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Oslo, Norway23-24.11.2015

InternationalMeetingof Fishing Industryand AquacultureWorkers' Unions

OrganisingOrganisingGloballyGloballyto Fightto FightExploitationExploitationin Fisheriesin FisheriesandandAquacultureAquaculture

INTRODUCTION

A meeting of IUF affiliates which rep-resent workers in aquaculture,seafood and fish processing was heldon November 24—25, 2015 in Oslo,Norway. It was organised following adecision of the IUF 27th Congress(Geneva, May 15—18, 2012) to consol-idate the international union organisa-tion of workers in major fisheriescompanies, building union strengthand strategy across the entire fish-eries supply chain.

The objective of this meeting, whichwas organised with the support ofNorwegian Food Workers Union(NNN), was to discuss ideas and plansfor how the IUF should develop thisinternational organisation in the sec-tor with an emphasis on the majorTNCs.

Today about 200 million people workdirectly or indirectly for fish andseafood companies along the valuechain. 58 million people are employeddirectly in fisheries and aquaculture.However, the industry, which is amongthe fastest growing in the global econ-omy, provides almost only poorly-paid jobs in hazardous workingconditions. It has a terrible record ofhuman rights abuses, and there ismassive use of child and forced labour.

Low unionisation rate is the key factorbehind this appalling situation — whichwe shall overcome one day. The meet-ing in Oslo was about HOW to do this.

PROGRAMME

Monday, NOVEMBER 23

Session I 09.00 — 10.45GLOBAL TRENDS IN AQUACULTURE AND FISH INDUSTRY. State of economy, state of the unions

Fish workers movement in NorwayJan-Egil Pedersen, NNN

Fish workers movement: time to grow globalKirill Buketov, IUF

Global fish, seafood and aquaculture. What it is now, what it is going to be?Uwe Barg, FAO

Session II 11.15 — 13.00 FISH WORKERS ORGANISING. WHAT FOR? HOW? Regional reports: Europe

Moderator Estelle Brentnall, EFFAT

Development of the union-management relations in the fish canning sector (ANFACO).Spain country report

Sebastian Serena, FITAG-UGT

Employment, collective bargaining and the quality of industrial relations in Europeanfisheries and aquaculture. Presentation of EC/union research

Sara Palazzoli, CGIL FLAI, Italy

Social, economic and employment impact of the European Fish Policy and union responseJesus Gallo Cuesta, FEAGRA CCOO, Spain

Fight for wage increase in the salmon sector and fish processing industry in NorwayAnn Solveig Sorensen, NNN, Norway

Written Country reports: Belgium ( Joint report of IUF affiliates), Spain (SMC-UGT), Russia (IUF EECA team)

Session III 14.00 — 15.45FISH WORKERS ORGANISING. WHAT FOR? HOW? Regional reports: Africa, Latin America /Caribbean, Asia Pacific

Moderator Anne-Berit Aker Hansen

Workers and unions in the African fish industry: Main challenges, examples of organisingOmara Amuko, IUF Africa

Fish industry and fish workers organizing in GhanaRichard Becless, GAWU, Ghana

Latin America: Union struggle in global fishing companiesAlexis Cancino, CONTRAPESH, Chile

Stand Up for the rights of fish workersNeville Donaldson, Etu, New Zealand

Citra Mina: how long does it take to win against tuna barons? Worker Safe campaignHerbert Demos, SENTRO, Philippines

Fishery people and their communities: The day-by-day struggle for rights and dignity Poguri Chennaiah, APVVU, India

Session IV 16.15 — 18.00

WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES FOR UNION ORGANISING IN THE FISHING INDUSTRY? WHAT ARE THEWAYS TO OVERCOME THEM?

Moderator Kirill Buketov, IUF

Organising in fisheries and aquaculture: trade union approach to health and safety Peter Hurst, IUF

IUU fishing and the rights of fishworkers

Fabrizio de Pascale, UILA, Italy

Tuesday, NOVEMBER 24

Session V 9.00 — 10.45

CONSOLIDATION OF THE SECTOR AND TRADE UNION RESPONSES TO THE GROWTH OF CORPORATEPOWER

Introduction and group work. Moderator Neville Donaldson, Etu

Uniting fish and fishing workers across supply chain: IUF-ITF organising programmeNichola Smith, ITF, Jon Whitlow ITF, Johny Hansen SjomannsForbundet, Norway

Who profits? Top 100 corporations in the sector and first union battles experienceKirill Buketov, IUF

What do we need to build to confront the corporations effectively?Group work

Session VI 11.15 — 13.00

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND PROGRAMS — ILO & FAO. What is and what should be therefor the fish workers?

Moderator Omara Amuko, IUF

Supporting ILO’s global decent work agenda in fisheries and aquacultureEleonora Dandrea, FAO

ILO and the development of national and international plans to tackle worst forms of exploitation in fishing industry

Jean-Marie Kagabo, ILO Global Action Programme for Fisheries

ILO and fish workersBrandt Wagner, ILO Sectoral Policies Department

2 International Meeting of Fishing Industry and Aquaculture Workers’ Unions Report

3Program

Session VII 14.00 — 15.45

INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN FISH/SEAFOOD INDUSTRY. “Blue sky vision” Moderator Kirill Buketov, IUF

Reports of the eight working groups, established by country or region or common language

Discussion on priority tasks

Reports: Omara Amuko (Africa) Huseyin Anapali (Turkey)Conny Demonie (Belgium)Neville Donaldson (Asia-Pacific)Manuel Souto (Spanish Language group)Silvano Giangiacomi (Italy)Jarle Wilhelmsen (Nordic)Kirill Buketov (IUF-ITF program)

Session VIII 16.15 — 18.00

BUILDING INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN FISH/SEAFOOD INDUSTRY. Action Points Moderator Jan-Egil Pedersen, NNN

Summary of the two days, action points and resolutions

MEETING REPORTA meeting of IUF affiliates representingworkers in aquaculture, seafood and fishprocessing was held on November 23—24,2015 in Oslo, Norway. It was held following adecision by the IUF 27th Congress (Geneva,May 15—18, 2012) to consolidate the interna-tional union organisation of workers in majorfisheries companies, building union strengthand strategy across the entire fisheries sup-ply chain.

The meeting was hosted by the NorwegianFood Workers’ Union (NNN) and attended by47 participants from 17 countries. The Inter-national Transport Workers Federation (ITF)sent representatives from its Fisheries Sec-tion, and experts from the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO) and the Food andAgriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UnitedNations (UN) also joined as guests.


Session I

GLOBAL TRENDS IN AQUACULTUREAND FISH INDUSTRY: State of economy, state of the unionsThe meeting was opened by Jan-Egil Peder-sen, President of the Norwegian Food Work-ers’ Union (NNN). He stressed the importanceof the fisheries industry for Norway andglobally, and welcomed to Oslo this first IUFinternational meeting to formulate a plan ofaction to unite the workers of the globalseafood industry.

Kirill Buketov of the IUF Secretariat thankedthe NNN for its support. He noted the recentmedia exposures on human rights abusesand appalling working conditions in theseafood sector, and reported on current or-ganising campaigns of seafood workers, inparticular in Papua New Guinea, the Philip-pines and Indonesia. He stressed the impor-tance of producing a joint IUF-ITF organisingprogramme, and said the main objective ofthe meeting was to bring seafood workersto the frontline of the struggle for justice,rights and respect.

Uwe Barg of the UN Food and Agriculture Or-ganization (FAO) presented some latest sta-tistics on the industry today:

• About 200 million people work directly orindirectly in fish and seafood growing(aquaculture) and production along thevalue chain;

• 58 million people are employed directly infisheries and aquaculture.

• The livelihoods of 880 million people de-pend on the sector;

• Growth in employment in fisheries andaquaculture is higher than in traditionalagriculture, and higher than the world pop-ulation growth, and world fisheries produc-tion is expected to expand.

The structure of employment in the industryis changing since the vast majority of com-mercial stocks have been overfished. Marineresources are limited, and the capacity of theworld fishing fleet is already over that limit.So the current trend is to reduce the numberof vessels and people employed on the sea,while aquaculture is rapidly growing and cre-ating more jobs for fish farming and process-ing workers.

• In 2014, aquaculture production supplied50% all fish caught and farmed globally forhuman consumption;

• Capture fishing produces 93 million tonnesper annum, of which 81 million tonnescome from marine and 12 million tonnesfrom freshwater;

• In comparison, aquaculture produces 97million tonnes per annum, of which 70 mil-lion tonnes are fish and 27 million tonnesare aquatic plants.

• Fish and seafood is the most traded foodcommodity worldwide: more than 80 percent is sold on the international market,with a value chain worth US$ 818 billion in2008.

Major trends in the global seafood trade are:

• A loss of confidence in public control au-thorities;

• Concerns about the sustainability of the re-sources;

• Vertical integration and consolidation of thecompanies in the sector;

• Globalisation of production, processing andtrade;

• Supermarketisation — the increasing roleof retailers;

• The use of Corporate Social Responsibilityto protect corporate reputation.

The UN FAO has a number of regulatorymechanisms for the sector, developed

5Global Trends

through the FAO Committee on Fisheries(COFI) and its two sub-committees on fishtrade and aquaculture. Their primary task isto respond to the growing concern over theuse of resources using the FAO Code of Con-duct for Responsible Fisheries. However,some FAO documents also include strong so-cial causes based on a human rights ap-proach, for example the FAO VoluntaryGuidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries (which cover almost 90% ofall fishers). Similar binding or voluntary reg-ulatory mechanisms could be developed forcommercial fishing and aquaculture but donot yet exist.

In the past, the FAO helped to facilitate theestablishment of intergovernmental fisheriesorganisations at regional level to help regu-late catch quotas, and these are becomingplatforms where other matters of environ-mental and social concern can be raised.

Sessions II and III

FISH WORKERS ORGANISING. WHAT FOR? HOW? Regional reportsThis session opened with a report from Eu-rope, introduced by Estelle Brentnall of theEuropean Federation of Food, Agriculture andTourism Trade Unions (EFFAT-IUF). She saidthat some 150,000 workers are employed inthe fisheries/seafood sector in Europe today.

Spain: Sebastian Serena, of the FITAG-UGTunion reported that the industry employs18,500 fish-processing workers there, ofwhom 80% are women, many with low edu-cation level. It is found all along the Spanishcoast but primarily on the north. The industryturnover is worth 4 billion Euros and it is oneof the most important for the Spanish econ-omy. Since 2009, the number of companieshas decreased from 750 to 667, while thenumber of workers has increased and, in spiteof the general economic crisis, seafood pro-duction has stayed at the same level. The in-dustry is consolidating itself: companies withfewer than 50 workers either disappear ormerge into bigger ones. The number of fishingvessels under the Spanish flag is also growing.The Spanish food workers’ unions have nego-tiated two national agreements — one for theseafood canning/processing sector and an-other for the frozen seafood sector.

The recently signed IUF-ITF Protocol with thecanning/processing industry (ANFACO-SEC-OPESCA) allows unions to address industrymember companies which are working inother countries. The Spanish Government iscommitted to maintaining thefishing/seafood sector in the country and, inorder to be competitive, it is lobbying the EUCommission to secure trade agreementswhich take into account human rights andequal pay and working conditions for work-ers in countries of the Global South.


Jesus Gallo Cuesta of the FEAGRA-CCOO unioncontinued the report on Spain by focusing onthe social, economic and employment impactof the European Common Fisheries Policy(CFP). He said it is difficult to see and meas-ure the social benefits of the CFP. The unionsundertook a study on the development ofthe anchovies’ sector from 2000 to 2014.This showed a 35% reduction in employ-ment. Casual employment is growing andemployment contracts are changing infavour of the companies’ interests. EU fundsare used to assist women to find alternativesources of employment to fish processing.

Belgium: Alain Degald of the ACV-CSC uniondescribed the industry in his country, whereonly three seafood processing plants remainin operation on the North Sea coast. Thenumber of fishing boats is also decreasing,and many Belgian fishing workers now workon Dutch vessels instead. For those who stillwork in the sector, the working conditionsare relatively good, and the union has work-ing relations with management at all theplants.

Italy: Sara Palazzoli of the CGIL-FLAI unionpresented the results of EU-funded researchon employment, collective bargaining andthe quality of industrial relations in fisheriesand aquaculture in 6 countries. The reportshows that, due to the hard and dangerousnature of the job, workers ought to leavefishing at the age of 45-50 years, but retire-ment age is 62-67 according to national leg-islation and the younger generation is nolonger attracted to the sector. The researchalso shows a low level of income in aquacul-ture and fish processing compared to othersectors.

Norway: Anne Solveig of the NNN union de-scribed the many challenges for the workersin the Norwegian fish in dustry — socialdumping, and breaches of OSHE standards aswell as the working environment legislation,

including longer working hours, and lowquality accommodation and wages. Mostworkers in the industry are migrants and em-ployers are charging them for meals and ac-commodation. In 2015, the NNN wasprepared to strike for a wage rise in thesalmon industry, but employers gave in atthe last minute.

Africa: Omara Amuko, IUF Team Africa, intro-duced an overview of the fisheries and aqua-culture sector in the continent. He pointedout its dynamic growth owing to many na-tional programmes to expand own-catchfishing and seafood production, as well as re-gional programmes under the auspices of theAfrican Union, such as the New Partnershipfor Africa’s Development (NEPAD). However,the sector is poorly regulated, national lawsand international standards are not enforced.This leads to a struggle between producersfor resources, water grabbing, etc.

In 2015, Team Africa carried out a survey toidentify affiliates with membership in thesector. They found several sectoral collectiveagreements for fisheries, including OHS andmaternity rights, concluded by GAWU inGhana, GAPWUZ in Zimbabwe, and the Tan-zanian Union of Industrial and CommercialWorkers (TUICO) in Tanzania. In May 2015,the IUF Africa Regional Secretary and TeamAfrica proposed establishing an African fish-eries union network to link together theunions representing both small fishers andcommercial production workers.

Richard Becless of the Ghana AgriculturalWorkers’ Union (GAWU) said that his unionrepresents 55,000 members, including manyfishers, fish farming and fish processingworkers. The seafood sector provides jobs tomore than 20,000 workers in processing andmarketing, mostly women.

Latin America: Alexis Cancino of the CON-TRAPECH union in Chile presented a report onthe situation in his country, where overfish-

7Regional reports

ing is now recognised as a major problem,and many kinds of marine fauna are af-fected, such as sardines and anchovies. Thewhole industry, including the workforce, isnow paying for the overfishing. This crisis hasled to a decrease from 40,000 to 12,000 jobsin the sector and an increase in precariouscontracts. New fisheries legislation which theGovernment has been trying to bring inwould criminalise 90% of people involved infishing and has been strongly criticised bythe trade unions.

The issue of food safety manifested itself re-cently in the farmed salmon sector. A virusdamaged the industry and resulted in Chilelosing its world leadership in salmon produc-tion to Norway. Again, the Government istrying to resolve the problem at the expenseof the workers, for example, suggesting re-strictions on strike action during the salmonfishing season.

Asia-Pacific: Neville Donaldson greeted theparticipants on behalf of the newly-estab-lished Union Et� “Stand tall” in New Zealand,which represents land-based processingworkers.

In the 1970s, the 6th largest Exclusive Eco-nomic Zone (EEZ) was established aroundNew Zealand. The massive abuse of workers’rights and destructive fishing practices byforeign charter vessels in the NZ EEZ havebeen repeatedly exposed. The predecessorof Et� initiated a national petition calling forbetter protection for all workers employed inthe NZ EEZ, including the application of NZemployment and health and safety laws.This, in conjunction with an accident when aKorean fishing boat sank because of an ex-cessively heavy net, led to a ministerial en-quiry which made several recommendations.This in turn led the NZ Government to bringin new regulations which will take effect onMay 1, 2016. These require observers on alldeep sea trawlers, that all NZ employment

and health and safety laws must apply in theNZ EEZ, and all vessels fishing there must beNZ-flagged vessels.

Herbert Demos of the SENTRO union federa-tion in the Philippines reported on the out-comes of the two-year campaign for justicefor Citra Mina workers in the city of GeneralSantos. The company is the second largestexporter of tuna from the Philippines. In2014, it dismissed a large group of workerswho had formed a union. Besides thesehuman rights violations, the company wasalso accused of inadequate OSH protectionsafeguards and of IUU (illegal, unreported,unregulated) fishing in Indonesian waters.The workers who were dismissed for union-isation have continued fight, with the sup-port of local communities as well as IUF andITF members around the world, for morethan two years. Their basic demands remainthe same — reinstatement, back wages andunion recognition.

The campaign has changed the political land-scape in the city. The Citra Mina Workers'Union, with the help of SENTRO and IUF, hasdragged a very powerful company into an in-vestigation by the Philippines Congress. TheGovernment is now set to issue a new De-partmental Order to govern the fishing in-dustry in the country. The campaign alsoprovided an opportunity for other tuna andfish workers to expose the massive contrac-tualisation of employment through the 'Cabo'subcontracting system. The Government hasnow confirmed the legal status of the union,and the workers are committed to winningthis struggle. It will be a turning point for the200,000 workers who are dependent onfishing in General Santos city, Philippines.

As Poguri Chennaiah of the APVVU union inIndia said, the 8,000 km coastline of Indiaprovides a livelihood to numerous coastalpopulations. In general, people living on thecoast are affected by illiteracy and poverty,


and there is widespread child labour. TheAPVVU represents various categories ofworkers — including 'traditional' motor-based small boat fishers, inland fish workers,aquacultural fish workers, and fish process-ing workers. However, the overwhelmingmajority of workers are not organised andare not allowed to be organised.

Fisher people have to struggle every day toprotect their land and waters from commer-cial activities, which pollute the environmentand destroy the fish stocks. At the sugges-tion of APVUU, the participants of the meet-ing expressed in a special Resolution theiroutrage at the arrest of 25 union activistsprotesting against the construction of a coal-based power plant in Nellore District (seepage 17).

Session IV

WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES TO UNION ORGANISINGIN THE FISHING INDUSTRY?WHAT ARE THE WAYSTO OVERCOME THEM?Peter Hurst, health and safety expert, de-fined various subsectors of the global fishand seafood industry, pointing out that agri-culture, in which aquaculture is generally in-cluded, and capture fishing are two of thefour most dangerous sectors in terms of fatalaccidents, serious injuries and occupationaldisease (the other two are mining and con-struction). Unions should apply a unified ap-proach to all segments of the seafood valuechain, he said, since many safety and healthissues are similar in aquaculture productionand fish and seafood processing. Trade unionorganising can be driven around OHS issuesalong the supply chain, based on preventingand reducing the numbers of fatal accidents,serious injuries, and cases of occupationaldisease.

Fabrizio de Pascale of the UILA union in Italyintroduced the results of a study undertakenby the fisheries section of his union (UILAPesca) on IUU (illegal, unreported, unregu-lated) fishing and its relation to the rights offishworkers in international law. The study isbased on the understanding that there is astrong link between the management of ma-rine resources and the rights and duties offisher folk whose livelihoods are dependenton these resources. It emphasises that, if wedo not address the issue of illegal work, nolegislation will ever eradicate IUU fishing andthat it is necessary to extend the concept ofIUU fishing to include the violation of inter-nationally recognised labour standardsalongside the violation of conservation andmanagement measures.

The authors of the study also showed the im-

9Organising in fishing industry

portant innovative role that regional fisheriesorganisations can have. Participating in theseorganisations is an opportunity to advocatefor more and better jobs and growth. In someof these regional organisations, NGOs alsoparticipate, including environmental organi-sations.

Session V

CONSOLIDATION OF THE SECTOR AND TRADE UNION RESPONSES TO THE GROWTH OF CORPORATE POWERIntroduction and group workNichola Smith and Jon Whitlow from theMaritime Section of the ITF based in London,UK, and Johnny Hansen of the SjomannsFor-bundet union in Norway, presented the ITFpriorities on defending fishers' rights at seaand the role of the joint ITF/IUF Fisheries Pro-gramme: 'From Catcher to Counter'.

This strategic partnership aims to bring to-gether IUF and ITF unions, organising teams,ITF port inspectors, and the necessary re-sources in various countries to advance thegrowth and strength of workers' organisa-tions, both on the fishing vessels and on theground. It is our response to the difficult na-ture of the industry. For example, fishingvessels often do not dock in the ports wherethe ITF has ship inspectors. So, to have accessto these workplaces, we need to be moreflexible and creative in our approach. Also,since many companies own both the boatsand the seafood production facilities, theneed for cooperation between IUF and ITF isobvious. The first country where the jointprogramme has delivered results is PapuaNew Guinea: there 6,000 new memberswere recruited in fish processing plants andon the fishing boats to establish a singleunion.

Kirill Buketov, IUF, highlighted the rapid con-solidation of the sector, with some very am-bitious companies trying to dominate theglobal market. Local companies, originallyrun by local crab, tuna or shrimp barons, nowoperate internationally and introduce theirbad practices and rules into their global-leveloperations. So, today in the 21st century, weare dealing with widespread illegal, oftencriminal, labour practices including forced


labour and slavery, not to mention massiveprecarisation, the absence of safety stan-dards or social protection, and a huge mor-tality rate. All this is based on aggressiveanti-union policies by these companies.

US crab company, Phillips Seafood, can betaken as an example. It employs 18,000workers around the world in Asia, Venezuela,and Mexico. The company 'innovated' con-tracting in and mass firing of workers bySMS. Another of its innovations is so-called'Mini-plants' (or "Mini-Hell" in the workers'words), which are often private houses in vil-lages set up by local producers to extract thecrab meat. Workers employed in these Mini-plants are deprived of all employment rights,as labour standards are not applied there.

Because of the level of corporate consolida-tion, our ability to influence the dominantcompanies very much depends on unionstrength in their countries of origin. Morethan half of the top 100 companies in theseafood sector originate from the USA, Nor-way, Spain, Japan and Thailand. For example,Thai Union, notorious for its labour rightsabuses, is trying to become Seafood Com-pany Number One; it already has productionfacilities in the USA, France, UK, Germany,and Africa. International coordination will beneeded among unions in all these countriesto confront Thai Union labour practices.

Session VI

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND PROGRAMMES — ILO & FAO.What is and what should be therefor the fish workers?Eleonora D’Andrea, FAO Fisheries and Aqua-culture Department Policy, Economics andInstitutions (FIPI), presented the initiativestaken by the Food and Agriculture Organisa-tion (FAO) on decent work in the fisheriesand aquaculture sector. The FAO increasinglyrecognises the need to improve workingconditions and well-being of food producersand food workers as part of its global strat-egy to reduce poverty in rural areas, shesaid. As well as having practical projects,such as the improvement of occupationalhealth and safety for women fish processorsin West Africa, these issues are included in itsregulatory mechanisms:

• The FAO Code of Conduct for ResponsibleFisheries includes specific articles on suchissues as the training and competency offishers, application of health and safetystandards, and the repatriation of fishers totheir home country;

• The FAO Voluntary Guidelines for SecuringSustainable Small Scale Fisheries in theContext of Food Security and PovertyEradication has a dedicated chapter on so-cial development, employment and decentwork.

It remains to be discussed, however,whether similar guidelines can be created forindustrial fisheries.

The FAO recognises the leading role of theILO in promoting the decent work agendaand aims to support ILO efforts, she added.

Jean Marie Kagabo of the Fundamental Prin-ciples and Rights at Work Branch of the In-ternational Labour Organisation (ILO)described the ILO approach to the sectorthrough its GAPfish Promoting the Human

11Growth of corporate power / International standards

and Labour Rights of Fishers programme.This is considering allowing separate mech-anisms to apply in different countries — ac-cording to whether they are source states,flag states, coastal states, or market stateswhere the fish is sold/consumed.

Straight after the IUF meeting, ILO GAPfishwas holding an International Expert Meetingon Labour Exploitation in the Fishing Sectorin the Atlantic Region. The background doc-ument for this meeting recognises that thefisheries sector, and indeed the globalseafood value chain, include much more thansea fishing, such as aquaculture and seafoodprocessing, where labour conditions mayalso be a critical issue. The paper also sug-gests that being specific on the terminologyused is important for developing a strategicapproach to the global seafood industry:

• “Fishing” refers to the capture of wild fishat sea; it is thus a narrow concept;

• ”Fisheries” is used for the entire industrythat involves caught wild fish, includingprocessing;

• “Seafood”, “seafood sector” or “seafoodvalue chain” refers to all fish and seafoodproduction for consumption and animalfeed, including that which comes fromaquaculture breeding and harvesting.

Brandt Wagner of the Transport and Mar-itime Unit of the ILO Sectoral Polices Depart-ment described the process of achieving ILOConvention C188 (2007) on Work in Fishing,and now for getting States to ratify it. Hestressed the importance of this global regu-latory mechanism since, in this industrywhere ships and fishing vessels operateglobally and have crews from around theworld, there need to be special and adequatemeasures of protection. The Conventionaims, for example, to establish “… decentconditions of work with regard to: minimumrequirements for work on board; conditionsof service; accommodation and food; occu-

pational safety and health protection; med-ical care and social security…” Adopted in2007, it only had 6 ratifications by late 2015,and will only come into force after ratifica-tion by 10 States.

The ILO is helping States to undertake a com-parison between C188 and their own nationallaws, regulations and other measures inorder to reveal and fill the gaps. This has ledto intensive tripartite discussions betweengovernments, employers and trade unions inthe sector. It is proving to be an opportunityto strengthen the voice of trade unions in de-termining the future regulation of labourconditions in the fishing sector, at least withrespect to work on vessels.

It is also important for States to not only havein place laws and regulations implementingC188 but also to have an effective system ofcompliance and enforcement. The ILO, fol-lowing tripartite discussions, had recentlyadopted Guidelines on flag State inspectionof working and living conditions on boardfishing vessels.


Session VII

THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNIONMOVEMENT IN THE FISH/SEAFOODINDUSTRYIn this session, the conference participantssplit into groups, by country, region or lan-guage, to discuss how to develop the inter-national movement of fish and seafoodworkers. The groups then presented theirideas on what should be done:

Group «Africa»:

• Identify interested affiliates by analysing theresponses to the IUF Africa Team survey onthe working conditions in the industry; andpresent the report to the 2016 IUF AfricanRegional Committee and Conference;

• Map the industry, its sectors and operatingcompanies, especially the big TNCs operat-ing on the continent;

• Identify specific problems that the workershave and discuss them at a regional work-shop;

• Set up a sectoral working group to plan fur-ther actions and to participate in the globalnetwork.

Group «Belgium»:

• Get more publicity via the media to exposethe scope of human rights violations in thesector, and bring pressure on the compa-nies through potential image damage;

• Explore the potential for action at the Brus-sels SeaFood Expo;

• Check how transparent the market is andhow labels can help in traceability;

• Discuss with members the advantages ofwinning union membership at fisheries inthe country and how to develop this;

• Also discuss how to overcome the currentstructural divisions within the union be-tween the transport, manufacturing, and

distribution sections; also how to overcomethe divisions between part-time, casual,seasonal, and permanent workers; create anetwork and bring people together; createcommon demands and fight for them;

• Develop European Works Councils in thissector, which do not yet exist.

Group «Turkey»:

• Research and map the aquaculture industryin the country, which has only grown overthe past 10 years;

• Get the TARIM-IS union, which currentlyonly organises agricultural workers, to lookat also organising in aquacultural enter-prises, even though the present environ-ment is not favorable for organising;

Group «Spain and Latin America»:

• Make sure that the companies in the sectordo not benefit from public funding;

• Promote ILO C188;

• Develop a system of traceability thatchecks the origins and sources so as to con-trol fish imports.

Group «Italy»:

• Bring seafood and fish workers closer to-gether by exploring precarious employ-ment practices and fight against casualwork in the sector;

• Promote C188 as decent work on fishingvessels is important for the offshore indus-try;

• Tackle social dumping by demanding trans-parency from companies in the sectorabout their operations in other countries;call them into discussion about how work-ers are treated in their global operations;

• Support IUF seafood processing membersaround the world;

• Encourage consumers to raise their voicesagainst bad practices;

13Trade union movement in the fish/seafood industry

• IUF Secretariat to establish a platform forinternational coordination to develop along-term strategy and plan of action tomake the industry clean of human rightsviolations and socially responsible; to de-velop the concept of decent work in thewhole seafood supply chain, and coordi-nate our demands from individual compa-nies or a code of conduct for all companies.

Group «Asia and Pacific»:

• Continue to support the frontline Citra Minacampaign;

• Focus on organising in particular compa-nies: in New Zealand, 60% of workers intwo seafood corporations are organised; inPapua New Guinea, one union representsthe workers of 7 companies; in the Philip-pines, the Citra Mina Workers campaign isexpanding through Tuna Workers Solidarityto workers in all tuna companies; obstaclesto organising include companies' hostilityand the low level of literacy and strongfear of being blacklisted among seafoodworkers;

• Build international solidarity links to organ-ise simultaneously in cross-national compa-nies and benefit from each other’ssuccesses;

Group «Nordic countries»:

• Stick to the IUF slogan 'Organise, Fight andWin';

• Develop relations with the maritime work-ers’ unions and join forces to attack thecompanies;

• Research who owns the fisheries compa-nies and start engaging with them, to placethem on the radar and demand traceabilityof their products;

• Establish an international working groupwithin the IUF to develop practical activi-ties and coordination of the unions in thesector.

Closing Session

BUILDING THE INTERNATIONALTRADE UNION MOVEMENTIN FISH/SEAFOOD INDUSTRY:Summary conclusions and actionpoints The final session was a wrap up of the pre-sentations, debate and suggestions.

The meeting adopted two resolutions (seepage 17) and mandated the IUF Secretariat tocompile the main conclusions into a summarydocument, see below.


TRADE UNION APPROACH TOWARDSTHE GLOBAL SEAFOOD INDUSTRYSummary Conclusions of the InternationalMeeting of Fishing Industry and Aquaculture Workers’ Unions

Role of the industry and its contributionto feeding the planet

The meeting notes the fast growth of pro-duction, employment and population liveli-hood dependence on the fish and seafoodindustry, as well as the increasingly impor-tant role of seafood production in the world’sglobal food system.

Shocking human rights situation and lackof Freedom of Association

The meeting notes high level of criminaliza-tion and the shocking abuse of workers insome segments of the fishing industry, in-cluding slavery and slavery-like practices,and the use of workers in illicit activities, in-cluding illegal, unreported and unregulatedfishing.

The terrible human rights record of the sectoris directly linked to the very low unionisationrate among the workers at all stages inaquaculture, fishing, fish processing andfish/seafood distribution.

Only workers themselves can change theirsituation for better, but the current system oflabour relations and legislative base at na-tional and international levels do not providean opportunity for this.

Working conditions

At all stages of production we note the highlevel of casual and precarious, socially-un-protected jobs:

• The sector is dominated by a high propor-tion of migrant workers, exploited by em-ployers who take advantage of these

workers' vulnerability;

• Women occupy a large proportion of pre-carious jobs in the fish processing industryin particular;

• Young people, including children, are alsoemployed in the sector, and they require aspecial focus, given their vulnerability tosevere and unacceptable exploitation suchas forced and bonded labour;

• The fishing industry and aquaculture aretwo out of the four most dangerous sectorsin terms of health and safety accidents andmortality rate.

“Save Our Souls”

Almost every day, the media exposes newfacts about slavery and other unacceptablelabour practices in the sector. Workers arecalling for help and this SOS signal can nolonger be ignored. Urgent measures must betaken by the employers, governments andrelevant UN structures, including primarilythe ILO and FAO, to change the situation, re-duce criminality and create opportunities forthe workers to implement their fundamentalright to improve their own working and liv-ing conditions.

The obstacles to the unionisation of seafoodworkers should be carefully studied and rad-ically removed. ILO Conventions 87 and 98should be promoted to cover all sections ofthe seafood sector and guarantee thatseafood workers not only have the right toform organisations of their own choice butare able to exercise this right. ILO Convention188 on Work in Fishing should also be moreactively promoted, and new international in-struments developed to expand andstrengthen the application of the basic prin-ciples of international human and labourrights in the whole seafood global valuechain.

15Conclusions and resolution

Need for an integrated seafood industryapproach

The meeting notes the dynamic develop-ment of integrated, horizontal, cross-sectoraland cross-border business operations, andthe consolidation of power and resources inthe hands of seafood multinational corpora-tions which operate at all stages of fish andseafood value chain. At the end of this chain,it is the seafood/fish corporations and retail-ers which directly benefit from the miserableworking and living conditions, including childand forced labour, in the sector. Brands andretail consumer outlets should be held re-sponsible for the high level of crime in thesector, both on the sea and on the land. Theyshould positively influence labour conditionsin their supply chains.

It is important to consider the fishing, aqua-cultural, and fish and seafood processing anddistribution sectors as a whole in order to en-sure that workers in these sectors have goodemployment and working conditions, includ-ing respect for human rights and applicationof labour standards and laws. Workers inthese sub-sectors face many common issuesand similar labour and employment prob-lems.

Organise, Fight, Win

The meeting declares the commitment of IUFaffiliates to work together and support theseafood workers’ attempts to organise, fightfor, and win their rights.

The IUF will build alliances to fight for a sus-tainable fishing industry, decent living andworking conditions for all fishers and work-ers in the fish processing and distributionsectors, and will strengthen the partnershipwith the International Transport Workers’Federation and its affiliated unions.

The IUF International Secretariat will en-deavor to foster cooperation and solidaritybetween IUF affiliates worldwide, and effec-

tively coordinate actions with the involve-ment of its European (EFFAT-IUF) and otherregional organisations and offices. An inter-national working group will be established todevelop this coordinated action and to pre-pare for a seafood workers’ section withinthe IUF.

The IUF will engage with the relevant UNagencies and other international organisa-tions to demand the development of newmechanisms for improving the protection forseafood workers worldwide.

Seafood workers of the world, unite!

The meeting salutes the fish workers in thePhilippines, Indonesia, and Papua NewGuinea who are at the frontline of our battlefor justice, and calls on workers of all nationsto join the international movement for dig-nity and respect for seafood workers!

24 November, 2015 at Hotel Bristol, Oslo, Norway


RESOLUTION:EXPRESSING SOLIDARITY TO THECITRA MINA WORKERS’ UNIONWe, the participants of the IUF InternationalMeeting of Fishing Industry and AquacultureWorker’s Unions, wish to convey solidarity tothe unfairly dismissed workers of the CitraMina Group of Companies who have beendeprived of their rights to decent and se-cured jobs for exercising their right to free-dom of association as well as calling for theenforcement of their rights and privilegesmandated by Philippine labor laws.

We understand that since November 2013the workers continue their struggle for jus-tice and dignity, and that they are faced un-certainty and their families have to endurethe pains and consequences of being joblessand deprived of income for their basic needs.

Along this line, we therefore express our fullsupport to the struggle of the members ofCitra Mina Worker’s union. We demand thecompany to reinstate the workers with fullback wages and recognition of their union asthe sole and exclusive bargaining agent of allthe employees of Citra Mina. We also supportthe campaign of the union for a Worker Safetuna industry anchored on sustainability, ac-countability and equity.

We know that the fight will be continued andwe are committed to stay shoulder to shoul-der with the workers at Citra Mina for as longas it will take to win.


RESOLUTION:IN SUPPORT OF THE ANDHRAPRADESH MATYAKARULA UNIONNELLORE DISTRICT UNIT (MEMBER OF APVVU) & THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE’S MOVEMENTSThe participants of the international meetingof Fishing Industry and Aquaculture workers’unions express their outrage by the arrest of25 union activists protesting against con-struction of the coal based power plant inNellore district.

About 25 coal based thermal power plantsare planned for construction in SPSR Nelloredistrict of Andhra Pradesh state of India.These units are expected to burn about 3hundred thousand tonnes of coal per daygenerating huge quantities of fly ash, carbondioxide and other harmful chemicals. All theproposed 25 plants will be established within 25 Kms in Chillakur and Muttukur costalmandals (blocks) where large number offisher folk, small farmers and agriculturalworkers (approximately 25000 population)are going to be displaced mercilessly. It is inthis context, the farmers, agricultural work-ers and fisher folk have rejected the plans ofland acquisition in Tamminipatnam andMommadi villages.

We express our solidarity and concern aboutthe rights and the people and ecological har-mony in the area and demand:

1. Immediate termination of the project ofbuilding coal based thermal power plantsin Nellore district until proper public hear-ing is carried out.

2. Stop the harassment of fisher people andtrade union leaders.


17Conclusions and resolution

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

BELGIUMCSC Alimentation et Services (CCAS-CSC)Alain DegandChristophe TackCentrale Alimentation-Horeca-Services (FGTB - Horval) Conny DemonieCarine Vermoote

CHILEConfederación Trabajadores Pesqueros de Chile y Ramas Afines (CONTRAPECH)Alexi Cancino

GHANAGeneral Agricultural Workers' Union of TUC (GAWU)Richard Beccles

INDIAAndhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union (APVVU)Poguri Chennaiah

ITALYFederazione Nazionale Lavoratori Agroindustria CGIL (FLAI-CGIL)Sara PalazzoliPietro Ruffolo Unione italiana lavoratori agroalimentari UIL (UILA-UIL)Fabrizio De PascaleFederazione agricola alimentare ambientale industriale CISL (FAI-CISL)Silvano Giangiacomi Fabrizio Scata

FAEROE ISLANDSFøroya Arbeidarafelag Georg F. HansenElin Kamilla Sorensen

PAPUA NEW GUINEAPapua New Guinea Maritime and Transport Workers Union (PNGMTWU)Donnath Malawae

PHILIPPINESSENTRO Food and Beverages Workers' Council (SENTRO)Herbert DemosRomolo Yerro DumalagAlice Escalada BajaoEmilio S. Pana Jr.

NEW ZEALANDE tū Neville John Donaldson

NORWAYNorsk Nærings- og Nytelsesmiddelarbeiderforbund (NNN)Jan-Egil PedersenAnne Berit Aker HansenAnn Solveig SorensenStein MathiesenChristian MaureiraJarle WilhelmsenBente Birkeland

SPAINFederación SMC-UGTManuel SoutoFederación de Industria y Trabajadores Agrarios de UGT (FITAG-UGT)Sebastián Serena Federación Agroalimentaria de CC.OO. (FEAGRA-CCOO)Jesus Gallo Cuesta

SWEDENLIVS — Mal & MedelGunnar BrulinMalin Kingzell-Brulin

TURKEYTürkiye Orman-Topraksu-Tarim Ve Tarim Sanayii Isçileri Sendikasi (TARIM-IS)Huseyin AnapaliIlhami Polat

19

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)Fisheries and Aquaculture DepartmentUwe Barg Eleonora Dandrea

International Labour Organization (ILO)Brandt Wagner Jean-Marie Kagabo

International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF)Nichola Smith Jon WhitlowJohnny Hansen

IUF - UITA - IULKirill Buketov Maria Kurzina Peter Hurst Omara Amuko Estelle Brentnall

Apologies / Excusas recibidas de / Anmälda förhinderDebbie Tveit (UNIFOR- CANADA)Keith Sullivan (UNIFOR- CANADA)Juan Pedemonte (SUPNEP-PERU)Gracias William Maganga (HFPCWU-MALAWI)Grazina Gruzdiene (LPMS - LITHUANIA) Hidayat Greenfield (IUF Asia/Pacific Regional Secretary)Mamadou Alpha Barry (FSPIAHTA-GUINEA)Zolani Berington Mbanjwa (FAWU - SOUTH AFRICA)Rene Kouwenhoven (FNV - NETHERLANDS)Mwami Henry Mukasa (UFAWU - UGANDA)Kelly Graham (Unite The Union - UK)Hanne Holgaard (CO-Industri - DENMARK)Seepaul Narine (GAWU - GUYANA)

The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and AlliedWorkers' Associations (IUF) is an international federation of trade unions representing work-ers employed in agriculture and plantations; the preparation and manufacture of food andbeverages; hotels, restaurants and catering services; all stages of tobacco processing. Witha financial membership of 2,5 million the IUF is composed of 425 affiliated trade unions in 126

countries representing over 10 million workers in IUF sectors.

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Documents

OOrganisingrganising Glloballyobally too Fight Fight ... SEAFOOD OSLO...fisheries and aquaculture. Presentation of EC/union research Sara Palazzoli, CGIL FLAI, Italy Social, economic