KOREA: On November 11, the first day of the G20 Seoul Summit, the Global Unions held a press conference in Seoul to draw the world’s attention to the continuing abuses of labour rights in Korea.

Spokesperson for the global unions, Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of BWI, told the assembled local and international press that the global trade union movement takes the labour rights situation in Korea very seriously. In a campaign coordinated by IMF ahead of the G20 meetings, hundreds of trade unions throughout the world wrote to the Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, calling on him to respect internationally-recognised labour standards and put an end to the attacks on workers and their unions.

The anti-union activities of the Korean government are well documented. They include dismissals, massive compensation claims against unions and individuals, arrests, detentions, imprisonments and physical assaults for trade union activities that in other G20 countries would not be considered unlawful.

The press conference focused on three key areas of continuing labour rights violations in Korea, namely:

• The use of criminal sanctions under Article 314 of the criminal code to arrest and imprison trade unionists for exercising their legitimate right to conduct trade union activities.
• Denial of the rights of workers in precarious or irregular employment to join a trade union and bargain collectively and the systematic use by employers of precarious employment contracts, specifically to prevent them from forming and joining trade unions.
• Anti-union discrimination against public sector workers that denies many of them the right to join a trade union.

Yuson referred to the long-running struggle by workers at Kiryung Electronics for regularization as full time permanent workers and recognition of their trade union, who last week achieved victory.

Kim Young-hoon, KCTU President, during the press conference said, "Korea should stop signing trade agreements and start signing ILO conventions that guarantee basic labour rights."

Kim Ju-young, FKTU Vice President, also speaking at the press conference said, "Korea must fulfil its promises made to international bodies. Irregular workers are most in need of labour rights guarantees as theirs are the rights most trampled on."

While the Korean government is utilizing its role as host of the G-20 Meetings to showcase its prominence and leadership in the global arena, the global unions pointed out that the government cannot be truly recognized as an international leader as long as it continues to use repressive measures against workers and trade unions. 

Although the global unions were not accorded a meeting with the Korean Labour Minister, representatives of the Trade Union G20 Summit met with the Korean President, who gave his assurance that the Labour Minister will make himself available to discuss labour rights issues with the KCTU and the FKTU after the G20 summit.

Speaking on behalf of global unions, Yuson concluded to the assembled media that they should "rest assured that the global unions will continue to support the struggle of the Korean trade unions for the rights of working people until there is an end to the violence and repression."

BRAZIL: The strike in Neodent occurred after the company refuses to enter into negotiation for 2010 wage increases. The union says that the company is trying to destabilize the mobilization of workers. About 15 police officers were on site during the entry of the shift in the factory on November 9. This struggle is led by the Greater Curitiba Metalworkers’ Union and affiliate of IMF affiliate CNTM/FS.

Besides the wage increase, workers are demanding salary bonuses, market-value base salaries, night shift allowances and participation in profit sharing.

Neodent has branches in several Brazilian states and exports to several countries, including USA, Mexico, Portugal, Argentina and Morocco, and has representatives scattered across five continents. In 2009, the company had revenues of approximately US$150 million.

For this year it estimates that sales will reach approximately US$230 million. By 2015, the objective is Neodent be one of the five largest in the world in manufacturing of prostheses, supplying 10 per cent of the world market.

ENGLAND: Released in the UK this September, Made in Dagenham brings to life a little-known chapter of the struggle for equal pay for equal work in 1968 at a Ford plant in Dagenham, England where female machinists went on strike, demanding the same pay as the men in the factory.

A documentary which included the same true story was featured at the IMF’s 2008 Geneva Labour Film shorts Festival: The Equal Pay Story: Scenes from a Turbulent History (TUC/ITUC, UK, 2007) it was an historical account of the long and difficult struggle to win equal pay for women workers in early industrial Britain. The film demonstrated how women demanded equal pay, often in the face of opposition inside and outside the trade union.

This is a good example of how union issues are increasingly being translated into film. Each year the IMF invites unions, workers and film makers to submit films for the Geneva Labour Film Shorts event.

PHILIPPINES: Fifty participants from NGOs and trade unions, including IMF affiliates, convened near the Cavite Export Processing Zone in the Philippines on November 3 to 5 in order to strengthen their cooperation in the face of the ongoing labour rights abuses endemic to the electronics industry.

Representatives from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Mexico, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Austria and the Netherlands heard how electronics workers in the Philippines receive poverty wages and are subject to myriad employment abuses. 80 per cent of the 250 000 workers in the Cavite EPZ have migrated from other parts of the Philippines and the vast majority of them are young women. Potential recruits to the factories are vetted to make sure that they are not unionists and are subjected to intrusive physical examinations as a condition for employment.

An alarming trend in Cavite is the increase in temporary and agency workers, with many companies employing more temps than regular workers. Despite the Philippine labour code not permitting agency work in core production work, it is condoned by the government.

In such a climate of insecurity and intimidation, fear of joining a trade union is high. Union activists are blacklisted from employment in the zone and the many extra-judicial killings of unionists that are committed every year in the Philippines are a direct consequence of the no-union, no-strike policy. Labour disputes are criminalized and labour inspection is massively under-resourced. In the face of these massive obstacles, local NGOs are working closely with trade unions to organise electronics workers.

At the meeting, GoodElectronics member organisations discussed how to increase their cooperation to put pressure on brand name companies to improve compliance with international labour standards and to improve workers’ access to trade unions and collective bargaining. To this end, a new mission statement was developed for the network and the GoodElectronics Common Demands on the Electronics Industry were updated.

Following the meeting, a press conference was held in Manila to bring public attention to some of the current cases of labour rights abuses in the electronics industry including:

• Union busting at Foxconn and BYD in Nokia Special Economic Zones in Chennai, India as well as at  touchscreen panel maker YFO in Taiwan
• Draconian working conditions leading to worker suicides in Foxconn China
• Threats of dismissals and deportation of Burmese women migrant workers at JVC Malaysia, and
• Intrusive physical examinations of women job applicants at Lite-On Semiconductor Corporation in the Philippines.

CHILE: "The company continues with its intransigent position," the Union of Collahuasi Workers said in a statement released late on November 7. "The Collahuasi union strike continues."

Union members have occupied an abandoned school in the city of Iquique to use as their office until the dispute over pay and benefits is settled. "The installation of the workers at the historic Santa Maria’s School, one hundred and three years after a group of workers at this mine first struggled against the intransigence of foreign companies, is a symbol of unity," said the union.

Industry experts said that output might be affected if the strike lasts for a week or more.

The union reports that the strike began as the buses that ferry workers from their camp near the mine to the deposit for their morning shift left empty.

The union also plans to march in Iquique, a booming mining city in northern Chile where the union is based and the mine operator’s offices are located.

The union has asked Minister for Mining Laurence Golborne to comment on the impasse.

The mine operator said its last offer was fair to the workers, but the union says the mine has to start sharing a bigger slice of its record profits with employees.

Collahuasi, an open-pit mine, sits at an altitude of about 4,000 metres in the Andes of Chile, the world’s No. 1 copper producing region. The mine produces 535,000 tonnes per year or 3.3 per cent of the world’s mined copper and is owned by Xstrata and Anglo American. The union represents about 1,500 workers in this mine.

INDIA: Union leaders from across India participated in an International Metalworkers’ Federation seminar on climate change and green jobs on November 2 and 3. The seminar was attended by government, civil society groups, academia, International Labour Organization (ILO), Building Woodworkers’ International (BWI),  International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), International Transport Workers’ Federation  (ITF), International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) and representatives from the United Steelworkers (USW), Blue Green Alliance and IMF Africa office.

The seminar was the first time that union leaders gathered to discuss a joint strategy on climate change for the union movement in India. The meeting took place at a time when the Indian government recently announced the establishment of a climate task force, an integral part of a national action plan on climate change and green jobs. Sadly delegates to the seminar heard that the task force has not had any representation from the trade union movement on these vitally important issues. Much of the blame for a lack of engagement however comes from the fact that this is seen as new subject for the trade union movement in India.

Welcoming the participants Sudhershan Rao Sarde, IMF Regional Director said that the two day seminar provides a platform for trade unionists and civil society activists to analyze and examine India’s approach to climate change and green jobs and work towards an understanding on how trade unionists will work together towards a solution at national and global levels.

In his inaugural address Shri Harish Rawat, Honorable Minister of State for Labour and Employment welcomed the IMF imitative in hosting the meeting and called for greater participation from the Indian trade union movement and promised "The outcomes of this meeting will have an influence on the future deliberations of the Indian government," adding "I strongly feel that we must work together."

Shri. Sanjeeva Reddy, President, INTUC appreciated the Indian government’s efforts on climate change and green jobs, and called on the trade unions in developing and developed countries to work together to face the challenges posed by climate change and strengthen their position to be part of the solution.

Shri Umromal Purohit, General Secretary, Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) expressed his deep concern over climate change and argued that workers’ welfare should be inherent part of solutions to climate change. He argued that solutions to climate crisis are only possible through a sustainable development approach, where the society’s production process is able to satisfy the needs of the present generation while providing enough space to fulfill the needs of future generations.

The union leaders reacted by calling for the government task force to be more inclusive and committed to greater cooperation amongst unions in order to build their knowledge base and also to develop coherent policies on behalf of workers. They warned that the development of green job must seek to reduce rather than increase India’s 125 million working poor and also take account of the 190 million unemployed. The leaders also committed to establishing a union task force which could arrive at a collective position in order to further engage with civil society and the government.

During the meeting participants also had the opportunity to hear how other regions and unions had developed similar approaches to climate issues. In North America unions and civil society groups such as the Sierra club had been able to form the Blue Green Alliance, an organization which promotes both environmental and workers’ rights. In Africa, unions had developed a joint statement on climate issues in preparation for the COP17 which will be hosted in 2011 in South Africa.

Rob Johnston, IMF Executive Director closed the meeting by saying, "Engagement on climate change issues is not an optional issue for unions. Only one group can legitimately speak out on behalf of working people and that’s the trade unions. This voice has not been loud enough on these issues in India, but I feel confident that this will no longer be the case."

BULGARIA: Union leaders from IMF affiliates in South-East Europe gathered on November 2 to 4, 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria for the sub-regional meeting that was organized jointly with the European Metalworkers’ Federation for the first time.  The meeting benefitted from the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.  

Issues on the agenda included, among other things, union-building, trade union networks in transnational corporations (TNCs) and precarious work.  In July this year the IMF joined a multi-union project on organizational development in South-East Europe aimed at strengthening union structures, and promoting regional sectoral cooperation and training. The participants welcomed this project and committed themselves to participating actively in its implementation. They also expressed their support for the IMF’s policy on trade union networks. Special emphasis was put on the need to extend into the supply chain as there are many suppliers and subcontractors of TNCs operating in the region. 

IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina presented the project of creating a new global industrial federation.  The union leaders concurred that the unification process taking place both at international and European levels was critical for strengthening union power in a global economy and remarked that it would also be instrumental in promoting union unity at national level.  

South-East Europe continues to suffer from the dramatic effects of the crisis and there is a lack of effective industrial policy to support domestic manufacturing and sustainable development. As a result of restructuring and privatization, precarious work is growing fast, often in the informal economy, and workers’ rights are being eroded.  But unions are mobilizing against deregulation policies and labour law reforms, and they have shown that jobs can be safeguarded through collective action. A case in point presented at the meeting is that of the Trade Union of Industry, Energy and Mining (SIER) in Macedonia that succeeded in saving over 200 jobs at Feni Industries, the largest ferro-nickel producer in the country, thus ensuring a future for workers.

As in many other countries, the reform of pension systems is on the top of the political agenda in the region. In Bulgaria, Parliament just adopted an amended reform plan, after an agreement had been reached with the trade unions. An initial version of the plan had been withdrawn by the Prime Minister following strong union protests against a reform bill that had been prepared without proper involvement of trade unions.

The participants also discussed preparation of the EMF Congress that will be held June 2011 in Germany. The IMF and the EMF will continue to cooperate closely and join forces in support of fundamental workers’ rights and union development in the region. 

KOREA: The Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) secured a significant victory for precarious workers in Korea in an agreement reached with Kiryung Electronics on November 1, 2010.

The precariously employed women workers at Kiryung Electronics formed a union at the factory in July 2005. Then, on August 24, 2005, the KMWU members started a strike when the company failed to directly employ and instead sacked the illegal dispatch workers that the company claimed were sub-contracted.

In the agreement reached on November 1, the company promised to hire the remaining 10 union members on strike at Kiryung Electronics into permanent positions. Both sides have agreed to withdraw lawsuits filed on the case, with the workers ending their sit-down strike on the same day.

The agreement is particularly significant as it is the first time in Korea that an employer has agreed to directly hire dismissed irregular workers into permanent positions.

This is a second major victory for precarious workers and the KMWU this year, having pursued a strategy of organizing precarious workers over a number of years. Earlier, in July, the country’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of an irregular worker at Hyundai Motors, who was dismissed in February 2005 for union-related activities while working for an in-house subcontractor at Hyundai’s Ulsan factory since 2002.

The situation faced by the workers at Kiryung Electronics and the workers at the Hyundai Ulsan factory are included in a complaint that KMWU, KCTU and IMF lodged to the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association in 2006, documenting how illegal and disguised employment relationships are routinely used in Korea to prevent workers from forming unions and bargaining collectively, in violation of the ILO convention on freedom of association. The ILO gave recommendations in favour of the workers in 2008 and 2009 that so far have been ignored by the Korean government.

KOREA: The International Metalworkers’ Federation wrote to the Korean President on November 4, demanding he honour international commitments and respect workers’ rights.

"The anti-union activities of your government are well documented, and the number of arrests and severity of prison sentences as well as physical violence is increasing," writes IMF general secretary Jyrki Raina.

Korea is one of the worst countries in the world for the repression of its workers. The laws in Korea are used by the government and employers to routinely jail trade unionists for exercising their rights and to stop subcontracted and many public sector workers from joining a union or bargaining collectively.

The IMF letter, sent on the eve of the G20 meeting taking place in Seoul, joins more than 100 protest letters have been sent to the Korean President over the IMF website in recent weeks as part of global action by trade unions to defend workers’ rights in Korea.

The IMF will join an international delegation of trade union representatives in Seoul next week to deliver the message more directly and show solidarity to Korean workers.

To support this action, IMF has produced a series of campaign resources, including posters, stickers, leaflets and a government briefing note, are all available on the IMF website.

"It is time that the Korean government honours its international commitments and respects workers’ rights," writes Raina.

EUROPE: Recognizing the disadvantages experienced by precarious women workers, the European Parliament set out a series of measures to be taken by national governments to redress the situation in a Resolution adopted on October 19, 2010.

The Resolution also recommends further specific legislative measures, such as introducing binding minimum social standards for employees and granting all employees equal access to social services and benefits, including maternity leave, health care, and pensions, regardless of their employment conditions.

The Resolutions states that precarious work affects women more than men and that the over-representation of women in precarious work is a key contributing factor to the gender pay gap.

The report underlines the need for unionization of women in precarious jobs and calls on the Member States to penalize those who create obstacles to trade union participation.

To see a copy of the resolution go to the European Metalworkers’ Federation website here: http://www.emf-fem.org/Areas-of-work/Equal-Opportunities/European-Parliament-adopts-Resolution-on-women-in-precarious-work