TURKEY: Sinter Metal workers demonstrated in Taksim Square on August 5 following a court ruling which furthered delayed a decision that would decide the fate of some 350 workers who were fired for belonging to the union, Birlesik Metal-IS, an affiliate of the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF).

For over 7 months now, the 350 workers of Sinter Metal Imalat Sanayi A.Ş have been struggling to get their jobs back.

On Tuesday, August 4, the judge announced that the case would be delayed again by three months. The next court hearing is scheduled for November 13.

"According to the Turkish Constitution we are certain to win the case, but the employer is doing everything to drag out the process – something that they are good at doing, too. Again we reiterate: ‘Justice delayed is justice denied!!’ We will not let the employer break our resistance in front of the company," said Elif Sinirlioglu of Birlesik Metal-IS.

Tony Murphy from the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) served as an international court monitor and participated in the demonstration. Addressing the crowd at Taksim Square, Murphy explained that, "Sinter Metal workers are not alone, and millions of EMF and IMF affiliates are with them". He went on to say that the problem is not just the Sinter case, but a larger one involving a long list of violations of workers’ rights in Turkey. He called on the Turkish government to stop all violations of workers’ right.

Murphy delivered a solidarity message on the IMF’s behalf. "Your fight goes beyond the courthouse and company gates. Yours is the global fight for fundamental labour rights and worker protections that all workers should enjoy, but that so many of us must struggle for: the right to join a union, the right to collectively bargain, and the right to strike" an IMF statement read.

On July 16, Klaus Preignitz from IG Metall, Alexander Todic from Serbia, Nina Berg and Susanne Dörflinger from DGB Bildungswerk, and Manfred Wannüffel from Bochum University expressed international solidarity and participated in a demonstration in front of the company in Dudulu Organized Industrial Zone.

The IMF and EMF launched a joint campaign in support of Sinter Metal workers in March 2009. CLICK HERE for more information about this campaign.

KOREA:  A tentative agreement was reached this morning between the KMWU and Ssangyong Motor after weeks of intense and often times brutal struggle by 700 autoworkers holding a sit-in strike within the plant.

According to the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, an affiliate of the International Metalworkers’ Federation, currently some 50 workers who participated in the strike have been taken by the police to area jails and the KMWU speculates that by the end of the day the number of strikers imprisoned will reach 100. Medical care at the police jails are limited at best, many of those imprisoned need thorough hospital care immediately.

Outside the plant, tensions remain high where a number of company-hired security forces are waiting for sit-in strikers to walk out. Police have been inside the plant conducting investigations which includes the questioning of each striker and in many cases, transporting workers to jail.

Workers have not seen their families since going on strike on May 21.

The tentative settlement announced today includes the company agreeing to a "48% : 52% ratio" with 48% of restructured people maintaining employment with Ssangyong Motor and 52% having to accept dismissal (early retirement). However, other important issues remain outstanding including the persecution of those involved in the strike and how the ‘100%’ of which the ratio is applied is decided. Negotiations are continuing.

The IMF is urging affiliates to voice their concerns at Korean embassies around the world and call on the Korean government to:

• immediately release all imprisoned union leaders and Ssangyong workers;
• drop all charges (criminal and civil) against individuals and organisations involved in the strike;
• take a role in ensuring good faith, genuine negotiations towards guaranteeing the KMWU Ssangyong Motor members employment security.

HONDURAS: A delegation of international trade union leaders is visiting Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in Honduras on a mission aimed at intensifying international political pressure on the government that came to power in a coup. The delegations is also expressing solidarity with trade unionists who are resisting the dictatorship and suffering violations of the freedom of expression.

The mission’s objective is to demand the restoration of democracy and a return to constitutional order and to express solidarity with the Honduran people. The mission was organised by the International Trade Union Confederation and the Trade union Confederation of the Americas. The delegation also includes representatives of the Global Union Federations, including Jorge Almeida, IMF representative for Latin America and the Caribbean,

The mission, representing the international trade union community, is in Honduras from August 5 to 8 and will report violations to international and trade union organisations and work with Honduran trade union and social movements to draw up a programme to intensify solidarity action, at different places and times, and at the local and international levels with a view to restoring democracy.

The mission’s programme includes meetings with social movements that are resisting the dictatorship and also with international observation groups, alternative media, trade unions and human rights organisations.

The IMF condemns the coup in Honduras, which took place on June 28 when President Manuel Zelaya Rosales was abducted, removed from office and expelled from the country. The IMF has been acting in solidarity with its Honduran affiliate, FETRAMIMH, throughout this period.

Since the coup in Honduras, an atmosphere of political persecution has affected political, trade union and social movement leaders. The ITUC and the IMF, through its affiliate, has noted serious human rights violations with at least eight killings, more than 150 injured and wounded, many threats and restrictions on the freedom of expression, information and movement.

INDIA: Workers at a Bosch plant in Pune, India went on strike on July 18, their demands include equal pay for equal work. Significantly, precariously employed workers, trainees and permanent workers are in unity in the fight, which is being lead by the Bosch Chassis Systems Kamgar Sanghatana (Employees Union) and supported by IMF affiliates in the region.

The union was established after Bosch Chassis Systems took over the plant in 2006. The plant consisted of two units producing four wheeler and two wheeler brake systems respectively. A collective agreement between the union and Bosch was entered on November 3, 2007 lasting until 2010. At the time Bosch informed the union that the two wheeler brake unit was being handed over to Brembo, an Italian company, and that 50 workers were to transfer to the new company.

The workers protested and signed the agreement with Bosch and Brembo only after a clause was included stating that, in the event of closure or relocation of Brembo, the transferred workers would be reemployed by Bosch.  In addition to this the collective agreement gave an average wage rise of around 60 per cent and stipulated rises for each year of the agreement.

The union served a notice of "stoppage of work" after both companies failed to implement wage rises, Brembo in 2008 and 2009 and Bosch in 2009, and following the suspension of the union’s General Secretary Mr. Pradip Thakare.

The union is also protesting the huge disparity in pay between precariously employed workers and regular workers, with precarious workers earning only 25 to 30 per cent of the wages earned by regular workers.

Instead of negotiating with the union, company management lodged a complaint against the union with the local Industrial Tribunal. However after hearing both sides, the Tribunal has ruled that the strike is not illegal.

"The success of the struggle will have far reaching benefits, as regards, wages, working and service conditions of precarious workers and trainees, not only for Bosch, but, the entire Pune industrial landscape," said IMF Regional Representative Sudharshan Rao Sarde.

"All the unions in the area want this struggle to succeed, as this will strengthen their effort to tackle the widespread use of precarious workers by the companies, which is weakening the collective bargaining capacity of unions," explained Rao.

GERMANY: Hans Mayr, former President of the International Metalworkers’ Federation, died on August 3, 2009. Hans served as President of the IMF and Chairman of IG Metall from 1983 to 1986.

Hans played a central role in some of the toughest labour disputes in Germany during the post-war period and was involved in union campaigns that lead to the introduction of the 35-hour week. Hans was born on December 13, 1921 in Freudenegg, near Ulm (Baden-Württemberg) and his first job was with Junkers, an aerospace company.

Hans joined IG Metall in 1946 directly after the war and his release from being a prisoner of war. From 1951 to 1955 Hans was the chairman of the local DGB, German Trade Union Confederation, in Göppingen and became chairman of IG Metall’s local in Göppingen in 1955.

Hans joined the national executive committee of IG Metall in 1962 and was responsible for collective bargaining. He was elected IG Metall vice chairman in 1970 and then chairman in 1983.

GLOBAL:  On 27, 28 and 29 July, copies of a letter from the IMF’s Gerdau Group Global Committee to André Gerdau, rejecting plant closures and asking for a meeting to discuss the company’s safety policy, were distributed at all Gerdau plants.

The committee first proposed a global agreement on health and safety in 2008. It has rejected Gerdau’s unilateral policy and proposed that the company should discuss and agree its safety policy with the unions. The committee believes the unions can play an important role in improving working conditions.

In December last year and June 2009, the committee wrote to the company stating its concern over the effects of the world financial crisis on the company’s plants and proposing direct contact with the company to discuss the situation of workers. However, Gerdau preferred to hold discussions with local unions and not the world committee.

In light of recent events that have effected Gerdau employees in the form of plant closures in the United States and Colombia, job losses in Peru and Spain and the dismantling of unions, the committee is asking for a meeting with the company to discuss measures taken to deal with the crisis; their impact on workers and communities and the prospects for the future; union participation in developing the company’s health and safety policy at the global level; alternatives for resolving the SIDELPA- Yumbo situation; and recognition of the of the Gerdau Group Global Committee.

Finally, the Gerdau Group Global Committee said that as Gerdau is a global company and aspires to a leadership role, it must develop modern and advanced industrial relations policies with unions, for example, by recognising the Gerdau Group Global Committee and establishing International Framework Agreements. 

Mexico: Coahuila State armed forces and security staff employed by Grupo México violently evicted workers from the Pasta de Conchos mine on Friday, 31 July so that the Transportes Signum company, owned by the former director-general of Pemex, Rogelio Montemayor Seguy and his son Rogelio Montemayor García, could seize the coal washing plant, apparently sold to them by Grupo México and Industrial Minera México (IMMSA). 

For the Mexican miners’ union, led by Napoleon Gómez Urrutia, and relatives of the victims of the Pasta de Conchos disaster, who have still not been able to recover the bodies buried on 19 February 2006, this is one more attack on them and an assault on legality. 

The widows of Pasta de Conchos, who tried to prevent the raid but who were unable to resist the attack, released a communiqué in which they condemned the violence and stated the action was taken because the company (IMMSA) knew the relatives were getting closer to where the bodies of their relatives might be buried.

Sergio Beltrán Reyes, Secretary of the Interior, Exterior and Minutes of the miners’ union, affirmed that "neither the presumed buyers of the coal washing plant from Industrial Minera México, owned by Grupo México have been able to show documents proving they are the new owners of the plant, nor was any legal notice given to the widows and relatives of the dead miners. Moreover, in November 2007, the Secretary of the Economy cancelled, albeit provisionally, Grupo Mexico’s concession to exploit the coal deposits. The action taken was therefore illegal." 

The miners’ union demands that the police be evicted and legality restored. The IMF Regional Office repudiates the violent eviction that occurred on 31 July and supports the demands and actions taken by the miners’ union and the relatives of the victims of Pasta de Conchos.

KOREA: The situation for some 700 Korean autoworkers at Ssangyong Motor has become critical as there are reports of fire in parts of the plant near the highly flammable paint shop where workers have been holding a sit-in strike since May 21.

The company cut off all water inside the plant two weeks ago and cut off all electricity 2 days ago.

1000 supporters have amassed outside the plant gates calling on the Korean government to step in and ensure the safety and welfare of the workers demonstrating inside.

The Korean Metal Workers’ Union, an affiliate of the International Metalworkers’ Federation and unions around the world are protesting the company and Korean government’s brutal attacks.

"A swat team helicoptered onto the roof this morning and are gang-beating union members they catch on the roof of the assembly plant (adjacent to the paint shop building). SWAT team members chased around union members on the roof of the assembly plant building and two union members fell off the roof plummeting to the ground. Fire is spreading to the paint shop through the stairwell," reports the KMWU this morning (18:00h in Seoul, Korea).

The IMF is urging all IMF affiliates and global union organisations to hold protests in front of Korean Embassies around the world calling for the Korean government to:  

• Urgently STOP the ongoing police raid on the strike;
  
• Government must quickly step up to a negotiating table with the union or try to foster a peaceful resolution.

CLICK HERE for more information.

KOREA: The inhumane treatment and assault on 700 autoworkers holding a sit-in strike at Ssangyong Motor has shocked the world inciting outcry from Amnesty International, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and international unions who are holding protests at Ssangyong dealerships and Korean embassies around the globe.

On August 2, Ssangyong Motor management broke off negotiations and demanded riot police to storm the plant’s paint shop where workers have held a sit-in strike since May 21. Workers went on strike after the company ordered mass dismissals without notification to the union, a violation of the workers’ collective agreement.

According to the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, the union representing the strikers and an affiliate of the International Metalworkers’ Federation, in the last 24 hours riot police have beefed up their force from 3000 to 4000 and cut off all electricity, leaving the workers in total darkness and alienated from the outside world without the ability to use cell phones or cameras.

Family and colleagues, some 600 of them gathered for a candlelight vigil tonight outside the plant, fear for the workers’ lives. For the past two weeks police have blockaded all water, food and medical care to the strikers and arrested family, union members and doctors who have tried to deliver supplies. Police have fired electric shock tasers at workers and helicopters have been continually bombing the area of the plant where the strikers are located with highly concentrated tear gas, causing open wounds and burns on the skin respectively. Workers are unable to wash off the agent due to lack of water and are unable to treat their burns or injuries.

On July 23, at the prompting of the IMF and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) the ILO submitted an urgent intervention calling on the Korean government to abstain from using force against peaceful demonstrators. Amnesty International, a leading advocate for human rights, issued a press release denouncing the use of tasers and tear gas adding, ""in no circumstances is it permissible for management or law enforcement officials to attempt to bring an end to a strike by denying the strikers access to essential needs such as food, water or urgent medical treatment."

IMF affiliates from around the world have taken action in support of the workers on strike. On June 27, the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions held a protest in front of the Korean embassy. Future actions are planned for Brazil, Switzerland, South Africa and the USA. All IMF affiliates are asked to take similar immediate action at Korean embassies and consulates, "it’s a matter of life and death," says KMWU international director Hyewon Chong.

TAKE ACTION: Tell the Korean government to call off riot police from attacking workers holding a sit in strike at Ssangyong Motors.

CHILE: Thirty national and regional leaders of IMF trade union affiliates in Chile participated in a debate on the impact of trade agreements on Chile as part of a series of seminars and workshops organised by the Trade Union Strengthening Project that IMF has organised with its affiliates in the country.

The workshop on free trade agreements analysed the consequences and impact of free trade on employment and labour rights. This is part of an ongoing debate among IMF affiliates in the region and workshops on this issue were previously organised in Argentina and Brazil.

The workshop discussed the results of a study conducted by the research unit CENDA (Centro de Estudios Nacionales de Desarrollo Alternativo) and the Instituto Observatorio Social in Brazil, with additional contributions by the IMF and its Chilean affiliates.

Speakers from CENDA and the Instituto highlighted the open nature of the Chilean economy with regard to trade and the movement of capital. This means the country is absolutely dependent on what happens in world markets and on trade and the movement of capital to and from Chile.

The multiplicity of agreements signed by Chile (approximately 30 free trade agreements) means that its economy has no protection and it does not change the situation very much if it concedes new access facilities. The Chilean authorities’ management of the economy is unilateral and not governed by regional considerations so it lacks a strategy for regional integration.

The study also points out that the increase in imports resulted from a reduction in customs duties and the unilateral opening of the economy during the years of dictatorship. The FTAs signed later have not changed the export-led structure of the Chilean economy and the country continues to be an exporter of primary products with low added value.

Metalworking has been one of the sectors most affected by the opening up of the economy during the last decade because it was mainly focused on trade in Latin America and production for the internal market. The free trade agreements signed by Chile, especially those with the United States and Asian countries, resulted in unequal competition between imports and national production. This was a direct blow to smaller companies and to the increasingly outsourced workforce. Many national companies have become contractors for transnational companies.

Subcontracting has resulted in a high incidence of outsourcing and this casualisation of the workforce has led to poorer health and safety and working conditions. Subcontractors have become more prominent in the metalworking and mining industries. Official figures for 2006 showed that the number of metalworking companies that subcontract work had risen to 53.3%, although trade union data indicates that as many as two-thirds of workers are employed by subcontractors. Subcontracting is also a phenomenon that promotes division among workers.

Carla Coletti, IMF International  Officer, said the workshop had provided an opportunity for an in-depth debate and "recommendations for action were made, to promote a detailed analysis of the issues, disseminate information to workers, progress the debate among IMF affiliates in Chile and mobilise workers to focus on the country’s strategic development on the basis of an exchange of experience with metalworking unions from other countries, particularly the South, within a framework of solidarity between metalworkers at national, regional and global levels."

*The study will be available on our website within a few days.