PAKISTAN: As reported by the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations, IUF, (http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/415) after formation of their union at Coca-Cola’s bottling plant in the southern Pakistan city of Multan in June 2009, members have met with death threats, abduction, firings, extortion, forgery and fraud. The Multan plant is part of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited. (CCBPL), jointly owned by Turkish bottler Coca-Cola Icecek (CCI) and The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) based in Atlanta.

Already at the stage when the union prepared for its founding congress on June 19, 2009, management began a campaign of blackmail and extortion targeting 36 active union supporters.

Later, after the union attempted to get official registration union officers received "night visits" to their private homes on June 27 and 28. Eight Coca-Cola Multan managers tried to force union officers to quit the union or sign a letter withdrawing the union’s application for registration. Due to the management pressure on the authorities the union application of registration is still awaiting approval.

To prevent legal recognition of the workers’ organization the management set up a yellow union. Later it was revealed that the signature of the President of the newly formed yellow union, Muhammad Shafi, was fake.

From a fake union the management moved on to a fake employer tactic. Letters of dismissal were sent to union activists from an individual labour contractor never seen or known by the workers during their employment at the plant. Through forgery of official documents and massive fraud, management is attempting to establish the fiction that union members at CCBPL are not in fact employed by the company. This is to exclude them from any collective bargaining relationship with Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola management claims 283 workers at Multan plant are employed by a separate contractor.

IMF strongly condemns the outrageous behaviour of the management at Coca-Cola plant in Pakistan and sends a strong message of solidarity to the workers supporting them in their fight for creation of a genuine union. To send your protest letter to the Coca-Cola management visit the IUF campaign page at http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=514

CANADA: Los Mineros, the Mexican Miners’ Union (SNTMMSRM),  have been long persecuted by the Mexican federal government, they have fought and won real increases in wages but the Mexican government’s policy of keeping wages low and workers suppressed in order to attract foreign investment has lead to numerous violations of their basic worker rights to organize, bargain collectively and strike. After signing a  Strategic Alliance in 2005, on June 20, 2010  the UAW and Los Mineros have taken a step further to reinforce their struggle for workers in Mexico by strengthening their alliance.

Released in the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel at the teach-in "Building Solidarity with the Democratic Labor Movement in Mexico" organized by two global union federations IMF and ICEM in Canada, USW President Leo W. Gerard and Napoleon Gomez, general secretary for Los Mineros, jointly renewed the two unions commitment to democracy, equality and solidarity for working men and women throughout North America and throughout the world by signing a joint declaration announcing that they will form a "joint commission to define the process of creating a unified North American organization as well as explore possible global unification representing one million workers in Mexico, Canada, the United States and the Caribbean."

The "Building Solidarity with the Democratic Labor Movement in Mexico" teach-in held on June 20 in Toronto was an approach aimed to inform, educate, and build further solidarity with the democratic trade union movement in Mexico. This activity is part of a People’s Forum that seeks to make the voices of working people heard at the G8/G20 meetings, which are taking place in Toronto the same week.

INDIA: After a long process of organizing, workers at a Ford plant in Chennai, India established the Ford India Employees’ Union (FIEU) on May 18, 2010 and are now seeking recognition from management.

The workers formed the union in response to frequent changes in work organization with no consultation. For example, without consulting with workers, management keeps increasing the productivity targets at the plant, significantly intensifying the work on the production line, but without consideration of the workforce.

Ford employs 1,200 permanent employees at the plant and between 2,500 and 3,000 apprentices are also working on the production line. A further 600 materials handling jobs are outsourced to a separate logistics company.

The workers held a general meeting on April 2, 2010 and passed a resolution to form a union and elected its office bearers. This union, the Ford India Employees’ Union, was officially registered on May 18, 2010. The union is affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). Although not affiliated to the IMF, the union hopes to join in the global network of unions representing Ford workers around the world.

The establishment of the union was reported to participants at an IMF regional meeting on communications and networking taking place in Chennai, India on June 19 and 20.

"We are calling on the Ford management to recognise our union. We call on the unions of Ford workers around the world to inform their local management that we have now established a union at the Ford plant in Chennai, India and that this union should be recognised," said FIEU Honourable President A. Soundararajan.

GLOBAL: The Declaration was a joint undertaking of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF). It was done with local cooperation by five trade unions representing industrial and other workers in Canada: Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), the Power Workers Union (PWU), the United Steelworkers (USW), and the International Association of Machinists (IAM).

At the core of the Declaration is a demand that finance and political ministers put in place a stringent global financial governance system, introduce an international financial transaction tax, and reach an ambitious and binding agreement on greenhouse gas emissions at Cop16 in Mexico later this year.

The 10-point Declaration also calls for guarantees that fundamental workers’ and trade union rights be respected in trade and investment deals; that sustainable development be made a criteria in trade and investment agreements; and that thorough assessment and assurance of social, economic, and environment well-being is contained in trade agreements. The full Declaration can be found here.

"Industrial workers have a central role to play in building a future that lifts people out of poverty while protecting the environment," states the Declaration. "Through industrial and political action, our three global federations demand that the world’s leaders take decisive actions to solve the economic, social, and environmental crises."

Regarding the timing of the Declaration, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, "The global economy is still on life-support and continued stimulus is needed. Re-regulating markets, a move to full employment, and a set of social stabilizers to reduce a rapid slide into poverty by hundreds of millions of people is essential."

Added IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina: "Industry is the locomotive of national economies, as a provider of good quality jobs with decent wages and working hours, and the right to join a union. We need to limit precarious work by legislation and collective agreements, and develop industrial policies for sustainable development both in industrialized and developing countries."

Geneva-based ICEM has 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries, and represents 20 million workers. The IMF, also based in Geneva, represents the collective interests of 25 million metalworkers from more than 200 unions in 100 countries. The Brussels-based ITGLWF covers 217 trade unions in 110 countries.

For more, contact: Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, [email protected], +1 416 361 1000 Ext. 3344, +41 79 734 8994 (mobile); or Alexander Ivanou, IMF Communications, [email protected], +41 22 308 5033.

INDIA: After a four day strike at Hyundai Motors in Chennai, India from June 6 to 9, 2010, a tri-partite committee consisting of two representatives from the union, company management and the labour ministry was established to review and decide on the case for reinstatement of 32 workers that were dismissed following the formation of the Hyundai Motor India Employees’ Union (HMIEU) at the plant in 2007.

This tri-partite committee is expected to make decisions in the next few weeks on the status of 32 workers that were dismissed by Hyundai management after the union was established in 2007.

Within 10 months of HMIEU being formed in early 2007, Hyundai Motors dismissed a total of 87 union members, starting with the union president and general secretary. From April 22 to May 7, 2009 the union went on strike demanding recognition of the union and reinstatement of the dismissed workers. The government told the company that it had to recognise HMIEU.

The workers went on strike for a second time on July 23, 2009 after the company settled a wage agreement with an internal workers’ committee and not HMIEU, the officially registered union. Once again the government intervened and demanded the company bargain with the union and also reinstate 20 of the dismissed workers.

Subsequently the government reviewed the cases for the remaining 67 dismissed workers and recommended that the company reemploy 35 of the workers for humanitarian reasons. In response the company offered a 1.5 million rupee settlement to the 35 workers, three of whom took up the offer.

When the company still refused to reemploy the remaining 32 workers as recommended by the labour ministry, the workers went on strike for the third time on June 6 to 9, 2010. During the strike 217 workers were arrested and detained. The union has secured the release of all workers and their return to work, however the workers still face criminal charges.

The HMIEU is also pursuing legal remedy for the other 32 workers from the 67 dismissed not recommended for reemployment by the labour ministry.

There are 1,650 permanent workers and 7,000 precariously employed workers (apprentice, contract, subcontracted or casual workers) at the Hyundai plant in Chennai, India. HMIEU is affiliated to the Central Indian Trade Union (CITU) and is not an IMF affiliate. Nevertheless the IMF and its affiliates have given solidarity support to the Indian Hyundai workers in their struggle and continue to monitor the situation.

INDIA:  Participants at the IMF South Asia Regional Communicators’ Forum agreed on a common need to share information and develop a regional communication system. Such a network will assist workers in their joint struggles, particularly on issues of organizing, industrial disputes, trade, employment and development and the strong and growing presence of multinationals in the region.

Delegates representing IMF affiliates from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka participated in the Forum on June 19 and 20.

Lack of facilities and infrastructure were identified as some of the main barriers for building a communications network in the region. The need for training on the use of modern communication technologies was identified as an important step in improving communication capacity.

The number of different languages spoken in the region and poor literacy were also seen as a barrier to developing communication that is open and reaches both the leadership and membership of the unions.

The most important barrier is gaining the commitment of affiliates to building a network for sharing information and developing communication campaigns on common problems, such as organising in export processing zones in each of the countries.

The Forum programme included an introduction to IMF’s global communication system, a discussion on regional priorities and the development of a regional publication for the exchange of information.

During the Forum participants viewed a series of short films feature in this year’s Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival and discussed how film can be used to inform, educate and organize workers. The movies of the film festival will be available here: http://www.labourfilmshorts.org/

A short exercise on writing for the IMF website and an introduction to various communication resources was included in the Forum’s programme.

Gathered in Chennai, India participants also heard reports from local unions on the current situation at the Ford and Hyundai plants in the surrounding area.

USA: The UAW Convention opened Monday in Detroit with both optimistic and bleak messages. With most members employed by automakers, the financial crisis hit the UAW hard, dropping membership from 1.5 million in the 1970’s to 355.000 in 2009. The union has been struck by plant closures, job losses and weakened communities, but hope that the four day convention would re-energize and unify UAW  was felt.

With Toyota’s announcement that construction of an auto factory in Mississippi would be resumed, it was seemingly good news, with promises to hire 2000 workers and start producing Corolla sedans by the end of next year. But this decision was highly criticized by UAW who accuses Toyota of shifting production from a union plant to a non union plant.

Newly elected UAW President Bob King pledged to step up efforts to organize nonunion workers at Toyota factories and those run by other foreign automakers in the U.S. During the Convention King, used his acceptance speech to accuse Toyota of shifting jobs to a location where it can pay lower, non union wages. He also said the move was designed to scare workers at Toyota’s other U.S. factories."We’re going to pound on Toyota until they recognize the First Amendment rights of those workers to come into the UAW," King said at the UAW national convention in Detroit. King pledged a banner campaign at Toyota dealerships to tell customers that Toyota puts profits before people.

Bob King UAW Vice President since 1998, and a longtime labor leader known for supporting social justice issues and effective organizing, was nominated for president replacing Ron Gettelfinger who retired after serving two four year terms, and who led his union through difficult times. Bob King received a standing ovation with delegates cheering and blowing horns in support.

IMF general secretary Jyrki Raina took the opportunity in his speech at the UAW Convention to  try to re-engage the UAW in IMF global work. "Sisters and brothers, solidarity is a two-way street. The world’s metalworkers give their full support to the UAW in your struggle to ensure workers their right to join the union. We all support your demand for the adoption of the Employee Free Choice Act at the U.S. Congress" said Jyrki. Delegates reinforced his message of global unity among workers by approving a resolution supporting international labor solidarity.

GLOBAL: The "Triple Crisis of Sustainability" Conference is sponsored by Geneva, Switzerland-based International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers’ Union (ICEM) and International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), and will include voices from 270 trade union and other leaders from over 50 countries.

The conference runs from 9h00 to 17h30 on both 18 and 19 June in the Dominion Ballroom of the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, 123 Queen Street West.

"The financial crisis that brought the world’s economy to its knees needs correcting and it needs the resonating voices of those most affected by runaway greed and banking calamities," said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. "Environmental catastrophes, monetary disparities, and destabilized societies all have related origins, and this is the pivotal time for the world’s economic and political leaders to correct the imbalances."

Added Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of the IMF: "The uncertainties that workers and their families face is now unprecedented. We want guarantees that the G8 and G20 summits address the legitimate concerns of workers for social justice and long-term, sustainable employment, and include the introduction of a global tax on financial institutions."

The two GUFs believe that the crises of failing economies, environmental inaction, and social disorder are interconnected. ICEM and IMF also believe these crises have been produced by absence of global financial and environmental regulations, as well as inept financial governance of markets. The conference will ensure that the voices of global workers are heard on these issues before the G8 and G20 summits convene.

Jobs, workers’ rights, social protections, quality public services, and sustainability – both on environmental stewardship and in providing decent work – will serve as the heart of a common declaration from the conference to the G8 and G20.

A keynote speech on 18 June will be delivered by United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, whose union has been victimized by the merciless globalization and one of the world’s largest and most profitable mining companies in Ontario. A panel on the opening day will address the economic crisis.

Other panels will be on topics of sustainable development and climate change, and on corporate governance. On the concluding day, 19 June, David Donnelly, a leading environmental attorney connected with Canada’s Blue-Green Alliance, will speak, as will John Evans, the General-Secretary of the Paris-based Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The conference’s programme has been built to allow for maximum comments from the 250 participants in order to gain a wide-ranging discourse over the effects of the social, environmental, and economic crises.

The ICEM counts 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries, and represents 20 million workers. The IMF represents the collective interests of 25 million metalworkers from more than 200 unions in 100 countries.

For more, contact: Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer on-site at [email protected], +41 79 734 8994 (mobile); or Alexander Ivanou, IMF Communications, [email protected], +41 22 308 5033 (land line). 

GENEVA: The fourth annual Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival took place in Geneva on June 15, 2010. In this year’s line-up containing 17 short films, union and professional documentary producers told stories about workers and their unions going through the hardship of financial crisis, fighting corporate greed and resisting attacks on human and workers’ dignity.

Marion Hellmann, assistant general secretary of the Building and Wood Workers International, BWI, opened the festival and welcomed the audience. Talking about this year’s program he said "these films tell the stories that mainstream media often ignores, stories about workers fighting for equality, workers mobilizing against corporate greed and corruption, workers defending democracy and building a better future for themselves and society as a whole".

Reactions of the festival visitors, who were mostly trade unionists themselves, were positive. Jayasri Priyalal, Singapore regional office of UNI Global union, said about his first visit to the Geneva Labour Film Festival "it was a nice experience, and it certainly gives me a lot of ideas on how to show so many unheard cases in our countries and this is a good place to bring them in."

Kirill Buketov, International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Association (IUF) "this is great, so many efforts, but it’s worth it".

This year’s event was organized with the support of the eleven global union federations, the International Confederation of Trade Unions and the Council of Global Unions. With a few exceptions, the projected films had English and French subtitling giving an opportunity to follow the films in two languages.

The program of the festival as well as all films, with the exception of the feature "Like a Bird in a Cage", will be soon available on-line at the official Labour Film Fest website http://www.labourfilmshorts.org/.

The programme for the Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival 2010 features:

	THE MAN BEHIND THE LABOUR FILM MOVEMENT IAM, USA, February 2010, (00:02:45) As economic troubles continue in the U.S., Chris Garlock a Washington, DC-based labour activist is pursuing his passion by operating a film festival that showcases movies about the crisis, the union movement and the daily life of working-class people. This film was produced by the International Association of Machinists for its online news network.
	HF6 Yannik Bovy, Frederik Tihon, Gérald Jamsin-Leclercq, FGTB, Belgium, 2009, (00:00:20) A short teaser of a documentary about the revival of blast furnace number six at a plant of the global steel group ArcelorMittal in Seraing, Liège, Belgium.
	A CALL TO ACTION Sustain Labour/ITUC, Global, 2009, (00:01:44) A teaser and short film in its own right from the 20 minute film "Time to Tackle Climate Change", which was first launched at the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009. The video showcases trade unions’ commitments for action on climate change around the world.
	WHERE SHIPS AND WORKERS GO TO DIE NLC, USA, 2009, (00:09:22) Produced by the U.S.-based National Labor Committee, this moving documentary exposes the harsh, slave like conditions of workers in the ship breaking yards in Bangladesh. U.S. labour activists call on the G20 to put an end to the exploitation.
	REPORT: FAIR GAMES FAIR PLAY OSEO, Switzerland/South Africa, 2009, (00:08:38) A short film reporting on the Fair Games Fair Play campaign led by South African unions and supported by others including the Swiss workers’ organization OSEO, producer of this film. Preparing for the world cup workers fight for better working conditions and better pay.
	WHAT HAVE UNIONS EVER DONE FOR US? Manic Studios, Australia, 2009, 00:02:09 WINNER OF LABOUR START’S VIDEO OF THE YEAR With unions getting a bad wrap from big business, web video designers Manic Studios ask the biting question, what have the unions ever done for us?
	HOUSE OF JUSTICE GAPWUZ, Zimbabwe, 2009, (00:26:05) A chilling documentary on the atrocities conducted by Zimbabwean government in defiance of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) treaty. Accounts of torture, vandalism and violence on Zimbabwean farm owners and workers as they fight for their rights in the face of the land reform program issued by President Mugabe.
	WARNING SIGNS Flawless Media, UK, 2009, (00:00:60) Produced by Flawless Media for the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), this entry to the Trades Union Congress’ 60 second short film contest in 2009 highlights workplace "warning signs" of when it is time to call for help from a union.
	FUTURE BY OWN HANDS UBWU, Ukraine, 2009, (00:10:02) A short movie that recognizes the important and difficult role that young people play in the life of the Ukrainian Building Workers’ Union. Young unionists from UBWU fight to make their life better. This short film features organizing efforts and the struggle for humane conditions of living and safe and healthy jobs.
	JOIN THE UNION LO, Sweden, 2010, (00:00:40) Landsorganisationen, a Swedish trade union confederation, used this advertisement as part of its organizing campaign. The main purpose of the film is to show how employers often tell workers not to organize, while they themselves have all the help they need in case of a dispute or a conflict.
	RACE TO THE BOTTOM Jonathan King, 2008, USA, (00:05:00) A short online version of a 20 minute documentary film about truck drivers working at the Port of Oakland, where over 2,000 independent truck drivers operate every day. The film looks into the lives of the drivers, as we learn about their struggles to earn a living wage, support their families and stay healthy as they do their jobs, transporting goods in and out of the Port.
	CRUNCH TIME EPMU Unreal Films, New Zealand, 2009, (00:13:42) New Zealand is entering an economic crunch unlike anything seen before in our life time. Prominent economists and trade union leaders discuss what is happening, why, and what workers can do about it. This is an Unreal Films production for the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU).
	UNION OF GREEN Sustain Labour/ITUC, Global, 2009, (00:01:56) A teaser and short film taken from "Time to Tackle Climate Change", which was first launched at the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009. The video showcases trade unions’ concrete experiences, challenges, opportunities and commitments for action on climate change.
	ROBONURSE Frances Underwood, Australia, 2009, (00:03:39) This film takes a look at the "cost" of nursing care and what strategies may be introduced by employers or health administrators to reduce nursing costs in the future. Winner of the NSW’s first Labour Film Shorts Festival in 2009.
	JUST ANOTHER COG IN THE MACHINE John Wood, UK, 2009, (00:01:01) A union can make a big difference to people’s experiences in a workplace. This movie was screened at the Canadian International Film Festival in 2009.
	TCO AND FACKET FÖRÄNDRAS Acne Advertising, Sweden, 2009, (00:02:42) A campaign of Swedish trade unions federations aimed at graduates explaining the value of a collective agreement, which among other things sees workers earn on average 80,000 kronor (CHF11,500) more than workers without a collective agreement.
	Feature Presentation : Like a Bird in a Cage (Kafesteki Kuş Gibiydik) Directed by Güliz Sağlam and Feryal Saygılıgil, Turkey, 2009, (00:30:00) Fired for her trade union activities, Emine Arslan, a Turkish female textile worker at Desa Safaköy factory, inspired the resistance of other women workers at the factory. The film tells of the women’s hopes, expectations and relationship with the union.

INDIA: Meeting in Chennai a group of communication and trade union leaders from the metal sector held a workshop to discuss how to improve union communication and networks.

Participants identified that achieving two way communication with workers through existing methods and developing new communication technologies will be essential to build membership and campaign on issues important to metalworkers.

Through group work and discussion a number of ideas were identified including the need to train union leadership and members on how to use new technologies to enable greater sharing of information on trade union successes and struggles. An example of establishing a community centre that provided workers and their families with access to information technology training was seen as a positive example that unions could adopt. The power of study circles as a way to develop union communication and networks was also noted.

The meeting discussed the importance of using communication to bring the unorganised and unprotected workers into the union. Embracing new technologies for communication may also be a way for unions to bridge the generation gap and bring in young people to the trade union movement.

Affiliates participating in the workshop learnt about IMF communication channels, how to find out information and how to feed in information

The IMF National Workshop on Communications and Networking takes place in Chennai on June 17 and 18, 2010.