such as in developing countries like the Philip- pines, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The UNEP itself is Furthermore, a study released in July 2011 by the Brookings aware of this dilemma: “Many current recycling jobs, for Institution found clean-technology jobs accounted for just instance, recover raw material and thus help to alleviate 2 percent of employment nationwide and only slightly pressure on natural resources, but apply a process which is more — 2.2 percent — in Silicon Valley. Rather than adding often dirty, dangerous and difficult, causing significant jobs, the study found, the sector actually lost 492 positions damage to the environment and to human health. Employ- from 2003 to 2010 in the South Bay, where the unemployment in this industry tends to be precarious and incomes ment rate in June was 10.5 percent.[7] are low. If green jobs are to be a bridge to a truly sustainable future, this needs to change.” (UNEP, 2008) Just how appealing is “Green Jobs” to big business? Even with the ILO and its Decent Work concept in tow to In developed countries like the US and the Eurozone, the colossal miscarriages in Green Jobs/Green Economy experi- lend legitimacy to its aims, the Green Jobs paradigm could not easily shake off critical perception that it is more about ments tend to belief often enthusiastic (and theoretical) presentations on their projected benefits. subsidizing big capital investments in the energy sector rather than addressing unemployment in countries where

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it is promoted. But again, this begs the question of wheth- “maximum profit at the least cost and at the shortest pos- er big capital, especially faltering ones, would buy into the sible time”. Proposing a radical shift from this principle to idea of pouring scarce funds towards retooling their busi- one that puts premium on jobs creation for its own sake nesses for the benefit of the Planet and the unemployed. (or even for the sake of the environment) is giving big capital and their governments way is practically saying they The Obama administration’s treatment of Green Jobs/ have a social conscience, and that an individual capitalist Green Economy as panaceas for the US’s unemployment conducts business with the welfare of his workers, the woes has attracted fire from dyed-in-the-wool neoliberal laboring classes and Planet Earth in mind. As the labor sec- apologists. “Green job advocates often argue for these tor’s experience with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs as if the creation of the job itself is the main ben- shows, big capital only sheds crocodile-tears and is single- efit of the program. This is a serious error. The creation of mindedly obsessed with the squeezing out of super-profits a job is only valuable if the service the job provides is from every dollar invested. greater than the cost of performing the job. Jobs, green or otherwise, are not benefits but costs,” said The Beacon Hill Labor Responses to Green Jobs Institute, the research arm of the Department of Econom- The idea that formal and infomal sector workers’ organiza- ics of Suffolk University in Boston and a known Republican think-tank.[8] tions can make a difference in promoting Green Jobs has also taken hold of global union, in particular the Interna- Such intractable arguments are the stuff that makes up a tional Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and its affiliates. capitalist mindset, and is only cited here to illustrate how Labor conferences and studies focused on the potential of naïve Green Jobs advocates are to attribute such profound “Green and Decent Jobs” have been conducted, some of altruism to big business. Apparently, the view of The Bea- which were co-sponsored with the ILO. Trainings have also con Hill on green jobs reflect not only those of neoliberal been held under the aegis of the ILO that are aimed at re- economics, but also of the whole global capitalist system. skilling workers to assume jobs that are green, as well as build capacity to promote the “greening” of existing jobs. For the dream of well-meaning Green Jobs/Green Economy to come true, what is required is nothing less than the The buoyant optimism of such big unions on this paradigm overhauling of a system that is driven by the profit motive, may be summed in the words of Sharan Burrow, current and one moreover that is premised on the principle of General Secretary of ITUC: “We can create 48 million green and decent jobs over five years in just 12 countries. Imagine what we can do in 24 countries, imagine in 50 countries, how many hundreds of millions of jobs that would create.”[9]

Some action-oriented resolutions have also been set by other trade union centers in developing countries, such as the Indian unions under the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), which claims to be 1-million strong. In a workshop on climate change last March in New Delhi, the IMF in India made the decision to create a new alliance that will “seek to partner with industry and government to build the skills necessary to underpin a green economy”, among other industrial goals.

Declared Rob Johnston, Executive Director of IMF at the alliance’s launching: "The creation of this Alliance means that the Indian Trade Unions are shaping the policy debate. This initiative sets out a vision of a modern dynamic India, the question is if Government and Industry share it."[10]

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The readiness of these trade union centers to accept the -driven and is centered on public interest, especially on the concepts of Green and Decent Jobs in the context of a welfare of working people. Green economy is understandable, given that they have had a long history of working with ILO and other intergov- Workers’ Movement, not Green Jobs ernmental insitutions under the UN system. But their un- It would be the height of folly for the labor sector to swal- qualified endorsement of the green paradigm itself is not low the Green Jobs mantra in any significant way, and to matched by a similar enthusiasm for assessing the believe in the deception that there will be a massive, altru- “decency” of jobs that might possibly be created. It also istic shift by big business towards genuinely sustainable ironic that unlike the UNEP Green Jobs Initiative, global development in the near or even distant future. One need unions like ITUC and IMF do not give a cautionary note to only to look at the result of the Rio+20 summit this year to the labor sector on Green Job’s dark legacy of obscuring see that big capital and governments that support them informalization and a host of other labor rights violations. do not care an iota about the fate of the Planet nor of De- cent Work, any more than Nike is a supporter of trade un- Of even more fundamental concern is the veiled message being given by these institutionalized trade unions – that ionism in its supply-chain. the primary task of the sector at large is to retool its skills What the labor sector needs to do first and foremost is for the eventuality of Green Jobs gaining ground in major expose the concepts of Green Jobs and Green Economy as industries and on a global scale. If followed, this response cover-up tools for neoliberal globalization, designed to will reduce trade unionism to being a slavish handmaiden conceal its culpability in bringing about runaway unem- of neoliberal globalization and its ever-changing configura- ployment and global warming, as well as the worst eco- tions, rather than being its staunchest critic and oppositor. nomic crisis so far in the history of capitalism. It is a green paint-job on the rusty hulk of global capitalism which must Decent Work and Beyond be stripped away by the workers’ movement to show its The green labor paradigm as it has been formulated by the moribundity, and in the process of educating the whole UN system artificially conflates the two distinct global labor sector on the urgency of asserting real alternatives problems of unemployment and climate change, and ar- to world capitalism’s multiple crises. rives at a solution that will benefit only big business in the Rather than blindly subscribing to UN-promoted cure-alls short term while obscuring labor’s long-term demands. As it is, packaging Green Jobs with Decent Work does not for all the world’s ills, the labor sector should rely on its self-organized strength and build a worker’s movement even begin to look at labor sector’s more fundamental problems such as low falling wages and work flexibiliza- that is able to lead people’s advocacies for thoroughgoing social change. It must raise its overall capacity to bring tion, however much its promoters use every trick in the book to make the concept more comforting to the masses about a society that is premised on people’s ownership of crucial productive resources, and promotes coherent poli- of unemployed. cies for a fundamental shift to sustainable development. Promoting Green Jobs is a poor excuse for not facing up to By then, Decent Work will no longer be a mere slogan that the reality of neoliberal globalization’s bankruptcy, and is conveniently appended to neoliberal panaceas, but a telling the labor sector to sit out the crisis and wait for big concrete and all-pervasive social reality.*** capital to save them from the mess that it has created. Labor rights advocates should not be deceived by its fine- sounding mantras and lose their focus on the root causes Endnotes : of the capitalist crisis and the real solutions at hand to address it in the long-term. 1 UNEP/ILO/ITUC, “Green Jobs: Towards Sustainable Work in a Low Carbon World,” p 5, United Nations Office. Nairo- It is also the height of idealism and naivete for Green Jobs bi, 2008. (accessed in http://www.unep.org/ advocates to presume that neoliberal globalization can be labour_environment/PDFs/Greenjobs/UNEP-Green-Jobs- made to serve as the socio-economic shell for the kind of Towards-Sustainable-Summary.pdf) systemic shift in “production and consumption” that they seek. Historically speaking, a different type of resource 2 See http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/decent-work ownership is suited to this aspiration, one that is not profit -agenda/lang--en/index.htm

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3 Accessed in http://www.slideshare.net/Anochi/090327- Stalling in Spain: Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain has employmentpublicaidrenewable not yet requested help from the European Central Bank . Accessed on 20 October 2012 in http:// 4 See http://wallstreetsectorselector.com/2012/11/stalling- wallstreetsectorselector.com/2012/11/stalling-in-spain/ in-spain/ Green, Joshua. The Atlantic. 2009 5 See http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ archive/2009/07/the-elusive-green-economy/307554/ The Elusive Green Economy . Accessed on 21 October 2012 in http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ 6 See http://www.politico.com/news/ archive/2009/07/the-elusive-green-economy/307554/ stories/0611/56759.html Samuelsohn, Darren. Politico. 2011 7 See http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/ us/19bcgreen.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Green Jobs Success Eludes Obama . Accessed on 25 October 2012 in http://www.politico.com/news/ 8 See http://www.beaconhill.org/BHIStudies/ stories/0611/56759.html GreenJobs09/BHIGreen_Collar_Job_Critique090625.pdf Glantz, Aaron. The New York Times. 2011 9 ITUC, 2012. “Growing Green and Decent Jobs”, 2. Brus- sels: ITUC. (accessed in http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ Number of Green Jobs Fails to Live Up to Promises . Accessed ituc_green_jobs_summary_en_ﬁnal.pdf) on 25 October 2012 in http:// www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/us/19bcgreen.html? 10 See http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=29216&l=2 pagewanted=all&_r=2&

Tuerck, D., B. Powell and P. Bachman. The Beacon Hill Insti- References tute (BHI). 2009

United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). 2008 “Green Collar” Job Creation: A Critical Analysis . Accessed on 27 October 2012 in http://www.beaconhill.org/ Green Jobs: Towards Sustainable Work in a Low Carbon BHIStudies/GreenJobs09/ World . Accessed on 15 October 2011 in http:// BHIGreen_Collar_Job_Critique090625.pdf www.unep.org/labour_environment/PDFs/Greenjobs/ UNEP-Green-Jobs-Towards-Sustainable-Summary.pdf International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 2012

International Labour Organisation (ILO). 1996-2012 Growing Green and Decent Jobs . Accessed on 28 October 2012 in http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ Decent Work Agenda: Decent Jobs For All . Accessed on 18 ituc_green_jobs_summary_en_ﬁnal.pdf October 2012 in http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the- ilo/decent-work-agenda/lang--en/index.htm Johnston, Rob. International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF). 2012 Alvarez-Calzada, Gabriel. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. 2010 Innovative Approach to Green Jobs Taken by India’s Unions . Study of the Eﬀects on Employment of Public Aid to Renewa- Accessed on 29 October 2012 in http:// ble Resources . Accessed on 20 October 2012 in http:// www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=29216&l=2 www.slideshare.net/Anochi/090327- employmentpublicaidrenewable

Burke, John. Wall Street Sector Selector.2012

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Feature Decontamination Fantasy and Compensation: Getting TEPCO and the Government to Take Responsibility

Sugai Masuro

Is decontamination really possible? its decontamination safety standard?

At the end of September, six months after the accident, The international standard for the dose exposure limit for the “emergency evacuation preparation zone” ranging the general population is 1 mSv per year, but that does not from 20 to 30 km from the Fukushima nuclear plant was mean this is absolutely safe. Nevertheless, if decontamina- cancelled by the government. Minami Soma City had also tion were to bring doses down to 1 mSv, the areas would sought cancellation for the benefit of its recovery, and include hotspots in Gunma, Tochigi, and Chiba prefec- people are now being urged to return because areas with tures, and the cost would be astronomical. As the govern- doses of 0.5-0.9 µSv/h are all right. ment wants to lower the standard, I would guess they are doing their calculations at about 5 mSv, but actually the However, decontamination has made hardly any headway government thinks that up to 20 mSv is unavoidable, so 1 in places other than schools and nursery schools, and the mSv is just a long-term target, and the public position is "1 government takes no action, so local people and evacuees mSv to 20 mSv." say they will return and perform decontamination. Currently cesium has accumulated in the top 5 cm of top- A Minami Soma citizen group called the "Peace-of-Mind soil, but mixing the soil or tilling it would disturb this distri- and Safety Project" says from their members' own experi- bution. Growing rice has been banned in both Minami So- ence that even if a crew of 20-odd people spends a whole ma City and Iitate Village this year, but because farmers day on one home, they will do well even to lower the dose cannot leave their fields waist-nigh in weeds, they plow by half. Some aldermen say that "decontamination the weeds under. It is said that if the soil is mixed its dose doesn’t work," and everyone says that children should not falls one one-third, but the soil’s total dose is unchanged, return to Minami Soma. In fact, a survey at the end of Oc- and the contamination persists. ‘Therefore the only way to tober found that the population of the city’s emergency decontaminate is skim off the topsoil. However, doing that evacuation preparation zone was 47,000, of which 28,000 eliminates the leaf mould and the land is no longer suita- had evacuated. But only 716 people have returned since ble for fanning. What’s more, the farmers are dressed in the zone was cancelled. their usual field attire, without any protection against ex- The mayor of Iitate Village says he wants to get ¥300 bil- posure. And if just the weeds are mowed, there is the lion from the government to decontaminate the residen- question of where to keep them. If decontamination is to tial areas in two years, farmland in five years, and forests be done thoroughly, the forests and mountains of head- in 20 years. Of course Iitate will never get the money. Cs- water areas would have to be completely decontaminated to keep the contamination from being washed into upland 134,137 ，and other radioactive substances adhere to the fields and paddies with irrigation water, but because nei- clayey soil, to lichens, and to tree trunks, and there are still ther the government nor administrative authorities appear high doses on playgrounds, eves troughs, and roofs. Ama- to have responsible policies, the farmers feel they must do teurs attempting high-pressure cleaning would be in dan- something, and try various things while risking exposure. ger from the spray raining down on them. Truly, one cannot bear to watch this. I think that if ¥300 billion yen were available, it would be The government’s publicly stated radiation dose is 1-20 better to give each household ¥100 million and have them mSv, and 20 mSv is very high. Because the Ministry of Edu- live somewhere else for 30 to 50 years until the radiation cation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) subsides. announced that the upper limit for dose exposure at How many mSv is the government truly considering for schools is 20 mSv ，mothers in Fukushima were angered

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and demanded that the limit be lowered. In response, Their communities have collapsed, and the responsibility MEXT said that 1 mSv/year is its “long-term target/ ，but it for this lies with the government and TEPCO. has not backed down from its claim that under 20 mSv is Emergency evacuation preparation zones were cancelled, safe. but that doesn’t mean the crisis has ended John. W. Gofinan, who studied the effects of nuclear test- Although nearly a year has passed since the accident, units ing in the US, said that the cancer rate for children under 1 through 4 at Fukushima Daiichi are circulating and purify- 10 years of age is 10 times that of adults, while for infants ing their contaminated water, but because their pressure and babies up to one year of age, it is 15 times. Under law, vessels are gone, water is still being used once without places with 1.3 mSv for three months are radiation control recirculating. The contaminated water level continues to areas which are off limits to people under 18. Much of Fu- rise due to the inflow of groundwater. It is reported that kushima Prefecture’s Nakadori region, including Fukushi- high-concentration purified water keeps accumulating, ma City, should be designated a radiation control area. while tanks for contaminated water have increased to the Another major issue is that only spacial dose is counted, point where the plant grounds are full. while internal exposure is not. There is a danger of re-criticality if cooling water stops for Nothing can be done under present circumstances some reason, and it is estimated that even now units 1 For much of the farmland, leaving it alone will not allow through 4 have the very large residual heat of about 4,000 contamination to spread, and no one will suffer exposure kW. Further, this estimation assumes that the residual heat by performing decontamination. While there are places removal system is functioning normally; it is highly possible that must be quickly decontaminated, those places are it would not hold under conditions in which the reactor limited. Fukushima must avoid having residents perform itself has been destroyed. One cannot trust the govern- decontamination by taking advantage of evacuees’ desire ment’s claim that “cold shutdown” will be or has been to go home and preserve their farmland. The government achieved on a certain date. should take responsibility for locating idle farmland and After the Three Mile Island accident it took four or five moving people away en masse to farm elsewhere. Doing years before a camera could be put in the pressure vessel. so will be far cheaper and safer than the extraordinarily At Fukushima it is impossible to get near the containment high cost of decontamination. vessel’s interior. On November 2,2011 xenon was detected The government will probably purchase and expropriate from unit 2 ，making it clear that nuclear fission was still land in the exclusion zone and other places. However, occurring, though it might be “spontaneous.” One could Iitate Village’s “Logistical Support Group” proposes that not deny this was an emergency. Who on earth is responsi- instead of transferring land ownership to the government, ble for cancelling emergency evacuation preparation the government rent the land such as in the exclusion zones? The Environment Ministry, the Ministry of Econo- zone and planned evacuation zones on 50- or 100-year my, Trade and Industry (METI) and its Nuclear and Industri- leases, and pay rent. It is encouraging to people if there is al Safety Agency, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and a possibility that someday they can return. Transport (MLIT), and other agencies are probably trying to force the responsibility on to each other. Even People who are not farmers will have to spend decades in safe places. Those who most need to relocate are Why the government stubbornly holds to its 20 mSv households with children and pregnant women. Employ- standard ment should be guaranteed for such households. The government and electric utility try to make the acci- But that isn’t going to be easy. It would divide the locals dent damage and responsibility for contamination look as into two groups: those who want group relocation, and small as possible, and they want to perpetuate the myth those who want to decontaminate and return. For exam- that nuclear power is economical. That is perhaps why ple, the mayor of Namie Town says he has no idea what he they hold to 20 mSv. should do. Residents of Minami Soma and Iitate, including mayors and everyone else, are likewise agonizing and torn The direct reasons for insisting on this standard are first between their desire to rebuild their homes, and reality. because they want to cut as much as possible from the massive costs of relocation, decontamination, compensa-

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tion, and the like, and second, because they will later face pay for decontamination testing in 12 municipalities in the demands to recognize and compensate health damage exclusion zone and planned evacuation zones. It also ap- from radioactivity, they want to take steps which will re- pears that the agency took bids from businesses, so that duce the number of future eligible people as much as pos- building contractors and decontamination firms have sible. come to get decontamination work that will last decades. Vested interests will likely emerge. Newspapers have al- Drawing lines for compensation was always done likewise ready reported that JAEA has paid kickbacks. It is said to with pollution. The government always makes strict certifi- cost ¥6 million to decontaminate one home. Apparently cation standards, but because health damage by radioac- many contractors have come to the decontamination tivity is sometimes delayed for decades ，this makes it training sessions, which provide contractors with decon- even easier to cut the number of victim. tamination qualification after just attending two days. Re- cently there are media reports that the Self-Defense Forc- Although asbestos-caused diseases likewise appear 20 or es will also be used for decontamination. One worries 30 years later, in many cases the asbestos remains in vic- about the radiation exposure of young SDF personnel. tims ，lungs. Radioactivity, however, cannot be detected later, and that is why records of everyday life are kept. In It appears that the major construction company Taisei Cor- Iitate Village, members of the group “Never Say Die, poration has been contracted for Minami Soma City, and Iitate!” made their own pocket-size notebooks, and have there are concerns that Taisei will subcontract to local con- people gather to fill them in while helping one another struction contractors, which will in turn hire evacuees refresh their memories. It’s important to do this. whose unemployment insurance has run out and have also used up their advances. It sounds good to say that this will What’s happening with the responsibility of contamina- provide jobs, but who will take responsibility for these tors to decontaminate, and with administrative responsi- workers’ radiation exposure? bility? Then, after spending ¥7.2 billion in taxes on this test and Under the government’s policy, it will decontaminate only observing the results, full-scale decontamination will finally the exclusion zone and planned evacuation zones, while begin. This means that they have not started on full-scale areas with doses of 1-20 mSv are left to municipalities, decontamination. TEPCO should definitely be made to pay which would in principle subsequently bill TEPCO for the this ¥7.2 billion plus the cost of the subsequent full-scale cost. At present ，however, it appears that municipalities decontamination. have not yet billed TEPCO, and are using tax money. Where will the contaminated materials be put? The cost The government is pushing the will be astronomical. action and responsibility for decontamination progressively The government is planning to downward. It hands ¥500,000 first store contaminated materi- to local self-government ' asso- als temporarily in their localities, ciations, and has them buy then build “intermediate storage pressure washers for their de- facilities” in Fukushima Prefec- contamination. While that ture, and finally create “final dis- much is all right, adjacent posal sites.” To start with, the neighbourhood associations government is forcing municipal- end up pushing their contami- ities to assume the responsibility nation onto each other. The for temporary local storage, in- Environment Ministry readied cluding site selection. This alone a budget of ¥7.2 billion to cov- is a serious problem. For exam- er decontamination, and en- ple, the temporary storage site trusted it to the Japan Atomic in Iitate is by a river which flows Energy Agency (JAEA). Up to to Minami Soma. When it rains, ¥600 million are being used to contamination may well be washed into the river, angering

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people in Minami Soma. Therefore such temporary storage accident state. could induce inter-municipality clashes. It is not clear how long or to what extent compensation “Intermediate storage” is said to be in Fukushima Prefec- will be paid, and there are also no specific provisions on ture, but there is no telling when it will happen. The gov- how to compensate the various kinds of damage suffered ernment has made promises including that “final disposal throughout the lifetimes of people exposed to radiation as sites” will not be in Fukushima Prefecture, which raises the children. When the designations of planned evacuation question of where they will be. METI, MLIT, the Environ- zones and other designated evacuation zones are lifted, ment Ministry, and other agencies are trying to force this compensation eligibility categories are reduced, and the onto each other. Construction costs for intermediate stor- government would say that people who don’t go home age facilities alone will be colossal. A newspaper reported are responsible for themselves, thereby treating them the that a professor in the engineering department at the Uni- same as the current "voluntary evacuees." And there are versity of Tokyo calculated the cost for building these pro- many other problems. posed intermediate disposal sites at ¥80 trillion, a figure based on the Rokkasho facilities ( Asahi Shimbun , Septem- In addition to the arbitrary criteria problem, people cannot ber 15). seek compensation under categories claimed previously. In out-of-court settlement agreements for pollution, the There are piles of contaminated soil not only in Fukushima, offenders have asked that the documents specify the mat- but also in Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture. It’s mind-numbing ter has been settled. The agreement for the Ashio copper to think about it. Finland’s Onkalo is the only final disposal mine pollution incident included an item specifying that site in the world. However, when the Cabinet Office’s victims would never again make complaints. The compen- Atomic Energy Commission calculated the cost of the Fu- sation contract for Minamata disease mediated by the Ku- kushima accident last October, it did not include the cost mamoto Prefecture governor said that victims would in of disposing materials contaminated with radioactivity the future not demand any more compensation even if because it desperately wanted to maintain the myth that they know that effluent from the Minamata plant is the nuclear power is inexpensive. cause. In this case as well, the matter is finished once people sign the settlement documents. Therefore victims can- How about compensation for disaster victims and evacu- not come to hasty agreements with TEPCO about the mon- ees? etary amounts demanded. While indeed the procedures The biggest problem is that the government, government- for demanding compensation are complicated and hard to mouthpiece academics, and TEPCO people arbitrarily cre- understand, only a few actual payments to individuals ated compensation criteria without including victims or have been made so far. This problem drew criticism from seeking their views. There are ridiculous criteria such as the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, and apparently making big cuts to compensation for people who take up the second-version documents are easier to understand, residence in temporary housing, or discriminating between but this shows that the documents are not prepared from prefecture-rented housing and group shelters with respect the standpoint of victims. to solatium for emotional suffering. In general, even The system is still not designed to make TEPCO take full “voluntary evacuees,” who are not among those directed responsibility to evacuate by the government, are not even eligible for compensation. Although the government is indeed review- First is the problem of the “Law on the Nuclear Power ing these criteria, no concrete progress has been made. It Compensation Assistance Organization” which was enact- is highly possible that this will end with compensation on ed in August 2011 in spite of opposition from Your Party, the order of a consolation payment. the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and others. Because it is assumed that evacuees can return to their homes, compensation for abandoned homes is not includ- Under the logic of capitalism, if a company causes an acci- ed at all. As homes have been abandoned for nearly a year, dent and cannot pay the resulting accident clean-up and even if people could go home they would need to spend compensation for damage, it goes out of business, but this much money on repairs. All costs should be compensated law does not adapt this logic. Instead, it does the opposite for preserving homes and returning them to their pre- by having the government protect TEPCO and continue

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nuclear power courtesy of taxpayers. separation of the generation and transmission sector from the distribution sector, placing the transmission and distri- First, this excuses the financial capital lent to TEPCO and bution sectors under public management, and particularly the responsibility of stockholders. If outlays for compensa- deregulating the generation and sales sectors. Yukio tion payments and accident payments are so large that the Edano argued for these changes while he was chief of company becomes insolvent, it is common sense that METI, but lately has stopped saying it. Because this could banks will write off their claims and stockholders will lose be fatal to the electric utilities, they are putting up fierce their dividends. Discontent stockholders should file a resistance. Many academics argue that if generation and shareholders ，lawsuit to inquire into TEPCO’s manage- transmission are split from distribution, Japan’s power ment responsibility. supply will become unstable, and the anti-nuclear power economist Mitsuharu Ito (who collapsed during a lecture) The first draft approved by the Cabinet explicitly said that also argued against separation. But the situation cannot be TEPCO would not be allowed to become insolvent, but changed as long as Japan does not upend the arrange- predictably that part was excised in parliamentary debate, ment under which electric utilities rest secure in the although the basic thinking remained unchanged. The gov- knowledge of their regional monopolies, block use of pow- ernment investigative commission’s “TEPCO Management er sources other than nuclear, use money to win over eve- Report” released in October included neither the return of ryone from the media to local people, and then recoup the the ¥890 billion in compensation funds provided by the costs by charging more for electricity. government, nor the return of the decontamination costs paid by the government and municipalities. It underesti- Because it is still too early to speculate on how post- mates both the compensation amount and reactor decom- accident events will unfold henceforth, it is hard to guess missioning cost, thereby unjustifiably making the company specifically what will happen. The question is what must be “solvent.” done to make TEPCO completely pay compensation, come up with the money from bank and stockholder losses in- But both the government and TEPCO know that’s not stead of taxes, dismantle the community of people who enough. So the second problem is that in order to rescue profit from nuclear power and orient Japan toward a nu- TEPCO with tax money, the law explicitly says that the gov- clear phase-out, and move ahead with waste disposal ernment can give the Assistance Organization money. At while setting the path toward reactor decommissioning this time the government has granted ¥2 trillion yen in and creation of a final disposal site. JGBs. In principle, TEPCO is to monetize these bonds, use them, and then pay back the money, but there is no reason If TEPCO goes all the way with insolvency, debt- to believe ¥2 trillion will be enough. The direct injection of forgiveness by the banks, and the like, it will end in bank- tax money — while protecting TEPCO 一 will likely be ruptcy. Nevertheless, TEPCO must be made to pay com- sought with the rationale that the accident was an pensation and clean up. And because of its responsibility “unanticipated disaster” like natural disasters and wars for implementing nuclear power under government policy, (under the Law on Compensation for Nuclear Damage). It it will probably be necessary to be nationalized and pay is said that TEPCO is already preparing a lawsuit to absolve clean-up costs by selling assets and applying other funds itself of responsibility, but because it is now known that such as budgets and reserves meant for nuclear power. TEPCO anticipated a major tsunami the company to take But there is also the risk that the dismantling of TEPCO will the offense. Nevertheless, one cannot trust the judiciary. be used to avoid responsibility. Owing to the Minamata What is more, TEPCO will likely shift the burden to the con- disease issue, it was decided to split Chisso into a company sumers by raising its electricity rates. in liquidation that would eventually be disbanded, and an- If I may also say so, the company’s estimates for power other company that would include the money-making divi- production costs and accident costs are truly slipshod al- sions and that would survive. Under that arrangement the lowing any result at all depending on how they are done. company that caused Minamata disease would no longer exist, and people seeking compensation would have no TEPCO must be dismantled. company against which to make claims. TEPCO too might be so self-serving as to become a different company, and We must start by demanding that the system of regional have a separate company in liquidation for compensation monopolies by electric utilities be dismantled. This entails

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claims. izing. In Minami Soma, Futaba, and Okuma, evacuees have begun to rise up. In Iitate the members of’ “Never Say Die, The forthcoming struggle of nuclear accident victims Iitate!” are sticking to their guns. There are more and more Already in Fukushima negotiations of various kinds have such people. We must make it our lifework to form large begun with TEPCO by farming and fishing organizations, support groups to help them. livelihood cooperatives, producers, and other entities, and If we don’t, those who have benefited from being part of full-scale lawsuits demanding compensation will likely be vested interests will likely promote nuclear power. That is filed. I think it is quite possible that victims of radioactive because they want to extend the life of nuclear power in contamination and evacuees will ultimately have to file TEPCO, the world’s number one electric utility, and be- class-action lawsuits. cause it is a secret national policy to maintain the capabil- Nuclear plant accidents are the worst pollution ever, and ity to develop nuclear weapons. We need a full accounting they have spread grave contamination in the natural envi- of the responsibility of nuclear power proponents in order ronment that cannot be removed. Victims will number in that victims may take back their livelihoods, and also in the hundreds of thousands. The concentration and mode order to demolish the hidden intent of nuclear power pro- of radioactive contamination vary, and people are harmed ponents.*** in various ways, but it is important that they team up to This article was rewritten from an interview titled “How do call TEPCO and the government to account, and demand we make TEPCO and the government take responsibility?” compensation. It will be a long struggle owing to the de- published in Compass 21 Vol.14, November 19, 2011, and in contamination and restoration of the soil, and the delayed Human, Issue No 17 March 2012, p.8-14. nature of harm. Victims and evacuees must start by organ-

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 81 19

Gender Column Two Recent Advances for Working Women in Australia: Universal Paid Parental Leave and Recognition of Industry-Wide Pay Discrimination Michael Walker

From the time of an important labour tribunal decision in and adoption of birth control, made this scenario increas- 1907, Australia’s workplace system had been premised on ingly untenable. Women have entered the paid workforce the male breadwinner and minimum wages were based on in larger numbers since the 1960s and 1970s and set about the principle that the wage-earner should be able to sup- removing barriers to their full participation. port a family.[1] Any discussion about gender and work in Australia ought For many decades, working women received only a pro- to acknowledge the ideological divergence among wom- portion of the male wage: between two-thirds and three- en’s activists. There are a variety of viewpoints as to what quarters. Women were also expected to resign from em- policies are the most supportive of women. For the pur- ployment after getting married and thereafter focus on pose of this article I am going to broadly categorise them home-making. as a radical feminist camp and a moderate feminist camp.

Social changes, particularly the widespread acceptance The former school of thought is aimed at social change and policies that encourage women to be economically independent or even dominant while the latter promotes policies aimed at assisting women within existing social structures. The latter are more likely to acknowledge the ﬁnancial beneﬁt of forming two adult households.

Both camps agree that, at present, many women spend a large period of time out of the workforce caring for children or parents. The radical feminists want Australia’s Government to alter its entitlement schemes so that women are encouraged to participate in the workforce and therefore become masters of their own destinies. The moderates believe that marriage or at least long-term sta- ble relationships give women more choices and that family stability should be encouraged.

Notwithstanding the diﬀerent long-term goals, the diﬀer- ent strands of feminism have together managed to achieve substantial policy and legal reform. Particularly during the 1970s there was momentum for social change and governments in Australia and elsewhere moved to advance labour rights by ratifying ILO core standards.[2]

• Equal Pay – per ILO protocol 100: the Equal Remunera- tion Convention of 1951. Australia’s labour tribunals had fully removed overt gender diﬀerences in pay by the early 1970s [3] (but see below regarding the recent equal pay case).

• Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) – this Act implemented the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women[4]

• Aﬃrmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the then head of Australia’s Union for Women) Act 1986 (Cth) – this implemented the movement, Sharan Burrow, at the press conference announcing Paid Mater- 1958 Convention on Discrimination in Employment nity Leave. Sharan Burrow is now the head of the ITUC (ILO Protocol 111). Some states had passed similar

20 ASIA MONITOR RESOURCE CENTRE

laws even earlier. The 2011 Pay Equity Case

• Sexual Harassment was outlawed as a result of com- The Australian Services Union (ASU) represents employees mon law court advocacy in the early 1980s[5] of community-sector organisations such as charities. Its leadership is ideologically inclined towards the radical fem- • Personal/Carer’s Leave, the right to take off short peri- inist position set out above. The Union published research ods from work to deal with unexpected caring respon- showing that, despite having the right to an equal hourly sibilities, was granted by the labour tribunal in 1996 wage for the same work, the actual pay of women in pro- after a fifteen year campaign.[6] portion to men had been steadily falling ever since the advances of the 1970s because of divergent wage out- The 2010 Universal Paid Parental Leave Legislation comes in male-dominated and female-dominated indus- The campaign for paid parental leave took more than tries.[9] three decades. The right to return to work after unpaid Emboldened by Australia’s 2009 Fair Work Act, the ASU maternity leave was won in the labour tribunal in 1978.[7] mounted a case in the labour tribunal to have this earning Over time, the right to paid maternity leave was also won gap redressed. It was an audacious campaign as it was in collective agreements for a number of employers. effectively requesting a significant pay rise for an entire The right to universal paid parental leave was always the sector of the workforce. next step but was not achieved until 2011.[8] Under Feder- In early 2011 the case was decided in the ASU’s favour. al law, primary caregivers (usually the mother) now have the right to 18 weeks of paid leave at the national mini- Fair Work Australia, the labour tribunal, accepted the mum wage, which amounts to approximately AUD ASU’s main argument that community sector employees’ $10,000. It is paid, or at least ‘topped-up’, by the Govern- work is undervalued and, because they are overwhelming- ment but administered through the person’s employer. ly female, this amounts to discrimination.[10] It set a prec- edent by recognising discrimination against a class of per- The Act is a victory especially for the radical feminist posi- sons, not individuals. tion, as women who are not working prior to giving birth only have access to a social security entitlement called the Rather than simply issuing an order for wages to be in- Maternity Payment, which is a much lower $5,000 one-off creased overnight, Fair Work Australia gave the ASU, em- payment. ployers and the Government time to plan in detail how to redress the situation. The Government announced that it Moreover, if a recipient decides at the end of their mater- would subsidise the resulting pay rises because community nity leave that he or she does not want to return to work, sector employers are mostly charities. If they have to pay the payment is then forfeited and has to be repaid to the their staff more, it will reduce the resources they can allo- Government. In both of these ways it penalises women for cate to alleviating poverty and homelessness. choosing to stay out of the workforce. It might sound odd that the Government should have to The tax code still maintains preferential tax arrangements pay. The reason is that it already provides much of these for households in which one spouse remains at home. One charities’ funding because they are contracted as service of these, the “dependent spouse rebate”, dates from the providers to administer services which the Government Depression of the 1930s and is now being phased out. An- has outsourced. other, “Family Tax Benefit B” (originally the Family Allow- ance Supplement), was introduced in 1987 to counteract At the time of writing, negotiations continue. The Federal the gradual erosion of non-indexed social security pay- (Labor) Government recently increased the funds it has ments due to inflation. This benefit still remains in place pledged to implement the decision, raising the amount to because it would be politically unpopular to remove it. A$3 billion.

Union members rally outside the office of the Premier of the State of New South Wales in 2011, asking that he “Pay Up”

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 81 21

There is disagreement with State Governments however Secure Jobs Better Future (www.securejobs.org.au ) is who also provide funding for many of the organisations a major campaign being run by Australia’s peak employing these workers. The governments of the largest union body. This is a campaign to promote ongo- states are all conservative and have not been co-operative. ing jobs with predictable hours instead of con- If they hold their ground as appears likely the decision will tract, casual or labour-hire employment which have to be implemented and the cost shifted onto commu- today covers 40% of the workforce. Workers em- nity-sector employers who will be forced to cut jobs or cut ployed under one of these forms of employment services, unless some circuit-breaker is devised. do not get paid sick leave or paid holidays, which other (‘permanent’) workers do. Future battles Save Our Weekend (www.saveourweekend.org.au ) The ASU and its allies aren’t going to stop there; another seeks to preserve the nation-wide entitlement to issue they have highlighted is the disparity in retirement a higher rate of pay for work done on Saturdays savings between men and women which comes about and Sundays. This entitlement dates all the way because women who are out of the workforce do not re- back to the 8 Hour Day Movement, which ceive employer contributions towards their pension fund. achieved legal recognition for a 40 Hour Week shortly after the Second World War. Not only is Meanwhile moderate feminists have achieved increased there a social benefit in having most people take recognition that the country’s flexible, deregulated econo- the same days of rest but many workers would my creates a tension between people’s work and personal suffer a substantial pay cut if the higher weekend lives. pay rates were removed. This affects women more than men because women Take The Time (www.takethetime.org.au ) seeks to pre- continue to be primary care- vent stores from opening on Christmas Day and Boxing givers in most cases, and Day (December 25 & 26), Australia’s biggest holiday. Annu- find themselves trying to al extended family get-togethers are very common across manage uncertain work pat- these two days. If stores open, their employees would terns with care of children, have to go to work instead of being able to spend the time maintaining friendships and with their families. volunteering their time for civic and community groups. These three campaigns all seek to put the corporate agen- This is difficult to address da back in its box and make Governments and employers head-on but several current realise that human beings live in a web of relationships and union campaigns address have other obligations in their lives besides working. separate aspects of it: Endnotes

1 Ex parte HV McKay (Harvester Case), (1907) 2 CAR 1 http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/law/harvester.pdf

2 Robinson PK (2010) Do Voluntary Labour Initiatives Make a Diﬀerence for the Conditions of Workers in Global Supply Chains? JIR 52(5), 561, at 564. Available free online at time of writing.

3 Equal Pay Cases (1969) 127 CAR 1142 established principle of equal pay for equal work and National Wage and Equal Pay Cases (1972) 147 CAR 172 established principle of equal pay for work of equal value.

4 One perhaps unforeseen effect of this was the removal of discriminatory provisions relating to lifting limits, which Take The Time campaigners petition the New South Wales State Parliament came into effect in 1989. This is a controversial outcome as to keep stores closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day; Christine Goldring, a the difference in lifting capacity between men and women union member who works in a supermarket, collected over 500 signatures for is biologically demonstrable. Since the abolition of this the petition rule, my own union has frequently had to assist female

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members who have been injured at work because they 8 Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 (Cth) were asked to lift something that was too heavy. 9 See Equal Pay – What Happened? JIR 28:315-335, Sep- 5 O’Callaghan v Loder [1983] 3 NSWLR 89 tember 1986

6 Personal/Carer’s Leave Test Case (1995) 62 IR 48 http:// www.airc.gov.au/kirbyarchives/ 10 Equal Remuneration Case [2011] FWAFB 2700 http:// decisions/1995personalcarers.pdf www.fwa.gov.au/sites/remuneration/ decisions/2011fwa2700.htm 7 Maternity Leave Case (1979) 218 CAR 120 http:// www.fwa.gov.au/documents/education/ resources/1979_218_CAR_120.pdf

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 81 23

OSH Column Recent Situation of Occupational Health and Safety in Turkey Emre Eren Korkmaz

Losing lives or being injured by job accidents is a crucial ers died. In our country, 99 % of companies employ less problem in Turkey. Especially, at the crisis periods, number than 250 workers and 84 % of workers work for SMEs. 80 % of accidents and deaths increase as a consequence of the of job accidents occur in SMEs (MLSS, 2012) desire for maximum profit. Workers lose their lives or be- In Turkey, each day, 172 job accidents occur, 4 workers come permanently incapacitated because of not fulfilling lose their lives and 6 workers can’t work anymore. If we very easy safety measures. Laws and regulations on OHS compare this with the European level, conditions in Turkey are very weak and not influential. Working class is not or- is desperate. According to the Eurostat, in 2007, number ganized well; trade unions are weak, so employees’ de- of losing lives in 100 thousand workers is 12.3. The EU aver- mands for better OHS measure may not be achieved. age was 2.1. The closest to Turkey was Portugal with 5.2. In Let’s provide some statistics to understand the reality. 2006, this was 20.3 in Turkey, 2.4 in EU and 5.2 in Portugal. (MLSS, 2012) However real numbers are far more. These There are 16 million wage earners in Turkey. According to are the ones that could be recorded in registered work- the statistics of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, places. In most other cases, job accidents are not reported in industry together with workers in the service, there are to the authorities, employers pay some money, give some 10 million workers. The official unemployment rate is 9.4 % promises and get rid of any penalty. In 2012, 39 % of work- however according to the DISK Confederation, the real force was not registered and this was decreased from 45 % unemployment rate is 15 %. Working hours are very long in in last 10 years. There is no any official report on job acci- Turkey. According to a report of OECD in February 2013, dents for informal workers. However the Council of Occu- workers work 1877 hours per year in Turkey and do 101 pational Health and Safety which is a NGO that was hours overtime work than the world average (Hürriyet formed by a group of unionists and academicians collect newspaper, 22.02.2013). Government owned invest turkey news on this issue and report it monthly. These reports web site invites foreign investors as declaring that Turkish show clearly that there are more accidents and more workers work longer and fall sick less that their European deaths in informal sector, especially in construction and colleagues (invest.gov.tr, 25.02.2013). agriculture sectors. (COHS, 2013) Trade unions are weak in Turkey. According to Ministry’s According to the reports of the Council, in 2012, 878 work- February 2013 statistics, there are 1 million trade union ers lost their lives. 279 were in construction sector, 86 in members. However workers covered by collective agree- energy sector, 81 in mining sector. 149 was sub-contractor ments are less than this number. It is about 700 thousand worker. In naval docks, 154 workers died in last 10 years. In because of national and workplace thresholds to start bar- January 2013, 68 workers lost their lives as reported by the gaining process. 500 thousand of total union members are Council. (COHS, 2013) public workers, but this number decreases very fast due to privatizations and employment of contractual and sub- As a result of the increase in number of deaths, the Minis- contractor workers when formal employees retire. In pri- try had to take some steps. Especially, job accidents in vate sector, the real number of trade union members is dockyards, mines and textile workers that lose their lives less than 300 thousand (MLSS, 2013). Most unions repre- as a result of silicosis sickness, public pressure over the sent only a few thousand workers from their respective Ministry increased. In June 2012, Parliament accepted the sectors. This situation was created by the 1980 military new Act on OHS. However this Act is also criticized by junta government which initiated new laws and de facto trade unions. In the new Act, each company has to employ regulations to control and limit labour movement which a experts on OHS. But companies can buy these services had been increasingly militant, massive and dynamic in from private companies and these private companies are 1970s. Being a union member, especially in the crisis peri- responsible to the employer and their credibility should be ods, is seen as a luxury and unnecessary cost both for em- questioned. Secondly, employer does not have full respon- ployees and the state, trade union members generally face sibility and share his responsibility with OGS experts and with dismissals and oppression. they are punished too in case of accidents. When an accident occurs, only penalty is monetary penalty and they are According to the statistics of the Ministry, in 2011, 1563 not very effective. (COHS, 2013) workers died as a result of job accidents. In 2010, there were 63 thousand job accidents in Turkey and 1454 work- Apart from job accidents, psychological violence/mobbing

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are very widespread. According to a research in Turkey, in It would be a failure to define these as “accident”. Acci- 2012, 35 % of employees face mobbing. 81 % of mobbing is dent could be defined that occur after certain measures done by superiors and 77 % of victims are women. had taken. However, in our country, thousands of workers (Özkazanç, 2012) Especially union members are under pres- lose their lives because of not taking any small measure. sure to leave job “voluntarily”. Also workers lose their The main issue is the desire for over profit, over exploita- right of severance pay when they resign and mobbing is tion. Subcontracting working, informal working, long done to force unwanted workers to leave job with their hours, low wages do not provide any small space for social resignation in order not to pay severance. life to workers. Even their right to live is under threat. Therefore trade union’s strategy involves the struggle There is no any special law on mobbing in Turkey. On 19 th against job accidents. In many plants, unionization efforts March 2011, Prime Ministry declared a circular letter on are initiated to work in safer conditions that are more im- mobbing. And workers apply to the Court, it is not done portant than wage increases. via Labour Law but done via Law on Obligations. (Özkazanç, 2012) In textile sector, working condition and desire for over- References profit trigger the job accidents and occupational illnesses, Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanlığı (MLSS) (2013) İşkolu however these are the ones that could be easily prevent- Sendika İstatistikleri, www.csgb.gov.tr, Ulaşım tari- ed. The main reasons in textile sector are informality, long hi: 20.02.2013 working hours, not letting the use of weekly rest day, not Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanlığı (MLSS) (2013), 6331 paying wages regularly and fully, and not fulfilling Sayılı İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Kanunu, Ankara: ÇSGB measures for women workers. These reasons invite illness- Yayınları. es and accidents. (ILO, 2012) Hürriyet Newspaper, Dünyadan fazla çalışıyoruz, 22.02.2013 Occupational illnesses are very widespread in textile sector Invest in Turkey, www.investturkey.gov.tr, Ulaşım Tarihi: because of the dust in workplaces that causes lung diseas- 25.02.2013 es as silicosis and byssinosis. Dangerous chemicals also ILO (2012), 10 Adımda Düzenli Çalışma Koşulları, İş Sağlığı cause risks. Working places are very noisy. There are risks ve Güvenliği, Ankara: ILO yayınları. emerging from working tools and thermal conditions. Also İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Meclisi (COHS), fire is a serious threat. (ILO 2012) www.guvenlicalisma.org, Ulaşım tarihi: 20.02.2013 Özkazanç, A. (2012). İşyerinde Şiddet: Psikolojik ve Cinsel Generally, % 93 of job accidents occur from personal mis- Taciz, Ankara: ILO Yayınları. takes and 5 % from workplace conditions in worldwide however in Turkey, majority of job accidents occur because of working conditions. (COHS, 2013)

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 81 25

Regional Round-up Cambodia Discrimination against Independent union C.CAWDU is one of the independent trade union federa- In 2011-2012 Cambodia garment and shoe industries grown tions in Cambodia, which established in the year of 2000. larger than normal, It increased from 400,000 workers to In 2010 this trade conducted the general strike together 700,000 workers especially women and from more than with their allies to increase minimum wage to increase 400 factories to more than 600 factories. So this is mean- from $55 per months to $93 per months. There are ing that Cambodia benefit in employment growth and job 200,000 workers who participated in the general strike, creation. But it doesn't mean the working condition also after the strike government and employer agreed to in- improved automatically. crease minimum wage from $55 to $61 per months togeth- In 2012 only more than 2,000 workers in garment and shoe er with other benefit included but it is not only positive industries was fainted due to their work load and poor impact, it was also negative impact more than 1,000 work- working condition at the working place. After happened, ers and union activist was dismissed due to strike partici- government and others stakeholder included trade union pation. Since 2010 up to now C.CAWDU faced with many had their own explanation but the main problem didn't difficulty to bring all those workers and trade union activ- solved yet, it was only immediate problem that had been ist back to work. Together with the support of all partner solved such as taking workers to hospital and made them and stakeholder both national and international C.CAWDU work again. From the trade union perspective, there are manage to reinstate most of them back to work but until three main problems that cause this fainted problem (1) now still 80 workers and union activist has not yet rein- poor health and safety system (2) long working hours and stated even they had legal strength for their case such as poor working condition (3) low wage and lack of nutrition. court order and arbitration order so C.CAWDU has been So the long term solution is needed for this three main working on this issue very hard and we hope solved to this problem but we haven't seen much happen yet from the problem soon in 2012. government side and employer side but we don't forget As mentioned other benefit add to the income of the gar- one of the main stakeholder is branch name or buyer that ment and shoe workers, in 2012 C.CAWDU managed to get they need to take up the responsibilities also, recently one and increased more benefit for workers such as attendant of the big branch company proposed to set up food pro- bonus $10, $7 transportation or housing allowance and gram for workers to solved the three main problem which $0.5 for food allowance for overtime per overtime. not all the parties agree with this proposal. Industrial relation Migration increased In 2010, C.CAWDU together with the international union As I mentioned in the first that the working condition and ITUC had signed MOU with GMAC with all the other union wage in Cambodia still low, Cambodian workers continue in Cambodia. This MOU which aims to achieved the better to find better pay job outside of the countries which their industrial relation in the garment and shoe sectors focus three main destinations are Thailand, Malaysia and South on several issue such as (1) freedom of association (2) Korea. This migration form was happened both in legal binding arbitration council (3) collective bargaining agree- and illegal form and for the illegal mostly they go to Thai- ment promotion and (4) employment contract issue in land through border with help of middle man so they ar- Cambodia (Short term contract). In this relations employer rested by police and some time got kill by Thailand author- association and Cambodia government intended to ity which very sad for their family and the whole countries amendment labor law on employment relation article 63 image as well as global leaders who trying solve the prob- and 72 to make employment relation more flexibility but lem of poverty. Neither the less, migrant workers to Ma- this intention was not success because of all the trade un- laysia and South Korea also faced with many problem such ion reject this proposal, so this issue still pending included as violence at work and exploitation ( Malaysia and Cam- trade union law. We expected that this proposal will come bodia bilateral agreed stopped ) unable to change the job up again after the national election next year July, 2013. when workers faced with difficulties ( South Korea). By Kong Athit, C.CAWDU

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Unions demand for a democratic labor code in which state Turkey doesn’t intervene to internal relations of unions and they want to remove all procedures and bans to enjoy right to On The Trade Unions and Collective Relations Act of Tur- strike. key What is the current Act? The new “Trade Unions and Collective Relations Act” was Even AKP Government presents this new labor law as a approved by the Turkish Parliament on 18.10.2012. Despite democratic achievement, in fact it is worse than the exist- the ongoing protests and demands from the Labor Move- ing law which was written by military junta. Please note ment, AKP (The Justice and Development Party or Adalet that just 4 months ago, government banned right to strike ve Kalkınma Partisi) Government refused to listen these in civil aviation sector just one day before Union’s decision demands and drew the Act according to the demands of to declare strike. This ban reflects the logic of anti-union the employer associations. attitude of the current government. What was the previous act? By this law, employees, who work in enterprises with less The previous act was written by the military government than 30 employees, lost their unionization rights. Union after the coup d’etat in 1980 and it is the only law that members from these enterprises can not apply to the could remain without any significant change since 1980. In court for unionization issues. In Turkey approximately 80 % this law, the internal affairs of trade unions are strictly reg- of enterprises are small scale enterprises with less than 30 ulated by the state, right to strike became extremely diffi- employees. It would also be possible for companies to cult and solidarity/political strikes were banned. form sub-companies to get rid of unionization efforts.

To conduct collective bargaining/agreement, unions have Additionally, national sector threshold remains. Govern- to overcome two thresholds. The first is the 10 % national ment decreased it from 10 % to 3 %. The first year it would rd threshold in respective sector and the second is the 50 % be 1 %, the second year 2 % and 3 year and afterwards 3 %. plus 1 in company level. Additionally, despite the recogni- However by combining sectors, de facto threshold even tion of basic rights, workers could not enjoy them freely. In increased. For instance, for leather sector, there are private sector, the general tendency of employers is to 90.000 registered workers. With textile, this would in- dismiss unionized workers. Workers apply to the court for crease to 1 million. So for the Leather Workers Union, the reinstatement, court cases could conclude at least in two threshold increased from 10 % to 30 %. They would need years and even employer is found guilty, he has two choic- 30.000 members and in Turkey just a few unions can have es, either reinstate or pay a few thousand euros to work- more than 30.000 members. ers. These are just for affiliates of three recognized confedera- All these are obstacles for workers to unionize. For years, tions, DISK, Turk Is, Hak Is. For independent unions, thresh- as a result of the systematic pressure over unions, govern- old is 3 % from the beginning. The main reason is to avoid ment is aware that none of unions could pass national establishment of Kurdish trade unions and other independ- threshold and by delaying declaration of statistics since ent-socialist unions. 2009, unions could continue right to bargain collectively. Bans and limitations on right to strike and government’s According the law, registering to union has a difficult pro- involvement on internal structures of unions remain. Mem- cedure. Workers need to register union via notary. This bership via notary also remains for one year. requirement creates huge financial burden for unions This law is against ILO standards. Unfortunately, Turk-Is (almost 20 euro per member) and gives large opportuni- Confederation’s leadership signed this law without inform- ties for employers to be informed from unionization ing and consulting its affiliates. Until now, Türk-Is Confed- efforts. eration hasn’t stated any explanation. State divides workers to certain sectors and prohibits un- The main criticism of unions is the article that lifts unioniza- ions to merge with unions from other sectors and doesn’t tion rights for small scale enterprises and preserving let unions to recruit workers from other sectors. thresholds. Progressive unions also demand a democratic What do unions demand? act based on ILO without thresholds, bans and limitations.

Progressive unions demand to abolish all obstacles in front The only positive result of this law is the lift of the strike of unionization. National and company based threshold ban in civil aviation sector. As an ordinary attitude of the should be removed. Union membership via notary should government, this was declared indirectly without any self- be given an end. criticism. This could be understood by not mentioning civil

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 81 27

aviation sector in the list of sectors in which right to strike By Eren Korkmaz was banned. This achievement is the consequence of the long and determinant struggle of Hava Is union and all (International Oﬃcer/Leather Workers Union of Turkey other unions and pro-labor groups which are picketing to MA Student in Sabancı University, Turkey) protest strike ban.

standards. D.O. 18-A conceals the changes made in the Philippines “employee-employer” relationship in the guise of “trilateral relationship.” Primer on Department Order No. 18-A In the context of multiple subcontracting - which is widely practiced in the construction sector, the principal employ- What is Department Order No. 18-A? er can easily evade the contracted workers under the D.O. 18-A. Based on the explanation by DOLE, the “trilateral D.O. 18-A is the latest department order released by the relationship” cascades even to the lowest level of con- Department of Labor and Employment to further imple- tracting, making the “employee-employer” relationship ments contracting and subcontracting. It was issued and applicable between the lowest level of contractor and the signed by the Secretary of the Department of Labor and contracted worker. th Employment on the 14 of November 2011 and was ren- th dered effective on the 5 of December 2011. D.O. 18-A mentions the rights of contractual workers to whitewash contractualization What is Contracting and Subcontracting? There is a provision in D.O. 18-A which states the rights of There is contracting or subcontracting when an employer, contractual workers such as the right to a safe workplace, referred to as the principal, farms out the performance of 13 th month pay, and retirement benefits among others. a part of its business to another, referred to as the con- However, it is clear that it only reiterates the basic rights tractor or subcontractor. For the purpose of undertaking of workers – whether regular or contractual, as stated in the principal’s business that is farmed out, the contractor the Labor Code and International Convention on Labor. or subcontractor then employs its own employees. The D.O. did not create any new workers’ rights for the contractuals and penalties for violations. Another version of contracting and subcontracting is called outsourcing. In outsourcing, a company contracts Even though the D.O. reiterates the rights of contractual with another company to provide services that might oth- workers, D.O. 18-A remained mute on the issue of granting erwise be performed by in-house employees. Often the minimum wage to contractual workers. It only proves that tasks that are outsourced could be performed by the com- the D.O. does not intent to resolve the pressing down of pany itself, but due to the financial advantages gained wages which characterizes contractualization. Adding to from outsourcing, the latter option is sustained. The Philip- this, D.O. 18-A does not stipulate the contractual workers’ pines is considered to be one of the top labor outsourcing right to benefits as mandatory due to the reason that the hubs for the global outsourcing industry. benefits of contractual workers is dependent on the service agreement that will be signed. What are D.O. 18-A’s salient provisions? About the administrative requisites on being a legitimate The “employee-employer” relationship between the con- contractor tractor and the contracted worker D.O. 18-A mentions a few administrative requisites for a Under the D.O. 18-A, there exists an “employee-employer” contractor to be considered as legitimate. An example is relationship between the contractor and contracted work- the 3 million pesos as “substantial capital” needed to be er. Meanwhile, a “contractual” relationship exists be- considered as a legitimate contractor. If a contractor is tween the contractor and the principal, which is being re- proven to have less than 3 million pesos as substantial cap- flected in the service agreement signed by both. However, ital, it will be considered as “labor-only contracting”, there exists no relationship between the contracted work- which is illegal. er and principal. Under the D.O. 18-A, the responsibility of the principal towards the contracted workers is omitted. Also included in D.O. 18-A is the “mandatory registration” The contractor is the one responsible to the contracted of the legitimate contractors in the regional offices of the worker in terms of wage, benefits, and other basic work Department of Labor and Employment. Contractors need

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to pay 25,000 pesos to register and to obtain a Certifica- ing that their rights and interests are voiced-out. When all tion of Registration which will be valid for three years. To workers are provided for in tripartite councils are just to- renew the certification, contractors just need to pay an- ken representations. At the end of the day, it is the inter- other 25,000 pesos. If a contractor is not registered, it will ests of those big companies’ or capitalists’ that are taken be considered involved in labor-only contracting. into consideration, much like what happened in drafting the department order. Also, the unions who are allowed Even though there are requisites to be considered as a to engage in the dialogue are unions who upon their as- legitimate contractor, there are no penalties for those sessment are willing and capable of capitulating or com- who will be charged with labor-only contracting, aside promising the rights of the workers they claim to repre- from the simple cancellation of their registration. Adding sent in favor of the employers. Tripartism creates nothing to this, the requisite only protects the principal employers but a dangerous illusion that unities achieved through it from fly-by-night contractors and leave them with no re- have the seal and approval of workers despite its blatant sponsibilities with the contracted workers. disparity from what the workers truly desire.

It relies on Collective Bargaining Agreements or its be- Given such a situation, reliance and provisioning of ambig- stowed arbitrary authority to the TIPC to determine core uous authority to the TIPC as stipulated in Section 33 and and non-core functions that may be farmed-out or out- other sections is highly troublesome as we are not alien to sourced the fact that at the height of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) Circular No. 268, the Non-core functions are defined as those functions that Banking Industry Tripartite Council was more than liberal may be legitimately contracted or outsourced by a compa- in their interpretation of what “inherent functions” were ny. Under the Philippine Labor Code and D.O. 18-2002, and enforced the farming-out of every single one of them. determining core and non-core functions are management Affirming the oversight power of TIPCs and legitimizing it prerogatives. However, in D.O. 18-A determination of core through this department order, will only provide TIPCs and non-core functions are no longer management pre- with more elbow room to assign liberal and pro-employer rogative but instead fall under the authority of the TIPC or interpretations of this department order. Affirming the are reliant on what will be negotiated in the CBA. role of the regional/industrial TIPCs gives them the power to lord over ways of implementing wider contractualiza- Cooperatives are now considered as employers tion in favor of employers at the dire expense of workers.

While cooperatives are employees who compete with non How do we stand against D.O. 18-A? -cooperative members by farming out cheaper labor, requiring of them registration and registration fee and a Contractualization will remain to be the hand of the gov- standardized “substantial capital” of at least 3 million ernment in trying to maximize labor flexibilization coalesc- pushes the cooperatives to exhaust the business-side of ing with deregulation, privatization, and liberalization. the undertaking and pursue more profit, transforming Labor flexbilization requires work organization and em- them into real, legitimate contractors. However, as dis- ployment schemes to maximize profit gain. Contractual- cussed by the Bureau of Labor Relations on D.O. 18-A, the ization is the main aid in the fulfillment of this goal. Labor workers in a cooperative are not allowed to form unions, flexibilization through contracting, subcontracting, and contrary to the stipulations on the department order of outsourcing produces a cheap and abundant labor force the rights granted to them, as this would create an ab- which is essential in neo-liberal globalization. surdity where employees are bargaining with their co- employees. Therefore, there is no “good contractualization”. Labor flexibilization in fulfilling the neo-liberal agenda of the on- In what ways does D.O. 18-A strengthen tripartism? What going imperialist crisis can never be neutral. It is highly are its implications? biased and protects only one interest, and that is the interest of the imperialists. It will always be executed at the Given that only a very small part of the Philippine labor expense of workers in various countries and various indus- force is unionized, doubt is cast on the effectivity of tripar- tries who fall prey to their governments who act in ca- tism as a means of representing the workers. Because hoots with big capitalists to depress labor. The Depart- unions are few, and a smaller number are federated and ment of Labor and Employment’s issuance of D.O. 18-A is consolidated, discriminately calling on a few unions to nothing but mere politicking to coax workers into believ- speak for the vast majority of other unionized and non- ing that in contractualization, their rights can be protect- unionized workers do not seem representative. ed.

Tripartism is in fact, often used to coax workers to believ- Therefore the task at hand as workers, members of work-

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ers’ associations and unions, allies of labor organizations, • Join mobilizations against contractualization and labor advocates remains to be the wager of a stead- fast and vigilant fight against labor flexibilization and all its It is the task of every union member, employee, and or- schemes. We must: ganizer to see the perils that D.O. 18-A hold, to see through its pretenses and expose it for what it is for, a • Demand the repeal of D.O. 18-A ploy to deceive workers into thinking that contractualiza- • Lobby for a law that will illegalize contracting and tion is not the enemy, to settle for meager benefits, to subcontracting, support the Regular Employment Bill relinquish the fight for security of tenure and to serve and (House Bill 5110) secure the profit-gaining interests of employers. While the • Amend the Labor Code in such a way that will repeal Department of Labor and Employment launches more the over and extensive power of the Secretary of the elaborate tactics to put the workers in the dark, so must Department of Labor and Employment to issue de- we be more vigilant and persevering in attempting to partment orders that are substantive in nature and shed light on the matter.# assume the force of the Law • Unionize more industries and sectors By the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Re- • Launch fora and symposia on the effects of D.O. 18-A search, Inc. (EILER), Philippines and contractualization

ly, irregular worker union chapters aﬃliated to the Korean South Korea Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) exist at the Hyundai Mo- tor plants in Ulsan, Asan and Jeonju. The Signiﬁcance and Prospects of the Hyundai Motor Irregular Workers Hyundai Motor’s Obstinacy

In house Subcontactors, Illegal Dispatch In 2004, the Ministry of Labor found that 127 in-house subcontractors employing 9,234 workers at Hyundai plants Roughly 40,000 directly employed regular workers and were in fact illegal dispatch agencies. Energizes by this 10,000 irregular in-house subcontracted workers work for ruling, the Hyundai irregular workers struggle moved for- the Hyundai Motor Company. The in house subcontracted ward with full force. This struggle involved the occupation workers, who do the same work as regular workers inside of Factory 5 at the Hyundai Plant in Ulsan, the self- Hyundai Motor plants, but are formally employed by other immolation of one worker and the self-hanging of anoth- companies, are in fact no different from temp agency or er, and yet the company did not waiver in its position. ‘dispatch’ workers. Under South Korean law, dispatch employment is prohibited in the manufacturing sector. By In 2010, a historic Supreme Court decision found that law, therefore, Hyundai Motor should directly employ and Hyundai Motor irregular worker Byeong-seung Choe was ‘regularize’ these workers. Hyundai Motor management, an illegally dispatched worker and should, therefore, be however continued to refuse the regularization of the regularized. Still, Hyundai management refused to budge, irregular worker in its factories. calling the verdict “not the final decision” and even going so far as to make a second appeal to the Supreme Court. In 2003, Hyundai Motor irregular workers formed their In response, the Hyundai irregular workers occupied Fac- own union and have since fought to win regularization tory 1 of the Ulsan Plant from November 15 to November and the abolition of illegal dispatch employment. Current- 25, 2010 demanding regularization. At this time, irregular worker In-wa Hwang also set himself on fire in protest.

Hyundai Motor’s eﬀorts to crush the irregular workers’ struggle have been extreme. Over the last ten years some 200 workers have been ﬁred and the company has made claims for damages and provisional seizure of assets against union members worth several billion won (several million dollars). It has also sent managers and hired thugs to violently suppress protests.

The Legal Basis for Regularization

Finally, in February of this year the Supreme Court issued

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its final verdict finding that “Hyundai Motor has the re- At the same time, Hyundai Motor has carried out a cam- sponsibility to directly hire union member Byeong-seung paign of terror against the irregular workers. In one recent Choe, given that he is indeed an illegally dispatched work- incident, managers and hired thugs beat and kidnapped er.” Hyundai, however, refused to follow the Supreme officers of the KMWU Hyundai Motor Irregular Workers Court’s decision, claiming “because Byeong-seung Choe Branch, later leaving them outside factory grounds. The has been dismissed, the company has no obligation to irregular workers’ struggle has continued in the face of rehire him,” and filing a complaint with the National Labor these hardships, receiving considerable solidarity from Relations Commission (NLRC). The NLRC found that Choe unions around the country who have gathered in front of had been unfairly dismissed, but Hyundai has not rehired the Ulsan plant to hold solidarity protests. him, nor has it regularized any other in-house subcontracted workers. Seeds of Division

The main content of the Supreme Court decision is as fol- Meeting with the irregular workers’ union through the lows: “Due to the particular characteristics of Hyundai ‘Parent Company’ Subcontractor Workers Alliance’, the Motor’s automated-flow production method, which uses a regular workers union made a promise to work collectively conveyer system, the various steps of the manufacturing to achieve the regularization of the Hyundai irregular and assembly process must be carried out continuously workers. Last April, the Alliance put forth the following six without stop and, thus, cannot be independent. Given the demands: 1) regularization of all irregular workers em- fact that the in-house subcontractors in fact dispatch their ployed by in-house subcontractors; 2) immediate with- workers to Hyundai Motor and that these workers are drawal of all charges, arrest warrants, dismissals, claims directed and supervised by Hyundai Motor, the contract for damages and provisional seize of assets against in- between the in-house subcontractors and Hyundai Motor house subcontracted workers in relation to their struggle; falls in the category of a contract for dispatch labor.” 3) a public apology for the illegal acts and repression Thus, the Supreme Court recognized in-house subcon- against the irregular workers; 4) an agreement between tracting as illegal dispatch. labor and management to discontinue any further use of irregular workers, 5) an immediate end to structural ad- In addition, an amendment to the Act on the Protection, justment related to irregular workers, and 6) adherence to Etc. of Temporary Agency Workers, which went into effect labor laws with regards to the three irregular workers’ on August 2, 2012, stipulates that in cases where illegally union chapters and non-interference in union activities. dispatched work is verified, the parent company must directly employ the related workers even if they have only In fact, however, the regular workers union has come un- worked for a single day. The Ministry of Labor and Su- der heavy criticism failing to stick by these demands. En- preme Court decisions, the new revision of the Temporary gaged with Hyundai management around its own collec- Agency Worker Act and the general state of public opinion tive bargaining, the regular workers union accepted the are all highly disadvantageous to Hyundai Motor. proposal for 3,000 new hires. It even carried out a campaign to convince the irregular workers to go along with The Deceitful Proposal of 3,000 New Hires the proposal, leading to divisions among the irregular workers. Worrying that if they persist in struggle they Given this situation, Hyundai Motor finally put forward a might not even win fulfillment of the promise of 3000 new proposal to directly hire 3,000 of its in-house subcontract- hires, and some members have left the irregular workers ed workers as new employees by 2016. 3,000 hires, how- union. ever, is far less than the full number of in-house subcontracted workers. Moreover, 2,800 regular Hyundai workers are scheduled to retire by 2016. This means that Hyun- dai Motor’s proposal amounts to little more than filling the slots vacated by retiring regular workers with some of the irregular workers, excluding those who have been dismissed. The slots left open by the irregular workers who become directly employed would simply be filled by more in-house subcontracted workers. In other words, Hyundai Motor’s proposal amounts, not to the regularization of irregular jobs, but the passing of irregular jobs from one set of workers to another. It is Hyundai Motor’s plan to change the role of in-house subcontracted workers so that they will not qualify as dispatch workers by the above definition and, thus, free itself of the debate on illegal dispatch.

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 81 31

Given this situation, the irregular workers union demand- clude a provision for an increase in employees to accom- ed that the issue of irregular worker regularization be tak- pany the implementation of the two daytime shift sys- en out of the irregular workers union’s collective bargain- tems, meaning an increase in work intensity, and the fact ing and dealt with in a special negotiation session. To- that the bargaining committee had agreed to the belated wards the end of August, it also adopted a new policy of reinstatement of fired workers in the first quarter of next “winning regularization for members who stick with the year. The results of the union vote on the agreement re- struggle first.” The proclamation of this policy was an flected this atmosphere of discontent. The agreement effort to remobilize, yet it marks a retreat from the princi- barely past with a vote of 52.7% in favor. ple of “regularization of all in-house subcontracted workers.” Hyundai Motor’s profits in 2011 were 4.8 trillion won ($4.2 billion) a 36% increase over profits in 2010 (3.5 trillion The regular and irregular workers unions in a special negoti- won). Nonetheless, company management has main- ating session on August 20 tained its position that, while it might give a bit more to regular workers, it will never regularize irregular workers. Results of the Regular Workers Union’s Collective Bargain- By so doing, it has succeeded in creating division between ing the regular and irregular workers. Despite the agreement to revisit the irregular worker question in special negotia- On August 29, the Hyundai regular workers union reached tions, hopes are not high that the regular workers union an agreement in its collective bargaining with Hyundai will give the needed support to the irregular workers’ without settling the issue of the irregular workers. The struggle now that their collective bargaining agreement content of the agreement is as follows: 1) An increase in has been reached. basic wages by 98,000 won, a bonus of 350% of basic wages plus 9 million won and an incentive bonus of 150% plus Future Prospects 600,000 won (including a 100,000 won tradition market gift certificate), for a total increase of 27 million won per The irregular workers union must now regroup and pre- person; 2) a two-week trial of the two daytime shift sys- paring for the special negotiations. To do so, the union tem (replacing late night work), beginning on January 1, must succeed in re-energizing its members to struggle and 2013 and full implementation at all plants based on one 8- beat back company repression. It must also find a way to hour and one 9-hour shift. The issue of regularizing irregu- build common cause with active members of the regular lar workers was deferred to a future special negotiation workers union. Currently, the irregular workers union is session. planning a new struggle for the end of September and beginning of October. In the end, the struggle of Hyundai In the bargaining session that took place beginning at irregular workers, is the struggle of all in- house subcon- 5:00pm on August 29, 4 members of the union bargaining tracted workers South Korea. The solidarity of the labor committee walked out in protest against the company’s movement and all progressive forces is, therefore, abso- proposal. That night, the 4 bargaining committee mem- lutely essential. bers and some 50 Hyundai Motor Branch delegates and activists held a protest in front of the factory opposing the By RIAWM (The Research Institute for Alternative Workers agreement, which lasted until roughly 12:00am. Their criti- Movements), South Korea cisms focus on the fact that the agreement failed to in-

'living wage and safe workplace' in their factories after Bangladesh the rally.

May Day's call: 'Living wage and safe workplace' for RMG Of the workers, majority were women started the day's workers programs at 10:00 am and ended at 11:00 am to draw attention of the garment factory owners and country's gov- Thousands of garment workers had a huge rally at Paltan- ernment to meet their demands. Bijoynagar junction point in Dhaka city on May Day (Tuesday) holding red ﬂags, Bangladeshi Flags, banners, National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) has been festoons, and placards to observe the day under the lead- one of the major organizers of the day's programs in Dha- ership of National Garment Workers Federation. ka city gathered majority of the RMG workers, who in groups arrived at the venue listened to the speeches deliv- More than 5,000 garment workers paraded diﬀerent city ered by the NGWF central committee leaders chaired by streets shouting slogans and raising their strong voice for its president Amirul Haque Amin.

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On behalf of the RMG workers, the speakers said: "Though tres for the working women's children in the garment in- the RMG industry has passed 30 years in Bangladesh, the dustrial areas; 4) for arranging transport service for gar- living wages and safe workplaces are not ensured in the ment workers and 5) for constructing low-cost housing for RMG factories." the garment workers on the government land suburban areas of the city. "RMG workers cannot run their families with the present scanty wage; as a result, the RMG workers are still living in The speakers demanded to establish fundamental rights, the unhygienic slums and below poverty level." including formation of factory based trade unions and for- mulation of workers-friendly labor law in the country. The speakers, addressing both the government and factory owners, demanded BGD taka 5,000 (USD 62.50) as the Workers Party's general secretary Comrade Anisur Rah- lowest monthly salary for the RMG workers for a 'living man Mallik, National Sramik Federation's president payment'. Shafiqur Rahman Majumder, NGWF's general secretary Safia Parvin and NGWF's leaders Mohammad Faruque According to the speakers, the RMG workers are in an Khan, Nurunnahar, Sultana Akhter, Arifa Akhter, Kabir acute hardship due to continuous price hike of the essen- Hossain and others. tial commodities including food. Most of the national print and electronic media covered Among other problems, they speakers said that they (RMG the NGWF's events of the May Day-2012 in Dhaka. workers) die due to fire accidents and their fundamental rights are violated in many ways. By National Garments Workers Federation On the other hand, in the international markets, Bangla- deshi garment products are not getting fair price and tax- exemption facilities. This industry encounters a huge crisis due to lack of gas, electricity, transportation and water supply. The speakers strongly urged the government to solve these problems.

The speakers also said that the private sector female workers, including the RMG industries, have become victims of discrimination in relation to maternity leave when the present government announced 6-month maternity leave for public sector female workers and employees. Because maternity leave for the private sector female workers, including those in the RMG industries, remained 4-month.

"We want government's announcement making 6-month maternity leave for all women workers and employees, including those in RMG sector," speakers they demanded.

The speakers demanded of the government to make special budgetary allocation in the National Budget for garment workers for 5 areas. These are: 1) Allocation for establishing rationing system (supplying essential commodities, including food stuﬀs, at a subsidized price), 2) for establishing 10 'maternity clinics' for safe delivery in the garment industrial areas, 3) for establishing 15 day-care cen-

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 81 33

Resource/Review

chaebols, or family-owned conglom- erates.

Paradoxically, their ﬁnancial vulnera- bility often leaves smaller and independent media more susceptible to Samsung’s pressure, tacit or otherwise. In fairness, the six publications ran favorable reviews of the two comic books.

The Smell of Humanity is about the father of a 21-year-old woman worker who died of leukemia after having working for two years at a semiconductor lab of Samsung Electronics.

A Dustless Room is about how Sam- ployed at Samsung Electronics, Sam- sung’s clean rooms, where semicon- sung Electro-Mechanics and Sam- The Smell of Humanity and A Clean ductors are produced in an isolated sung SDS—the three electronics affil- Room, the two comic books about environment, were designed and run iates of the Samsung Group, the victims of occupational diseases at to protect the integrity of chips at country’s largest conglomer- Samsung the cost of the workers’ safety. ate. Among the 62 deaths were 55 Samsung employees. Bori and SHARPS are relying on word The Comic Book Ads That of mouth and Twitter for the promo- Money Can’t Buy In April 2012, Bori Publication Co., tion of the books. The Smell of Hu- Ltd. approached about six independ- manity and A Dustless Room current- ent print and online publications to ly rank second and third on the top An attempt by an independent pub- place ads for two comics, The Smell 100 comic books on Aladdin.co.kr, lisher to get the word out about of Humanity and A Dustless one of South Korea’s largest online more than a hundred victims of occu- Room. Only two publications, online bookstores. pational diseases at Samsung has hit daily Pressian and independent dai- an unexpected snag, after most of ly Hankyoreh’s Internet TV unit Hani By Supporters for the Health and South Korea’s handful of independ- TV, took the ads. One publication Rights of People in the Semiconductor ent media outlets refused to take rejected the ad after the publisher industry (SHARPS), South Korea advertisements for a set of two com- refused to remove references to ic books about the outbreak of a vari- Samsung from copy. Another publi- ety of blood disorders at Samsung’s cation rejected it, citing a conflict of electronics affiliates. interest between sponsors because Samsung is also a sponsor. A third As of March 2012, SHARPS has pro- publication demanded high premi- filed 155 workers who contracted ums for the ads. various forms of leukemia, multiple sclerosis and aplastic anemia after Samsung controls the lion’s share in years of employment in the electron- the advertisement market. Accord- ics industry in South Korea. ing to a survey, in 2008 the Samsung Group made up 40 percent of a total Of the 155, 62 have died. The majori- marketing and advertisement ex- ty of the workers, 138, were em- penses of the country’s ten largest

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entirely by a former SOE worker. leading organs work, from the Par- He reports on how the leading ca- ty committee to the director, the dres became the new bosses, and workshop managers, the security how mass organizations like the bureau etc.; it also reports on how trade union serve the party rather the trade union, the women associ- than common workers. ation and the Staff and Workers Representative Congress (SWRC) The first chapter is about his 20 functioned to serve the Party. year working life in the distillery factory since 1986. He recounts The third and fourth chapters con- how he felt proud of being an SOE sist of the author’s in-depth inter- worker because it meant a secure view with men and women fellow job, while on the other hand he workers, so as to allow their voices increasingly became irritated by the to be heard as well. bureaucratic privileges and more He remarked that “us workers My 20 Years with a State Enter- and more open corruption. In the must not let this page be filled only prise period 1994-7, when his enterprise underwent reform, he witnessed with the cheering for the victors”, Written by Fan Wendong the whole process of un-declared and that he wanted to add his voice Edited by Chen Jing privatization. He reports on how on this page of history as well. Translated by Eva To the leading cadres became the new Published by Globalization Monitor, bosses, the tricks used to cheat June, 2012 workers to buy shares, and how in the end most of the workers were dismissed.

Many writers have reported on the The second chapter is a cross sec- plight of SOEs workers and their tional analysis of the institutional struggles against privatization. arrangement of his plant and how What distinguishes this book from they functioned before and after others, however, is that it is written the privatization. It shows how the

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 81 35