The structural and technological transformation of metal industries has brought about profound changes in the occupational pattern of the workforce. Non-manual workers are growing in number but are poorly organised or not organised at all.  Like those on the shop-floor they are drawn into the race to the bottom in the global economy. The IMF and its affiliates need to engage and mobilise these workers around labour and professional issues to build greater solidarity and bargaining strength.

Bad working conditions are experienced on a daily basis by workers. Even small improvements in occupational health and safety are well received by the most vulnerable groups of workers.
Through education, IMF is assisting affiliates in setting up effective health and safety committees in all workplaces.
IMF is working with affiliates in order to achieve an international ban on the production, import, export and use of asbestos, responsible for more than 100,000 deaths yearly.

Building strong national trade unions is crucial. The strong unions which are in a permanent democratic relationship with workers, are capable of achieving real gains through collective bargaining, by organizing the unorganized, striving for trade union unity at the national level and building unions through training, education and effective exchange of information.

To learn more about the IMF union building philosophy please click here.

NETHERLANDS: On May 7-8 in Amsterdam, makeITfair and the GoodElectronics network hosted a round table for the electronics industry and civil society organisations.

The aim was to enable discussions to take place between representatives of the world's major electronics brand name companies and unions and NGOs on how to improve labour standards in the industry. 

The makeITfair campaign is a European project to inform young people across Europe about labour rights abuses and environmental problems in the manufacture of electronic products.  The GoodElectronics network was co-founded by IMF and brings together unions, human rights organisations, labour organisations and others concerned with improving human rights and sustainability in the global electronics sector.

Industry participants at the roundtable included representatives of industry groupings the Electronic Industry Corporate Citizenship (EICC) and the Global e-sustainability Initiative (GeSI), as well as major individual companies, including suppliers.  The industry was urged by the IMF, the EMF, trade unions and labour rights NGOs from production countries as well as organisations such as SOMO and CAFOD to recognise the central role of trade unions in improving labour standards and giving workers a voice at their workplace.

Poor working conditions are endemic in the production of computers, mobile phones and other electronic products. Many factors contribute to this situation, including the complicated product chain, the high percentage of outsourcing, rapid product developments, lack of unions, as well as weak implementation of (inter)national labour law.

Five years ago, electronics companies got together to develop a voluntary sector code, the EICC, but campaigning groups have pointed out weaknesses in the code itself and criticize its ineffective implementation.

At the roundtable, a range of more effective alternatives to the CSR approach adopted by the industry were presented and analysed. Presentations were made on the mature systems of industrial relations approach now favoured by leading clothing manufacturers that recognise the limitations of an approach based solely on implementing unilateral company codes of conduct.

Other strategies successfully employed in the textile and garment sector were also examined and consideration was given to how they could be adopted for the electronics sector. These include International Framework Agreements and the ILO's Better Work program.

In December 2008, Sinter Metal, a Turkish company that supplies components to major auto manufacturers, fired 350 workers for their union activity. Sinter Metal workers are fighting for their jobs and the fundamental right to join unions and bargain collectively.

The International Metalworkers’ Federation and European Metalworkers’ Federation are calling on Sinter Metal Imalat Sanayi A.Ş to immediately reinstate unjustly dismissed workers, stop violations of rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, and start negotiations with the union, Birlesik Metal-IS, leading to a fair and just resolution.

Thank you for taking ACTION!

Visit the IMF website for regular updates on the Sinter Metal campaign or sign up for IMF Action Alerts to be notified of urgent solidarity requests and campaign developments immediately when they arise.

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Dear Mr. Tanberk,

I join with the International Metalworkers' Federation, European Metalworkers' Federation and Birlesik Metal-IS in demanding that Sinter Metal immediately stops and remedies violations of worker and trade union rights at its operations located in the Dudullu Organized Industrial Zone in Turkey.

I am increasingly alarmed that such violations continue to undermine workers' rights to form and join a union and to collectively bargain, enshrined in ILO conventions 98 and 87, to which Turkey is a signatory.

I demand that Sinter Metal management immediately reinstates the dismissed workers, stops violations of fundamental worker and trade union rights, and in good faith considers the workers' demands and starts negotiations to reach a fair and just settlement with the union.

Sincerely,

In recent years attacks against trade unions in Korea have increased, in terms of the number of arrests of labour leaders and in severity of prison sentences. There has also been a marked increase in cases of physical violence carried out by police against workers on strike or participating in demonstrations.

The laws in Korea are used by the government and employers to routinely:

• Jail trade unionists for exercising their rights
• Stop subcontracted workers from joining a union or bargaining collectively
• Prevent many public sector workers from joining a union or bargaining collectively

The International Metalworkers´ Federation, together with other Global Union Federations and the International Trade Union Confederation, is calling on the Korean government to honour its commitments and respect internationally recognized labour standards so that all workers enjoy the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

 

INDIA: Indian autoworkers at Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) and members of the Hyundai Motor India Employees' Union (HMIEU) ended their work stoppage and hunger strike after management agreed to a number of worker demands, mediated by the Tamil Nadu District Commissioner of Labor.

More than 1300 workers went on indefinite strike April 20 with demands on wages, working conditions and a halt to  labour rights abuses, including the company's refusal to recognize HMIEU and collectively bargain. The company has a pattern of victimizing union leaders and supporters and has attempted to sidestep the union through a company-appointed Works Committee.

The struggle intensified on May 6 when 900 strikers were arrested. Affiliates of the International Metalworkers' Federation have protested Hyundai Motor India's awful treatment of its workers, prompting letters of outrage as well as meetings and demonstrations at Hyundai's headquarters in Korea.

Among the gains the strike achieved, Hyundai Motor India agreed to:

• allow workers arrested during participation in the strike to return to work,
• not enter a settlement with the Works Committee before May 20,
• reply to each point of the Charter of Demands put forward by the HMIEU, and
• not victimize workers who participated in the strike, including withdrawing disciplinary suspension of 20 workers who had been involved in organizing the strike.

HMIEU and the company will enter into bargaining under the auspices of the District Commissioner of Labor as soon as the May 13 elections are over. 

Still unresolved is the issue of reinstatement for 72 workers who have faced unfair dismissals, suspensions and involuntary transfers because of their union activities. They were not directly associated with the recent strike.

A large number of those supporting the strike were precarious workers who make up the majority of the workforce at the Hyundai operations in Chennai. Their fate has yet to be decided. Equal treatment of all workers and the rehiring of precarious workers dismissed prior to the strike are among key issues in the HMIEU's Charter of Demands.

Following news of the strike's successes, major media ran articles with a claim by Hyundai Motor India that some production from Chennai would shift to Europe due to the industrial action. According to the Korean Metal Workers' Union, no such investment decision has been made.

For more information about the strike, click here.

Jyrki Raina è stato eletto Segretario Generale della Federazione Internazionale dei Sindacati Metalmeccanici al 32^esimo Congresso Mondiale della FISM, celebratosi nel maggio 2009.

Precedentemente, Jyrki Raina era il Segretario Generale della Nordic IN in Svezia, carica che rivestiva dal 2006.

Nato a Helsinki nel 1960, Jyrki Raina ha iniziato a lavorare per il sindacato nel 1985 come avvocato e nelle attività di contrattazione collettiva del sindacato finlandese dei chimici.

Sei anni dopo si è trasferito a Bruxelles per svolgere attività di ricerca per conto dell’ICEF (Federazione internazionale dei sindacati dei chimici e dell’energia), per poi divenire responsabile politiche e relazioni sindacali per il settore energia. Nel 2000 è stato nominato Responsabile Organizzazione dell’ICEM (Federazione internazionale dei sindacati dei chimici, dell’energia e delle miniere), affiancando il Segretario Generale nella pianificazione strategica.

Tra il 2001 e il 2003 Jyrki ha lavorato per i sindacati finlandesi dell’industria in veste di consulente, con base a Helsinki.

Nel 2003 è tornato a Stoccolma, dove è divenuto il Segretario Generale della Nordic Metal nonché membro sostituto del Comitato Esecutivo della FISM e del Comitato Direttivo della FEM.