To support IMF’s global efforts the Committee of Metal Industry Unions (CMIU) in Hong Kong made the following actions:

•·        Put posters on boards and dispatched some leaflets to members.

•·        On Oct 7, when the "Minimum Wage Bill" was submitted to the Legislative Council, CMIU gathered in front of the Legislative Council Building to take a petition.  For the "Minimum Wage Bill" suggested the wage calculating only on hourly rate, the unions believe this will lead more precarious work.  So, the unions made the action to warn the Government and the Councilors.  CMIU participated in the action carry posters with the slogans "Minimum Wage Legislation! We Support!" and "Precarious Work! We Oppose!"

From October 3-9, IMF affiliates Bangladesh Metalworkers’ Federation (BMF) and Bangladesh Metalworkers’ League (BML) jointly conducted gate meetings, area-wise meetings and rallies in different industries and industrial belts all over Bangladesh. On October 9, BMF and BML held a joint press conference in Dhaka on precarious work. Four TV channels and about 25 journalists were present. The unions read out a joint statement that was broadcast on TV news. The unions also printed posters as part of their actions.

THE NETHERLANDS: Greater involvement of trade unions and civil society organisations would enable electronics companies to better address human rights and environmental issues, states a new publication on corporate social responsibility in the global electronics sector.

The publication Reset. Corporate social responsibility in the global electronics supply chain was released on October 26 by the Dutch CSR Platform and the GoodElectronics network and is available for download here: http://goodelectronics.org/publications-en/Publication_3248

The report analyses the electronics sector’s failing effectiveness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts and provides a sample of progressive initiatives and recommended steps for companies to enhance their social and environmental performance.

Reset describes the impact of the global electronics sector on communities, workers and the environment, reporting on problems such as sourcing from conflict zones, gender discrimination, increasing job insecurity, health risks for workers and local communities, wide scale dumping of waste in developing countries and the occurrence of child labour in waste processing.

International coordinator of GoodElectronics, Pauline Overeem: "Among the most pressing issues in the production phase is the non-respect for the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, disabling workers to address sub-standard working conditions, including long working hours, forced overtime, low wages, and all kinds of discriminatory practices."

GoodElectronics is an international network for contributing to sustainability and human rights. IMF is a founding member and active participant in the GoodElectronics Network, which bring­s together NGOs, trade unions, labour rights groups, environmental organisations, academics, researchers and activists aimed at common goal to contribute to sustainability and human rights in the global electronics sector.

The Dutch CSR Platform is a network of Dutch civil society organisations and trade unions that are working together to promote CSR.

For hard copies of the report, please contact the Dutch CSR Platform at [email protected].

SWAZILAND:  In its meeting held on October 22-23, the National Executive of the IMF affiliate Swaziland Amalgamated Trade Union (SATU) took a decision to re-affiliate and begin paying subscription fees to the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions.

This decision was first taken by the union’s congress in 2007 and further endorsed by the IMF AFREC meeting held in Johannesburg this month.  The IMF believes that this is the correct decision which will strengthen the Federation and the national union.

SATU is an important player in the Swaziland economy and the labour moment in the country. The union currently organizes workers in four major sectors which are manufacturing, mining, retail and security industry.

Other positive developments are that the union is succeeding in its organizing campaign. While the union lost many workers as result of the impact of world economic crisis the union managed to organized more than 400 workers over the past two months. The Swaziland economy relies heavily on the American market because much of the textile and manufacturing industry are producing for the American export market. Consequently these crises have impacted heavily on the local industry, resulting in many companies closing and moving out of Swaziland.

Quick facts about Swaziland

IMF Affiliate: Swaziland Amalgamated Trade Union (SATU)

Membership:  4500

Sectors:  Metal, mining, construction, retail and security industry

Country’s Economy:  The country’s economy depends largely on farming and forestry, both constituting 60 per cent of the economy. Manufacturing largely depends on farming because of the sugar and textile industry.

Political:  The country is still ruled by a Monarch and the King appoints the Prime Minister. All political parties are banned in Swaziland.

BANGLADESH: Md. Jahangir Alam, a shipbreaking worker who had migrated from the poverty stricken Rangpur district to work at the Habib steel shipbreaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh, died as a result of an accident at work on October 12, 2009. He was the seventh Bangladeshi shipbreaking worker to die in one week.

On October 11, three other shipbreaking workers at the Pakija shipyard died from inhaling poisonous gases. On October 8, three other workers were smashed to death by an iron-plate at the Crystal shipyard.

"The labour law is being blatantly violated and the police have recorded these incidents as un-natural deaths," reports Mojibur Rahman Bhuiyan, General Secretary of IMF affiliate the Bangladesh Metalworkers’ League.

At a meeting between Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP), an organization of workers and employees’ organizations, and the Bangladesh State Labour Minister, on October 15, Bhuiyan demanded that the Minister investigate and punish the companies responsible for the deaths.

"This is murder by shipyard owners and we demand exemplary punishment. We can not allow this to happen anymore. No one can take advantage of poverty and unemployment. The government has a responsibility to create decent jobs," Bhuiyan said to the Minister.

BML also demanded a mechanism for inspecting the ships before their entrance into the Bangladeshi territory, and that the rights of labour are protected. The union also appealed for international solidarity to "stop these barbaric killings".

The IMF sent a letter to the Bangladeshi State Labour Minister in support of the shipbreaking workers, calling for immediate action to respect the rights and improve the health, safety and welfare of shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh.

To sign a petition calling on the G20 heads of states to do more to protect the rights of shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh, go here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/677/t/7078/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=2108

 

Im Jahr 2009 waren nur 64% der Arbeitsplätze in Kanada „Standard", also unbefristete Vollzeitarbeitsplätze. 36% der Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmer hatten befristete oder Teilzeitverträge oder waren selbstständig (einschließlich falsch klassifizierter abhängiger Leiharbeitnehmer).

Unsicherere, instabile und größtenteils schlecht bezahlte Arbeitsplätze mit geringen Leistungen wirken sich auf alles aus – angefangen vom Zugang des Einzelnen zu Sozialleistungen und Kinderbetreuung bis hin zu den öffentlichen Kosten, wenn Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmer über keine Betriebsrenten oder keine Krankenversicherung verfügen. Diese Situation wirkt sich zudem auf unsere Möglichkeiten aus, die Arbeitnehmerschaft gewerkschaftlich zu organisieren.

CAW

Die kanadische Automobilarbeitergewerkschaft nimmt zusammen mit anderen Gewerkschaften an den globalen Aktionen des Internationalen Metallgewerkschaftsbundes teil, um auf die ausufernde Verbreitung der atypischen Arbeitsverhältnisse und die Auswirkungen auf die Arbeitnehmer und ihre Gemeinschaften hinzuweisen.

Am Mittwoch, dem 7. Oktober – am internationalen Aktionstag gegen prekäre Beschäftigung und für menschenwürdige Arbeit – lädt die CAW verschiedene CAW-Vertreter, Koordinatoren unserer Aktionszentren, Forscher und andere Aktivisten, die sich für die Frage der prekären Beschäftigung interessieren, ein, um an einem Diskussionspodium zu diesem Thema teilzunehmen.

Ken Lewenza, Präsident der CAW, wird die Veranstaltung eröffnen. Wir werden einige Teilnehmer bitten, über ihre Erfahrungen mit prekärer Arbeit zu berichten. Zudem werden wir über Forschungsergebnisse debattieren. Danach folgt eine Diskussionsrunde über die Auswirkungen und mögliche neue Wege – im Arbeitsgesetz, in der Tarifpolitik, bei der Mitgliedergewinnung, sozialen Programmen und Beschäftigungsstrategien.

Die Ergebnisse der Veranstaltung sollen veröffentlicht werden. Weitere Informationen können auf der Homepage http://www.caw.ca/ abgerufen werden.

CHILE: On Tuesday 6 October, during a bus journey from Santiago to Antofagasta, our Colombian comrade Jesús Albeiro Martinez Catrillón suffered a heart attack that unfortunately cost him his life at the age of 49.

Albeiro had lived in Chile for the last five years after leaving Colombia with the help of the Catholic Church after receiving death threats because of his trade union work.

The IMF provided assistance to protect his life and that of his family, through an IF Metal and LO-CO humanitarian aid fund. Affiliated organisations in Chile also provided him with their support. Albeiro worked with CONSTRAMET on important projects, especially involving the training of trade union leaders. More recently, and thanks to the efforts of our affiliate SINAMI, he was working in a company that provides services to Codelco, at Sierra Gorda.

Albeiro had a distinguished trade union career in Colombia. He was president of the Fredonia  Municipal Workers Union (Sindicato de Trabajadores Oficiales Administración del Municipio de Fredonia), in Antioquia and president of SINTRASEMA CENTRAL. He actively promoted the unity of the working class through UTRAN, FUTRAN and then the Antioquia section of CUT. In 1996, he was the leader of SINTRASEMA when it joined the IMF affiliate UTRAMMICOL, where he took on major responsibilities as leader of the union executive committee and where he served the union with distinction.

He was persecuted because of his trade union activities and spent one year (2003) in the United States as part of a programme to protect trade union leaders before emigrating to  Santiago, Chile with the help of Catholic Action.

The IMF Latin American and Caribbean Regional Office regrets the loss of Albeiro Martinez, who fought for trade unionism and who, despite being forced to live a long way from his country, his family and his traditions, settled in Chile, where he continued working to promote the rights of workers, the right to freedom of association and the welfare of his family.

All of us in the IMF offer our condolences to his family and to the trade union movement in the region.

GERMANY: On October 14 and 15, the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) and the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF) organised a conference in Bad Orb, Germany entitled "Cutting Emissions, Transforming Jobs".

The goal of the meeting was to discuss how industrial workers might present a common position at the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen Denmark. The UNFCCC COP-15 conference, as it is called, is expected to propose a new set of agreements on greenhouse gas emissions targets to renew or replace those contained within the Kyoto Accord.

Speaking at the meeting, IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina said, "Our industrial sectors are frequently seen as contributors to the current environmental crisis. Yet it is within these very industries that solutions already exist or are being developed. We want to reduce emissions, while at the same time increasing employment and protecting the environment."

The industrial workers’ unions prepared a background discussion document taking into account work that had already been done, such as ICEM’s recently-adopted policy on Sustainability. The meeting was structured around five panel discussions: environmental protection, sustainable development, sectoral concerns, sustainable job creation, and just transition.

The lively discussion covered a vast territory, some of the points made include:

• the environmental crisis is as much a failure of global capitalism as the recent and ongoing economic crisis
• good jobs and a clean environment go hand in hand, we will have both; or we will have neither
• developing countries must have their chance to develop. However, their development need not follow the same harmful paths as it did in developed countries that caused the environmental crisis in the first place. International institutions for capital and finance, resurgent protectionism, and restrictions on technology transfer, can create a new era of colonialism if we do not prevent it
• trade unions must hold governments and employers to account, particularly regarding the social dimension of sustainability

The delegates from all four organizations welcomed the opportunity to discuss the social and economic consequences of trying to solve the present environmental crisis. Overall, there was a consensus that industrial sector unions need to make our voices heard in Copenhagen, and particularly to be the champions of the social dimension of sustainable development. While there are certainly concerns within specific industries and regions, and therefore a need for strong Just Transition programs, there are also many opportunities for sustainable job creation.

The ICEM, IMF, EMF and EMCEF will be reviewing the discussion document and comments received over the next couple of weeks. Following this review, we will finalize the materials we will bring to COP-15 in Copenhagen to make our points with the country representatives negotiating the new agreement.

Following the meeting, Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary said, "For industrial workers and their unions an important question for changing to a low-carbon economy is who pays for it and who benefits from the transition. We only have one planet and we all have an interest in protecting our future."

Copies of the background paper and presentations delivered at the meeting are published on the IMF website.

Additional information about climate change and the position of industrial workers can be found on the following web links:

www.imfmetal.org/climatechange

http://www.icem.org/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety

http://www.industrialpolicy.eu/COP15

CHILE: Trade union leaders representing Gerdau workers in Argentina (UOM),  Brazil (CNTM and CNM), Canada (USW), Colombia (UTRAMMICOL), Chile (CONSTRAMET), the United States (USW), Spain (Comisiones Obreras and UGT) and Peru (Sindicato de obreros y de empleados Siderperu), and led by the IMF, have handed in a letter to the company president, André Gerdau Johannpeter, at Gerdau Aza factory gates in Santiago, Chile, repudiating the company’s decision to deny them entry to the Chilean plant. The letter also included a list of demands from the Gerdau Global Workers’ Committee.

The protest took place after a trade union delegation, visiting the country for a meeting of the Gerdau Global Workers’ Committee, was denied entry to the Gerdau Aza factory. Chilean union leaders had taken appropriate steps to prepare the delegation’s visit but management refused to let the delegation into the plant and gave no clear reason as to why they took such action.

At the end of the Global Committee meeting on October 15, at 2 p.m., the committee went to the Gerdau Aza factory and IMF Assistant General Secretary Fernando Lopes handed in a letter to the human resources department, addressed to André Gerdau J. and repudiating the company’s refusal to allow the delegation into the factory.

The letter also requested a rapid and effective solution to the strike in Cambridge, Canada; a negotiated solution with the SINTRAMETAL union in Tuta on the renewal of their collective agreement; and, reopening of the Duitama factory in Colombia.

As on other occasions, the letter also requested a meeting with Gerdau management in Brazil to discuss the following points:

• Company recognition of the Gerdau Global Workers’ Committee
• Negotiation of an International Framework Agreement
• Implementation of a joint global health and safety committee

CHILE: The meeting of the Gerdau Global Workers’ Committee, held October 13-15 in Santiago, Chile has ended after three days of analysis and discussion about the demands of unions representing Gerdau workers throughout the world.

The Gerdau Workers’ Committee, composed of trade union representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, the U.S., Spain and Peru decided on action to strengthen the committee and to seek company recognition of the committee.

The meeting discussed the most serious disputes currently affecting Gerdau workers, including the United Steelworkers strike in Cambridge, Canada to maintain workers rights and the union campaign in Colombia against plant closures that have left hundreds of workers unemployed. The committee is working on an Action Plan covering the next few months.

It was agreed to continue writing to Gerdau management in Brazil about the disputes in Canada and Colombia and to organise an International Day of Struggle in all Gerdau factories on November 18. The meeting also discussed the different arrangements in Gerdau factories for negotiating health and safety agreements.

The Gerdau Workers’ Committee will focus mainly on demanding company recognition of the committee; negotiating an International Framework Agreement; and negotiating a health and safety committee.

The meeting began with a visit to one of Gerdau’s factories in Chile (Gerdau Aza). However, company management refused to allow a delegation of leaders into the plant. The committee responded by writing to André Gerdau J., repudiating the company’s stance.

The committee decided to meet again in October 2010 in Spain. Leaders agreed to continue strengthening the Gerdau Workers’ Committee and to continue the fight, especially on behalf of colleagues most affected by violations of their rights.