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TUED Bulletin 150 – Mexican energy unions welcome shutdown of key neoliberal institutions

The Mexican government has proposed a package of 20 reforms, including the dissolution of two energy sector autonomous bodies (the focus of this bulletin) from the power and hydrocarbons sector. In doing so, the government has taken another significant step to roll back the neoliberal reforms that sought to hand over the country’s energy system to private companies. ‍

‍Power is Coming Back to the People

On August 23rd 2024, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved a bill that proposes the dissolution of the Energy Regulatory Commission (La Comisión Reguladora de Energía–CRE). This body was set up in the early 1990s to prevent the national public utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) from impeding the entry of for-profit independent power producers (IPPs) into the country’s electricity system. Several other neoliberal-era bodies are also likely to be shut down, including the Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE). President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) introduced the reform bill in February 2024, and it will now proceed to the Senate.

Established in many Global South countries under neoliberal structural adjustment of the 1990s, so-called independent regulators have been a central feature of the World Bank’s “standard model” of electricity privatisation. In Mexico, a succession of right-wing administrations enthusiastically embraced the Bank’s proposed reforms, and empowered CRE to increase the presence of private power generation companies (known as independent power producers, or IPPs) 

‍Right-Wing and Business Groups Protest 

‍Angered by the likely dissolution of CRE, in recent weeks the Mexican right-wing and business groups have condemned the initiative claiming it is inconsistent with Mexico’s climate commitments made under the Paris Agreement. The right is trying to depict AMLO’s policy as one that’s hostile to renewables while favouring fossil fuels. 

The American Clean Power Association (ACP) mentioned that the reform could negatively affect clean energy development and strain trade relations between Mexico and the United States. The Mexican Wind Energy Association (AMDEE) warned that this reform would halt investments in the wind industry for at least the next two years. But it’s quite the opposite: the shutdown of CRE creates space to help fulfil the government’s commitment to accelerate the energy transition. Limiting the role of the IPPs while expanding the role of the public utility CFE allows for the deployment of low-carbon energy and reduced dependency on imported fossil fuels (particularly gas) to proceed on a public basis while attempting to repair the damage inflicted on Mexico’s energy sovereignty by previous administrations. 

There is speculation that the Biden administration will request an independent dispute settlement panel under the USMCA. In March 2023, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai hinted at possible escalation during a Senate Finance Committee hearing. 

‍CRE’s Record: Serving Private Capital 

‍Formed in 1993, under the administration of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, CRE was populated by enforcers loyal to the neoliberal agenda designed by the World Bank and the IMF.  

CRE approved power purchase agreements (PPAs) with IPPs that involved CFE having to purchase electricity at high prices. During this period, most of the IPPs were multinationals based in the US, Spain, and Japan that purchased shale gas from the US, thus increasing Mexico’s dependence on fossil fuel imports and helping to sustain the lucrative fracking boom north of the border. 

Between 2013-2014, President Peña Nieto’s administration made more than twenty legislative changes and three amendments to the Mexican Constitution to facilitate more private sector ownership of the power sector. Operating under Peña Nieto’s orders, CRE approved a large number of PPAs with wind and solar companies, allowing the administration to declare itself a champion of climate protection.

‍Ruthless Inefficiency and AMLO’s Reclaiming 

Elected by a large margin (31% difference) in 2018, President López Obrador criticised CRE for issuing too many contracts to IPPs. On July 22, 2020, AMLO sent a memorandum to CRE officials. Referring to Peña Nieto’s reform as a “policy of pillage,” AMLO wrote, “We soon learned the result of this robbery and its corresponding deception: nothing was gained by the nation, everything was translated into lucrative business for private companies and corrupt politicians. . . It is time to correct the course of the policy of surrender that has been imposed on the energy sector.” 

In October 2020 then Energy Minister Rocío Nahle García made a three-hour presentation to Mexico’s Senate where she pointed out that CRE had issued PPAs that would generate electricity far in excess of what Mexico actually needed. However, CFE was contractually obligated to pay for the excess power under 25-year PPAs, financially crippling the utility.

Recently elected with 59.5% of the vote, incoming president Claudia Sheinbaum has declared that her administration will continue to strengthen CFE, and defend energy sovereignty as a central objective of her government. With a supermajority in Congress, there is speculation that Sheinbaum will take steps to repeal Peña Nieto’s 2013 amendment to the Mexican constitution that permitted private ownership of the power sector and other strategic industries. 

If this happens, it will mark another important milestone in Mexico’s effort to chart a public approach to the energy transition that a growing number of unions are committed to supporting. 

 Electrical Workers’ Union Supports CRE’s Disappearance 

The Foreign Affairs Secretary of the Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union (SME), José Humberto Montes de Oca Luna, published an important statement on SME’s response to the proposed reform. “The disappearance of the CRE represents a hard blow to the neoliberals and their privatisation policies. There will be no turning back despite their now futile legal challenges, despite the scandalous media criticism from corporations and international capitalists who lament the end of the plundering of our country,” said José Humberto Montes de Oca Luna.

Montes de Oca explained that the CRE facilitated private participation in the electricity sector under “perversely advantageous conditions”. “The public sector Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) assumed most of the financial risk of private investments while, by buying energy in bulk from the corporations, it guaranteed high revenues for the private sector through long-term payment commitments at fixed prices, whether or not their electricity was sold,” he said. 

Moving forward, “all indications are that the 4T under the new political conditions will be able, without reservations, to pass it [energy sector reform] as formulated by AMLO or even go further. Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum is expected to give a strong push to the energy transition to clean energy,” he said. 

‍The Hydrocarbon Sector: Oil Workers’ Perspective 

In addition to the dissolution of the CRE, “Plan C” includes the proposed elimination of six other autonomous bodies, including the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), installed in 2009 under former president Felipe Calderon. A few years later, the 2013 constitutional energy reforms of Peña Nieto strengthened the CNH by approving additional powers to enter into contracts and carry out bids in energy matters. 

“For the oil technicians and professionals of the UNTyPP it is clear that the National Hydrocarbons Commission, CNH, together with the Energy Regulatory Commission, was an instrument for the privatisation of our company Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX),” said Silvia Ramos Luna, leader of the PEMEX engineers union (UNTyPP). 

Ramos Luna explained: “The work carried out by the CNH fulfilled its objective of advancing the privatisation of PEMEX, of all the activities it developed perhaps the most important were the rounds for the delivery of the oil fields, it designed a programme for the delivery of 507 oil fields and managed to deliver 107, this delivery of our heritage was stopped with the arrival of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who on 3 December 2018, when another round was to be carried out it was suspended, to this day no more rounds have been carried out. Not to mention that the sale of pipelines and storage tanks was also stopped.”

“We strongly support the disappearance of the CNH,” she said.

Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) is a global, multi-sector trade union initiative to advance democratic direction and control of energy in a way that promotes solutions to the climate crisis, energy poverty, the degradation of both land and people, and responds to the attacks on workers’ rights and protections. TUED is part of the Global Labour Institute Network.

Read more TUED Bulletins here.

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TUED Bulletin 149 – South unions launch Asia Pacific effort to build a Public Pathway in the region 

TUED 149 - Group of people holding placards

Over 50 union leaders from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and South Korea gathered in Bali, Indonesia to share analysis on their respective countries’ energy transition, exchange experiences, and build strategies towards building the Public Pathway approach in the Asia-Pacific region. The meeting’s organisational goals, political objectives, and key questions are summarised here. 

Last week, in Bulletin 148, we summarised the results of a series of July workshops in Jakarta organised by TUED, PSI, and PSI affiliates and allies in the week leading up to the Bali meeting. These workshops are part of a national trade union effort to defend public energy against the threat posed by the “privatise to decarbonise” agenda reflected in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) between the rich countries and the Indonesian government. 

This week, we review the results, proposals, and next steps following the regional policy meeting in Bali. For participant bios, presentations, and multimedia, view the “Post-Meeting Package” here. The Bali meeting was the third of its kind, following two previous TUED South regional policy meetings for Sub-Saharan Africa (Johannesburg, May 2023) and Latin America and the Caribbean (Bogotá, May 2024). 

Regional Policy Meetings and Development Position Papers

A central goal of the Bali meeting was to support unions in the development of positions and (potentially) initiatives and campaigns to advance the public pathway approach in the A-P region in ways that are realistic and appropriate.  A related short-term task to develop a clear position on the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) and similar “privatise to decarbonise” initiatives. TUED has already developed a preliminary critique of the JETPs, but more detailed work is necessary. 

As part of the TUED Women’s Leadership for a Public Pathway initiative, sessions focused on a feminist approach to the energy transition were incorporated into each day of the meeting leading to gender based discussions and references throughout the three days. A forthcoming bulletin will highlight this work.  

Throughout the meeting, participants agreed on and reiterated the strategic importance and political urgency of developing more in-depth trade union position papers on the energy transition within and across national contexts as a means of building confidence in the viability of the public pathway alternative.  

Indonesian unions are currently working with TUED to develop a position paper on the energy transition that focuses on the country’s power sector. The position paper explains what’s wrong with the current policy and what an alternative could look like.
‍

Alternative Financing in the Public Pathway

The financing session in Bali helped elevate collective analysis around unions’ grappling with the details and challenges of alternative finance models. The Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), a regional alliance of groups working for economic justice, put forward a proposal to put forward a regional trade union statement at the COP29 meeting, also known as “the finance COP”,  in Baku, Azerbaijan later this year. 

Dr. Fadhel Kaboub, policy advisor and President of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, discussed neocolonial wealth extraction and structural trade imbalance. “If we don’t have a long-term strategic vision for ourselves, we’ll continue to be part of someone else’s strategic vision,” he said. Corporate and neocolonial interests underlie mainstream “climate finance”. Trade unions need a structural transformation (not reform) of the Global Financial Architecture. “The OECD has made clear that nobody in the Global South can industrialise without their approval.  The current climate finance framework is not going to deliver any meaningful climate action. Global South unity and a publicly-Funded system are within reach,” said Dr. Kaboub

Proposal for a Working Group: Managed Decline of Coal 

Participants identified the economic dependency on coal as one of the region’s leading challenges. Following discussions on the issue, participants proposed the development of a regional working group intended to address target obstacles and opportunities for the managed decline of coal. The working group, it was suggested, could also exchange experiences with unions in other coal-producing countries from the Global South such as South Africa and Colombia. 

Ashim Roy, General Secretary of the India Workers Peasants Council (Hind Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat – HMKP) and co-founding member of TUED, led the discussion on the proposal. “Having studied the coal dependent energy system that drives Indian economic development and the complexities to decarbonize, the pathway to just transition is both a complex  and deeply contested political field,” he said. “We require a space for shared learning from the specific field of coal transition. At the meeting in Bali, I proposed a Just Transition working group for unions from countries on the coal value chain and/or with economies dependent on coal-based energy systems. TUED South is a much-needed platform to bring us together as labour movement actors of the Asia-Pacific region. TUED rightly foregrounds the public pathway as the appropriate framework for these complex and challenging discussions,” Roy added. 

Several presentations by trade union leaders focused on public transport campaigns, especially those in informal transportation systems (such as those based on the tuk-tuk, jeepney, angkot, etc). Ajay Kumar of the Nepal Transport Workers Union (NETWON), a union-affiliate of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), stressed the importance of reclaiming and strengthening publicly-owned transportation systems based on accessibility and quality of service, not based on profit. Kumar presented on NETWON workers’ efforts to organise for public electric mobility through policy pressure.


Country-Specific Analysis

Country-specific analysis helped participants draw parallels and identify patterns in the region. Comrades from Nepal talked about the contradictions of the energy system, which is majority publicly-owned but interfaces with the Indian market. Currently, Nepal exports clean energy during periods of high generation and imports dirty energy at a high cost during periods of drought. 

Mozibor Rahman, General Secretary of PBBSKU (Paschimanchal Bidyut Bitaran Sramik Karmachari Union) of Bangladesh, led a call for regional trade union solidarity with the movement for worker democracy in Bangladesh. Following the resignation of former Primer Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5, PBBSKU comrades said “The students have finally won. The dictatorial, murderous prime minister has resigned and fled. The fight for economic justice and worker democracy continues.” Edward Miller, a researcher at the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR) suggested to TUED on the social media platform X: “I hope we can seize upon this moment to reform the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, a World Bank imposition that is riddled with corruption and denies workers the right to organise. Workers and consumers deserve better!” 

‍

Next Steps

In Bali, Nepalese comrades advanced proposals for the region’s next policy meeting. “During the successful Bali meeting, the Nepalese unions gathered and agreed to put forward a proposal to host the second regional Asia Pacific meeting in 2025/2026 in Kathmandu. Our unions in Nepal have been following TUED’s work closely for several years and we are committed to helping build a regionally-coordinated Public Pathway,” said Ajay Kumar Rai, Executive General Secretary of the Nepal Trade Union Congress (National Centre) and chief advisor of NETWON and the head of the foreign affairs department.

Moving forward, TUED South plans to organise quarterly regional meetings for Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa. The meetings will allow unions to update one another on developments, including campaigns and initiatives. 
‍

Welcome New TUED Unions! 

At the Bali meeting, a number of unions from the Asia-Pacific region announced their decision to participate in the TUED network. We’d like to welcome the following unions from the region: 

  • Philippines: Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Solidarity of Filipino Workers)
  • Nepal: Nepal Agriculture Workers’ Union
  • Indonesia: Gabungan Serikat Buruh Indonesia (GSBI)
  • Indonesia: Persatuan Pegawai PT PLN Indonesia Power (PP-IP) 

Several unions have recently joined the TUED network, as a result of TUED South’s regional meetings.. An upcoming bulletin will take a closer look at these unions. Overall, trade union support for the Public Pathway is rising and becoming more visible–especially in the Global South.  
‍

Unions Say Why They Are Joining TUED:  

Andy Wijaya, General Secretary of PP-IP (Indonesia):  

“We are joining TUED because we want to fight together to ensure that electricity stays in control of the state and to ensure it is a public good. The Public Pathway is very important in the Just Transition and it matches with the principle of our national Constitution that national vital resources must be controlled by the state. We will spread the TUED fight to other trade unions in Indonesia. Workers need to coordinate and stand together to ensure electricity remains and is strengthened as a public good. The Public Pathway scheme is what makes this possible.” 

Emelia Yanti Siahaan, General Secretary, Gabungan Serikat Buruh Indonesia (GSBI): 

“A just transition is a class struggle. This means it requires the participation and involvement of Labor and the public to realize a just transition.  Without a strong class struggle, a just transition is just a fraud.” 

Luke Espiritu, President, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Solidarity of Filipino Workers):  

“We must have a just transition that does not leave anyone behind, especially the workers. The transition must not be pursued for the benefit of the ruling class. That is why energy must be democratised.” 

Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) is a global, multi-sector trade union initiative to advance democratic direction and control of energy in a way that promotes solutions to the climate crisis, energy poverty, the degradation of both land and people, and responds to the attacks on workers’ rights and protections. TUED is part of the Global Labour Institute Network.

Read more TUED Bulletins here.

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GLU Conference And Alumni Workshop

Image from GLU website for the alumni workshop and conference

Conference 2024

Global Labour University (GLU) organises yearly conferences on topics of common interest in the network. The conferences rotate among GLU campuses, and allow network members to present research, share ideas, and strengthen connections.

This year, the conference will be 25th-27th September at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, India.

This event celebrates GLU’s global achievements and deepens discussions with academics, alumni, and trade union members.

While planning the conference, GLU issued a call for papers titled “Globalisation and Transition to an Egalitarian World: Resistance and Alternatives”, and selected proposals that will be presented at the conference.

Some of the main conference themes will be platform work, responsible global supply chains, and broader policy questions in response to today’s “world disorder”. The conference will also focus on labour regimes & policy, challenges of authoritarianism, global value systems, care chains, the solidarity economy, and climate justice.

Alumni Workshop

Global Labour University (GLU) is organising an Alumni Workshop for graduates from all GLU programmes. The workshop will provide a comprehensive reflection on the impact of just transition, gender equality, migration, and authoritarian regimes in the world of work. It will then present an analysis of trade union strategies in responding to these challenges.

By learning from their varying experiences in different countries, the alumni will significantly broaden their knowledge on these subjects. The intention is that this will enhance their skills and strengthen their effectiveness in trade union work.

To begin the workshop, alumni will start developing a case study based on their experiences in their home countries. This will initiate a broader discussion and knowledge sharing on the topics. Following this, the workshop programme will then combine the insights of distinguished experts and practitioners with the experiences of the alumni themselves.

Visit the Global Labour University website here.

Read more about GLI’s partnership with Global Labour University, on our Key Partners page.

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‘Beyond Borders, Beyond Barriers: Young Workers Rise’

Participants of Global Youth Festival at BWI listening to a speaker on headphones

From 8th-11th May 2024, GLI Manchester attended the Building & Woodworkers International (BWI) Global Youth Festival in Türkiye. The event marked 10 years of the BWI’s ongoing effort to mobilise young workers amid escalating economic, political and social challenges. 113 delegates came together from over 40 countries and 49 unions across 4 continents. The festival took place over 4 days and included discussions, workshops and activities addressing a range of topics from protecting young workers physical and mental health, digitalisation and automation in the workplace, climate crisis and just transition, migration and the fight for democracy. 

As part of the festival, GLI facilitated two sessions. Through the sessions, GLI aimed to acknowledge the major existing challenges facing the international trade union movement, whilst also bringing to focus the huge number of examples from throughout history that can be drawn on to inspire further action and organisation today. Understanding the history of our international labour movement can help to inform our strategy, tactics and our political direction today. 

Session 1: The Origins of Trade Unionism 

The first session aimed to enable activists to develop a deeper understanding of the origins of trade unionism, and explored what could be learnt from these experiences. GLI gave a presentation introducing the origins and key developments that have shaped international labour solidarity, the main historical influences, and the origins of underlying values and principles. This included an exploration of the origins of trade unions, the influence of different radical political ideas, struggles for liberation and independence, the growth of the unions in the Global South, impact of war and revolution and the rise of international trade union structures. 

In advance of the session, delegates were invited to share pictures and stories highlighting the history of the trade union movement in their country and sector. 

The first session concluded with key questions for delegates to reflect on including:

  • What are the politics of the international trade union organisations today?
  • Do we, as BWI affiliated unions, share common political values and principles? What are they?
  • Should BWI have a political agenda? If so, what should it be?
  • In other words, what are we organising for? 

Session 2: The Future of International Organisation

The second session encouraged activists to reflect on existing international structures and to consider their relevance to the movement today, whist also thinking about what the future role of the international trade union movement should be, with regards to protecting and advancing workers’ rights.

Delegates were asked to imagine that they were a delegate to the first ever Congress of a new international federation of construction and woodworkers. In groups, they were asked to discuss and decide:

  • What should be the founding principles and values for this new federation that they expect all affiliates to uphold?
  • What are the three most important issues they propose to be priorities for the new federation? 

Delegates were organised into groups and asked to consider the questions, following which they came back together to present their proposals to the full congress. 

Issues that participants highlighted included decent work; gender equality; climate change; migration; fighting against fascism; pay increases and improving the minimum living wage; safe working environment; democracy; equal pay for equal work; a better and more fair society; mental health; social justice; education of younger generations; solidarity strikes; capacity-build of unions; supporting NGOs; opportunities to network.

Key principles and values identified, as well as questions raised included: 

  • Respect, no discrimination and equal treatment of all members: What do we mean by equality? Do all trade unions have equal power within global union federations? What role does money play in these power relationships?
  • Internationalism: a threat to workers anywhere is a threat to workers everywhere
  • Respect for human rights 
  • Organisations need to be representative of all workers – including women, youth, and disabled workers: How can we make our unions more equal and representative?
  • The need for strong internal democracy: What do we mean by internal democracy? 
  • Unity, solidarity and collaboration: What is and should be the relationship between trade unions in the Global South and Global North?
  • Antifascism, freedom, peace: Are unions inherently political organisations?
  • No workers organisation controlled from the outside can ever truly represent working people
  • Relationship between trade unions and political parties: Should trade unions be affiliated to political parties? What do we mean by ‘independence’ from political parties? Should our unions be independent of ideology?

The sessions were designed to introduce activists to current important issues and debates within the international labour movement and their long histories. It was emphasised that the questions raised during the sessions were discussions that were also taking place in the leadership across the international trade union movement. The sessions highlighted the importance of reflecting on our history whilst also seeing our global union federations as living organisations. 

To read the BWI’s article on the Global Youth Festival, click here.

The GLI session at the BWI Global Youth Festival is part of GLI’s History Project. In 2019, GLI launched a new programme on the history of the international trade union movement, including a book on the history of  the international trade union movement, accompanied by education projects to be undertaken with national and international unions. Click here for more information about the GLI History Project.

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Joint GLI-ITF Initiative on Integrating Labour Impact Assessments into Transport Planning

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and Global Labour Institute (GLI) have announced a new initiative that will see the application of labour impact assessments in transport planning around the world. 

The initiative, announced at the Transforming Transportation conference organised by the World Bank and the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, is supported by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF) as a special study within its research program ‘Informal and Shared Mobility in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. 

The project will launch an action agenda for the application of Labour Impact Assessment approach and methods in the procedures and policies of city authorities, national governments, multilateral development banks, and other international stakeholders which is set to greatly benefit sector actors, transport planners and policymakers concerned with wider reforms in the public transport sector, including informal transport. 

A first stage of the initiative will be reviewing and synthesising findings and methodologies from Labour Impact Assessments of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects in Nairobi, Dakar, Kampala, Accra and Abidjan and other initiatives designed to improve the quality, efficiency and decarbonisation of urban public transport in the informal economy. The synthesis of the major findings, lessons learned and recommendations for sector actors, transport planners and policy-makers concerned with wider reforms will then be produced and presented to major stakeholders. 

The labour impact assessments include participatory research methods, innovative research tools, a broad and inclusive definition of ‘transport worker’ to include all those directly dependent on informal transport for their livelihoods, partnership with local academic institutions, and support for constructive dialogue and engagement between trade unions and transport authorities. 

This initiative is another crucial step in adding workers’ voices to the changes in public transport and ensuring that workers’ livelihoods are protected and improved moving forward. 

Click here to read the full press release.

Click here for more information about GLI’s work on informal transport.

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International School 2023

The ninth GLI International School took place from 27th – 29th November 2023 near Paris, France, and brought together over 100 trade unionists, researchers and activists from 30 countries. 

Over three days, conferences, seminars and discussions were held, with the project culminating in the writing of a school manifesto.

To read more about the project, click here.

ReAct supports trade unions and affected communities across the francophone world, aiming to build a social power that can match the corporations and defend the rights of the many. ReAct, as GLI Paris, aims to create a place of debate and education on international syndicalism in the francophone world, unique thanks to its openness to researchers and NGOs, and democratically led by the contributing trade unions.

GLI Paris (Projet ReAct) is a member of the GLI Network, an alliance of organisations promoting international solidarity among trade union organizations and other organizations and movements of civil society. These share the objective of achieving a democratic and sustainableworld society, based on the principles of social justice, freedom and the rule of law.

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Women workers in export processing zones during Covid: the case of Electrolux in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

– Edme Dominguez

In April 2020, a spontaneous uprising of more than 100 workers from the Electrolux factory in Ciudad Juarez led to their dismissal, to their ‘voluntary resignation’. The spontaneous protest was a reaction to the lack of protection measures against Covid that had already started to spread among the workers and had caused at least one death. Their demands went from the closing of the factories, as several other maquilas in the city had already done, to the distribution of basic protective equipment. The response from the management was first to promise to resolve the demands and then to fire 100 workers.

In this paper, we present the testimonies of some of the women workers who were fired in April 2020. They were interviewed in late May and the beginning of June 2021.  The reason for choosing only women workers to interview was because of the context in which Electrolux plants operate, Ciudad Juarez, with its never-ending spiral of violence and femicides.

Ciudad Juarez, violence and women workers

Ciudad Juarez, in the state of Chihuahua, on the US-Mexico border, is an industrial centre with 330 maquilas (assembly factories) owned by American or European enterprises, and they employ about 300 000 people (Infobae, 2020). Most of the employees recruited by these factories come from the southern states of Mexico where opportunities of employment are quite low and where criminal violence has increased enormously in the last 2 decades. The reasons for the flourishing of these industries in this border area is the low salaries[1], the closeness to the US and the NAFTA, the USMCA treaty between the US, Mexico and Canada and the lack of trade unions.

Ciudad Juarez is well known not only in Mexico but even worldwide for an enormous number of feminicides – several hundred women since the mid-1980s – that started to be reported in the 1990s. During the period 2015 to 2020 we can see an increase, from 43 in 2015 to 205 in 2020 (Ellas tienen nombre, 2020). This increase was particularly strong during the pandemic period, 2020 to 2021.

Women, a majority of the workers in the 1980s, remain in the lowest categories in production, but they are also extremely flexible and adapt to all kinds of tasks and skills as their high turnover in the industry demonstrates (Ramírez, 2020). The pandemic hit female labour particularly. Of every ten unemployed because of the pandemic, seven are women. Women represent 71% of those who have not recovered employment (Cullell, 2021). (Nationally, women’s participation in the labour market decreased from 45% of all women aged 15-60 in 2019 to 39% during 2020, which means a setback of about 15 years.)

Finally, Electrolux has about 5000 employees in its plants in Ciudad Juarez. The company has its own ‘codes of conduct’ and has also committed to global guidelines regarding workers’ rights.[2] Regarding this conflict, thanks to the involvement of a Swedish activist, several Swedish trade unions and a Swiss-based union alliance, IndustriALL Global Union, pressed Electrolux which, after 15 months, compensated seven of the 32 workers who had sued the company; none of them were women. The rest had not resisted, and signed agreements with less compensation.[3]

Working in Electrolux before the dismissal

We interviewed seven of the women fired by Electrolux in April 2020. They were 25 to 53 years old, coming mostly from the South but also from neighboring states to Chihuahua. Most of them have children, from small ones to adults. Some of their close family members were either dismissed or still working in Electrolux. These family bonds are important, as they influence the vulnerability of these women workers, especially in the case of single mothers. The experiences were mixed. These women had worked for one to seven years in Electrolux before being dismissed. Most had also worked in other maquilas for up to 20 years before coming to Electrolux. About half of the interviewees said they has liked working there, as the company offered good security and opportunities for promotion. The younger the women, the more positive to the working conditions they were. However, there were also negative experiences that point to heavy work, extremely low or high temperatures (depending on the season of the year), and even work accidents leading to permanent physical damage due to company negligence. As to the salaries, for some of them the salaries were at a good level, but others said they were lower than in other maquilas.

Regarding sexual harassment and discrimination, although these women did not experience it directly, older women workers felt discriminated against compared to young and ‘attractive ones’: the latter got better and easier jobs and quick promotions even if they didn’t have the required skill level. Moreover, young mothers experienced a lack of support regarding care of young children, and there were cases of pregnant women fired just because they asked for leave to address family problems. Many also complained about the lack of support from the company for the night shift regarding transport to their neighbourhoods, something especially serious given the climate of insecurity in Ciudad Juarez.  Trade unions and labour organising were considered a non-issue, as these workers considered that such organising was not permitted by the company, and no one dared to speak about it.

The experience of the dismissal

All of these women stated that they attended a meeting called by some workers to inform them of the situation because they were concerned by the lack of measures against Covid, although they were not really involved. They felt shocked when they returned to work after the weekend, only to be called in groups to be notified they had to sign a ‘voluntary resignation’. They had been promised that measures would be taken, and that they would resume their work. They felt trapped and with no alternative other than to sign and get very small compensation and some of their ‘savings’, and although some of them refused to sign, they were later forced to do so, as they needed the money. Afterwards, in December 2020, fewer than half of the interviewed women heard that Electrolux was giving more compensation, but it proved difficult to get because of deficient administration procedures of the company. They also expressed that they had enormous difficulties getting a new job during the pandemic.

This case illustrates the persistence of a problem most assembling industries on the Mexico-US border still confront: the lack of real and representative labour organising. Transnational industries, regardless of their national origin, together with local authorities, block any kind of organisation and cultivate the myth of the inherently corrupt nature of all trade unions so that workers become sceptical of any such organising efforts. Workers are then left to depend on the goodwill of the enterprise and their codes of conduct which, as we see, have no real value in daily realities. This is the case even with companies that have signed global framework agreements such as Electrolux. This agreement may promise to respect workers’ rights, but ‘respect’ obviously does not cover their right to have independent trade unions. Women workers are even more vulnerable to working environments which lack any respect for rules and rights, because of their family situations and the machismo culture among prevalent workers, supervisors and management. This becomes more visible during crisis such as the pandemic, whose consequences for women workers, as we have seen, were even worse than for men.

[1] The minimum salary was 181 Mexican pesos (US$9) in 2019 and 203 pesos (US$10) a day in January 2021, compared to US$7.25 an hour in Texas and US$13 in California (Pérez, 2021).

[2] Their code of conduct commits the company to adhere to the International Bill of Human Rights and International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Core Conventions, the UN Global Compact, and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

[3] Industriall is one of the global union federations, and has a global framework agreement with Electrolux. This global framework agreement signed by Electrolux covers workers’ rights all over the world. The pressure from the Swedish unions came through this agreement.

Edmé Domínguez R. is an associate professor (docent) in Peace and Development Studies. Since the 1990s she has been working on gender studies within International Relations, global political economy and democracy. Her area of study is Latin America, specifically Mexico, Central America and Bolivia. She is a founder and presently the president of Gender and Development in Practice, an association in Sweden.

Read our other articles from Global Labour Column here.

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Article Informal Work Latest

Transport workers uniting along the Belt & Road

Series: Labour Perspectives on China #6

– Sean Sayer

Transport workers move the world. Trade and travel cannot function without us. This means that transport workers are some of the first to be impacted when governments or companies invest in and change the way the world moves and trades.

Waves of international investment in transport have created millions of good jobs throughout recent history. But we have also seen how this overseas investment has been used to undermine our rights, pay and conditions. The Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) – China’s US$1 trillion overseas infrastructure development project – is one of the latest attempts to change how the world trades. What does this mean for transport workers?

In 2022, trade unions affiliated with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) from thirty-eight countries and from every continent met in Manila to try to answer this question.

In context

First, it is important to put the BRI in context. The American Enterprise Institute’s China Global Investment Tracker estimates that between 2013 and 2020, the BRI invested US$400 billion in overseas transport infrastructure, the World Bank Group invested UD$178 billion, and the Asian Development Bank invested US$83 billion. In 2021, Chinese outward foreign-direct investment represented less than 7% of the global total. The US (23%), Germany (8%) and Japan (8%) all spent more. So, the first decision by our affiliates was to understand the opportunities and challenges posed by all types of international investment, not just BRI.

Transport workers around the world have seen how all types of international investment pose risks to recipient economies, societies, communities and workplaces. For example, International Monetary Fund and World Bank loans to countries including Cameroon, Ghana, Nicaragua and Pakistan required ‘structural adjustment’ programmes which demanded that governments privatise or dramatically cut spending on public services, often including transport. When the World Bank disperses aid to a low-income country, the amount of cash in offshore accounts controlled by the country’s elites tends to increase on average by about 7.5%.

The World Bank (2018) estimates that, if completed, BRI transport projects could reduce travel times along economic corridors by 12%, increase trade between 2.7% and 9.7%, increase income by up to 3.4% and lift 7.6 million people from extreme poverty. BRI is also estimated to create thousands of transport and supply chain jobs in most recipient countries, including Kazakhstan (200,000 jobs), Kenya (more than 60,000), Mongolia (50,000), and Pakistan (more than 60,000).

In 2019, China signed a series of agreements relating to the BRI with the ILO and three Chinese ministries. These agreements (1) promote decent work, social justice and a ‘human-centred future of work’; (2) support occupational safety; and (3) promote the effective implementation of the ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention along the BRI. This could signal that the Chinese ministries acknowledge that international labour rights and laws apply to workers in the countries they are investing in and building transport infrastructure in, as well as to the cross-border workers who are working between them.

However, Chinese project-based, migrant workers tend to make up a significant proportion of those working in BRI investments. Often, local labour laws are not applied to these non-resident workforces. Many of these workers are reported to suffer from egregious human rights violations. For example, in Serbia, the local labour laws were suspended for Chinese nationals working there. In the Serbian Zijin Mining Group Co. copper mine, Chinese employees worked 12-hour days, were forced to hand passports over to employers, and had little to no health and safety protection, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Linglong Tyre Co. factory in Serbia, Chinese workers experienced poor housing conditions, no access to medical services, issues with or absences of wages, and were again forced to give their passports to employers, leading to allegations of human trafficking and modern slavery.

Labour rights abuses and divisions

Furthermore, local workers are often subjected to human rights and labour rights abuses. For example, working conditions in the construction of the new Phnom Penh International Airport show systemic human rights abuses. Imported Chinese workers are paid US$50 to US$70 a day, while local Cambodians are paid US$7.5 to US$15 a day, and women are paid less than men. Accommodation is in local temporary settlements, where workers’ children live on site, with no food, education, healthcare, water or electricity provided. There is minimal provision of sanitation facilities and personal protective equipment, and uneven and inconsistent provision of compensation for health and safety failures.

In Mongolia, truck drivers reported that BRI investment into infrastructure built for the extraction and transport of coal had put truck drivers and railway workers in direct competition with new groups of informal, cross-border workers and employment models. Furthermore, the development of rail and logistics infrastructure continues to threaten a shift away from unionised labour in trucking.

In Pakistan, BRI projects avoid collective bargaining by avoiding railways, instead focusing on trucking. Where collective bargaining cannot be avoided, alliances between Chinese interests and local elites are challenging the industrial models and labour movement.

In Kenya, the flagship US$3.6 billion Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, and the special economic zones (SEZs) around the connected ports and logistics centres, are estimated to employ around 60 000 workers. However, rail exclusively moves the freight coming in and out of the SEZs, bypassing the better-unionised truck drivers and collective bargaining.

Transport needs nearly US$50 trillion of investment by 2040. Transport workers around the world recognise that to create decent work, resilient supply chains, a fair economy, gender equity, climate justice, and a more sustainable transport and development model, we must welcome spending on transport infrastructure. However, this financial commitment must be conditional on the guarantee of fundamental human rights, including freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike, and all our fundamental labour rights.

What international investment should guarantee

Therefore, transport workers’ representatives in Manila agreed that international investment must be:

Safe – occupational health and safety is a fundamental right at work. Applicable laws and regulations must be respected and enforced to protect to all workers, regardless of their gender, occupation, terms of employment and contractual status.

Democratic – local and international laws, regulations and democratic processes must be respected. Trade unions must be treated as equal partners by governments and employers in collective bargaining. Critical infrastructure must be owned by, and operated for the people it serves.

Fair – secure, permanent, and formal employment must be offered to all workers equally, regardless of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender or background, and respected by employers. Governments and employers must ensure that informal work and other non-standard forms of employment are not used to deny workers their rights.

Open – workers must be included in the negotiation and agreement of investment. No governments should sign deals in secret. Full transparency and accountability of negotiations of contracts and trade deals must be a minimum standard for international investment. Trade unions must be recognised as effective and critical partners for ensuring transparency and accountability at all levels.

Skills-based – local workers must be trained and skilled to construct, operate and maintain transport infrastructure built using international investment. The ITF and its affiliates oppose any exploitation of non-resident workers and unfair labour competition.

Fundamentally, BRI and other forms of international investment are connecting workers in new, exciting ways. In Manila, we witnessed the birth of a new family of transport workers connected by patterns of international investment, born of solidarity, unity and understanding.

Trade unions representing transport workers in Central and Southeastern Asia are cooperating with those in Africa and Europe to develop organising models for third-country nationals. Transport workers are connecting with construction workers, learning from their experiences working under Chinese and overseas employers or investment. Governments seeking to ensure transparency and accountability of projects stemming from international investment are looking to trade unions for assistance. New human rights due diligence laws that require government and companies to check and fix their domestic and overseas supply chains are giving trade unions a legally recognised role in upholding labour rights in the BRI and global trade. To do this, we must work across borders and organise some of the most exploited and vulnerable workers in supply chains that are adjusting to international investment.

By focusing on workplace rights, experiences and solidarity, trade unions are building a new future amid profound change. Supply chains may ebb and flow – becoming more local, regional or again global – but the solidarity among transport workers has always been, and will always be, global. This is where real workers’ power is built today, tomorrow and forever.

Sean Sayer is a policy advisor at the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), based in London, UK. He coordinates the ITF’s supply chain programme, working with transport workers and their trade unions across the world.

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Article Latest Trade Unions

Global Unions respond to ICJ ruling on Gaza Genocide case

GLI Manchester supports the statement from Global Unions.

The Global Unions signatory below note the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Order issued in the case filed by South Africa against Israel regarding the application of the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip, which demonstrates the vital importance of the international rule of law and effective enforcement.

The ICJ’s binding provisional measures address the urgent need to protect and prevent further harm to the Gazan population. The ICJ and the convention exist to protect human rights and the safety of vulnerable people and rely on the support of the international community. Now is the time to amplify trust in the international legal order.

The Global Unions emphasise the gravity of the situation. Our members in Gaza are being killed while they go about their work including teachers, healthcare workers, transport workers, journalists, UN staff, international aid workers and many others.

We urge Israel to comply with the ICJ’s Order to take immediate steps to prevent acts of genocide, punish incitement to genocide, and facilitate the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

The signatories also request the following actions from the international community:

  • All States Parties to the Genocide Convention to fulfil their obligation to prevent genocide: The UN Security Council and member states must take collaborative action to ensure that the provisional measures are implemented in full.
  • International Criminal Court prosecutor must expedite investigations into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel and Palestinian armed groups: A thorough and independent investigation is crucial to bring perpetrators to justice and prevent future violations.
  • World leaders to prioritise diplomacy and dialogue over violence: Secure the release of all hostages and work towards an immediate and lasting ceasefire that guarantees the safety and security of all Palestinians and Israelis.

While expressing support for the UN’s internal investigation, the people of Gaza and our members depend on the lifesaving support UNRWA provides. The Global Unions urge countries who have suspended their funding of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to re-consider.

The Global Unions below represent millions of workers across all sectors of the economy around the world. We are committed to promoting and protecting human and trade union rights around the world, and we will continue to raise our voices in defence of working people.

Signatory Global Unions

Building and Woodworkers’ International
Education International
IndustriALL
International Federation of Journalists
International Transport Workers’ Federation
Public Services International
UNI Global Union

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Article Climate Latest

TUED Bulletin 141 – Indonesia: TUED Supports Unions in Constitutional Court Battle to Stop “JETP” Energy Privatisation

Broad coalition organises to defend public energy clause in Indonesian Constitution, oppose pro-privatisation electricity reforms.

Following yesterday’s elections in Indonesia, we turn to the country’s energy sector and the Indonesian labor movement’s fight to defend public energy against the threat posed by the “privatise to decarbonise” agenda reflected in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) between the rich countries and the Indonesian government.  

TUED and the Indonesian Energy Unions 

In mid-January 2024, TUED supported a broad coalition of trade unions, academics and public figures that petitioned Indonesia’s Constitutional Court to declare unconstitutional the electricity sector reform provisions in Law Number 6 of 2023.  

Known as GEKANAS, the coalition’s petition reflected concerns that the new law would lead to the “unbundling” of PLN, the public power utility, and increase the role of the for-profit independent power producers (IPPs.) The coalition’s effort is supported by power sector unions, namely:  

  • PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) or SP PLN
  • Indonesia Power or PP IP, 
  • The PT Pembangkitan Jawa Bali

Article 33 of Indonesia’s Constitution states that the country’s vital resources should be controlled by the Indonesian state. Appearing as an expert witness before the Court in Jakarta, TUED coordinator Sean Sweeney drew attention to the “privatise to decarbonise” agenda embedded in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) between the rich countries and Indonesia. This, suggested Sweeney, lies behind the energy provisions of Law Number 6 which, he said, would “eviscerate Article 33.” A video of Sweeney’s intervention Constitutional Court is available here.

Strings Attached 

Sweeney told the court that JETP financing from rich countries comes with strings attached, as seen in the South African case. Announced in November 2021, the JETP with South Africa, the first of its kind, set the tone. It states that financing would be contingent upon unbundling of the public utility, Eskom. The JETP statement between the rich countries and the Government of Indonesia called for a “clear strategy for private sector engagement,” detailing “policy reforms necessary to address any regulatory barriers.”  

In November 2022, at the G20 Summit in Bali, a group of developed countries—led by the US and Japan—pledged to mobilize US$20 billion over the next 3-5 years to accelerate Indonesia’s energy transition through early retirement of coal power plants and deployment of renewable energy. Currently, the public utility PLN generates about 65% of the country’s electricity, down from 92% in 1990. The presence of IPPs has grown to 35% of generation. The JETP is designed to accelerate the growth of the for-profit IPPs. 

In Indonesia’s case, the utility PLN is encouraging the growth of IPPs as seen in the PLN’s Electricity Power Supply Business Plan (RUPTL), 2021–2030, from October 2021. The World Bank and its regional Asia Development Bank (ADB) “will simultaneously target pioneering large-scale RE and storage (RE+Storage) projects led by the private sector that will aim to serve demand both in grid-connected and captive power contexts.” 

Why would PLN wish to further undermine its position in the power sector? The RUPTL notes that the World Bank and ADB is “preparing a results-based lending (RBL) program to support PLN in accelerating Indonesia’s clean energy transition.”  Periodic loan disbursements will be contingent upon “satisfactory performance.” The ADB partnership with the Government of Indonesia notes that “ADB support will center on policy reforms toward stronger energy sector governance, clean energy and energy efficiency, and private sector participation, while the investment focus will be on sustainable power generation, power transmission systems, and electricity grids.”

The JETP, Article 33, and Private Sector Participation 

The designers of the JETP with Indonesia do not want to explicitly confront Article 33, said Sweeney, but the innocuous language of Law No 6, allows for private sector “participation” in the electricity system will allow this objective to be achieved via the “back door.” Read the official court press release on Sweeney’s intervention. 

In his written submission to the Court, Sweeney stated that by 2030, PLN’s role will be reduced to being mainly a buyer of electricity (as the “off-taker”) from privately owned generators. This would mean the state would no longer have control over its electricity system. 

Released in late November 2023, the Indonesia JETP Comprehensive Investment and Policy Plan, explicitly states: “A PPA [power purchase agreement] should not be treated by its contracting parties as a procurement of a ‘project’ or an ‘asset’ that PLN would eventually own but rather as a procurement of electrons.” In other words, electricity will no longer be seen as a public good generated for human development and nation-building; rather, electricity will become a commodity that PLN is legally obligated to purchase from private companies.

Sweeney’s submission also provided data that pointed to the failure of the “blended finance” model that informs the JETP. The $20 billion dollar JETP package would add to the country’s debt obligations while leaving Indonesia to find an additional $97 billion to finance the transition away from coal. 

Public Pathway as an Alternative to JETPs

Sweeney then explained that Indonesia and other coal-dependent countries in the Global South could pursue an alternative “public pathway” approach where state control and public financing can be the drivers of economy wide decarbonisation based on prudent energy planning within a framework of global public goods.
 
The need for this policy shift is made evident in the data on global energy trends, he said. These trends indicate that we are witnessing an energy transition, but an energy expansion. Fossil fuel use is rising, not falling. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) also continue to rise, making the Paris Agreement targets almost meaningless in the short term.

Indonesian Trade Unions Fight Back

The Indonesian labor movement and its allies continue to organize in defense of Article 33 and PLN’s role as the principal energy provider. 

On January 17th, roughly 60 union leaders gathered for a discussion on “ Lessons Learned from the Privatisation of Electricity around the World” – and the Public Pathway alternative. 

Said Andy Wijaya, the General Secretary of Persatuan Pegawai Indonesia Power: “Once I was told by a Parliament member that if a State-Owned Company is privatized, the wage would increase sevenfold. I said that currently I am working in PT PLN, and I am paid. But there is no guarantee that my children, my family will be able to get a job at PT PLN that is also well-paid, just like me. Especially if PLN is privatized. I will feel very guilty if in the future, our children will have to pay expensive electricity price because PLN is privatized and I don’t do anything to stop it.” 

“Public sector unions play a pivotal role for social justice and public energy that improves people’s lives. Therefore, we need to stay strong in defending public services with pure vigour and use all our powers as unions to keep public energy and services in the hands of the public. Our work with affiliates in Indonesia is to fight againts privatisations and towards a Public Pathway alternative that democratises public services,” said Indah Budiarti, Project Coordinator of the PSI Southeast Asia Office and based in Indonesia. Read Budiarti’s insightful article, “Analyzing the Dynamics of Indonesian Energy: Between Government’s Subsidy, Privatization, and Ecological Sustainability”.

In solidarity,
The TUED Team

Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) is a global, multi-sector trade union initiative to advance democratic direction and control of energy in a way that promotes solutions to the climate crisis, energy poverty, the degradation of both land and people, and responds to the attacks on workers’ rights and protections. TUED is part of the Global Labour Institute Network.