Your union has started a “Transfer Project” to support the implementation of this agreement at Siemens in India. How does this project work ?

In the year 2013 I participated in GIZ Training Program “ENGAGE – Empowerment and Capacity Building Network”. The “Transfer Project” was a component this training project. I took implementation of International Framework Agreement (IFA) as my “Transfer Project”. The objective of the project was build awareness of IFA which includes mainly the Core Labour Standards (CLS) of International Labour Organisation (ILO). To achieve this, a training workshop was planned for union representatives.

How many union representatives from which Siemens locations are involved in the project ?

51 workers' representatives from Motor, Switchgear, Switchboard, Transformer, Satellite, Nashik and Turbhe factories of Siemens attended this workshop. The representatives were divided in 3 separate batches for training.

Who is supporting the project ?

The project was supported by Siemens Workers Union.

With which institutions and organisations do you co-operate ?

I co-operate with IG Metall and IndustriAll Global Union-South Asia Office for this project.

What do you think about the standard of implementation of the IFA at Siemens in India ? Which problems do still exist and where have been improvements ?

The implementation of the IFA is in an embryonic stage. Workers are to be made aware of Core Labour Standards (CLS) and its importance. They have to identify the violations of IFA at plant level. There are issues which are part of IFA but put forward to the management as grievances of the union. For example issues regarding health and safety or statutory rights on contract workers etc. Problems of discrimination between regular and contract workers do exist.