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The ICEM has come to the aid and support of DERİ-İş, the trade union of Leather Workers of Turkey, and an affiliate of the International Textile, Leather, Garment Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), both of which have been waging a courageous struggle for trade union rights at two factories of Kampana-Savranoğlu, a maker of leather for the shoe industry. 
 
Workers at factories in İzmir and Istanbul met fierce opposition from the family-owned company when they tried to organize with DERİ-İş. They faced extremely low pay, forced overtime that was off the books, and harmful air quality that left many workers sick. Last March, when workers refused to give up their right to unionisation after coercion by management, the company sacked 16 trade union leaders. 
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ICEM at 15 October Protest Action Against Kampana-Savranoğlu
This occurred at the 103-worker İzmir factory and immediately all other workers went on a work slowdown. This continued for several months until managers responded in early October by closing the factory and transferring the work &ndash; and workers &ndash; to the Istanbul factory called Kampana. Management&rsquo;s had predicted that none of the workers would transfer, thus the company would not have to pay the lawful severance payments and it would be rid of DERİ-İş. 
 
But the ploy backfired when 38 of the strongest union sympathizers took the transfer and joined the workforce at the 49-worker Kampana factory, making the Istanbul factory overcrowded. 
 
The company made no provisions for housing, so after moving to Turkey&rsquo;s largest city and starting work on 1 October, the 38 İzmir workers began sleeping inside the factory. Management summoned police but after the occupation continued, they sacked the workers on 13 October. 
 
Two days later, DERİ-İş, local NGOs and supporters &ndash; including a representative from the ICEM &ndash; held a protest action at the house of the Kampana-Savranoğlu owner near Taksim Square. 
 
DERİ-İş is supporting 14 workers and their families and continues a campaign that now numbers 224 consecutive days. The union is waging another long-running fight against DESA, which produces leather for luxury goods with the most prestigious being Prada, the handbag retailer. That campaign has been running for four years. 
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Through intervention by ITGLWF, DERİ-İş and DESA signed a good-faith protocol agreement in August 2009, but management immediately broke it by targeting and then sacking union members. This included 12 workers from a workplace in Sefakoy, Istanbul, and another two employees last January in D&uuml;zce. 
 
A third dispute the Turkish Leather Workers&rsquo; Union is fighting is against the company Trexta, which has factories in Cerkezk&ouml;y, Istanbul, and Sivas, totaling 1,000 mostly women workers. The company produces leather cases and accessories for the mobile phone industry, and supplies to Nokia, Vertu, and Blackberry. 
 
Since July 2011, the company has dismissed 11 members of a union committee. DERİ-İş sought help from ICEM, ITGLWF, and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) to intervene on Trexta&rsquo;s customers, particularly Nokia over the Finnish company&rsquo;s rigid supply-line requirements. IMF wrote and urged Nokia to take the necessary steps to ensure reinstatement and to secure workers&rsquo; freedom of association. 
 
The ICEM did likewise, demanding that Nokia take action to protect workers&rsquo; rights. 
 
&ldquo;These three cases in the Turkish leather industry shows that a new Global Union Federation must be an activist organization to protect the rights of workers when they are routinely abused,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We must be vigilant that violations in any one part of the supply chain will be felt along the entire chain of production.&rdquo;

ICEM Lends Support to Persecuted Leather Workers in Turkey

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The strike by 32,000 Finnish metalworkers that began on 21 October could end tomorrow following a new proposal presented by National Conciliator Esa Lonka last night, 23 October. ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro, the trade union of salaried workers in Finland, and Metalliliitto, the country&rsquo;s Metalworkers&rsquo; Union, will consider the proposal later today in separate meetings. 
 
The two unions began a first wave of strike actions last Friday against 45 metal and engineering companies that was to run until 7 November, with a second wave of strikes against another 35 firms to begin on that day. 
 
Lonka&rsquo;s new proposal addresses the unions concerns on a wage package over the next two years, while Finland&rsquo;s government is expected to legislate the other key issue in the dispute &ndash; a three-day annual training and education leave in which employers sought to use its own discretionary control. 
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Metalliliitto&rsquo;s 38-member Union Council will consider the proposal at 16h today in Helsinki, while Ammattiliitto Pro&rsquo;s Executive Committee will meet at 17h to take up the government conciliator&rsquo;s proposal. If both bodies accept, the 32,000 workers &ndash; 25,000 metalworkers and 7,000 represented by Ammattiliitto Pro &ndash; will be back to work tomorrow, 25 October. 
 
The major discord was over a 4.3% wage increase for two years, an amount Finnish social partners agreed to on 13 October. Metal and technical employers, under the auspices of the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, or Teknologiateollisuus, sought to structure that pay rise whereby many metalworkers and white-collar workers would not get the full amount. The new proposal given by Lonka last night, 23 October, proposes that it be granted across the board to all 200,000 workers in the country&rsquo;s metal and engineering sector. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s industrial actions also included an overtime ban across all employers in those industrial sectors. An <a href="/en/23-Nordic-Countries/4723-Strikes-Begin-in-Finnish-Metal-Technology-Sector">ICEM report</a> on the start of the strike from last week can be found here.

Conciliator’s New Proposal Expected to End Short Finnish Metalworkers Strike

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Union members of CGT-Filpac and CFE-CGC boarded five buses early today and headed to Paris from Alizay in northern France to continue their struggle to keep an M-real paper mill operating. In Paris, paperworkers from Alizay in the Haute-Normandie region will protest at the Ministry of Agriculture where final mediation begins between French authorities, the Finnish papermaker, and two potential buyers. 
 
Some 330 workers began a strike and blockade of the Alizay paper mill on 19 October, the day M-real announced closure of the uncoated printing papers mill. M-real, 40% controlled by the Finnish forestry company Mets&auml;liitto, terminated discussions with Thailand-based Advance Agro Ltd., known as Double A Paper, and the Paris-based investment capital company Fin&rsquo;active SAS due to buy the 48-year-old paper mill. 
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Thierry Philippot
On 20 October, many paperworkers left the front gate of the mill and took to the A13 motorway between Normandie and Paris and gave passing motorists a &ldquo;toll-free&rdquo; handbill describing their plight. 
 
M-real announced on 4 May 2011 that it intended to sell printing paper mills in Alizay and Gohrsm&uuml;hle, Germany, as part of a major restructuring plan to exit the fine paper industry and focus on paperboard used for packaging. 
 
&ldquo;We have prepared for the possibility of closure, but we are not yet ready to accept it,&rdquo; said CGT-Filpac plant representative Thierry Philippot. 
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Paperworkers Block M-Real&rsquo;s Alizay Mill
Philippot, along with fellow CGT representative Jean-Yves Lemahieu and CFE-CGC representative Eric Hogger, traveled to Helsinki on 30 September to meet with M-real CEO Mikko Helander in hopes that a deal could be consummated. 
 
M-real had put two conditions on a sale: maintain the current employment for 24 months, and pour all sales from the 310,000-tonne-per-year mill back into the operation. Although both Advance Agro and Fin&rsquo;active appeared to accept those terms, the deal with favoured Advance Agro broke down when the Thai company demanded other conditions. 
 
The mediation today is with Advance Agro, a company that operates two pulp mills and three paper factories in its home country. Mediation with Fin&rsquo;active, an investment firm specializing in distressed assets, will be held later this week. The talks will be headed by French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire, a UPM party member and member of France&lsquo;s Parliament from the Eure department, where the Alizay mill is located.

French Paperworkers Continue Protest Today to Keep M-real Mill Operating

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Efforts to resolve the six-week Indonesian mine strike by FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Chemical, Energy and Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (CEMWU) against Freeport-McMoRan continue today on the local level, but agreement is not likely. Meanwhile, 10,000 strikers continue to block the lone access road to the world&rsquo;s largest gold mine and third largest copper mine &ndash; Grasberg, operated by PT Freeport Indonesia. 
 
The company suspended all production one week ago due to the supply road being blocked and a ruptured pipeline that carries copper concentrate from the mine, 4,000 metres high in the Sudirman Range, to the port city of Timika. Production resumed on 19 October, but union sources say it has not exceeded 30%. 
 
On 21 October, dialogue did occur between the SPSI/PT Freeport union, 5 company officials, and the Tinal family, which administers the local Mimika regency, but Grasberg miners of Papua province, New Guinea Island, are no closer to a 2011-12 wage agreement than they were three weeks ago. 
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Family of Petrus Ayamiseba after 10 October Killing
Talks, however, took place today at the Rimba Hotel in Timika, some 200 kilometres from the rich Grasberg gold and copper deposits. 
 
Next week the ICEM will dispatch a team to Indonesia to meet with striking SPSI members of the CEMWU and officials involved in the strike. That team will consist of mineworkers&rsquo; leaders from Australia, Africa, and Europe. 
 
Two weeks ago, on 10 October, one union member was shot and killed and another died five days later after a group of miners tried to enter a transit terminal in Gorong-Gorong at Milepost 28 to board a bus to assist the blockade. Local police shot indiscriminately into their backs as they entered the bus depot. 
 
Killed instantly was Petrus Ayamiseba, while Leo Wandagau died in his home in Timika on 15 October from a wound to his back caused by a rubber bullet. Eight other strikers were wounded. A three-member committee from Indonesia&rsquo;s Human Rights Committee was sent to the area last week to investigate. 
 
There have been two other instances in which gunfire killed at least six people, but the ICEM has been unable to discern if these shootings are related to the strike. A 13-member delegation of Indonesian parliamentarians also visited Timika on 20 October in search of answers to resolve the strike. 
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Leo Wandagau on 10 October; he died 15 October
The ICEM is convinced that a resolve will not happen until US-based Freeport-McMoRan instructs its Grasberg managers to lift its pay proposal for 2011 and 2012. Management&rsquo;s most recent offer &ndash; three weeks ago &ndash; would grant a 15% pay hike in 2011 and 10% in 2012. The company also wants the union to acknowledge that the strike is illegal and issue a formal apology to the company. 
 
FSP-KEP (SPSI) of CEMWU has lowered its demands to an average of US$7.50-an-hour. PT Freeport Indonesia has split unionised miners into non-staff and staff, with non-staff numbering 8,512 and staff 2,574. Non-staff now average earnings of US$2.13-an-hour and US$368 monthly, while staff has average wages of US$3.54-per-hour and US$613 monthly. 
 
The union is also seeking a better savings plan programme than what PT Freeport Indonesia has on the table. In addition, workers are seeking payment of their wages during the strike, which started on 15 September, payment which management made during an eight-day warning strike in July. They also seek the return of all workers to their jobs. Hundreds of miners have been either terminated or &ldquo;relieved from duty&rdquo; since the mid-September strike started. 
 
The ICEM will continue to support FSP-KEP (SPSI) at PT Freeport in its quest for wage justice, dignity, and a proud return to their jobs in the remote highlands of Papua province.

Indonesian Freeport-McMoRan Mine Strike Continues, Two Unionists Shot Dead

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ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro, the trade union of salaried workers in Finland, and Metalliliitto, the country&rsquo;s Metalworkers&rsquo; Union, began a first wave of strike action this morning across Finland. Some 32,000 workers &ndash; 25,000 metalworkers and 7,000 represented by Ammattiliitto Pro &ndash; are on full work stoppages at 45 targeted companies. 
 
If national conciliation again fails next week and the days that follow, metalworkers and salaried staff at another 35 companies will join the strike on 7 November. Overtime bans are now in effect across Finland&rsquo;s metal and technology sector covering 200,000 workers, including 10,000 members of the Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff (YTN). That union of top-level supervisors is expected to join the strike on 1 November if no deal is accomplished. 
 
&ldquo;The strike is running well so far,&rdquo; said Pro Vice President for the Industrial Sector Markku Polokangas, the salaried staff&rsquo;s lead negotiator. &ldquo;The amount of pressure on employers will increase in the coming days, we are certain.&rdquo; Polokangas also said the union is organising support strikes among Pro&rsquo;s membership in other sectors, such as telecommunications and chemicals. 
 
The two unions and the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, or Teknologiateollisuus, the employers&rsquo; federation, were in marathon mediation sessions with National Conciliation Esa Lonka throughout the week. The latest session broke off last night and Metalliliitto's 38-member Council gave a near-unanimous mandate to begin the strike.
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Ammattiliitto Pro&rsquo;s membership had earlier given leadership of the union a mandate for strike action. 
 
Although the two sides are in general agreement with the 4.3% wage increase over two years that Finnish social partners agreed to on 13 October, major discord in metal and tech negotiations center on how that amount will be split. Finnish employers want discretion on paying some workers far less than the 4.3%, while the unions want the increase given to everyone across the board. 
 
Another difference is over a three-day yearly training and education period. Employers seek the discretionary right to award it, while the unions want it across the board. Tied to that is the manner in which workers age 55 and above will receive the three-day training allocation. 
 
Among just some of the 45 corporations that saw strike action taken against them this morning at 06h00 were ABB, Boliden, Kone elevators and Kone cranes, the mining concern Talvivaara, the Metsa set of engineering companies, iron and steel maker Rautaruukki, Sandvik Mining and Construction, Valmet Automotive, Outotec, Patria aerospace and land companies, and Ruukki Metals and Engineering. 
 
On 7 November, among 35 other companies expected to join the strike will be a large number of workers employed by the Nokia-Siemens joint venture called NS Network.

Strikes Begin in Finnish Metal, Technology Sector

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International pressure &ndash; both inside and out of Georgia &ndash; caused a change of course last week by police and political authorities in the aftermath of the belligerent 15 September strike-breaking at Euroasian Steels in Kutaisi. Not only were over 30 sacked workers offered their jobs back, but police questioned the Indian managing director and two aides at Euroasian, also known as Hercules Steel, on 29 September. 
 
The next day the top boss was sacked. An ongoing police investigation is underway over his conduct inside the steel mill. 
 
In the midst of this positive reversal, the ICEM, however, took deep exception to remarks made last week by the Georgian business ombudsman, George Pertaia. On 6 October, Pertaia said the September strike by workers was manipulated and instigated by ICEM affiliate Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Trade Union &ldquo;to justify its existence.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="125" height="166" />
Polish Solidarnoş&ccedil; Union Members and ICEM Meet with Hercules Steel Workers, 28 September
Pertaia said that workers at Hercules have individual contracts and had no right to strike. &ldquo;If the contract is signed, and you have already agreed with certain conditions, then you have no right to refuse those conditions,&rdquo; he said. 
 
The ICEM reminds Pertaia that global labour standards do exist, including the right to join a union and to bargain collectively. Considering that Euroasian Steels, or Hercules, has no wage schedule in place, no health and safety plan, it pays no overtime, and workers are forced to work mandatory and long work days, industrial action was justified. 
 
The ICEM also invites Mr. Pertaia to examine the working conditions of 130 Indian workers employed at Hercules. They live eight to a room in a dormitory adjacent to the mill, their passports were being head by the managing director, Raji Kumar Sureika, their salaries are sent back to India, and they are given a miniscule stipend to support themselves off the job. 
 
In fact, it is believed that the managing director was sacked and is under police investigation because of treatment of the Indian workers. 
 
On 18 September, three strike leaders &ndash; Emilo Gumberidze, Irakli Iobidze, and Malkhaz Gogiava &ndash; were rounded up and jailed by police on bogus charges. They were given ten day jail sentences. (A <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4673-Georgian-Trade-Union-Leaders-Jailed-for-Passing-Drug-Test">prior ICEM article</a> is here.)&nbsp; 
 
Upon release from the Kutaisi jail on 28 September, the three immediately called Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union President Tamazi Dolaberidze and pledged their continued support to the union. On 30 September, the new acting managing director of Hercules personally called each of the three to offer them their jobs back. The reversal gave Hercules metalworkers renewed momentum following the strike&rsquo;s crushing and that registered both with Georgian workers and with Indian workers. 
 
Several points of global and internal civil pressure caused deep embarrassment to the Georgian government. There was high-level diplomatic pressure involved, especially after an international delegation that included the ICEM and top leaders from Poland&rsquo;s Solidarnoş&ccedil; union exposed the fact that the Indian workers at Hercules might just be treated worse than Georgian workers. 
 
The strike last month by 200 Hercules metalworkers was sparked after the Metallurgical, Mining, Chemical Union gained written support from a majority of the Georgian workers and then requested labour-management dialogue. After several weeks, the request was ignored and the strike started, including hunger strikes by four workers in front of the mill.

ICEM Rebuts Georgian Business Ombudsman for Remarks over Steel Mill Dispute

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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda conveyed the condolences of the organisation to its Turkish affiliates following the deadly earthquake that hit eastern Turkey on 23 October. The 7.2 magnitude quake killed at least 530 people, injured over 1,600, and destroyed well over 2,000 buildings. 
 
Warda expressed deep regret for the terrible events, especially in Van province and Ercis county, which bore the brunt of the quake, &ldquo;On this occasion on behalf of the ICEM family which represents 20 million workers around the world, I convey condolences and best wishes to the people of Turkey, and wish speedy recovery for those who are injured&rdquo;. 
 
ICEM affiliates and supporters are urged to donate to international humanitarian agencies in their own country, towards much needed recovery efforts. Hundreds of families rendered homeless by the quake now have their situation worsened by bad weather, including heavy snow and continued aftershocks.

ICEM Saddened by Disastrous Turkey Earthquake

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The Norwegian trade union Fellesforbundet has announced that Norway, in cooperation with the European Union, has created a &ldquo;Fund for Decent Work and Tripartite Dialogue&rdquo; targeted for 12 Eastern Europe and Mediterranean countries. The Norwegian Financial Mechanism is calling for applicants by social partners in the European Economic Area, with a deadline for applying of 31 March 2012. 
 
Fellesforbundet put the call out through the European Mine, Chemical, Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF) and <a href="http://emcef.org/database/uload/pdf/PA22call-20111020.pdf">details of the project</a> can be found here.&nbsp; 
<img src="" width="325" height="70" alt="" />
Innovation Norway, the sponsoring agent, said the total available for the 12 states is &euro;8 million, and a grant will cover 90% of approved project costs, and range from &euro;20,000-40,000 per project. The sponsor is seeking project proposals that promote decent work and/or tripartite dialogue; bilateral activities based but not mandated on the Norwegian model; partnership building between social partners; and other suggested proposals. 
 
Trade unions and employer organisations are encouraged to apply, as are public authorities and entities or social partnerships at the national, regional, or local level. Further details from <a href="http://emcef.org/database/uload/pdf/NorwegianFund20111020.ppt ">Innovation Norway</a> can be found here. 
 
The 12 countries covered under the call include: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Funding is available for each.

Norway Seeks East Europe Proposals for ‘Decent Wage, Tripartite Dialogue’ Fund

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A 23-month rubber strike by United Steelworkers (USW) Local 526 is getting renewed attention in Canada with the union broadening the dispute from picket lines to customers and creditors of the company. That company is Infinity Rubber, a producer of tubes and hoses for the US and Canadian auto and mining industries that tried to force extreme wage and benefit concessions after buying the enterprise from bankruptcy protection. 
 
Forty-eight union members went on strike on 1 December 2009 at a factory near Toronto, refusing to accept a 25% cut in wages and a 50% cut in benefits. A year earlier, workers did take a 10% wage decrease &ndash; from over C$20-an-hour to C$18 &ndash; to assist a predecessor company wracked by a financial crisis that deeply affected US industrial production. 
<img src="" width="278" height="160" alt="" />
The USW is now taking the fight to the doorsteps of customers, suppliers, and most significantly, a financial institution. On 27 October, some 900 union and community protestors, buoyed by the Occupy Toronto movement and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), loudly demonstrated in front of offices of the Bank of Montreal that is financing an equity agent that backs managers which bought the factory. 
 
Last month the USW began handbilling branches of the Bank of Montreal across the province of Ontario and earlier had sent letters to suppliers and customers telling them of the risks they face in doing business with Infinity. The union also is pressuring Bank of Montreal by asking trade unions to withdraw funds and divest pension assets held in the bank. (The <a href="http://www.usw.ca/workplace/campaigns/campaigns/infinity ">USW campaign</a> can be viewed here.) The company has continued to operate with the use of scab replacement workers hired through an employment agency. Strikers, mostly long-term Hispanic workers with loyal service to the previous owner, Biltrite Industries, are victimised by the fact that Ontario&rsquo;s government does not ban the use of replacement workers during strikes. 
 
At the 27 October manifestation, striking worker Fernando Silva said, &ldquo;We are still on strike because the government is allowing the company to hire agency workers, taking our jobs. We are entering our third winter in this fight. But with your support, we&rsquo;ll get though it.&rdquo;

Steelworkers Escalate Infinity Rubber Campaign in Canada

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A historical achievement happened in Indonesia on 28 October when the country&rsquo;s Parliament passed the Social Security Providers Bill (BPJS), thus clearing the way for long-awaited pension, medical, job-related accident, unemployment and other benefits to millions of ordinary Indonesians. 
 
The House of Representatives gave approval to the new law a plenary session when the six-party ruling coalition, which had worked to delay the legislation, was pressured by a mass rally outside Parliament to reach terms with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). 
<img alt="" src="" width="285" height="160" />
25,000 Manifested 28 October at Indonesia&rsquo;s Parliament
That rally, organized by the trade union/civil society coalition, Action Committee for National Social Security (KAJS), saw 25,000 Indonesians engage in a boisterous sit-in, demanding once and for all passage of the populist bill. BPJS means that the government must now implement compulsory social services mandated by the National Security System Law of 2004. 
 
Labour leaders, however, realize that the BPJS time frame for full implementation of the different social components leaves much room for politicians to maneuver, especially with federal elections coming in 2014. BPBJS I, or the scheme for heath care for all citizens, must come into effect by January 2014, while BPJS II &ndash; social benefits related to occupational accidents, pensions, old-age benefits, and death benefit schemes &ndash; must be implemented by July 2015. 
<img src="" width="106" height="110" alt="" />
D. Patombong Sjaiful
&ldquo;Yes, it was a momentous day,&rdquo; said ICEM Indonesian Affiliates&rsquo; Union Chairman D. Patombong Sjaiful, the leader of FSP-KEP, the Chemical, Energy, Mines, Oil &amp; Gas General Workers&rsquo; Union of confederation KSPI. 
 
&ldquo;But now it becomes a process to guard the intent of this new law and not let it get sidetracked by the political system.&rdquo; 
 
Said Iqbal, the KAJS General Secretary and President of the Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers&rsquo; Unions (FSPMI), agreed, stating that the process must be closely monitored in formulating and calculating sufficient costs for the different benefits. 
<img src="" width="86" height="110" alt="" />
Said Iqbal
&ldquo;This marks a fundamental change in Indonesian social security,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now we are assured there will be a minimum level of pension benefits for all, that discrimination against the poor regarding health care will end, and that all working people will have some level of social benefits. 
 
&ldquo;We must now be vigilant that government and employers adequately fund these programmes.&rdquo; 
 
Said Iqbal led the KAJS coalition that included some 69 organisations, included 40 trade unions. The coalition, including farm organizations, fishery groups, and many more, included three of the country&rsquo;s main national labour centres, KSPI, KSBSI, and KSPSI. The coalition is expected now to be transformed into &ldquo;BPJS Watch.&rdquo; 
 
The new BPJS law re-makes the four state-owned insurance companies (PT Askes, PT Jamsostek, PT Taspen, and PT Asabari) into two non-profit public companies under the auspices of the President&rsquo;s office. PT Askes will function for the health care scheme, while PT Jamsostek will administer occupational accidents, pensions, old-age risks, and death benefits.

Vigilance Now Needed to Implement Indonesia’s Social Security Law

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