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The UK Labour Government dealt a blow to the country&rsquo;s temporary and agency workers when it announced a two-year delay in the implementing of the Directive on Temporary Agency Work, the year-old EU policy which mandates equal treatment to contract and agency workers. 
 
In May 2008, UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) struck a compromise that would give agency workers equal protection rights and similar work conditions as permanent workers after 12 weeks&rsquo; employment. 
 
The compromise, brokered by the Labour Government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, was intended to take effect in the fourth quarter of 2009. 
 
But on 15 October, the office of Brown Cabinet Minister Peter Mandelson, the Business, Innovation, and Skills Secretary, announced a range of regulations would be delayed, including the granting of new and first-time rights to agency workers. The effective date now is 11 October 2011, the very latest under the EU Directive. 

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The consultation period for the new UK regulation to comply with the EU Directive had closed in July. But with the 15 October announcement by Mandelson&rsquo;s office, that period has been extended until 11 December 2009, allowing businesses more time to carve around the edges in order to gain even greater labour flexibility. 
 
The UK is the leading EU country where employers use the biggest proportion of temporary and agency workers. An estimated 1.4 million people are subjected to low employment conditions and lack of job security through labour-hire firms. 
 
After the inordinately long 12-week waiting period in the UK, temporary or agency workers in Britain would be eligible for equal pay, the same level of holidays as permanent staff, and the same health and safety protections and other statutory social benefits such as child care and work leave. 

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General Secretary Paul Kenny
In response to last month&rsquo;s announced delay, GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny called it &ldquo;a very serious electoral mistake by the Labour Government,&rdquo; referring to next year&rsquo;s British General Election. &ldquo;Agency and temporary workers have been abused and exploited for too long. The only people cheering this decision are from the bodies representing those who have been doing the exploitation.&rdquo; 
 
The UK Business Secretary&rsquo;s office attempted to justify the delay by stating the Labour Government recognized &ldquo;the need to avoid changing requirements on business until the economic recovery is more firmly established.&rdquo; 
 
But TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said &ldquo;agency workers are even more in need of protection during a recession. Vulnerable workers are always the first to suffer when times are hard.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="80" height="114" />
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber 
A recent poll by the TUC found that more and more rogue employees and agencies are using lack of employment rights and the insecurity of agency workers to treat temporary staff badly &ndash; paying them less, avoiding holiday and redundancy pay, and neglecting any training or development opportunities that might land such workers into full-time employment.

UK’s Labour Government Bows to Business over Implementing Temp Rights

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The nickel and copper strike at three Vale-Inco Canadian locations by miners and metalworkers of the United Steelworkers (USW) has started to have a full global effect, following a burst of international activity in October and judging from scheduled actions in November and December. 
 
Teams of strikers from USW Locals 6500, 6200, and 9508 will, over the next week, be on three continents spreading the message of their strike, and urging Vale&rsquo;s customers, investors, and company workers everywhere to pressure the Brazilian-based company for a fair pair of contracts in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Newfoundland/Labrador. 
 
If their missions are anything near as successful as the ones taken by Local 6500&rsquo;s Aaron Beaudry and Local 9508&rsquo;s Curtis Saunders to Germany and Sweden in mid-October &ndash; following a ship-load of Vale copper to markets &ndash; managers could re-think their game plan that 3,500 steelworkers will swallow concession-ridden contracts and instead decide to return to the bargaining table in the company&rsquo;s better interests. 
<img alt="" src="" width="290" height="218" />
At the three-and-a-half-month point of the strikes, when USW is beginning to focus heavily on Vale&rsquo;s customers and investors, the release last week of the company&rsquo;s third-quarter numbers bear this out. For the quarter, Vale sold just US$31 million of nickel products from its six worldwide operations. This compares to US$79 million in second-quarter 2009, a quarter in which the three Canadian nickel mines were idled for market reasons. Vale&rsquo;s overall net profit for the most recent quarter dropped 65%, while revenues fell 43%. 
 
In a 29 October conference call to investment analysts, Vale admitted to a loss of US$500 million due to the three-and-a-half month strike in Canada. One of the three Canadian mines and smelting operations, Sudbury, is responsible for 5% of the world&rsquo;s supply of nickel products. 
 
What certainly is not helping Vale in the marketplace is what happened after workers Beaudry and Saunders tracked copper shipments from Voiseys Bay, Labrador, to Germany and Sweden last month. (See InBrief No. 142 <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3448-ICEM-ITF-IGBCE-in-German-Port-Protest-Against-Vale-Inco-Mine-Shipment">here</a>.) Following pivotal work done by German ICEM affiliate IGBCE and the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), the striking local unions received a direct response from the chairman of the Works Council of the end-user. 
 
Renate Hold of Hamburg-based aluminum-producer Aurubis, whose workers are represented by the IGBCE, wrote that &ldquo;It came as a surprise to us that Aurubis AG accepted a delivery from Vale-Inco &hellip; to give you our support, we have held the first discussions with our Management and drawn their attention&rdquo; to the dispute in Canada. (See the full letter <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/sudbury%20engl%20pdf.pdf">here</a>.) 

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Vale-Inco strikers Aaron Beaudry and Curtis Saunders (at left) with IF Metall workplace leaders at Boliden in Sweden
In Sweden, the result was much the same. Beaudry and Saunders left Germany and arrived in Sweden ahead of the laden with the remainder of the copper concentrate ore. At a copper smelter near R&ouml;nnsk&auml;r owned by Boliden AB, ICEM affiliate IF Metall arranged a meeting with workplace leaders and managers of the metal-producer and Vale customer. The result was similar to Aurubis. 
 
Roland Antonsson, IF Metall R&ouml;nnsk&auml;r local branch President and a Boliden board member, said he would use his position inside the company to urge Boliden to reconsider its market relationship with Vale. Erik Andersson, IF Metall International Secretary, added in a newspaper account of the visit that it is up to Boliden now to &ldquo;take a stand against the Brazilian company&rsquo;s behaviour&rdquo; in Canada. &ldquo;Boliden has a code of conduct. Now they have the evidence.&rdquo; 
 
With USW now having a near-complete global customer list of Vale, the pressure will increase on Canadian managers to return to bargaining and retreat from a concessionary stance that would lower workers&rsquo; take-home pay, reducing pension levels, and create job insecurity through demands for flexible outsourcing. Additionally, USW will bring the campaign to the front door of investors, stressing negative social stigmas attached to investing in Vale. 
 
Strike teams have fanned out in recent weeks to Australia, where the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) hosted them near Vale coal fields in New South Wales and Queensland. The team that went to Australia also went on last week to New Caledonia, where Vale is having difficulty in start-up of the Goro nickel and cobalt mine and processing plant. Cost over-runs have dragged on Vale and the project has soared from US$3.2 billion to US$4.3 billion. The company is struggling to meet yet another start-up date for early in 2010, and there are environmental matters to deal with on the French territory. 
 
Meanwhile, the territorial government of New Caledonia has denied entry visas to migrant workers, staff Vale was counting on for the start-up. 
 
This week, a strike team that will include the ICEM will visit the PT Indonesia Nickel Corp. in remote Sulawesi Province, where Vale controls 59% of a nickel mine and smelting operation that also has faced production problems of late. From there, the USW strike team will visit operations and customers in Korea. 
 
From 11-18 November, another Canadian strike team will return to Brazil where workers will travel to several cities, including Brasilia where they will meet with Brazilian ministry officials about the strike and officials at the Canadian embassy. They will also meet with civil society groups and metalworkers&rsquo; union leaders, who themselves are in dispute with Vale due to company redundancies during the financial crisis. 
 
The USW is also planning an event in early December in New York City. On 21 October, Vale cancelled its &ldquo;Vale Day&rdquo; at the New York Stock Exchange there because Canadian strikers descended on Wall Street for a spirited manifestation. Two days later, a similar event in London was cancelled when the UK trade union, Unite, joined USW strikers from Canada in protest. 

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Manfred Warda
&ldquo;We are encouraged by the global pressure that is building,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, &ldquo;and we hope that Vale and CEO Roger Agnelli are taking notice. As this momentum grows and the effects are felt, the burden will fall on the company to resume bargaining and negotiate a fair collective agreement with these proud workers.&rdquo; 
 
For further information on all activities, as well as Vale-Inco efforts to re-start the Canadian operations with replacement workers, visit the strike&rsquo;s website at <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca">www.fairdealnow.ca</a>.&nbsp;

Vale-Inco Mining Strike in Canada Escalates on Global Level

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The ICEM received a report over this past weekend from the Federation of Workers&rsquo; Councils and Unions (FWCUI) that a workers&rsquo; demonstration in Baghdad was fired upon by armed forces. The demonstration and use of armed force occurred on 6 October near the Green Zone in central Baghdad. 
 
The report the ICEM received from the FWCUI said many of the 2,000 protestors were hit with rubber bullets. The ICEM condemns such military action against workers, and calls it one further example why Iraq must enact legitimate labour law and recognise free and independent trade unions. 

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Industrial workers had requested and received a permit from the Baghdad military to hold the demonstration, a protest over pay remunerations since 2008, safety benefits, and to settle cases of workers dismissed from jobs for political reasons under the Saddam regime. 
 
The march on 6 October started at Al Tahreer Square, and crossed Al Jumhoria Bridge towards the Green Zone, where armed forces indiscriminately fired upon and beat demonstrators. Four workers were severely beaten and arrested: Thamir Hameed and Muhammad Khangar from a battery manufacturing industry; Muhammad Khamees from an electrical facility; and Munadhil Attia from the leather manufacturing industry. 

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The FWCUI declared the attack &ldquo;an unprecedented act of terror that will not be forgiven,&rdquo; and called upon authorities to fire the soldiers responsible and to try them criminally. A representative of the Ministries&rsquo; Council admitted of an unprovoked armed confrontation and said the council stood ready to issue a formal statement of apology. 
 
The ICEM has two affiliated trade unions that are part of the FWCUI, and the Geneva-based Global Union Federation calls on workers&rsquo; organizations everywhere to support the FWCUI in their efforts to bring those responsible for this cowardly attack on workers to justice. 
 
The ICEM also supports FWCUI in its efforts for security and just economic entitlements for workers of its federation.

Iraqi Armed Troops Fire at Peaceful Demonstration in Baghdad

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Trade Unions in Iraq are faced with increasing interference and outright repression from government as they organize and increase their influence. Despite the right to organize being clearly guaranteed in the new constitution, Iraq&rsquo;s government falls back on blatantly anti&ndash;union legislation, some of it dating to the Saddam era, to hamper and restrict trade union activity. 
 
But trade unions are fighting back. On 24 October, hundreds of workers marched on the streets of Basra. Members of 12 unions gathered in front of the headquarters of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) there with banners demanding the central government stop interfering in internal workers&rsquo; issues, before marching towards the government administration building in Basra. 

<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="251" />
ICEM Executive Committee Member, Hashmeyia Saadawi
The GFIW is a Iraqi national centre of trade unions to which two ICEM-affiliated trade unions are members. Among the leaders of this demonstration was Hashmeyia Saadawi, President of the General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians (GFIW), and a member of the ICEM Executive Committee. 
 
Slogans prominently displayed during the march demanded implementation of new ILO compliant labour law, as well as abolition of Saddam&rsquo;s Law 150 of 1987, and ministerial Order 8750 of August 2005. 
 
The immediate issue at stake in the 24 October action is the government&rsquo;s attempt to form a government committee to implement workers&rsquo; elections for unions &ndash; under the old laws and without involving GFIW's executive board. This would continue to prevent workers in the public-sector from unionising, since public-sector workers are not officially allowed to join trade unions under the old legislation. 

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Given that both the oil and gas industry, and the electric power industry remain publicly&ndash;owned, this makes elections in those unions, as well as many others, farcical. The problems are compounded by the continued use by authorities of a controversial decree, Order 8750 of 2005, which froze all trade union assets and financial accounts, making it impossible for unions to function effectively. 
 
On arrival at the local government offices, workers met with local officials who promised to support and pass along their demands to the central government. 
 
But this crucial struggle will continue. The Iraqi trade union movement is about to launch a national campaign calling on the government and Parliament to implement a fair and just labour code that gives all workers, in both public and private sectors, the right to join trade unions. Once such a law is in place, then elections must be held, elections that are free from government interference. 

<img alt="" src="" width="260" height="195" />
The campaign has already attracted international attention and support. In the UK, Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary Brendan Barber has written to Foreign Secretary David Miliband asking him to press Iraq to drop its interference, and instead put in place the ILO-compliant labour code that has been drafted, allowing all workers the right to form, join, and have a say in the running of trade unions. That letter is <a href="http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-17128-f0.cfm ">here</a>. 
 
And LabourStart has begun an electronic campaign, in which workers can show their support. Join this campaign by hitting the link <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=588 ">here</a>. 
 
A statement issued by the GFIW can be found <a href="/index.php?id=24&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3467">here</a>.

Iraq: Confronting Government Repression, Interference of Unions

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After earlier releases in a number of other languages (for more, please consult the ICEM&rsquo;s Contract and Agency Labour site <a href="http://cal.icem.org/index.php/en/icem-guide-on-cal">here</a>), the ICEM is now releasing the Croatian versions of the &ldquo;ICEM Guide on Contract and Agency Labour&rdquo; (CAL) as well as of the shorter and more practical &ldquo;Negotiators&rsquo; Guide on CAL&rdquo;. The Croatian translations have been made possible through the joint ICEM-IUF South-East European Project on Trade Union Modernisation. 

<img src="" width="140" height="70" alt="" />
This CAL guide describes numerous contract, agency and other precarious work situations from around the world - both in developing and developed countries. It contains a number of best practice examples, as well numerous worrying stories, including some of the terrible working conditions that many workers in precarious employment find themselves in. The guide also provides an overview of some of the more recent changes in national and international labour laws and standards, and further deals with combating this phenomenon at company level. 
 
The &ldquo;Short Guide for Negotiators on How to Deal with Contracting Out, Outsourcing and/or Agency Labour&rdquo; is an instrument to assist trade unionists at the plant level. It provides practical suggestions on what to do when (or before) the issue comes up.

ICEM releases Croatian versions of its Contract and Agency Labour Guides

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A five-week strike at a BHP-owned manganese mine and smelter by members of the Kimberley branch of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa ended 5 October with a satisfactory one-year contract. 
 
The resolve came after global pressure was applied by ICEM mining affiliates, as well as attention given BHP&rsquo;s bargaining indifference at the recent statutory meeting of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and at ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Sahara Africa Region Meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, on 15 September. 
 
&ldquo;We were very fortunate to have international pressure and a COSATU focus on this strike,&rdquo; said NUM Kimberley Regional Coordinator Lucas Phiri. &ldquo;The arrogance of this company from the mine level to the Johannesburg office was something I have not seen in 12 years inside the NUM.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="102" height="111" />
The 920 miners and smelting-plant workers at BHP&rsquo;s Hozatel Manganese operation in the Northern Cape downed tools on 28 August. Their dispute was not just about wages &ndash; South African managers, in fact, were cancelling meetings both at the local level and with NUM national officers &ndash; but about parity between black and white miners, and for improved conditions for women in this remote mining region of the Northern Cape. 
 
With 90% of the 920 workers black, the NUM discovered that white workers at Hozatel got better medical assistance benefits, and received a transportation allowance of 2,000 rands per month, while blacks received 440 rands. Many miners live in hostels, but others travel from the village of Kuruman to the Hozatel operation. 
 
Due to outside pressure on BHP, local management finally got serious on addressing issues that caused the strike and called for talks on 5 October. Both sides agreed to an 8% pay increase effective 1 September, with a one-off 4,000 rand payment per worker for the period July-September 2009. A prior agreement expired 1 July, and the agreement reached on 5 October will last until 1 September 2010. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="103" />
Another key issue resolved related to NUM&rsquo;s ability to recruit into membership workers in higher-level classifications. BHP originally demanded a 66% vote, but the resolve reached in early October made that the standard 50% plus one, or a simple majority. 
 
Related to the parity issues, the two sides agreed to establish a separate bilateral forum to address and even out the disproportionate medical and transportation benefits between white and black workers. A deadline of 30 December 2009 has been put on resolving that. 
 
The same deadline holds for dealing with the employment equity between women and men, as well as the company&rsquo;s draconian policy of not granting maternity leave to women who have less than three years of employment service. 
 
The agreement &ldquo;was not all that we had hoped for,&rdquo; stated Phiri, &ldquo;but we are forever thankful for the outside pressure that moved a management that had before been so stubborn to address workers concerns.&rdquo; 
 
BHP operates Hozatel under its Middelplaats Manganese subsidiary, an asset it acquired with its partial buy-up of Semancor in the 1980s. The mine and ferrochrome smelting facility had originally been part of AngloAmerican.

Union Pressure Helps End BHP Manganese Strike in South Africa for NUM

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The Workers Activities Branch of the International Labour Office (ILO ACTRAV) organised a major International Symposium on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining, from 12 -15 October 2009 in Geneva. 

<img src="" width="326" height="190" alt="" />
The symposium brought together over 60 participants from trade union national centres, national unions, Global Union Federations and the ITUC, as well as labour academics and ILO officials. ICEM was represented by Jim Catterson and Phee Jungsun of the secretariat. Discussions centred on the fact that the right to organize and to bargain collectively has faced recent challenges stemming from falling trade union membership, increasing individualization of labour relations and the difficult quest for greater competitiveness and flexibility in the context of globalization. Trade unions need to be strengthened in order to face these challenges and enhance the right to organize and collective bargaining and other fundamental rights and principles such as the global platform rules governing the increasing globalization of the economy and the promotion of decent work for all. 

<img src="" width="328" height="194" alt="" />
Aims of the symposium: 
- To examine recent trends and developments in collective bargaining and the protection of the right to organize. 
- To discuss the relationship between collective bargaining and the social and economic objectives of Decent Work. 
- To identify policies and strategies that would strengthen the capacity of trade unions to organize and to bargain collectively. 
- To identify ways and means of achieving the universal application of the right to organize and to bargain collectively. 
 
One session of the meeting was devoted to Global Framework Agreements. Here after a general introduction by Dr. Michael Fichter of the Otto-Suhr-Institut of the Free University of Berlin, presentations were made of the ICEM GFA with Rhodia by Jacques Kh&eacute;liff of Rhodia and Jim Catterson of ICEM. The presentations generated a detailed and wide-ranging debate on the issue. 
 
See further information on the symposium <a href="http://www.ilo.org/actrav/what/events/lang--en/docName--WCMS_112409/index.htm">here</a>.&nbsp;

Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of ILO Convention No. 98

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During an evaluation mission to Colombian cities Bogota and Medellin, representatives of the ICEM and of 2 Swedish ICEM affiliates (IFMetall and Pappers) were able to see first hand that the Swedish-funded ICEM project on Social Dialogue in Colombia is delivering excellent results. Throughout the two days of meetings and visits, all ICEM affiliates in Colombia unanimously praised the many different efforts and activities of the project. Participating ICEM affiliates are Sintracarbon (mining), Sintraquim (chemical, pharmaceutical), Sintracarcol (paper), Sintraelecol and Fenaltec (electricity) and Sintravidricol (glass, materials). New ICEM affiliate USO is to join the project&rsquo;s activities shortly. 
 
Efficiently run by project coordinator Carlos Bustos, in close cooperation with the members of the ICEM Colombia Committee (i.e. the ICEM affiliates), the project&rsquo;s main aim is to encourage more and better social dialogue between ICEM affiliated trade unions and (mainly multinational) companies in Colombia. And it seems to be succeeding quite well in this, looking at the year-long progress in the joint employer-union social dialogue efforts. 

<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="146" />
Carlos Bustos, ICEM Colombia Project Coordinator
A more recent indication of progress made is the fresh interest shown by a number of additional companies to participate in the project, including Drummond, Repsol, Votorantim, Cerromatoso, SCA, Smurfit Kappa, Ross International and Petrobras. The project&rsquo;s social dialogue activities include joint social dialogue conferences and joint training sessions on specific social dialogue topics. Companies that have been participating in the process for some time include Carbones de Cerrejon (Xstrata, AngloAmerican and BHP Billiton), Linde, Gas Natural, Owens Illinois and Endesa. 
 
Other areas where a great deal of impressive work has been done include the leadership training programmes (which are bringing rank-and-file, as well as both young and female trade unionists into leadership positions) and the discussions on creating a larger industrial union for most, if not all, ICEM sectors in Colombia. Yet another area of work has been around the issue of contract and agency labour (CAL). As in many other places around the globe, CAL is also an enormous problem in Colombia. A number of multinational companies, including from the energy sector, have become almost &ldquo;shell companies&rdquo;, outsourcing virtually everything. Working under difficult circumstances in Colombia, unions nevertheless spoke of a number of successes in organising CAL workers. 

<img alt="" src="" width="156" height="210" />
A worker / trade unionist at Ross International telling the story
Commended was also the communication between the project and the ICEM and other ICEM affiliates (including, for example, the USW in the United States), with virtually all Colombian ICEM unions noting positive after an international intervention. The affiliates emphasised the importance, and success, of this international support. One more positive aspect highlighted by almost all was the work done by the project on HIV/AIDS. 
 
Pointed out by several was also the fact that, since the project began to assist them, the collective membership of the participating unions rose from 1,500 to over 20,000.

ICEM Colombia Social Dialogue Project Doing Well

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The transition to a low-carbon economy must guarantee employment and result in the development of new, decent jobs, say participants at global industrial unions&rsquo; meeting on climate change. That was the message coming from&nbsp;14-15 October multi-trade union meetings in Bad Orb, Germany.
The meetings were conducted under the auspices of the ICEM,&nbsp;the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), the&nbsp;European Metalworkers' Federation, and&nbsp;the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF) in a forum&nbsp;&quot;Cutting Emissions, Transforming Jobs.&quot; 

<img alt="" src="" width="370" height="110" />
The goal of the meeting was to discuss how industrial workers might present a common position at the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen Denmark. The UNFCCC COP-15 conference, as it is called, is expected to propose a new set of agreements on greenhouse gas emissions targets to renew or replace those contained within the Kyoto Accord. 
 
Speaking at the meeting, IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina said, &ldquo;Our industrial sectors are frequently seen as contributors to the current environmental crisis. Yet it is within these very industries that solutions already exist or are being developed. We want to reduce emissions, while at the same time increasing employment and protecting the environment.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="325" height="183" />
The industrial workers&rsquo; unions prepared a background discussion document taking into account work that had already been done, such as ICEM's recently-adopted policy on Sustainability. The meeting was structured around five panel discussions: environmental protection, sustainable development, sectoral concerns, sustainable job creation, and just transition. 
 
The lively discussion covered a vast territory, some of the points made include: 
- the environmental crisis is as much a failure of global capitalism as the recent and ongoing economic crisis 
- good jobs and a clean environment go hand in hand, we will have both; or we will have neither 
- developing countries must have their chance to develop. However, their development need not follow the same harmful paths as it did in developed countries that caused the environmental crisis in the first place. International institutions for capital and finance, resurgent protectionism, and restrictions on technology transfer, can create a new era of colonialism if we do not prevent it 
- trade unions must hold governments and employers to account, particularly regarding the social dimension of sustainability 
 
The delegates from all four organizations welcomed the opportunity to discuss the social and economic consequences of trying to solve the present environmental crisis. Overall, there was a consensus that industrial sector unions need to make our voices heard in Copenhagen, and particularly to be the champions of the social dimension of sustainable development. While there are certainly concerns within specific industries and regions, and therefore a need for strong Just Transition programs, there are also many opportunities for sustainable job creation. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="97" />&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" width="146" height="46" />&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" width="105" height="94" />
 
The ICEM, IMF, EMF and EMCEF will be reviewing the discussion document and comments received over the next couple of weeks. Following this review, we will finalize the materials we will bring to COP-15 in Copenhagen to make our points with the country representatives negotiating the new agreement. 
 
Following the meeting, Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary said, &ldquo;For industrial workers and their unions an important question for changing to a low-carbon economy is who pays for it and who benefits from the transition. We only have one planet and we all have an interest in protecting our future.&rdquo; 
All material from the meeting is available on the IMF website, <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=21012&amp;l=2">here</a>.
Additional information about climate change and the position of industrial workers can be found on the following web links: 
 
<a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/climatechange">www.imfmetal.org/climatechange</a>
<a href="/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety">/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety</a>
<a href="http://www.industrialpolicy.eu/COP15">http://www.industrialpolicy.eu/COP15</a>

Cut Emissions, Transform Jobs

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Responding to the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Istanbul on 6-7 October, Turkish trade unions organized a manifestation in Taksim Square, in the centre of the city. The protest against the IMF and World Bank was organized by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK), the Confederation of Trade Unions of Public Employees (KESK), the Turkey Union of Chambers of Architects and Engineers (TMMOB) and the Turkish Doctors Association (TTB). Organisers of the event instructed those taking part to carry out a peaceful protest. Other groups who planned a non-peaceful protest were told to wait until after the trade union event in Taksim Square had finished, before they took their protest to the IMF meeting, in the district of Harbive. 
 
The General Secretary of DISK, Tayfun G&ouml;rg&uuml;n, also Vice-President of ICEM affiliate mineworkers Dev Maden-Sen, spoke first to the crowd of 5,000. However, before speeches could continue, police attacked first with tear gas and afterwards with firearms and water cannons, using tinted water so that protesters would be easily identified later. 

<img alt="" src="" width="360" height="240" />
Not only protesters but also journalists and passers-by were affected by the heavy tear gas, as police did not use the gas to disperse the crowd, instead surrounding the crowd, causing confusion. ICEM affiliates reported extremely heavy-handed behaviour from police, &ldquo;There was more police violence and more tear gas than at the last three May Days,&rdquo; stated Kivan&ccedil; Eli A&ccedil;ik, Director of International Relations at DISK. 
 
Around 100 arrests were made for peoples&rsquo; role in the protest. One man died of a heart attack in the violence, after it was very difficult to get him to the hospital, through police lines. 

<img alt="" src="" width="348" height="233" />
In other news in Turkey, Turkish trade unionist, Murad Akincilar, from ICEM Swiss affiliate UNIA, has been arrested in Turkey with no motive for the arrest communicated with his family. The ICEM is working with its Turkish affiliates to communicate with the country&rsquo;s authorities and demand a swift release or fair trial. 
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Murad Akincilar
International solidarity for the struggle of Turkey&rsquo;s trade unions was illustrated through a successful seminar in the city of Izmit, 8-9 October. Part of the ICEM &lsquo;Project of Capacity Building for Social Dialogue and Organising in Turkey&rsquo; funded by FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, the seminar was supported by unions from France, Holland, Spain, and Brazil, exchanging trade union success stories from around the world. 

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Presentations included the &lsquo;Global Perspective&rsquo; by ICEM&rsquo; Kemal Ozkan, the &lsquo;European Perspective&rsquo; by FCE-CFDT&rsquo;s Sylvain Lefebvre, the &lsquo;Holland: National Example&rsquo; by FNV Bondgenoten&rsquo;s Mail Űrker and Patrick Van Klink, the &lsquo;Spain: National Example&rsquo; by Isidor Boix of FITEQA-CC.OO, &lsquo;Brazil: National Example&rsquo; by Nilton Freitas of Quimicos ABC-CUT, &lsquo;France: National Example&rsquo; by FCE-CFDT&rsquo;s Marc Blanc, and the &lsquo;Turkey: National Example&rsquo; by Uzeyir Ataman of Lastik-İş. 
 
The project aims to contribute to the ability of ICEM&rsquo;s Turkish affiliates to recruit new members, as well as to organize discussions on establishing a base to create a functioning industrial relations system, prioritizing fundamental human and trade union rights, together with good social dialogue.

Police Violence, Turkish Trade Unions Protesting IMF, World Bank Policies

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