ITALY

On 8 October IndustriALL affiliate FIOM-CGIL held an action of protest in Milan dedicated to the Global Day Action to STOP precarious Work and called a strike in Milan against the measures of the Italian Government making it easier to dismiss employees in the industry.

The choice of the date was determined by the European Union Jobs Summit, which took place on the same date in Milan.

FIOM is planning to continue with strikes in other cities of Italy in the next weeks leading up to the National demonstration on 25 October called by the trade union confederation CGIL in Rome. If needed the union is prepared to call to a General National Strike.

As part of the actions within the campaign STOP Precarious work on 30 September 2014 IndustriALL affiliate FIM-CISL organized an action with participation of some 1,700 representatives of metalworkers in Piazza Montecitorio in Rome, in front of the Chamber of Deputies and the Presidency of the Council. The event was also the first flash mob in the union's history in Italy. The participants of the action demanded the government to take economic policy measures aimed at re-directing public and private investment at supporting the manufacturing industry, creating new jobs and fighting against unemployment and precarious conditions faced by millions of young people.

CAMEROON Rio TInto actions

NAMIBIA Rio Tinto Actions

IndustriALL affiliate, the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN), produced a press release about Rio Tinto's unsustainable practicies at the Rossing operation in Namibia, and shared information about the global day of action with union members.

Global support for UAW organizing in the South

Under the banner that “Union Rights are Civil Rights”, the UAW has been campaigning for four years to establish a company-recognized trade union into the Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi. The 50-year anniversaries of key moments in the civil rights movement are being marked and mirrored in the current campaign.

While Nissan employees in Japan, Spain, UK, South Africa, and Brazil have constructive industrial relations with the carmaker, union supporters in Canton face extreme intimidation and threats from management all the time. Also in the delegation were unions from Nissan’s corporate partner Renault, with whom IndustriALL has a global framework agreement.

Leading the international solidarity mission, IndustriALL Global Union general secretary Jyrki Raina stated:

We are Pro-Nissan, Pro-Union. Workers here in Canton, Mississippi have many complaints about health and safety, bullying, shift scheduling, and increasing precarious workers. Much of these issues would be worked through if there were a union mechanism in the plant. Our message to Nissan is that we will not go away until they afford the Canton workers the right to form a union.

In a large union meeting the local activists explained the ways in which management threatens workers against joining the union. But more importantly they energetically expressed their urgent readiness to organize the plant.

Nissan in Canton is one of three major organizing campaigns of the UAW in the Southern US. The other two are moving forward with UAW Local 42 very close to recognition from Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and brand new Local 112 forming last Friday at Daimler in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

An IndustriALL solidarity road trip led by the general secretary visited the inspiring members, leaders and organizers of Locals 42 and 112 this week. These important campaigns will set the standard for organizing the other non-American auto companies operating in the southern states.

International solidarity has been central to the organizing of VW and Daimler. German union IG Metall flexed its muscle to ensure neutrality from both companies and a pathway to establishing UAW union locals. The Japanese JAW and JCM are working with UAW to win similar assurances from Nissan.

Autoworkers in the southern US deserve the right to form a union, just as workers around the world do in these same multinational companies.

Thousands of miners lose their jobs in Ukraine

The Donets Basin, also known as the Donbas, was until recently the important coal-mining area in the Ukraine and a major contributor to the economy, providing for around 40 per cent of gold and foreign currency inflow.

However, the Donbas is at the heart of the military conflict with pro-Russian separatists, which began in April this year. A reported 64 out of 104 mines in the region have stopped operations due to the fighting or damage from military fire, leaving almost 100,000 miners out of work.

Up to a third of workers have quit their jobs at some mines, most of whom are under the age of 40, leading to concerns over who will operate the mines once peace returns.

Wage arrears for June and July amount to 347 million hryvnia, or US$ 26.8 million, and wages for August also remain unpaid.

Neither are workers and retired miners receiving free domestic fuel to which they are entitled to by law. As a result, around 100,000 coal-mining workers and thousands of retirees in the Donbas area have virtually no money and no domestic fuel at the beginning of the cold season.

According to the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, Ukraine has already lost 3.4 million tons of coal that could have been produced at the idle enterprises.

Consequently, for the first time in 15 years, Ukraine is importing coal. "If today we bring coal from abroad, tomorrow we will destroy our mines," said Mikhail Volynets, the Chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners of Ukraine.

The situation in Ukraine was a major topic for discussion at the ITUC World Congress in Berlin, Germany in May 2014. In her Congress Plenary Statement on Ukraine, ITUC’s general secretary, Sharan Burrow, said: "The main repercussions (of the conflict) are primarily and directly affecting the ordinary people – the continuing disruption of their lives on a daily basis; dysfunctional communities and civil structures; and the mounting uncertainty for their future in the years to come."

"Our affiliates’ reports about the desperate state of the mining industry in the Ukraine are a major concern to us," said Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. "IndustriALL offers its utmost solidarity to the miners in the Ukraine, and demands an immediate restoration of peace for the benefit of all people.”

RUSSIA

This year Russian unions held their actions under the banner; “For decent work in the world without wars, nor sanctions!” Unions organized pickets at the entries of subway stations and distributed materials with trade union demands.

The all-Russian union action finished with a mass meeting at Pushkin Square in Moscow. People held banners “Peace, work, decent life!”, “Respect to the men of labour!”, “Minimum wage to the level of living wage!”, “Wages must grow faster than prices!”, “Decent wages – decent pensions!”, “Life without war and sanctions!”

Actions, pickets and meetings took place in Saint Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Bratsk, Orsk, Vologda, Kemerovo, Yekaterinburg, Belgorod, Novosibirsk, and others.

Australia – CFMEU video on Rio Tinto action day

Striking workers at Schneider Electric USA

IndustriALL Global Union affiliate IAM’s members voted to reject Schneider Electric’s final offer, which would have taken away a long-standing defined benefit pension plan. The rejected proposal had minimal wage increases to both tiers of the company's wage scale and included only minor adjustments to safety equipment and accident and sickness benefits.

IAM Director of Collective Bargaining Tom O’Heron says:

“Schneider Electric is trying to bully our members into giving up their defined benefit pension plan and a respectable retirement.”

Despite Schneider’s claims of continuing to work with the union to get a fair contract, IAM maintains that the company has not made any attempts to return to negotiations.

“Schneider Electric has made no attempt to contact this union or return to the bargaining table,” said O’Heron. “Instead they’ve taken steps to move the work out of Indiana, which is a direct threat in our opinion.”

IndustriALL General Secretary Jyrki Raina says:

“We are outraged to learn that Schneider Electric is threatening and intimidating. It is important to note that Schneider Electric recorded a profit of over $2.4 billion in 2013, which makes the behaviour of the company even more unconscionable.

We call on Schneider Electric to return to the negotiating table immediately and address the legitimate concerns and demands of Local 2069 members to achieve a fair contract.

Workers mobilize to put a STOP to Precarious Work

More than 90 IndustriALL Global Union affiliates from over 40 countries took action through mass rallies, seminars and awareness campaigns to mark the WDDW. This year IndustriALL used social media to reach even more activists – a total of 1,592 supporters signed up to Thunderclap, reaching a massive 1,194,792 people on twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

In Japan, Slovakia, Trinidad and Tobago, Congo DRC, and Boznia Herzegovina affiliates took to the streets and held seminars on how precarious work threatens secure employment, pay and working conditions.

In the Dominican Republic, Indonesia and Congo DRC unions are fighting laws that expand precarious work. Dominican affiliates marched first to the offices of the employers' association, then to the Ministry of Labour, and finally to the Congress, where they submitted a draft bill.

In India and Pakistan workers held meetings and demonstrations all over both countries at a variety of work sites. In Pakistan there are more than 20 million workers in informal sector, out of which 12 million are women workers. The Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) also organized demonstrations of home based glass bangle and garment women workers in Hyderabad and Karachi to put forward their legal demands and demand a STOP to precarious work.

Actions continue to pour in, take a look at IndustriALL’s STOP Precarious Work page to see who took action on the World Day for Decent Work.

If your union has taken action around 7 October, but your actions don’t appear on IndustriALL’s STOP Precarious Work campaign page, send them to: [email protected].

You can also tweet using the hashtag #STOPrecariousWork or share your actions with us on facebook.