WORLD NEWS AND POLITICS:
PAKISTAN FLOODS IN PERSPECTIVE:

The slow moving disaster in Pakistan changes its numbers every day. As I write today there are an estimated 20 million people affected. The reported death rate of 1,600 seems to have its meter stuck. The reason is that calculating those effected is simple. Simply take the pre-flood population of areas now underwater if you want a measure of the affected. Death rates are much harder to estimate in a country where the means of communication have basically been cut off in the flooded areas and huge numbers of people are on the move. The figure of 1,600 is undoubtedly far lower than the actual toll by at least an order of magnitude ie 16,000 is probably a low estimate while 160,000 is probably too high. While this is not of the same magnitude as the 1938, 1931, and 1887 floods in the Huang He (Yellow) river basin in China even the probable lower number easily earns this flood a place amongst the worst floods in history. For more info on the largest floods in history see here, here and here.

Still, this is certainly the largest recorded flood in the country of Pakistan. Members of Winnipeg's Pakistani community have been fund raising for disaster relief since the beginning. This has mostly been done through the Association of Pakistani Canadians, 348 Ross Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3E 0L4. Phone # 204-943-6928. Get in touch with them if you would like to donate. The funds raised will go via the Red Cross (forwarded to the Pakistani Red Crescent), and Human Concern International. You might also donate via these organizations. The latter is particularly interesting as they claim that 95% of funds donated go directly to relief work, something that might give some pause in the case of other charities.

All that being said there is something quite disturbing about the response or lack thereof of the international community to the Pakistani floods. Molly reproduces below one anarchist comment on this from the website of the Irish Workers' Solidarity Movement. In actial fact the glaring contrasts between the response of international governments and their spending on what they consider important is far more glaring than the following suggests. I'll speak more about this at the end of this post.
PAPAPAPAPA
Response to Pakistan floods shows barbarism of system
Date: Tue, 2010-08-17 14:31
Radio, television and newspaper reports of the recent devastating floods in Pakistan are at last beginning to refer to the sheer scale of the problems faced by the victims. Figures for the number of people affected vary widely. According to the Irish Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power, reported in today’s (Tuesday) Irish Times, “the United Nations estimated that 40 million people had been left homeless; that eight million of those were in urgent need of immediate food and shelter; and that the combination of rising water and humidity had made a cholera epidemic a real danger”. RTE’s website says “Aid agencies are saying that the world does not fully understand the scale of the flooding disaster ….. One fifth of the country has been hit by severe flooding, with more than 20m people affected…..The UN believes up to 3.5m children are now at risk of contracting water-borne diseases….”.

Whatever the numbers, it is clear that the devastation caused is unprecedented. Apart from the immediate short-term needs in terms of shelter, food and clean water, the Pakistani poor and working class are facing food shortages, higher food prices and increased poverty and deprivation for considerable time to come. Already the price of vegetables has increased by about 100%, sugar has gone up by over 20%, and the price of other staple foodstuffs has rocketed. Transport prices too have soared as operators exploit the desperation of those trying to flee the devastated areas.

Caught between the authoritarianism of a corrupt government which spends huge amounts annually on its military - the defence budget for 2010/11 increased by 17% to 442.2billion rupees (over 4billion Euros) – and the authoritarianism of the Taliban ‘rebels’, the ordinary people of Pakistan face a seemingly hopeless situation. Protests have broken out across the country demanding much-needed aid and support for the victims.

The United Nations Secretary General has announced its biggest ever relief effort and made an appeal for $460million (€358million). The response of the world’s governments has been pathetically slow with less than a quarter of this amount pledged.

It’s worth stopping for a moment and considering a couple of figures – Pakistani government military spending this year at €4billion will be over 10 times the total flood relief pledged by the United Nations. The Irish government meanwhile will throw €24billion (do the maths – that’s over 60 times the total flood relief pledged by the United Nations!) down the Anglo Irish Bank black hole and into the pockets of wealthy speculators.

And they tell us that capitalism works!
PAPAPAPAPA
Here are some facts that put what is happening in Pakistan and the world's response to it in perspective:
>>The article above mentions the yearly military budget for Pakistan. Right next door to this country the US military is waging what may turn out to be its longest war ever. In 2009 the USA spent $3.6 billion a month on this war. According to an article in USA Today the cost by February of this year had climbed to $6.7 billion a month, and by the end of 2010 the Afghan war will be costing $8.9 billion a month. The estimated cost in 2011 will be $9.75 billion a month. So far the USA has pledged (not delivered yet) $70 million. Take out your handy dandy calculators. That 70 million amounts to a little less than 4/5ths of one percent of what the US is presently spending per month on their operations in Pakistan's neighbour. I think this shows just how "seriously" the US takes the welfare of people in Pakistan.
>>To add injury to insult the USA has not even called at least a temporary halt to its remote controlled terrorism in Pakistan. Just last Saturday US missiles fired from a drone killed 12 people in the village of Issori in North Waziristan.
>>Meanwhile each and every US military helicopter that arrives in Pakistan is sure to get its own golden glowing press release. At the same time as its missiles were raining down on Issori last Saturday a "wonderful" total of 2 came to flood aid. On Monday this was doubled to an "astounding" total of four. I wonder how many US helicopters are in Afghanistan. Surely the US military could at least slow down on its attacks on wedding parties and other such things to divert a few more of them to Pakistan. There'll still be crowds of Afghans left over to attack later after all.
>>Finally, in perhaps the starkest light, the pledged US aid to Pakistan is almost exactly the same as another sum that was recently in the news. The 70 or 76 million dollars is about the same sum that Madonna recently paid in a divorce settlement to be able to ditch her latest husband. That says it all.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-PAKISTAN:

COKE WORKERS IN PAKISTAN STRUGGLE FOR A UNION:

Coca-Cola is, not surprisingly, one of the corporate sponsors of this year's World Cup in South Africa. Yet they steadfastly refuse to play fair in their bottling plants across the world. Here's a story and appeal from the international union federation the IUF about the struggle for a real union amongst Coke workers in Pakistan.

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Coca-Cola Pakistan Greets New Union with Death Threats, Abduction, Extortion and Dismissals
Since forming a union at Coca-Cola's bottling plant in the southern Pakistan city of Multan in June 2009, members have met with death threats, abduction, firings, extortion, forgery and fraud. It's been a long wait for rights and recognition - and not exactly refreshing.

In addition to the threats and dismissals, management has manipulated the relevant authorities to stop the legal registration of the union. Workers' social security documents have been massively falsified to “transfer” regular workers to a fictitious labour contractor in order to 'prove' that they don't work for Coca-Cola, and can't join a union of Coca-Cola workers! Management created a yellow union – but even the alleged president of that union testified that he had never attended the founding meeting, was not the president and had never applied for registration!

The Multan plant is part of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited (CCBPL), jointly owned by Turkish bottler Coca-Cola Icecek (CCI) and The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) based in Atlanta, which sits atop the global Coca-Cola system.

The Multan workers need your support. Despite all these illegal acts the union officers and their supporters remain steadfast in their determination to win union recognition and become the IUF’s newest members in the Coca-Cola system.
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THE LETTER:

Please go to this link to send the following message to the Coca Cola company telling them that you support their Pakistani workers.

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To Ed Potter, Director Global Labor Relations, The Coca-Cola Company
Hüseyin Akin, President, International Operations CCI
Aliye Alptekin, Human Resources Director CCI
Ronald Jones, President, Middle East & Pakistan Region CCI

Dear Madam/Sirs

I am shocked and outraged to learn that management of your bottling plant in Multan, Pakistan, has committed an escalating series of illegal and criminal actions in an effort to block the establishment of the new union at the plant. According to reliable information these acts have included death threats, abduction, transfers, dismissals and the fraudulent falsification of employment records in a campaign to destroy the union.


These acts are in flagrant violation of international human rights norms and Conventions. I therefore call on you to ensure that: all acts of intimidation against members and supporters of the People's Employees Union at the Multan plant cease immediately; that the company cease its efforts to block the union's legal registration: that managers and other company employees who organized or committed such actions are identified and all those implicated in violence or threats of violence are removed; and that trade union rights are fully respected at the plant.

Yours sincerely,

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-PAKISTAN:
SUPPORT HOTEL WORKERS IN KARACHI:

The following is from the international union federation, the IUF.
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Tension Escalates At Pearl Continental Karachi as Workers Contest New Management Brutality
Tension is building to a crisis point at the notorious Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi, Pakistan, as 4 elected union leaders continue to resist their illegal dismissal on February 24 by refusing to leave the hotel and union members and supporters maintain a vigil outside.




The sit-in and supporters' camp outside the luxury establishment have been continuously maintained for three weeks following the dismissal of four officers including the union President, Vice-President and Vice-Chairman. The dismissed leaders and the growing number of supporters outside have vowed not to move until the illegal dismissals are withdrawn and the hotel management agrees to negotiate issues unresolved at the hotel since 2002, including previous sackings of other union officers and members.




For eight years management has been brutally and systematically seeking to destroy the Pearl Continental Karachi Union through anti-union dismissals, intimidation, violence and false imprisonment (background). In 2002, three union leaders were illegally jailed for months while management and the police conspired to link them to various alleged criminal acts. In 2009, after 7 years of vilification and false accusations, their cases were thrown out of the courts in a decision which declared that "Doubt prevails in every nook and cranny of this case."



In 2003, the Committee on Freedom of Association of the ILO determined that grave violations of union rights had been committed by the hotel management and local authorities.and instructed the government to fully investigate the incidents of police detention, violence and harassment of union members.




Neither the hotel management nor the government of Pakistan has responded to this decision. Eight years on the union continues to struggle for legal recognition of its rights. Because the union's demands have been pending before the labour court and the labour department since 2002, no union officer can be legally terminated without the authorization of the labour court.




The February 24 dismissals triggered a response born of 8 years of frustration, with the dismissed officers refusing to leave the hotel until they were reinstated and supporters including family members, fraternal unions, social and human rights activists showing continuous support outside. On March 1, police assaulted the supporters outside the hotel, including women and children, holding them in detention. They were released following a protest action outside the prison - and returned to the supporters' camp.




Management is pressing for new police action through the use of warrants and new court orders, but the depth of support for the Pearl Continental workers has left the police hesitant - for now - to forcibly remove the officers inside or assault the supporters outside the hotel.




The IUF Pakistan office has mobilized wide support to press for restraint by the police and civil authorities and to resolve the conflict through negotiations. International pressure is urgently needed. Please write the hotel management and the parent company to tell them to withdraw the latest dismissals and to begin negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues.
Eight years of assaulting and repressing union members and officers, censure by the United Nations' ILO and continuous human rights violations is enough!

CLICK HERE to send a message to the hotel management and to the parent company
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The Letter
Please go to this link to send the following protest letter to management at the Pearl Continental Hotel. Or click on the link above.
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To
*Dr. Salim Mehmud
Senior Executive Advisor
Pakistan Services Limited


*Zulfiqar Malik
General Manager
Pearl Continental Hotel Karachi
Dear Sirs
In 2003 the United Nations' ILO determined that serious violations of trade union rights had occurred at the Pearl Continental Karachi hotel, and called for the anti-union practices to be rectified.



I am outraged to learn that management stils refuses to recognize the Pearl Continental Hotel Workers' Union and that on February 24 four elected office bearers were dismissed - illegally, because the union's charter of demands from 2002 is still pending due to management's hostile attitude towards the union. Attempts to forcibly remove the dismissed officers and disperse their many supporters outside will only worsen the situation and cause further reputational damage to the hotel.



I urge you to immediately withdraw the suspensions and to enter into good faith negotiations with the Pearl Continental Karachi Workers' Union.
Yours sincerely

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-PAKISTAN:

SNEAKY TEA:

Molly has reported before on this blog about the continuing struggles of workers employed by Unilever/Lipton in Pakistan to obtain decent paying regular work. This will undoubtedly be an ongoing story. Here's the latest story and appeal from the international union federation, the IUF.

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Addressing Poverty' at Unilever Pakistan: the Politics of Retribution:

Casual workers at Unilever's Lipton tea factory in Khanewal, Pakistan formed an Action Committee last year to challenge their disposable status and fight for their rights. As documented meticulously on this site, members have been denied work, demoted and pushed into even deeper poverty in an attempt to break their resistance.

Look beneath the surface - how does Unilever address the poverty of its own, increasingly disposable workforce? How are they contributing to socially sustainable employment?

Presumably because Unilever's other tea factory in Pakistan - a nameless enterprise on Unilever-owned land run by former Unilever managers with Unilever equipment, staffed by 100% casual workers - is unable to keep up with the surge in demand presented in the company's latest annual report, production has increased at the Unilever- owned and operated Khanewal plant. So management has been forced to call on the skills of its casual Khanewal workers, many of them trained in advanced quality control practices (but denied direct employment status).

So Action Committee members are working more hours - but management has been meticulous in seeing to it that workers demanding their rights are still denied the 26 days' work per month they need to qualify for the minimum wage. They're still being paid 252 Rupees per day - the equivalent of slightly over 3 US dollars.

In June and July this year, only one Action Committee member qualified for the monthly minimum wage by working 27 days. The politics of retribution still condemn the hundreds of Action Committee members to even deeper poverty and exclusion.
STOP DISCRIMINATION AND REPRISALS AGAINST THE KHANEWAL ACTION COMMITTEE WORKERS - CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO UNILEVER!

Tell corporate management to stop retaliating and start negotiating!. The Lipton Khanewal casual workers fighting for justice through their Action Committee must be given permanent, direct employment status.

http://www.casualtea.org

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THE LETTER:

Please click the link above to send the following letter to Unilever management.

ILILILILILILIL

To Mr. Paul Polman, CEO Unilever
Your website claims to recognize 'issues' in the disposable jobs regime in the Khanewal Lipton factory which limits direct employment to a mere 22 employees - and claims to be addressing them. It goes on to claim that you are willing to 'seek mediation' at the OECD.

In fact it is the IUF which approached the OECD. Unilever's response has been to collectively punish workers seeking their rights. While new casual workers are being employed at the same disposable jobs, Unilever management has been systematically denying work to members of the Action Committee, driving them deeper into poverty and debt. Employment discrimination must stop now! Make the Khanewal casual workers permanent through direct negotiations with the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan!
Yours sincerely,

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-PAKISTAN:

PUT MORE PRESSURE ON UNILEVER:

The following story and appeal is from the international union federation the IUF. It's about a subject that has been mentioned here before ie the continued practice on the part of the multinational Unilever of reducing their employees to casual labour with all that that implies in terms of work conditions and remuneration. It's also about Unilever, despite its protestations of "ethics", punishing those workers who dare to speak up. Help these brave workers. Respond to the following call for solidarity.

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Working at Lipton Casual-T Episode II: Unilever Pakistan Punishes Rights Activists:

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"Our People Vitality programme aims to enhance the personal well-being and effectiveness of our people, through advice on exercise, nutrition and mental resilience. During 2008 the programme was rolled out to our operations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The programme is already showing positive results. Participants have reported improvements in their quality of sleep, energy levels, motivation and work performance."
"Sustainability" at www.unilever.com

So who needs rights when you can have People Vitality?

Since the Lipton Khanewal workers formed their Action Committee to fight for their rights, members have been denied work, demoted and pushed into even deeper poverty in an attempt to break their resistance. At the same time, some 100 new contract workers - with no experience, skills, or seniority (over 20% of the workforce) have been taken on in the midst of what the company contends is a production downturn… but is clearly a show of force to weaken the Action Committee and the IUF.

Nadeem Shakeel, Khanewal worker, earning less than USD 3 daily with no guarantee of work under the "no work, no pay" system of casual employment at Lipton Pakistan "

“I was a data entry operator paid a daily rate of Rs.250 per day. But after I helped organize the action committee and started talking about our rights I was demoted to the job of machine operator. But I’m paid the minimum wage for an unskilled worker – just Rs.232. I’m a data entry operator working with computers. But Unilever says I’m unskilled just because I spoke out about our rights.”
STOP DISCRIMINATION AND REPRISALS AGAINST THE KHANEWAL ACTION COMMITTEE WORKERS - CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO UNILEVER!

Tell corporate management to stop retaliating and start negotiating!. The Lipton Khanewal casual workers fighting for justice through their Action Committee must be given permanent, direct employment status.
www.casualtea.org

ILILILILILILIL

THE LETTER:

Please go to the link above to send the following letter to Unilever management.

ILILILILILILIL

To Mr. Paul Polman, CEO Unilever
Your website claims to recognize 'issues' in the disposable jobs regime in the Khanewal Lipton factory which limits direct employment to a mere 22 employees - and claims to be addressing them. It goes on to claim that you are willing to 'seek mediation' at the OECD. In fact it is the IUF which approached the OECD. Unilever's response has been to collectively punish workers seeking their rights. While new casual workers are being employed at the same disposable jobs, Unilever management has been systematically denying work to members of the Action Committee, driving them deeper into poverty and debt. Employment discrimination must stop now! Make the Khanewal casual workers permanent through direct negotiations with the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan!
Yours sincerely,

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-PAKISTAN/EUROPE:

The international union federation, the IUF, has long been campaigning for decent working conditions and wages for workers employed by the Unilever multinational in Pakistan and India. This year they turned out for the annual Unilever shareholders' meeting in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Here is the story as told by the IUF.

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'Adding Insecurity to Life': Dutch Unions Challenge Unilever Shareholders on Repressive Employment Practices Behind CSR Spin:

Posted to the IUF website 18-May-2009

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The Dutch national center FNV and the IUF-affiliated FNV Bondgenoten turned out in force for Unilever's May 14 annual shareholder meeting in Rotterdam, highlighting the squalid social practices behind the company's well-polished "corporate social responsibility" public relations spin.

Unilever workers and support groups were massed at the two meeting entrances, handing out campaign material in support of the IUF's Unilever Pakistan campaign and the newly published "Erratum - Adding Insecurity to Life", an 'alternative annual report' contrasting Unilever practices with the empty claims of the slick company report and massive advertising. Published with the support of the FNV/ Bondgenoten, the UK TUC and Unite and the India Committee of the Netherlands, "Erratum" (available here as a pdf download in English from the FNV website ) makes extensive use of published IUF materials on the systemic abuse of casual labour and union busting in Pakistan but also reports on social conditions on Indian tea plantations supplying to Unilever as well as the company's environmental devastation and mercury poisoning at the site of its former thermometer factory in Kodiakanal, India, among other issues. For the first time, unions forcefully presented evidence to shareholders of massive corporate social irresponsibility at Unilever, prompting awkward questions from the floor. The action, which was accompanied by music and street theater, compelled Unilever corporate management to meet with an IUF/FNV delegation and received wide coverage in the Dutch media.

For the previous day's meeting of Unilever PLC shareholders in London, the IUF-affiliated Unite issued a press release in support of the Pakistan workers' fight for direct, permanent employment.

The latest news from the IUF's campaign for decent work at Unilever Pakistan are available on the Casual-T and LUXurious profits web pages.
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Here, also from the IUF, is more on these workers and their struggles, as well as a online petition that you can sign in their support.

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DECENT WORK NOT DISPOSABLE JOBS:
In 2007, nearly 300 workers at the Unilever factory in Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan, after struggling for years to feed themselves and their families on "temporary" contracts, sought permanent employment status and union membership. They were fired in the presence of armed policemen and Elite Troops - and instantly replaced with contract workers performing identical tasks. With the support of the IUF and the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers, they formed an Action Committee to fight for full reinstatement as directly employed, permanent workers. Their fight for justice continues - and needs your support.

The Unilever workers in Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan make some of the company's leading billion dollar "global brands", including Lux and Sunsilk products. These brands, according to Unilever, "are the pulse and heartbeat" of the people of Pakistan. Yet for decades, the company has paid them with the steady destruction of permanent, direct employment. At the plant today there are a small, steadily shrinking group of 145 permanent workers, and some 500 casual workers supplied by dozens of contractors.

Unilever's web site tells us that "The company operates through 4 regional offices, as well as 4 wholly owned and 6 third party manufacturing sites across Pakistan." Hugely profitable Unilever Pakistan claims to have thousands of employees, but the reality is that the company has only 314 employees on direct, permanent contracts in its entire country-wide operation. Unilever has been waging a relentless war on permanent employment, and now relies on a vicious system of disposable jobs - agency workers who can be sent home if there is no work, receive a poverty wage, and enjoy no pension or other benefits. Agency workers can't join a union of Unilever employees, because formally they are not employed by Unilever.

In 2007, a group of 292 "temporary" workers at the Rahim Yar Khan factory challenged the system of disposable jobs. They demanded the right to permanent, direct employment.

These temporary workers had been hired directly by Unilever on renewable 9-month contracts - and should have been made permanent after 9 months of continuous employment, according to Pakistan law. Most of them had worked at Rahim Yar Khan for years. The workers sought membership in the union which helped them fight for their legal right to permanent employment, including filing dozens of cases in the labour court.

Unilever responded by militarizing the plant, filling it with armed police and Elite Troops. The temporary workers were forced to sign their termination letters in the presence of armed police. Within 24 hours, they were replaced by agency contract workers.

Despite the severe difficulties and risks of fighting Unilever in a town it dominates, the dismissed temporary workers bravely continue their fight for justice. They are fighting for the rights and dignity of casual, abused precarious workers everywhere.

Support the Lux workers' struggle for justice and an end to disposable jobs - click here to send a message to Unilever:
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New Management Tricks to Block Negotiation over Mass Firings at Unilever Pakistan:

In 2007, nearly 300 workers at the Unilever factory in Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan, after struggling for years to feed themselves and their families on "temporary" contracts, sought permanent employment status and union membership. They were fired in the presence of armed policemen and Elite Troops - and instantly replaced with contract workers performing identical tasks. With the support of the IUF and the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers, they formed an Action Committee to fight for full reinstatement as directly employed, permanent workers with the right to join the union. Read more.

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No Vacancy' Defense of Disposable Jobs Regime Designed to Block Negotiation:

To support the Rahim Yar Khan Lux workers' fight for justice, the IUF filed a complaint with the OECD, whose Guidelines for transnational companies include adherence to ILO Conventions on the right of workers to organize trade unions and bargain collectively with employers. For a year-and-a-half, Unilever corporate management strongly resisted negotiating a solution to the conflict. Now that negotiations are at last supposed to be proceeding under auspices of the UK government, the company has taken to reshuffling the plant operations in order to thwart the negotiation process. Read more.

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THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to Unilever management.

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I am outraged to learn that 287 workers on temporary contracts at the Rahim Yar Khan factory were fired in October 2007 in the presence of armed police and Elite Troops for seeking to regularize their employment status in conformity with the law, and that they were immediately replaced by casual workers performing the same tasks supplied by a labour contract agency. Shame! Unilever must engage in immediate good faith negotiations with the IUF to ensure that these workers are unconditionally reinstated as permanent, direct employees.
Yours sincerely

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-PAKISTAN:

UNILEVER/LIPTON WORKERS FIGHT FOR SECURE EMPLOYMENT:

Here's a call for solidarity with Pakistani employees of the Unilever Corporation who have been held, often for decades, as "temporary employees", denying them the rights associated with permanent status. The following is from the IUF.

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Unilever Lipton Tea Workers Challenge Disposable Jobs Regime, Demand the Right … to Work for Unilever!:

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Click here to send a message to Unilever!

Supported by the IUF-affiliated National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan, over 700 contract agency workers at Unilever's last directly-owned and operated Lipton tea factory in Pakistan are stepping up their campaign for permanent job status. The workers will be launching a series of national and local actions, and urgently need your support.

While Unilever worldwide is funding its hugely expensive share buyback and super dividend program through massive subcontracting and selloffs, Pakistan management has set new standards for exploiting precarious employment through disposable jobs. Unilever Pakistan's tea factory in Khanewal, Punjab province, produces two of the biggest packaged tea brands in the country, Brook Bond and Lipton. Lipton is among Unilever's top "billion dollar brands", the 2 dozen brand products that generate 75% of corporate revenue.

Until August 31 of last year, Unilever had a second Lipton factory, in Karachi. That plant employed 122 permanent workers, and 450 casuals. But that was too many permanent workers for Unilever, so the plant was abruptly closed and production transferred to a former warehouse nearby - with 100% outsourced, temporary staff.

Unilever's Khanewal factory employs 22 permanent workers, union members who are covered by a collective agreement. But another 723 workers are hired through six contract labour agencies.

The small number of permanent workers receive a monthly base wage of PKR 18,000 - some USD 226. The basic wage for those providing disposable, "temporary" work is PKR 6,000 if they're lucky enough to work a minimum 26 days. Otherwise the daily wage is PKR 232 - less than three dollars a day. Where permanent workers receive double for overtime/holiday work, agency workers simply receive the basic hourly wage. Disposable workers have no annual or medical leave. From one week to the next, they do not know their assignments or work schedules - or whether they will have work.

The majority of these workers have worked for more than 10 years at the Khanewal factory, with an average of 15 years and some as long as 30 years. But since they're not formally employed by Unilever, they are barred from joining a union of Unilever workers and bargaining with Unilever as their employer.

All of these workers should by law have been granted permanent jobs as soon as they completed 9 months of continuous employment. More than a decade later - and in some cases three decades later - they are still contract agency workers. These workers should not only have permanent employment status in accordance with the law, but they should be directly employed by Unilever. The labour hire agencies supply labour exclusively to the Unilever Khanewal factory. The agencies hold bogus addresses in the nearby town but in reality operate their offices inside the Unilever factory itself.

Two Lipton workers dismissed in August after 30 years of working at Unilever's Khanewal tea factory at minimum wage received no social security, medical benefits or pension. Workers like these built the profits which allowed CEO Niall Fitzgerald to retire from Unilever in 2004 with a GBP 17 million golden handshake.

Determined to build a more secure future, and to avoid the victimization which was the fate of workers involved in earlier struggles challenging precarious employment at the factory, the contract agency workers formed the Unilever Mazdoor Union Khanewal. Supported by the IUF-affiliated National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan, the union is assisting contract agency workers to file petitions in the Labour Court to secure their right to permanent employment. The union has organized rallies and demonstrations and publicized their struggle, but so far without success - the contract workers have not been made permanent, and Unilever has reacted viciously to similar efforts to end the company's disposal employment regime at other production sites. At the company's consumer product factory in Rahim Yar Khan, for example, where Unilever's employment practices are yet again the subject of a formal IUF submission to the OECD, Unilever fired close to 300 workers who announced their intention to struggle for permanent employment status. International support is urgently needed as the Khanewal union gears up for a new round of public action to press their case.

The Lipton workers are fighting for the right of workers everywhere to decent work - secure employment, a living wage, health and retirement benefits, and the right to join a trade union with a collective bargaining relationship to their real employer.

To support their struggle CLICK HERE to send a message to Unilever. Tell corporate management that the Lipton Khanewal temporary workers must be given permanent employment status - and the way to implement this is through direct negotiations with the affiliated National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan.

Copies of your messages will be sent to Unilever corporate and Pakistan management, to the union, and to the IUF secretariat.

You can give additional support by taking a moment to visit: http://www.unilever.com/sustainability/.

Scroll down the page to a section on the lower right entitled "Sustainability during the credit crunch" (as if sustainability varied with interest rates!). There you can "vote" yes/no to the question "Do you consider sustainability in your product purchasing decisions?" This is followed by " "Please tell us what actions you are taking to make the world more sustainable", with fields for name/message. Please take a moment to send the following response, or a message of your own: "Sustainability is about investing in sustainable jobs - over 700 workers at the Khanewal Lipton factory are disposable workers hired through labour hire agencies, with no employment security and inferior wages and benefits though many have worked continuously for decades. Make the Khanewal workers permanent through direct negotiations with the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan!"
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THE LETTER: Please go to one of the highlighted links above to send the following letter to Unilever management.

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To Mr. Paul Polman,

CEO Unilever

Your website claims that 'Unilever people are doing jobs that contribute to the environment and society.' Yet over 700 workers at the Khanewal Lipton factory who make one of your 'billion-dollar brands' are not 'Unilever people' - they are disposable workers hired through labour hire agencies, with no employment security and inferior wages and benefits though many have worked continuously for decades. Make the Khanewal workers permanent through direct negotiations with the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan! Yours sincerely,

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-PAKISTAN:

SUPPORT THE WORKERS OF NAVEENA TEXTILE:

The foillowing appeal is from the Clean Clothes Campaign, an international support group for workers in the textile industry.

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Pakistani Police Attack Peaceful Demonstration at Naveena Textile - Send a Letter Today!‏:
Three hundred workers have been locked out and six face charges for participating in a peaceful demonstration protesting illegally low wages at Naveena Textile Mills in Lahore, Pakistan

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Take action now at: http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/08-08-14.htm#action

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On July 30 workers, labour officials and activists gathered outside the Naveena factory to demand that management stop paying wages below the legal minimum of RS. 6000 and abide by Pakistan’s labour law and international labour standards. In response, police reportedly attacked the peaceful demonstrators with batons, used tear gas in an attempt to disperse them, and arrested and detained six people including CMKP Punjab President Taimur Rehman, Rafaqat Ali Azad, Muhammad Ilyas from the All-Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF), CMKP Lahore District Committee (DC) member Muhammad Ali Jan and Adam Shah and Bilal, workers from the Naveena Textile Mills. The six have since been released, but charges have been filed against them.

Take action now to demand that the charges are withdrawn and Naveena workers receive the wages they are legally entitled to!

The Constitution of Pakistan, in addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and ILO Conventions, recognise the fundamental rights of freedom of expression, association and assembly. The ability of workers to collectively express their grievances and their right to consult and engage in a dialogue with employers is a fundamental part of a just and democratic society and essential for harmonious industrial relations.

Send a message to Pakistani officials demanding they protect the human rights of their citizens. Help ensure that the unfair charges against the peaceful protesters are dropped, and that workers are reinstated and receive the minimum wage in accordance with the law

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Take action now at: http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/08-08-14.htm#action

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-SWEDEN"

SWEDISH 'SAC' ORGANIZES FOR PAKISTANI SEAMEN IN STOCKHOLM:

The SAC is a venerable anarchosyndicalist organization in Sweden. despite the temptations and repression of both social democratic and conservative regimes in that country they have survived and continued to press an apolitical class organization method. Lately they have taken up the cause of immigrant labour. This is one of their efforts. The following is taken from the A-Infos website.

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Sweden, SAC* takes conflict for Pakistani seamen in Stockholm

There is a campaign home page regarding an ongoing conflict with seamen in Stockholm local of SAC vs Ånedinlinjen that is also in english! This conflict is really nasty because the seamen are sacked and when their contracts end they will not only loose their jobs but also their legal status. There are 18 pakistanis in the Stockholm local on the ship and they have lived in Sweden between 7 - 23 years. The shipping company will ruin their plans for the future, their social life in Sweden (many have lived here longer than some posters on this forum-(A-Inf0s-Molly)) and their economic situation, if we can't stop them.

>>> Read more about it here:

http://www.birgerjarl.info/

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-PAKISTAN:

SUPPORT PAKISTANI WORKERS AT UNILEVER SPIN-OFF:

The following is an appeal from the IUF, one of whose affiliates represents workers at the Dalda Foods plant in Karachi, Pakistan. The new owners of this spin off from Unilever are now threatening massive casualization of the enterprise. Help the workers resist this attack.

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Pakistan Food Workers Challenge Mass Casualization at Unilever Spinoff

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In 2004, Unilever Pakistan sold its Dalda brand plant manufacturing edible oils and fats in Karachi to a group of former company managers, who incorporated as Dalda Foods (Pvt.) Limited. With competition growing in the edible oil sector, Dalda management has been busily applying the lessons it learned at Unilever: buy out the competition, and reduce permanent employment and potential union influence to an absolute minimum. Earlier this year, Dalda acquired a majority stake in rival Wazir Ali Industries. But workers are now challenging the denial of rights to agency workers by fighting back through a newly formed union.

Encouraged by a successful challenge to casualization at Coca-Cola Pakistan, Dalda workers contacted the Coca-Cola union and the IUF. Over 430 workers have signed up as members in the Dalda Food Employees Union, which applied for official registration with the authorities on May 13. Fearing a backlash - like Unilever's savage reprisals against temporary workers at the company's Rahim Yar Khan factory - the union successfully applied for a "stay order" which prohibits the company from terminating workers or closing the plant. Management violated the order and terminated 266 workers on May 24.

On June 2, the union received its official registration from the labour department, and, with support from the IUF-affiliated National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers applied for collective bargaining status. Management challenged this procedure in the court, arguing that the agency workers are not employed by Dalda Food, but by...the labour hire agency. The Court then stopped the application status for collective bargaining, and fixed June 23 as the date for a further hearing.

The workers have set up a permanent camp in front of the company, with support from the Federation. With daily visits from trade unions and representatives of political and civil society organizations, the camp has become a living symbol of the struggle against Pakistan's brutal regime of outsourced and casualized labour.

You can support the union's struggle for union rights for all workers by sending a message of solidarity to the workers through the through the IUF Pakistan office and the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers. The message below can serve as a sample. Please send copies of any messages you might send to the IUF secretariat. We thank you in advance for your solidarity and support.

To send the following message simply copy it and send it via your email program to one of the two recipients above-mm.

Sample Message to the Dalda Food Employees Union

Dear Sisters and Brothers ,

I have learned of your struggle from the IUF. I fully support your struggle for union rights and recognition at Dalda Foods. I am outraged to learn that management has sought to prevent your union from obtaining collective bargaining status by contending that employees hired through a labour agency should be denied trade union rights because they are not technically employed by Dalda Foods. You work for Dalda Foods, and Dalda management has fired 266 workers simply because they joined the union. Trade union rights are universal human rights, and by denying those rights Dalda management is violating international Conventions which the government of Pakistan is obliged to defend and uphold. Your have my full support - may your struggle end in a victory which will be a victory for workers everywhere!

Yours sincerely

SOLIDARITY NEEDED FOR PAKISTANI WORKERS:
Workers at the Coca-Cola plant in Karachi, Pakistan are continuing to struggle for their rights against continued management efforts to deny them their rights. The management of 'Coke-Pakistan' has always attempted to impede the efforts of their workers to unionize. union activists have been targeted in dismissals and when this failed to achieve the desired effect massive "casualization" was tried. Regular employees were classified as temporary so as to expedite their firing if they should seem to be pro-union. Large numbers of employees who were not management in any sense of the term were reclassified as outside of union organization efforts. The management of the plant has also attempted to shift its hiring more and more to "employment agencies". On December 9th termination notices were sent to 150 workers at the plant, coincidentally including known union activists. The Karachi government was very compliant in sending extra police to the plant to add to security after this move.
To learn more about this assault on workers' rights and to add your voice to international solidarity against it visit the IUF site at http://www.iuf.org/den3999 or see our links section for the IUF under the 'Other Interesting Links' section.
Molly